Witch Bound

Twilight of the Gods 2

by

Eleri Stone

For Eric.

Dear Reader,

I’m writing this just after having returned from Disney World. It wasn’t my first trip to Disney and it won’t be my last. Even though I’m not fond of big crowds, I get sick if I even look at a twisty ride (though I still like to ride a few) and by the end of our visit we’re all invariably cranky, I still love it there. Disney truly has created something magical.

Luckily, for those of you who don’t have a trip to Disney in your future, they’re not the only ones who can create something magical. Every month, Carina Press authors deliver us books that transport us to new times, new places and new adventures. This month is no different!

I’m pleased to introduce New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Tyler’s new series, launching this month. This romance, set in post-apocalypse America, centers around the survival of the fittest: the motorcycle gangs of the future. Dark, edgy and steamy, Defiance is the first in this can’t-miss new series.

Another New York Times bestselling author, Marie Force, is back with the next installment in her bestselling romantic suspense series. An error on the baseball field leads to murder in Fatal Mistake.

And I’m happy to welcome Victoria Davies to Carina Press with her newest paranormal romance, Seducing the Demon Huntress.

Joining these three is a lineup of fantastic authors returning to Carina Press. Don’t miss the latest installment of Love Letters Volume 3: Wicked Whispers. Verbal foreplay goes a long way in these four steamy stories. From author Christine d’Abo comes Sexcapades. Sparks fly between two rival internet bloggers in this erotic contemporary romance.

Our last erotic offering for the month of June is the long-awaited sequel to Dana Marie Bell’s Blood of the Maple. In Throne of Oak, dark forces are converging on Maggie’s Grove, and a horde of hunters stalk supernaturals from the shadows.

If you’re looking for more paranormal romances, Sheryl Nantus, PJ Schnyder, and Eleri Stone all have releases this month. Check out the new installments from Sheryl and Eleri respectively, Family Pride and Witch Bound. Meanwhile, join PJ on a new adventure as she kicks off her London Undead series with Bite Me. Zombies have taken over London and a werewolf finds himself protecting a woman who seems determined to put herself in harm’s way.

Still in the “other world” genres, we have two releases: Fae Sutherland’s Sky Runners, a delicious male/male space opera; and the conclusion to Vivi Anna’s steampunk romance trilogy. The League of Illusion: Destiny wraps up with sorcerer Sebastian Davenport’s story.

If you’re a fan of Downton Abbey, you’ll want to make sure you’re not missing out on Julie Rowe’s War Girls books. World War I generated many heroes—only some of them were men. Check out Enticing the Spymaster, her newest release, and go back and catch up with Saving the Rifleman, the first in this series. And while you’re in the past, why not stay there? Wendy Soliman’s Beguiling the Barrister also transports readers to a past time in this regency romance.

Last but not least, two powerhouse authors have new releases to center you in the here and now. HelenKay Dimon explores love and lust in her return to Holloway with contemporary romance Just What He Wanted. Sexy Travis is the story we’ve all been waiting for!

Adrienne Giordano rounds out our month of magical releases with Opposing Forces. In this romantic suspense, when a pharmaceutical distribution manager uncovers secret drug shipments at work, she and a savvy executive with political ties must risk everything—including their hearts—to stop the criminals and stay alive.

No matter where your reading tastes take you, whether it’s the past, the future, or an alternate world, we’ve got an extensive catalog to help give you a magical experience without ever leaving the comfort of your own house (or needing to stand in line!).

We love to hear from readers, and you can email us your thoughts, comments and questions to generalinquiries@carinapress.com. You can also interact with Carina Press staff and authors on our blog, Twitter stream and Facebook fan page.

Happy reading!

~Angela James

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Ella Drake for reading the early draft and for making a suggestion that sparked the creation of one of my favorite scenes. Thanks also to Al for your constant encouragement and support. Couldn’t do this without you.

Chapter One

Standing in the backyard of her childhood home with her family gathered around her, Raquel tried to ignore the doubts swirling inside her head. Relief, excitement, hope and fear all blending into a toxic concoction that made her stomach churn and her palms sweat. This is the reason the elders consider it taboo for the partners in a contracted marriage to meet prematurely.

No time to plot an escape.

Her father, the clan Odin, rested a hand upon her shoulder as Kathy, their witch, made her final preparations to open the portal. Raquel shoved her bare hands into the pockets of her wool coat as the first caress of magic brushed against her senses. It started out as a light sensation like fine mist, but soon surrounded them, saturating the air.

The tide passing through the nearby ley lines still ran high from the new moon, making it dangerous to open the portal directly above the fault. Too easy to swamp the wards. Even here, several miles away, Kathy’s slender body trembled as she struggled to contain all that wild energy.

Kathy stretched out her arms, drawing power into herself, forcing it down into the earth to serve as an anchor. The mountains here were old and very strong. Raquel could feel the exact moment they latched onto the power to pull it deeper. Kathy extended her right hand in front of her, fingers splayed as she drew the next thread, braiding it through the anchor and then forcing it out, piercing the fabric of space and reaching toward the witch on the other side.

Within seconds, that small tear expanded from the size of a quarter to the size of a bowling ball. Not much to look at really—a shimmer in the air, a distortion that warped light so subtly it couldn’t be detected unless viewed from exactly the right angle. On an overcast day like this, it was even more difficult to see. Visible or not, any Æsir would know it was there. The unmistakable charge to the air, a vibration, lower than the human ear could detect, that bypassed consciousness and spoke directly to the part of the brain that governed instinct. For a witch like Raquel, the effect was stronger, calling to her like a siren’s song, making her skin feel hot, itchy and tight.

Her father squeezed her shoulder. He wasn’t a particularly demonstrative man, and the reflexive movement caused her eyes to prick with tears. Clearing his throat, he bent his head. “Raquel?” She tore her gaze from the nearly stable portal to look into his concerned eyes. “He’s a fine man. It’s a good match. You’ve nothing to worry about.”

Trust in family, in the clan magic, in the gods. She’d built her life upon those tenets. And she’d been looking forward to this moment for years. These were just...last-minute jitters.

“I’m ready for you,” Kathy called over her shoulder.

“Hurry up, sweetheart.” Her mother bounced on the balls of her feet. “She can’t hold it forever.”

Her father lifted her off the ground, squeezing the breath from her lungs in a bear hug before dropping her back to her feet. “Two weeks and I’ll be there. Call if you need me sooner.” His big hand on her back steadied her as he turned her to face the portal. “Good crossing, then.”

Right. Get this over and done with and on with the rest of her life. Her throat constricted, but she forced herself to take the first step and then another. The closer she got, the steadier the pressure against her mind.

Her mother and sister stood aside, allowing her to pass first. Raquel and Audrey looked a lot alike, though Audrey was two years younger and three inches taller. They both had the same blond hair and pointed chin, the same blue eyes. Wouldn’t do for the groom to mistake the bride, would it?

Refusing to look back, Raquel blew out an unsteady breath and stepped into the portal. As soon as she touched it, the magic enveloped her, coating her skin like an icy film before sinking into her pores. Even though this portal was only a pinprick compared to the huge rips in the fabric of space that allowed passage between worlds, it was still disorienting. Like falling out of a fifty-story window but instead of crashing to the pavement, you landed inside your own body.

A cold, swift drop and then she was pushing through to the other side...Ragnarok, Iowa. The sunlight was blinding compared to the gloom of Colorado, and she blinked rapidly as her eyes struggled to adjust. A house—large and white with green shutters and porches front and back. A red barn set beside a larger metal outbuilding. Winter fertilized fields stretching as far as the eye could see. The Ragnarok witch stood a few feet away, all of her attention focused on the portal.

The man standing beside the witch began to move toward Raquel and she froze, staring. The sun was behind him, his face in shadow, but it had to be him.

As she took a step in his direction, her heel caught on a stone and she stumbled. She’d have dropped at his feet if not for the firm hand that reached out to steady her. “Careful. Give yourself a moment.”

He had dark blond hair, wavy enough that it looked like he used some kind of gel to keep it in place. Sharp blue eyes and an easy smile. He was taller than she’d expected, broad through the shoulder and, wow, mind-shatteringly hot, wasn’t he? Christian Jager. Huntsman of the Ragnarok clan of Æsir refugees. The man she would marry in three weeks’ time.

A sharp twinge of uncertainty passed through her. The picture she’d taped to her bathroom mirror as a teenager was of a much younger man. Still attractive, but in an innocuously boyish way. The man holding her arm was very definitely a grown man—strong, confident and so handsome she couldn’t decide whether to weep with panic or gratitude. He wore business slacks and a black wool coat far finer than hers. She could see the sheen from his silk tie through the collar. Blue as his eyes. Polished.

She felt very unpolished, gaping at him while the wind tossed her hair into her eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine.” Heat rose to her cheeks. “I’m Raquel.”

Christian smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners and a dimple indenting his right cheek. “I know who you are. It’s good to finally meet you. Here.” He took her arm to draw her aside. “I think they’re about to come through.”

As soon as he said it, she felt the magic swell at the back of her mind and turned to watch as the fabric of space shifted, outlining her mother’s body for a moment before sliding back to a more natural state. Like water sluicing from skin. Audrey was barely a step behind—just suddenly there—blinking in the sunlight in this farmyard in Iowa.

As the witch shut down the portal, Raquel introduced Christian to her mother and sister. Aiden, the clan Odin, and his wife, Grace, crossed the yard to join them. Aiden was a quiet, stern man in his forties. Raquel had met him years ago at one of the gatherings. He’d intimidated her then as much as he did now. Grace seemed nice though, with a riot of curly hair and one of the warmest smiles Raquel had ever encountered. There were a few members of the hunt present—insurance in case the portal jump caused any problems with the fault—but they remained back on the porch.

Not all strangers.

She saw Hallie there, Aiden’s daughter, sitting on the steps. As sunny of a disposition as her father’s was dark. Hallie had been only been five or six when Raquel met her, but the girl seemed to remember her. She waved and Raquel waved back.

Hoping for another friendly face, Raquel glanced at the man next to Hallie and her smile faltered. Something in the way he stared at her so intently raised the hair along her arms. Black hair, leather jacket, glittering eyes. She frowned and even from twenty feet away, she could see the way the corner of his mouth twitched, as if he’d caught her reaction and was amused by it.

Hallie said something to him, and he turned his head. When he smiled down at the girl, it changed his face, softening the edges. He tugged at Hallie’s ponytail, and she laughed at whatever he said.

“I didn’t want to overwhelm you right after the portal crossing,” Christian said, “but there’ll be a reception tonight in town to welcome you. I can introduce you to everyone there.”

“Okay.” Still sounded overwhelming to her, but okay.

Her mother was already heading toward the house, chatting amiably with the Odin. Audrey followed behind them, paired with Grace. And Raquel found herself suddenly alone with the man she would marry in a few short weeks. She felt a flash of uncertainty again. Christian of her dreams—bigger, more mature, more...everything than anything her mind had ever been able to concoct.

He held out his hand, and it seemed like a momentous thing. A first step, one of many, that would bind them together forever. There was a trace of challenge in his clear blue eyes as he spoke her name.

The challenge did it. The warmth in his eyes and the touch of uncertainty there, too. A smile tugged at her lips and she reached for his hand. He smiled back, and—gods—it made him even more gorgeous. As his strong fingers closed around hers, some of the butterflies in her stomach settled.

Trust in the gods, magic, family... This would work. It had to.

* * *

The reception was being held in the same building where the ceremony would take place. Modestly decorated, no glamour had been cast to disguise the fact that they were sitting in an old dance hall in need of renovation. But the food was good, laid out buffet-style on long folding tables near the kitchen. And the people were awfully friendly.

Her mother knew some of them from different gatherings over the years. As wife of the Odin, she often accompanied him when he visited the other clans. She’d dragged Audrey off to introduce her to friends, and Raquel sat next to Christian at the head table. It was their first moment alone since the crossing and she was nervous. Not because she thought he was the wrong man for her, but because she was beginning to think that he might be the right one. Already, her mother adored him and even Audrey seemed to approve. That was important. Raquel had always trusted Audrey’s opinion when it came to men.

“When will your mother arrive?”

His father was deceased, and his mother had remarried a man in the Ozark clan. He glanced over at her and set aside his fork. “The day before the wedding, along with my sister. They thought it best to give us as much space as possible to get to know each other. But if you’d rather meet them sooner, that can be arranged.”

She shook her head. “No, that’s fine. I only wondered when they’d get here. I’ve already met both of them.”

Something flickered behind Christian’s gaze. “I’d forgotten. You wanted me to come along on that visit.”

“I wanted to know what I was getting myself into. Weren’t you nervous about today?” She searched his face. “Aren’t you still?”

He didn’t look nervous. He looked cool and elegant, as if nothing ever ruffled his feathers.

“Don’t you think it was better that we were free to live our own lives before the binding?” When she raised her brows, he shrugged. “I’ve seen couples trapped in limbo until the contract is up and they can finally be together. Your whole life on pause until the date of the ceremony rolls around. I didn’t want that for me...or for you.”

“And now?”

“Now we start a new life, together.” Something caught his attention from across the room and he winced. “Will you excuse me for a minute? I need to speak to Aiden while I can catch him alone.”

“Of course.”

He rose from his chair and touched her shoulder as he passed behind her. “I’ll be right back.”

The feel of that brief touch lingered as she watched him cross the room, skirting the edge of the buffet. He was a very fine-looking man. The body of a swimmer. The face of a model. If she’d met him at home, she would have considered him out of her league.

He didn’t seem particularly proud though, or disappointed in her appearance. She’d seen him looking at her once or twice with a speculative look that had kicked up her pulse. But he was respectful, too, of the fact they’d just met. He seemed content to let that develop slowly. Why not? They had a lifetime to explore the attraction.

Tossing her napkin onto the table, she rose. She was sitting at the head table alone now and didn’t like the feeling of being on display. She’d use the restroom and then track down Audrey, maybe start to get to know the people of her new clan. She felt a little buzzed though she hadn’t had more than a few sips of wine. Relief was a heady thing.

Oh, there were still obstacles to overcome, but for tonight, she would just be happy that the first hurdle was out of the way.

Smiling at her mother as she passed, she walked down the corridor to the ladies’ room. It was quiet down here—the hum of conversation muffled and distant. The exit light above the fire door flickered once, then steadied. She heard the murmur of masculine voices coming from the men’s room a few feet away.

The ladies’ room was empty. Raquel latched the door to the last stall and nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Christian’s voice. Slightly muffled with a tinny quality to it, but definitely Christian. She froze for a second in indecision before shrugging and going about her business.

She wasn’t doing anything wrong. It wasn’t her fault that she could hear Christian’s and then Aiden’s voice even more clearly through the vents in here. Doing her best to block out the sound, she froze with her hand on the latch when she heard her name. Until then, they’d been speaking about Lois, their clan witch, and something to do with checking the wards.

But what rooted her feet to the tile was when Aiden asked, “Why aren’t you with your bride?”

“She’s fine. She’s at the table, eating.”

“Alone?” Even muffled, she could hear the disapproval in the Odin’s tone. He was definitely the Odin now, rebuking one of the members of his hunt. She half wanted to stand on the toilet and rap her knuckles against the vent to defend Christian.

At least, she did until Christian said, “Back off, Aiden. You know how I feel about this.”

“I know you wanted out of the contract, but—”

“But you need your witch,” Christian finished for him. “Regardless of my feelings about the contract, I will honor it. I’ve told you that.”

“Honor it how?”

“By binding myself to a girl I met less than three hours ago.”

“I saw the way she looked at you when she came through the portal. She’s half in love with you already.”

“She’s in love with an idea and a face. She doesn’t know me.”

Raquel winced and stared at the brown-and-tan pattern on the tile as Aiden continued. “She had as little choice in this as you, remember that. It’s up to both of you to make this work.”

“I know my duty,” Christian said. There was a twist to the last word that made her heart ache. “You sure as hell don’t need to remind me of that.”

There was a pause and Raquel could hear water pass through the pipes behind the wall that separated them. Aiden’s voice dropped low enough that she couldn’t hear his next words, but Christian’s response was crystal clear.

“Look, the clan needs a witch and I’m giving you a witch. I won’t hurt her feelings if I can help it. Raquel, her family, the rest of the town can dress this up in satin and roses, but when it comes down to it, it’s about a contract I never signed. It’s about duty. Let’s not pretend any differently.”

Feeling light-headed, Raquel was aware she was holding her breath but couldn’t seem to force her lungs to draw air. The door opened and swung closed. She listened to Christian’s footsteps pass down the corridor and then Aiden’s.

“Damn,” she whispered, dropping her fist to the cool metal door and resting her forehead against it. “Damn.”

Chapter Two

Christian’s bride was a little mouse. Dark blond hair with a hint of red. Pale blue eyes. Fair, freckled skin. A hunted look to her. He wondered what had put that expression on her face. Not Christian, that was for damn sure. Everyone else, Christian hunted. This one he was treating as if she was made of porcelain—hovering at her side at the receiving line, which Fen had avoided, then placing her on that raised dais at the main table. She was younger than he’d expected. Oh, the contract demanded she be twenty-five at the time of the joining but she seemed younger than that, more innocent. Vulnerable.

“Christian will eat her alive,” he said to Grace, hooking the chair beside her with his foot and nudging it aside so he could set his plate down.

Grace barely glanced his way. “She seemed so happy earlier. I want to know what happened.”

“Are your Spidey senses tingling?”

This time she glared at him. That was a Norn for you, couldn’t take a joke. “Aiden sees it too.”

“Oh, well if Aiden sees it, then it must be so. As sensitive as the head of a hammer, our Odin.”

Her eyes softened. “He has his moments.”

Fen shifted his attention to his meal. Personally, he much preferred arranged marriages to the love matches. He didn’t know if he could handle another pair like the Odin and his new wife. As much as he liked Aiden and Grace as individuals, it was...painful to be around them when they were together.

Grace sighed and sipped at her coffee. “It’s probably nothing. I can’t imagine what it must be like to not meet the man you’re promised to marry until only a few weeks before the wedding. I’d be a wreck too.” She shot him a sharp look. “I can’t believe you people still arrange marriages.”

He held up his fork. “Us people? You’re one of us now, lady, and this was not my idea. I was three years old when this deal was done.”

She didn’t argue. Arranged marriages were sometimes a necessity for the Æsir. Trust in clan, magic and the gods. But...there was a lot of distance between the gods’ will and the reality of Midgard. Their clan only had one living witch powerful enough to deserve the title, Lois. Usually the clan magic would provide them with the appropriate replacement to keep the clan functioning but every once in a while, they were short. Who knew why? Maybe their intended witch had turned runner or died young. Whatever the reason, if it was an important role, the clan needed to look elsewhere to fill it.

Colorado already had a young witch but needed a healer. The Norns were consulted. They identified a compatible match, and the prophecy was recorded. All of the contracts were drawn up and signed before the woman sitting next to Christian was even born. Voila, instant bride. Fen, for one, appreciated the simplicity of it. It was, after all, far better than the dilemma his kind faced. He would have embraced an arranged marriage, but no one was willing to curse their daughter by promising her to a hound.

And it was stupid to ponder such things in the presence of his psychic friend whose Spidey senses were very definitely tingling now as she watched him with those big brown eyes practically oozing with sympathy.

“Do you think that’ll ever be you up there?”

He set his sandwich down and took a long pull from the bottle of beer before setting it aside. “You can ask me that?”

“Some things are worth the risk,” she said quietly.

He reminded himself that she wasn’t being purposefully cruel. She hadn’t been raised clan and had lived here for less than two years. So he forced a smile. “It’s not for me, Grace. You know, always a bridesmaid...”

She didn’t buy it, but she played along and settled back in her chair to pick Christian apart instead. “Has he said anything to you?”

“About her? No. He’s mentioned her maybe a half-dozen times in the last twenty years. He’s not going to run if that’s what you’re asking.”

“There’s been speculation.”

“From people who don’t know him as well as they should. They think he’s unreliable because he dates a lot of women.” Fen grinned when her eyebrows shot up at his overly diplomatic description. “Okay...because he’s screwed every single woman in town. But all of those women knew about this. If any of them were stupid enough to think they had a chance of holding him, they’d have deserved the dishonorable bastard they ended up with.”

Grace’s lips twitched. “So Christian’s not a dishonorable bastard.”

“He’s not dishonorable. If his parents ever did anything as impulsive as screwing before marriage, then I’m a jötunn. Duty has always been everything to him. The most important thing.”

Grace didn’t look entirely convinced, and he tried to think of a way to make her understand. It would be a disaster if she took it into her head to meddle in this. Christian would be furious and poor Aiden would have to step in to restore the peace, which would suck because if Grace interfered, she would be the one disciplined.

“You’d have to have known Christian’s parents,” he said. “Especially his father. Alan Jager was a rigid son of a bitch, but he was also the kind of man you couldn’t help but respect. He wasn’t pretending to be good. He was good. And he expected everyone else to be able to live the same way, particularly his son. Christian has that same sense of honor but without all the self-righteousness that went with it.”

“Do you think he likes her?”

He looked at her askance. How the hell should he know? Christian probably didn’t know that yet. “What difference does it make?”

Grace rolled her eyes so hard, it was a wonder they didn’t pop from their sockets and go bouncing along the floor. “That’s the exact same thing Aiden said.”

He took another swig of his beer. “Well, there you go.”

No wonder Aiden was off working the room. Fen loved Grace to death, but she was like a terrier with a rat when she hooked her teeth into something that bugged her. It made her a fine private investigator, but he had no interest in psychoanalyzing his friends. His gaze swept the room, seeing who was there, checking for escape routes. Neat rows of tables, folding chairs of metal and white plastic, most of them filled. Grace and Aiden were feeding the whole town.

Apparently, Fen was the only hound who’d showed. Crowds were often difficult for them, at least when they were expected to behave, wait in orderly lines and sit quietly, make small talk with the normal people in town. He was happy for Christian, but he hated these things. He’d rather be at McGuire’s or home on his laptop finishing up that design he’d had to abandon the other night for the hunt. Work. Chasing demons. Staring at his navel while he pondered the mysteries of the universe. Plenty of things he’d rather be doing than sitting here watching the town prepare for another wedding. His knee tapped the bottom of the table, making it shake. Grace gave him a funny look and he forced himself still.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” he told Grace, giving her a quick peck to the cheek to make her stop scowling. A breath of air. Then he’d make another half hour before taking off. He was the best man. He couldn’t leave quite yet. “Don’t worry so much. I haven’t met a woman yet that Christian wasn’t able to charm the pants off.”

She didn’t look remotely reassured by that, but he didn’t pause to address it. The best thing they could all do for Christian and his little mouse was to give them space to get to know each other. He slid through the crowd, avoiding Lois and her coven of hedge witches along the back wall. Elin, one of their twin pair of counselor crows, was arguing with Aiden in the hallway and he gave them a wide berth too. No way was he getting sucked into that argument, especially not when he saw Christian get up from the head table to walk toward them. Sometime while Fen had been talking to Grace, the mouse had disappeared. Grace was right. Christian’s bride hadn’t looked happy. Something had happened to upset her. There was more of a chance that she’d back out than Christian, if he didn’t miss his guess.

Again. It wasn’t his problem.

Pushing open the metal door, he almost whimpered in relief when the cold, fresh air washed over him. The door closed with a heavy clank, muffling the noise battering his eardrums. The smell of food and bodies cleared from his nose. His eyes quickly adjusted to the lack of light. The heightened senses that came with being a hound were a bitch sometimes, especially in closed spaces. Outside, in the cool, quiet dark, it was another story.

Hunching his shoulders against the chill air, he made his way around the corner in case anybody came out to smoke and wanted to chat. Once there, he leaned against the brick and looked up, feeling some of the tension ease from his body.

Nothing like a November sky in Iowa, when the weather was cold and cloudless and the moon wasn’t up yet. There was no light on this side of the building at the edge of town, just a field stretching out toward the lake, grass weighted down by frost. He could shift and run. If anyone even noticed that he left the party, they wouldn’t comment. For the most part, they understood his trouble with crowds and made allowances.

The water wasn’t frozen yet. The night after a hunt was usually the quietest. Animals were still spooked and everyone else was too exhausted from the ride to be out wandering. He could be alone.

A soft noise brought his attention back to his surroundings. Like a sigh or a whisper just out of hearing. He’d have thought it the wind if it hadn’t gone still just at that moment.

The Dumpster was a few feet away, set on a concrete slab at the corner of the back lot, and he took a cautious step in that direction. Could be a raccoon or cat, but the noise didn’t sound like the furtive nocturnal scratching of a scavenger. He inhaled deeply, but the garbage messed with his sense of smell. It came again, this time followed by an obvious and very human sniffle. Someone was crying.

Fuck. He froze, almost to the Dumpster. He could head back inside. Just—

“I know you’re there.”

He closed his eyes and considered pretending that he hadn’t heard her speak. But she was a member of his clan now, about to marry his best friend. It would be cowardly to turn away.

“Christian?”

Of all the luck... He dragged in a deep breath. “No. Not Christian.”

“Oh?” He wouldn’t have thought it possible, but she actually sounded more miserable. “Sorry then. Just pretend I’m not here.”

Yeah, right.

He crossed the remaining distance. Red, rust-spotted and smelling of old food, the Dumpster created a shelter from the wind. The mouse sat on the curb with her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin on her knees. He was wrong. She wasn’t sniffling because she was crying. She was sniffling because it was twenty degrees outside, and she wasn’t wearing a coat. Pretty little idiot.

“Someone from Colorado really ought to know better.” When she gave him a questioning look, he said, “You’ll freeze out here without a coat.”

“I’m fine.”

No. Clearly, she wasn’t. “I’m Fen.”

She squinted. He realized that she wouldn’t be able to see him well in the dark with the light behind him, so he stepped down from the curb.

“You’re the best man.” She didn’t sound particularly pleased to be making his acquaintance. Under the circumstances, he didn’t blame her. “Christian pointed you out when you skipped the receiving line. If you wanted to say hello, why didn’t you do it then?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not stalking you, if that’s what you mean. I don’t like lines...or crowds.” He sat down and stretched his legs out in front of him. The cold in the cement seeped right through his jeans. “Which is what I’m doing out here.”

He let it hang there as an invitation to explain what was up if she wanted to. She didn’t, just nodded as if this was the most natural thing in the world, them meeting out here behind the Dumpster. “I’m Raquel.”

“So I’ve heard.”

He gave her a moment to figure out what she was going to tell him. “Is he looking for me?”

“I don’t think so. When I came out, he was about to dive into an argument between one of the crows and the Odin.”

Her eyes widened. “Why on earth would he do that?”

“Beats the hell out of me.”

“They weren’t...” Gravel scraped as she shifted. “They weren’t arguing about the wedding were they?”

“Why? Are you looking for a way out?”

“No.” But she stared down at the cement when she said it.

Fen paused. What the hell had Christian done to put that look on her face? Unlike him to be so clumsy, especially where a beautiful woman was concerned. Fen couldn’t talk to her about that, even if he wanted to, but Aiden and Elin’s disagreement...well, that was fair game. She’d find out the reason behind it soon enough anyway, and maybe it would distract her from her nerves or whatever this was.

“My best guess is they were arguing about the rogue surges we’ve been having and Christian went over to shut them up until he had a chance to talk to you.”

“Rogue surges?” She lifted her head from her knees and focused on him. The way she tilted her head suggested intelligence. The way she leaned ever so slightly forward said she was Æsir after all.

“Last month we had a surge two days before first quarter. The twins wanted to get to the bottom of that before everyone got caught up with the wedding.”

“I’ve never heard of a surge occurring so close to a quarter.”

“Our fault’s been unpredictable. The elders say it’s normal fluctuation, but that last one was too strange for even them to ignore. Rane wants to cross over to see if something on the other side’s destabilizing the fault and Aiden won’t let her go.”

“She would do that—cross into Asgard by herself?”

Raquel wanted to cross, he could see it in her eyes—a very unmouselike expression of fascination and daring. Oh, there was fear there too, but it was a clean fear unlike the one she’d been wrestling with here behind the Dumpster. “It’s not nearly as exciting as it sounds.”

“I bet it is—terrifying and exciting. You’ve been there.”

Not a question, but he nodded anyway. “When Aiden’s daughter was taken. You heard about that?”

“We heard rumors. That Hallie was taken by demons. That your hunt crossed into Asgard and rescued her even though she’d been missing more than a year.”

“Time passes differently there. It was only a few days for her—thank the gods.”

“I guess your Odin wouldn’t be too eager to spread the word about that to the clans. A lot of people would call it reckless.”

“Are you one of them?”

Raquel shook her head. “If my daughter was trapped in Asgard, I’d have done the same thing. Just think—you’re the first Æsir to make that crossing in centuries.”

“It wasn’t a glorious adventure. It was a rescue mission—fast and dirty and bloody.”

That didn’t dull the sparkle in her eyes. Not one bit. “When we were in school, they told us only demons can survive the atmosphere.”

