Chapter 25: Chapter 23

I did debate cutting this into two or three chapters but decided to give you it all at once.

Looking forward to seeing if you guessed right or wrong about the spy?

The end is only the beginning. . .

Chapter 23

Loa was the only one to shed a tear.

Face turned away from the table, she covered her mouth with her hand and cried silent tears while the other members of the council slumped back in their chairs or stared morosely at the table.

News of Gerlac’s death left a chill in the room that the roaring fire behind Hati and I couldn’t get rid of.

I’d expected a fight to break out, accusations to fly, Vargr begin to doubt Skin Shifter, and while Sigurd stared at me with some measure of suspicion, nobody spoke a word. Hati stood stoic at my side, and I kept looking to the empty chair across the table as if Gerlac would pull it out to take his seat at any second, asking why we all looked so glum when there was business to tend to. He wouldn’t frown at my handwriting anymore, or praise me when I read a sentence without stumbling. He wouldn’t berate me with a simple glance again, not looking at me with that measure of respect that made my spine straighten with pride.

“I am locking down the castle,” Hati stated quietly. “Assistance from Ásgarðr will arrive within the next day to help us rebuild so we can get the rest of the pack inside our walls-“

“Gerlac’s death surely proves being within the walls is no safer than residing in the dens outside. In fact, it’s proven we are safer out there. We came here for protection, safety, but there has been too many deaths since me and mine have arrived here. Damn assistance from gods who have kept to themselves through all of this. If you do not find who has betrayed us, I will take my family and return home,” Sigurd said, rising from his seat to plant his hands on the table.

Others at the table shifted nervously at his declaration, and I worried more would agree with him. Looking to Hati, I waited for his subtle nod before adding my own voice, “Then you can make your choice soon. Before he died, Gerlac told us the name of the wolf who poisoned him.” That sent a wave around the room, so before things got out of hand, I quickly, continued, “Before the nights end, the castle will be locked tight and we will have our traitor in our custody with nowhere for them to run to. They will answer for their crimes against the pack, and Sköll will no longer have his eyes and ears here.”

Sigurd blanched, his stance faltering.

It took all my will not to smirk at him. He didn’t like me - I knew that well enough - I wasn’t even sure he really liked Hati, but my words made him take pause and he reluctantly took his seat again.

“Who is it?” Harald asked, piercing blue eyes capturing mine, other members of the council echoing his question.

“We cannot tell you."

“You must tell us,” Sigurd demanded, just as Loa asked, “Why tell us anything at all then?”

All eyes turned her way, and she took the opportunity to voice her thoughts, “You could have kept this between yourselves and had this traitor in custody immediately. Why are you waiting? Does no part of you think it suspicious that Gerlac died the night after he was taken in for questioning? You do not think he took his own life from the guilt that weighed on him for betraying his family, his pack, his god, for killing Bruadar?”

It was exactly what I expected her to say, exactly what I expected the spy to try; to pass the blame off on a dead wolf. From an outside perspective, I too would have come to the same conclusion she had. But Gerlac was no coward. And no murderer at that either.

How could Hati be so adamant Loa was innocent even now?

My mate met my gaze with a passive expression, only I could read the argument in the depths of his cool amber eyes.

It is not her.

Are you not hearing what I am? I wanted to argue back.

He tore his gaze away to address his council. “The evidence that one might think points to Gerlac actually points towards another-“

“Why is the Lady Ingrid not here?” Sigurd interrupted. “If her father is dead, does she not take his place?”

And so our suspicion swung another way yet again.

“Your.seats on council are not granted by rights of blood,” Hati replied tightly. “Gerlac’s replacement will decided on by merit when the time is right, as of now Lady Ingrid is in mourning-"

“Mourning or under arrest?”

When Sigurd interrupted again, Hati let out a low growl that silenced even the sounds of breath. Leaning low over the table, eyes now as bright as the fire sparking behind us, he uttered lowly, “You forget your place Sigurd Sigisson. I am Alpha here. My mate is Alpha here. You sit here by the grace of our agreement.”

The challenging male stopped where he sat so his head fell forward, and tilted his chin to bare his neck. I felt the buzz of power in the air like a boost of confidence, finding the submission of a wolf who could be alpha in his own right exhilarating.

