Uniting Asgard [Book One]

Chapter Twenty-Three

Before they went to bed, Loki had his way with her again. For some reason that night, he couldn't keep himself away from her. He needed to be close to her every second. As they slept, he had his arms wrapped around her body and his head against her abdomen. In the middle of the night, he groaned as he moved slightly to get a bit more comfortable. He stilled when he felt her stir and lifted his head to look up at her. When she settled, he smiled brightly and laid a kiss to her naked skin. As he sat up in the bed, he turned to face the wall and gasped seeing Thanos in front of the bedroom door.

"Hello, Loki." He greeted him.

"No. No, this is a dream. You aren't real." Loki whispered, his breathing becoming shaky.

"Oh, I am real." He chuckled darkly.

Loki shook his head and shut his eyes tightly.

"I'm dreaming. This isn't real. I'm going to wake up." Loki spoke to himself.

"Try all you like...but I'll still be here." Thanos warned him.

Loki opened his eyes and swallowed hard seeing him grip the foot of the bed.

"What do you want?" He inquired.

"You know what I want, Loki," Thanos replied. "I've been waiting years and you haven't kept up your end of our bargain...until now."

Loki furrowed his brow seeing Thanos' gaze shift towards Alice. He looked at her and was thankful she was still asleep. He then turned back to Thanos and shook his head.

"You will not touch her. She means nothing to you." Loki told him.

"She means everything to me. Why, she has the Tesseract's power inside of her." Thanos spoke.

"Yes, but the Tesseract itself is gone. It was destroyed when Asgard burned. It's gone and our bargain is over. The stone is no more." Loki explained.

"You don't know...do you?" Thanos inquired.

Loki furrowed his brow as Thanos laughed quietly.

"Oh, Loki...she is the most important person in this universe. You may not know it yet, but you'll learn soon enough. The next time I come back, it will be for her. Mark my words." He explained to Loki.

"What could you ever want with her?" Loki asked, putting his hand behind his back to conjure his dagger.

Before Loki could even strike, Thanos gripped Loki's arm and twisted it making him drop the dagger and hiss in pain.

"You still haven't learned about what happens to those who try to fight back, haven't you? Those months of torture didn't make you learn anything?" Thanos seethed.

He released Loki's arm and chuckled seeing the fear in Loki's eyes as he tried to compose himself.

"Remember this...when you least expect it, I will be back and I will take her with me. You forget there are bigger threats in this world than those who want to harm her back where she lives." Thanos told him.

"You won't take her. I will never allow it. I'll kill you if you try to." Loki sneered.

"Remember, this doesn't end until I get what I want, Loki." He whispered.

When Loki blinked, Thanos was gone and he let out a deep breath he hadn't even realized he was holding in. He panted heavily and quickly turned around to see Alice sleeping soundly. As he got off the bed and placed the dagger on his nightstand, he watched as Alice sat up in the bed and groaned.

"What's going on? Come back to bed." She spoke softly.

"He was here." Loki replied.

Alice furrowed her brow and gave him a look as she observed his face.