Fen tipped back his head and looked at the spill of stars that formed the Milky Way, remembering that cold, dark place. Slick black ice and the crumbled stone of ancient buildings. Pools of eerily still water and the twisted stumps of old trees. Caverns pitted the rocky surface of Asgard, providing the perfect hiding place for the waiting demons. The closest thing to hell he ever hoped to see, and he very much hoped that they wouldn’t have to cross again.

“That’s near enough the truth. It’s...a forsaken place. Dead and barren. Even knowing that Hallie’s safe inside—” he tipped his head toward the building, “—stealing another piece of cake right now, it makes me sick to think about her being over there. We almost lost her.”

“How did she survive? My clan would have given up on her as soon as the portal closed.”

Shame curled in his belly. “We did give up on her, everyone except Aiden. Whenever he could force his way through, he crossed. Even then, I think he’d lost hope until Grace came along. And the truth is, Hallie wouldn’t have made it on her own. An exiled Vanir helped her hide from the demons.”

Her delicate brows lifted. “I would have thought a Vanir would stand aside and watch them tear apart an Æsir, even a child. They’re the ones who did that to our world.”

“The demons did it.”

She pursed her lips and gave him a reproving look. “But the Vanir were behind it. They summoned Surtr and even now, they haven’t bothered to call him off.”

Fen shrugged, allowing the point though he’d never seen any definitive proof of that. It was something to speculate on, like the existence of the gods and the nature of the universe. Ancient history. But he’d managed to capture her attention with the story. And it was something she needed to know about since she was about to join their clan. “Grace says he saved Hallie because he’s alone there with the demons. That he’s lonely, desperate and not as evil as we’ve perhaps been led to believe.”

“She is a Norn.” Raquel tipped her head to the side. “You don’t believe her though, do you?”

He shrugged. He believed that was the way Grace saw it. “Grace has a soft heart. She’s Verthandi, so she was able to track Hallie. When we crossed into Asgard, she rode with us and was trapped there for a time. She’s the only one apart from Hallie who’s had direct contact with the Vanir.”

“So the crows...they think these rogue surges are related to the Vanir or your crossing?”

Smart girl to piece it together so quickly. He looked at her again. This is what should frighten her—rogue surges and vengeful demons—not Christian, but her expression was rapt.

“Yeah. They think it’s related. Grace killed a higher-level demon when she was trapped in Asgard, one of Surtr’s harem. It’s possible he’s looking for revenge. It’s possible that our presence in Asgard whet the host’s appetite.”

“Demons have no inherent magic and wouldn’t be able to draw from Asgard’s even if they did. They shouldn’t be able to affect the surges.”

“There is that. Which is probably the same argument Aiden is making now. Also, our wards are old and while our founding witch was very knowledgeable, she wasn’t particularly powerful. Lois wants to replace the wards with your help...after the wedding, of course. Aiden wants to wait until then before deciding whether it’s necessary to send anyone into Asgard.”

She paled alarmingly—which was saying something considering how fair she was to begin with. Damn, he’d scared her after all.

“So your portal’s unstable?” she asked in a small voice.

“Yeah.”

“And you’re counting on me to stabilize it. Right after the wedding?”

“You’ll have help,” he reassured her. “I’m sorry. It’s a lot to take in, but you should know before committing yourself. Aiden would have insisted on telling you before the ceremony anyway.”

She shook her head. “I can’t back out. There’s the contract, the prophecy.”

“So what?” Her eyes widened as though he’d blasphemed. “You didn’t make those promises, somebody made them for you. If it’s not going to work out between you and Christian, it’s better if you say so now.”

Her gaze drifted toward the building, and her expression became guarded. “I’ve only known him a few hours. My mother says these things have a way of working themselves out, that it takes time.”

Or not, he thought. Sometimes not. He remembered the expression on her face when she first stepped through the portal to meet Christian. She’d been glowing. And now...

“You were expecting love.”

Her blush went all the way to her hairline. “I don’t know what I expected.”

A lie. She’d expected the fairy tale. Her parents had probably raised her to believe in it. He’d seen it before with Aiden and his first wife, Bea. The parents more invested than the kids, filling their heads with rosy images. Bea had been starry-eyed and Aiden, being Aiden, had done his damndest to live up to her expectations. Christian wasn’t like that. There was a hardness to him and an honesty that wouldn’t let him break to someone else’s mold.

And maybe that’s what had put the wary look in Raquel’s eyes. Maybe clever little Rocky had already figured that part out on her own. And Fen shouldn’t be warning her off Christian, who was his friend and a good man, but something about the way she looked now—with her wounded eyes and her red-tipped nose—compelled him to do it.

“Figure it out before the ceremony. I’ve seen too many people trapped together. I don’t want to see it happen to Christian...or you. It’s no fun for anyone, especially not the people watching from the sidelines.”

Comprehension dawned in her eyes. “You’re a hound,” she said and then looked as if she wanted to stuff the words back into her mouth. “I’m sorry, I don’t know you. I shouldn’t have—”

“I’m not conflicted about what I am.”

She winced. “Are you—”

“Bonded? No.”

“Then you’re a...”

Virgin. “Yep.”

He was going to wring Christian’s neck. Fen hated these conversations, but she’d find out eventually. She was joining his clan and she might as well hear it from him.

“I’m sorry.”

People generally felt worse for him than he did for himself. Hormones and magic—hounds bonded to the first woman they had sex with and that was it. Mated for life. The only problem was that there were no female hounds. Hounds only produced male offspring from the woman they bonded to and the bond only worked one way. The woman was always free to walk away. In his opinion, it might as well be a leash.

He shrugged. “Sex has consequences for everyone. The stakes are higher for me.”

He rapped his knuckles on the side of the Dumpster and stood. “What say we head back inside before Christian comes out here to find me alone with his fiancée?”

He held out his hand and she took it. She was a little thing, young and innocent and hurting. He’d drop her off with her family and then he’d track down Christian. He had a few choice words he’d like to impart to his friend.

* * *

“Who was that?”

Raquel pinched Audrey when Fen glanced back. A human man would have been too far away to hear the whisper. But there was no hiding anything from a hound. Audrey waved and then looked at her curiously.

“He’s Christian’s best man.” Fen was likely a nickname. All the hound surnames were some derivation of Fenrisúlfr, Hróðvitnir or Vánagandr. She’d like to know his true name. He seemed nice and not as caught up in the excitement of the wedding as everyone else. Calm and levelheaded which, now that she thought about it, were strange traits to find in a hound.

“Oh.” Audrey went back to watching Fen wend his way through the room. Once past the tables, he made a beeline for Christian. Of course he did. “He’s not very tall. I won’t be able to wear anything with a heel.”

“You can wear heels. Wear whatever you want.”

Audrey shook her head, lips pursed. “Two inches tops. He does have an awfully nice ass though. Maybe I could follow him down the aisle.”

“I didn’t notice.” Raquel had spent a lot of time staring at his face. It was an unusual face. He was on the skinny side, and it made his bones prominent, sharpened his jawline and made his nose seem overbold. When he smiled, it took over his whole face. He’d only smiled once, quickly, when she suggested they ditch the party and head out to the local bar instead. And then his hand had tightened on hers and he led her back inside. Like a retriever. Maybe Christian had sent him to find her after all.

Fen tapped Christian on the shoulder and lifted his chin toward the back room. Christian spoke briefly with Aiden and then followed Fen out.

Audrey laughed. “Yeah, looks like you didn’t notice him at all. Where’s he going with Christian?”

“Probably to tell him he found me hiding behind the Dumpster.” She wondered what Christian would do with the information. If he’d think it was his duty to soothe her hurt feelings. Or if saying “I do” was as far as he was willing to go to fulfill his end of the contract.

“What?” Audrey pulled away from the table and shot her an incredulous look. “Why on earth were you hiding behind a Dumpster?”

Raquel waved her hand. “I needed some air. Didn’t want anyone to see me and wonder why I was outside alone.”

“Yeah, good choice hiding behind the Dumpster then. Because that’s not weird at all.”

“Shut up. Where and when I choose to break down is not your business.”

“Tell me next time and I’ll come with you. That way, if Christian sends another hound after you, I can distract him.”

She didn’t like the way Audrey’s eyes brightened at the idea. “Stop. It wasn’t like that. He was nice.”

“Even better.”

“Don’t mess with him. He’s not bonded.” Audrey’s eyes dimmed a bit. She knew as well as Raquel did that flirting with an unbounded hound was like playing with a live wire. Very few hound matings were successful in modern society because hounds generally didn’t make good partners. More inhuman than other castes, their affection was usually tied to the pack alone. The pack was for companionship. Mates, once claimed, were for sex. “He said the clan plans to replace their wards this year. I have to talk to Mom.”

“Shit. She still hasn’t told them, has she?”

“Nope.” Raquel fiddled with a section of the plastic tablecloth that had come untaped. “I think she’s planning on leaving it up to me to explain why I haven’t passed the initiation yet, after the ceremony. She’s afraid they’ll renege on the contract.”

Audrey was silent for a moment. “I don’t think they will.”

“Me neither.”

“Mom thinks you’re doing it on purpose, you know—choking whenever you test.” Audrey leaned back, crossing her legs. “She thinks it’s your way of getting out of all this if you decide you don’t want it. I think she hopes it’s just you hedging your bets but is afraid to ask.”

Raquel didn’t answer.

“Do you want out?”

She dropped her gaze to her hands and resecured the tablecloth before she tore it to shreds. “I don’t know.”

Audrey sighed and seemed to struggle with herself before asking, “Did something happen between you and Christian?”

Raquel hadn’t told Audrey about the conversation she’d overheard. It was embarrassing. She’d been so dreamy-eyed and stupid. And she had trouble faulting Christian when he was only being practical. They’d only just met. All that bound them was a contract signed by their parents and their own loyalties to family and clan. It had been foolish to expect more. He was the down-to-earth one who saw their relationship for what it was. More than that, he must have noticed the stars in her eyes but had done nothing to suggest that he scorned her for it. Instead, he’d been tolerant, even overly gentle of her feelings.

And if this wasn’t about love, it was still the best thing for her clan. There were severe repercussions to backing out. She could be exiled. Some of her family would probably stay and some would follow her, but either way it would tear them down the middle. And the healer Christian’s clan had exchanged in this bargain was already three years married, happily, with a child on the way. There was no easy way out and it would be incredibly selfish to run.

“He could come to love me, right?”

Audrey’s eyes softened but before she could speak, the nearest door was thrown open. A blast of cold air flooded the room.

One of the counselor crows entered at a dead run, clothed in nothing but feathers and darkness. Passing within a few feet of their table, she went directly to the Odin, who met her near the center of the room.

“My God—” Audrey whispered. “She’s not even fully changed. She must have just hit the ground.”

As a hush fell over the room, Grace pulled a long wool coat from the rack and came up behind the girl, wrapping it around her shoulders. The crow barely noticed. She was a slender woman who appeared to be in her late teens, though age was tricky with crows. Eighteen or eight hundred years old, it was impossible to tell. She had jet-black hair with the tips dyed a deep purple color. The fine down that covered her skin gradually disappeared as they watched. Raquel could see the magic of her transformation contract until it lay like a sheen of sweat on her skin.

The crow spoke urgently to Aiden, but Audrey and Raquel weren’t close enough to hear what she said. Fen and Christian hurried over to the group. The two men formed a protective wall behind the crow, blocking her from view.

After a moment, Aiden’s face lifted and he searched the crowd. His gaze locked on Raquel and she stood, thinking it was a summons. But he dismissed her with a glance and turned to speak with Christian. Christian nodded and separated from the group. Fen placed his arm around the crow’s narrow shoulders and led her to the door.

Expression grim, Christian came to a stop before Raquel. “I have to go. There’s been a surge.”

“A surge? Now?” Audrey asked, shocked.

Christian kept his gaze fixed on Raquel. “It’s a small one. You can stay here and meet the rest of the town, enjoy your time with your family. I’ll see you in the morning.” He paused. “We’ll talk then.”

She caught the look in his eye, cautious but determined. Damn it, Fen had ratted her out. Somehow...somehow she’d thought he wouldn’t. Of course, his loyalty would be with Christian. She nodded. “Be safe.”

He smiled and it was like sunshine through the clouds. Beautiful, beautiful man. “Always.”

She watched him leave, turning to track his progress through the room. People pulled their chairs out of his way so he could pass. When he reached the metal door, he pushed through it without a backward glance and was gone. The other huntsmen filed out behind him. A gust of cold touched her even from across the room. She was still staring at the door when Lois and Grace approached, her mother only a step behind.

“How can there be a surge now?” her mother demanded. Loudly.

Grace looked unhappy about being left behind to explain, but it was Lois who answered first. “The portal is unstable.” Lois shot Grace a dirty look. “Maybe now your husband will let me have my apprentice before the ceremony.”

“The wedding is in three weeks,” Grace said, turning so that her body was between Raquel and Lois in a protective stance. Raquel had only spoken to Lois once, briefly, and she was beginning to suspect that was an intentional strategy on the part of clan Ragnarok. The way Fen had said Lois’s name suggested he didn’t care for her much. “Let them have this time.”

“It’s too soon for there to be another surge,” Raquel’s mother said, voice turning shrill. “Grace? If there’s something wrong here, then we deserve to know about it. Aiden never hinted that there was a problem. I won’t have my daughter placed at unnecessary risk.”

“Unnecessary risk?” Lois scoffed. “She’s the clan witch. Risk comes with the territory.”

“She’s not a member of your clan yet.”

Raquel could feel Lois gather power. Not much—it might have been an instinctive defensive reaction—but she didn’t know Lois well enough to be sure. She was also excruciatingly aware that everyone’s attention had turned toward them. A crowd of stranger’s faces—hostile, amused, sympathetic, all of them unfamiliar.

“Mom,” Raquel said quietly, touching her arm to get her attention. Her mother had a short temper during the best of times. The stress of the wedding hadn’t improved that trait and this... “Calm down, please. This isn’t Lois’s fault, not the problem or them keeping it a secret. I knew about it.”

“What?”

“I knew about the portal. It’s one of the reasons why they were so anxious to complete the ceremony now rather than wait for spring like we’d originally planned.”

“And you weren’t going to tell me?”

Raquel held up her hand. “Don’t look at me like that, I just learned of it myself. But this isn’t the time or place to discuss it. Maybe tomorrow we can all sit down and put our cards on the table before anyone starts making accusations about who should know what.”

Her mother’s pursed lips spoke volumes about how much she enjoyed having that cast in her face. She’d been the one to insist that Raquel not tell Christian about her little problem until after the ceremony. While Raquel had planned to tell him anyway, this...complicated things.

“The coven is meeting in my shop tomorrow at noon,” Lois said. “It would be good if you could take a few minutes away from your busy schedule to help us figure out a way to save the clan.”

Grace winced as Lois stomped toward the kitchen. She shook her head and then smiled at Raquel apologetically. “Lois might be difficult for a time until she adjusts to the idea of a more powerful witch in her territory. I’ll speak with her.”

Raquel couldn’t see how that would possibly help, but she nodded anyway. This fight would be between Lois and her. It had to be. Preferably, they’d be able to settle it without bloodshed.

“I’m sorry about all this.” Grace’s gaze swept the hall before returning to her. “We can have another party this weekend and—”

“No,” she said, too quickly judging by the way Grace’s eyes sharpened. Raquel softened her voice. “That won’t be necessary. This was lovely. Thank you for it.”

Grace gave her a wobbly smile. “Well then, welcome to Ragnarok. We are really happy to have you here.”

Chapter Three

Humans called his kind wolves, the Æsir called them Odin’s hounds. They ran with the hunt, killing the demons that had destroyed their home and now chased them through cracks in the fault line between worlds. In oldentimes the hunt hadn’t bothered to hide themselves and if, occasionally, humans saw them and called them gods or ghosts or faeries, what of it? Legends arose wherever they settled. The Wild Hunt, Wilde Jagd, Woden’s Hunt, štvaní, Estantiga, Åsgårdsreia. Now they did their best to avoid notice, casting glamour over weapons and horses, armor and of course the riders themselves.

His mother had been a rider, a huntswoman. She’d had the poor judgment to wed a hound, bond him to her and give birth to a son. Hounds only sired sons, all of them cursed to assume the same role in the clan as their fathers. Fen wasn’t miserable enough to regret his birth, only the circumstances of it. And times like these when he was flying through the woods, a streak of shadow and legend, feet barely touching the earth and the wind cutting through his fur, he couldn’t even bring himself to regret that.

The half-moon was high and bright, casting stark shadows through the bare branches of the trees. The demon darting through the woods ahead of him was fast but poorly adapted to this world, blinded by moonlight and sliding on the dead leaves that covered the frozen earth. Fen stretched his body, pulled himself forward with his forepaws and launched himself onto the demon’s back, clamping his jaws around its neck and severing the main artery. He pulled away from the spurt of blood. Still it numbed his tongue, ice cold and bitter. He let saliva wash the taste from his mouth and swung his head wide looking for more prey.

This chase had brought him nearly to the lake, over a mile away from the breach and the rest of the pack. No one was here. He howled, one piercing cry to draw a huntsman to sever the thing’s neck to be sure it was truly dead and dispose of the body.

Hoofbeats sounded behind him and then Beth’s voice, “Got this one, Fen. You’re clear to go.”

He yipped an acknowledgment and turned, already feeling the pack closing the distance between them. It wasn’t a true psychic connection. He couldn’t read their minds but was always aware of location, and all of the hounds had a keen instinct for interpreting body posture. Brian had turned his rear foot and was limping. Fen could feel an echo of that pain through the pack bond. He swore under his breath. In this form, it came out as more of a growl.

No wonder Brian is still running on an injured leg.

Ben, the youngest member of the pack, was chasing a higher-level demon who’d headed directly for the nearest Æsir homestead.

Julia’s house.

Fen flew, covering the distance as fast as he could, ignoring the burn in his lungs and the ache in his limbs. His pack needed him. The knowledge was like a whip at his back. Launching himself over a boulder, he half skidded down the leaf-matted slope on the other side. Hagan fell into pace with him on his right flank. After another quarter mile, Garret covered his left.

Garret snarled at the same time Fen felt Ben attack the demon. His mind was partitioned, one part aware of the fight taking place in Julia’s backyard. Only forty fucking feet from the house. Another part was entirely focused on pushing his body to the limit, his paws hitting the earth, the obstacles in his path and the clearest route to Julia’s house.

It took less than five minutes but seemed like a lifetime. Two lifetimes when he tasted blood. Brian had joined the fight and was injured. Idiot. He should have known better than to run on a wrenched leg in the first place. Fen understood though. He understood all too well why Brian wasn’t sitting this one out.

Brian still considered Julia his mate. It didn’t matter that she’d broken up with Brian ten years ago after graduating from the community college. It didn’t matter that she’d met another man and married him. That she’d given that man three children and was evidently extremely happy. It didn’t matter that Julia probably didn’t spare Brian more than a few seconds of thought—hopefully regretful thought—every other month or so. Brian had slept with her when he was sixteen and stupid. He’d thought they’d spend the rest of their lives together.

For a hound, that was all it took. One fuck and you were screwed for the rest of your life, bonded to that woman. Over the years, Brian had come to hate Julia. Oh, he knew she hadn’t done it on purpose. She’d been young and stupid too. It wasn’t fair to make her pay for it for the rest of her life, right? Brian hated her anyway. Fen could feel that bitterness through the bond, even as Brian killed himself trying to save Julia’s husband and the three children that were not his.

When Fen and the others got there, the demon was tangled in the chains of the swing set and Brian was bleeding in the sandbox. Ben—young, scrawny Ben—crouched between the demon and the house, catching his breath and waiting for the rest of the pack to arrive. Kid was smart. He’d be the next pack leader if he survived long enough...and if Fen didn’t.

The demon ripped the chains from his chest and stepped toward the house. Fen signaled Ben to fall back and then launched himself at the demon, clawing a deep gash in the creature’s flank even as he was swatted aside. Hagan surged forward immediately after, baiting the creature to the left while Garret darted in low from the right. Garret’s jaws clamped just above the demon’s knee and ripped away, tearing muscle and shredding the tendon. Blood splattered across the grass, lighting it up like a miniature lava flow. The blood glowed molten but wasn’t actually hot to touch. Instead it crackled faintly as it touched the frost-covered grass and dulled within seconds.

When the demon’s leg gave out, he howled. An eerily high-pitched scream filled with rage and pain but no sign of surrender. The creature knew he was surrounded in an alien world. He knew he couldn’t make it back to the fault, that there would be no mercy from the Æsir.

Someone inside the house flicked on a light and, like a beacon, it drew every eye. The silhouette of a girl peeking through the curtains. Tara. She was eight and should surely know better. The demon’s head swiveled around, and Fen rushed to intercept him.

The light flicked off, but the demon was already moving. So fast. Even after all these years, it still surprised him just how quickly the higher-level demons could move when they wanted to. The thing plowed right through Hagan and hooked his claws into the aluminum siding. Fen landed on the demon’s back, sinking his teeth into the shoulder joint and using his weight to drive them both to the ground. The sound of rending metal split the night as the demon’s claws ripped free. Hagen made the killing blow, tearing out the jugular and dragging the corpse away from the house.

Ben howled to alert the huntsmen to their location. Fen padded over to check on Brian. He was alive, panting and still trying to get back to his feet to fight. He had a long but shallow gash in his side, and his leg hung limp and useless beneath him. That leg was more of a concern than the cut. Joint injuries could be tricky to mend even for Alan, the clan’s healer. Fen lay beside Brian, using his weight to keep him down. Still, Brian didn’t go limp until Fen growled a warning and wedged him against the wooden wall of the sandbox.

They settled in to wait for the rest of the hunt to catch up. Aiden could carry Brian back to the house. Hell, maybe Julia could ride him over in the Jeep. Fen looked toward the house when he heard the front door open. It was Dan, calling to see if anyone needed help. His five-year-old son had his little hand fisted in his father’s sweatpants and Tara was a step behind. Fuck.

Brian lifted his head and started trying to get up all over again. Fen thought about changing so he could yell at Dan to get back in the house, but all of the kids were up now. They’d been traumatized enough without having to witness Fen’s change too...or the fact that he’d be nude after he did it. Instead, he gave a warning growl when Dan tried to step off the porch and nipped Brian in the shoulder to warn him to stay the fuck down.

Brian and Dan didn’t get along well during the best of times. With Brian hurt and anxious, well...enough blood had been spilled for one night.

Dan squinted into the dark and then turned to usher the kids back inside. Julia would be here soon. The hunt should be aware of their location by now. Fen could hear the horses moving through the woods, felt the tremor in the earth beneath his belly.

Julia was the first in, taking in the scene with one look and choking back a sob as she slid from her horse. She ran across the yard, ignoring the twitching mound of demon flesh, the hounds, everything. Tara saw her first from the door and shouted, “Mom.”

Julia leaped onto the porch and immediately dropped to her knees to gather up the little ones. The five-year-old boy was crying but the youngest, barely two, was wide-eyed and silent as his mother clutched him to her chest. Tara pointed toward the demon and began to excitedly relate the story to her shaken mother. A born huntswoman, that one.

Fen felt Brian’s body stiffen as Dan bent to kiss the top of Julia’s head. He wrapped his arms around his wife’s trembling shoulders and drew her up with him, ordering the kids back inside. Tara paused as if she might argue, but one look from her dad and she turned around, taking the youngest by the hand and dragging him along behind her.

Christian and Aiden had both arrived by then. Christian had already dismounted and was walking toward the demon, sword drawn. Aiden rode up to the porch and spoke briefly with Julia. A moment later, she and Dan entered the house and closed the door behind them.

Brian whimpered and lowered his head to his paws. With a sigh, Fen dropped his chin to his friend’s back. Not worth it. Whatever Brian had gained in those few months of pleasure, it sure as hell wasn’t worth this.

Chapter Four

Raquel was standing outside Lois’s shop, trying to make up her mind on whether to go inside, when Fen turned the corner. He stopped in his tracks when he saw her, and for a second she thought he might turn and run. He actually glanced down the alley before shoving his hands in his pockets and starting toward her again. The thought that someone like her might scare off a hound made her smile.

He smiled back, more a grim twist of his mouth than the full, mischievous grin of the night before. It’d be a lie to say she didn’t enjoy his discomfort a little bit. Maybe next time he’d think twice before ratting her out to Christian. Of course, that had been a particularly low moment for her. There was unlikely to be a next time.

Fen quickly closed the distance between them. Funny, he hadn’t really seemed like a hound last night. Not like someone who could take down a demon without even using a weapon. But now she could see it. Every movement spare and clean, he moved like a hound. Fluid. Precise. Deadly. She still thought he was too skinny, but there was muscle beneath the loose clothing. Muscle, taut skin and maybe a few more tattoos like the one she’d caught a glimpse of the other night. Heat warmed her cheeks. She should probably stop thinking about what was beneath his clothes.

And she should stop staring.

She turned back to the shop. Fen came to a stop beside her and followed her gaze. An old wooden sign attached to an iron arm swung with a whining, creaking noise in the wind. In addition to being the clan witch, Lois was also the town florist. She was doing the flowers for the wedding and charging Raquel’s father an arm and a leg for the work.

Fen broke the silence. “She’s a tough old bird.”

Raquel looked at him askance. “She’s a ravening harpy.”

“Yes, that.” Fen grinned, that flash of a smile, gone as quickly as it came. He cleared his throat and in a cautious tone, asked, “So, last night didn’t scare you off?”

“I’m still here. Thanks to you and your warning. I told my mom I knew about the surges and that staved off an explosion from her. Christian soothed her feathers this morning at brunch.”

She could feel the weight of his gaze but kept her attention on the shop. There was no movement inside and the closed sign was up. Lois had said noon. Even if the door hadn’t been spell-locked Raquel would have known the coven was inside. Their gathered magic vibrated like a gentle hum below her feet. She’d bet money they were in the basement.

“Are you and Christian all right then?”

“We haven’t had a chance to talk. My mom ambushed him as soon as he came through the door this morning. I almost felt sorry for him.”

“Almost?”

A blast of wind drove a crumpled piece of newspaper across the sidewalk, plastering it to the side of her leg. She peeled it off and stuffed it into the bin beside the door before turning to look at Fen. “What did you tell him exactly?”

“That he should make an effort to woo you.”

“Woo me?” She smiled. “Is that some kind of euphemism?”

“No. You know what I mean and so did he. I didn’t...I didn’t go and repeat our conversation word for word if that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t do that—wouldn’t do that—to anyone in the clan.”

“I’m not your clan yet.”

“Sure you are.”

“Christian said the hunt went well last night,” she said. “Brian is okay, right?”

A complicated look crossed Fen’s face. “He’s healed.”

Something about the tone of his voice didn’t sit right with her, but she couldn’t think of a good way to ask him about it. Before she made up her mind about whether to pry, he changed the subject. “Christian said you apprenticed for a while to a clan historian?”

She nodded. “Kathy made sure I had a good education. She wanted to make sure that when I came into my power, I’d know what to do with it. Historian. Healer. Folklore. Metaphysics...”

“You didn’t happen to ever come across a way to break a mate bond, did you?”

Her stomach flipped over. “No. Once triggered, the bond is permanent until the mate dies.” She paused. “Not that I’m recommending that as a way out.”

His gaze slid back to hers, warm hazel eyes framed by spiky black lashes. “Don’t worry. We’re all pretty fond of Julia.”

“Julia? Then you weren’t asking for yourself?”

She felt relieved by that and then vaguely guilty. It was none of her business to have any sort of opinion about who Fen chose to mate with. A faint wash of color touched his cheekbones and he ducked his head. “Not me, no. Unless you want to tell me how to avoid ending up like Brian.”

“Well, that one’s easy. Don’t fall in love.”

“From what I’ve seen, love doesn’t necessarily have to be involved.”

She shook her head. “You’re wrong about that. For hounds, it does matter. Love. Consent. The physical act just provides an anchor for the magic.”

“Guess I’ll just have to stay away from anchors then.” He shrugged and glanced back at the door. “She won’t eat you, you know. Her bark’s worse than her bite, and I’m something of an expert on that particular subject.”

“I don’t mind her bark. At least with Lois, I know where I stand.”

He studied her again and Raquel could almost hear the wheels turning. He thought she was talking about Christian, but she wasn’t. Sadly, she knew exactly where Christian stood. “Everyone’s been nice. It makes it harder to figure out who you’re friends really are.”

“I can help with that.” He tipped his head toward the shop. “Lois is not your friend, and she’ll have the coven behind her. It’s nothing personal really, but you are taking over her job and it’s all she’s got going for her since her daughter ran. Christian’s in your corner, of course.”

“Of course,” she echoed because he seemed to expect it.

“Aiden’s fair and Grace has had her own share of trouble adjusting. I suspect she’s sizing you up as an ally. She wasn’t raised clan and hasn’t lived here long herself. At the very least, she’ll be sympathetic.”

Raquel hadn’t heard that Grace was an outsider, though now that Fen mentioned it, some of the interactions she’d witnessed last night made more sense. “Grace was a runner?”

“Her parents were. I can see you two becoming friends. You’ll get along well, I think.”

“Maybe you can set us up on a playdate.”

