Page 9 of Loki's Enemy Mate

“You’re all subservientdogsto those humans,” Heimdall spat. “No wolf should bow to a human! And no Alpha should bematedto a werewolf hunter.”

“On that we can agree.”

Heimdall acted like he wanted to keep arguing, but my words silenced him.

“I don’t think any wolf should have to serve a human,” I continued, looking him dead in the eye. “But I don’t think wolves should kill other wolves either. And your father killed mine in cold blood. I don’t care how much you’ve been lied to or convinced otherwise. I wasthere. I saw the wounds on my father’s body and the lack on Tyr’s. It was no fight. It was an ambush.”

His gaze was still fixed on me, although he didn’t reply.

“As much as I think my brother is making a mistake, he and my father are very much alike. The thing they both wanted more than anything was peace between our packs. Thor will never declare open war against Tyr.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because Thor, for all his muscle and his brawn, has no fight in him. He’s a lover. That’s why he’s had his heart turned by thathunter. And, if he’s not careful, that hunter will cut his throat one of these days in the middle of the night. I don’t trust him. And because of that, Thor needs to step aside.”

“You want to unseat your own brother?”

“I want to lead my pack to a future of peace and power,” I growled. “Don’t you want the same?”

Heimdall didn’t reply, but in his eyes, I could see those gears turning once more. But I didn’t want to talk with him. I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.

“Rest,” I said, turning my face back toward the sun for the last time and closing my eyes. “Rest until the moon comes out. By then our bones will be healed enough to hold our weight. After that, we’ll figure out how to get out of here and be rid of one another once and for all.”

Chapter Six: Heimdall

Idon’t know if Loki ever got to sleep. But it took me until early afternoon to finally find some rest. My brain was too full of racing thoughts to do much else except overthink for some time. Thoughts of my father, thoughts of the future, and thoughts of Loki filled my mind. Eventually I wore myself into a state of mental exhaustion before I slipped into the darkness of sleep.

When I awoke, I found the hole far above us had grown dark. Moonlight streamed into the cave, shimmering against the damp stone. The air was cold. Much colder than it had been the night before. Autumn was in full swing, but the chill in the air reminded me that winter wasn’t far off. Glancing down I saw Loki sitting up on his elbows, surrounded by golden leaves that had fallen from the trees and drifted down into the cavern as he gazed up at the sky.

For a moment I couldn’t help but stare, that strange sensation filling the pit of my stomach once more. There was something about Loki that felt…different.

I didn’t know what to make of it. Before I’d met the man, I only thought of him as my enemy. A wolf that needed to be taken out should he stand in the way of my father’s plans. But something had changed. Logically I knew he wasn’t someone I should trust. His family and mine were pitted against one another and had been for generations. But against my better judgement, I had this idea that maybe we could be friends. After all, he sympathized with my father’s anti-human ideas. That had to count for something, right?

But did I evenwantto be friends with him? I looked him up and down once more, my gaze lingering on his form for some time. I felt this urge to be closer to him, to hear his story. It was almost like I was a little kid again, meeting another boy my age for the first time. I felt odd and shy, like I wanted to make conversation and learn about them, but I was too scared to make the first move. How could a stranger make me feel like that? I was a grown man and an Alpha to boot. Nobody, especially not this half-pint Alpha, should make me feel that way.

Thoughts and emotions jumbled up inside my brain and I found myself getting more confused by the moment. Without pain to distract me, my mind was running much smoother. But that just meant that it could get all tangled up faster and with greater efficiency.

“What are you staring at?”

I blinked a couple of times before I realized I’d been gazing at Loki this entire time. He was turned toward me now, his brows furrowed in agitation. For the first time I noticed his long dark hair had been pulled up into a sort of messy bun on the back of his head. A single strand of it fell over his face, draping across the sharp bridge of his nose. Those light brown eyes of his glimmered in the moonlight and my gaze drifted down, taking in the thick dark beard on his hard jaw and the fullness of his lips.

My stomach twisted into a knot as I realized why I was so enamored with him.

He washandsome.

“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head and forcing myself to look away. My heart was pounding as cold anxiety coursed through my chest. “Just got lost in thought.”

“That happen to you a lot, Hamball?”

I shot him a dirty look, his handsomeness forgotten as soon as he said that word. “Stop calling me that,” I snapped.

He smirked. “No.”

That cocky look he wore made my blood boil. I wanted to get up and punch him right in his stupid smug face.

“I thought we had a truce?”

“We do,” he replied. “I said I wouldn’t try to kill you. But that doesn’t mean I have to be nice to you either.”

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