“What we should take away from this meeting is that Gerlac died a male with his honour intact and the wellbeing of the pack at the forefront of his mind,” I said softly. “He will be sent to the afterlife in the ways of his religion with no stain to his name. His being arrested was all part of our plan and he willingly agreed to remain imprisoned despite the upset it caused the lady Ingrid. Spread this news. . .and while it is important to keep the fact we have cornered out spy a secret, you may confide in those closest to you if they can be trusted, so that they may find some peace and feel safe within the pack once more.”

Loa frowned at this where others appeared relieved, still with a healthy dose of concern, but a glint of hope this would all be over soon. Harald patted a hand on Helga’s shoulder, his pup who’d taken Magne’s spot while he was away with the others defending the human port that was intrinsic to our survival here.

“It’ll all be over soon,” he said with a tight smile. Helga smiled back.

My gaze scanned the rest of the table and was relieved to find no further questioning of our lie. Faces were strained, wary, even grief stricken, but they readily accepted the fact Gerlac was innocent, all except Loa, and they all accepted we were closing in on who’d betrayed us. Except, while Loa did appear somewhat distressed, her fingers tapping on the tabletop while she stared into the distance, I heard no stutter of fear or panic in her breath. Perhaps having sensed me staring, her dark gaze flew up to mine. Tears still shimmered in their depths, and she swiped them away with a subtle flick of her hand before she slowly rose.

“Is that all you need us for?”

“Yes, my lady,” Hati answered.

This was it. She was going to run, I told myself. So why was I suddenly second guessing myself?

Because she was grieving for her friend? Because the guilt souring her scent was what we all felt when someone passed?

“I will give my condolences to Ingrid then, and see to helping make sure the castle is locked down.”

Hati and I glanced at each other.

It was up to him. I didn’t think Ingrid should be locked up, and with Caldar watching her door - hopefully with a mind to make himself inconspicuous - there was nothing she could do.

Hati’s jaw worked as he thought it over, knowing I would offer no word of help.

I won. Of course. With a flicker of irritation across his face, he glanced back at Loa and nodded.

“Very well. She would be best kept to her chambers for now until we can properly establish safety in the pack again. There is a chance our spy may strike again.”

I had to bite my cheek to keep my expression neutral.

How Caldar reported Loa acted when she visited Ingrid would be of great help to us.

Loa left poised as ever, her dress sweeping across the stone floor, walking evenly all the way to the door; both too calm and not calm enough at the same time. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice Farrin shadowing her every step.

Hati waited until the door was closed once more before speaking again, “Brokkr, if he is up to it, will now oversee building and smithing. Harald and Helga will help make sure the castle is locked tight tonight, and Sigurd?”

The male straightened from the submissive posture he’d cowered into when he’d been reminded of his place, a glimpse of remorse in his expression.

“Yes, my Alpha.”

“I would like you to be the new go between for us and the noble families, and take over the accounting. As a learned male with many languages to your tongue, you should find these matters easy."

Easy? His giddy face told me he wasn’t worried about how hard the work was, just that the work was prestigious and important. He was eager for it. Hungry even.

I didn’t like the idea of a power starved male in charge of pack finances, not that finances was even a word in my vocabulary before coming here. Ingrid would be better with it. The female was spoiled but she was frugal and had a good head on her shoulders. She might be laden with self-interest but she hid it better than the male practically salivating at the proposition. He would ask more from us. I just knew he would.

“Yes, my Alpha,” he repeated, this time with far more reverence.

Sharp eyes met mine and I held my expression in a mask of neutrality. I worried what Loa had said on the day of my mating would be true; that any pups Hati and I had would be use for barter. Trade. Alliances.

Would the pack remain together when Ragnarök was over? How many would return to their territory once the Blood Drinkers were no longer a problem, and the humans had stopped their hunt for anything they deemed other?

Sigurd left with the satisfied look of a cat who caught the mouse. His pride left a sour taste in my mouth.

“Have you heard word from Magne?” Harald asked. “Should we not worry about retribution from your brother if we get rid of his eyes and ears here?”