She regretted the sharpness in her tone when he frowned. She didn’t know where it had come from, but she was ashamed of it. Her nose was running. She fished out a crumpled tissue from her pocket and blew it soundly. Fen looked on, bemused.

Tucking her tissue away, she asked, “What about you?”

“Me? I’ve got your back, Rocky.” He took her by the shoulders and pushed her toward the door. “Now get in there and start swinging.”

She grabbed the knob and disabled the simple spell without thinking about it, surprised at how easily it slid away. It happened sometimes when she wasn’t concentrating. She watched Fen disappear into the diner two doors down, shook her head and went inside.

A sign that said Coven with an arrow beneath it pointed toward the basement stairs. It was something of a presumptuous title. Lois’s witches weren’t really witches, they were men and women with just enough talent and training to work the simple spells—drawing rain from a thunderhead, unlocking a spelled door. Kathy called her small group of people with that kind of low-level talent her friends and students, not her coven.

Raquel couldn’t look down on them though. For all the power she had bottled up in her, she couldn’t accomplish much more than they could. She was a dud—incredible potential, more power than anyone had seen in generations, but she couldn’t tap into it no matter how hard she tried. She knew she had to tell these people the truth, she was just picking her moment. Best to get the lay of the land before she lobbed that particular grenade.

First, she’d find out how bad the problem was. She’d speak to Christian and to Aiden, put the ball in their court. Her mother disagreed. She didn’t want to tell them anything until after the wedding.

About ten people were gathered in the basement, all of them sitting on the floor except for Lois. She sat in a wooden chair with her hands folded in her lap and her eyes closed. They were feeding her power. Raquel could see the connecting links like colored vapor trails winding through the circle. Lois was greedy about it too, taking far more than she could actually use. When her eyes opened, the trails hung in the air for a moment before dissipating.

“You joined us after all. Please, take a seat.” Lois waved toward the opposite side of the circle and two women scooted in either direction to make room.

Raquel shifted, holding her arm at the elbow and looking around the bare basement for somewhere unobtrusive to sit. “I really just came to observe.”

“Nonsense, dear.” Lois gave her a tight smile. “You’re one of us now. Best to start as you mean to go on, my mother used to say.”

“Mine says wait until the deal is done.”

Lois’s eyes hardened. “As you wish. Come now, let’s try again.”

She waggled her fingers and the women who’d made room for Raquel moved back and joined hands, sealing the circle. Raquel upended an empty crate in the corner and sat down, propping her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. The group seemed good. There were some surprisingly powerful people here. The teenage boy to Lois’s left was the strongest of the lot. A little more power from him and the clan might not have had to go trolling for witches.

Some clans, she knew, didn’t like male witches. But it was an old prejudice, and there was no reason why they couldn’t do the job. There was also no reason why they were down here in this musty, old basement. She understood the need to close out potential distractions, but—geesh—they could put up drywall and throw down some carpet. The elderly woman looked uncomfortable with her legs crossed like that. She kept trying to straighten her right knee as if it pained her.

If Raquel stayed, if they kept her, she would make sure they at least got comfortable seating.

The circle powered up. Lois gathered all that energy in her greedy hands and hurled it in the direction of the portal. Raquel lifted her head from her hands. She couldn’t—holy shit, she wasn’t going to pour it all into the portal, was she?

Raquel rocketed to her feet, hands waving as she stepped forward. “Stop.”

Lois looked up, exasperated, and the energy snapped back, rebounding into the circle. It arced between the witches’ hands as they dropped the contact. The dark-haired woman to Lois’s right hissed in pain and shook her hands. The teenage boy, who’d gotten walloped, glared at Raquel openly.

“I didn’t think I’d need to tell you not to interrupt the circle,” Lois snapped.

I didn’t think I’d need to tell you not to destroy the town. Raquel tried for something more diplomatic. “It’s not prudent to direct so much energy toward the portal.”

“I block it from reaching the fault.” Lois’s brows rose and her mouth slid into a supremely smug little smile. Raquel had the uneasy feeling that she’d walked into a trap. “Your wards are only twenty years old. I helped to place them. Ours were placed over a century ago. If we don’t strengthen them regularly, they will fail. Which is, after all, the reason we need you.”

Ah. It had been a trap so that Lois could chastise her in front of the coven, prove to everyone that she was still the head witch. Raquel managed to not roll her eyes. She wasn’t here to play power games but fine, she could do that too. “The wards you’re refreshing—they’re stonebound?”

“Of course.”

That happened to be a specialty of hers, mostly because runes didn’t require one to have control over one’s own magic. They pulled directly from the ley lines and not from the person. Raquel could work rune magic like nobody’s business, all day, every day and twice on Tuesdays. She stood and brushed her hands on her pants. “You have warding stones here, I assume?”

“What for?”

“You don’t need to keep pouring your own energy into the wards. I’ll set up a secondary ring to power the first, drawing from the ley lines instead of the circle.”

“We’re an agricultural community. Drawing from the ley lines will weaken the land.”

“Not fast enough to do any damage so long as it’s only temporary. It’s winter now. If we remove them by January, it shouldn’t even affect the next harvest. And this way there’s no risk that any of your magic accidently aggravates the fault line. I’ve done this at home, I can have it up and running within a day or two.”

Raquel held her breath, waiting for Lois’s reaction. Would she cut off her nose to spite her face? If she did, there’d be no working with her anyway. Lois hesitated—or maybe she just had to work that hard to unclench her teeth—then gave a sharp nod. “Top of the stairs, turn right. There’s a closet halfway down the hall. They’re in the box at the bottom.”

The teenager scrambled to his feet. “I’ll show her.”

Raquel followed him toward the stairs but paused when Lois called her name. “I’ll want to check your work before we place them.”

Raquel schooled her features into a neutral expression. It wasn’t polite to gloat. “Of course.”

Reaching the top of the stairs, she closed the door behind her and leaned against it for a minute while the boy went to grab the box. He was smiling when he came back to set the crate on the workbench. “That was awesome. I’ve never seen anyone stand up to her like that before.”

Raquel shook her head. She really didn’t want to fight unless she had to. She was following the advice Kathy had given her—go in strong and stand your ground, or she’ll bulldoze you.

“I didn’t say that to hurt her. I don’t like being bullied and I want to help.” The boy’s expression fell a bit so she said, “You’ve a good bit of power.”

He shrugged. “Not enough to do anything more than feed a circle.”

“That depends on what you do with it. This—” she grabbed the first stone out of the box and set it down on the scarred wood, “—doesn’t require much in the way of personal energy, but it’s incredibly powerful when used properly.”

She pulled the cap off the Sharpie with her teeth. He hopped onto the stool next to her and craned his neck to see what she was doing. “What if we do it wrong?”

“Then we destroy the town.”

He fell silent, meeting her gaze to see if she was serious. She was dead serious. When he saw that, his face paled a little and she continued, “It takes a lot of practice and you have to know what you’re doing. Lois was right to ask to check my work before we activate them. You always want at least one other person to double-check your work. Anybody can make mistakes, and mistakes can kill you.”

He was paying attention, all that young energy focused on the rune she drew on the first stone. She’d burn them later when she was satisfied that everything was right and activate them once they were positioned on site. That small magic she could do. It was the big stuff everyone had been expecting from her since she was a child, the kind of thing that would make her suitable as a clan witch, that eluded her. Julian looked at her, all wide eyes and held breath. “You know what you’re doing, right?”

She sure hoped so.

Chapter Five

Christian was an astonishingly good-looking man. Generally, Raquel was more comfortable with the jeans-and-T-shirt crowd, but even she could appreciate how well he wore a suit. Turning around in the middle of the hallway before he caught sight of her, she almost crashed into Audrey.

“Maybe you were right about the heels.”

Audrey held up her hand, the sexy shoes dangling from her fingers. “Of course I was right. I bought the dress to go with the shoes.”

“What? That’s so crazy backward I don’t even know—”

Audrey pointed at the bench beside the hall closet. “Sit and I’ll get rid of those things.” She waggled her fingers at Raquel’s perfectly acceptable, versatile and comfortable shoes. “I don’t know why you thought they’d look okay with that. I can’t believe you didn’t pack a dress.”

Raquel slipped her feet into the shoes and ignored how weird they felt as she bent to close the tiny buckles at the ankle. “I did pack a dress.”

“Your wedding gown doesn’t count.”

“Okay,” she said, standing and smoothing out the dress she’d borrowed from Audrey. It was a little too tight, too low cut, too everything, but Audrey’s grin told her she didn’t agree.

“Gorgeous.”

Raquel blew out a breath. Okay, here we go. It took her a few steps before she caught her balance and then got into it with a little bit of hip sway. When she grinned at her sister over her shoulder, Audrey shook her head and rolled her eyes heavenward.

Raquel stuck out her tongue. She felt sexier in heels, more the type of woman who could make a man like Christian look twice. She couldn’t back out of the betrothal, but she wanted Christian to look at her as something more than just duty. Maybe she’d been naive to look for love, but attraction—that was a possibility, wasn’t it? Esteem? And then eventually, there might be love. Three more weeks until they were bound... She blew out her held breath and wiped her palms on her thighs. She could do this.

Christian stood when she entered the room, a slow smile spreading across his features. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” Warmth flushed her skin, not only at the compliment but at the look in his eyes. She could get used to that kind of appreciation. Oh, yes, she could.

Christian was a gentleman, helping her into her coat, thanking her mother for the coffee, making her mother blush and then Audrey too when he kissed them both on the cheek and promised to have Raquel back at a decent time. Then, a few moments later, there she was, standing on the porch alone with her husband to be. He was a stranger. But a kind, intent and attractive stranger. And that was something.

A cold front had moved in during the day, and Raquel waited until they were in the car before asking him where he was taking her. Even inside the car, her breath came out in white puffs. She cupped her fingers to her face as he turned up the heat and backed out of the drive. The leather seats were heated and her butt warmed long before her nose did.

“Porter’s in town. It’s the only restaurant other than the diner, but the steak is excellent.” He paused. “They serve chicken too and a few vegetarian dishes...if that’s what you prefer.”

“I love steak.” She grabbed at that, happy to have found common ground. Maybe you couldn’t build a relationship on steak, but they had to start somewhere.

He glanced at her and smiled. “Good.”

As they entered the restaurant, Christian was greeted with familiar smiles and they were seated at what she was proudly told was the best table, overlooking the river. It was a Tuesday night and there were only a few other customers who, to give them credit, did their best not to stare openly. As a newcomer, she was granted temporary celebrity status in town. All that was missing were the paparazzi. The staff had left this corner of the restaurant empty and it was as private as she could have hoped.

Once seated, they talked about inconsequential things. The menu and town. Christian’s job and whether Raquel wanted to continue on with the tradition of running the floral shop as clan witch.

“I don’t want to push Lois out, but I think we’re going to have trouble working together.”

“She can be difficult,” Christian said diplomatically.

“I noticed that.”

Some of her frustration must have come through in her tone. Christian sighed and reached across the table for her hand. Startled by his action, she stared at their joined hands for a moment before looking up into his concerned gaze. “This is a stressful time for you. Coming to a new clan. Being asked to assume your duties right away on a major project. Taking a husband.” He smiled gently. “I want you to know that I’ll help you in any way I can. To ease the transition. The ceremony is in three weeks, but we don’t have to rush this relationship.”

It felt as if someone closed their hand around her heart and squeezed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you have a lot on your plate and I don’t want to cause you any extra stress if I can avoid it. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes. I only ask that you let me know when I do.”

She swallowed past a lump in her throat. The temptation was there to bring up his conversation with Aiden, but she wouldn’t throw that at him. Not when she’d already decided to move past it.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and he tilted his head. “What is it?”

“You kissed my sister.” A blush crept up her cheeks. “And my mother. You kissed them both before me.”

“I didn’t think anything of it,” he said carefully. “It’s how I say goodbye to my own mother.”

“I’m not saying...” She tipped her head as she considered how to put into words the crazy mess of emotions that hit her every time she was in his presence. The mess of emotions she’d been struggling with since she found out this was all about duty to him, anyway. She wanted a clean start. “I didn’t mean for that to come out as an accusation. It’s just that this is all so strange. Everything out of order.”

He’d placed his menu on the table. His fingers toyed with the laminated edge. “And how do you think it should be? We’ll end up at the altar like everyone else.”

She shook her head. “For most people, that’s the ending, for us it’s the beginning.”

“We’ve known each other our whole lives.”

“She’s in love with an idea and a face...” The truth hurt but it was always better to face it. “I knew a picture and a pen pal. Do you think you know me?”

He gave her a heated look that should have melted her insides. “Not as well as I’d like, no. But we’re changing that—” He broke off as the waitress approached to take their drink order. When she was gone, he reached across the table and took Raquel’s hand. He had big hands, calloused from the sword. He managed the co-op. Doubtful that his hardened skin and strong grip came from that work. “You’ll be my wife. Nothing will change that. I want our first kiss to be special, the one that seals our marriage. But if it will quell any doubts you have, I’m perfectly willing to take this however far you want to go now.”

And he looked so serious while offering up his body like some kind of sacrifice that she couldn’t help teasing him. “Like right now, here in this restaurant? We’ll shock the bartender and the old couple who keep sneaking peeks at us over their cocoa.”

He smiled crookedly. “The bartender we might shock, the Petersons won’t bat an eyelash. And that’s whiskey they’re drinking, not cocoa. I’ve had to drive them home and tuck them into bed too many times to believe the innocent act.” He leaned forward. “Last time, I swear, Bertie grabbed my ass on purpose.”

She laughed and withdrew her hand as the waitress returned with their drinks.

“You’re not going to look at your menu?”

“I get the same thing at steak places,” Raquel said. “Eight-ounce filet, medium rare, loaded baked potato and side salad.”

“Always?”

“I like predictability.” She had a thing for order, maybe a clinically diagnosable thing. But he didn’t need to know everything about her upfront. In fact, that was one of the least important things she had to tell him. Best to get this necessary conversation out of the way. Christian was so incredibly calm. Imperturbable. And they were out in public. He wouldn’t flip out on her in public, right?

He smiled that charming, beautiful smile. “What else don’t I know about you, wife-to-be?”

She set aside her drink and clasped her hands together to keep them from trembling. “Well, now that you mention it, there is something that you should know.”

* * *

It didn’t take long to drive to the Odin’s home, to call the core members of the hunt and Lois as well. Christian had offered to let her finish her meal first, but Raquel lost her appetite the moment he reached for the phone.

He hadn’t wanted to discuss it with her first and that hurt. She’d hoped to have the chance to explain it to him alone, that he’d maybe be on her side when they went to speak with Aiden. But apparently Christian was not confused in the least as to where his loyalty lay and it wasn’t with her.

He was throwing her to the wolves.

Christian didn’t speak the whole way out to Aiden’s secluded farmhouse so near the fault her body sparked and fizzed with the magic pouring over her. He didn’t even look at her until he put the car in park and cut the headlights. Those hands she’d so admired gripped the steering wheel hard.

“I’m not angry,” he bit out. “But I don’t understand why we weren’t told about this sooner.”

“The way I was told about the urgency of your situation? If you don’t stabilize your portal, you’ll have to evacuate the town.”

“Which is why we need a witch. A competent one, powerful and capable of performing her duties.” She turned to look out the window so he didn’t see her wince, but he must have realized he’d hurt her because his voice softened. “Raquel, I didn’t mean it like—”

“My parents didn’t want to tell you,” she said. “They planned to wait until after the ceremony. My mother will be angry I told you now.”

He was quiet for a moment while he absorbed that. “Why did you?”

She glanced over at him. His hair was disheveled and his face was tight. Ruffled, after all. “It was the right thing to do. I don’t like keeping secrets. And my mother doesn’t have to live here.”

An SUV pulled in behind them and Christian nodded at the driver before getting out and coming around to meet her. He held her arm as she tried to walk across the gravel driveway in Audrey’s heels. Fen came up on her other side and walked ahead of them to open the door.

A warm glow spilled into the chill yard from the picture window. Another light down the drive lit the area between the rear of the house and an old red-painted barn. Farther back was a newer metal outbuilding. Even with the patch of trees forming a windbreak, her wool coat couldn’t block the cold. The wind whipped around her legs and up her skirt. Her teeth were chattering by the time she made it inside.

Grace sat on the couch in the living room with Hallie curled against her side in flannel pajamas watching cartoons. She whispered something to the girl and then followed them into the kitchen. The whole time, Christian’s hand stayed low on Raquel’s back. Under the circumstances, the gesture felt more like a jailer’s touch than a lover’s. She’d considered calling in her mother and sister as reinforcements when Christian stepped onto the balcony at the restaurant to make his phone calls but had decided not to. Her mother could be difficult when upset, and Raquel didn’t need the distraction. And...it seemed wrong to hide behind her parents. Her fiancé. Her clan. Her battle.

Taking a seat in the chair Christian held for her, Raquel folded her hands in her lap and struggled to conceal her anxiety. He immediately crossed the room to break up the argument Aiden and Lois were engaged in at the other end of the kitchen. It wasn’t a big enough room that she could ignore what was being said.

“She’s useless to us.” That was Lois.

“She’s sitting at the table,” Christian snapped. “Behave yourself and let’s talk. Try to figure out what to do about this.”

Grace took the chair in the corner and Fen leaned against the wall not more than a foot from Raquel’s shoulder. She didn’t look up at him. She couldn’t. Fen was the only friend she’d made so far. He’d be angry too, and she was barely holding on as it was.

“The twins?” Christian asked.

“They’re not answering their phones.” Aiden broke away from Lois and walked to the table. The chair scraped harshly against the floor as he pulled it out and sat directly across from Raquel. Her shoulders began to droop and she fought to straighten them. Her palms were sweating and her stomach was knotted, but they didn’t need to know that. She wouldn’t cower. No matter what. When Aiden fixed her with a hard look, she met it dead-on.

“Christian tells us you’re not a witch.”

“I am a witch.” Maybe not the caliber of witch they’d ordered but...

“You failed your initiation.”

She nodded. “That’s the truth. I have the power and the training but not the control. Kathy, our clan witch, says it’s something like a spigot—but there’s so much pressure on the one side, it makes it...difficult to release the valve.” Impossible was actually the word Kathy used, but Raquel had never accepted that, still didn’t even now. “It doesn’t mean that I won’t ever be able to pass the initiation, just that I can’t yet.”

“You’re calling yourself a late bloomer?” Lois spat. “You’re twenty-five years old. Most people begin to learn to control their gift at puberty.”

With no good answer to that, Raquel remained silent. She wasn’t certain why Christian had insisted she come here. She’d explained her problem to him and this was a decision for his clan to make. She’d given him an out. If he didn’t want her...if he’d only agreed to the wedding so his clan could have their witch, then this was his chance to run.

“There was never any guarantee that she’d be able to fix the problem with the portal,” Fen said into that tense silence.

Aiden’s expression flickered. Worry not anger, she realized. Worry tamped down tight and hard. “We’ll need to replace the wards one way or another. Lois said you have an idea that will buy us more time?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re sure you can manage it?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’ll contact a few of the nearer clans and see who we can borrow that will be able to do the job,” Aiden said, not sounding happy but not sounding murderous either.

“Kathy will come if I ask her.” Kathy hadn’t wanted her to leave in the first place. She’d pleaded with Raquel’s parents to contact the Odin and postpone the wedding.

“Good, I know Kathy. She has a good head on her shoulders.” There was a hint of Why didn’t Kathy warn me about this? in the statement, but Raquel let that pass too.

“Or we can find a new witch,” Lois suggested. “Even if we manage to stabilize the portal, we need a witch. It’s past time I start training my replacement.”

A ripple of unease passed through the room, followed by complete silence. Everyone’s attention fixed on Christian, who leaned against the counter, hands gripping the edge to either side of him, head bowed.

He looked up, into Raquel’s eyes, and her breath caught at the intensity. For the first time, she couldn’t see the pretty face or the charming smile, only the battle-hardened warrior. Christian didn’t truly want her, he only wanted to fulfill his duty. She knew that. But his expression, full of determination and possessiveness, made her heart beat faster.

“I’m not backing out,” he said.

Nothing but challenge in that look and she’d never backed away from a challenge.

“I’m not backing out either.”

Chapter Six

Fen parked in one of the angled spots on Main Street and stared at Lois’s shop for a moment before turning off his truck. He shouldn’t have volunteered to come. But Aiden wanted the rune stones placed as soon as possible and Christian was working. Fen thought the real truth was that Christian wasn’t particularly anxious to see Raquel again so soon after their travesty of a first date.

Nothing like a little interrogation and public humiliation to romance a girl. For such a smart man, Christian was sometimes incredibly dumb. He depended too much on his looks, wealth and position when it came to his dealings with women. Not that any of those things had failed him yet. Raquel, Fen thought, might be the exception to that rule.

She wasn’t quite the little mouse he’d first thought she was. She was...nice, easy to be around. Part of that was because she had the worst poker face he’d ever encountered. Every thought and emotion was right there for all the world to see. Last night when Christian had dragged her to Aiden’s house, Fen had thought she’d burst into tears. But she’d pulled herself together and held her own against the leaders of their hunt—the angry and desperate leaders of the hunt. And he’d felt a weird mix of pride and disappointment, which was stupid. She wasn’t his to be proud of, and the only reason he’d been disappointed was because he’d wanted to be her champion again.

And wasn’t that a bitch of a revelation.

He’d been attracted to different women through the years—of course, he had—but it had always been a purely physical thing and while not easy to resist, it was bearable. This felt...different. Maybe it was just time, like Grace had said, to consider finding someone he could trust to bind himself to. He’d made a good run of the whole celibacy thing, but if he was starting to lust after every new woman to enter his social sphere then it was time for a new strategy.

The song ended, shaking him out of his reverie, and he climbed from the truck. His breath puffed white in the air as he jogged up the steps to the sidewalk and pulled open the old wood door. A bell above his head jangled a welcome and warmth surrounded him, like walking into a summer day. The scent of flowers almost overpowered the other assorted herbs Lois kept here, but not quite. Such an interesting mix of earth, magic and living things—he could have spent hours trying to sift through it all.

Raquel stood behind the display counter, a worn mortar and pestle beside her, a thin scrap of paper folded between her fingers as she tapped powder into a clear glass jar. As he crossed the room, she glanced up and smiled.

Christian was an idiot.

“Hey, Fen. I’ll be with you in just a minute.”

He came to the counter and tilted the pestle. “Valerian?”

“A tonic for insomnia.”

He examined the other items spread across the countertop. Skullcap, hops, what looked like a clip of human hair. He wrinkled his nose. “They have pills for that you know. Ones that don’t involve body parts.”

“This will work better. It’s gentle. No side effects and no chance of developing a dependence on it. And besides, there are always the purists.”

Mostly the elderly who didn’t want to let go of the old ways. Of course, it was impossible for any of them to completely give up on the old ways—it was what kept them alive. But Fen had always thought it was a sad way to live...no modern medicine, TV or internet. Their society was insular enough.

“I’ve never understood the hair thing,” he said. “It seems like that should be an old wives’ tale.”

“Well, I say that the hair works and I’m not an old wife.”

“Not yet.” When she raised her eyebrows, he added, “You’re not married yet.”

She leaned over the counter and her scent enveloped him, sunshine and magic. His gaze dropped to where her hand rested on the glass display case. Slender fingers and short, perfectly shaped nails. The large, very expensive engagement ring Christian had bought her looked gaudy on that pretty little hand.

“It’s a DNA sample,” she said in a low voice, like a spy imparting state secrets. “The hair. It ties the magic to the physical plane. Well, all of the ingredients do. They each bind some aspect of the spell to this world. The order is important. For example, you wouldn’t want to mix a crow feather—or any death avatar—with water unless you wanted to drown yourself or call a flood. But if you bind the feather to a specific person first...”

“You have a death spell.”

She nodded and a strand of hair fell from her shoulder, curling down to rest on her breast. He lifted his gaze to her face.

“It’s all about the DNA. Hair and nails are easy because people shed them constantly, but saliva would work, or semen.” She smiled and pointed at him. “Don’t tell Lois I’m giving away our secrets. She’s the kind of purist that holds them tight.”

He straightened and cocked his head to one side. “I thought you were...blocked. That you couldn’t do magic.”

“I can do small magics, the kind of things any hedge witch can do. Kathy made sure I was well trained, and this is just prep work really. If it’s a simple enough spell, you don’t need to be very powerful to activate it. And runes...well, I’ve always been good with runes. There are a few that help, ummm...thin the barrier between me and the magic. I haven’t quite got the combination right, but when I do I’ll tattoo them on my forehead.”

“Subtle.” He laughed at the mental image. “You find the right combination, I’ll work them into a design for you. We’ll find someplace better than your forehead to put them.”

He winced, hoping she wouldn’t take that the wrong way. Tried to ignore the images in his own mind of creamy skin and hidden places.

She paused in putting away the materials to look up. “You do that? Tattoos?”

“Graphic design, actually. It lets me work from home. Office work can be hard on hounds. But yeah, I’ve designed tattoos before and placed them, mostly for the pack.”

She straightened. “Are you serious about the offer? Because I’m serious about trying to use runes to break through the block. I’ll take you up on it, if you mean it.”

Heaven help him. “I’m serious. I still have the equipment.”

Her smile was slow and brilliant, chasing away the storm clouds in her eyes. And no matter how stupid, he couldn’t make himself regret the offer.

“Okay, then.” She tucked the shoebox away behind her on the bookshelf and pointed toward a crate beside the door. “The wards are over there. I carved the runes onto the rocks and Lois sealed them to the stone. Just place them about five feet away from the ward stones on this side of the fault. I’ll come out and power it up in the morning. It should keep a portal from forming unexpectedly.”

“Lois says it may make a split more likely to form somewhere else.”

She nodded.

“And there’s no way to predict where it will happen? Or when?”

“Not with any certainty. I used to walk the fault with my grandmother and can usually feel the weak spots, but they can also form quickly.” She crossed her arms in a classic defensive pose and he wondered at it until she said, “Lois isn’t sensitive enough to feel the changes. She tries to hide that from your Odin, but she can’t hide it from me.”

It didn’t surprise him one bit that Lois would put her pride before the safety of the clan. The note of bitterness in Raquel’s voice did surprise him, however. Lois must be riding her pretty hard. “I’ll let Aiden know...discreetly.” No point in adding any more tension to the mix between Lois and her apprentice. He did his best to ignore the warm thrill of pleasure that she trusted him enough to confide in him. “Thanks for telling me.”

She waved it aside and he hefted the crate into his arms, trying to pretend it wasn’t heavy. It had to be at least a hundred pounds of rocks. She came around the counter to open the door for him.

“If you have any trouble with those, let me know.”

His shoulder brushed against her hand and she startled. Afraid he’d accidently hurt her, he paused. But he hadn’t hurt her, that wasn’t it. There was a faint blush at the crest of her cheek and when she looked up, he saw something in her eyes that shouldn’t be there, felt something inside himself rouse sleepily awake.

She wouldn’t admit she felt that strange little connection if he waited a hundred years, which was just as well. She was Christian’s and this—whatever this was—would fade. It had to.

Chapter Seven

Lois picked Raquel up first thing in the morning to set the rune stones. After the last rogue surge, everyone was on edge. She’d been told the surges were becoming more frequent and unpredictable as time passed. Usually, the winters were a little bit slower, at least in this hemisphere. Usually, the surges didn’t occur outside the new and full moons. No one had a good answer as to what was causing the irregularity other than that the wards had reached the end of their life expectancy. Everyone looked to the clan witch and her new apprentice to solve the problem. The first step was strengthening the wards that surrounded the fault.

About two miles in length and located dead smack in the center of acres of Æsir-owned farmland, the fault cut through a large stretch of woods that surrounded a lake. The portal could open anywhere along it and the wards hemmed the entire thing, so Raquel had dressed for a hike.

No snow yet, which was good, but there was a thick layer of fallen leaves on the ground she knew from experience could be slippery as hell, especially since there were no real trails maintained through the trees. The clan did its best to discourage trespassers as much as possible.

Parking at Aiden’s farm, which adjoined the property, they rode horseback to the edge of the woods. It was a beautiful day. Blue sky, high and cloudless. The farmland was long since cleared but still stubbly with the remains of harvest. Yellow grass, brown brush, black crows peppering the empty fields looking for lunch.

Lois was silent. She’d been pretty quiet since picking Raquel up, but when they passed through a break in the brush, she turned slightly. “You’ll set the runes. I’m here to observe. I want to see exactly how much power you have to work with.”

Raquel raised her brows but didn’t comment. Lois should be able to sense that without having to see her in action. Raquel could sense Lois’s power—middling for a clan witch but nothing to sneeze at. Nearly on a par with Kathy, who was very competent and who Raquel respected immensely. Raquel hoped that once Lois saw she didn’t mean to force her out of the coven, they could come to work together peaceably.

It became hillier the closer they got to the lake, rockier too, and eventually they had to abandon the horses. Dismounting a short distance into the woods, they secured the reins to the saddle so they wouldn’t snag. The horses were Æsir stock, intelligent, loyal and responsive creatures. They wouldn’t wander far and would come when called.

