Finaan
Chapter six
He Wants Me
He wants me . I don’t know what the fuck that’s supposed to mean, but he speaks as if he knows me—as if he truly wants me.
“And I will have you,” he says for a third time, his fiery gaze never leaving mine as a spark ignites in my chest and races straight to my core.
Memories of seeing him in Helheim—my gods-awful attraction to him—fill my thoughts.
He’s an evil bastard but painfully sexy.
“But let’s leave that for another day, shall we?
” He gestures toward the floor in front of his cage. “Sit and I’ll eat with you.”
“I’m not hungry.” My response is clipped, demeanor placid, staid. I’ll be damned if I let him know how my body responds to him. I stride forward and set the tray on the ground as Fhord asked, then back away.
“You’re here to feed me. They want something or I’d be in the room with the drain while Fhord tries to rip responses from my flesh. I’ll give you answers—the ones I choose—only if you sit at my side while I eat. Or you can take the food away. Those are your choices.”
He’s so fucking intense, the bully I’ve seen in Helheim torturing ghouls trapped there.
“Or a third choice,” he suggests after a moment, his head cocking to the side as one eyebrow quirks up. “Our mistress will require information too. Tell me why you left Helheim, and I’ll bargain for your return to Niflhel instead of one of the outer rings.”
His voice drags me from my thoughts. I’m here for a reason and I won’t let myself get sucked into whatever nonsense he’s using to try to confuse me.
When I focus on what he asked, a burst of fury erupts in my gut, spiraling up my spine as it casts flames in its wake.
He makes it sound like we moved towns, instead of escaping from the horror of Helheim.
“Why did we leave?” I demand, forgetting for a moment what Fhord and Sifa want me to do.
“Why the fuck were we there in the first place? We lost centuries merely existing in that Hel-hole. We left because we could.”
His gaze tracks down to my heaving chest, pupils dilating as he watches my breasts move, one side of his lips tipping up.
And fuck me if the fire inside me doesn’t shift, moving down in a stream of liquid gold. I ignore it, because I will not let this male affect me. Striding forward, I clap my hands in front of his face. “Eyes up here, ghoul,” I bark.
“But there’s so much to see below your chin,” he purrs as the other side of his lips lifts. “Tempting,” he adds when he finally looks up, “but not why you’re here.”
“To tempt you?” I scoff. “No, I’d sooner bathe in fire ants.”
His smile grows, eyes darkening, and I realize that’s the kind of torture Wregen would relish.
“That would be even more tempting,” he murmurs as if he can read my mind. “But again, not why you’re here.”
“Then why don’t you put us both out of our misery. Tell me what you’re doing here, so I can go.”
“I don’t want you to go. I’m not miserable in your presence, and you’re not as miserable as you’d like to believe.” These words he rumbles, his gaze never leaving mine.
“I’d sooner be shoveling shit than standing here trying to understand you or why you’ve come,” I exclaim, my frustration at his mind-fuck kicking my heart into a frenzy. “Why am I here? Why me?” I inhale slowly, willing myself to calm down.
“Oh, my sexy skjaldmaer,” he growls, his voice triggering shivers up and down my spine.
“You don’t see it yet, but you will. You.
Are. Mine. You may fight it. You’ll hate it.
Hate me. But those days will be foreplay for the years, the centuries, that follow.
You’ll never escape me. Soon, you won’t want to.
You’ll crave my depraved touch. As I crave your gentle caress. ”
I roll my eyes, ignoring the way my body responds to him.
I’ve never been particularly sexual. I enjoy good sex, but I don’t search for it like some others do.
This male, though, unleashes something raw and hungry inside me.
Parts of my body that have slept my entire life are awake, the traitorous bitches, and they seem to ache for his corrupt hold.
I can never—never—let myself give in to whatever lunacy he’s triggering in me.
“I think Helheim broke your mind,” I tell him, proud of the steady tone I’ve dredged up.
“I’m here because we need information from you.
Nothing more.” I look down toward the food he must desperately need by now.
Fhord says he hasn’t eaten anything since he arrived.
He’s the one paying the price for whatever game he’s playing and he must be eager for an excuse to finally give in and take the meals we’ve been offering.
“As I told you, those days are ahead of us,” he says. “Today, just know what the future holds for you.”
Shaking my head as another river of warmth rolls into my seditious pussy, I focus on stopping my body from revealing his effect.
