Immortal, Insatiable, Indomitable

Aunt Sigrun.

He couldn’t have heard right.

Maxing his cloaking powers to make sure he wouldn’t be detected by whatever Kara had called “aunt,” he looked inside.

And saw her. A woman who looked like a bank CEO. Petite, elegant in an immaculate skirt suit, caramel hair in a smooth chignon. She looked to be in her mid-thirties. As did he.

But while he was a few millennia old, she was a few dozen.

She was a Dís. An ancient Norse deity of fate.

And she was having tea with Kara.

Her expression was that of an admonishing parent as she said, “You’re way off schedule, Kara. We did our part directing you to the Lokian. You’ve had him eating out of your hands from day one. When will you bring in his soul?”

Chapter Eight

Kara jerked as something slammed outside.

The wind from the window she kept open for Vidar must have knocked something over.

She grabbed for the distraction. “How about I go check the damages and you see yourself out, Aunt Sigrun?”

Sigrun eyeballed her. “How about you give me an answer? A ballpark date?”

“How about sometime around never?”

Full, crimson lips twisted mockingly. “Don’t get pissy with me, missy. I have no stake in this matter. It’s for your own good.”

Kara huffed. “Yeah, sure. You’re a saint. Just go, okay?”

“Tell me you’re working on it, at least. You need this big guy dead, and all you’ve done so far is fuck him nearly to death.” Sigrun paused, cracked out a laugh. “Say, is that your plan?”

Kara rolled her eyes. “God, for someone older than the pyramids, you’ve got one juvenile sense of humor.”

Sigrun eyed her sardonically. “Tsk. Bringing up age when you’re just a millennium or so younger? And when you have a schoolgirl crush on your mark? Granted, the Lokian is luscious

, and we don’t begrudge you using him for all the raunchy sex you can while you can, but no matter how hot his hide is, you know it’s his or yours. So step up your schedule, hmm?”

Kara moved pointedly to the bedroom door. “Weird that you could live for millennia and still think repeating yourself makes what you say more effective. Thanks for the visit, Aunt Sigrun.”

“Drop the ‘aunt’ bit already, would you?” Sigrun rose serenely, decked in brand-name elegance and tossing her five-hundred-dollar haircut. “It was cute when you were a fifteen-year-old urchin and under six-foot, but now you’re scaring all my hot guys away.”

“Haven’t you eaten enough already?”

Sigrun let out another merry laugh. “Only those scheduled to be devoured, sweetie. And there’s no such thing as gorging yourself on enough hunks. As you’re now in a position to judge. By now you realize there’s no getting enough of a hot guy who knows how to use his hot bod. But you know you’ll do it sooner rather than later, so give that stud of yours one last ride for the ages, then put him out of his misery.”

Kara sighed in exasperation, shook her head again at the incongruence of the fragile figure that she now knew wielded the power of a thousand men.

Sigrun pecked her on the cheek on her way out. “Thanks for the tea. Even if I made it myself.” At the loft’s door, she threw over her shoulder, “Clock’s ticking, Kara. Get on the ball.”

Kara gritted her teeth as the door closed behind Sigrun. Her “aunt” even managed to make it click condescendingly.

She had to put an end to this, get her “family” off her back….

“So…how are you planning to take my soul?”

Kara’s skin almost pooled to the ground. Vidar.