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Chapter Thirty-Eight: Directions (CW)

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The corner of his mouth kicked up at my words. He lifted a hand, wrapping his fingers around my throat. He guided me by the neck, pushing me so that my back was against the door. He kissed me all along my jaw and the corner of my mouth, biting and licking.

I tried to keep myself quiet, but it was hard when I felt his free hand wander down past my waist.

"Loki," I gasped against him, as I felt one of his fingers slip inside, "The walls are thin. And the others—" Another gasp of pleasure interrupted me, and I pressed my lips against his to muffle my moan.

"Say my name again," Loki said roughly into my ear, "Ask nicely."

"Please, Loki," I whispered back.

He sighed contentedly, reaching for a folded cloth on the night stand. I watch him with a raised brow, as he placed it in my mouth, gagging me.

"Hush now," he said with a smirk, "Good girl."

I felt him place another finger inside me, and I tried and failed to suppress the noises he forced out of me.

His fingers moved in and out in a quick rhythm as he watched me melt in front of him. My legs were like jelly and the only thing keeping me upright was his hand holding my neck against the door.

I could do nothing to hold back the noises that escaped my lips when I felt the knot, low in my stomach, unfurl. My eyes rolled up and I thanked God for the gag that silenced my noises.

Loki smirked, pulling the cloth from my mouth. "I do love to see you undone," he said deeply, removing his fingers and lifting them to his lips. He kept his eyes on me as he licked them off.

"At least try to hide your smugness," I said to him, taking a wobbly step forward toward the bed, where Darcy had laid out clothes for me.

"Why would I, when it elicits a reaction from you that I very much enjoy?" Loki asked, leaning against the door and folding his arms as he watched me slip the tank top over my head.

"You're insufferable and I'm still going to kill you," I said, as I pulled on the jeans, "Or at least set your hair on fire."

"You love it," Loki said, as he closed the distance between us, knitted his fingers through my hair, and pulled me roughly in for a kiss. "That was to show my appreciation, pet. And I'd very willingly do it again."

"Again, with the name—" I swatted his shoulder and pulled on the button up.

"Now, I'm not a fan of your realm's clothing, but I don't protest to seeing you in those," Loki remarked, eyes well below the equator.

"You're lucky I can't summon enough flame to cook you like a rotisserie chicken right now, because if I could, I would," I retorted, opening the door and entering back out into the sitting room where the others were gathered around a computer screen.

"What took so long?" Erik asked us absently as we joined them.

"I showered," I responded. I could feel Loki's proud smirk without having to look at it.

"Your hair is dry," Thor noted.

"I used a blow dryer," I shot back.

"The only one I have is busted," Darcy said, folding her arms, "Much like you are, right now."

"You know, I really don't think that's important considering the impending doom of the entire universe," I folded my arms across my chest, and Loki laughed from behind me. I elbowed him in the gut. "What have you guys got?"

"Malekith is going to fire the Aether at a spot where all the nine worlds are connecting," Jane explained.

"Amplifying the weapons impact," added Erik. "For each additional world, the power will increase exponentially. The effect would be universal."

"Yes, but the Alignment is only temporary," Thor said, "He must be in exactly the right place at the right time."

"Well, how do we know where that is?" Darcy frowned, placing a steaming mug of tea in my hands. I was grateful for the warmth.

"We follow the directions," Erik said, standing to reveal that he was still not wearing any pants, "This has happened before, thousands of years ago, and the ancients were there to see it," he continued, picking up a role of paper and laying it out on the table. "All the great constructions. The Mayans, the Chinese, the Egyptians. They made use of the gravitational effects of the Convergence. And they left us a map."

At that, he began to mark up the paper. "Stonehenge, Snowdon, the Great Orme; these are all coordinates, taking us..." he traced an 'x' and pointed at its cross. "Here."

"Greenwich?" the man whose name I'd yet to learn said over Jane's shoulder.

"The walls between worlds will be almost non-existent," Jane remarked, "Physics is gonna go ballistic. Increases and decreases in gravity, spatial extrusions... The very fabric of reality is going to be torn apart."

I sighed, closing my eyes. "This is going to be New York all over again," I groaned, eyeing Loki with a death glare in my peripheral.

Thor called to Mjolnir. "Feeling up to summoning another blade of flame, Firebyrd?"

"Yeah, yeah," I pulled my hair into a ponytail out of my face, "I can probably do that."

Erik nodded. "I better get my pants."

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"I can carry that," Loki said, matching my pace as I rushed with one of Erik's poles to the site he'd delegated.

"Chivalry doesn't suit you, Loki," I answered, "Besides, just because I saved your life—you're welcome for that by the way—doesn't mean I trust you."

"Sorry, perhaps I got the wrong impression with your confession of love earlier," he jested.

"I'm sure this pole will still work just fine if you're impaled on it," I shot back, "Would you like to find out?"

"I'm only teasing, my dear," he put his hands up in mock surrender. Then, his smile fell into a serious expression, "Do you truly feel up to fighting Malekith again? You're hardly rested and I can't have you dying on me."

"Says the one who nearly died twice the last time," I riposted. "And it doesn't matter whether I feel up to it or not. Malekith is coming, so I'll fight."

He shook his head. "Ever the stubborn mule."

"Just what every girl wants to be compared to," I pretended to swoon, "A donkey. How romantic."

"There are a list of other things I could think to compare you to, pet, but I know you well enough not to do so in public," Loki answered.

I rolled my eyes as Loki and I stopped at the location. I held the pole firmly in place as Loki hammered it into the ground.

"You might want to move a little faster," I suggested, my eyes drifting to the body of water that sat in front of us. The water moved as though something cloaked and invisible was gliding through it. Headed straight for us.

Malekith had come to Earth.

I looked up to Loki as he delivered a final strike of the hammer, lodging the pole in the ground. We locked eyes. "Loki, I swear to God if you die, I will follow through on my promise and kill you."

"So long as you leave my hair out of it."

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