Dark Desire Read Online Free PDF

wizened old face. He was tall and lanky, barely a shred of muscle on him, but Darrion wasn’t about to underestimate the man.
    The man kneeled, bringing himself down to Darrion’s eye level. “What’s your name, son?”
    Darrion remained quiet.
    “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m here to help you. What’s your name?”
    “Darrion,” he replied. What else did he have to lose? His parents and sister were dead. He was only a boy. What hope did he have of survival other than becoming a beggar?
    The man smiled. “Darrion, my name is Njord. I am—”
    “A Vanir,” Darrion gasped, taking a step back, eyes searching for something he could use as a weapon.
    “Yes,” Njord replied softly—almost angrily. “But I’ve grown tired of Odin’s ridiculous war against the dark elves. He is killing them for no other reason than for fear that they will bring down his coveted world.”
    The words were spoken with such venom that Darrion had no doubt that they were true.
    “The Vanir are rising against Odin and the Aesir for their unfounded and prejudiced persecution of your people,” Njord said.
    “What does that have to do with me?” Darrion asked, his voice a bare squeak. Fear was running through his body, turning his blood to ice. The Vanir were the gods who were in power before the Aesir. The two groups had always been civil, but it sounded as if things were about to change.
    “You are valuable,” Njord said. “You just don’t know it yet.”
    “What would you know of? You are a god of old—a magician. What would you know about our struggle? About revenge?”
    “I know a lot more than you think,” Njord glowered, causing Darrion to shrink away. Taking a few steps towards the boy, the hard thump of his boots punctuated the seriousness of the words that followed. “I can teach you how to handle a knife, how to be at one with the weapon. I can teach you how to rule others, to be respected and feared at the same time. I can give you your revenge on Odin. Don’t you want that chance?”
    Darrion was hardly listening to a word he’d been saying until the phrase “your revenge on Odin” caught his attention. Yes. That was what Darrion wanted—revenge. And the only way he would get it was if he was trained to kill …
    And this man—this god—was willing to train him. Darrion stood a little straighter and looked Njord square in the eye.
    “When do we start?”

Chapter 4
    The club was absolutely heaving with people; gods and humans were rubbing shoulders, drinks were being spilled, women were being hit on, and Mason had to keep his eyes moving and his instincts sharp. Being able to hear people’s thoughts had always seemed to be some kind of burden, but right now, he saw the fucking silver lining. With the recent events involving Bryn and the other Valkyries still hanging over his head—weighing on his conscience—Mason listened out for any information that might fill in the blanks Bryn had refused to.
    When he started to hear the thoughts of—what he’d later found out had been—gods, he knew he was in for a whole world of pain. The only way to get away from the cacophony of sound was to concentrate on not hearing anything, like hitting the mute button on a remote control.
    Slowly, the buzzing began to die down until all he was left with was the sound of the gods’ actual voices, mingled with the human voices, chattering in his ears. Letting out a relieved breath, he focused on Bryn sitting at the bar. Her eyes were on the glass in her hand, her mind obviously far away from what was happening around her in the Eye.
    Mason refrained from listening in to see what was bothering her, finding the violation distasteful. Instead, he busied himself by scanning the crowd again. A brunette sidled into his line of sight, the whisper of a smile on her lips.
    “Hi, handsome,” she said, her voice rolling out in a guttural purr that only a three-pack-a-day smoker could pull off. Mason’s eyes flicked down to her