Chapter 51

Fifteen minutes later, I was dressed and telling the God Squad about my latest adventure.
"It has to be Sif."Finn was pacing the library. He seemed to be taking it the worst. "You have to do something, Thor."He stopped in front of us and glared at my guy, who was seated on the couch beside me. "You swore Blood to Mouth to protect her; you have a responsibility."
"Don't remind me of my vows, Black Swan."Thor was about to stand up, but I patted his thigh, and he relaxed a little; shooting me a smile before continuing. "I want her safe even more than you do, and I'll stop at nothing to see that she is."
"I have to say that I'm not too impressed with your results so far."Finn's eyes narrowed.
Thor stood up, and I jumped to my feet to stand between them.
"Enough,"I growled at the both of them. "I'm not some child in need of protection. I'll be happy for some help, but I'm not going to cower behind any man, even if that man happens to be a god."
Thor looked at me and then back at Finn with a twist of his lips which clearly said; You see what I have to deal with? Finn nodded and snorted as he backed away. Silent male communication could be the most annoying kind.
"Fine."Finn sat down, and we followed suit. "But I still think Thor should handle his ex-wife."
"We're not even sure she's behind this,"Horus was perched on the end of his chair, and I don't mean that he was sitting close to the edge. He crouched on it like a bird; balanced on the balls of his feet with his forearms braced on his knees. How he managed to make it look both elegant and casual is beyond me.
"Who else could it possibly be?"Pan was twisting his hands together.
I'd never seen him so worried, and I found it deeply unsettling. Pan had two moods; happy and happier, the latter usually due to besting Horus.
Everyone looked at me, and I shook my head. "I haven't got a clue. But I have to tell you; it sucks having someone gunning for me without even knowing what they look like. They could walk by me on the street, and I wouldn't know."
"I'll do it,"Thor grumbled.
"You're going to talk to Sif?"I couldn't hide my surprise.
"What else can I do?"He pulled me against his chest. "I can't allow these attacks to continue."
"Thank you."Finn fell back into his seat and threw his hands up in the universal finally gesture.
"Thank you,"I whispered, and Thor kissed my forehead. "When are we going?"
"What?"The whole room seemed to ask the question.
"Well, I'm going with you, of course."I looked around at the others as if it were a given.
"No, you're not."Thor shook his head as if the discussion was over.
I thought he knew me better than that.
"I want to meet her."I stood up so I could glower down at him for once.
The room emptied out behind me quickly, but Thor barely spared them a glance.
"It's not a good idea, Vervain."
"Why not?"
"For one thing, if she is behind this, she may try to kill you."
"So?"
Thor groaned. "Vervain, this is not a contest of who's the toughest. She's a goddess. You're a hunter of Gods. I understand that it's in your nature to confront her, but I don't want to deal with the fallout."
"You mean you don't want to referee."I started to smile.
"Exactly."Thor stood up and grabbed my waist. His smile spread as he looked down. "You're so tiny; I can span your waist with my hands."
I've waited forever for a man to call me tiny and give me that hand-spanning, romance novel line. My waist is small in comparison to the rest of me, I definitely have an hourglass figure, but in comparison to women's waists in general, it wasn't all that little. There was a bit more sand in my hourglass.
"That's because you have huge hands."I tried to hide my pleasure, but it was difficult.
You tiny girls will never know the joy of a comment like that, and I pity you for it. I hate you and pity you, but at least I'm not bitter.
"The better to touch you with, my dear,"he growled and let his hands wander.
I laughed in delight. "Oh, Grandma what big—"
"Don't you dare."He laughed and picked me up.
"What?"I blinked up at him innocently. "You know what they say about big hands."
"Would you agree with them?"His eyes twinkled.
"Hmm…"I pretended to ponder it.
"That's it!"Thor threw me down on the couch and started unbuckling his belt.
"What are you going to do; give me a spanking?"I looked up; my face filled with a mixture of disbelief and amusement.
"No,"he scoffed. "I'm going to give you another look."
"Thor!"I laughed and got up to stop him.
"Admit it."His hands were at the zipper of his jeans.
"All right, all right!"I put up my hands in surrender. "It's monstrous; the biggest I've ever seen. I fear for my life every time we make love."
