The North

The North has always been a place holder title for this book (I hate naming books) so I'm open to suggestions for alternative titles if it's not too cheeky to ask!

Last chapter will be posted in the next few days

Chapter 25

“Eabha?”

I stilled, not quite believing the familiar voice. Not in a place where sight couldn’t be trusted. But when my vision focussed, I saw him. Disbelief and anger contorted his features, but those blazing golden eyes couldn’t fake such frustration with me. That was a look that told of weeks of building anger at repeated insubordination.

I shifted to skin before he could pinch my ear and scold me, which I was sure was coming when he reached out. His hand hit my hip instead, and I yelped in protest as I was roughly shoved against the sharp stone wall at my back. His nose pressed against the crook of my neck, a threatening growl thunder from his chest. I shoved at his shoulder, squirming at the painful grip he had of me, but he wouldn’t let go.

Had I been wrong?

Was this another trick?

Then Hati pulled back with those same accusing eyes that made me freeze again.

“It really is you. . .”

I blinked. Perhaps I wasn’t the only one who’d learned not to trust this place. That certainly explained his less than warm welcome. His hand softened on my hip as a look of apology took over.

“It’s really me.” Cupping his face, I frowned at the dark blue bruise marring his cheekbone. The skin was red around it, and he grimaced as I brushed my thumb over grazed skin.

His fingers lifted to cover mine as he admitted gruffly, “I took the butt of a spear to the face on my way here. Among other things. I should have let them kill me rather than let them take me but-“

“No. We need you,” I argued, curling the fingers of my other hand into his bicep, so unbearably relieved to feel the warmth of his body against mine again. “Dying wouldn’t help anyone. You didn’t fail because Skoll overpowered you. Not me, not the pack, not yourself. . .you fought.”

It was clear he had, beyond the bruise I could see. His weight rested on his right leg, movement made his cheek twitch as if he fought back sounds of pain, and more than once his fingers drifted to touch his abdomen, but whatever wound was there was hidden by his dark woollen tunic.

“I came to bring you home,” I whispered when no reaction came.

Ignoring my claim, he shook his head violently, looking around like a rabbit realising it had been caught.

“You have to go! You can’t be here. He can’t find you here. You need to hide!” Tugging me away from the wall, he dragged me across the small room heavy with the scent of another. We passed a table laden with food, and a bed with twisted sheets, but neither were our aim.

Hati paused by a small wooden door and swung it open. It wasn’t a corridor or tunnel it led to though, but a smaller room no wider than Hati’s shoulders, and filled to the brim with clothes, weapons and jars filled with herbs and liquids. I snorted.

“I didn’t come here to hide,” I stated, yanking myself free of him and staggering away so he couldn’t snatch me up again. “Besides, whoever you’re trying to hide me from will know I’m here by now. I didn’t sneak in; you must know that. Farrin and I followed your scent and I was met by Vali at the border, he brought me here, so shoving me in a herbroom will delay the inevitable for mere seconds. We need to be working on a way to get out of here, Hati. Caldar and Astrid will only be able to keep things quiet for so long, especially when Farrin returns to tell them I disappeared and tracks tell I ran off with another wolf.”

A curse slipped from his lip, sharp and harsh, and so unlike him. I’d never seen him so panicked and agitated before. His eyes darted around as he considered my words, and when he lifted his hand, I thought he was about to shove me in the room anyway, but he slammed the door shut instead. The bang made me jump, but I was more frightened of the defeat hunching in on his shoulders.

“You shouldn’t have come after me,” he muttered.

“You would have come after me,” I replied, sensing a coldness between us when I thought he’d be glad to see me once the initial anger faded.

Cool amber eyes fell to me, and his tone was stiff as he stated, “I told you where you were allowed to run. I told you that you had to follow the same rules as everyone else, which makes following me out of bounds.” Pulling himself up, I felt the crushing weight of an Alpha’s fury come down on top of me. His towering frame only seemed to grow larger as his voice rose. “You broke my law. Again! And look what trouble you’ve found yourself in after swearing to me you would do no such thing. That you would keep yourself safe. That you wouldn’t resign yourself if death came looking.”