Hati pulled out his chair and took his seat, allowing the weariness to show on his face. “No word, but that is a good thing. He was told to contact us only if something were to go wrong, and to otherwise come straight back here. We should have time before Sköll notices things have gone quiet, and, as getting rid of his spy is hardly breaking our imagined deal of neutrality, I hope he will look to his plans to bring about the end of the gods rather than us, and that he will not hear we have asked for help from Ásgarðr.”

Harald nodded slowly, his gaze flicking to his pup sat quietly beside him, listening and learning. I could see fear in the creases of his eyes, the worry about her future lingering in the downturn of his mouth.

“Helga,” I said, taken aback by the shock in her soft blue eyes as her gaze whipped up to me, then darted away submissively. I was still learning to understand the way these wolves reacted to being spoken to by their Alpha. “How old are you?”

“This is my eighteenth winter,” she replied.

Barely a pup grown.

She must have seen something in my gaze that told her of my thoughts because all of a sudden she was lifting herself taller jutting out her chin, adding fiercely, “But I have hunted and fought since I could walk, and I am not afraid of helping defend what is ours.”

Her declaration brought a smile to her father’s face and further worry.

“Then you will be a good leader should we need to mount an escape for those who cannot fight. Perhaps you could help Hati and I work on a plan should a need for it arise, though I doubt anyone would be foolish enough to attack our fortress.”

She grew even taller, her shyness burnt away by a beaming smile. “Yes, Alpha Female. I would be a good choice to lead the pack away, I promise. Wouldn’t I, Papa?”

“Yes, you would be, mein Schatz.” Harald leaned in to nip her jaw and chuckled at the embarrassed whine she kept loose. Then he looked at me and mouthed, “Thank you.”

I gave him a subtle bow of my head in return. His female would not see the chaos of war. I would make sure of that.

Once the council had dispersed, not all too happily, Hati and I didn’t get a momwnt to recuperate.Astrid swooped in with a group of warriors who approached our table with faces set stern in determination.

“The plan is all set,” she said. “We did what you asked, Eabha, and spoke to the pups. They did indeed know about ways to escape the castle we were unaware of.”

I chuckled. “I told you as much. Pups are smart when it comes to getting out from under the eye of grown wolves."

“Well thought of.” Hati turned a tight smile my way before his eyes looked over the group of wolves, his most trusted a mix of both Vargr with their glowing eyes, and Skin Shifters who held themselves tall under my gaze. I was relieved there was no sign of a chasm between the two species, that they stood shoulder to shoulder with trust. But I worried the wider pack weren’t so together as warriors who trained and fought together daily.

After tonight, hopefully we could work on bringing the pack together properly. Rebind the ties cut by the betrayal of one.

I rubbed my forehead, feeling a tightening band begin to throb around my head. My body was a mess of adrenaline, excitement, and gear of failure. Not that I could show a lick of that before our warriors.

“All that’s left is to wait and watch.” Hati tapped his fingers along the table top before adding,  “But I do have concerns that the traitor might call our bluff so we need to make sure they truly believe we are on their tail, and that they have no choice but to leave.” He paused again, and I could see the wheels turning in his mind. “We need a distraction tonight, big enough to draw attention of most of the pack so there’s a reason for one exit to be seemingly less, or entirely, unwatched. . .we need to make a distraction that will be too good a chance of escape to leave untaken. This must end tonight.”

Astrid hummed in thought, and the warriors at her back too began to murmur amongst themselves.

What would get the pack’s attention? What usually did? Me, I thought in amusement, only for me to bolt upright and laugh. “There I might have another idea, mate of mine.”

“Oh?"

Leaning in close, I nipped at his jaw and nearly laughed again at the look of confusion on his face as I answered, “Yes. But the less who know the better, it’ll make it look more real."

“More real?” Hati grew concerned, leaning back to eye me with equal curiosity and wariness. “Do I not need to know if I’m to be involved in this plan?”

“Ah, Hati, a ghraidh.” I gave him a sly smile. “You and I are both going to make a scene the pack won’t be able to help but gather in the hall to gossip about. All you have to do is follow my lead. And trust me.”

