This Time Around (Sequel to All Over Again)

Chapter Forty-Six

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Loki sighed softly as he sat at the desk, his back to the wall, legs spread wide as he slouched in the chair, and just watched McKenna sleep. They were almost to Alaska. Almost to Ward.

And he was trying to come up with a way of keeping McKenna on the bus and as far away from Ward as he could.

But for every idea he had, he found a reason why it wouldn't work.

The bottom line was simple. McKenna would be going with him unless he physically restrained her somehow. And although the idea of tying her up had some merits in their bedroom, he didn't think it would play out well anywhere else.

"More's the pity," he muttered, crossing his arms and scowling at the bed. McKenna lay on her side, facing him, with one hand beneath her cheek. She snored softly, which made him smile.

Asleep, she looked so young and so innocent. So beautiful. He leaned over, stretching to brush his fingertips across her smooth cheek. Aislinn had her face. Her eyes. The only thing she inherited from him was his hair color. He saw their daughter in McKenna's face and he saw McKenna in Aislinn.

His beautiful Midgardian.

After he left Gemma Simmons in the lab, he came back to the room with every intention of crawling into bed beside her and drifting off to sleep, but that didn't happen. He remained wide awake and restless.

McKenna stirred, her eyes opening slowly. "Loki? What's the matter? Are we there?"

"No, love. We're still in the air." He slowly rose, shifting to move to the edge of the bed. "It shouldn't be much longer, I think. And I don't suppose there is any way I might convince you to remain here with-"

"Don't start this again, Loki, please," she interrupted before yawning. Rubbing her eyes with one hand, she continued, "This is as important to me as it is to you. Selig is my son, too, you know."

"But he also laid hands on you, McKenna. And that is unforgivable as well."

She sighed softly, her eyes heavy-lidded and sleepy as she rested her head on the pillow. "Loki-"

"Love, you died. I do not forgive easily and I certainly will not forgive that ever. That bastard tried to take you from me." He brought his hand to her cheek. Her skin was smooth and soft, cool to the touch, and he let his fingertips graze along the hollow below her cheekbone. "And for that, he will pay with his life. I told you once I don't take kindly to men who put their hands on women with the intention to harm them to begin with. I take special exception to it when the woman in question is mine. That has not changed."

"But, Loki," she sat up, the blankets pooling about her hips and her tangled hair tumbling about her shoulders, "what purpose would it serve? It doesn't change what happened to me. Or Selig. And can you live with killing him in cold blood?"

"He wouldn't be the first."

"I know. But what do you tell Selig when he asks?"

"That I did what I had to do and I would do it again if need be." His gut twisted as anger sparked deep inside him. "I do not take kindly to those who think to bring harm to the people I care about."

Her eyes widened and she reached to trace her fingertip along the back of his hand. "You like to remind me you aren't the same man you were back when you tried to conquer Earth, when you did what you did in Stuttgart. Do you want to go back to being that man?"

"Would you look at me differently if I did?"

Her eyes widened and then her gaze fell and he had the feeling she was studying her own finger as she traced along his forefinger, then down over his hand, up to his middle finger, and down, and so on, until she took a deep breath and slowly nodded. "I'm afraid I might."