“Fuck you, Viper!” I screamed at him and pushed away to point a finger in his face. “I told you it was a trap. Itold youto turn around, but you wouldn't listen to me. You had to go and act like an asshole.”
“Wow, fuckandasshole,” Re murmured. “She's really mad.”
“I wasright there,” he growled. “This body may be less than a year old but I'm not a child, Vervain. And I'm not one of your lions either. I don't take orders from you... not anymore.”
“No, you're not my lion, you're my boyfriend and I love you. Andthatshould have been enough of a reason for you to trace back to me when I was worried about you.”
“As if you don't do shit like that all the time,” Viper scoffed. “Don't lecture me about things you're unwilling to do yourself.”
“I do shit like that all the time?” I snarled. “When? In my past that you weren't a part of? And to who? Not to you, Viper. I have never done that to you so you don't get to say that shit to me.”
“I can't say that to you? You're going to put limits on what I can say now? You already tell me where to sleep and what to wear. You run my fucking life, Vervain, and I'm tired of it. I'm sorry that I scared you, but I had everything under control.”
“Yeah, but you left me hanging while you established that!”
“I was busy fighting a whole lot offucking snakes! You should have trusted me!”
“Snakes that you wouldn't have been fighting if you'd listened to me!”
“Go fuck yourself, Dark Star, cause I'm not playing the part of your sex toy tonight,” Viper snarled and traced away.
Dark Star. That had been a low blow—even worse than that sex toy bit—and I wasn't the only one who thought so, if the gasps around me were any indication.
I stared at the empty space before me, my breath coming out in ragged pants, as my family and friends shifted uncomfortably in the awkward silence. How had that escalated so quickly? I haven't shouted at one of my men like that since... since the time Trevor had left me. Oh, fuck. Had I just driven Viper away? Was that a break-up argument? He told me that he'd been waiting centuries for me in the Void. He said I was everything to him. He said a lot of things that made me believe he'd never leave me but then, most men do. I felt that awful, bitter weight on my chest—something I haven't felt in a long time. Something I thought I'd never feel again.
Insecurity.
I doubted Viper and our relationship. Part of me was already preparing for abandonment—steadying myself for the blow. A long time ago, I'd been a cynical person, especially when it came to love. I'd been burned a few times and it had left me with a rubbery scar that love couldn't penetrate; it simply bounced off. When I met the Gods, my insecurity deepened at first. Thor had done a number on me—reaching past my scars only to crush my heart completely. Then Trevor came along and he'd pushed back the fear for awhile—those nagging thoughts that I wasn't good enough. That human men got tired of me so what would make a god stick around? Then Trevor had left me. He came back eventually—I had to bring him back, actually, right out of Viking Hell—but I'd never forgotten the pain of his abandonment. Or the look in his eyes when he told me it was over.
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't blameless in that episode. Trevor had a good reason to leave and I didn't resent him for it. Nonetheless, he wasn't the one who picked up the broken Vervain pieces and put me back together. He wasn't the one to teach me that love can get shaky sometimes but when you have something truly special, nothing can break it. That was Kirill. And Odin. That was Azrael and Re. Toby... he had left too but I, oddly enough, had gotten over it. There was still an ache in my chest for him, but I'd known from the beginning that Toby was never meant to be mine. Deep down, I knew it wouldn't last. Viper, however, had felt like mine from the beginning. If he left, I would never get over him.
“He's just gone somewhere to cool off.” Trevor gently laid his hand on my shoulder.
I jerked away from him. He was the wrong man to comfort me about this.
“Minn Elska?” He asked in a wounded tone.
“I'm sorry, Honey-Eyes, but this is bringing back bad memories and one of them is of you.”
Trevor's jaw clenched but his wolf eyes softened with understanding. He dropped his hand.
“What I miss?” Aidan, one of my werelions, asked as he appeared nearby.
“Not now, Aidan,” Kirill growled.
“Sheesh, Viper told me to come back and show you guys how to get to the house,” Aidan grumbled. “He was rather rude about it too. What the hell happened while I was gone?”
“Start transporting Intare to site,” Kirill ordered. “Everyone else, give us some privacy, please.”
Aidan started to balk but took one look at my face and shut his mouth. He grabbed two lions and traced them away. The remaining lions and the God Squad followed a weary but wide-eyed Austin into his house. All but my men. In fact, Odin suddenly traced in. He must have still been with me in my mind and heard my panic.
Odin stepped out of the Aether and directly into an urgent stride that took him straight to me. He pulled me into an embrace and held me against his broad chest as his head curled over mine. His hand went to my hair and started stroking soothingly. My heartbeat slowed as I listened to his and my breath left me on a long exhale.
“Viper's just angry, Carus,” Azrael drew closer and laid a hand on my back. “Give him some time.”
“I said some awful things,” I whispered.
“No, you didn't,” Re insisted. “You spoke the truth, it was just colored with fear. He'll see that soon enough. Viper, as much as he acts the fool sometimes, is not one.”