He studied me quietly, eyes raking over my face before he nodded, lips curling into an almost smile. “Always.”

***

An hour later, during the crush of the evening meal in the hall, it felt impossible to keep my back straight and gaze ahead, ignoring the burn of Hati’s gaze from the high table.

He shouldn’t have been looking. He should have been doing as I was and acting as if there was a distance of an entire country between us.

However hard Hati found it to keep up our ruse, perhaps my stiff posture and refusal to glance back was enough. Wolves sniffed out the tension we showed and whispered about it until I was certain the whole hall was aware something was wrong between Hati and I.

It was working, but it wasn’t enough yet.

Twisting on the bench, I faced my mate with snapping teeth to make my irritation with his staring clear. Mouths stopped chewing to watch their Alpha lift his lip in a small snarl before turning away from me with a dismissive twitch of his hand.

My cheeks flamed in embarrassment.

I’d get him for that.

“Now is not the time to be falling out with your mate, Eabha,” Oighrig advised. Sat across the table from me, she rubbed her youngest’s back as he digested his feed. Her clear blue eyes held a sparkle of amusement, her lips quirking into a knowing smile. “How will the owl catch the mouse tonight if its head and heart are at odds?”

She knew what we were up to tonight? She’d had a vision? Which meant my gods were watching. . .

“Can our ancestors still see me, aunt?”

Head tipping to one side, her smile fell slightly before she said, “They can see me, and our family, and we can see you, daughter of my mate’s brother.

However-“ She leaned in and placed her hand over mine, offering more quietly, “It is hard for Gods to find one who does not call out any longer.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

She hummed. “I see the guilt on your shoulders. I saw your face as Hati told the pack of Gerlac’s passing. Maybe you feel you have no right to ask for help when others are looking to you to give it.”

“You are too wise for your own good, you know.”

“I know. You all think I am losing my grip on myself but I still have a sharp mind.”

Her teasing smile faltered as a shadow fell over us. And as a zap of awareness shot up my spine, I knew why.

My eyes narrowed at nothing in particular. Now he really was beginning to piss me off. There better be good reason for him to take charge of things when this was my plan, but I found his incessant desire to take the lead only built up ire I would need.

“I thought we agreed you would eat with me now we are a mated pair.” Hati’s low voice rumbled out with just enough of an edge to make the hair in my neck prickle.

Without turning to face him, I picked up a tankard of ale and answered tightly, “I thought we agreed we are wolves and not humans who must show their high station by distancing themselves from those they are meant to serve.”

I sensed him tense, heard the inhale of breath from those close enough to hear.

“Even as my mate you don’t speak to me with the respect I deserve as your Alpha!” His words weren’t shouted, but with the pack actively shooshing each other to listen in, it sounded as if he had. “Even now you sit and give me your back.”

Not only did I spin to glare at him, but I stepped from the bench and rose to my feet, stepping into his space with a growl fierce enough to make sure no one could try and pretend this wasn’t happening right in front of them. A quick sweep of the hall showed me what I wanted - wolves who were halfway out the door leaning back in, stopping passers by to listen too. I couldn’t blame them. I’d have been just as eager to watch something like this play out.

“We have very different ideas of what it means to be an alpha, and you have no idea how to be a mated one,” I shot back sharply. “You seek to have me bow and submit to you. You expect to have the last word and the final say with no care how I disagree. Where I am from, pack is family, led by a mated pair, together. You are stronger than I am, Hati, but you are not more dominant. We are equal. You cannot wave me off as naive or my disagreements as inconsequential just because your brother has gotten under your skin!”

I hadn’t meant to shout, but my voice rang out so sharply even Hati blinked in surprise. Surprise that was burned quickly away to anger as he rolled his shoulders in a way that in fur would have had me readying for claws.

“I have walked your Miðgarðr since before you were born,” he rebuffed, voice rough with a growl. “And that was after I lived a lifetime roaming the fields of Ásgarðr and hunting in Myrkviðr. I have hundreds of wolves under my care to think about, and thousands of consequences to ponder beyond that. You may not think yourself naive but you have lived a short life where your biggest concerns were being able to hunt and forage in the midst of harsh winters.”