He’d never give up if he managed to draw a flush to my cheeks.
“Believe what you want,” I force out, anxious to move the conversation away from this madness. “You need to eat. So, eat.”
“As I said, when you sit with me, I’ll eat,” he responds with a shrug.
And then his expression changes, the playfulness of a moment ago shifting into something hard as his lips form a thin line and his eyes grow cold.
“Plant your gorgeous ass on the dirt in front of my cage, and I’ll sit across from you and eat the meal you’ve offered me.
Or take it and go. It matters not. I know you’ll return tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that.
I’ve nowhere else to be. I’ll wait for you to do as I demand. ”
“Then you’ll wait,” I tell him. I won’t play his games. He’s the one who’s starving, not me. Turning, I stride toward the stairs, anxious to get away from this infuriating male.
“Don’t you want the food?” he spews out, his words crisp, imperious. I suspect he doesn’t want the temptation, because he knows that if he eats it, even without me here, I win.
And I plan to win in this battle of wills he’s decided to launch with me.
I pause and turn my head, drawing his gaze up from my ass to my eyes, where it belongs. “You probably can use some company. There are plenty of critters on the island who’ll enjoy it if you don’t. Whoever brings your meal tomorrow will remove whatever’s left.”
“It will be you,” he demands in the same low tone he uses in Helheim.
“As I said, I’m in no hurry. You want something from me, you get it on my terms.” His hands lift to wrap around the bars, eyes narrowed so I can only see the darkness inside them.
“We’ll play this game until you sit your defiant ass on this ground and stay there while I eat.
Go away and don’t come back until you’re ready to do that. ”
Ugh! I’m tempted to stay there because he ordered me to go away—the arrogant prick—but I don’t trust the energy that’s pulsing through me right now.
Being in his presence messes with me and I need some time to get my shit together.
I ignore his words and stalk up the stairs.
I need to find Sifa and Fhord. I don’t know what the fuck to do about the enigma that is Wregen, and Sifa always knows what to do.
Pausing for a moment when I reach the main floor, I watch three elves debate something on the other side of the lobby, brows drawn and hands gesturing.
As I understand it, Fhord enlisted them and others to come here when he established this place as the base of the rebellion a decade ago.
We’re in the town’s largest building, three stories tall with a kitchen and meeting spaces on this floor, offices one level up, and living quarters at the top.
It’s somehow elegant and utilitarian, functional without fluff, its beauty found in the simple, comfortable furniture that fills the rooms.
But I don’t need to ask them where to find Fhord and Sifa.
If they’re in the town, they’ll be in the office Fhord claimed on the second floor.
I head there, hesitating outside their door to let the laughter that’s trickling into the hallway whisper into me.
It’s calming and I need a little peace right now.
When I’ve settled my erratic heart, I knock twice, a pang of regret rushing through me when they grow silent.
“Enter,” Fhord barks, drawing the corners of my lips up for a moment.
Just for a moment. Wregen flicks back into my mind as I reach for the handle, bringing my scowl with him.
“Give us a minute,” Sifa murmurs to her mate when she looks up, her eyes seeing everything, as usual.
Fhord turns to me with a smirk. He spent yesterday with the asshole and must know what soured my mood. Then he jerks his chin down once.
“Maybe Birger should try again,” he mutters as he stands and tromps past me and out the door.
“Whiskey?” Sifa asks, gesturing to the bottle and glasses between us as I join her at the table. They’re empty—it’s early still—and I’m tempted to accept. But I need a clear head for this.
I shake my head and drop my shoulders, willing the tension—and everything else—away. She’s patient, reviewing some papers in silence until I’m ready to talk. “He says he knows me. That he wants me,” I tell her at last. I don’t mention his repeated claim that he’ll have me, and I’m not sure why.
“You think he remembers you from Helheim?” she asks, her eyebrows pulling together as her lips purse. “You sounded pretty certain he had no idea who you were. We wouldn’t have asked you to go to him if this was personal.”
“It needed to be me. And I’ll go back again. Maybe tomorrow.”
“What does he want from you?”
I quirk my eyebrow, lifting my shoulders into a shrug. “I’m not sure. If I’m to believe him, he wants to fuck me. But I don’t think I believe him. More likely, he knows I lead the elves who were trapped in Helheim and hopes to use that in some way.”
“You’re a beautiful elf,” Sifa claims in a ridiculously serious tone. “What makes you think it’s not personal?”