I glared right back at him, hands fisting at my sides as I readied myself to snap that it hadn’t been death who’d come for me but Vali, but as if he sensed the rebuffal on my lips, his eyes flashed dangerously.

My mouth snapped shut.

“I might have forgiven you for following my trail, but to go willingly with Vali?” He shook his head at me as if I was a pup who’d yet to learn something as simple as that nettles sting. “To walk willingly into this place, when you of all wolves must be able to sense the darkness that’s infested every corner here, is beyond reckless. It’s willfully suicidal! You’ve handed yourself and whatever you’re capable of, right to Skoll.”

Flinching, I tried to placate him even while a wave of shame washed over me. “I know the way out. I know which passages are empty and which to avoid. We can get out of here. I have no intention of giving Skoll a single thing. Do you think I’m so easily used? Have you resigned yourself to being a captive so easily, Hati Hróðvitnisson?”

He glared, then turned away and retreated to brace himself against the back of a chair by the table. His blond head hung low, and it might have looked like he truly had given up if it weren’t for his drumming fingers; an act I knew he did when deep in thought.

“There’s another tunic on the bed. Put it on.”

The sudden request made me frown, and he peered over his shoulder at me with heated possessiveness. “There will be no escaping tonight. Skoll will be here as soon as Vali has gloated to him that he has you, and I don’t want him looking at you how I know he’ll look at you.”

I knew the look he meant. Unfortunately, I didn’t think clothes would lessen the crawling feeling Skoll’s lingering gaze had caused last time. Still, I made my way to the bed and snatched the crumpled fabric, happy to find it fell to my knees. It smelled like Hati too, soothing and honey scented, but another breath ruined that when I spotted dried blood on the hem and the copper tone met my nose.

“I take it they were waiting for you at the border?” I asked, hating to break his concentration but hating the silence even more. Alone we appeared, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. Was that why Hati remained so quiet? Could someone be listening?

He nodded, straightening to pull the chair out so he could sit. I watched with building anger at the careful way he lowered himself, the hiss of pain he tried to hold back with clenched teeth. Vali had greatly underplayed how much of a beating Hati had endured so he’d be weak enough to drag all the way here.

“There was definitely a member of the pack there at some point; a member that’s been with us for some time too. I didn’t recognise their personal scent, but they carried the scent of the pack.” His hand fisted on the table as he grated out, “When I find them. . .”

I didn’t like the dark things such a tone promised. Nor did I like the changes that had come over my Alpha in such a short time. His anger was palpable. Not that I could blame him really.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I held my head in my hands. Would it have been better not to have come? Had I only caused more strife? Would it be harder for him to escape now there were two of us? Or was he simply concerned for my safety and still perturbed that I’d put myself in danger?

Gods. I was sorely in need of sleep, and the delicious smelling food on the table called to me, but as it lay untouched, I doubted Hati deemed it safe enough to eat.

That was how much danger we were in.

Any bravery I had on coming here began to waver.

The longer Hati sat silent and brooding, the more I began to regret my decision. Being trapped here was bad enough, being trapped here with Hati upset with me was worse.

“Nobody touched you?”

Blinking from my thoughts, I lifted my head to see him twisting in his chair to face me. His eyes were brighter as they scanned over my form, and he straightened slightly.

“On your way here, you weren’t hurt?”

“No. No I wasn’t hurt,” I answered, adding dryly, “Vali was careful to keep me safe and unseen. Not that I think anyone would have troubled us; the guards at the door barely looked at me.” I frowned, picking a dried flake of mud off my leg. “Vali made some jibe to one of them about being able to get me when he’d failed before.”

A growl tore from Hati’s throat. “Which one?”

“He called him Uffe.”

Another dark look was cast towards the door, and I could feel his fury tumbling from him like water from a great fall.

Hati knew the name. Had he grown up with Uffe? Hunted with him? Called him pack before their lives became this.

“What are they going to do to us?” I choked, a claw of terror tightening around my throat.

The broken sound snatched all anger away from the riled-up Alpha. The chair screeched as he kicked it back and came to my side, sitting to tug me against him. I breathed in his scent, using it to push away the coldness of the room as he nuzzled the top of my head, his arms strong and sure around me.

