Hiding in one of the bathroom stalls, standing on top of the toilet seat, I wait for my pursuer to find me. I hold my shoes in my hands as makeshift weapons. My heart is racing and I can barely think straight. The door handle bangs loudly against the tiled wall.
This is it.
Footsteps approach the stalls. I try to hold my breath, but it doesn't work because I have been running like hell.
The man who followed me in this church opens the door that hid me from view. He is tall, with short brown hair and a two day stubble.
"There you are!", he says, taking a step forward.
"Get away from me!" I scream on the top of my lungs.
The man looks surprised for a second and then a green light ripples over his body. On the next count I am looking at Loki. "Sorry about that," he says, extending his hands to me. He barely catches me when I slip of the toilet.
Loki carries me back to the now empty waiting room bridal style and puts me in a chair. He kneels before me, adjusting my dress a little so I am decent.
"Are you alright, my little wolf?"
I shake my head, not being able to talk just yet, my heart is still hammering in my chest.
A woman walks in the room, a clipboard in her hand. "Good evening, lovebirds! Fill this in and we'll be ready for you in twenty minutes." She hands Loki the clipboard, who takes it without looking away from me.
"Yeah, yeah, I've got her. No thanks to you," Loki suddenly says in an annoyed voice. I realise he is still wearing the communication disc. "I'll get her back to the hotel." He peels the tiny disc from behind his ear and crushes it under his shoe.
"You were the third guy coming after me," I think out loud.
Loki nods and gives me a crooked smile. "You sure can run, my little wolf."
"And the other two?"
"I left them for M'Teki and her team to clean up. One of 'm had a broken nose before I got to him. Was that your doing?"
I nod 'yes'.
"Good girl," Loki says and he kisses my forehead.
There is no 'I told you so', no telling me I got in way over my head. Of course I should have listened to him and stayed out of this, but he will not rub my nose in it.
When I ask him about it, Loki explains how he got M'Teki to temporarily restore his magic. He had a little trouble with casino security when Blackstoke took me to the kitchens, so Loki couldn't follow me right away.
"There was some confusion when he took you to the back. Somehow we missed that you lost the communication device. That's why M'Teki's team was a little behind."
Recovered from the running and the shock of it all, I get up and look around the room. On the walls are large picture frames filled with photos of couples, all of them sitting in a car that came straight out of the movie Grease. I also spot Elvis, in his famous white suit with rhinestones and fringes.
I start laughing. "Loki, do you know where we are?"
"I think I can make an educated guess," he says from close behind me.
The woman comes in again. "I hope you brought identification, my dears. Did you fill out those forms yet?"
I put my arms around Loki and give him a kiss. "What do you think? Want to get married by Elvis?"
My dark haired prince isn't as fast to react to my joke as I expected. He just looks at me with a little smile on his face, stroking my hair. "Another time, my love."
He chuckles when he sees the shocked look on my face and softly grazes my lips with his. "Let's go, my little wolf. Hold tight."
The next moment I feel like I am in a roller coaster, plummeting down from its highest point. The feeling is gone as soon as it came and I open my eyes to see we are standing in my suite at the Mandarin Oriental. I am a bit disoriented, still holding tight onto Loki's frame.
"You have thought about marrying me?" I ask him, full of wonder.
"You just teleported for the first time and thát is your question?"
"Yeah, well... priorities."
The prince of Asgard laughs heartily and takes me in for a hug, pulling me flush against him. "I love you, my little wolf," he whispers in my ear.
It's the first time he has ever said those three little words to me. Although he has always showed me he loves me, he has never actually said it out loud.
"I love you too," I whisper back.
Loki smiles and his finger follows the lines of my dress from my shoulder to my cleavage. "I think you promised me a night in a hotel room like this, earlier this evening." His deep voice sends a shiver up my spine. Loki's mouth follows a path from my lips, to my ear, to my collarbone, goosebumps following him where he goes.
I wrap my arms around his neck and he picks me up, my legs around his waist. My prince walks to the bed and gently lowers me on the soft mattress. He resumes his path of kisses, taking of my dress as he goes down my chest, pausing on my breasts and then on to my stomach.
There is a knock on the door. "Go away," Loki grumbles, tugging at the edge of my panties with his teeth.
Somebody knocks again, louder this time. "Oh, for the love of Odin!" Loki gives me a last kiss and gets up from the bed. "Sorry, my love. Hold that thought."
He walks to the door and all of a sudden I find myself properly dressed in my red dress again. Loki has his magic back alright.
There are two black women at the door, dressed in red and carrying spears. They stride in as soon as Loki sets a step backwards. The spears tud to the floor and a man walks in behind them.
"King T'Challa!" I recognise him from the news and am surprised to see him here. Quickly I walk over to our new company.
"Miss Frederikson," he says in his typical accent, taking my hands in his. "Please accept my sincerest apologies for the predicament you found yourself in on behalf of my country."
"Yeah, it was a bit more than I bargained for."
"We did not foresee this happening. But, you did give us valuable intelligence. You have my thanks for that. We have doubled the protection around my sister, Shuri."
I think about that for a second. "She is the one that makes the cocktails," I say when comprehension sinks in.
King T'Challa nods and smiles. "But what we don't know is why Blackstoke turned on you like that. You got of our radar for a second. What happened?"
I explain how Blackstoke knocked the communication device off, intentional or by accident, and did not let me leave. "He said he was on to me. That my boss must be desperate to send in a rookie."
"Did he know it was Wakanda?"
I shake my head. "I don't think so. He asked if I was DEA or CIA, things like that."
King T'Challa thinks for a while. "He must have thought you were there because of his drugs business. According to Interpol, the two men he met with tonight are linked to a large drugs syndicate. It seems Blackstoke is making a deal with them. Maybe your questions about Holland triggered him. After all, your home country is a large player on the drugs market."
The king of Wakanda inclines his head to me and tells me once again he is thankful for what I have done tonight. "It is a good thing you have prince Loki as your protector. I wish you all the best. I have arranged for you two to stay an extra night in this hotel. Your flight to New York will leave on monday. Tickets are waiting for you at the reception desk."
He turns to Loki. "M'Teki told me she gave you two hours. I guess they are almost up. I'm afraid there is not much I can do about that. But you have my thanks as well."
The three Wakandans leave the room after that. With a king size bed, a bathtub large enough to fit two persons and room service, there is no reason for Loki and me to leave the luxurious suite.
On monday I settle in my first class seat on the plane. Loki is reading a book he bought on the airport. It's 'Doctor No' by Ian Fleming, I picked it out for him. Holding the book in one hand, he is softly tracing invisible lines across my hand and wrist with the other.
I am still rosy from the last two nights and days. Away from anyone we know, Loki was more relaxed than ever. It was just the two of us and it felt so good. I will certainly give Sharon an ear full when I get back, but for now I am perfectly content with my dark haired prince beside me.
* Art by LadyMintLeaf, found on Deviant Art
Author's notes:
Well?? What do you think? Please, let me know in the comments!
For all you Loki fans... there is another short story about the God of Mischief coming up. Stay tuned!
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