I heard a muffled laugh outside the door, and Thor rolled his eyes. "Find somewhere else to be!"he shouted.
"We just wanted to hear who the winner is,"Pan's voice filtered through the thick door.
"Pan, I always win!"I shouted, and Thor raised a brow so I waggled mine at him.
"Oh, really."He grabbed both of my hands suddenly and pulled them behind my back. Then he transferred them both to one of his huge hands and when he pulled down on them a little, I was bent backward. I gasped as he pushed my blouse up and undid my front-snap bra. "You wanna try that again?"
"I win!"I laughed in that deep way women do when they know the effect they have on their men. Oh, it's a good laugh.
His lips covered my nipple with a scalding kiss, and I sighed until he bit down just enough to make me cry out. I bucked and lifted my head to glare a warning at him.
"What are you going to do, Godhunter?"He had lifted his face barely an inch to taunt me, and his eyes held the lightning I loved. "Who wins?"
"I do,"I breathed out, but sucked my breath back in as he sucked more of my breast into his mouth and bit deeper into the meatier flesh. "I do,"I said again defiantly. He tongued the nipple as he bit deeper, and I cried out in pleasure and pain. "I do!"
Thor took one last lick and then released me. "I guess you do."He got up and started to walk away.
"Damn it, Thor!"I screamed in frustration.
"Yes?"He looked back over his shoulder.
My blouse fell back down a little as I huffed. "You do."
"Do what?"
"You win,"I mumbled.
"Again."He turned around fully and smiled in smug satisfaction. "Say it… loud."It was his turn to waggle his brows.
"You win!"I screamed.
I heard Brahma say, "Pay up."
Pan cursed.
Thor closed the distance between us in two strides and then proceeded to make me feel as if I'd been the winner after all.
Several hours later, Thor returned from his talk with Sif to find me on the same couch we'd been enjoying earlier.
"She swears it wasn't her."Thor slumped on the couch beside me.
"And you believe her?"I tried to make my voice sound as neutral as possible.
"Yes."He glanced at the others, and they nodded as if they all knew some secret god code.
"What?"I looked around at everyone and then back at Thor.
"It wasn't her, Vervain."I saw the lines of strain around his eyes and knew he was half relieved and half worried.
"How can you be so certain?"I pressed him.
"Vervain, they were married."Teharon sat down next to me and took my hand.
"So?"I didn't like the way everyone was looking at me as if they were about to tell me my cat had just died. I started looking around for Nick.
"They have a connection,"Teharon answered, but Thor waved him to silence.
"I should tell her this,"Thor said to Teharon over my head, and the Mohawk God let go of my hand.
I looked back at Thor.
"You know how I can slide into your mind?"Thor looked at me as if he expected me to get it immediately.
I did.
"You've shared blood with her. Oh, of course."I sighed in relief, and everyone stared at me as if they were waiting for my real reaction. "What? That's it, right? You have the same kind of connection with her that you do with me, and you read her mind to see if she was behind the attacks."
"You're not mad?"Thor still looked wary.
"Why would I be mad about a relationship you ended centuries ago?"I frowned. Maybe I was missing something.
"I should've known you'd be reasonable."He smiled and shook his head.
"Well, I try."I smirked. "It's just hard sometimes when I have to deal with gods who have their own idea of reason."
"It's good to be a god."Thor laughed, but I heard the relief in it.
"So, if not Sif, then who?"Finn's voice was back to being impatient.
I caught his gaze and the intensity of it scared me. There was something there that I'd have to deal with someday, and I wasn't looking forward to it. I had a feeling he wouldn't take the friend speech well. I partially blamed myself for encouraging him with the swan thing—insert sigh here. Just as long as he didn't turn into a bush-lurking stalker, I'd be fine. I narrowed my eyes at him in consideration. Maybe I'd better trim the hedges around my yard.
"She didn't know."Thor grimaced. "She was supremely pleased that Vervain's in danger, but just as supremely confused on who could be after her."
"Then you just don't leave Bilskinir Hall unattended."Finn waved at me angrily when I started to speak and turned to Thor. "Back me up here, Thor; you know I'm right."
"He is,"Thor said simply and begged me with his eyes.
I hated it when he did that.
"Fine."I crossed my arms and gave in to a good pout.
No fair; a bunch of gods ganging up on poor little ol' me.