We should thank him... right before we killed him.
I howled, and the Wolf joined me. Then Odin brushed open an edge of the salt circle and motioned us out with a grand wave of his arm. The Wolf raced ahead, and I chased happily after my mate. It may not have been night yet, but that was the beauty of being gods; we weren't restricted by moonlight. Especially not when we held the moon inside us.
The Wolf and I ran down the spiraling stone stairs and out into the bright sunlight.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
We'd taken care of the Trevor-possession problem but we were back to square one with catching Katila. The run cleared my head and gave me a chance to process things simply; with an animal's perspective. What does a hunter do when she can't hunt? Elatha's suggestion kept rolling through my mind; make him come to you. It was another type of hunting—a lazy one, in my opinion—trapping. To set a trap, you need bait. I had to dangle something in front of Katila that he wanted and make him come for it in his physical form.
So, what did Katila want that I had? The answer was simple; me. Katila's insanity had found a new focus. He desired two things now; revenge—by killing the Demons and claiming Hell—and me as his queen. Our conversation that morning had given me an idea for the perfect trap. The key to getting an animal to take your bait is making them feel safe. They have to know that they can grab that tasty morsel without any repercussions. And I had told Katila exactly where and when he could reach my tasty morselness and find me alone. His devious attempt to learn my secrets had baited his own trap.
Giving Trevor a piece of my moon magic had reminded me of its other aspects; mainly its Lunacy. I could indeed work with insanity. In fact, I could magnify Katila's madness and drive him completely over the edge. Whether or not that would be an improvement was up for debate.
A lot of debate.
When Trevor and I got back from our run, we shifted into human and took a power nap. Soul work and shifting can take a lot out of you; especially when you followed it with strenuous exercise. When we woke up, we had a bit more exercise in bed. Trevor had learned a few things from watching his wolf with me, and the sex was a surprising mix of aching tenderness and wicked wildness. Honestly, I didn't want to leave our bed, but we'd languished in each other's arms for far too long already.
Trevor groaned as I reached for my cell phone. “Already? Can't we have just one more round of searing sex before we have to deal with everyone?”
I laughed as I texted. “It will take them awhile to get here.” I pushed Send on the group text and set the phone down on the bedside table. “I think we might be able to squeeze in one more round.”
“Oh, there will be a lot of squeezing,” Trevor growled as he dove beneath the covers.
Half an hour later, the sounds of arriving gods drifted up the stairs to us. But Trevor and I were already dressed and heading down. I didn't want my other men to have to come up and get us. I was still a little embarrassed about that whole scene at the cabin. I have no idea how I'll ever look Fenrir in the eyes again. Speaking of eyes.
“I'm glad your eyes have gone back to normal,” I said to Trevor as we headed into the dining hall.
“My eyes?” Trevor asked. “What do you mean?”
“The Moon was shining through them when you first received the magic,” I said. “It lightened them to a silvery gold; very beautiful, but it wasn't you. I would have missed your honey-colored eyes.”
“I would have missed them too; mainly because you love them,” he said after nuzzling my face affectionately. “But they would have been a small price to pay.”
“For what?” Pan asked.
“Obviously for the magic she gave him, you dolt,” Horus drawled. “I swear; those Vodou women have made you dumber.”
“A small price to pay,” Pan repeated Trevor's words with a Pan-grin.
Odin had already explained what had happened with Katila—and what it had prompted us to do—to the Squad before we arrived. They were shocked but also impressed. Soul magic was faerie territory; it was difficult for gods to perform. Only Odin had managed it so far. I've done the soul magic too, but I'm not just a goddess; I'm also a faerie and that makes it much easier for me. Anyway, since everyone was caught up, I told them my plan.
“When Katila was pretending to be Trevor, he asked me to confide a secret in him.” I grimaced. “I told him that I like to go to my house in Hawaii in the middle of the night and stare at the stars.”
“Fascinating,” Horus said dryly. “I'm so honored that you shared that with us.”
“I'm getting tired of smacking you,” Kate said to her husband.
“I'll never tire of receiving your smacks,” Horus said with a smirk.
“What d'ya know?” Finn snorted. “Horus is a masochist.”
“Oh, I spotted that a mile away,” Re said.
“Katila thinks that it's his destiny to rule Hell,” I went on; completely ignoring them. “He believes the Pasha was handed down to him for just that reason. But now, he
