Chapter 70

"Oh, God,"I groaned as I rubbed my eyes
"Yes?"Thor's voice was low and sultry. He sounded sexier than ever.
"You had to go there?"I swatted him as he pulled me closer under the covers; the early morning chill caressing my face and making his heat all the sweeter. His naked body slid across mine, held up by his forearms, so the weight of him was comforting instead of crushing. He was pulsing hard against my thigh. "And good morning,"I purred.
"Yes, definitely."Thor buried his face in my hair and breathed deeply; sending tremors skittering through my rib cage. "Do you know what you smell like?"
"I know what you smell like . . . breakfast."
He chuckled, still buried in my hair. "You smell like sex and magic."
"Hmm, sex and magic."I pushed him over; straddling him and dislodging the blankets as I went. "Yes, please."
Thor could hardly say no to such a polite request. We spent most of the morning reinforcing our reunion. Well, at least in my mind it was reinforcement. The previous night had taken on a certain dreamlike quality for me, especially with those sparks of lightning and the way Thor had covered Blue's scars. I needed to know it was all real, to have him again in the light of day. I think he knew it as well and made every effort to affirm our new status. Then he carried me to the bathroom and bathed me. Yes, bathed me. Unbelievable. I'd never felt so pampered in all my life. He even washed my hair.
It wasn't until we were done and I was dressed that I got a good look at myself in the mirror. I had to wear my hunting leathers since I didn't have a change of clothes at Thor's place anymore, but I'd left my hair loose, and I felt sexier. Funny how actually having sex will do that to you. It wasn't my hair that had caught my attention though; it was the lightning-shaped scar curving down from just below my right ear to the base of my neck. Thor's mark. It was kind of attractive but, more importantly, it erased that horrible reminder of Blue.
"You had to mark me too?"Thor asked as he came up behind me.
"I know."I chuckled when I saw the red bite I'd left on the right side of his neck. "It's very high school, very white trash, but since you got to give me a scar, I thought you could at least suffer through a love bite for awhile."
"You can mark me anytime."Thor nuzzled my neck as he pulled me back against his chest. He towered over me, but it made me feel safe. He lifted his face to ask, "Are you hungry?"
"Oh, yeah."I pulled away from him and ran out of the room before he could change his mind.
I was happier than I'd been in weeks, especially when I heard his footsteps thudding after me.
...
I'd wasted too much time wallowing in my depression over Thor. Now, I had to get back in the game and fast. So, as soon as breakfast was done, I headed into the library to spirit-walk into Blue's head. I thought I might be rusty, but I guess all those nights of pushing him out of my dreams had kept me in prime mental shape. I slid easily and silently into Blue's mind.
I shouldn't have worried about the quiet part, though. Blue was in a mental uproar. His thoughts flew from one angry string to the next. It was so quick that I had a hard time following any particular one through to the end. There were a lot of visions of Thor being hurt, and I had to spend some time calming myself before I could continue to sift through the rest of the violent detritus. But the thoughts concerning me were even more disturbing, and I passed them by as quickly as possible.
Blue had apparently thought that I would come to my senses and sacrifice myself on the bloody altar of his desire as soon as I saw all the damage his little vampires could inflict. When his plan failed, he didn't take it kindly. On the bright side, he'd been way too caught up with pursuing me to pursue Maria. In fact, he had decided to explore other options. The latest plot was now centered on the Russian Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu.
The last Minister of Defense had been a man named Anatoliy Serdyukov. He had been fired recently due to some real estate scandal. But he also happened to be married to the daughter of the Chairman of the Board of Gazprom, Viktor Zubkov. Zubkov became Chairman when Prime Minister Medvedev had to resign to accept the Presidency. Yes, the Presidency. Medvedev had been President, and Putin had been the Prime Minister, but then they traded places. So, now Putin is President and Medvedev is Prime Minister. How do you like them apples? Confusing, isn't it? What I found especially confusing was the fact that Russia had both a Prime Minister and a President. Aren't you supposed to have one or the other?
Anyway, when Serdyukov was fired, Putin replaced him with Shoigu. Shoigu didn't seem to have the same connections as Serdyukov, but he was a close friend of Putin's. It wasn't surprising that President Putin had put a friend of his in office, but it had to have been salt on Serdyukov's wounded pride. He may not be in power anymore, but Serdyukov still had powerful connections. This created a volatile situation which Blue was going to take full advantage of. There were several plans he could put into action, but they all started the same; with Sergei Shoigu.
Blue had found a way start a war without killing Maria. Great for Maria, bad for Russia and the Minister of Defense. It looked as if Blue's fury over losing me had made him impatient, and he'd gotten tired of playing with the middle man. No more games; Blue was going straight to the top. The Minister of Defense is basically Commander in Chief of the Russian military and this Rottweiler was about to become Blue's lapdog. Blue was after the reins of the Russian Federation, and he intended to scoop up those reins in Bucharest.