Page 118 of Thanatos' Craving

Thanatos was so much more gentle.

Loki ruffled his feathers, some became detached and flew around him. Once they settled, he stood up impeccably clean, like he had never been a raven to begin with. He was in an all-black three-piece suit, his hair slicked back just like he walked out of an Armani store.

Bastard.

Loki’s smirk grew wide as he tugged on his vest. “Welcome to Chicago. Now,” he looked down at his watch-,” we have an appointment in about an hour, so why don’t we get going?” He held his hand out for me to take.

I stared at it for a moment before taking it, and he helped me stand.

“Y-you got an appointment with the matchmaker?”

Loki nodded. “Yeah, Simone was much more cooperative to talk with when you give into demands as opposed to beating it out of her.” He shivered.

“And what did she want?”

Loki frowned. “She wants to know where her mate is.”

I gasped. “And how are you going to tell her where it is? She’s in the dungeons, isn’t she? Your father won’t let her out!”

Loki bobbed his head. “You just leave that to me. Now, let’s go find out who this lady is and get you home.”

I followed Loki because he had a better idea where we were going than I did. Hell, he had all this planned out from the start; he was never planning on listening to me now, was he?

“Hang on just a second!” My legs wobbled as I shook off our journey. I nearly fell, but Loki spun around and caught me, shaking his head.

“Yeah, humans are a bit more fragile, aren’t they?”

I stood and pushed him away. “We are not!” I snapped. “Humans go through a lot. I have been through a lot. Just because I’m not used to jumping through realms or seeing people wear meat hands does not make me weak!”

“Meat hands?” he said under his breath.

“Those women,” I point in a random direction, “are strong and are keeping themselves put together and surviving. Just like your mother.”

Loki’s face fell.

“I’m sorry, Juniper. I didn’t mean—”

“Yeah, none of you mean it. It still stings. It doesn’t help that I left Thanatos back there. He thinks I left him, too.”

The look in Thanatos’ eyes when I left was full of anger, but I felt his heart break. My heart broke too, but he had to know that I wasn’t some breakable doll. I would not sit there. I sat most of my life, trying not to get in the way. Making sure I wasn’t a burden to anyone else.

I felt too strongly about this to let it go, and if he didn’t like that then —

I took a deep, stuttering breath.

I couldn’t think about that right now. I couldn’t think about what he will say when I see him again—if he didn’t want me for not listening to him.

I just would not sit around anymore. I was going to find out who this woman was. It would be so much easier for them to find her if we just knew who she was.

“Loki, you had all this planned out, like you knew I was going to say yes. You’ve been watching me and set this up.”

Loki doesn’t blink, doesn’t look the least bit guilty.

“You tell me why right now what the hell is going on, or I’m not going anywhere.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Juniper