Raquel extended her senses, checking the edges of the fault for weakness. It didn’t feel as if there had been a recent breach even though she knew it had happened only two nights ago. Usually, there was a slight thinning to the wall separating their worlds around the new moon and full. That was what allowed the demons to push through. Raquel tapped at her thigh where she’d strapped the Skimstrok blade her father had given to her on her twelfth birthday.

“It’s like they punched a hole through a solid brick wall and someone patched it up again. There aren’t any weak spots now.”

Lois pursed her lips. “I assure you there was a breach. Ask Aiden if you don’t believe me. A demon damaged the Abrams house and one of the hounds was injured. We can go see the claw marks in the siding if you need proof.” She sighed and shook her head. “Poor Dan. You can’t put an insurance claim on something like that.”

“Brian,” Raquel said. Lois gave her a blank look. “Poor Brian, you mean. He was the one who was injured, wasn’t he? Christian said he’s all right but still limping a bit.”

Lois shrugged. “I’m sure Alan will be able to fix that. Dan is Julia’s husband. It was their house.”

Raquel bit her tongue on a sharp response. Really, the more she got to know Lois, the less she cared to.

Lois seemed to be struggling with the uneven terrain, but Raquel didn’t offer her arm. When she paused at a patch of disturbed earth where there’d obviously been a struggle, Lois kept walking. The leaves were churned up, revealing dark, damp earth. Hoofprints and paw prints. A black, sticky substance splattering some of the leaves and a nearby rock. Raquel shivered. Fen had been here, risking his life to protect the clan. Christian too.

“Over here. I found one.” Lois squatted to brush the leaves off the first rune stone and Raquel turned away from the bloody patch of earth to do her part in protecting the clan.

Fen had done the heavy work of placing the stones precisely as she’d ordered them in a circle ringing the ward stones. Those stones contained the fault and kept it from spreading. They kept the portal from opening in town or worse, in an area populated by humans. They couldn’t prevent the portal from opening during the lunar surges, but they should prevent it from opening at other times. The fault should be at its most stable right now. Even without the ward stones in place, a portal shouldn’t have opened so near a quarter.

And yet, this one had done just that.

She could feel the wards buzzing along. A familiar sound, reassuring. These were weak, no doubt about that. A hundred years was the outer edge of their life expectancy. All magic dissipated eventually. Strange to think that the founding witch of Ragnarok had set these so very long ago. Kathy had replaced their own as her first order of business once she took over as clan witch. Apparently Aiden had expected Raquel to do the same. She wished she could. It was hard to be excited about the wedding when she was so hyperaware of how badly she was letting everyone down.

Christian... He hadn’t even spoken to her since her revelation.

Dry leaves crunched underfoot. Everything was painted in shades of brown except for a couple of tall pines and some stubborn tufts of grass poking through the leaves. It was quiet and very peaceful. But not safe, particularly not now.

She knelt on the ground when she came to the next stone and covered the rune with her hands. It was warm to the touch. All potential energy there, keyed to draw energy from the ley line. It wasn’t necessary to direct the flow to the ward. The power stones would soak it up, store it. When the wards were activated by a threat, they’d pull from the nearest available energy source. A simple design, but those were usually the best.

She closed her eyes and felt the magic along with the wall that blocked her from that pure, deep well. She wanted to dive in, let all that power flow into her body. She wanted to dismantle the failing wards while the fault was quiet and create blazing pillars of protection that would last for another century. She had the raw power to do it. But a gigantic wall stood between her and her birthright, with no way to breach it.

She’d tried. Heaven help her, she’d tried everything she could think of. Meditation, yoga, crystals, pain because her last idiot of a boyfriend had suggested that as a way to break the block. She still had the scars on her thigh to disprove that theory. She’d been so desperate and so stupid. Fen had promised to help her with the tattoos. Those would be permanent too, but at least he wouldn’t place them until she was ready. She was so fucking ready to break down that wall she hurt with it.

She found a tendril of power, a leak, the slenderest of threads, and she held onto that, drawing at it until she had just enough to burn the gap she’d left in the rune to complete the figure. She smiled as it powered up. She could feel it link to the ley line, feel it connect to the nearest ward stone as well. Standing, she brushed her hands off on her jeans and met Lois’s haughty stare.

Lois was just waiting for her to screw up. Only two stones left.

* * *

Christian walked down the front steps of the home he’d rented for Raquel’s family. It was his sister’s home, but she’d married into another clan last year, leaving it empty. It was the house they’d grown up in, small but well kept because his father believed in living simply. He’d been an Æsir purist and a warrior of the Spartan variety. Disciplined, stern, demanding.

Christian had put a second bathroom in for Wendy off the master bedroom, sparing no expense—a steam shower and heated towel rods, marble tile surrounding the big tub. It had given him great pleasure to put such a lavish room inside his father’s home. The kitchen was new too. They’d expanded it, adding an attached four-season room that overlooked the park. Now when he visited, he barely recognized the old place. Some of his father’s ideals were too deeply ingrained for him to question, others not so much. He hoped Raquel was comfortable here. He hadn’t had more than an hour alone with her since she’d arrived to find out.

She wasn’t home now and he was at a loss. Not that he expected her to sit on her hands and wait for him to show up, but why of all people would she go to Lois? He shoved his hands in his coat pockets and started walking toward the shop. He should have tried harder to draw her out after the mess the other night, should have taken the day off. But there’d been a problem at the grain elevator. Beth had called in sick, and Jim couldn’t find the records he needed on her computer. Before Christian knew it, he’d lost half his day. But he’d make it up to Raquel. He had his whole life to make it up to her.

This should be easy. He genuinely liked women and women had always liked him. Raquel had seemed nervous and excited but content with the match that first day. And within just a few short hours, she’d become wary. He didn’t know what he’d done to screw up, or even if it was something that he had done. This secret her parents had wanted her to carry had to have been an awful burden. There were the pressures of adjusting to a new town, Lois’s antagonism and her discovery of the problem with their portal. All of it had probably combined into a perfect shitstorm that made her doubt the wisdom of continuing with the wedding. He’d like to believe that she’d made her confession about her block because she trusted him, but he suspected she’d done it to test him—or worse, to cast him off. He wouldn’t abandon her like that. If she’d known him at all, she’d have known that.

But that was the problem wasn’t it? She understood him as little as he understood her.

The light was still on inside the florist’s shop but the closed sign was up. He stopped outside the door. It was nearly six and most of the shops along Main Street were already closed except for the diner two doors down. For the first time in years, there was a woman he wanted badly to seduce but he couldn’t think where to begin. By rights, she was already his.

He didn’t want to screw this up.

There was no movement in the shop. She might already be gone, out to eat with her sister, Grace or even Fen. He couldn’t make himself knock at the window and when his phone rang, he turned away to answer it with an uneasy sigh of relief mixed with guilt.

Chapter Eight

When Fen called to see if she and Audrey wanted to come over later to go over the plan for the runes, he mentioned that he was picking up supplies in town and Raquel jumped at the chance to hitch a ride. Fen’s awkward pause told her she’d overstepped.

“I can go with Audrey,” she said, backpedaling. “She just...really likes to shop.”

“And you don’t?”

“Not for shoes.” With Audrey they’d be gone all day, until the energy drain from being so far from the fault forced a retreat. The nearest town with decent shopping was an hour away. Two hours of drive time would mean Audrey could potentially have her trying on every shoe in town, all the while harassing her for not having taken care of it sooner.

When she started to explain this to Fen, he said, “Okay, yeah. That would be cruel. Will you be up by noon?”

By noon? “I told you I’m not a morning person, but I’m not that bad. Noon’s fine.”

Noon was actually great because Audrey had a meeting with the caterer to discuss table linens. When she’d heard Raquel tell the woman to pick whatever she liked, Audrey’s eyeballs had nearly exploded. She’d volunteered to go in her sister’s stead. Raquel didn’t see what the big deal was over napkin color but Audrey, she knew, would make sure everything was perfect. So the least Raquel could do was to take care of the damn shoes.

The wedding dress was long—no one would even be able to see her feet. She could wear sneakers except Audrey would surely notice and Raquel would never hear the end of it. It was the sort of thing that would matter to Christian too. And if it was important to him, then she’d go shoe shopping, much as it pained her to do so.

Fen was a good sport and even though it was shoe shopping, they had fun. She liked hanging out with him.

When they stopped for lunch at a diner on their way, he didn’t blink when she ordered a side of onion rings with her cheeseburger and still made room for pie. Of course, the man did have a truly disturbing fondness for ketchup so maybe that explained why he didn’t criticize her culinary choices. He didn’t complain that time ceased to have meaning for her when she stepped into the bookstore, and he didn’t tease her about the stack of romance novels she picked up.

She caught the wistful expression on his face when he returned a big, kind of pricey book on art to the shelf. She fought the impulse to add the book to her order as a thank you, but she did make note of the title. Friends could buy friends gifts, right? And that’s what he was—her first friend from her new clan. Kind and funny and smart. It was an enormous relief to find someone here that she could just be herself around.

She found shoes and did it in a hurry, as that was the one part of the trip where Fen truly seemed like he’d rather be somewhere...anywhere else. On their way out of town, he ran into the tattoo shop to grab his supplies and she called Christian to let him know they were running late.

“I’ll meet you at the house,” he said, sounding distracted. “Beth, one of the riders, is having a wine tasting at her shop in town. If you’re up to it...”

“We were planning to look at the book of runes Kathy sent me and see if we can work up a sketch for the tattoo. Audrey’s coming. Can we skip the party, or do we really need to go?”

“I need to go. I promised her a few weeks ago. But I’ll make an excuse for you. Maybe I can leave early and come over.”

“That would be great.”

Fen held the door for the woman entering the shop as he was leaving. He also totally checked out her ass while doing it. Raquel must have muttered something out loud.

“What?” Christian said in her ear. “I didn’t catch that.”

“Oh, nothing.”

Fen walked to the truck, lean and fast and sort of dangerous-looking. He moved like a hound even in human form. There was something powerfully attractive about that in a purely animalistic way—probably why the woman was still watching him through the store window.

She said goodbye and clicked off her phone, grinning when Fen opened the door. “That girl is checking you out.”

He gave a put upon sigh. “A heartbreaker, that’s what I am.”

“I can see that.”

He tossed his bag in the backseat and started up the truck. “Some people just want what they can’t have. It’s a normal thing. It fades, especially when all they’re after is the challenge.”

There was a strange note in his voice, as if he was trying to tell her something. Even though Christian had been upfront with her about how many women he’d been involved with, people—women especially—of the clan seemed to feel compelled to warn Raquel about it. She would have been fine with that if they’d come right out and tell her they thought her fiancé was a slut to her face, but it was all hints and innuendo. She hadn’t expected it from Fen. She frowned out the window.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

He gave her a longer, harder look. “It’s the first time you’re quiet all day and you look like you’re thinking about politics in the Middle East.”

She shook her head and smiled into his eyes. “I’m fine. Did you get what you wanted?”

“All of it. We have everything we need to permanently defile your sweet, young body.”

She snorted. “Defile? You couldn’t defile freshly fallen snow.”

“You don’t think so? You’ve only known me what? A week now?”

“Yep. Seven days.” Fourteen days until the wedding, not that she was counting them down like a doomsday clock or anything. “It seems longer, doesn’t it?”

A funny look crossed his face, but he nodded in agreement. “It does.”

She took a long sip from the water bottle she’d left in the truck. “Christian is going to Beth’s house tonight.”

“Without you?”

“He said we should stick to our plan, but...Beth won’t be offended, will she? Were you invited?”

“No.” He gave her a quick smile, eyes glinting with humor. He had nice eyes—an unusual shade of green. Right now, they were warm, almost hazel, but when the light hit them just right they turned gold. “Beth doesn’t invite me anymore. She got tired of asking, which is just as well because I got tired of saying no.”

“How very antisocial of you,” she murmured, jealous that he had a built-in excuse to get out of that kind of thing.

“And you on the other hand are dying to go to a cocktail party, I can tell. I’m busy tomorrow, but we can do this Saturday if you want.”

She rocked her head to one side. “Let’s stick with the plan.”

“Christian likes to entertain. You’ll be planning your own parties soon.”

“Not likely. But if I do, you’ll come to them.”

His smile this time was slow—and a little sad. “Not likely.”

“Do you really think the shoes will be okay?”

“For the party?”

She rolled her eyes. “For the wedding.”

“I’m the best tracker in the clan—if I can’t follow you, Rocky, no one can.” But she could hear the amusement in his voice so she didn’t take offense. “Do you like them?”

“What?”

“The shoes.”

“Yes.” While it had seemed like a great idea at the store now that she was heading back to show Audrey, doubt was setting in.

“Then they’re the right ones.”

“Audrey won’t like the color.” A pale pink that reminded her of the blush at the center of the single white rose Christian had sent her yesterday. “Do you think Christian will care? They’re not very traditional.”

Fen considered it for a moment and shrugged. “Well, they’re probably not the ones he would have picked out, but he doesn’t have to wear them.”

“Right,” she said, capping her water bottle and putting it in the holder. She turned the radio up and searched until she found a station she could live with. “I saw you checking out that girl’s ass, by the way.”

He raised his brows. “I don’t check out girls, Rocky.”

“Fine. That very definitely grown woman’s ass.”

He grinned and shot her a look. “Are you sure you weren’t checking her out?”

She shook her head and looked out the window again. Dark came early this time of year and the sun was already setting behind the far hills. They called them hills. Coming from Colorado, that seemed almost sacrilegious. But there was a clean kind of beauty to the area and all of the neatly squared tracts of land soothed the part of her that craved order.

Fen was wrong about her skipping around in conversations. She was just able to carry multiple threads in her head at the same time and switch between them at will. A skill similar to spellcasting, weaving the different strands of power together. It had taken her a while to realize that not everyone thought the same way she did. It drove her mother crazy. Fen didn’t seem fazed by it. She wondered if Christian would be.

Fen took a right turn onto a gravel road. In the side mirror, she watched the dust spin out behind them.

“What are you smiling about?”

She turned to look at him, but his eyes were on the road. One hand on the steering wheel, the sleeve on his T-shirt had ridden up, revealing a nicely defined biceps and the edge of his tattoo—Fenrir breaking his chains. His design. He glanced her way, eyebrows raised. “You’re blushing.”

She touched her cheek. “I am not.”

“What is it?”

“This is the song I lost my virginity to.” She laughed at the expression on his face and then stopped abruptly. “Oh, God. I’m sorry, Fen.”

“No, it’s all right.”

It wasn’t all right. She hadn’t meant to mock him. She grimaced. “If it makes you feel any better, I could probably narrow it down to a single verse.”

“That bad?”

“Uh-huh.”

The silence stretched but not uncomfortably. Some of the tension left his shoulders and his hand eased its death grip on the wheel. The crunch of gravel beneath the wheels nearly drowned out the radio. “Tell me.”

Startled, she stared at his profile, trying to decide if he was serious. Fen looked very serious, but other than that she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. This is a bad idea. But it was also the first time he’d asked her for anything, and this was the kind of thing she’d share with any of her friends. She could be friends with Fen. She wanted to be.

“His name was Brad Dougan.”

“Sounds like an asshole,” Fen said immediately, but the corner of his mouth turned up and she relaxed a little bit.

“I haven’t even started. He went to my high school and we’d been dating for two months, which I know makes me sound easy, but it wasn’t that exactly. It wasn’t even him. I was ready. We waited until there was a surge so my parents would be gone. And that was it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “That was it?”

“Pretty much. We were on my bed. This song was on the radio.”

“Green Day?”

“What’s wrong with Green Day?”

“Nothing. It just seems like an odd choice for a seduction.”

She tilted her head. “What would you choose?”

“Honestly, I’ve never considered it,” he said gently. “Go on.”

She felt a twinge of uncertainty but shrugged it off. “Okay, my bathroom light was on and so was my tank top. He never even made it under my shirt. God, he was nervous. I thought he was going to tear the condom trying to get it on. And then...it was over.”

Fen shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m not. He did get better eventually.” She laughed. “I can’t believe I’m telling you this.”

The silence stretched and that twinge of uncertainty grew into more of an ache.

“You probably shouldn’t be.”

She met his eyes and it was there again—that sick mix of longing and regret that they weren’t ever going to talk about. “No,” she agreed. “I probably shouldn’t.”

* * *

Fen’s house was a family-sized ranch at the edge of town. The hardwood floors in the entryway looked recently finished, but the furniture appeared to have been there forever. They were likely hand-me-downs. Since clan didn’t tend to move around like the rest of society, a lot of people ended up living in the houses they grew up in. The furniture might actually have been here for quite some time. The couch was brown...plaid with a colorful afghan folded on the nearest cushion. She could almost picture a five-year-old Fen snuggled up on that couch in his Spiderman pj’s watching Barney.

The TV was new and big, mounted over a cabinet that held at least two gaming systems and some stereo equipment. A long, short bookshelf took up most of the other wall behind the recliner. It was clean and spare, but he worked and lived here. It should be better.

“It’s not much,” he echoed her thoughts. He tossed his keys on a table beside the door. “Make yourself at home. There’s beer and pop in the fridge, that way. I’ll order the pizza. Steve delivers if you tip him well enough.”

“Steve?”

“The gas station makes the only pizza in town. It’s decent.” A slight smile accompanied by a shrug. “Edible anyway.”

“Can you order extra? Audrey is going to stop by when she’s finished with the dress.”

While he placed the order, she set her books on the coffee table and wandered over to check out his bookshelf. You could tell a lot about a person by the books they read, she’d always thought. It was always the first place she looked when she was feeling...curious about someone. And she was curious about Fen. He’d become a friend when she needed one and he was Christian’s best man, though that seemed strange to her. They were very different to be so close.

Something about Fen made her think science fiction, but there weren’t any fiction books at all stacked on the shelves. A bunch of textbooks about computer stuff, some nice hardcovers on art history, both photography and paintings. There were sketchbooks on the top shelf along with a sturdy wooden box she suspected held art supplies.

Her fingers twitched to pull one of the sketchbooks off the shelf, but she wouldn’t do that without an invitation. Too personal. Fen came back into the room holding two long-necked bottles in one hand and she straightened.

“Don’t let me interrupt your snoop. My ereader’s on the nightstand if you’re looking for the really good stuff.” She glanced again at those sketchpads. She bet the really good stuff was in there.

“I pegged you as a science fiction fan.”

“I like science fiction. I’ve always had a thing for horror too.”

“Ah.”

“Ah?” He sat on the couch, crossed his ankle over his knee and stretched his arm across the back. His head was cocked slightly to one side in that attentive pose he sometimes assumed and one eyebrow was raised. “You have a verdict already?”

“These things take time.” She took a sip of the beer he’d handed her. “There are no pictures on the wall, so I’m thinking you don’t have a lot of family. Did your parents pass away?”

“Nope. This is their house though.” He patted the couch. “The pictures they had up were all embarrassingly adorable shots of me growing up. They retired and decided to travel for a few years. My lease was up anyway, so I moved in here. They’re visiting a clan in Belgium right now. Then they plan to hop over to a little place in Norway.”

“That would be nice.” It was a dream a lot of clan had for after they’d fulfilled their time of service. Not many made it. It was dangerous hunting demons. Her older brother hadn’t survived ten years at it.

“I haven’t lived here very long. You’d have to dig through the boxes stored in the basement for photo albums and home videos.”

“No movies?”

“I don’t like clutter. When it’s not organized, the walls start to close in on me.”

“Music?”

“On the computer, the house is wired off that.”

Huh. “I’m thwarted then. I’ll have to get to know you the old-fashioned way.”

She dropped onto the couch and started to prop her feet on the table before jerking them back. She flushed. It was too easy to forget herself around Fen. Her manners flew right out the window. He hooked his hand under her knee before her foot hit the ground and pulled it back up. “What’s the point in keeping thirty-year-old furniture around if you can’t abuse it?”

“Are the gardening books your mom’s?”

“I don’t look like a gardener to you?”

His grin invited honesty. “You look nothing like a gardener.”

He looked like trouble. His tattoo peeked from beneath the sleeve an old T-shirt. He was still wearing shit-kicker boots and the worn-out jeans that suited him perfectly. He had the kind of body jeans were created for. Narrow hips and long, straight legs. He looked like a loner and an artist. He looked dangerous—and not to cabbage worms and squash bugs.

“It gets me outside, you know, when I’m not killing things.” He took a long pull from his bottle, but kept his eye on her.

“So you’re a nerd.”

He choked on his swallow. “You think I’m a nerd?”

“Afraid so.” She ticked off her fingers. “You live in your parent’s house.”

“I bought my parent’s house,” he corrected. “The housing market’s not the greatest here, you know.”

She held up a second finger. “You have enough computer equipment in here that I bet you’ll have to upgrade the electrical system soon...if you haven’t already.”

“Last year, before I moved in. It’s why I haven’t had the extra money to decorate.”

“You enjoy reading and gardening.” She paused. “Do you have a cat?”

He winced. “She’s a stray. Scared to death of me, but she keeps coming back for the food.”

“I’d be surprised if you could coax a cat into living with a hound.”

“Smart creatures, cats. So what’s the verdict?”

She wiggled her fingers and dropped her hand. She hadn’t made a five count, but she thought she’d made her point anyway. “Nerd. Even if you don’t look like one.”

“And what does a nerd look like exactly?”

Not sweet and sexy and dangerous.

“Different from you,” she said after a too-long pause, feeling suddenly that it wasn’t the best idea for her to have come here alone.

Seemingly struck by the same thought, Fen took another drink and then changed the subject. “So how’s the wedding coming along?”

“It’s coming. There’s not much to do. Everything’s been arranged forever, down to the china.”

“Are you and Christian okay?”

She kicked off her shoes and turned on the couch to face him, resting her back against the armrest. “He’s not reneging on the contract.”

“I didn’t think he would.”

She stared at the bottle in her hands, picked at the label. “I heard him talking about me the day I arrived, during the welcome party.”

Fen didn’t comment. He was patient that way, not judgmental. She liked him—a little too much. But she wasn’t going to think about that now...or ever. She needed a friend. Someone who knew Christian and understood the situation but wasn’t too close to it.

“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, I was in the restroom and with the vents...sound carries in there. He was talking to Aiden about me.”

Fen stared at his bottle, his thumb circling the wet rim. “It’s never a good idea to believe things that you overhear.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Why? It’s more honest than what people will tell you to your face.”

“Not always. There’s usually just a different set of agendas at play.”

“I didn’t take you for a cynic, Fen.”

“I don’t consider myself one, Rocky. What did he say?”

He knew. She could tell by the tone of his voice, unhappy but not particularly surprised. “That I was his duty. That he wouldn’t back out even if he wanted to.”

“And you assumed that meant he wanted to?”

“What else was I supposed to think?”

His hand touched her leg briefly before lifting away to rest on the back of the couch again. “You dumped that revelation on him about your problem to see if he’d walk?”

She flinched. She hadn’t looked at it quite that way. “I thought I’d give him an out, all of you. It’s better that you know it upfront.”

“Agreed.” His eyes were so dark drilling into her like that. “Look, Aiden’s been stressed out about the trouble we’re having with the portal. He put a lot of pressure on Christian to make sure this wedding thing goes smoothly. What you heard was probably Christian lashing back. Duty is important to Christian, but I’ve seen the way he looks at you too. You’re wrong if you think he’s only in this for the halo.”

Her cheeks heated. “Yeah, there’s that.”

“There’s that,” he echoed. His mouth pulled into a grimace. This was a mistake, talking to him about his friend. She was embarrassing him and putting him in a weird position. “Just...talk to him. He’s not stupid or uncaring. He’ll hear you out and if you ask him about it directly, he will tell you the truth. Christian won’t lie to your face.”

The doorbell rang and Fen practically leaped to answer it. Raquel smiled wryly. Poor guy. He might be willing to be her friend, but she couldn’t keep leaning on him so hard. It wasn’t fair to him, her or Christian either.

* * *

Rocky’s little sister, Audrey, showed up after the pizza arrived, which was a relief. Sort of. Fen wanted Rocky alone, liked talking to her even if it hurt, was flattered and fascinated that of all the clan, she seemed to trust him. A hound, one of the castes most people tended to avoid.

Many of the Æsir, particularly the ones who didn’t deal with the hunt, regarded hounds as less than human. And while some women saw that as a challenge in a tame-the-beast sort of way, Raquel wasn’t like that. She liked him. She wanted to be his friend. There was something incredibly simple and appealing about that. Or it would be simple, if he could only look at her the same way. As a friend. Because even if she wasn’t engaged to Christian, a friend was all Rocky could ever be.

Audrey was fun, though. She had the same sense of humor as Rocky along with the same kind of openness and honesty. She was pretty, like Rocky. And smart too.

He tried to will himself to be interested in Audrey. Not a serious interest, just something to distract himself from the misguided attraction he felt toward her sister. But the fact that he was trying to do that made him feel like an idiot, a sleazy, hopeless, desperate idiot. He liked Audrey in the same way he liked Grace or the twins. Having Audrey sit next to him on the floor eating pizza while he flipped open his sketchbook to the runes he’d sketched earlier only drove home how stupid he’d been to think there was nothing weird going on between him and Rocky. That he could invite her to his house and help her with her problem and not want more. His attraction wasn’t going away. He couldn’t keep ignoring it, but he didn’t know what the hell to do about it either.

Audrey craned her neck to get a look at the sketches.

“Do you mind?” he asked pointedly.

“Not really, no.” She set her chin on his shoulder. “Wow, Fen, you do good work. I didn’t think hounds had the patience for this kind of thing.”

Being a hound was a little like having ADD. All your senses were sharper, but the human brain could only handle so much. When he was in human form, it was hard to block everything out. Drawing had always helped him focus, like withdrawing to a quiet room inside his head. Gardening brought him to that same place.

He sometimes imagined it must have been easier to deal with being a hound when times were slower, just as he imagined the sexual ramifications were easier to navigate when society had been more traditional and even unhappy marriages lasted a lifetime. But possibly not.

“Some have the patience for it,” he said. “Some don’t. It depends on the hound.”

“Well, you clearly have an eye for detail.” Audrey tilted her head. “Those are the runes she gave you?”

“She” being Rocky, who’d left to find the bathroom and grab another beer five minutes ago. Because more of the drunk and chatty Raquel sitting cross-legged on his couch with that warm and sort of goofy smile on her face was exactly what he needed right now.

“These are the runes Rocky wants to try. Your witch provided the arrangement. I’m just making it pretty.”

Audrey gave a funny laugh and he turned his head. “What?”

“I’ve never heard anyone else call her Rocky. I only do it because it drives Mom nuts.”

“Sorry,” he murmured and went back to his work. “I didn’t realize I was stepping on your toes.”

“You’re not.” He could feel her gaze settle on him. “Why do you call her that? Did she ask you to?”

He glanced up and found Audrey studying him with a frown on her face, waiting for an answer. “Rocky suits her.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, but something about his answer seemed to unsettle her. He shook his head and returned his attention to the sketch. The runes should be connected, he thought, in one unbroken chain, but he didn’t know if that would change the effect they had on Raquel’s magic.

Audrey pointed at the paper. “It worries me that she’s adding that one.”

“To amplify her power.”

“Power’s not her problem.” Audrey sat back. “She’s the most powerful witch Kathy’s ever come across. I think she needs something to blunt her power, you know. Otherwise it’s like trying to douse a match with a fire hose.”

Fen stopped to consider that. Rocky came up behind him and knelt on his other side. “I don’t want to give up my power. I want to learn to use it.”

She shifted closer to examine the drawing. The scent of sunshine and magic surrounded him. Her hair brushed his ear. Her breast, full and tempting, gave slightly when she leaned against him. He closed his eyes and set the notepad down on his leg so she wouldn’t notice the tremble in his hand. “That line—” she pointed, “—there’s too much of a curve to it. It needs to be straight.”

He corrected it as she studied the rest. He wished she’d move away. He could do this for her. The tattoo, he’d help her with that. Hopefully, it would do what she wanted it to. She could replace the wards herself and take her place as clan witch, take her place as Christian’s wife. Fen knew she felt the need to prove herself. Like a cracked pot that needed to be glued back together. There was nothing wrong with her so far as he could see. She let other people tie her up with their expectations, tie her into knots, just like Christian had always done to win his father’s approval.

She didn’t need to be fixed. Neither had Christian. Maybe the two of them could...help each other see that. They’d marry, heal. Be happy.

Fen very badly wanted them both to be happy.

“Can I overlap the runes? Or join them?”

She hesitated. “Best not. I’m not exactly sure what that would do. It might strengthen them, but it could create an entirely new effect that we don’t want.”

He nodded and adjusted a line or two. He held it up. “What do you think?”

She sat next to him on the carpet, her knee bumping against his, and rolled up her shirtsleeve. “Let’s do it.”

“Tonight?”

“Why not? I need to know. I won’t do anything hard. I’ll...I’ll reheat the pizza. I could practically manage that now without any help.”

He hesitated, considered the set of her shoulders and the mulish glint to her eyes. “You’re drunk.”

