Page 54 of Tyr

He nodded. “If you’d like.”

“I take it Frigg’s place is a bar?”

“Frigg owns a tavern and inn of sorts. Upstairs is in the Midgard realm. And downstairs is here in the Underworld. Heimdall works in the upstairs pub as security.”

She nodded. “Do a lot of you work together? The Norse gods, I mean.”

Tyr nodded and sat on the bed near her feet. He resisted the urge to kiss her.

“Herm and Vid and I work together. Fenrir used to help out, but he doesn’t anymore. Loki is a lawyer and has jobs for us quite often. Odin owns a burlesque club. We all help out from time to time if he needs it. Thor has a motorcycle shop. Frigg has her place. Both Loki and Thor’s wives work there… or used to. I’m not sure, to be honest.”

“Is that all of you?”

“No. There’s Hodr, Meili, Baldur, you met Vali, and there’s Hel, but she has her own little slice of the kingdom down here that she rules, so we don’t see her much.”

“Wow. You have a lot of family.”

Tyr snorted. “Technically, I’m not blood-related to any of them, but yes, we are all Norse gods, and we have lived, loved, and hated each other for enough time that I suppose you call us a family. A very dysfunctional family, but a family, nonetheless.”

“If you want dysfunctional, you should see my family. To be honest, though, it would be nice to have a lot of people around who support you. Whether or not they were blood-related. I’ve never had that.”

Tyr couldn’t hold back. He brushed her cheek with his knuckles and then leaned in and kissed her. Her warm, soft lips had him hard in an instant, remembering the feel of her the night before. So timid, and yet so willing. The idea of her submission had him harder still.

Tyr broke the kiss and set his forehead against hers. He wanted to say something profound. Something that would help heal her bruised and battered heart.

“You never have to be alone again, Celeste. Not unless you want to.” He swallowed hard. He’d never said something like that to a woman before, but his words were the truth. She didn’t have to be alone. He would take care of her. Be there for her. Beside her. But only if that was what she wanted. Though, even thinking about it, he knew it was a lie. He’d never let her go, now. Never. She was his. Whether she wanted to be or not.

Never, in all his long years, had anyone made him feel what she did. And not once had someone brought him peace.

She stared up at him, her eyes wide and searching.

“We should get you something to eat.”

She nodded. “I wish I could argue, but I’m starving.”

Tyr nodded and stood. “Come on, get dressed.”

“Where are we going?”

“First, we’re gonna stop off at Frigg’s, and then, I’m going to take you to my favorite place for breakfast.”

Tyr openedthe door to Frigg’s Pub, ‘The Raven Weaver,’ and kept his hand on Celeste as they walked through the already gathering throng and headed for the stairs in the corner.

Tyr nodded to Frigg before stepping up the wooden staircase and through the portal that would take them topside. His gut twisted with anxiety, and he squeezed Celeste’s hand hard as she stepped through the portal as well. Every nerve in his body told him he shouldn’t have brought her, but at the same time, he couldn’t have left her at the estate by herself. He would have stressed the entire time; who knew what trouble she’d get herselfinto. And his stressing was not a smart thing. He thought finding his soulmate would help his ability to control his emotions, but he wondered if it would do the complete opposite. Because one thing had been made overly apparent to him since making love to her, he would do whatever it took to protect her. Whatever. And for the God of War, that was not a good thing.

They exited the stairwell and stepped through a curtain to the Midgard side of Frigg’s pub.

He scanned the bar, and though it was early afternoon, there were still plenty of humans drinking, eating, and watching a soccer game on the television above the bar. Tyr never got into soccer. Not enough contact for him. He preferred hockey and rugby. The more blood, the better.

Tyr headed to Heimdall’s table without needing to see if he was there. He was almost always there when the doors were open.

Heimdall’s golden eyes waited for them as they slid into his booth. Tyr made Celeste get in first, and then he followed, blocking her from the rest of the bar.

Sylax had told him to keep her in the Underworld and as soon as he dropped the money off to Heim, they were going right back down. Problem was, Tyr wasn’t sure how to just hand money to Heimdall and walk away. He felt obligated to at least have a few words of small talk with him, even if he didn’t like it.

Tyr had never been afraid of anyone. Not even Odin scared him. But Heimdall… made him uncomfortable at best. He wasn’t sure why. Possibly because the god saw everything about everyone. And there were a lot of things Tyr had done in the dark that he didn’t want anyone to witness. Maybe it was because, like himself, Heimdall was the only other Norse God who wasn’t descended from or a relative of Odin and Frigg. Which meant his loyalties could lie anywhere.

He was sure it was that Heimdall knew everything about him which made him the most uncomfortable, though.

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