Page 6 of Tyr

Tyr swallowed hard, trying to not cause another incident.

How could someone do that to a woman? Whoever it was, they were damn lucky Sy was taking care of them and not him. Because if Tyr got his hands on them, when he finished, there would be nothing left but a pile of tissue and pulverized bones.

A tingle skittered up his spine to his mind, and his gaze locked straight on Sy’s daughter. Her eyes widened and then litfrom within. She had Sy’s gift. And at that moment, he got the distinct impression she approved of what he’d wanted to do.

Celeste peeredup and up and up to the largest man she’d ever seen. Tight black t-shirt so crisp it looked freshly ironed. The cotton stretched over muscles so massive she had no idea how his skin didn’t burst. His body tapered down to a trim waistband, where the t-shirt tucked into a thick belt and a pair of dark gray combat pants disappeared into black leather boots. Strangely, he wore a single black leather glove that reached up past his left wrist but no right glove.

Her father had told her about his friend Tyr, the Norse God of War, and she hadn’t known what to expect, but it wasn’t the man standing in front of her. Dark hair, tan skin, high cheekbones, and a heavy chiseled jaw. Every inch of him screamed power. Power and danger. Celeste swallowed hard and fought to keep herself from shaking again. She’d shaken so much in the last two weeks that every muscle felt as if she’d run a marathon every day for a month. As she sized Tyr up. Was she going from one monster to another?

No. Her father would never do anything to hurt her. He was nothing like her mother. Ironic since her mother was an angel and her father a demon.

As her father and Tyr talked, Celeste lowered her defenses a fraction to reach into Tyr’s mind. Her father had told her not to use her powers unless absolutely necessary, especially in the underworld, but in light of what she had been through, she couldn’t help herself. She needed to know if he had any intentions other than helping her.

Like rolling down the window of a car, she peeled her shield back a fraction. Immediately, every mind in the café bombarded her. She sucked in a shallow breath and fought to push them away. But in order to do that, she had to catalog them all.

She’d taken her shield down in the closet the day before and had explored the mental world. In doing so, she’d realized every brain had a specific wave attached to it. Each one as unique as a set of fingerprints. All she had to do was touch each wave with her mind, and she could immediately tell the difference between them. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine… she lost count of how many there were.

“Damn, she is so fine.”

“Ugh, when will this be over?”

“I wonder how much he is worth. I guess I could agree to a real date and find out.”

“Oh my gosh, if I can’t convince her to be with me, I’m going to die.”

“Man, the crop is getting lean. I think I might have to give up finding a mate.”

“I bet she’s amazing in bed, but is she wife material? I don’t think she is.”

Celeste blushed at all the carnal thoughts.

What the hell? Where had her father brought her? A brothel?

After several seconds, she pushed the other thoughts from her mind and focused on the man in front of her.

“How could someone do that to a woman? Whoever it was, they were damn lucky Sy is taking care of them and not me. Because if I get my hands on them, when I finished, there would be nothing left but a pile of tissue and pulverized bones.”

Tyr’s gaze turned on her cold and unreadable. He knew. Somehow, he knew she’d been reading his thoughts. Embarrassed, Celeste pushed her shields back up. She’d heard enough. Tyr was a threat, but not to her. The rage in his thoughtsat what had been done to her gave her a strange sense of comfort.

His dark, piercing eyes seemed to look right through her, as if they’d seen too many years of pain and horror. If it hadn’t been for the rage she’d seen in him, she’d have thought them blank, soulless almost. But somehow that drew her to him. Drew her to him because she wanted to do the same thing to Anton.

Her father gave her a side hug, making her broken ribs jolt her. “I’ll come back for you as soon as I can.”

“How long?”

Her father shook his head.“I don’t know, dearest. But I promise you, I will deal with this. I will make it safe for you to go home again.”

“I don’t want to go back there. I don’t want to go with her. I want to be with you. Why can’t you teach me what you do? I can stay with you. Help you.”

Her father shook his head again.“I’ve told you before the men I work for are as bad as Anton. I don’t want to risk you with them.”

“And yet, I ended up in the same position, staying with my mother.”

Her father blew out a breath. They’d had the same conversation half a dozen times in the last twenty-four hours. Her father worked for a higher class of demons as well as other supernaturals as an independent contractor. Surely those beings weren’t worse than the human monsters her mother had sold her to. She’d never once seen her father come back to her with bruises or broken bones.

A moment of silence passed between them as Tyr watched their psychic interaction with interest.

Her father scanned the room and then lifted Celeste’s hood and covered her face. “I’ll be back soon. Stay with Tyr. Do not leave his side. Promise me.”

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