She straightened and gave him her best sober look, which wouldn’t have fooled a second grader. He sighed. There wasn’t much danger in this. He was using washable marker for the test run and could disable the runes with a single swipe from the damp rag on the table.

“Okay, give me your hand.”

She leaned over to set her forearm on the table but he grabbed it instead, pulling it across his lap. She inhaled sharply and he looked up at her, but she stared at her arm. A blush slowly crept up her neck. He could feel the flutter of her pulse through her wrist. He would have noticed her reaction to his touch even if he hadn’t been able to scent it on her skin. Arousal. It hit him hard. Unrequited lust was one thing. This was a whole ‘nother level of hell.

He tightened his grip and bent his head, focused his attention on the art. It was a simple design but important to get the runes exactly right. It would be easy to write a curse onto a person if you didn’t know what you were doing. He hoped to hell they knew what they were doing.

He could see the veins clearly through her fair skin. She had freckles everywhere, across her nose and forehead, on the tops of the lovely breasts he shouldn’t ever have noticed. There were no freckles on the inside of her arm, only soft skin and delicate, fascinatingly feminine musculature. A wrist so narrow he could snap it by flexing his hand and a pulse that raced beneath his fingertips. If she’d set out to purposefully torture him, she couldn’t have done better.

Done.

He released her. He and Audrey sat staring at her for a moment and when they were certain she wasn’t going to explode or anything, Audrey said, “Well?”

Rocky rotated her arm to look at the design. “It tingles a bit on my skin, but I can’t feel the difference inside.”

“Try it.” He lifted his chin to indicate the pizza. At the edge of his control, he needed her to leave soon. He hoped to hell this worked. If it did, he’d only need to see her again like this once more to place the permanent tattoo. And then he could make himself scarce until the wedding.

She flipped open the cardboard lid and squinted at the pizza with the intensity of a starving pit bull. It should have been comical, but both he and Audrey held their breaths until the cheese began to bubble. Audrey made a yip of joy and grabbed his hand.

Well, it was nice, he supposed, to have someone not afraid to touch him. But other than that? Nothing. Rocky wasn’t even paying any attention to him and he could feel her on his skin.

You could hear the sizzle now and a tendril of smoke rose up. Rocky finally glanced away from the pizza and looked at him, a big smile creasing her face. “I did it.”

“You did it.”

“Rocky?” She turned that smile to Audrey, who stood. “Turn it off, Rocky.”

“What do you—”

The pepperoni blackened and shriveled as they watched. That tendril of smoke expanded and a flame ignited in the center of the slice. Rocky looked panicked as she climbed to her feet. He grabbed the cardboard box, intending to bring it to the sink, when the pizza burst entirely into flame.

Audrey shouted as the box disintegrated to ash in his hands, but the blackened ball of grease and cheese continued to burn.

“Shit.”

Rocky had darted ahead of him into the kitchen and ran back in with a bowl of water. “Shit. Shit. I’m so sorry, Fen.”

She dumped her bowl on the molten mess and Audrey brought another. It took three altogether to put the damn thing out, but not before the fire had melted the nylon fiber of the carpet. Rocky apologized while she tried to repair the damage, but even she gave up after a few minutes. She looked forlornly around the room. “It’s right in the middle too. You can’t even reposition your furniture around it.”

He shrugged. “It’s just an area rug. I redid the floors and planned to replace that one anyway after I painted and bought furniture. It’s one of the reasons I haven’t unpacked everything yet.”

Raquel closed her eyes and he resisted the urge to go to her.

“Well, what do you think, Rocky? That was promising, right?”

Her expression didn’t change. Her shoulders slumped and she looked plain defeated. He didn’t think it was over his rug.

“Sure,” she agreed, mustering a smile and climbing to her feet. “It’s pretty late. We should head home. Unless...” She waved at the sodden, melted mess. There was nothing else to be done about that.

“Don’t worry about this. I’ll roll it up so the water doesn’t damage the wood. You should probably wash off the runes before you go.”

He watched her walk toward the bathroom until Audrey cleared her throat. “You see what I mean by the fire hose? She needs to pull it back until she learns how to control it. I think the block is her mind’s natural defense system kicking in. She could have burned down your house.”

“She didn’t though.” He kept his voice low, a natural habit having lived with a hound all his life. Rocky didn’t need to hear more people talking about her. She was under enough pressure.

“Could have though.”

Fen reached down and hauled Audrey up. “Tonight’s not the time to worry at it. Let her rest, sober up, and we’ll give it another shot.”

“You’re right. Okay then, well, I’m going to warm up the car.”

“You drove? You’re three blocks away.”

Audrey pulled on her jacket, one of those subzero parkas even though the overnight low was only going to be about forty or so. “I hate the cold.”

A hat, gloves. “You’re from Colorado.”

She grinned. “Still hate the cold. Don’t worry, I didn’t have anything to drink other than the soda I brought, unlike my lush of a sister.” The laughter in her eyes faded and she was suddenly serious. “She doesn’t usually drink like that. I’m worried about her.”

Fen wanted to ignore that. He’d been trying to figure out all night how to put some distance between him and his friend’s drowsily adorable bride. “Hopefully we can figure out how to break her block.”

“That’s not—” Audrey clamped her teeth down on whatever she’d been about to say and shook her head. “Yeah, if you can help her out with that, it would be a huge relief. I know she feels bad about everything. Mom was the one who kept her from talking. Well, that and the no contact rule in effect until last week. I knew Rocky wouldn’t be able to keep quiet until the wedding. She’s god-awful bad about keeping secrets.”

He’d seen some of that himself. She was extraordinarily transparent about...everything. He didn’t plan to share his own secret with her. It was a doozy. And he thought Rocky felt a glimmer of that same attraction. As awkward as it was to dance around, he hoped to God she didn’t want to talk about it. Ever.

Audrey paused at the door as though she wanted to say something else, but then just smiled and waved. “Send her out when she’s done. When are we going to try this again?”

“In a few days. I’ll play around with the design.”

She nodded and was gone, hands tucked under her armpits for warmth as she darted out to the car. He waited until she got it started before going to see what was taking Rocky so long.

He rapped his knuckles on the bathroom door.

“Just a minute.” Her voice was muffled, but even through the door he could tell something was wrong.

He rested his fingertips on the wood. The water wasn’t running, and he couldn’t hear her moving. He couldn’t hear anything but her strangely deep breaths and the too-rapid beat of her heart. His own picked up speed. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah.” A querulous sound that made him reach for the doorknob and push open the door before he thought it through. Fuck. He couldn’t go on like this. She reduced him to a bundle of impulse and instinct. Nothing but want and all the jealousy and guilt that came along with it.

She was sitting on the toilet seat, fully dressed and staring at her arm. Her sleeve was pushed up to her elbow and she hadn’t even tried to scrub off the runes. “I think I might keep them.”

She looked up and the panic in her eyes caught his heart and squeezed tight. “We’ll try a different combination in a few days. One that might work better.”

“I was just thinking, what if it doesn’t work at all next time? This time worked a little. Maybe you should cut these in now.”

“I’m not going to cut you and these...well, they’re not my finest work.” He took a washcloth from the cabinet and ran it under warm water, adding a bit of soap and squeezing until he saw suds. He knelt in front of her, his feet hitting the heat register mounted on the wall behind him. He smiled and took hold of her wrist. “It’s professional pride, you understand? I can’t have you running around like this and telling everyone it’s my work. We’ll do better next time. Get it exactly right.”

He heard her swallow but continued wiping the runes from her skin. He didn’t want to look up and see the tears he could scent. He didn’t trust himself with her this way. Not when she was vulnerable and hurting and all he wanted to do was wrap her up in his arms.

“At least it did something.” She’d barely gotten a thread of magic to pull through the block. Their weakest witch could do better. She wouldn’t be satisfied with that if she were thinking straight. This was fear talking.

“I can always place these again, only maybe with a little more care. This was just a test run, remember.”

“I wanted it to work.”

“I know.”

Her skin was so soft, like the petal of a rose. Creamy white against his charcoal-stained hands. She swiped at her face with her free hand. “Where’s Audrey?”

“Warming up the car, probably wondering what’s taking you so long.”

“I’m sorry.” She gave a halfhearted laugh. “I keep falling apart on you.”

“I don’t mind. You’re under a lot of stress.” He stood and tossed the washcloth in the sink, offered her his hand and pulled her up when she took it. “Christian...” He winced, catching his own expression in the mirror. Want. Guilt. Jealousy. He didn’t know how to finish the thought.

Raquel didn’t make him. She leaned into him, or fell against him. Either way, her hands splayed on his chest and he sucked in a mouthful of air at the contact.

“I know,” she whispered, and he thought that she did. Her face tipped up toward him. One inch, he only had to drop his chin a bit and curve an arm around her shoulders to snug her in tight against his body. Tears still gathered in the corners of her eyes though she’d never cried, not really. Vulnerable and hurting, adjusting to their crazy town and all of its ornery inhabitants. If he were Christian, he wouldn’t let her out of his sight.

He touched her waist and turned her, regret making his smile stiff. Audrey honked the horn and he pushed Raquel into the hallway. “You go. I’ll call you when I have the new design ready.”

She only glanced back once, at the door. “I’m sorry.”

He nodded.

The damnedest thing was that he believed her. He thought if she was free, she might have kissed him. And for her, he might take the chance of losing himself. But he knew the cost. He only had to look at Brian and Julia to remember why he’d made that vow to never take a mate. He didn’t intend to bind himself to anyone ever and certainly not to this woman. He wouldn’t betray Christian. And Rocky... Fuck. He was not going there.

And none of it mattered anyway because right now, Rocky wasn’t offering him anything more than an apology.

Chapter Nine

Raquel copped another peek at Christian when he wasn’t looking. He’d offered lunch and she’d asked if they could take it out to the lake so she could get another look at the fault. Maybe without Lois looking over her shoulder, she’d see something she’d missed the other day.

But Christian was just as distracting, albeit in an altogether different way. He was like some kind of god. Thor reincarnate. Strong body, straight and tall, dark blond hair and those sharp blue eyes. She didn’t know how to handle him—not his deep silences or his aggressive charm. He made her edgy and uncertain, uncomfortable in her own skin.

She wondered if that was what had made her seek out Fen for help rather than going to Christian. Fen was far more approachable—weird, since he was a hound and most people gave the pack wide berth. There were challenges to being a hound that outsiders couldn’t possibly understand. She’d always thought it would be hardest to be a counselor crow. Cool to be able to fly, yes. And you’d also have the respect people naturally afforded to the Odin’s counselors. It would be fun to have a twin too. But to live for that long, watching people born and die while you remained the same for centuries...uh-uh, she wouldn’t choose that for all the world. Nor would she ever choose to be a hound.

She was perfectly happy being a witch. If only she could take her place.

Self-doubt was eating away at her confidence and making her second-guess everything. That’s all. She wasn’t throwing Fen under the wheels of that bus, Christian either. Or her family.

Christian was hers. He was a good man. Kind and strong. He wanted her, and she respected the hell out of him. She was attracted to him too. How could she not be? That could turn into love, and she owed it to everyone to at least give it a chance.

She thought of Fen last night, wiping the runes from her arm. The gentle touch of his hands and the not-gentle look in his eyes. When she’d stumbled against him in the bathroom, she’d felt his erection. Full and hard and straining at his jeans. And true...that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He was a hound, a twentysomething-year-old virgin. It was understandable that he’d react to a woman throwing herself at him. But she’d felt him press against her...just for a moment. She’d caught the raw expression on his face. And it had set her to wondering what those skillful hands would feel like on other parts of her body. What it would be like if she’d been contracted to Fen instead of Christian.

And there was no point to wondering things like that. Fen didn’t want a mate and she already had one. She just...had to find a way to make the pieces fit.

The lake was long and narrow. Christian led them down a deer path that ended in a rocky outcrop overlooking the water. He spread a blanket and sat down, swinging his feet out over the edge, and she did the same. This side was bluff, but a little farther down the land gentled to grass and dirt. A willow tree grew among the other barren trees, still golden-leaved and restless in the wind. If someone trucked sand in, it would be a perfect spot for a beach. Geese and a few ducks didn’t seem to mind the weird energy here. Neither did the other wildlife. Most people born to this world wouldn’t even feel it.

“I used to come here a lot when I was little.”

She put her hands behind her and braced her weight on her arms. “Training?”

“Sometimes. Mostly just to get away. My father trained me himself.” He met her gaze briefly. “He wanted the perfect warrior. Sometimes...I needed to get away from that.”

Sun glinted in the gold of his hair. Strange to think that a man like Christian had ever worried about measuring up.

“Well, it looks like he got his wish.”

“Maybe.” He stared at his feet for a moment, then turned his head to catch her gaze. “Fen said you were upset about our expectation that you’d be able to fix this. We’ll fix this even if Aiden has to barter services with the other clans to call in help. And...even if you’re never able to assume the role as clan witch, I’m okay with that.”

Her instinct was to avoid his searching look, but she forced herself to face this head-on. “Fen’s trying to help me figure a way past the block. Using some runes to amplify my power and control. I think we’ll figure it out.”

“I don’t want you to hurt yourself trying to prove something. Not to me.”

As far as romantic declarations went, that one sucked donkey balls, but the look in his eyes made up for it. A promise there, one he was making on his own and not because of a contract he’d never signed. “Thank you, Christian. It means a lot to me to hear you say that.”

“I don’t want perfection.” But he did, he tried so hard to be perfect. Maybe he didn’t demand it from others, but Raquel thought he wanted perfection very badly. She reached for his hand and he pulled hers to his mouth, kissed the backs of her knuckles and set it on his thigh. “And I don’t want to mess this up.”

He handed her a sandwich and a bottle of water. The sandwich was turkey and Havarti with thin slices of apple—either a startling coincidence or he’d asked her mother what she liked. They ate their lunch, talking about nothing in particular, as though they’d just met and wouldn’t be marching down the aisle together in two weeks. It was nice to have that pressure lifted and enjoy his company, the beautiful day, the view.

“Isn’t it strange that you haven’t had any snow yet?”

He shrugged. “It’s a little unusual. Do you like snow?”

“Yeah, I do.” She liked that cocooned feeling of not being able to run around. Almost like hibernation. She’d go crazy if it was like that all the time, but a few months a year of sitting in front of a fire reading books suited her just fine.

“They say if you don’t like the weather to wait five minutes. But I hope it holds off. Once the snow falls, we’re covered until March.”

A suspicion came to her. “Did you have anything to do with the mild weather?”

Æsir were born to a specific caste, but it wasn’t unusual to have a few minor gifts thrown in.

“Not me. I would have delayed the snow if I had that kind of talent, but I don’t. Aiden does. I’ll find out who we have to thank for the wedding gift.”

“So do you have any other talents?”

He leered at her and when she laughed, some of the tension in his shoulders eased.

“No, no other gifts. I’m only a huntsman. I kill things and I run the co-op. That’s it.”

She didn’t believe it was that simple. The glint in his eyes was dark and wicked and very, very complicated. She wanted to know that Christian—the hard, unpredictable man that peeked around the corners of perfection.

“How about you? Do you have any other talents I should know about?”

She rolled her eyes. “I can’t even manage the one I have.”

“Fen said the rune work was promising.”

“Is he giving you reports?” Something about the expression on his face made her add, “You should have come. Audrey was there.”

“I’ll come tonight.”

As the silence stretched, she began to worry that he would question her about last night. She had the sneaking suspicion that Fen had told Christian more than she’d be comfortable with him knowing. Did Christian know she’d gotten stupid drunk, lit Fen’s house on fire and then tried to jump him? In the end, he didn’t bring up any of those things.

Instead, he threaded his hand through her hair and pulled her close, keeping his gaze on her face, reading every flicker of expression. She thought he might be able to read the truth there even if Fen had kept her secrets. He was gentle but firm, inexorably pulling her close, settling his mouth on hers.

The image of Fen rose in her mind as she closed her eyes. The look he’d given her last night—dark, hungry, lost. She shoved that aside. This wasn’t betrayal. Fen didn’t want her.

Christian’s mouth tasted tart like the apple he’d eaten and he was one hell of a kisser. There was something very raw about the way he kissed. As if the wicked, irreverent man he hid behind that civilized mask came out to play the moment he touched her.

He took her lower lip between his teeth and tugged at it, opening her mouth so his tongue could slip inside. His hand on her waist adjusted the alignment of her body. His fingers twined in her hair held her steady as he took her mouth.

His free hand found its way under her jacket to the waistband of her jeans. Cold fingertips grazed the warm skin of her belly and made her startle. His cheek, which was pressed to hers, pulled in a smile and then his lips were on her neck. Her back arched and his fingers hooked inside her waistband.

“I want you.” His voice was rough.

No. “Here?”

“Anywhere.”

She opened her eyes and he was staring down at her. His body was tense but still as he waited for her answer.

She swallowed hard. “Remember when you told me you wanted our first kiss to be special?”

“I thought it was special.”

“You know what I mean. Why the change of heart?”

His gaze grew heated and something inside her definitely responded, even while another part of her was completely unmoved. “I always wanted you. I don’t like the doubt I keep seeing in your eyes. You’re mine, Raquel. I’m not giving you up.”

“You’re worried I’m going to back out?” He’d never given any sign of it, but he held his cards so tightly to his chest.

“No.” A pause. “I hope not. It’s stressful, this waiting. I want everything settled.”

She touched his chest and he searched her face for a moment before closing his eyes. A shudder passed through him. He drew his hand from beneath her jacket and cupped it against her cheek.

He kissed her again, this time with a gentleness that was sweet. Tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear, he said, “But you’re not ready. How about we take a look around and then...will you spend the rest of the day with me?”

The night too. He was offering that, she could see it in his eyes. Hunger. Possessiveness. Challenge. He wanted her. At this most basic level, apart from duty and contracts and loyalty, Christian wanted to fuck her brains out. Attraction. They could start with basic physical attraction and work from there. Why the hell not?

Because it was wrong.

* * *

“Over here.” Christian stopped beside a ward stone while she searched for its mate. She thought she’d start by checking the wards themselves. Right now, what she felt was as strong and stable as the fault back home, but there had to be something...

She cast around for the next stone. It had been windy last night and even though they’d only been placed a few days ago, some of the stones were already covered by debris. She took a step toward a pile of leaves covering a dip in the ground and her breath caught in her throat.

There was a drop-off just a few feet away, a steep hill that might hold a small creek in the spring. It was dry now but not empty. Something was down there, black and limp, lying in the crumpled leaves. At first she recoiled, thinking it was a demon, but the magical imprint they made in this world didn’t slam into her. If it was a demon, it was a dead one.

Whatever—whoever—it was, wasn’t getting out of there on its own.

“Christian,” she shouted, and he was there before she turned to look for him.

He slid down the drop, one hand grazing the ground for balance. She went behind him, more carefully. Last thing they needed was for her to twist an ankle now.

“Oh God.”

It was one of the crows. As Raquel drew nearer, she recognized the injured woman as Rane, the crow who’d been arguing with Aiden at the welcome party. Her face was a bloodied, swollen mess, nose and jaw both broken. A gash on her forehead still bled sluggishly. She was naked. The black that had caught Raquel’s attention in the first place were her feathers, which were damp and plastered to her skin. That was a bad, bad sign. Christian’s pinched face confirmed it. Rane had had trouble completing her transformation. Usually that indicated severe internal trauma.

Raquel dropped to her knees beside the body and felt for a heartbeat while Christian called for help on his phone. She found a pulse, tremulous and weak, fluttering beneath the pale skin at Rane’s neck.

“Aiden? We found Rane near the fault. West side of the lake, near the cliff. She’s hurt badly.” A pause. “No, bring Alan here. I’m afraid to move her.” Christian looked at Rane, eyes bleak, face hard and filled with helpless anger. “We’ll do what we can. Hurry.”

Raquel had already taken off her coat and laid it over Rane’s body. Her skin was naturally pale which made the blood and bruises stand out in stark contrast. Black feathers stuck to the drying blood.

“We can bind the wounds.” Christian reached for his pack.

Raquel shook her head. “There are too many small cuts and she’s not bleeding badly anymore.” Which wasn’t a particularly good sign. It just meant Rane didn’t have that much more blood to lose. Raquel had apprenticed with their healer last year at Kathy’s insistence. Being a witch didn’t necessarily make you a good healer. Healers, in fact, were usually witches who had very minor gifts magic wise. Their true talent lay in their intuition and control. She couldn’t heal Rane. If she tried, she might do more damage than good. But she could keep her heart beating until help arrived, could keep her lungs drawing air and prevent her from losing any more blood.

She pressed her palm to Rane’s heart and closed her eyes. Focused on matching the beat of the crow’s heart to her own. A small magic, less than lighting a match or activating a rune, but she focused all her attention on it.

She heard Christian stand, and a moment later a weight landed atop the body as he gently covered Rane’s exposed legs with his coat. He settled himself at Rane’s head and talked to her in a low voice while Raquel tried to keep the weakening heart muscle pumping blood.

God, what had happened? She’d never seen injuries like this. Demons, for all of their terror, were straightforward killers. They didn’t generally toy with their prey. These wounds had been purposefully placed to keep Rane alive as long as possible and suffering. And they’d left her here to bleed out alone at the very center of clan land.

Rane whimpered and Christian lowered his head. “Stay with us, Rane. Help is coming. I hear them, they’re almost here now.”

He was right, Raquel realized. Either they were fast or she’d lost time. She could hear Aiden’s voice, gruff and deep, and then another man who came to kneel beside her.

“No, don’t stop,” he told her when she started to withdraw her hand. “Let me just see...ah.”

She could feel his magic through her connection to Rane. Strong for a healer, and he seemed to know what he was doing.

“Will she make it?” Aiden asked, but the healer was gone, completely absorbed in trying to repair the damage. The question hung there like a curse. No one could answer it. Aiden swore and Christian pulled him aside so they could work. Behind them, the two men spoke in quiet, urgent voices.

The healer was silent, but Raquel could feel him working, could feel the heartbeat steadily strengthen until he looked up and said, “You can stop now. There’s nothing...” He turned. “Aiden, let’s move her to the house. She’s stable enough for that now.”

“Will she be okay?”

“She’ll make it,” Christian said fiercely, as if he could will it to be so.

Rane muttered something, but her mouth was too broken for the words to be understood. Alan placed his hand on her shoulder to hold her still. “Shh. She’ll make it. Call Elin. She’s lost too much blood. She’ll need a transfusion.”

“She’s already on her way.”

Aiden mounted and Christian gently slipped his arms beneath Rane’s body. He rose smoothly, but Rane still moaned when he lifted her into Aiden’s arms. Alan placed his hand on her forehead and sent a pulse of power into her.

“Best she’s asleep for the ride home.”

Aiden started back to the house. The healer mounted and followed. Christian squeezed Raquel’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go. We’ll meet them there. The stones will keep until tomorrow.”

“What happened to her, Christian?”

His mouth tightened, troubled blue eyes met hers. “I don’t know.”

Chapter Ten

They gathered in Alan’s living room. He lived in the house across from Aiden’s, within walking distance. Aiden’s home was nearest to the fault. The hunt stabled their horses there. They trained in one of his barns, rode on the hunt from his property. So it made sense for the clan healer to live next door.

Alan’s house was old but well maintained. Refinished woodwork around the fireplace and archways between rooms. High ceilings and a lot of antiques, which Raquel had been told his wife collected and sold in a shop out by the interstate.

The rush of urgent activity to get Rane to the healer’s house had been so consuming that it hadn’t left any time for thought. But the lull afterward while they waited to see if she’d recover was never-ending. No one spoke. Elin sat on the couch sandwiched between Grace and Christian. Grace held Elin’s hand, and every once in a while Christian would bend his head to speak softly in her ear. Elin barely seemed to register it. It wasn’t surprising—the daze Elin was in or the fact that her clan was concerned for her too. Often when one crow died, the other quickly followed. And then twins would be born to some clanswoman within the next year or two. On-the-job training at its worst.

Fen sat across the room, done with pacing for the moment, although his leg shook restlessly. Raquel thought he’d be up prowling about the room again any minute now. Everyone looked up when Aiden entered, looking like the world rested on his broad shoulders. His gaze swept the room, coming to rest on Elin.

“She’s going to make it.”

Elin crumpled, as though her fear had been holding her upright. She turned her face into Christian’s chest and he gathered her in, kissing the top of her head as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Raquel had wondered why the crows, this one in particular, had wanted so little to do with her. After today, she was beginning to understand. All the hints and innuendo...so much of it attached to the woman in her fiancé’s arms right now.

She turned her head to find Fen staring at her, eyes sharp and piercing. She had the feeling he could see inside her head. She couldn’t read the expression on his face at all. After a moment, his jaw set and he dropped his gaze to the floor.

Aiden crossed the room, cupped his hand to the back of Elin’s head and whispered something that seemed to calm her. Her shoulders stopped shaking, but she stayed tucked up in Christian’s arms. Raquel had known that Christian had a life before she showed up. She’d heard the rumors about him. He’d broached the subject himself, carefully, saying that he’d taken other lovers in the town. She wasn’t a virgin either. It was good of Christian to recognize how badly Elin needed his support right now. Stupid to be hurt by it.

Raquel was so busy not being hurt that she started when Aiden spoke her name. “Alan says you saved her life out there. Thank you.”

She squirmed beneath the sudden attention. “I have some training as a healer. It doesn’t require much magic to keep a heart beating, just concentration mostly.”

His eyes narrowed, considering. She didn’t want to be a healer. She almost said it out loud, but he spoke before she did. “Nonetheless, thank you.”

“Did she tell you what happened?” Christian asked.

Aiden ran his hand through his hair. “She crossed into Asgard is what happened, despite my order not to.”

“She must have found something.” Fen leaned forward and clasped his hands between his knees, all intense focus and controlled anger. Raquel could feel the restlessness in him, the desire to hunt.

“She said ‘Vanir,’ but I couldn’t get any more out of her, not now. She’s sleeping and Alan says she’ll be out for a while. He placed her in a temporary coma so that she has time—” Fen sprung to his feet, but Aiden blocked his path. “Time to heal. We wait until we have the whole story from her.”

“What more do you need? He has to be a witch to have survived in Asgard for as long as he has, we knew that. You suspected all along that he was behind the weakness in the fault.”

“Suspected,” Aiden said. “We still don’t have anything more than that.”

“We have Rane, cut and beaten nearly to death, whispering his name. What more do you need?”

Aiden didn’t budge. “We wait for Rane to wake and give us the entire story. The reason she’s lying upstairs is because she disobeyed my orders and crossed into Asgard half-cocked. You’re not doing the same.”

Fen wanted to push past Aiden and storm off anyway—Raquel could see it in his stance—but instead, he cursed and backed off. Vanir were enemies to the Æsir. Clan lore said the Æsir and Vanir had once shared a world. Long ago, the Æsir crossed to Asgard and created their own home, but even that distance didn’t heal all of the old animosities. Like squabbling siblings, they’d spent as much time fighting over the centuries as at peace with one another.

The surviving Æsir didn’t know the specific cause of the last war that culminated in the destruction of their home, but they knew that the Vanir were behind it. The Vanir still inhabited Vanaheimr, but they exiled the worst of their criminals to Asgard. A death sentence, even if it might take years for them to actually stop breathing.

Grace shook her head. “He wouldn’t have done that. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Fen snorted. “He’s your best friend now? He wanted to keep you there as a pet.”

Grace grimaced. “He was...lonely. He wasn’t cruel. He didn’t hurt me or Hallie, who was there much longer than I was.”

“He was exiled for a reason,” Fen said. “And he is not our friend.”

Aiden held up a hand. “We don’t know yet that he’s the one who did this. We wait for Rane to wake up and decide from there.” He glared at Fen. “I’ll have your promise on that.”

Fen looked as if he’d balk, but after a long tense moment, he gave Aiden a short, jerky nod and headed for the door. Grace stood and moved into her husband’s arms. Raquel looked at Christian, who still held Elin, and then slipped out after Fen.

He was sitting on the porch steps staring off into the fields. Tension rolled off him like an electric current, but she sat next to him anyway.

“I thought you’d be running by now.”

“I should be.”

She knocked into his shoulder. “You can go if you want—I’ll cover for you. I’ll even drop your clothes off by your back door if you want.”

“I don’t run in town. None of the hounds do.”

Her clan allowed it, but it was a hotly debated tradition. A lot of the townspeople had nothing to do with the hunt and didn’t like to be reminded of it. Enormous, black-furred wolves prowling through town with unusually sharp teeth and intelligent eyes were a pretty big reminder. She’d never agreed with that point of view, but she didn’t say anything.

“It’s my own rule and the others picked up on it. Not a big deal really, I scared a little girl when I was a teenager. She was my cousin, but she never looked at me in quite the same way after she saw me as a hound.”

For someone like Fen that would be hard. Raquel still didn’t like the idea of him having to slide around the edges of town hiding what he was when he was out there risking his life to protect these people. She patted his knee, a weak comfort but all she could offer. “Go,” she said. “You meant what you said in there, right? You won’t try to cross?”

