“Two.” He inhaled, exhaled, accepting his fate. “I should be back in a few hours. By tonight, latest.”
“If you need backup in Coos Bay, I know a few people,” I said.
“As if Mithra would let someone else handle it. No, I’m good. It’s...I’m good.” He turned to leave, then strode back to me, closing the distance fast.
And then he was there, in my space, in my world, breathing the same ocean breeze, shining under this same sun. “I love you,” he said softly, all his heart reaching, wanting me to know he would try to fix this, too: his connection to Mithra. That he would try to make our life better.
“I love you,” I told him, because this wasn’t just his problem to solve. I wanted a lifetime of quiet, uninterrupted moments with him on the beach, watching the sun set, sharing the warmth of a blanket, or just walking hand in hand. I would find a way to break his contract to that god if it was the last thing I did.
He bent, and I met him halfway for the kiss which was brief, but heated, Ryder’s anger a warmth of its own.
“I’ll be home soon,” he promised.
“Good,” I said. “You’re cooking dinner.”
“Damn right I am.” His fingers brushed my hip, lingering and reluctant to leave. Then he walked over to his truck, nodding to Myra as he passed. “Good luck with them.”
“Drive safe,” she said. She put her hands on her hips and looked between the two gods. “You two done fighting?”
“It was just a tiff,” Crow said airily.
“So you’re done fighting?” I asked.
Crow grinned. “Let’s just say if I want to punch him, I’ll do it where no one can see me.”
“The fuck you will,” Odin said mildly.
“Not the message I was delivering, but I know when to count my winnings. Just in case,” I said, “Crow, you’re with me.”
“What?”
“Odin,” Myra said, “How about I escort you to wherever you should be right now, which is nowhere near Crow.”
There was a moment, a tension in the air, when I thought both gods would decide they really, really wanted to get kicked out of Ordinary, but then Odin inhaled and gave Myra a little smile.
“I was going to deliver a few orders,” he said. “I don’t need you to escort me back to my property.”
“Pretty sure I’m going to anyway,” she said.
That got a low, fond chuckle out of him. “All right. I wouldn’t mind a lift.”
He turned and walked to the cruiser without once looking back at Crow, ignoring the other god completely.
“Three o’clock, right?” Myra asked me.
“What’s happening at three?”
She blinked. “Really? I reminded you yesterday.”
“Oh.”
“And the day before, and four times last week. A month ago, you told me you wrote it in your calendar.”
“I... Right. It slipped my mind?”
She squinted at me. “Dress shopping.”
“Right. That.”