“Nothing,” he whispered fiercely. “They will do nothing to you. Skoll likes to cross the line, but to hurt you, a being made by the gods, perhaps even Freyja herself? That is too far, even for him. Especially if he wishes to have you on his side. If he has been watching us, and he’s clever as he thinks he is, then he knows that threats are no way to get you to cooperate.”

“You being here is a way to get me to cooperate.” Brushing my fingers over his bruised cheek, my heart clenched at the very idea of anyone hurting him. It would work too. If they threatened Hati, I wasn’t sure there was anything I wouldn’t do.

Sweeping my hand from his face, his fingers captured mine and brought them to his lips to press a chaste kiss against my knuckles. “Don’t worry about me, Little Alpha. I don’t plan on either of us being here long enough to find out what Skoll wants. You know the way out, as you said, and I only need to get us there. I’m a son of Gods and Giants, remember? What can a displaced Vargr and other low creatures do to stop me?”

It brought a smile to my lips, but even as he proclaimed his lineage, I could hear the wavering doubt. He didn’t need anymore doubt, not from me. I was about to encourage him to go back to making a plan when there was a loud click, followed by the doors opening. Hati stood in a flash to throw his body in front of mine, his arms outstretched as a thunderous growl rolled out. I didn’t see the doors shut again, nor who had entered, but I heard it.

Light steps drew closer, which only made my Alpha growl all the louder. The screech of a chair being pulled out, wood creaking as someone sat. . .I’d almost had enough of only being able to see Hati’s back until our true captor spoke.

“Sorry about the locked door. I can assure you, it is for your own protection,” Skoll stated, his tone light as if this was a usual meeting of brothers. “As much as it’s for the protection of my followers, I will admit. There are few of us enough already without you ripping the heads off even more.”

That Hati had taken down assailants in their attempt to get him here didn’t surprise me, in fact, I might have smirked at the irritation in Skoll’s voice. My fingers stroked over Hati’s back, a silent way of telling him I approved where once the thought of any deaths dealt by this male might have given me cause to fear him.

He didn’t react, not to his twin’s words or my touch.

“Locked door or no, how long do you really think you can keep us prisoner for, bróðir?” Hati asked, his voice as cold as steel, flat and emotionless.

The scoff Skoll let out was loud enough to make me jump. Hati flinched too, his hand flying out to grab me as if he might toss me out the way. When it was clear Skoll wasn’t moving, I dared peer around Hati’s back to see him.

Sat in the chair his brother had vacated, one boot rested on the other chair beside him while the other remained on the floor. A picture of ease and little concern. He must have sensed me there, even seen me if he took a glance, but his gaze remained locked on Hati as he shook his head slowly in feigned disappointed.

“My dearest brother, you are not my prisoner. I would have sent a civil invitation for you to join me here but I saw it sooner ending up in the fire than your hands. Nor would you have brought my other guest with you.” Finally, moonlit eyes flicked to me, and his lips pulled up slightly at the edges before his attention returned to Hati. “So this is how I had to get you both here. I do apologise if my warriors were. . .rough. I warned them you would be difficult to handle, but you were not to be permanently hurt in any way. I even ordered Vali not to touch your Little Alpha at all.”

It was true enough. Vali hadn’t touched me. But that didn’t comfort either of us.

“You expect me to believe that-“

“I don’t care what you believe,” Skoll interrupted, dropping his other foot to the ground with a thump. He could throw himself to his feet, but the moment he postured with his lips drawing back to reveal fangs, Hati’s patience snapped.

One second he was in front of me, and the next he had Skoll pressed against the table with his hand around his throat. Power rippled in the air, rage and fighting dominance nearly suffocating me. I slid from the bed not entirely sure what I intended to do. Break them up? Why should I? Skoll had done enough to warrant death, and his death would release Hati further from what kept him bound to the Gods.

It struck me how much they looked alike in that moment as they snarled and snapped at each other, though neither attempted to do the other any real harm. Inky black hair splayed like curling shadows around Skoll’s reddening face as he fought against the vice at his throat. Muscles bulged in Hati’s arm, his fingers whitening as his grip tightened.

“I should end this here and now,” he hissed, and for a moment I thought he might do it.

