The Fates' Favorite (Loki Laufeyson)

Part 49

Loki's POV

He could feel the dread in her mind the moment his feet touched the front door.

He could sense the raging anxiety without even having to set foot near the actual building ahead of him.

It made his heart twinge as if it was getting pricked by a thousand needles, and he couldn't help his quick pace to get inside, no matter how confused it made his brother.

"What's going on?" He asked the group of worried looking Avengers, who gathered nervously in the common room. Loki noted the way they were bandaged and bruised, even Iron Man sporting a quite shiny black eye and Rogers walking with a limp.

"We got hit by an ambush." Cap started quickly, already haven taken note of Loki's impatience. Knowing Loki took no concern for anyone else's wellbeing, the patriot knew immediately what he would be questioning. "She stopped it, crazy enough, but when we got back to the helicarrier she was..."

"A mess." Nat stated bluntly. "Wouldn't let anyone close to her, held a knife in her grip the entire time. When we got here, she sprinted to her room and barricaded the door."

"Shadow almost bit me for trying to follow." Clint added. "I was just trying to make sure she wasn't hurt. One of the hydra experiments had gotten her pretty good on her back."

Loki sighed as he turned towards the stairs, a small amount of relief setting in.

She had overtaxed her abilities.

That was fine. Certainly not ideal, but manageable.

And whether she felt it or not, she was okay. Safe within the tower. Even in Loki's most primal mind, he knew she was safe anywhere that Stark occupied.

As soon as he got to their floor, he noted the large wolf dog, looking as on-edge as he ever had as he paced in front of Aurora's room, the hair on his back stuck straight upwards and his head in a low, defensive stance.

In every way, Shadow connected to his owner. As if he could feel every minuscule emotion, he acted and reacted to Aurora's state perfectly.

"Just me." Loki felt his lips murmuring before he got too close to the wolf. "Our girl is quite upset, hm?"

Shadow's body remained rigid, his teeth even showing as he snarled slightly. With how upset Rory was, even Shadow was unsure whether or not Loki was a welcomed face.

"You want in her room, as do I. I say we go together." Loki continued in a soft tone to the irritated wolf. "I'm quite sure it was a frenzied mistake she left you out here like this."

Teleporting to her room would spook her, he was sure, but so would knocking down any barricade she had put against the door.

Knocking down the barricade would also give her ample warning to start preparations for attack.

Teleporting it was. Loki inched closer to the wolf before reaching a careful hand down, only just barely grasping his collar to pull him behind his legs as he teleported.

As soon as Loki got his groundings in her bedroom, which luckily only took milliseconds thanks to his comfort with the ability, he was releasing Shadow's collar to catch a knife between his palms, staring the point of the blade down the sharp edge.

"Please don't throw another, Princess." Loki stated softly, slowly moving his hands to hear the clatter of her dagger against the floor. "That's quite unkind."

She was on the floor, her knees pulled to her chest and tears still fresh on her cheeks as she mumbled out an 'I'm sorry' to the Prince.

Oh, his poor girl.