“I don’t know if I could force the portal open anyway. I just need...to get away.” He hopped off the porch, walked backward for a step or two. “Are you still planning to come over tonight?”

“Yep. Christian too.”

His smile fixed. “Sounds good. It’s your turn to make dinner, remember.”

“You didn’t make dinner. We had pizza.”

“I had pizza,” he agreed. “Until you lit it on fire, along with my house.”

She laughed. “You’re not going to let me forget that are you?”

That flashpan grin. “Not a chance, Rocky. See you later.”

And he was gone. She stared at the sky for a few minutes, trying to work up the will to go back inside. She didn’t want to watch Christian comfort his friend or whatever the hell she was to him. More than a friend, her mind whispered. Just as it had when he’d smiled at the waitress the other night. Christian was hers now. There was no such thing as a celibacy clause in their contract. Or a fidelity clause either. And so much that she didn’t know about Christian.

Something clamped down on her foot and she jumped, letting out a yelp and scrambling back until she saw Fen.

Sleek black fur. All bone and muscle, just like the man. His eyes were the same too, and she knew he was laughing at her when he sat on his haunches and let his mouth gape open to reveal curving, finger-length fangs. Hound was a misnomer. The oldest legends called them wolves, which was closer to the truth but not entirely accurate either. They were bigger than wolves for one thing. Faster and stronger too, and they could rend flesh as easily with their claws as with their fangs.

“Fen. You scared the crap out of me.”

His tongue lolled out, and the door opened up behind her. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was Christian.

“I thought I heard you yell.”

She lifted her chin. “Fen snuck up on me.”

A note of amusement in Christian’s voice. “He’ll do that.”

Fen pressed his cold nose to the back of her hand, uttered a short yip and then took off for the field. She wished she could follow him, run like that, hard and fast, all powerful grace and controlled menace. He was surely a sight to behold.

Christian touched her shoulder. “Are you ready to leave?”

“Yeah.” She tore her gaze away from Fen and smiled at Christian. “Let’s get out of here.”

Chapter Eleven

Fen opened the door and his heart lurched when he found Rocky standing there all alone in the circle cast by the porch light. He looked past her hoping to find Audrey or Christian out parking the car, but there was no one. Just Rocky. Looking nervous and hopeful and so unsure of her welcome that he didn’t have the heart to turn her away.

She gave an apologetic smile. “Aiden asked Christian for some help. Audrey is still out shopping with my mom.”

He hesitated but pushed the door open wider. “We can do this another night.”

She held up a recyclable bag with the grocery store logo on it. “I brought dinner, but we can reschedule if you want.”

Even as she said it, she moved inside. Setting the bag on the table, she frowned when she saw the burn mark on the wood surface. He didn’t think she’d noticed it the other night. She shrugged out of her coat and he took it from her, resisting his instinctive urge to lift it to his nose. The smell of her filled him anyway. Sunshine and magic. The same sort of summertime smell as Lois’s shop. He’d always thought it was the herbs, but apparently it was the magic after all.

When she looked up, he felt a sharp bite of panic. Troubled eyes, pale skin, tight mouth. She wasn’t here for the runes. The run this afternoon had mellowed him somewhat but if he’d still been in his wolf form, his hackles would have raised.

“Fen?”

He was sure he didn’t want to hear what she was going to ask, so he grabbed the bag and started for the kitchen, flipping on lights as he went. “Let’s get started on this, I’m starving. What is it?”

“I cheated,” she said, voice subdued. “My mom made meatballs today. I stole some and picked up rolls at the grocery store.”

“Sounds good.” He put the bag on the table. “Sit, I’ll get the plates.”

The scrape of a chair, the rustle of clothing as she sat. “Fen.”

Shit. He grabbed his good plates, the ones he’d grown up using, seventies brown with paler stone flowers around the rim. One had a chip that perfectly fit the curve of his thumb. He turned around and accidentally looked her straight in the eyes. Double shit.

“I think we need to talk.”

“About the runes,” he ventured hopefully, crossing the room and taking the seat across from her. Safer to leave at least one chair between them.

“About Christian.”

He winced. “Christian is my friend.”

“That’s why I’m asking you about him and Elin.”

He let out a shaky breath, relief and annoyance mixing bitterly in his stomach. He’d thought maybe... Well, hell, it didn’t matter what he’d thought. “Maybe you should ask Christian about that.”

“Yeah.” She hesitated as if she might say more but then nodded once. “You’re right. I hoped we’d have time to talk this afternoon, but Lois was waiting for me at the house.”

He took the split roll she handed to him. Her fingers brushed briefly against his, making the skin tingle all the way to his wrist. She was soaked in power. It leaked from her, but that was all she had access to—this bit that seeped through that enormous barrier.

“What did Lois want?”

“One of the stones had been disturbed. It was causing an imbalance with the wards.”

“Because of Rane.”

Rocky finished chewing and swallowed. “I should have gone back to check. She wanted to make sure I knew I’d made another mistake and that she’d fixed it for me.”

“Witch.”

“Yah. At least one of us is.”

“Aw, come on. You’ve got loads of potential.”

Those sweetly mobile lips quirked up at the corners. “Big steaming piles of it.” He laughed and she jerked her head up. “What? You think it’s funny?”

He held up his hands in surrender. “My first pity party. I didn’t know there were rules.”

“This is serious.”

“It’s not. The future of our clan is not resting on your shoulders. If you can’t control your power, then we get a new witch. If the fault begins to fail, we evacuate and relocate. Either way it’s not the end of the world. Your pride’s on the line, that’s it.”

“Rane—”

“Is safe and healing. Everyone goes to sleep curled up next to their loved ones, alive and well. It’s not a tragedy.”

She got up and helped herself to a soda from the fridge. Her expression was brittle and he hated it. Hated that she was hurting. Hated the tension in her shoulders. Hated most of all that there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. She toyed with the tab on the can. “Elin is his lover, isn’t she?”

Fuck. That’s what this was about. He should turn her away gently and send her to Christian. She should hear this from him. But she must have seen the truth in his eyes. Her face crumpled and he stood, torn between wanting to comfort her and needing to keep his distance. Boundaries. They needed boundaries.

Ah, she’d started to cry. He took a small step in her direction, because he couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. Holding his arms open and giving her plenty of time to escape, he wrapped her in a hug, swallowing a groan as her arms circled his waist. He tucked her head under his chin and grinned like an idiot when she wiped her face on his shirt. He was an idiot. A wretched, masochistic fool.

“They’re not together now,” he said.

“He still cares for her.”

“Of course he does.”

She didn’t make any move to pull away. Her body fit against him perfectly. Slender, lithe, as warm and sweet as he’d imagined. He touched the back of her neck, gently rubbed the tight muscles there and then stroked his open palm down her spine, learning the curve of it, forcing himself to stop when he reached her waistband. Comforting a friend, not copping a feel. Boundaries. Fucking boundaries.

“Will he screw around on me?”

“He’ll honor you,” he said, almost regretting that it was the truth. “Honor is important to Christian. He will respect his wife.” Or Fen would kill him with his own hands.

“Honor isn’t love.”

“He’ll love you.” He almost choked on the words. Damn her for making him say them. Damn Christian too. He had this fucking precious gift in his hands that he’d done nothing to earn and the lucky bastard didn’t even seem to realize it. But Christian was a smart man. He’d figure it out and he would love her. How could he not?

And Rocky would get over these nerves and fall for Christian just like everyone else did. Fen would be happy for her too. Christian would give her children, normal not-cursed children. He’d make her happy.

Fen started to move her away, but she lifted her face, eyes bright, hair a god-awful mess, tendrils sticking to the tracks of her tears. “He kissed me today.”

“Rocky...”

More tears leaked from the corner of her eyes and he cupped her cheeks to brush them away with his thumbs. “You should go be with Christian now. Talk to him about Elin. About all of this.”

She sniffed and leaned forward, setting her cheek against his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist. She sighed...the same kind of sigh he made when he slipped into bed bruised and battered from the hunt. The sound of someone reaching a safe shelter. And he wasn’t—couldn’t—be that for her.

“That’s the thing,” she whispered. “When he kissed me today, it felt wrong. And when I saw him with Elin... I should be upset about that. But that’s not why I’m crying.”

“I saw the way you looked at Alan’s. You were upset. I wanted to go to you.”

“It stung my pride.”

“You’ve only known him a few days.”

She’d stopped crying, but made no move to unwrap herself. He should do that, untangle her arms.

“I’ve only known you a few days.”

He closed his eyes. Bending his head, he touched his lips to her temple and breathed her in. He stroked a hand through her hair as he considered how to respond. He didn’t want to, didn’t want to acknowledge this at all. “You’ve never met a friend you felt like you’ve known forever? It happens sometimes.”

She fell silent. He should set her aside now, step back and start putting some distance between them. But...he couldn’t seem to do it. Not yet. When would he ever hold Rocky like this again? Never.

When he let her go tonight, he’d let her go.

“I thought about you.” Her voice fell to a bare whisper. “When Christian kissed me, it felt wrong because I wanted it to be you.”

He felt it like a shot to his gut. The pain hit first before it turned into something else. Something that caused his arms to tighten around her shoulders. Rocky tipped her head back to look at him and he stared at her lips, parted slightly, trembling. For a second, he let himself imagine it—bending his head to claim her mouth, sinking inside her heat. He wanted to know the taste of her. His skin tingled like it did before a shift, when he was holding back the magic from washing over him.

“I don’t want to marry Christian.”

As if a gaping hole opened under his feet, he fell into that sentence. His mouth opened, but he clamped it closed. What could he possibly say? This was his best friend’s fiancée, and he didn’t want a mate. He didn’t want children who would grow up and have to deal with this shit. Didn’t want to take the risk of handing his soul over to another person and then spend the rest of his life hoping they didn’t change their mind.

He was still falling when the phone in his back pocket began to vibrate. It was enough of a jolt for him to close his eyes and pull away. He dug the phone out and glanced at the number before answering. Aiden.

“Is it Rane?”

“No,” Aiden said, sounding tense and frustrated. “Another surge. Gather your men, pick up Lois too and meet us at the house.”

“Will do.”

Rocky was close enough to hear. “I’ll come too. The rune stones...Lois said she fixed the last one this afternoon. There shouldn’t be a surge. If there’s something wrong with the—”

“No.” Fen would have let her ride along if he didn’t need the space so badly. Her lips firmed, but she didn’t argue. “Now’s not the time to try to figure it out. When the demons are dead and it’s clear, then you can go look at the stones. Maybe Lois missed something.”

“Maybe Lois missed something on purpose.”

The accusation shocked him and apparently Raquel read that on his face, because she blushed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, no. I shouldn’t have said that. Lois wouldn’t place her own people at risk to discredit me, I know that. I’m the one who screwed up. Again.”

“Raquel—”

“Just go, Fen.” She gave him a gentle push toward the door. “I’ll clean up here.”

He keyed the emergency text as he walked out, not looking back even though he knew she was standing there watching him leave. He had a job to do. He wasn’t running away from her.

* * *

Christian was walking toward the barn beside Elin when Fen arrived at the house. Of course he was. He’d probably come back here after dropping Raquel off to keep Elin company as she sat by Rane’s bedside.

Fen had told Rocky the truth. Christian had broken things off with Elin months ago—as soon as Raquel’s family contacted him to make final preparations for the ceremony. Christian was friends with any number of his ex-lovers scattered through the town. And Rocky was perceptive enough to see it. He didn’t think she was confident or forgiving enough that it wouldn’t bother her. Especially not when she’d already overheard him telling Aiden that he only saw her as an obligation.

“You dropped Rocky on me again so you could run back here.”

Christian stopped walking, turned slowly. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your fiancée risking her life so she can take her place here and coming to my house to cry about you.”

Christian glowered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re fine. She said she was fine. We’re getting to know each other. These things take time.”

Fen knew he should shut up and walk away. He knew it. But he still took a step closer. Still got in Christian’s face. “She needs more from you.”

“I’m marrying her.”

So she should be grateful? “And she’s marrying you. You can both walk down the aisle lockstep like good soldiers.”

Christian’s hand was on his sword and Fen could feel the magic gathering around his own body. He hadn’t been this close to an uncontrolled shift since puberty.

“I’m doing the best I can,” Christian said. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

Fuck.

“Love her.” It was the simplest thing in the world. Why couldn’t Christian grasp such an incredibly simple thing? Christian would love her and then Fen could stop.

Christian went very still, but his hand fell away from his sword. Elin stood there gaping and Fen felt suddenly sick. He thought about letting the change take him, shred through his clothes and favorite jacket. Sink into that altered state where everything was sharp and clear and simple.

“Is there a problem here?”

He swung around. Aiden was dressed in full leather armor and already mounted on his horse. His expression hard and unhappy. “We need to go. Fen, most of the hounds are already here and changed. They’re out creating a perimeter around the break. We need you.” His eyes flicked up to focus on Christian. “And you. Can you put whatever the hell this is aside for the moment?”

Not waiting to see how Christian answered, Fen turned and walked away. He stripped off his clothes and tossed everything onto the porch in a heap. They’d all seen him buck naked countless times—a hazard of being a hound, one that had long since ceased to bother him. Elin, far more polite than he was, walked away to make her own transformation. The crows...well, he’d never seen them shift before and not for lack of trying. And not, like Rane teased, to sneak a peek. Purely a professional curiosity.

He loved Rane and Elin, but not in that way. He didn’t understand why it didn’t bother Christian to have a relationship with a woman who’d been childhood friends with his great-grandmother. Letting the change take him, Fen felt some of his helpless anger ease.

He was told that the change appeared to be almost instantaneous, but it didn’t feel that way on the inside. He’d seen video in high school science class of the birth of a star, matter collapsing in the blink of an eye and then shooting outward in every direction. A blaze of fire and light. Shifting felt like being at the center of that. Not painful exactly, but shattering.

And then he was on four paws and his world continued to expand for several seconds as he adjusted to his heightened senses. He could hear the demons stumbling through the woods, feel their hunger in the stench of their sweat. He felt his pack, Ben taking down an outlier. Daniel and Jake moving to seal the break in their circle. The wind tasted clear and sweet and he swallowed it down before letting it erupt from his throat in a long shuddering howl.

Christian mounted and joined the other riders. Elin already circled lazily overhead. No room for thoughts of Rocky here. No doubt or guilt or shame. Only the hunt. Aiden signaled them forward and Fen threw himself into a headlong run, quickly outpacing the huntsmen to join his hounds.

The pack was coming and joy welled up inside him, lifted from his throat to the night sky. Beth’s horse shifted nervously as Fen darted off in the direction of the pack, taking the lead and letting himself fade away until there was only the rhythm of his paws hitting the ground, the blood pumping through his veins, and the huff and draw of each breath. He was the hunt. Death bringer and night stalker. He needed no one.

Chapter Twelve

Raquel hadn’t expected her experiment to work, but watching Fen take off as if his tail was on fire and leaving her alone with the awful revelation that she wanted him made her need to do something distracting. And what was more distracting than finally taking control of your life?

She wasn’t completely reckless. This time she warded her bedroom first and made sure there wasn’t anything flammable in the circle. Well, except for her. But how much damage could she do with a marker and a damp washcloth?

When she’d gone back inside Fen’s house, she’d found the new design in his sketchpad, laid out on the coffee table all ready to go. She’d cleaned up dinner, putting the meatballs in the fridge and leaving the rolls on the counter. It took all of five minutes, and while she’d briefly considered waiting for him to come back, she remembered the expression of relief on his face when the phone rang. She shouldn’t have said anything. It wasn’t really Elin that had brought her to the decision about Christian. She hadn’t been crying about that—she didn’t know why she’d broken down. Everything was such a big tangled mess and she had no idea how to unravel it. But once she’d spoken the words out loud to Fen—I don’t want to marry Christian—she hadn’t wanted to take them back.

When she grabbed her coat on the way out, she’d seen the sketchpad again and on impulse took it with her. No one was at the house, her mother and Audrey on some mysterious shopping trip into town. She didn’t want to sit there alone and useless while Fen and Christian and even Lois risked their lives.

There was something she could do tonight.

She traced Fen’s design with her fingertip. As agreed, he’d taken Audrey’s suggestion and replaced the amplification rune with one that would mute her power instead. It went against every instinct. All witches wanted more power. It was a matter of pride and rank. But if she had to cripple herself to make this work, then she’d do it. She frowned at the sketchpad for a long time before uncapping the marker and setting to work.

She’d never been particularly good at art and trying to draw on herself was...difficult. She gave up on her arm and worked on her thigh instead. Her leg was more accessible and a much bigger canvas to work with. She didn’t worry about fancy. She placed the runes exactly as Fen had drawn them, in the exact alignment. When she finished, she could feel the hum of power coming off them like the other night. She wondered if she would get used to that once she had the markings permanently tattooed onto her flesh. She would get used to it. If they worked the way they were supposed to, she’d find a way to adjust.

Closing her eyes, she centered herself as she’d been trained, closing out every extraneous thought and bringing herself to that well of power inside her. Easy to find it, but again she was standing on the outside of a great wall. The Hoover Dam of magical blocks.

It felt different tonight. The surge might account for that. With more of their native magic leaking through the fault, it made their magic here on earth more accessible. A good night to try this. Perfect.

Except Fen isn’t here to stomp out any fires if I fail.

She pushed that thought away hard. She’d already asked far too much from him. She’d seen that clearly on his stricken face right before he ran. He wouldn’t betray his friend, and she couldn’t ask him to. He might be attracted to her, but he didn’t really want her. If she could figure this out on her own, he’d place the tattoo and she’d let him go.

Tonight there was a tension across the wall, like a hand barely touching still water. She paused as she considered the barrier—a force pushed outward, but something also pulled her in. A subtle current, but she focused all of her attention on following it. She came to a place that felt almost like a fault, the ragged edges knit together imperfectly. The seam was there. The source of that trickle of magic. Slowly, with extreme care, she pushed forward.

It was like bursting a bubble. Once she broke through that fragile skin, she was pulled inside a vortex. A blaze of power raced up her arms and flooded her mind, caused sparks to burst behind her eyelids as magic raw and unfiltered sang down every nerve. Her muscles began to shake as every circuit overloaded and began to shut down. Until she couldn’t even feel her body, couldn’t see her room, or hear herself screaming. She could only feel the energy coursing through her. There was nothing to anchor her.

She was on fire and this much magic...it could very well burn her to ash.

* * *

Christian wheeled his horse and surged forward, running down one demon while his sword slashed into another. Sloppy. He missed the neck and the thing flopped on the ground, dragging its nearly severed arm in the dirt as it tried to escape. It didn’t get very far. Ben was there in an instant, pouncing on the creature and ripping out its throat in a single fluid movement, rolling off the body with the momentum of his attack. Dead leaves kicked up in a dervish then drifted gently to the ground. One caught on Ben’s ear and he shook it loose before trotting back into the shadows.

Christian gave a short nod and bent in the saddle to cut through the spinal cord of the trampled demon now trying to rise to its feet. His Skimstrok blade glowed faintly, sharper than steel. With the power seeping over from Asgard tonight, feeding the runes carved into the precious metal, it would cut through solid flesh and bone like butter.

This was hardly battle. Only the lowest level of demons swarmed from the split Lois was trying to seal. Slavering, barely intelligent creatures of instinct and fury. This was the fourth time this month he’d been called to hunt and he was sick of it. He swiped his forearm across his forehead and glanced around. Lois seemed to have gotten control of the portal and was wrestling it closed. No more demons were coming across, at least for now, and there were only about a dozen left. Maybe an hour’s work, then he could go find Raquel and ask her to explain what the hell Fen was talking about.

He was looking directly at Lois when she suddenly grabbed her head in both hands and let out a piercing scream. Her eyes flashed with a blinding white light for an instant before going black, and she crumpled to the ground. He pushed his horse forward, shouting for help, but it would be too late. Lois had been standing almost directly on the fault when she fell and even now he could feel the split widening again. As he watched, a demon emerged from the portal and Christian knew he wouldn’t make it in time to save her.

A flash of black fur flew over Lois’s limp body and slammed into the demon with an impact Christian could hear above the sounds of the fight. The pair rolled once, twice, and the hound came out on top. He dipped his head, fangs bared, and tore out the thing’s throat. Skidding to a stop, Christian threw himself off his horse to gather up Lois.

He felt another demon cross before he saw it loom up and swat the hound away with its great clawed hand. The hound yelped in pain and the pack responded instantly, converging on the threat. Aiden was there too, cutting his way through a pair of demons and facing down another larger one that forced his way through the failing portal.

Christian tried to rouse Lois. She moaned faintly but didn’t look good. In the dark, illuminated by the glow from his blade, she appeared ghostly pale. Her eyes were slit, but he could only see whites. Her breath came in pained pants. The demon had never reached her. He’d seen it happen...

“What’s wrong with her?” Aiden stood above him coated in drying demon blood, guarding Christian’s back.

“I don’t—” he began, but broke off when Lois stirred.

“Raquel,” she whispered, eyes snapping open to focus on him. Panic and pain swirled in their depths. “You have to stop her. She’ll split open the fault if she doesn’t stop. Kill her if she can’t pull it back.”

Christian shook his head and opened his mouth to argue or at least demand more information, but she was fading again.

“Give her to me. I’ll take Lois back to the house and find Raquel,” Aiden said.

Aiden would kill Raquel if it was between her and the clan. Christian stood, hefting Lois into his arms. “I’ll do it.”

Aiden paused as if he might argue but then gave a short nod. “Call Kathy on your way. She’ll come. Tell Grace we need everyone ready to evacuate. She knows the emergency plan.”

Christian turned from the fight, taking one last glimpse with him—the icy threat in Aiden’s eyes and the hounds guarding their fallen brother. He wouldn’t kill Raquel. It wouldn’t come to that.

He left Lois at Aiden’s house with Grace, who was already on the phone with Kathy when he left. By the time he climbed into his car and tore out of the driveway heading for town, he’d had time to consider Lois’s words. If Raquel had somehow caused the rift and Lois so much pain from a distance, what state was she in now?

It took less than five minutes for him to arrive at her house, but he tried calling Audrey on the way. He got voice mail twice and tossed his phone onto the seat with a curse. She’d mentioned something about going shopping with her mom. They were planning a bridal shower for Raquel in a few days. They’d already had one back in Colorado but thought this would be a nice way for her to get to know more people from the community. It was a surprise, which meant Raquel would be alone tonight.

What the hell had she done?

The house was dark when he threw the car into park. Taking the stairs two at a time, he walked into the house without knocking and paused inside the door. The house was far too quiet, but there was something strange...a throbbing sensation like he sometimes felt when standing directly above the fault. He wasn’t particularly sensitive to magic so if he could feel it pressing on him here, like a weight against his skin, something was very wrong. Instinctively, he reached for his sword, but he’d left it in the sheath attached to Skadi’s saddle.

“Raquel?”

No answer. Quickly, he passed down the hall to her bedroom. The light was on and she was curled in a ball on the floor. No blood. Her leg twitched as he stood frozen in the door—she was still alive. She’d created a warded circle and it made him pause for a moment. He didn’t know if she’d meant to keep something in or out, but either way, he couldn’t wait. He broke it, stepping across the invisible line. Like crossing to Asgard, the same cobweb feeling on his skin iced his blood. Nothing exploded or attacked and he didn’t waste any more time worrying about what he might have loosed by breaking that circle.

Raquel...he crouched beside her, almost afraid to touch her. The magic was stronger inside the circle and seemed to be coming directly from her. As gently as he could manage it, he turned her rigid body. Her eyes were open but blind and unfocused. She breathed in tight gasps and seemed to be having some sort of a seizure.

“Raquel. Come on, baby. Snap out of it.”

She wasn’t blinking. Her mouth moved, forming words, but no sound came out. He slapped her face. Nothing. He considered trying to knock her out, wondering if rendering her unconscious would break the magic’s hold on her. Aiden would kill her to keep the clan safe. Aiden was a good man, but for him the clan always came first.

Christian could smell burnt flesh, possibly hair. He knew that was often an ingredient in Lois’s spells. But it didn’t... His gaze swept over Raquel’s body and caught on the burnt patch on her leg. Her nightgown covered most of her thigh but when he shoved the fabric aside, he saw the runes. Fen’s sketchbook was pinned beneath her leg and a marker had rolled halfway across the room.

But Crayola sure as hell hadn’t done that to her leg.

The burns were still smoking as if they’d been etched into her skin with acid. Her leg twitched again, and she moaned.

He grabbed the damp washcloth and pressed it to the wound. A door crashed open from the rear of the house and he yelled, “In here.”

Hopefully, it was someone who knew what needed to be done because he sure as hell hadn’t a clue. Digging his phone out of his pocket, he hit Grace’s number. She answered as the door behind him opened.

He glanced back. Only Julian. The teenage boy lived across the street and had some magical ability. He’d have felt the disturbance. His eyes were red rimmed, the pupils contracted to tiny specks. He seemed to be having a mild but similar reaction to Lois’s.

“Hello?”

Christian turned his head. “Raquel is causing this, but I don’t know how to stop it. She’s having some sort of seizure and she’s not responding—”

Julian broke through the circle before Christian thought to warn him. A shudder passed through his skinny body and he dropped to his knees. Christian didn’t have time to stop him, didn’t even see the knife in Julian’s hand until it was on the down stroke inches from Raquel’s heart. By then it was too late.

Dropping the phone, he tackled Julian to the ground, both of them landing across Raquel’s legs. He rolled, dragging the boy with him and pinning his shoulders to the carpet. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Julian was shaking, skin cold to the touch. “Had to stop it.”

“Stay down,” Christian growled, positioning himself so he could examine Raquel and still keep an eye on the boy. He’d missed the heart, thank God. The strike had gone wide and hit her rib, leaving a bloody gash in her side. The knife was imbedded in the meaty flesh of her shoulder.

“Christian.” His eyes flicked up. Raquel was staring at him, her gaze aware, focused on him and tight with pain. “Oh, God. What happened?”

“Stay still.” He fumbled for his phone. The blood on his fingers made him nearly drop it on the floor. He hit dial and held it to his ear.

Raquel tried to get up. “The fault, I can feel it unraveling. You have to take me there.”

“You have a knife in your chest.” He pushed her back down as Grace answered. “I need Alan. Now.”

* * *

Raquel closed her eyes. She’d fucked up bad. The runes had worked spectacularly well. Tapping into her power wasn’t like turning a spigot, it was like taking a sledgehammer to it. It had settled down somewhat, but the wall was gone. For good she imagined. She’d flooded power into the unstable portal though, and now...she could feel it, unraveling at the seam, drawing further and further apart with every breath.

If she could get to the fault line, she might be able to fix this. No. She would fix this. She had to. Christian hung up the phone and looked down at her. “Alan will be here in a minute.”

His expression was hard. There was anger there and fear, which was only to be expected considering the fact that she was single-handedly destroying his town. The concern surprised her.

“I did this. I’m so sorry.”

He nodded but brushed the hair from her face. “We’ll talk about it later.”

There was a knife in her chest. She could see the hilt sticking out, feel the coldness of it in her bones along with a razor-edged pain.

“Julian did that,” Christian said, eyes flicking to a spot behind her. She’d have to crane her neck to see. “You were in some sort of trance.”

She remembered spinning out of control and then all of her power contracting back to face a sudden threat. It was what had let her get the upper hand in that terrible struggle. Pain was a powerful focus. “Thank you, Julian.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you, Raquel.” She heard tears in the boy’s voice.

“You did what you had to do. You saved everyone. A few more minutes and the fault might have ruptured.”

Christian paled, but it wasn’t much of an exaggeration. Even now, with her power contained, the fault was dangerously unstable. “You did good, Julian.”

She must have blacked out for a second or two because the next thing she knew, Alan hovered over her, arguing with Kathy. Quite possibly she was hallucinating.

“Kathy?”

Kathy turned her head. “I came as soon as Grace called.” She frowned. “You broke through your block and nearly tore a hole between worlds.”

“Get me to the fault and I’ll fix it.”

Kathy nodded. “I’ll get you there.”

Alan let out an exasperated sigh. “Two minutes and I can stop the bleeding. We’ll repair the muscle and nerve damage later. That’s the best I can do.”

Christian nodded tightly at the doctor and held Raquel while they withdrew the knife. Heat flooded onto her chest and burned down her arm. Alan pressed his hand to her forehead and Raquel heard his voice whispering inside her head. When she opened her eyes again, they were in a truck and she was propped up against Kathy, whose arm was locked across her chest. It was a bumpy road and every rut they hit jolted through her like an electric shock.

“We’re almost there. We’re driving in as far as we can.”

Kind of them to spare her the horse. The truck shuddered, bucked twice and then stalled. Magic had that effect on mechanics sometimes. Christian swore loudly and then she heard him on his phone. “We’re at the edge of the north field where you butt up against Richter’s land. Yeah. She says she can do it.” A pause. “Hurry then.”

The door beside her opened and Christian was there, grunting as he hefted her into his arms. “You sure you’re up for this?”

She had to be. “Yes.”