Silver eyes flicked to me and even unable to breath, Skoll found the strength to smirk. It got the desired reaction as Hati shook him until he removed his gaze.

Garbled words ushered from his lip, a triumphant gleam in his eyes that made Hati hesitate and loosen his grip long enough for Skoll to spit out, “I know you’ve got wolves in the village by the sea.” He gulped in another ragged breath. “If anything happens to me, that village and those protecting it will fall before you make it out of here. After that, they are free to reign terror wherever they wish.”

Disgust coiled in my stomach at the lack of care he had for mortal lives, or the lives of wolves he’d once called pack. It wasn’t a threat we could ignore.

“If anything happens to me,” he continued, sitting up slowly despite the hand still holding him. “Word will be sent to my followers in your pack who will have it torn apart before you even reach your borders.”

Hati shook with fury, and the very fact he had the restraint not to shift to fur and attack immediately should have scared his brother. I was struggling to hold back myself, imagining the various, gruesome and bloody ways I could kill him with fang and claw.

“You are as cruel and manipulative as the gods you claim to hate,” I accused, stiffening as two sets of furious eyes landed on me. “Once you said I might grow to like you, and though I thought it impossible, I despise you even more than I did before.”

He said nothing, dropping his gaze to the floor and shoving his brother's arm away. And Hati let him, watching with a pained expression that warred between what he should do and what he wanted. His hand clenched and unclenched by his side, but it was clear he was held back by more than threats of harm befalling his pack.

I saw it then what killing Skoll - the only true blood family he knew - with his own hands would do to Hati, and as much as I wanted this to end quickly, I couldn’t allow it. Not this way. But nor did I think we’d be capable of dragging Skoll before the Gods for their justice.

“I won’t lay a hand on you, Hati, for blood’s sake-“

“But you would harm Magne? A male who practically raised you alongside Eirny! You must know it’s he who I sent to the port.” Disgust tainted Hati’s words. He backed away and turned his face as if he couldn’t bear to look at his twin. “Why are we here, Skoll? What do you really want apart from to make threats which further show me how far you’ve fallen.”

Straightening up, Skoll slid from the table and sniffed. “I want your help, believe it or not. The mortal deaths recurring now were never a part of my plan. I called back all the tortured souls I released from Náströnd, and all returned. None have left since. I hadn’t realised the magic had taken on a power of their own. That those the Blood Drinkers had fed from and killed had awoken again. . .evolved.”

Golden eyes swirled with a mix of confusion and mistrust, meeting mine to see the same. This hadn’t been what I’d expected either.

“What are you talking about?” Hati demanded with wearing patience.

“The originals, the ones born of our Aunt’s realm, they.” He huffed and tapped his thigh. “I guess breed is the wrong word. Some of the humans they fed from seemed to become infected rather than outright dying. These are no more than rabid beasts, incapable of little more than primitive thought and sating their hunger. But they too pass on this corruption to those they fed on, and the more the infection is spread, the more it dilutes-“

“That’s why they’ve started talking,” Hati mumbled.

I frowned.

I’d never met one long enough to decide whether it was capable of speech or not, except the one Farrin, Hati and I had come across on the road. That one had been crazed too, driven by instinct, but it had spoken. It had held a form of taunting conversation. I’d simply thought all were capable.

A shiver went up my spine.

“I don’t understand.”

Hati chuckled, but the sound was devoid of real amusement. “What he’s saying is he’s created more chaos than he can control and he needs our help to tame it. If you know so much, Skoll, you’ll know burning out your Blood Drinkers was part of my bargain with Odin. We do not need your help there. Nor will I go about hunting them down to leave you to plot and scheme.”

“You sound like Odin,” Skoll accused. “To name me as he might Loki. This doesn’t have to play out to their tune. There needn’t be more deaths. Not needless ones, at least. I don’t want to hurt anyone, Hati. I do what I must so we don’t suffer the same fates our father and grandfather suffer now, the fates of your uncle and brother, Eabha.”

“Don’t use them against me,” I warned, feeling a sudden burning rage heating my veins. “I can believe you didn’t know what would happen when you set the Blood Drinkers loose, but death and destruction was still your aim; whether you tried to call off the attacks or not. Mortal deaths don’t help you get whatever perverted sense of justice it is you want, but you relish in them anyway. We’re going after those creatures either way, and not because you might have had a change of heart, or feel any sense of remorse for the lives lost because of what you did.”

