Free Marked by Death (The Godhunter, Book 4) by Amy Sumida Page B

chest. “I can’t find anything to stop it.”
    “ Vervain,” he moaned and pulled me back down again.
    He wrapped us in the thick pelts that covered the bed, rubbing my arms fiercely to try and battle the cold. Then his hands were everywhere, briskly and desperately warming me. With an anguished cry, he tore off his tunic and yanked my dress off me, so he could press his flesh to mine and surround me with his heat.
    “Odin,” I stroked his long brown hair, admiring the golden highlights, “my sweet raven.” He looked up at that, meeting my resigned gaze with his hopeful one. “You can’t fight this. All we can do is wait and see.”
    “ No,” he moaned, burying his face in my hair and holding my cold flesh defiantly.
    He suddenly shot out of the bed and ran over to the wall of shelves filled with ancient spell books. He pulled down a stack and sat on the floor, flipping through their pages like a madman. I snuggled deeper into the furs and watched him as the cold crept up and began to cover my heart.
    An hour later, I was completely numb and Odin was surrounded by his entire collection of books. He looked up after closing the last of them and met my eyes. His face was etched with despair and there was a small flicker of pain within me in answer to it, but then it was absorbed, iced over, and I felt nothing.
    He stood up and came back to bed, sliding under the covers and pulling me close. I went into his arms without comment, all my emotions were gone, including any guilt I might have felt for allowing Odin to touch me. Horus had been right, Anubis had taken my soul. I could feel its absence like a hollowness throughout my entire body and then something else occurred to me.
    I looked and looked, closing my eyes and searching every dark corner of myself but she was nowhere to be found. I saw my lioness, my wolf, my butterflies and my other magic but they were skittish, snapping at each other and even staring at me with suspicion, and I knew why. My Nahual was gone.
    My beautiful white jaguar, the magic that was me, my animal twin, had been taken. I'd always known she was me, the epitome of my magic as a human, but I hadn't realized that she represented far more than that, that my human magic wasn't just magic, it was my soul. And now it belonged to Death.
    I should have been scared. I should have been frantic, wondering how my other magic would behave without her controlling presence. I should have been terrified that I was no longer whole, no longer had control over myself, no longer was myself. But I felt nothing.
    Odin must have sensed something had changed because he pulled back and stared hard at me. His hand came to my face, slid down my neck, and then, very slowly, it crested my breast. I waited passively, looking up at him expectantly but without concern. He sucked in his breath and squeezed me gently, rubbing my nipple with his palm.
    I inhaled sharply. Pleasure. I felt pleasure and I wanted more. My emotions were gone, my heart cold and soulless, but this I could feel and I needed it to bring me back. His touch brought something to life, something tingly and warm. I wanted that warmth so badly. So I let his hand push the lace of my bra down and watched as his mouth covered me. The heat of his tongue swirling around me made me arch up and cry for more.
    “ Odin,” I held him too me. “More, quickly, give me more.”
    He growled low in his throat and a tingle danced through the air, magic surrounding us and flinging our clothes away. I was so cold but he was on fire, his magic stroking me where his hands couldn’t reach. It was working, the numbness was falling back, and I writhed in need.
    “Vervain,” he raised his face, his body straining with the effort to control himself. “Tell me to stop. Say it now and I will, but it must be now!”
    “ Don’t stop, raven,” I pulled his face to mine and kissed him with all the passion I’d been denying. His close-cropped beard stroked my face softly but