Coming Home (Sequel to This Time Around)

Chapter Forty-Six

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

McKenna sat perfectly still as Loki slowly filled her in on the missing details of his time in captivity and although she tried to keep her emotions in check, her eyes filled with tears more than once and she had to press a fist against her lips to keep them from quivering. It was every bit as horrible as she imagined and her heart broke into innumerable shards for him, for what he'd endured.

When he was finished, Loki drifted into silence, his eyes closing as he leaned his head back and sighed softly. She could almost see the weight lift from his shoulders, could almost see the burden ease from his face.

Without thinking, she leaned into him, sliding her arms about his neck to hold him as close as she could, as if she could protect him from his memories and his ordeals. "I'm so sorry that happened to you," she whispered when she found her voice. "And I wish I could go back and undo all of it."

"Don't wish for that," he whispered back, his arms easing about her waist, tightening as he pulled her flush against him. "If you could, you would not be here now. Selig, Aislinn, Nicky, Kyra-none of them would exist. And for those reasons alone, I am grateful to have endured it."

She hugged him closer still, letting her fingers slip through his hair where it curled over his collar. "All of that, everything you've gone through, and-and yet here you are-a loving husband and father-when by all rights you should be bitter and cruel and beyond redemption."

"I was, for a long time." He held her away, his eyes dark. "Remember that, McKenna. It's what led to my attempt at conquering Midgard. And I would not have been a benevolent king. I would have been merciless. I would have crushed your people if they crossed me."

He said it in a low growl that sent a shiver along her spine, but at the same time, she shook her head. "But you aren't any of those, Loki. Not one. You're gentle. You're loving." She ran her fingers through his hair over his right ear. It was soft and cool as they slid through it, the light shining off the black strands to make them shimmer like a raven's wings. "You are sweet and protective and everything I always wanted but thought I'd never find in a man."

"That is because of you." A sad smile tugged at the corners of his lips and his eyes softened as he held her gaze. "Because I found you, love. When I say you saved me, I mean it. You did. In every way I could possibly be saved. I am still alive today because of you."

Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to blink them back. He was so afraid she'd pity him, that she'd see him as less of a man or a broken soul, that he carried such terrible things inside him.

But the truth was, she found herself falling in love with him all over again.

"Thank you for sharing this with me," she whispered, unable to make her voice any louder. "I love you, Loki. I love you more than you could ever possibly understand."

With that, she leaned in to cover his lips with hers. He crushed her closer still, but his kiss remained gentle. It was almost as if he was afraid that if he let go of her, she'd disappear or run away from him.

But nothing could be further from the truth and when she pulled back, she caught his face between her palms and, her thumbs sweeping along his cheekbones for a change, whispered, "You are everything to me, Loki. Everything. And I love you so very much, you have no idea."

"Of course I do," he said, a faint smile playing at his lips. "You are still here."

"I'm still here, as I will be until the cosmos cease to be, as you once told me." His cheeks were cool beneath her thumbs, his eyes soft and glinting with silvery tears. "And now, you owe your firstborn a funnel cake, don't you?"