Hati stiffened as Skoll took a step towards me, but any sense of fear I felt was overpowered by a new inferno of fury.

How dare he try to use my family to justify any of this!

“All the things you’ve witnessed in your short life don’t even begin to compare to what we’ve seen and endured. You don’t even know who you are, or what you’re capable of. You’re a pup playing an adult’s game.” He sneered at me, then cast the same look at his brother too. “You think I'm worried you will kill me? You would have done so by now if you were capable. You were never strong enough to do what needed to be done, so ignore my offer of an alliance if you must. Ignore my offer to help you rid Midgard of my wrongdoings. Close your eyes as you oft do. In fact, you’re more than welcome to turn your back and take no part if you won’t join me. Do that, and I will allow you to live out your life with your pack. They will not be harmed by any of my warriors. The decision is yours, and will be respected as long as you don’t try to interfere. It is the final chance I will give you, Hati. Stay out of this.” He waved his hand dismissively. “You’ll have your peace through winter to think it through, for her sake not yours.”

Hati narrowed his eyes. “Why would you do anything for her sake? What does she mean to you?”

“The same thing she means to you. Salvation.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, marching forward until Hati’s arm rose to stop me from getting too close. “Tell me what I am!”

“Why, Little One, that is the second part of my bargain. Just for you. I offer you a place here.” He glared when Hati choked in disbelief, the sound deepened by a growl that warned he would soon loose patience again.

Skoll smirked as I touched his brother’s arm, seeing the curiosity that must have been etched into my face.

“I could explain it all to you,” he murmured, his voice sweet and coaxing. “I could tell your story from before you were even born, when you were but an idea discussed in Freyja’s hall after she saw many different futures that might come to pass. There are Gods amongst my followers who could teach you much. Stay with me throughout winter, and I vow by the end of your stay, you will have the same choice I have given my brother. You may return to him if you wish. Or you can join me, a fight that would be most worthy of you. Or you can even fight for the Gods who would care little if you died. Gods who would simply try again with another vessel if they so chose. There would be more blood spilled. More lives lived a lie by false choices. More of us captured, condemned, and tortured. That’s what awaits us all if no one makes a stand.”

Laughter was the last reaction I expected from Hati, and my protest about here being the last place I’d wish to spend winter died on my lips. Even Skoll became suddenly wary again, eyeing his brother like he might snap at any second.

“You really have gone mad if you think I will leave her with you. Or that she’d even choose to. We don’t need time to pick our side, but if you wish to have me consider staying out of your conflict and to focus on the Blood Drinkers, I could be persuaded if you continue this facade at a truce and allow us both to return to my pack. Now. Unharmed.”

I blinked, searching Hati’s stoic expression for any sign that he would truly consider turning his back on the Gods completely. Would they not then seek to wreak justice down on our heads too? I was created for a purpose, to do something for them, did I really get a choice in whether I did so or not? But Skoll might not realise that, as adamant as he was about playing out his own predestined fate.

“What if I told you that having Eabha reach her full potential might mean there’s no need for a war at all?”

That silenced us both. Skoll grinned, knowing he had us at least listening. “You really have no idea what they’ve done have you? If she became what she was born to be, simply having her on her side would make the Gods pause.”

That in itself terrified me, even as a strange rush of adrenaline shot through my veins. “But what would you do when they paused?”

A dark expression passed over his features, and any chance I might have given him disappeared at what that look promised.

“I won’t stay. Not with you. Not for anything. If Ragnarok is as unavoidable as you believe it is, if you see no way for this to end without war, then I know what side I will be standing on when it comes.”

“You forgave Hati for his part in all of this. Why am I not worthy of the same?” he snapped, a glint of desperation in his eyes that made me pause. “How can neither of you see what I’m trying to do is for us? Even if I stopped now, the Gods won’t let me live. They won’t let any of us return home. Do you see any way in which this doesn’t end in my death, or eternal torture?”