I laughed, unable to help myself. “I knew, I knew you would throw that in my face one day! I knew you’d try to pull rank with age. Will you tell me next that I can’t be right and you wrong because you are the son of the mighty Fenrir and I am but a Skin Shifter born of a mated pair who were never even truly alphas themselves? I was right. I am right. You can pretend you are above us all if you wish but you are not. You are Alpha because the pack follow you, not the other way around.”

The whole hall was bowing under the pressure of two Alphas at odds.  Nostrils flaring, eyes blazing like fire, Hati stepped close enough I could feel the warmth of his body beating against me. “Pick your next words very carefully, Little Alpha, or I might think you’re challenging me.”

“Maybe I am,” I uttered harshly.

Real irritation scratched in my gut, as real as the defensive edge I could see sharpen Hati’s movements.

“Is that so?” He looked around as if only just noticing that the entire pack watched with the same enraptured faces as one might watch a singer or bard. Unfortunately, Hati wasn’t for letting the show drag on any longer. “I think we should take this somewhere private, mate of mine.”

Giving me no chance to argue further, he stalked from the hall. The pack scampered out of his path, heads bowed only to turn and watch him retreat.

The heavy weight of judging eyes made me want to shrink in on myself, but instead I did as Hati had and slyly glanced around the hall, taking note of every face, every sight and scent that could betray nerves. I spotted Loa slowly climbing down from the head table and quickly flung myself around to furiously stomp after my mate. I barely made it two steps out the door before chatter started up like a gaggle of geese now the fox was away.

That gossip would definitely keep them occupied for a while.

However, now I feared Hati and I had a real fight brewing, or at least, we had to discuss what was brought up in our ‘pretence’.

“Naive,” I muttered, then scoffed. “Damn male has forgotten how old I really am.”

A hand reached out of the darkness to yank me out of the light of the nearby sconce. Sweet honey met my nose before I let out the scream in my throat, silenced by a nose pressing against my throat.

“You were meant to follow my lead,” I muttered.

“The night is drawing cold and late, too many were leaving for the warmth of their beds.”

“A warmth you may not get to enjoy sharing with me tonight after what you said.”

His growl was delicious, vibrating through my entire being, but I could sense the hesitation in him as well. Unable to meet his eyes, I murmured quietly, “You have been different since Asgard. I think we may need to continue what we just lay out bare for the pack.”

He gnashed his teeth together in the same way my little brother did when my father suggested he eat berries alongside his meat, as if I’d suggested something abhorrent. Now was not the moment for it. We had to keep our heads straight.

“I love you, insufferable male.”

A twitch of a smile, slightly crooked in a way that made my heart clench. “I love you. In that, at least, we are in agreement.”

Hopefully, we would always have that.

Hati led the way to the door hidden by a fraying tapestry near his rooms. It opened with a gust of icy air that chilled me to the bone. My toes curled on the stone. But no amount of cold would make me force my feet back into shoes.

It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the strange blue light. The snow muffled the sounds of the night, and yet every crunch of snow beneath my feet sounded deafeningly loud. No torches or braziers lit our way but my eyes picked up enough light to see as clearly as I did inside, especially with the white snow to reflect the fingernail slice of moon trying to appear from behind wispy clouds.

Occasional echoes of voices from inside the castle broke through the quiet, but otherwise I was certain Hati and I were completely alone out here. My feet sank into the heavy prints he left behind, senses alert to the point of pain.

It all came down to this. All those we’d lost, all who’d been hurt, tonight someone would pay.

Following Hati’s lead, I hunkered down at the corner of the wall, picking up the breaths of others waiting in the gloom. Caldar was somewhere nearby, and Astrid would be positioning herself with other warriors in the trees surrounding us. I wished someone could have stayed at Ingrid’s door but Hati had a point when he said everyone needed a chance to slip away for this to work, for us to make sure we caught the right person. Not that I for a second thought it would be Ingrid who would stumble out the small, disused side door one had to climb over crumbling walls and under creaking rafters to get to.

The only door that was known for not being under guard. Because who but mischievous pups would risk being crushed to death to escape?

“What if they don’t come this way? What if they don't come at all?”

