Page 34 of Inferno

“So, you see,” I say, wrapping up. “You weren’t wrong.”

“About?” she prods, almost as if she needs to hear me say it again.

“About who I am,” I clarify. “You said you recognized me, and your first thoughts were spot on. I am the same man who carried you out of that fire when you were a kid. I’m Dean Haskins, and I died on May twenty-third back in two-thousand and six.”

Emmy’s lips part, and then she freezes, like a movie being paused.

17

Odin

Inferno waves his hand in front of Emmy’s face.

“She’s frozen.”

I tried to stay out of it, tried to let Inferno handle the situation on his own. Eir assured me that he was good. But, clearly, he’s anything but.

He whirls around and glares at me. “Unfreeze her,” he demands.

“What were you thinking?” I shout as I close the distance between him and wrap my hand around his throat. “You just broke so many rules, you’ll be in the pits for eternity as punishment!”

The VP of Valhalla Rising MC shoves me away from him as if I’m not his God. “Don’t you dare put this on me,” he sneers. “You sent me here. You did this. Whatever happens as a result of me telling her the truth is on your head, not mine.”

“If you ever touch me like that again,” I growl. “It’ll be the last?—”

“Oh, get off your high horse, Odin,” he grits. “Viking may have done your bidding and followed the rules exactly, but I’m not him. You sent me here to protect Emmy, and that’s what I’m doing. But I can’t protect her if she doesn’t trust me, and she wasn’t going to fully trust me as long as she had suspicions.”

I don’t correct his assumption that Viking followed all of the rules. He most certainly did not. And I’m sure, if Inferno were clear-headed, he’d remember that little fact.

As much as I hate it, I also can’t argue his point. I could see that Emmy was struggling, and despite how good things seemed between them, it wouldn’t last if all they had were lies.

Even I’m man enough—or god enough—to admit that.

“And what if she can’t see past the truth?” I ask, genuinely curious as to how he’ll handle that.

“You were the one talking about soul mates,” he reminds me. “If she’s mine, then the truth won’t scare her as much as it should.”

And therein lies the crux of the problem… Emmaline Daniels and Dean Haskins are soulmates. The fates declared it long ago, and I can’t fuck with fate. That’s the one thing forbidden to all gods.

When I don’t respond quickly enough for him, he stabs a finger in my chest, forever pushing the limits of my restraint.

“If you don’t like how I’m doing things, send me to the pits,” Inferno taunts. “I’d rather burn for eternity than lie to her anymore.”

“You better keep her safe,” I say sternly. “If you don’t, there will be consequences.”

18

Emmy

“Iknew?—”

Inferno is no longer standing in front of me, but rather, he’s near the wall with his back to me.

“Uh, what happened?” I ask.

He spins around and groans. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“What do you mean? I was talking to you, and then you were in a different spot.”

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