“You could stop,” Hati said quietly, surprising both of us. “I would keep you safe. I would make sure their justice offers leniency just as they offered it to me. We could go home, Skoll. It doesn’t have to be this way. I wish we could free Father, but you know as well as I do that he is too far gone for us to reach. Please do not join him. Return the souls to Nàströnd and then offer up your surrender.”

I’d never seen Hati look so earnestly pleading before. He still loved his brother, even after everything. Skoll must have seen it too. The scorn in his expression wavered, just as it had when I'd mentioned Eirny at our first meeting, but just like before, it was gone as quick as it came, replaced by the resignation that seemed to only fuel his destructive nature.

“You’ve made your choice, so stay out of my way,” he demanded coldly. “That is my leniency.” Then moonstone eyes were on me again, softening at the edges as he tried once more to convince me to stay. “There will not be another mortal death ordered by me, I swear it. The pack and the wolves at the port will not be harmed so long as there is peace between us. You do not wish for me to name your family, but you can’t deny that you do not harbour any love for the Gods because of who they took from you. I can feel the anger in you. Untamed rage and magic rushes through your blood as much as it does ours. Do you not wish for a chance to fix what they did?”

“Fix it how?” I breathed.

Was he really alluding to what I thought he was? Could such a perverse insult to nature really be within my power?

I hated that I didn’t answer straight away, that I hesitated at the very idea. Hati did too, his gaze boring into the side of my face as I stared at his brother.

“Nothing brings back the dead, Eabha,” Hati warned, turning his glare onto Skoll. “Do not seek to manipulate her with lies.”

“I do not lie,” Skoll insisted. “It would take great skill and delicacy to do, and it may take many years, decades even, to master. It is a potent magic, not without its risks and prices, but it is possible.”

Did I believe him? I wasn’t sure. And even if he was telling the truth, I knew the dark magic Skoll was embroiled in, saw the way it had infested him as much as it had whatever dark cave he had us trapped in. It was thick with the stench of mould, rot, and misery. Nothing would be worth staying here to have that taint my soul.

Besides. Nature demanded balance. Life was paid for with death; I knew that better than most. My own life had been paid for twice over. Thrice even. Power or no, someone’s life would have to be given to gain Mànas and Aonghas.

The ember of hope that flickered to life was snuffed out. Though, a cruel, twisted part of me that had reared her head since meeting Vali considered Skoll a suitable offering in return for my family.

“You have nothing I want,” I forced out evenly. “You never shall. There’s nothing you can say that will make me change my mind. I won’t stay here with you. You are the reason I lost pack members; however much blame be shared with whichever God angers you the most. I’d damn you before I damned myself by following you.”

Skoll's form seemed to shimmer as a snarl broke free at my answer. Whatever calm he’d maintained before was gone in an instant, and I was faced with the brunt of his power. It hit me with the force of a tidal wave, and his magic stuck to my skin like thick oil though nothing could be seen.

He had to have known how this would play out, but his disappointment and rage were real on equal measures.

Hati shoved me out of the way to meet his brother head on, the pair colliding and crashing to the floor. I worried the sound of their fight might bring the guards tumbling in with spears at the ready, and was caught between barricading the doors or tearing the fighting males off each other so we might try and feign peace in order to leave.

They were willing to draw blood this time too. Neither seemed to go for killing blows, but copper tainted the air as they each grappled to get on top and force the submission of the other. It wasn’t until Skoll gained the upper hand that I startled forward, a moment of doubt about whether or not he was capable of killing his twin flickering forth. I thought I’d seen something in Skoll before; a light, a hesitation in his beliefs, something that might have been able to draw him back, but I didn’t see it now.

I knew what would happen if Skoll somehow managed to overpower Hati, and the moment I heard mumbles on the other side of the door, I threw myself across the room. Sliding the metal latch into place, I prayed that it would stop the two guards in their tracks. The doors rattled on their hinges, the latch creaking in protest but it held firm. Frustrated yells were muffled by the wood and their efforts redoubled.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

It wasn’t going to hold them; I knew it as soon as I heard the unmistakable splintering of wood.

We should have been at home. Tending to the pack. Doing mundane things. Not here, not on the verge of having to scrap for our lives. All manner of horrible things they could do to us flickered through my mind and my entire body trembled as flight or fight instincts kicked in.