But she needn’t have bothered answering. He was already walking across the field toward the fault, his long strides eating up the ground. There was a mess of stars tonight. She could pick out the Northern Cross and Orion’s Belt without even trying. Christian’s boots crunched over the frosted earth and blended in with the staccato beat of an approaching horse.

“She’s injured?” Aiden—the man who would likely kill her for destroying his town when this was through. Justifiably so.

“Alan stopped the bleeding. She’s lost a good deal of blood, but she’s conscious.”

Aiden settled her across his lap and gave her a skeptical look. “The block?”

“Gone.”

And they were off. He went for speed rather than comfort and it was all she could do to hold on. He might be the Odin, but his horse was no Sleipnir flying through the air. Hooves hit the packed earth with magnificent enthusiasm that pounded through her body with every step. She clung to Aiden’s shirt and didn’t look up until she felt the fault. A bloody rip in the fabric of space. It never felt pretty, like a new scar, sealed but vulnerable. Now it was a raw and open wound oozing magic into the night. And surrounded by demons. She felt their magic too. Heard the snarls of the hounds as they slaughtered the ones brave enough to cross through. Her eyes sought Fen and found him almost immediately. She couldn’t say how she knew which hound was him, she simply knew. Some of the tension eased in her chest. Seeing him there, crouched and snarling over his injured pack mate, gave her the courage to look at the damage she’d done to the portal.

Aiden drew his sword. “How close do you need to be?”

She glanced around and pointed near a tree, slightly raised and less than dozen feet from the open portal. He trampled a demon to get her there and then lowered her to the earth.

“I’ll stand guard,” he snapped. “Make it quick.”

She’d done this. Her gaze swept the small clearing littered with the bodies of demons. Moonlight cut through the trees, casting shifting patterns of silver and black. About a half-dozen demons still lived, blood burning red beneath slick gray skin. The hounds had them cornered to the fault, the huntsmen stood behind the hounds in case any slipped through their circle, swords at the ready. The men and women of the hunt looked exhausted. Some of them were wounded but still sat in their saddles. All of them were covered in gore and blood. They wore old armor of leather and chain and their Skimstrok blades reacted to the magic in the air, glowing with a soft blue light.

A surge usually meant a handful of demons, not dozens. Kathy had brought her to watch their hunt in action. She’d always said that a witch needed to understand the sacred trust placed in her by the clan. The magic was their first line of defense. Monitoring the faults to be sure that enough magic seeped through from their home planet to enable them to survive here. Ensuring that the fault didn’t open enough to allow the demons the opportunity to cross freely. The hunt was the second line of protection, their work minimal with a stable fault. Raquel had not only failed these people horribly, she’d actively sabotaged by them by not being able to control her gift and taking a risk she’d stupidly thought would only affect her.

She’d screwed up badly.

Shame filled her but she choked it down, trying to focus on the task at hand. She blocked out the snarls of the demons and hounds, the pain radiating from her shoulder, the ache in her limp and useless arm to focus on the fault itself.

The wards they’d been so worried about had held through the chaos and were only now beginning to falter. The fault was a slit in space. The ancients had called these fleeting connections between the worlds bridges and could open and close them at will. The descendants of the Æsir who’d fled Asgard were not as powerful, weakened by the lack of magic here or their interbreeding with the human population. Whatever the cause, Æsir nowadays could only open portals at the weak spots in the fabric of space such as the one that ran through this land.

Their presence weakened the fault, allowing these portals to open spontaneously during the times when the walls between the worlds were the weakest, at new and full moon, particularly in the days nearest the spring and fall equinox. That was when the demons pushed through, hunting Æsir blood as they’d been ensorcelled to do by the Vanir. She needed to close this portal but not seal it so completely that they lost their connection to their world. It was a delicate balance and absolutely crucial to their survival.

Power flowed from the portal like blood from a freshly opened wound, and she gathered it, absorbing the overflow as she wrestled the ragged edges of the split closer and closer together. The runes on her leg burned and she could feel her body trembling, shaking as it had earlier when the magic overwhelmed her. It was theoretically possible to poison yourself this way. She’d learned that from the old scrolls Kathy had forced her to translate and study. The ones locked with the prophecies and artifacts in the clan vaults.

No one in recent memory possessed enough power to make it even a remote likelihood. She didn’t possess that kind of power, not of herself. But she was an open circuit now, connected to the fault. If she didn’t maintain absolute control, she would burn out, destroy not only her mind but her body as well.

But that wouldn’t matter. If the portal failed, everyone standing here would die. Fen...all of the hounds and huntsmen. She wondered how the humans would explain that. There would be a crater. Would they call it a meteorite even though their astronomical instruments wouldn’t have registered a thing?

She walked a delicate edge, pulling power from the fault, feeding it back into the weave, rebuilding the wall between their worlds, willing the rift to heal itself. She had no idea how long she stood there, didn’t even realize that it was done, that the power she was pulling from the fault had slowed to a trickle, until Kathy slapped her from the trance.

“Stop.” Her tone of voice made Raquel think that she’d said it several times already.

The fault was stable, or as stable as it would be until the wards were replaced. The remaining demons were dead. Alan was tending to an injured hound. Fen crouched naked at his side, arguing with him. She jerked her gaze from that sight and her knees buckled.

“We’re done here?” Christian scooped her into his arms and waited for Kathy’s nod. “Alan, I’m bringing her back to the house. Come as soon as you’re able.”

“Stupid girl,” Kathy muttered. “She shouldn’t have attempted it herself. I had no idea it was so far gone. Your witch shouldn’t have left hundred-year-old wards in place.”

“They were holding,” Aiden said. He and Kathy walked a step behind Christian. Raquel couldn’t muster the strength to open her eyes, let alone enter the conversation. “I won’t be able to discipline Lois formally, not when your apprentice blew the portal open with that stunt.”

“It wasn’t a stunt. Did you see what she did? There’s been no one with that kind of power for centuries. It might have been years before she matured into it naturally. It was your need that pushed her to this. She did it for you—and for him.”

A noise rumbled from Christian’s chest that sounded like denial. Warm and deep, fiercely protective. She was safe. As much as Aiden might want to wring her neck, Christian wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Not yet. She wrapped that security around her like a blanket and tumbled headlong into sleep.

* * *

Ben was going to make it. He’d tucked his chin when he tackled the demon and had driven his head directly into the bony plate of armor that covered the demon’s chest above the heart. It had knocked Ben out cold, fractured his skull and sliced open his scalp. All Fen had known at the time was that Ben wasn’t getting up. But they’d held the demons off for over an hour, exhausted, bleeding and—yeah, maybe with a little bit of help from the huntsmen—but they’d done it.

“He should be fine by morning,” Alan said. “But I’ll stop by all the same. Will you bring him to your house or are you staying with him tonight?”

Alan knew Fen wouldn’t leave an injured member of his pack alone for the night. Casualties were frequent. Deaths, thankfully, were rare. The demons weren’t well adapted to this world and were especially disoriented during the first minutes after having crossed over. So long as they were caught right out of the portal, it wasn’t all that difficult to take them down. But accidents happened. When Fen saw Ben lying on top of that demon, he’d thought for sure...

But he’s fine. No point in worrying over might-have-beens.

Fen looked up to see Christian lift Raquel into his arms and felt another pang of fear. Christian looked grim but not frantic. Aiden and the Colorado witch were arguing about something, but Fen could tell from their body language that Rocky wasn’t desperately injured. Christian wouldn’t have told Alan to come to the house at his convenience if there was anything seriously wrong with her. Fen knew that—he knew it—but all he wanted to do was follow her. He wanted to be the man holding her now.

When he’d seen her standing there covered in blood, trembling with exhaustion and the force of the magic she wielded, he’d been terrified for her. Ripped apart by his need to guard her and a conflicting need to stay with his pack. He’d left Ben sandwiched between Hagan and Brian and moved to stand in front of Raquel. Pure instinct. He’d have to answer to the pack for that.

Nothing should challenge his loyalty to the pack. He couldn’t deny it anymore—what he felt for her went beyond friendship and simple attraction. Part of him already claimed her as his, but she wasn’t his. She was Christian’s. And he had to find a way to break that connection.

“I’ll stay at Aiden’s tonight.” Fen picked up Ben, supporting his head as carefully as he would a newborn baby. “We’ll make it easy on you and keep all your patients in one spot tonight.”

Alan nodded, relief easing his features. He had a wife and baby at home. It had to suck being called out at all hours of the night on top of his regular job. “I’ll patch up the rest here then and send them home.”

Ben stirred and began to struggle until Fen spoke his name.

His eyes opened to slits, but he didn’t seem to have any trouble focusing on Fen’s face. “Did we win?”

“We did. Killed them all.”

This time.

“The wards—”

“Are holding for now.” Ben couldn’t even open his eyes all the way. His head dropped onto his chest, and Fen adjusted his arm to support him better. Ben was a good kid and as close to a child as he’d ever have. “No more questions. You rest, I’ve got you.”

Chapter Thirteen

Raquel turned her head away from the light. It seared through her closed eyelids and seemed to throb in time with the drum beating inside of her head. Her mouth was dry, and she hurt everywhere—her head, her shoulder where she’d been stabbed, her thigh where those runes were now permanently scarred into her skin. Memories from the night before flooded her consciousness along with a hefty dose of guilt and self-recrimination.

It was the morning after from hell. Her stupid mistake hadn’t only affected her, it affected everyone in the clan. She wanted to pull the covers over her head, but she couldn’t hide in bed forever. She had to check the portal, the fault and the wards. They’d held last night, but that didn’t mean that they’d continue to do so. She had to go see how bad it was and if there was any way for her to repair the damage.

Fen. An image flashed in her mind of the horrified expression on his face when she’d made her confession. The way he’d literally run away from her. Her one friend in the whole damn town. Gods, was there anything she hadn’t fucked up last night? Pressing the heels of her hands to her sockets, she groaned and rubbed her eyes before trying to open them.

“Fuck,” she shouted, drawing back. Fen was there, watching her. She waited for her shout to stop echoing around inside her skull. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Thought I heard you waking up.”

She closed her eyes again...just for a minute. She was in Aiden’s house. It was full daylight outside, and she was naked under the covers. Through the floorboards, she could hear the sound of raised voices. She turned her head and squinted at Fen. “Are they trying to decide who gets to kill me?”

He smiled faintly and dragged an old wooden chair to her bedside. It creaked when he sat. “No. Only whether to send you home.”

“Ah.” She swallowed and winced. “There was a hound last night...” She remembered seeing that black shape lying amongst the slaughtered demons. She remembered the pain that’d sliced through her at the thought that it could be Fen.

He poured her a glass of water. “It was Ben. His takedown technique needs a little work, but he’ll be fine. Everyone made it.”

He waved her up and she scooted her butt back on the mattress, holding the sheet around her body and tucking the ends in behind her. Setting the pillow on end, she leaned against the headboard and took the glass. Nothing had ever tasted better than that tap water with half-melted slivers of ice. She closed her eyes to savor the pure poetry of it.

“Kathy and Lois went out to the fault this morning. They say it’s good for now.” He huffed a soft laugh. “Kathy says it’s better than it was, but Lois won’t agree with her. Those two are like cats in a bag.”

She could imagine. She turned her head and opened one eye. Fen leaned back in the chair, legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankle. His hands rested on his flat belly.

“I’m a real witch now.”

He inclined his head. “So you are, Pinocchio.”

She rubbed at her face. “I screwed up really bad.”

He said nothing—a world of comment coming from Fen. After they both sat pondering the awesome stupidity of her actions for a few silent moments, he said, “What the hell happened, Rocky?”

“I tested the runes like we’d planned.”

“Like hell you did. We didn’t plan that. We sure as hell didn’t plan on you trying it alone.” She’d never heard his voice so hard and bit back a response, reminding herself that he had every right to be angry.

She’d taken precautions with the circle, used washable marker like they had the other night. But she should have known better. The runes... She pushed aside her blanket and lifted her knee. She could feel Fen’s body stiffen without having to look at him. She almost tugged the blanket back but it was too late and she wanted to see the damage anyway. A loose bandage was taped to her thigh. She worked a nail under the corner and peeled the edge up. Fen rocked forward to get a look. It looked like a brand. Her skin was pink and puffy. The runes themselves were black and oozing, although that might have been some kind of ointment.

“Alan didn’t even try to heal it. He didn’t know how the runes would react to his magic, said that the shoulder was tricky enough.” He tilted his head. “I would have picked the back of your shoulder for the tattoo, right about where the exit wound was.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be permanent.”

“That’s not even my design.”

She blinked back tears. “Your design was beautiful.” It had been. Same runes, same alignment but his marks had been smaller, cleaner with a knotted circle surrounding everything that made it art.

“Hey,” he said gently. She looked up, flinched away from the concern in his eyes. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head. “I’m an idiot.”

“You did a stupid thing. You could have killed yourself.”

She could have killed more than just her. “I’m s-sorry about Ben.”

He left his chair and sat on the edge of her bed. He started to reach for her but then only touched her hair. The lightest drift of his fingers that tickled her scalp. “Ben’s young. He’ll bounce back.” His voice took on a wry note. “I need to teach him to bounce.”

“I didn’t think I would break the circle. I never would have done it if I thought there was even the smallest chance of it affecting the portal. But I should have waited. You’re right, and I know it.”

She couldn’t decipher the mess of emotions that crossed his face. “Maybe you shouldn’t have taken the risk at all. We could have found another witch.”

She frowned. “I’m not sorry that the runes worked. I would have taken the risk for myself. I was taking the risk for myself, but I never meant to hurt anyone in your clan.”

“You destroyed what Kathy says was a self-protective block because of the pressure from my clan.”

Maybe the pressure from Lois was the trigger that pushed her past the breaking point, but she was tired of being deadweight. She had been for a long time. The people of her own clan alternately resented or pitied her and she didn’t want that here. More than that though, she was tired of being split inside, broken, of being separated from her gift. It was past time for her to grow up, to be the person she knew she could be and stop accepting less. She hated the way it had happened and would do everything in her power to make it right for his clan whether they sent her home in shame or not. But in the end, this hadn’t really been about them.

It was about her.

“Kathy kept me from trying this for years, Fen. She always said that I couldn’t do it, that I wasn’t ready. It wasn’t the pressure from your clan or Christian,” she said quietly. “I did this for me.”

His mouth twisted. “You were fine the way you were.”

“This is who I want to be.”

Who she was meant to be. She could feel it inside her, the big still lake of power that had always been there. But now she could walk right up to the bank and dip her hand in the water. She could fucking swim in it if she wanted to. And it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Despite all her aches and pains, the people arguing downstairs and the dark look Fen was giving her now, inside everything was exactly as it should be.

Almost.

“I’m not going to marry Christian.”

Fen didn’t say anything for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was low and rough. “When you decide to take down walls, you go right for the dynamite, don’t you?”

“It’s not right to marry him, not with the way I feel about you.”

His jaw set so tight she could see a muscle twitch in his cheek. She wanted to know badly what he was trying so hard not to say. “And if I don’t feel that way about you?”

“It’s still not right to marry him until I’m sure, arranged marriage or not.”

“I’ll be your friend, Rocky, but I won’t be more.”

That hurt, sliced right into her as sharp and cold as the knife had. Even if Fen didn’t return the sentiment, she shouldn’t be struggling with these feelings while getting ready to marry another man. Christian deserved better and so did she. She cleared her throat, but her voice still came out a whisper. “It’s still not right.”

“Rocky...” He shook his head. “Don’t marry Christian if you’ll be unhappy. I told you once that I didn’t want to see you or him trapped and I meant it. We’ll find a way around the contract, but you can’t leave him for me. Do you understand? How could he see that as anything but a betrayal?”

“Let’s ask him and find out.”

“You respect him. You like him. You were prepared to go through with the contract.”

“Yes.”

“You’ve known me two weeks.”

“But I know you. Better than some people I’ve known my whole life. I could spend a lifetime with Christian and we would still be strangers.”

He hesitated but didn’t deny the weird way they’d become instant friends. Like two pieces of a puzzle clicking in place. “You can’t know that,” he said finally. “If not for me, would you want him?”

“Not like this.” Would she have gone through with the contract? Maybe before she realized how big a sacrifice she was making. But she couldn’t do it now.

“There are only two choices for a hound. Abstinence or slavery. There is no halfway.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” He winced, and it was as if his face crumpled beneath an outside force. She was that outside force, pressing in on him, forcing him to face this. “Fuck. Don’t even answer that. It doesn’t matter. None of this does. We shouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

“Fen—”

He stood abruptly and glanced at the door. At first she thought he’d heard someone on the stairs but then realized he was only preparing to run. Before he did, his gaze locked on hers and she choked down a whimper. Because there was hunger there, raw and blazing. He does want me. But eclipsing that desire was a stone hard determination that shattered her fragile hope. It didn’t matter how he felt or did not feel about her.

“I’m sorry, Rocky. I’m not doing this.”

Before she could even phrase a response, he walked away. She scrambled from bed, calling his name. The sheet fell away, but he didn’t look back. Just slammed the door shut behind him.

He shouted something to the people downstairs on his way out. They were arguing in earnest now. She hadn’t even noticed until she was standing there staring at the closed door with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Someone—Grace probably—had left a pair of yoga pants and a cotton T-shirt on the hope chest at the foot of the bed. This bedroom faced northwest and a blast of wind made the window shake in its frame. On the news last night, they’d said a storm was coming. There would be snow soon. There was already a foot of it on the ground back home.

The voices below rose. Aiden. Christian. Lois and—oh, God—her mother was here too. She glanced at the window and seriously considered making a break for it. Sliding down the drainpipe and running away like Fen had. Even as the thought crossed her mind, she rejected it. This was her mess.

She dressed quickly, thinking about faults and wards and surges. She tried to accustom herself to the feeling of all that power at her fingertips. She very pointedly did not think about Fen and the look on his face right before he walked out the door. She couldn’t push him. He either felt the same toward her...or he didn’t. She knew he’d never wanted a mate. As a hound, he had valid reasons for that decision. She tried not to take that personally, even though it hurt like hell. If Fen needed space to sort through that, she’d give it to him. Either way, she’d made up her mind—she couldn’t marry Christian.

She walked down the stairs, now close enough to hear the conversation clearly. They were arguing about her.

“The contract stands.” Her heart cringed in shame at the sound of Christian’s voice. “No one was hurt.” Aiden murmured something and Christian spoke again. “No one was hurt permanently and she fixed it. The portal is more stable now than it was when she accidently broke it open.”

“It was no accident,” Lois said sharply. “She was being criminally reckless. I won’t work with a witch who doesn’t know how to control her own power. It was pride and greed.”

Christian swore. “I’ll defer to your expertise on both of those points, but it doesn’t change my decision. A contract is a contract.”

Raquel rubbed a hand over her face. Christian was defending her and she’d just practically thrown herself at his friend. She needed to talk to him as soon as possible, talk to her parents and to Aiden. Regardless of whether Fen ever accepted her, she couldn’t bind Christian like this. And if they wouldn’t release her from the contract? She didn’t know.

Her head throbbed with every step. She needed to focus on what she could control. Apologize for her stupid-ass mistake. Replace the wards. Whether she stayed in Ragnarok or went home, she’d make sure they had the most perfectly formed wards Midgard had ever seen.

She would offer to help them figure out what exactly was causing the wards to fail too. She’d thought it was just age causing the instability, but after last night... No. That wasn’t natural degradation. There was more to it. She paused in the hallway as she caught the tail end of her mother’s attack on Lois.

“You’re jealous because she’s more powerful than you will ever be. You liked having her under your thumb and now you have no reason to maintain your position.”

Kathy cut off her tirade. “For heaven’s sake, Joanne, don’t throw oil on the fire. Raquel won’t push Lois out. This was bound to happen eventually.” She paused and conceded, “The timing is unfortunate.”

Conversation stopped as Raquel entered the kitchen and everyone turned to stare.

Grace put her hand on her husband’s arm as if to restrain him. Raquel’s mother rushed forward to lead her to the open seat beside Kathy. Christian kept his place in the middle of the small kitchen, leaning against the counter. Opposite him, Lois glared daggers when Raquel briefly met her gaze.

Surprisingly, it was Elin, seated across the table, who spoke first. “Are you okay, Raquel? You should still be in bed.”

There was sincere concern in the dark eyes that studied her. Elin was offering her support and a little friendly advice too. That look said, Run now and hide until they cool off.

“I need to be here.”

Elin tipped her head toward the center of the kitchen. “They’re just blowing off steam.”

Raquel looked at Aiden. He was furious. White-faced and cold-eyed, not an ounce of welcome in that rocky regard.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice fell to a whisper. “I tried to break my block, but I never thought it would have that kind of effect.”

“You should have known better,” he growled.

She almost tried to defend herself—she’d taken precautions. But this wasn’t about her clearing her name. She’d placed everyone in danger and she’d accept responsibility for that. Clan always came first. Breaking her block was not a good enough reason to have taken the risk she’d taken last night.

“I’ll accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate. It was reckless of me to rush into that experiment.”

“Experiment,” Lois scoffed.

Raquel ignored her. “Your problem isn’t entirely with the age of the wards. When I was restoring them, someone fought me for control.”

Lois squeaked in outrage and Aiden silenced her with a look.

“You were the only witch there,” he said, returning his attention to Raquel. He grimaced. “At least, the only one still standing.”

“It came from the other side.” This was too important to let them brush it aside because they were angry with her. “The spell wasn’t strong, but I got the impression that it had been there for a while, had already become a part of the wards...like a parasite or a virus.”

Aiden paused to consider that, but Lois shook her head in disgust. “You’re making excuses. The wards were fine until you pushed an abominable amount of power into them. You flooded the fault and we’re lucky that anyone—”

“Lois.” Aiden’s voice cracked out like a whip. Lois glared at Raquel and then her expression changed subtly as her gaze lifted to a point over Raquel’s shoulder. Raquel glanced back to find Rane standing there, leaning against the doorframe. Christian moved forward to wrap an arm around her waist. Raquel started to get up, but he waved her down and placed Rane in the chair Elin vacated for her sister.

“You’re making enough noise to raise the dead.” Rane’s gaze swept the room, lingered on Raquel. “What happened to you? I missed something.”

“There was a surge while you were unconscious,” Aiden said. “We took care of it.”

Rane opened her mouth to press for more but seemingly thought better of it and shook her head. “Never mind. I can guess. I heard what she told you about the wards. She’s right. And I know who’s tampering with them. It’s only going to get worse unless we stop it. Can I get some coffee?” She rubbed at her face as Christian poured her a mug and set it on the table.

“Rane,” Aiden said. “What happened over there?”

“I tracked the aberration to Kamis—that’s his name by the way, the Vanir exile. They’ve half-imprisoned him in an ice floe. His legs to the thigh and his arms to the shoulder are locked in one of Surtr’s pits. I found him by chance, saw the glint from his armor as I flew overhead. He’s a witch.”

Lois snorted and Rane met her gaze directly, holding it until Lois flinched and looked away. “The Vanir have male witches as powerful as their females. Kamis is powerful, even I could feel that. They tried to force him to split the portal wide enough for one of the higher-level demons to pass through. He refused. Now they’re draining him using an artifact they dug up from the ice and pouring the energy into the fault. That’s like using a hammer to pound at a mountain, he said. It might break through the rock eventually, but it will take time.”

“Why should we believe him?” Aiden asked, searching her face. “He told you this freely?”

“Right before he asked me to slit his throat.”

A long silence followed that pronouncement. Christian was the first to speak. “I, for one, say we leave him. If we can restore the wards well enough to handle the extra power he’s pouring into them, eventually he’ll wear out. We can’t trust the word of a Vanir criminal.”

Lois nodded emphatically, but Aiden didn’t seem to notice. His attention shot immediately to his wife.

“You know what I think about it.” Grace seemed braced for a fight, and Raquel wanted to warn her to back down. Husband or no, it was a bad idea to challenge the Odin, particularly in front of the senior members of the hunt. Particularly when you weren’t even a member of the hunt. Grace hadn’t been raised clan. What if she didn’t know the rules? “We don’t leave people behind.”

Some of the ice thawed from Aiden’s eyes. “He’s not our people, sweetheart.”

“He’s not a demon either,” she said softly. “He saved Hallie’s life. Mine too.”

Aiden closed his eyes for a beat and then gave a slight nod. “I trust Grace’s opinion, and she’s had the most contact with Kamis. I trust Rane’s judgment as well.”

Christian looked as if he wanted to argue with Aiden, but he turned to Rane instead. “If the Vanir—”

“Kamis,” she corrected.

A muscle ticked in Christian’s jaw. “If Kamis didn’t hurt you, who did?”

A shadow crossed Rane’s delicate features. “A pack of midlevel demons. They caught me when I tried to help Kamis escape.”

She didn’t say more and no one pressed her. Raquel shook her head. “I don’t understand. What do the jötunn hope to accomplish? If the wards fail here, yes, they can cross into Midgard. But they’ll only destroy this one town. They can’t survive here long enough to reach any of the other clans on this side. If the distance from the fault doesn’t kill them, then the humans will.”

“It’s personal.” Rane looked at Grace. “The demon you killed was Surtr’s consort. He wants revenge on you personally and all of us by association. It’s not safe for you to cross into Asgard again.”

“It’s not safe for any of us,” Christian said.

“I have to go back,” Rane said. “I’m not going to leave him trapped like that regardless of what the rest of you decide.”

“Will the fault hold for now?” Christian asked. To Raquel’s surprise, everyone turned to her for the answer.

She nodded. “Until we can replace the wards, yes. It’s stable at the moment. I...adjusted for the imbalance caused by the extra energy.”

“Aiden,” Grace said. “We can’t leave him like that. I can find him—”

“You heard Rane. You’re not going over there again, especially now.” It came out harshly. Aiden winced and softened his tone. “Not this time. Please, Grace.”

Some silent communication passed between them and Grace gave a stiff nod.

“I’ll try to contact him then. I was able to reach Hallie when she was trapped on the other side. I might be able to reach him too.”

“Do that. The more we understand about the situation the better. I’ll alert the other clans. Kathy, will you stay to help Raquel and Lois with the wards?”

Kathy’s daughter, Jen, was five years older than Raquel and capable of taking Kathy’s place for the time being. Someday, Jen would take Kathy’s place permanently. “Of course.”

Raquel looked up to find Christian watching her. He gave her a small, tight smile that was not remotely reassuring. He’d defended her to his clan, to his Odin. He was a good man, and she wished more than anything that things could be different. Except in order for things to be different between them, she’d have to become somebody else, somebody she didn’t want to be. She needed to talk to him. Alone. Soon.

Chapter Fourteen

It had been a long day. Fen never did come back to the house, and she never did manage to get Christian alone. Christian was still speaking with Aiden when Raquel’s mother handed her the car keys and shooed her out of the house, insisting she needed to rest. Her mother stayed to help Grace contact the other clans. She knew many of the leaders personally whereas Grace was still viewed with some suspicion, having been raised in the human world.

Audrey drove them home, for once mercifully quiet. Raquel didn’t care whether it was out of kindness or because she was still angry that Raquel had experimented with the runes without waiting for her and Fen. If Audrey wanted to kick her ass over that, she could get in line.

“Who’s that?”

Audrey put the car in park and Raquel looked up, groaning when she recognized the skinny figure sitting on the porch swing.

“That’s Julian. One of Lois’s coven.” Audrey must have heard something in her tone. She waited expectantly until Raquel sighed. “The one who stabbed me.”

“The little twerp. Want me to get rid of him?”

“No. The little twerp saved my life, probably the whole town. I’ll talk to him.” She climbed out stiffly. “Give us a few minutes.”

Audrey nodded and went on ahead to open the door. Julian stood awkwardly at the edge of the driveway until Raquel reached him.

“Are you...okay?” His gaze darted to her chest as if he expected to see the knife still there.

She patted him on the arm. “I’ll be fine. A little rest and I’ll be back to normal by morning...well, as close to normal as I get anyway.”

A few minutes later they were sitting at the island, him with a glass of cocoa, her with ice water and a bottle of ibuprofen. Yesterday, she’d concocted a natural headache remedy at Lois’s shop but hadn’t brought any home with her. Wouldn’t Fen be amused that she was popping pills?

Finally, Julian worked up the nerve to look her in the eyes. She expected an apology. Instead, he said, “A wise woman once told me to always have someone double-check my work, because everyone makes mistakes and mistakes can kill you.”

She snorted. “Oh yeah? What happened to her?”

He turned the mug in his hands. “I was hoping you could tell me.”

“Have you been waiting here all day for this?”

“No.” His smile faded. “I won’t apologize for what I did. I’m sorry I had to do it but not that I did. And it’s not the reason I came.”

She nodded for him to continue.

His gaze slid away, and he stared down at the cup in his hands. “I should have stopped you.”

“You did stop me.”

He shook his head. “Sooner. I should have stopped you sooner. I didn’t think...I didn’t know it would really happen. I thought, ‘No way would the clan witch do something that stupid.’”

This day was never going to end.

“You couldn’t have stopped it. The runes wouldn’t have had that affect if the wards were functioning the way they were supposed to. There’s nothing you—or anyone—could have done to prevent it. It would have happened sooner or later with or without my help.”