I hadn’t realised I’d spoken out loud until Hati answered, “They will if they’re smart, and they’ve proven they have some intelligence. If they head out any of the front exits then the fires and braziers will catch them out for those on watch to see. The only exit out the back is the one we took near my quarters where they’ll assume we are probably continuing our fight in private so won’t risk it. This one has been forgotten about by most. As a group, it would be dangerous to try to make it through – one bump could shift a piece of timber that would bring the whole roof down – alone, one needs just be careful.”

But they weren't alone, whoever they were.

Over an hour later, way past the hour most would have escaped the dark and cold for their dens, and long past the time when my fingers and toes had grown numb, and my nerves frayed from waiting, we were alerted by the creak of the rotting door being slowly pushed open, and the searching sniffs of a wolf scenting the air.

The figure shrouded in a heavy dark cloak  dragged along a smaller figure behind them, one who stumbled to keep up. A pup whose sleepy voice was so familiar as she asked where they were going that it sent a bolt of fear straight to my gut that then erupted in a flurry of blinding fury.

Niamh.

The traitor had taken my sister.

Hati caught on too late to stop me.

Instead of allowing the traitor to make their escape to the woods to make sure we caught them red handed, I was shifting to fur and springing from our hiding place with a ferocious growl that terrified birds from their nests. The cloaked wolf span around as my paws hit the ground again. They dragged my sister in front of them to use as a shield but it wouldn’t save them. I could go for their throat without hurting Niamh. I’d had to help take down deer while my family clung to our prey, this was no different.

Until the flash of steel glinted in the dark.

I skidded to stop a few feet away, sick as I watched a knife lift to press against my sister’s throat, her hair held firmly to yank her head back.

Niamh recognised me instantly and cried out my name, her arms flying out towards me, followed by a sharp cry of terror as the one holding her yanked her closer. I could sense Hati and Caldar creeping closer to my back, and could hear the crunch of snow from the trees that told me our traitor was now well surrounded, but no number of us mattered now.

How had I not thought of this? That in their desperation, the traitor would make sure they had something to bargain for their freedom?

And what better thing to bargain with than a life?

What a mistake they’d made in thinking I would let them keep their life after threatening my sister.

Lips pulled back, hackles prickling, I widened my stance and sniffed at the air.

How could I be so close yet still not pick up a scent beyond the sickly sweet smell of those horrible buns, the crumbs of which were sprinkled around Niamh’s mouth and over her sticky fingers.

“You’ll stay back,” the cloaked figure croaked out, their voice distorted but unmistakably female, tugging the roots of Niamh’s hair again.

I shifted back to skin, the bitter bite of snow against flesh ignored. Adrenaline rushed through my veins to stave off the cold, and even as the icy wind began to pick up around us to blow flakes of snow from the limbs of the trees, I didn’t so much as shiver.

“You’ll release my sister or you’ll fall where you stand,” I replied. “There are arrows pointing at you now, and wolves crawling the forest ready to take you down. Come quietly, and you’ll have the chance to plead your case.”

The figure snorted. “No. You’ll let me go or-”

Niamh began to wriggle again, violently and hard enough her captor cursed. Stumbling a few more steps forward, terrified of the blade cutting into her skin, I lifted my hands to stop her from trying to get free. “Na gabh dragh, a ghraidh. Fan far a bheil thu. Be still. It’s just a game, Niamh. She’ll let you go.”

“Smaoinich mi gur i do charaid a th’innte!” Niamh whimpered, only to be sharply shaken quiet, her captor growling at her ear.

My gaze whipped from my sister back to the hood covered face, searching for anything familiar about the figure. Hunched over as she was, it was hard to gauge a height, and every inch of clothing and skin, bar the slim fingers gripping Niamh’s hair, and curled around the handle of the knife, was hidden.

A friend. . .Niamh said she thought she was my friend. . .which meant. . .

“No.” I shook my head, swaying so hard I bumped into Hati guarding my back.

We’d been so busy looking for a mastermind, someone openly cunning or brave or strong or power-hungry. Someone who might have reason to betray us. We’d only noticed what was to be noticed. Who better to act as spy than a timid female nobody paid much attention to. Someone who had connections to the council through their family and friends, so would be privy to information not granted to others.