A familiar tingle went up my spine, the thrum of my own power awakened by something instinctual that flared at my sense of doom. It caused both Hati and Skoll to stop in their tracks, their heads whipping towards me with wide and alert eyes that seemed to glow brighter in response to my magic.

Skoll muttered something that sounded oddly like a curse as a ripple appeared in the air a few feet away. His hands fell away from Hati, and Hati didn’t miss a beat. Acting swiftly, he twisted around with a clenched fist that hit Skoll square in the chest and knocked the wind from his lung. He rolled to the side gasping for air, his hand flailing uselessly as Hati scrambled to his feet and launched himself towards me.

Strong fingers gripped mine, and golden eyes glinted with determination as he dragged me towards the mirrorlike ripple that I swore I could see the mirage of trees through.

“Wait!” Skoll bellowed, staggering to his feet just as the door burst open.

Uffe and his companion barrelled in with red faces, and immediately their spears pointed at us, but to my surprise, Skoll held up a hand to stop them in their tracks.

I yanked at Hati’s hand, desperate to get away, but almost as if he couldn’t help it, he stopped just before the strange reflection of the forest. His grip loosened around my hand and his head bowed forward, tipping slightly to show he was listening.

Skoll wiped blood from his nose and took one limping step forward.

"If you choose this path, if you somehow manage to tear victory out of my grasp, what do you think will happen next? Do you really think the Gods will let you return to our forests in Asgard? Or let you live your life here, with her? Do you really think they’ll let the weapon they made stay with you, or alive at all, once she’s done what they need her to? Even if she carries their blood.” Skoll chuckled, a sly smile replacing his snarl.

Their blood?

Whatever the meaning of that was, Hati gave us no more time for Skoll’s half answers. He planted his hand on my back and shoved me forward, a gasp of shock catching in my throat as I fell. It felt like slowly entering water, or being dragged under. My hands flew out before me to break my fall, and my eyes squeezed shut. I expected to hit the floor or the wall, but it wasn’t a hard surface I hit at all.

I oofed as I collapsed into a pile of soft snow, the icy cold creeping in to soak the short tunic I wore and freeze my skin. Another body hit the spot beside me, grunting when they landed on a less soft patch of dead bracken. Disoriented, I rolled onto my back and frowned at the quickly disappearing image of the room we’d just been in. All warmth fled my body as the strange doorway blinked out of existence, an exhaustion settling bone deep.

My thoughts were a chaotic mess once more, the stress of not knowing whether I was going to be killed or tortured finally hit me, and I somehow felt I’d greatly misstepped. . .

I hadn’t been diplomatic in my refusal to stay. Nor with openly blaming him for the deaths of my packmembers. Hati had been trying to keep him calm so he would let us leave freely and I’d ruined it.

What if he sent his Blood Drinkers after Magne? Or tore the pack apart before we could make it back as he promised?

Was he right about what would happen to me? Was he maybe right about it all? What did he mean about their blood? Hati and Eirny had confirmed that my parents were my parents. Hadn’t they?

“It seems you might be able to skip through more than just the veil between the living and the dead, Little Alpha.” Hati grunted where he lay on the ground a metre or so away.

“That was me?”

He nodded, grimacing slightly as he sat up. “I would have tried such a thing myself but Skoll warded his room so no magic at all could be used. Yet you broke through it as if it was no more than rotten wood.”

I didn’t like the way he stared at me, searching for something that neither of us had the answers to. Or did he? There was something in his eyes, as if a piece of the puzzle had slid into place. Whatever hunch or conclusion he’d come to, he didn’t share it with me.

Grinding my teeth together so they wouldn’t chatter, I sat up slowly to take in our surroundings. We were in a forest, that much was clear, but where?

“We need to get back to the pack.” Hati turned slowly with his nose in the air, seeming to have a better sense of which direction we needed to head in.

“What about what he said?” I asked, feeling at a loss. “What if we don’t make it back in time?”

With a sad smile, he held his hand out to me and captured my fingers between his, hauling me to my feet. “To use my own brother’s words, if he truly had the power to take down the pack, he would have done so by now.”