Shelly Laurenston - Shelly Laurenston

His hands kept moving across her flesh, making it tingle and demand satisfaction. He kissed her neck, her chin, her cheek. But it wasn’t until he kissed her mouth—long, slow, and deep—that she knew what he was up to.

She tried to say no. Tried to push him off. But she was weak and he felt so good.

But this was wrong. They shouldn’t be doing this. They should never be doing this.

She let him continue, though. Let him kiss her and touch her. At some point, and without her even realizing he’d done it, he slipped on a condom. Then he was inside her and she almost cried. Cried from relief because her body ached to have him inside her all the time now. And cried from anger. Anger at herself for letting this go on.

Neecy pulled away from his kiss, even as her body thrilled to the slow, steady pace of his thrusts. “Yager…”

“You know how I feel about you, Neecy,” he cut her off, panting hard.

“No. Don’t.” She wanted to beg him to stop. She wanted to demand he keep going.

“You mean everything to me.”

“No.”

“I love you, Neecy. I’ll always love you.”

“No!” Now she was crying as she wrapped her arms around him. “God, Yager.

Please just…”

“If you tell me you don’t love me, I’ll stop. I’ll stop making love to you and fuck you twenty ways to Sunday. But ya gotta tell me you don’t love me.”

But she couldn’t. Neecy didn’t lie. She may bullshit and fool around, but she didn’t lie.

It was definite now. The not lying thing…by far her most annoying trait.

If she were a good liar, she could get laid and then head home tomorrow…and spend the rest of her life suffering for something she paid for twenty years ago.

But she wasn’t a liar. She never had been.

She’d paid for her past. Yeah. She was a drug dealer once. A good one. But she’d paid for all that as soon as her boyfriend pulled the trigger.

Now? Now she deserved to be happy. Or to at least try.

“I can’t,” she sobbed into his neck. “I can’t tell you that.”

Yager’s arms tightened around her body, as he continued to slowly thrust into her. He turned his head, forcing her to look at him. He smiled into her tear-‐ soaked face and kissed her eyes, her nose, her mouth.

“I love you, Neecy. You might as well get used to it. Cause I’m not going anywhere, baby. Not without you right by my side.”

Neecy thought a fresh wave of tears might suddenly explode out of her, but the orgasm got to her first. She gripped Yager tight and let him take her exactly where he wanted her to go.

Yager held her so tight, he was afraid he’d break her. Especially when he came and he temporarily lost the ability to speak or think straight.

He knew he might scare her off, but it was a risk he was willing to take. He had to do something. The look in those eyes said it all. Come morning, she would leave him…again. He couldn’t face that. He couldn’t face waking up another morning without Neecy next to him. Not when he’d had her right by his side for days.

And telling her just wasn’t enough for Neecy. He had to show her. To be honest, though, he never thought she’d let him. He was terrified she’d pull away or tell him to stop. If she’d told him to stop, he would have, even though it probably would have killed him.

He kissed away her tears as he gently pulled out of her. He tossed the condom in the trashcan by the bed and turned back to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his chest.

Her warm breath tickled the skin of his neck as he used his hands to soothe her shaking.

“I’m never letting you go, Neecy Lawrence. No matter what. Understand?”

She nodded her head but didn’t speak.

“As long as we’re clear, baby.”

When he was sure she finally slept, he closed his eyes and joined her.

Neecy frowned at the sound of birds. Not her crows. These were birds that didn’t actually sound frightening. Yager was behind her, spooning her. His big arms wrapped around her waist like he was afraid she’d fly away.

Her naked skin itched and she realized it was because of the grass.

Neecy’s eyes snapped open. Grass?

She gave herself a moment to focus and quickly realized they were under an enormous tree. Its limbs twisted and turned leading up toward the stars while its roots led to the bowels of the earth. It took her a good thirty seconds to figure out exactly where she was—beneath the sheltering leaves of Yggdrasil or the World Tree. The way station between the different worlds of the Norse gods, including Asgaard, Helheim, Aesiras, as well as a few other worlds Neecy couldn’t remember the names of.

In the halls of Asgaard, Neecy would find Valhalla. Being that close to her final resting place until Ragnarok came gave her little comfort.

“Would you like some grapes?”

Neecy glanced up at the woman standing over her wearing a Boston Red Sox baseball cap, black overalls, and a plain white T-‐shirt.

“What is it with you and fruit?”

Skuld smiled as she sat under the tree. “I find it a wonderful icebreaker.” She popped several grapes in her mouth.

“Do you know why you’re here, Denise?” she demanded while chewing.

Christ, it was like dealing with a nun. They were the only ones that called her Denise.

“No. And I definitely don’t know why he’s here.” She motioned to the still sleeping Yager who, even in sleep, gripped her like his life depended on it.

“Well, let’s start with him, cause he’s easy. He refused to let you go.”

“What?”

“I tried to pull you away from him to bring you here and the man would not release you. So I had to bring you both. As a leader of the Ravens, I wasn’t too concerned about having him here, but talk about some strength. No wonder he’s Odin’s favorite. I just thought that was because he was the one who actually had the balls to take the big idiot to a strip joint.”

Neecy remembered what he told her last night. “I’m never letting you go, Neecy Lawrence. No matter what.” Apparently, he wasn’t kidding.

“So this is the deal…Didi wants to retire.”

Throwing Yager’s arm off, Neecy sat up abruptly. “What? Well, you can’t let her.”

“I have very little choice.”

“Since when?”

“Since I’ve kept the Crows mortal. At some point, if you survive, all of you will need to retire.”

Neecy’s eyes narrowed. “So what does that have to do with me?”

“I do love the sound of trepidation in your voice…and you know exactly what this means.”

“You want me to lead the Jersey Gathering?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?”

“I don’t know. I guess I never really thought about it.”

“Well, no one could ever accuse you of being power hungry.”

“Power hungry? I’ve got too much shit to do.”

Skuld laughed and it was a surprisingly soothing sound. “I see why Didi likes you. You’re strange.”

“I’ll try and take that as a compliment.”

Neecy glanced over her shoulder as Yager sat up, his mouth open in a wide yawn.

He nodded his head at the goddess. “Skuld.”

“Wilhelm.”

“Why are we here exactly?”

“It’s time.”

Yager brushed his hand over Neecy’s bare arm. A calming move that worked extremely well. “Time for what?”

“For Denise to prove her worth to me.”

“I haven’t already?”

“As a soldier, you’re exemplary. But I need a war-‐time leader.”

“War time?”

“This assault from the Hunters, Denise, is just the beginning. They want you gone for the same reason I want you to lead.” Skuld ate a few more grapes, turned her head to the right, and yelled, “I told you two I’m in a meeting! So one of you bitches get out here and water this goddamn tree!”