She’d been so clever.

She must have used the basket.

And that damned sweet scent. . .as good as any perfume. . .

“Linnea?”

The figure stiffened, fingers slackening on the handle of the knife before tightening again. The figure rattled like a rabbit in a trap, a sharp inhale of breath betraying uncertainty. Then a cruel laugh sliced through the tension.

“I thought you already knew it was me or this would have played out differently.” Linnea dropped the fake voice but there was still an unfamiliar edge to it, a confident sneer in place of her usual quiet murmurs. She gave Niamh’s hair another tug to elicit a hiss of pain that I felt as my own, then lifted the knife long enough for her to shove down her hood. “You looked at me in the same way he did, as if you saw right through my act; in the beginning it did make me worry you’d figure it out, but no, to the end I fooled even you. He’s wrong. You don’t see much at all. Just like everyone else.”

It didn’t take much to guess who the he she was referring to was, which was as much of an admission of guilt as I needed.

“I do see you, Linnea. I do. I see a female who perhaps thought it was easier to fall into Ingrid’s shadow than compete against her. I see a female who would have liked to have been considered as a suitable alpha female but was overlooked not because of lack of charm or beauty, but influence and connection. Whatever he promised you, you can find that here-“

“Enough! I know what I’ve done. I don’t believe for a second you will welcome me into the pack with open arms after I have passed on secrets to your enemies, taken lives, after making sure Yamin took the fall for my plans to have my family move up in power, to make me a suitable choice for Alpha Female, all for it to fall in Ingrid’s lap!”

Hati’s growl thundered at my ear, his body sweeping past me. “You. You were behind the attempt to overthrow me? Yamin pleaded innocence to the end. . .I tossed a pup out of the pack because of you!”

The name fell into place then. Yamin, who had been executed for his part in a coup that had nearly torn the pack apart before I’d arrived. The father of Yousuf, the young male who’d told me how to get to Hati’s pack, who’d warned me away from going at all. The young male not much older than Fionnlagh who’d tried to get back to the pack after he’d been attacked by the Blood Drinker who’d caught up with him first. His voice had been the first I’d heard from beyond the veil. An innocent. As innocent as the family Hati had condemned.

A well of bubbling need for vengeance began to build inside me, so powerful I was certain I would explode into fur no matter how I fisted my hands and bit my nails into my palm.

“You will not make it to your master this night,” Hati warned her. “Release the pup. You have taken lives, yes, but to take the life of one who has yet to grow? You do not have that in you, Linnea. Let her go and I promise you will be treated gently. That is more than you deserve and this is the only time I will offer it.”

She didn’t hide the flicker of fear as well as she thought she did, even with a growing, unhinged grin.

“So I am to come with you so you can what? Question me? Torture me? Have me give a confession for my every transgression so that you may execute me before the pack and be able to wash your hands clean of blood?” She laughed, a deep, manic sound that made the hairs on my arms stand on end. “No. What of your transgressions, son of Fenrir? What of the horrors your mate is destined to unleash? How will you answer for them if I come with you now? No. If I must die for my crimes, I will take her with me for yours.”

A gust of wind blew hair from Linnea’s face to reveal a flash of frantic wide eyes. There was no time to take in the strangeness of her dishevelled form however, not when without further word, she was muttering some sort of prayer and lifting the knife, then plunging it towards Niamh’s chest.

Instinct took over, a cry from deep within my gut flying loose to drown out Niamh’s own scream, and Linnea’s crazed yowling. Yowling that turned to freaking squeals as a spark of flame lit beneath her feet and tore up her clothes as if lantern oil had quickened it. Hati threw himself forward as soon as Linnea dropped the knife glowing red hot, grabbing my sister and rolling away with her in the snow.

With my sister out of the way, I charged towards Linnea who only had time to glance up at me with terror in her bloodshot eyes before a burst of power rocked forth and she disappeared inside an explosion of fire, the smell of burning flesh and clothes filling the chill air, the snow around her bubbling and melting.

This was rage. This was destruction. This was the power and fury of my judgement - of the child of Ragnarök.

I felt the flames licking at her corpse as if they seared through my veins as well, bright and uncontrollable.

