A cop. I believed Mike when he said it wasn’t him. But a cop? What kind of cop would do something like this on the side?

Mike would.

But no. I just couldn’t believe it was him. It didn’t feel right. Which meant that somewhere on the force, there was somebody else who knew. Another hunter cop.

Maybe more than one. How many people knew? I knew most people didn’t. I knew the feeling of being surrounded by the initiated was just because I was seeking them out.

But I did wonder as I walked through the fall day. I wondered. It was almost Thanksgiving. I had no family to celebrate it with. I wasn’t even American, but so many people were talking about it…
The thought of inviting Loki and Thruor drifted into my head. For all I knew they…

…my thoughts seemed to shy again, and this time I forced myself to focus on it. They were related to me.

No.

It was Loki I didn’t want to be related to. And couldn’t be. I knew that for sure. I was no monster, I was pretty sure the Queen of the Dead couldn’t have kids, and the boys had died as children. And Loki himself had been in prison…

…with his wife right there. Oh no. I wasn’t even going to think about that. I wasn’t even going to let that thought enter my mind, but there it was.

Off limits.

Oh no. I turned on my heel and stalked towards Thruor’s pad. Which was empty. Not gone for good empty, but she was certainly not there. Dammit. I was going to ask her for the truth. Her, because I still didn’t trust him.

Or did I? He wouldn’t hurt me, but he might play games with my head. What would he say if I outright asked him? I realized I was trembling.

I realized how much I both wanted and didn’t want it to be the truth. The one person who could convince Loki…where his wife had apparently failed.

Sigyn.

Goddess of Fidelity. But I had no idea where to find her and it had been a man who had fired the shot.

It had definitely been a man, not a woman, and why had that thought even crossed my mind? A hunter cop.

No. Definitely not. My head was whirling with the edges of memories that refused to actually come back but, equally, refused to depart.

Thruor had alcohol, but she wasn’t there, and I wasn’t about to break in and raid her stash, and I couldn’t just buy it and…

…and I was in no state to be out on the street. I ducked into the alleyway, where I forced myself to breathe.

Loki. Damn him. Except he’d already done a quite good job of that himself, hadn’t he. I pushed down that anger.

I wasn’t about to let red rage consume me over this. It was Odin, anyway, who had blocked my memories and dumped me on the street in DC. Not Loki.

Right in that moment I wasn’t sure I wanted anything to do with either of them.