Even after the torrent of flames died down and a burnt corpse shattered to the ground, I could see the ghostly image of the she-wolf I’d called friend standing before me.

“This is not the end!” she screeched at me, before clawlike hands rose up from her ashy remains and clawed her flailing soul deep into the earth.

Still I could hear that raw scream rattling the very trees branches around us. So harsh and gut-wrenching in its sound that it made my heart ache.

Because it was coming from me. And the reason I could feel scorching heat eating at my skin was because fire still flickered up my fingers to lap at my wrists. It was me. The fire that had eaten her up had come from me.

Lifting my head, it was the sight of fire reflected in my sister’s eyes, and the fear on her face, that stopped the scream in my throat and had the flames dissipating into embers that fluttered away into the dark.

Hati held my sister tight, checking over every inch of her for injury. When she flinched at my approaching step, I slumped to my knees in the snow.

At first I thought it had been Hati’s magic, or another’s, but to know it was I capable of raining down such horror?

“What did I do?”

Nobody answered, perhaps nobody heard when my throat was so scratched from my own screams my words were but a croak.

Nothing remained of Linnea but a pile of ash, burnt fabric, and bone that would too, by the brittle charred look of it, fall away to ash at the next touch. The image of her tormented soul being dragged away repeated in my mind again and again. No matter her family’s belief, her belief in Sköll meant she’d been taken by Hel. . .and by the looks of the shadowed hands that took her, she would be joining Narfi, and not where my brother ran through field and forest.

I’d cursed her to a fate much worse than death.

I stared at the hands that had taken a life in the blink of an eye.

No blood. No blisters. No cracked skin to show I’d wielded flame as easily as Hati did his sword. In fact, even the wound is got from the attack at Asgard had disappeared to reveal pale, unmarred flesh. I’d felt drunk with the power that had exploded from within me. And yet, now. . .now, gone was the righteousness that guided my hand. Gone was the confidence from an echo of a hundred lifetimes. Gone was the one who would rain down her judgement on the gods.

Trembling in the snow, wary and frightened eyes weighing down on her form, was only me. Just me. The she-wolf who could only play pretend at being Alpha.

Firm fingers gripped my chin to lift my gaze. Dark eyes met the light of Hati’s that still mirrored back the rage of fire that had filled me seconds ago.

“What did I do?” I repeated, shame making my eyes brim with tears as I tried to hold his gaze.

“You did what you were born to do, Elskan Mín; you protected the pack. You found Linnea guilty of her crimes and you dealt the punishment.”

His attempt to calm me, to reassure me that my actions were justified, did little. Kneeling with me in the snow, he shifted so his bulk hid the charred remains of Linnea from me.

Forehead pressed to mine, he cupped my cheek. “Taking a life is hard, no matter the reason. In battle is one thing,  but in this manner. . . I won’t tell you to not let it weigh on you because it will. However, I will tell you not to second-guess yourself or who you are because of it. You are still same female at heart. You are not crueller or less kind because of it. The pack will look at you different because they will see a new strength to you, they may even be afraid of you at first, but they will see you for you; once they see how much safer we are out from under Sköll’s eye. They will remember to be grateful when help arrives from Ásgarðr.”

He was wrong. The fear I smelt from the warriors still lingering nearby wasn’t something that would go away. Not if my own sister had looked at me so. . .

“Niamh-“

“Niamh is safe. Caldar is taking her to Eirny to make sure the cut on her throat heals properly. I doubt there’ll even be a scar. She was very brave, I told her so. I had to assure her you were safe too before she would go.”

I turned my face away. “She’s afraid of me.”

“No, my love. She is frightened by the entire situation, not of you.”

He was wrong again. Those of the pack who weren’t already wary of my ability to speak to the dead belonging to Hel, would be now. Linnea was meant to be taken in, questioned, we were supposed to make sure she definitely worked alone, and thanks to me we would never know why she did what she did. Or what else she’d done, if we were to beware of anything she’d done that would cause us harm even now she was gone.

A breeze blew the stench of burnt flesh to my nose and bile burnt up the back of my already tender throat.

Hati let me go as I threw myself to the side to be sick.