“I had a dream.”

She stilled with her glass half raised to her mouth. Carefully, she set it aside and leaned on the counter. “What kind of dream, Julian?”

“That kind of dream. I saw it happen. All of it. The runes. The circle collapse and the way your power swamped the wards.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Except in my dream, the wards fell completely and...there wasn’t time to evacuate.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “At least, not everybody. I didn’t think it would really happen.”

“That’s why you didn’t hesitate with the knife.”

He looked up and she smiled gently. “Christian said you were, um...enthusiastic about stabbing me. He asked what I’d done to piss you off.”

He blushed. “That’s not—”

“I know,” she said. “It makes more sense now.”

“I knew what was going to happen. I had to do something.”

She patted him on the back, feeling inadequate. Poor kid. It was a high calling and a heavy burden. And she suddenly understood what he was doing here. He wanted her to tell him that it wasn’t true. He’d come to her because she was a clan witch who, now that she’d focused her power, could feel that new dark twist in his magic. He’d come to her because she was an outsider who wouldn’t necessarily feel compelled to report his concerns to the Odin.

“You need to tell Aiden what you just told me.”

“He’ll think I’m nuts.”

“He’ll think he’s fortunate to have both a Verthandi and a Skuld in the same clan.”

Julian laughed bitterly. It was true that Norns were welcomed within the clans, even celebrated, but many also viewed their presence as a sign of misfortune. After all, the complex and ancient spellcraft that allowed the Æsir to survive in Midgard didn’t waste magic. If your clan produced a Norn or a Berserker or a Valkyrie, it meant you needed one.

“Grace will probably be able to answer any questions you have better than I will.”

He nodded but still looked nervous as he pushed his stool under the counter.

“Do you need a ride?”

He tipped his head to the side. “My mom will take me.”

She thought about accompanying him to Aiden’s house anyway, but nothing she could do would ease his way. And this was his clan, not really hers yet, despite what her heart told her. It might never be.

“Julian?”

He turned around and she smiled.

“Thanks for stabbing me.”

When the front door clicked shut, she downed the ibuprofen and closed her eyes for a moment. Audrey had started a shower and suddenly, exhausted as she was, Raquel wasn’t ready for bed quite yet. She wanted to be alone, take a deep breath and try to process the day.

Pulling the fleece throw off the back of the couch, she wrapped it around her shoulders before stepping onto the porch. It was too cold for anyone else to be outside and late enough that there was no one on the road. The nearest streetlamp was two houses down at the corner. For a minute, she closed her eyes. It was peaceful here, very still. The cold air and the quiet made everything sharper. The creak of the wood, the rattle of the chain when she set the swing in motion. She lost her slipper momentarily but swooped her foot back inside on the next pass.

Everything would work out. It had to.

She shivered and thought about going inside. Something—not sound or movement, just a strange awareness of being watched—made her turn her head. Two sparks of gold stared back at her.

Fen.

Standing in the shadows cast by the house across the street. Though in hound form, she knew it was him. Perfectly still. Perfectly silent. It was difficult to pick out the black shape from the darkness. Her breath held and she waited for him to come forward, to shift or disappear. But he stood his ground, staring at her from gleaming yellow eyes.

He didn’t move and after what seemed an eternity, she rose from the swing and went inside.

Chapter Fifteen

Fen was actively avoiding her. So was Christian. Somehow she was sure that he knew something had changed between them and was giving her time to reconsider making any drastic decisions. He didn’t drop by at all the day following the surge, only left a message on her phone that he was busy with the hunt, preparing for a possible crossing. Instead of Christian or Fen or anyone that she wanted to see, Raquel found Lois waiting on her doorstep after lunch. The witch pushed her way inside without waiting for an invitation.

“You look like crap, and we have work to do.” Lois handed her a box of supplies. Angelica and wolfsbane by the smell of it, among other things. “Are you certain you’re up to helping? Aiden said you volunteered, but I’d just as soon you finish with your wedding plans. Until you learn a little control.”

Kathy, who’d arrived an hour earlier, came up behind Raquel and took the box from her. “She’s tougher than she looks, and Audrey was kind enough to take over the details of planning for the ceremony.”

There’d been no gainsaying her sister. A natural organizer, Audrey had been itching to take over the wedding plans from day one. Raquel would have let her if she hadn’t needed the distraction—and if she hadn’t been afraid that Audrey would go overboard. Now...she didn’t think there would be a ceremony, but she couldn’t very well call it off without speaking to Christian first, her parents and Aiden. Her father and Christian’s mother, two of the people who’d signed the original contract, weren’t even in town yet.

Lois hmphed. “Kathy asked that I meet you here, but I don’t know that I have all of the supplies we’ll need.”

Kathy, already heading for the kitchen, called over her shoulder. “We won’t need much for this.”

Lois started down the hall after her and—because she had to—Raquel brought up the rear. She could already feel a headache looming. Kathy put the box down on the island and smiled at Raquel.

“I want to see what she can do and, really—” she waved her hand at the box, “—these are just crutches for us. Someone with Raquel’s kind of power should be able to cast the whole spell at once without anchoring it piece by piece.”

Lois’s lips thinned. “I think we all saw exactly what she’s capable of. Most of those are supplies to build a strong enough circle to provide a safety net this time.”

Kathy gave her an enigmatic smile. “You won’t be able to hold her back for long.”

Raquel gave Kathy a warning look that went ignored. She knew her mentor well enough to recognize the glint in her eye. Bad blood there. Raquel didn’t know the history of it, but she didn’t want it coating her walls.

She stepped next to Lois. “Thank you, Lois. I appreciate it.”

Lois glared at her suspiciously. Raquel wanted to say more, tell her that she wasn’t mocking her, that she wasn’t after her job, but she could feel the weight of Kathy’s attention. Before she could think of anything to smooth over the moment, Lois was slamming the front door on her way back out to her car.

Raquel swung on Kathy. “What the hell was that about?”

“I knew her daughter, Jamie. A good kid. Lois pushed and pushed at her until she ran. She’s a bully, Raquel, plain and simple. And there’s only one way to deal with someone like that.”

“Be a total ass?”

Kathy had the good grace to blush. “You can’t let her steamroll you.”

“Have I done that? But I need to work with these people too. You saw what happened when I tried going out on my own.”

“You broke your block.”

“I almost broke the town.” Raquel held up a hand to stop Kathy from arguing. “I should have had another witch there. You know it, and I know it. Whether I like it or not, I have to work with Lois and I have to learn to trust her.”

“Trust her? She’s not like me, Raquel.”

“I know that.”

“And you need to watch your back.”

Raquel grabbed a cup from the dishwasher and set it on the counter. “I’m not giving her my back. I’m keeping her right beside me.”

Kathy’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully, and Raquel poured some coffee. If she could mainline caffeine right now she would do it. Sitting on a stool across from Kathy, she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me about Jamie? What happened to her daughter?”

“Lois was infertile, which is why they drew up the contract with your parents in the first place. Jamie was born to a runner smart enough to recognize the power in the baby but not selfless enough to rejoin a clan if she didn’t have to. She gave the witchling up for adoption and Lois took her in. Jamie ran five years ago when she was seventeen, and I haven’t heard from her since.” Kathy gave a slight shrug. “I didn’t know her very well, only met her at a few workshops. The one thing that struck me was how different she was from her mother. I always hoped she’d meet someone from one of the other clans so she could escape.”

“But it didn’t happen.”

“Oh, it happened.” Kathy scowled. “She bonded a hound from the Pennsylvania clan and when Lois wouldn’t release her, Jamie left.”

Raquel stared, horrified. “Left? You mean she left Ragnarok.”

Kathy shook her head sadly. “She left the clans. Her clan. Her mate. Everything. She’s a runner. No one knows where she went.”

“Why would she do that?” It was as good as a death sentence. Runners tended to have short life expectancies. True-blooded Æsir couldn’t live very far away from the faults. They needed the magic that seeped over from Asgard to survive. The more diluted with human blood your ancestry was, the farther from the fault you could get. Grace was the child of runners and she’d survived for years. But it was impossible to predict how much the distance would affect you. For a powerful witch to become a runner was unheard of.

“You know as well as I do that it happens. Neither Odin could convince Lois to relinquish her claim. Hounds can’t leave the pack they’re born to, and Jamie wouldn’t have been able to live there without her mother’s approval. Their Odin couldn’t have allowed her to stay without Lois’s permission. And...she ran.”

Raquel stared at her cup, thinking of Fen. She’d heard that about hounds, that they couldn’t leave their pack. She’d always wondered if that was a hard-and-fast rule or just another tradition that had never been challenged. Before she could work up the nerve to question it, the front door opened again as Lois returned.

Grimly, Kathy set down her cup. “Time to get to work.”

* * *

Christian felt a sense of foreboding when he heard the car pull up the driveway. Whether some part of him recognized the motor, or if he’d been waiting for this moment for the last two days, he didn’t know.

He should have gone to her sooner. She was to be his wife. Instead, he’d let himself get caught up in the demands of preparing his riders for another crossing into Asgard. He’d been working with Aiden to make sure the horses and all of the equipment were ready. He’d just returned to Aiden’s house after driving into Decorah to pick up another Skimstrok blade and Sarah’s repaired armor.

He could have found the time to see Raquel. He should have found the time.

He liked her. He’d thought what she’d done the other night, breaking through her block, ripping her talent from fate’s hands, had taken guts. She had a shy sort of innocence that he generally avoided but found incredibly appealing. He liked Raquel a lot.

Fen loved her.

Sheathing his sword, Christian left the old barn the clan used as a training building and crossed the yard to greet her. She turned around, surprised, when he called her name.

“I didn’t see you there.”

“I was going to give Carston his weekly lesson, but he’s running late. Again.”

Her nod ended with her staring at the dirt. The light fringe of bangs she usually pushed to the side of her face fell to shield her eyes. “I’ve been working with Lois and Kathy. We think we have the wards stable. I’m going to wait to replace them until after you cross through. I want to tighten the portal if Aiden’s okay with that.”

“People won’t be able to access their magic as readily or go very far from town.”

“You don’t think he’ll go for it then?”

Christian shrugged. “He might. Especially if it’s temporary. You’d probably get hit up a lot more often for people wanting to hop around to visit the other clans. It gets claustrophobic otherwise.”

“I’d be fine with that.” She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket and then, as if it took an enormous act of will, finally met his gaze. “I want to go with you when you cross.”

“To Asgard?”

She nodded.

“No,” he said far too sharply and gentled his voice. “It’s too dangerous and there’s no reason for you to be there. Rane can—”

“I know Rane can show you where he’s being held. You don’t need a Norn, but you do need a witch. I can break his bonds and get him across if he decides to come with us. You don’t know how the portal will react to that.”

“Aiden won’t allow it. He won’t allow anyone who hasn’t been properly trained to ride with the hunt, even on this side.”

“What about—”

“Grace was the exception he made when his daughter’s life was at stake. It was the hardest decision I’ve seen him make. I don’t want you taking that risk.”

“It’s my decision.”

That statement had land mine written all over it, so he sidestepped. “It’s Aiden’s decision.”

And he’d do everything in his power to make sure Aiden said no. If it came down to a choice, he’d rather slit the Vanir witch’s throat than let Raquel take that kind of risk. This Kamis wasn’t worth it.

“Fine,” she said, gaze cool. “I’ll talk to Aiden then.”

“He won’t be back until later tonight. If you want, I’ll call Carston and cancel his lesson. We can grab something to eat and come back here in a few hours.”

She looked torn. He realized with a rising sense of panic that it was the date with him that made her hesitate. The silence sat between them, and then stretched. She was going to ask why he hadn’t checked on her after her injuries, about the wedding and the contract...his feelings. And he didn’t know what to tell her. He wanted to keep her. He thought, with time, that he could win her affection and possibly her love. She was his, and he didn’t want to give her up. He knew he was screwing this all up and didn’t want to fail.

He adjusted his body so he blocked some of the wind from her face. As much as he liked the wild way her hair danced in the breeze and the flush it brought to her face, he wanted to protect her too. A hound would be totally wrong for her, even Fen. “Is your leg okay? Your...chest?”

He let his gaze linger there as if he could determine that for himself through the layers of clothing she wore.

“I’ll have scars, on both. My leg is still sore. Alan couldn’t heal that one.”

“Can I see them?”

Her eyes dilated. “Christian...”

“Some other time? Maybe somewhere not quite so cold.”

“We need to talk.” His heart sunk. “Not at a restaurant though. Is there someplace else we could go?”

“You could come to my house. Our house. Gods, the timing couldn’t be worse. Raquel?” She shifted uneasily. Christian took a step closer and she looked up, smiling nervously. He cradled her jaw. “I promise, when this is all through, we’ll take the time we need to get to know each other before the ceremony.”

She nodded and bit her lip.

He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “This will all be over soon.”

Another tight nod. Bending his head, he kissed her, fast enough that she couldn’t easily pull away, gently enough that if she wanted to say no she could. She stiffened but accepted the kiss. She wouldn’t do that if there wasn’t a chance, right? And if this was just cold feet, only a decision to be made, why shouldn’t it be him?

The prophecy, the contract, both of their clans depending on its fulfillment. She was his even as he was hers. Always had been. It was possible that he was a bastard, but he fought for what he wanted to possess. If Fen really wanted her, he would fight too. He wouldn’t skulk around in the shadows avoiding them both. Fen wasn’t taking a mate—he’d never wanted one. In a strange way, Christian was helping. Saving Fen from himself and protecting Raquel at the same time. He’d take good care of her, make it work.

She made a small sound of distress and his heart clenched. Cupping the back of her head, he deepened the kiss, using every ounce of skill he possessed to tease out the desire he knew was there. She turned her head. His fingers flexed in her hair, wanting to pull her back. Her breath was shallow, her parted lips flushed, and the look in her eyes was miserable.

Damn. A cold weight settled in his stomach and he released her hair, let his hand slide over her shoulders to rest on her back. Her jacket was far too light for the weather today. He could feel her trembling.

Reluctantly, he straightened. “Let’s go get some food and then we’ll talk.”

The longer he could keep her from the talk she was so determined to have with him, the better his chances.

* * *

Fen stopped at the edge of the woods and watched as Christian swung an arm around Raquel’s shoulders and pulled her in tight. She didn’t look like she was breaking off their betrothal. Raquel smiled and tipped up her face. Christian lowered his head—how could he resist?—and took those lips, that smile, her. For a moment, Fen thought she might pull away. But what the hell would it matter if she did? She could reject Christian. Fen thought that she should reject Christian. But even if that happened, Fen couldn’t claim her. Raquel deserved better than a man who couldn’t put her first, who didn’t want children, had trouble with crowds and had never even kissed a woman.

Fen swallowed a growl and told himself he should turn away.

But he didn’t. He watched Christian lead her away, back toward her car, watched the taillights until they turned onto the gravel road. He shifted and retrieved the clothes he’d stashed on the back porch. Grace hated that he dressed in the cold. She’d wanted to put in some kind of dog door, but he told her he wouldn’t use it if she did. So she’d screened off part of their back porch where he and the crows could change in privacy. There was a little space heater in there, and she must have seen him come in because it was running now. He unplugged it and headed for his bike.

He wasn’t going to rip his clan apart over a woman. He wouldn’t betray a friend.

He knew what he had to do.

Chapter Sixteen

Raquel sat on Christian’s couch trying to figure out how to work the remote while he got changed. Eventually, she gave up and tossed it on the coffee table. Walking into the kitchen for a glass of water, she shook her head at the beautiful room. Christian hadn’t been lying when he said he’d built new to have every modern convenience. High-end cabinetry. A stove that needed the love of a gourmet, not a woman who didn’t start breathing again until she saw the microwave. The granite island was bigger than her bed.

Beyond the kitchen was a mudroom with pale yellow walls and white cabinetry, a bar with empty coat hangers and a line of brass hooks. Their kids would have used those one day—little hunters and witches—for their backpacks and jackets...maybe the occasional practice sword.

Christian had built this home for a family. He’d made it for her.

Why did she have to go and fall in love with Fen? He didn’t want her. Christian did. Christian wanted to give her his hand and home. He wanted children, she knew. It was everything she’d ever dreamed of and no matter how she turned it around in her head, it still felt wrong.

The doorbell rang and although she hesitated for only a second, she heard the door open before she set her glass aside.

“Hello?”

“Back here,” she called out, peeking down the hallway. Aiden. If she could get to him before Christian did, maybe she could talk him into letting her ride with the hunt into Asgard. He looked momentarily startled when he saw her, but then smiled and started down the hallway.

She didn’t know Aiden well and was unsure how best to handle him. As clan Odin he was responsible for all of the people of Ragnarok, people she’d placed in great danger with her reckless actions. He had every reason to dislike her, which she regretted. Christian and Fen not only respected Aiden, they both considered him a friend. And Grace...quiet, fierce, smart Grace loved him. If she couldn’t trust a Norn’s opinion about a person, who could she trust?

“Raquel. It’s a pleasure to see you here and looking well.”

“Christian’s getting changed,” she said. “But there’s something I’d like to talk to you about if you have a minute. Do you want anything to drink?”

He glanced at the stairs as if he’d rather chase down Christian. Instead, he declined the drink, followed her into the family room and moved toward the sofa. Taking the seat across from him, she rushed headlong into her request, not knowing how long she had until Christian would be down. “I want to cross with you.”

Aiden’s gray eyes narrowed, and she repressed the urge to shiver. Odins were always powerful, direct. Her own father had pinned her with just that kind of look whenever she was in trouble.

“If the Vanir’s locked in ice,” she said, working to keep her voice steady, “it will be quicker to have someone who can melt it than to take the time to cut through it.”

“Lois has fire-spelled several stones for us.”

Lois hadn’t mentioned that. If Raquel had spent more time considering the problem at hand rather than her personal issues, she might have thought of it too. But that wasn’t the real reason she wanted to go.

“What if I can bring Kamis back with us?”

Aiden, to give him credit, didn’t reject that outright. He regarded her thoughtfully for a long moment. “It’s never been done. He’ll die without the connection to Vanheimr.”

“Maybe, but he’s been in Asgard for a very long time. We don’t know what that’s done to him. Have you read Yoder’s report?”

For the last twenty years, the healer of a clan in Norway and his witch had been experimenting with how tightly they could constrict their portal without negative effect. His clan had adjusted surprisingly well to a gradual reduction in the magic flowing from Asgard. The early results seemed to indicate that if done in a controlled manner, people could adapt fully and naturally to Midgard, like divers acclimating to decompression.

“Stavern is an old clan. There’s as much human blood there as Æsir.”

True. “Don’t you think it should be Kamis’s choice? I understand that he can’t go home, but he might not be able to remain in Asgard now that Surtr knows he can use him.”

“That’s why we should do whatever is necessary to prevent Surtr from using him,” Christian said from the doorway, hair damp, expression grim.

“You can’t just execute him. If there’s a chance, however small, then we should take it.”

Christian didn’t answer as he crossed the room to sit beside her. He took one look at Aiden’s scowl and then said to Raquel, “You beat me to him.”

Aiden’s brows raised. “You know what she’s asked of me?”

“I told her I didn’t want her to go.”

Some silent communication passed between the men, and Raquel wanted to jump up and cry foul.

“I don’t particularly want her to go either.” Aiden scratched at his jaw. “But it might be good to have a witch. We still have the saddle we used with Grace. She wouldn’t have to ride alone. Less chance of her getting separated.”

Christian shook his head. “You can’t be serious.”

Raquel didn’t know if Aiden knew how to be anything but serious.

“We’re going in to neutralize a threat to the stability of the portal,” Christian continued. “This isn’t a rescue mission, Aiden, no matter how Grace thinks of it.”

“There’s more to it than that. The reason I came...I just spoke with Julian. He’s had another vision.”

That captured their complete attention. Raquel was greatly disturbed by the flicker of fear in Aiden’s eyes. “What did he see?”

“First, Grace was able to contact Kamis and he’s about as helpful as a fortune cookie. He told her, ‘There are many portals but only one bridge,’ which is what our own legends tell us so it’s not particularly informative. Grace seems to think he meant it as a warning.”

“About what?”

“We were puzzling through that ourselves,” Aiden said. “And then Julian’s mom called—he was having some sort of seizure, so I met Alan at their house. Julian said he saw the bridge collapse.”

Raquel could feel the tension in Christian’s body pressed against her side. “All the more reason to end this,” he said.

“Except that in this vision the Vanir witch is dead. We never get him out of the ice and the bridge collapses when we try to return home.” Aiden looked at her. “You’re coming with us.”

* * *

McGuire’s was a little roadside bar at the edge of town, as far away as the strongest Æsir could comfortably get from the fault before they started to feel it. There was a tension in a place like this. A sense of standing on a cliff. A tingle on the fringe of her consciousness, like a warning to turn back. But there wasn’t any danger in staying here.

Another mile or two and she’d start to feel the drain on her power. Even then she could survive for weeks without any negative effect other than feeling worn down and out of sorts. Longer would start to take a toll on her health, both mental and physical. But she was true-blooded Æsir. For the people who had some human blood in them—which was most clan—the effects were usually less severe, unpredictable depending on their heritage. Grace’s parents had been runners and she’d lived her whole life away from a fault.

Here, Raquel just felt a pleasant buzz before she’d even had anything to drink. Christian took her arm as she climbed from the car and tucked it beneath his. An oddly formal gesture considering their surroundings. McGuire’s looked like a biker bar. A short, square building with a faded sign set above the overhang to the front door. The gravel lot was nearly full. It was already getting dark and the neon lights hanging in the windows shone brilliantly.

“I was surprised you asked Aiden without me,” Christian said. “I thought you were afraid of him.”

“I hoped he’d say yes before you made it downstairs.” She glanced up. “I’m not afraid of him.”

Christian raised his brows.

“Okay,” she admitted. “Maybe a little bit, but you didn’t see the way he looked at me after the...accident. I trust him because you, Fen and Grace do. I can trust him, right?”

Christian squeezed her arm. “You don’t need to be afraid. Aiden wouldn’t hurt you...ever. The other night he was more worried than angry. He’s still worried.”

“He wouldn’t have given his permission if not for Julian’s vision.”

“No.”

She looked at him askance. “That’s why you told me to ask him. You knew what he was going to say.”

“I told you what he was going to say.”

He had, that was true, but he’d also very neatly maneuvered her so that her anger—if she was going to be angry—would have all been directed at Aiden not him. She thought about how Christian had been dodging her attempts to talk about the wedding all day. He seemed like such a straightforward man. Discovering that he wasn’t was fascinating...and alarming. Was he still playing her now?

Music spilled into the quiet night when he opened the door, a heavy throbbing beat that resonated deep inside her. She paused, looking up at her fiancé.

“Aiden does what’s best for the clan,” he said. “He always does. I’ll make sure you make it back okay.”

She touched his hip as she passed him. “Thank you.”

It took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the dim light and take everything in. The area behind the bar was lit and lights hung over each pool table, but there were also a lot of dark corners in the place. The floor was sticky and the music was loud. Not a place you could have a serious conversation. Raquel wondered if that’s why Christian had brought her here. He gave her a little push toward the booths along the wall opposite the bar.

His breath was warm on her ear. “The food is good.”

It didn’t seem like Christian’s sort of place, but they seemed to know him. The bartender lifted a hand and the waitress gave Christian a welcoming smile when she dropped off the menus.

“Do you want—”

His abrupt stop brought her head up, and she followed his gaze to a shadow of what would have been called a dance floor in a larger establishment. Here, it was just a cleared area surrounding the jukebox in a corner of the bar lit only by neon. She rolled her eyes when she saw the woman who had so captured his attention. Her head was tipped back, long dark hair tangled around the forearm of the man standing behind her. Raquel felt a flash of annoyance. Christian knew she had cold feet, but ostensibly they were still a couple. If he was going to goggle at another woman, the least he could do is be discreet.

To be fair, the woman was beautiful. Long-limbed and curvaceous. Not the skinny model type Raquel would’ve matched to a man with Christian’s traditional good looks. Her eyes were closed and her mouth slightly parted. Neon skated over exposed skin, making her look exotic and dangerous. And that really made Raquel jealous, because she’d never be either of those things.

Christian swore. “Fucking idiot.”

“What—” But the question died on her lips when the man standing behind the sex goddess looked up, right into Raquel’s eyes.

Fen.

He stared at her over the woman’s shoulder for a long moment before closing his eyes and angling his body away. But Raquel couldn’t turn away. She watched as his hand skated up the woman’s bare arm, as the woman’s back arched, pushing her full breasts higher. She watched as Fen touched his lips to the side of her neck.

“Who is she?”

“Carly Jones,” Christian answered. “She’s pack—She likes hounds. I’m sorry. I have to go talk to him.”

Carly was the pack concubine, that’s what Christian had been about to say. It happened. Some women valued control more than affection and whoever bonded a hound controlled them, at least sexually. Sometimes several men from one pack would bond to the same woman. It made it easier for the bonded hounds to compartmentalize their lives. No wife. No girlfriend. Just a sexual partner. And so long as she didn’t stray outside the pack, she became almost an honorary member and it didn’t usually cause problems of jealousy. The women and hounds who entered into that kind of arrangement did it purposefully. If Fen was dancing with the pack concubine, he knew exactly what he was doing.

Raquel couldn’t breathe.

The woman was nearly the same height as Fen, and his arm wrapped around her body just below her breasts. His knee slid between Carly’s thighs and his free hand gripped her hip to hold her against him.

Christian blocked Raquel’s view as he and Fen exchanged words—quite a few of them. The song ended, but Carly didn’t leave Fen’s side. She looked upon the confrontation with a remote and faintly amused expression. When Christian pointed toward Raquel, Carly turned her head to follow the gesture. Her lovely eyes narrowed.

Raquel’s hands curled into fists and she climbed stiffly to her feet. It wasn’t her place to intervene. Fen didn’t want her. She wouldn’t hurt Carly, surely an innocent bystander in this mess.

Raquel couldn’t hear what was being said over the noise in the bar. The game on the big TV on the wall. The people playing pool in the next room. The waitress brought the drinks and set them on the table. Raquel murmured her thanks without turning, all of her attention on the man across the room. Every ounce of willpower consumed by her fight to stay where she was and give Christian a chance to talk some sense into his friend.

A moment later, Christian walked back to the table, his expression grim. “Let’s go.”

Fen and Carly weren’t dancing, they were talking, but Raquel didn’t feel particularly reassured. “What happened?”

“I’m not going to sit here and watch him do this.”

“You’re his friend,” she said. “Maybe his best friend. You need to talk him out of this.”

Christian’s jaw clenched. “He’s made up his mind.”

Unwillingly, her gaze was pulled back to the corner. Fen stared at her with a lost expression on his face. When she took a step in his direction, he turned away.

“I’ll try.” She didn’t care if he didn’t want to talk to her.

“Raquel—”

Shaking off Christian’s hand on her arm, she stalked across the bar. She knew exactly when Fen realized she was coming after him by the way his body tightened. Supersenses and all. His back stiffened and his shoulders set, but he didn’t lift his head or turn around.

“Go away, Rocky,” he growled.

Ignoring that, she addressed Carly. “Would you give us a moment please?”

Carly nodded and even though Fen raised his hand to stop her from leaving, she slipped past and he let her go.

Head bowed, Fen released a heavy sigh and then faced Raquel. He wore dark jeans and worn boots, a T-shirt that wrapped the muscles in his arm perfectly. Rubbing a hand over his face, he gave her a look that was more weary than annoyed. “What do you want?”

“You can ask that?” He knew exactly what she wanted and this was his way of putting it out of reach for both of them. Forever. “Don’t do this.”

Her voice trembled and he hesitated, but only for a moment. “I’m not betraying my friend, my pack or my clan.”

“We haven’t done anything.”

His mouth twisted. “You think the way I look at you isn’t already a betrayal? Give Christian a chance. The two of you could be happy. If you don’t think you can make it work, I’m pretty sure they’ll release you from the contract. I won’t be the reason for it.”

“That’s it?”

“I’m not right for you. For anyone. It’s past time I accept that. And you...” He flinched. “It’s better for you too. This way you’re free to look somewhere else.”

Her blood went cold and then flashed hot. “Do not pretend you’re doing this for me.”

Except he wasn’t pretending. She could see that. The idiot man thought he was doing the right thing, saving her from herself.

Fen was silent for several breaths and the look in his eyes broke her heart. When he spoke, his voice was low and strained. “You deserve more. I already have a family and I won’t have children.”

“We could adopt.”

He gave her a disgusted look. “And we live happily ever after? It doesn’t work like that.”

She could see what he wasn’t saying. It doesn’t work like that for me, not for a hound.

And maybe it didn’t usually work out for hounds, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t work for them. She’d been raised in a clan and was well aware of all the pitfalls that came with bonding a hound. She understood that he would be tied to his pack as tightly as to a mate—maybe more so for him because he led the hounds and because of the man he was. Fen took that responsibility seriously.

Her eyes were open. Despite all the difficulties in their path now or the ones that might lay ahead, they belonged together. From their first conversation, she felt as if she knew him, had known him forever. Every moment they spent together felt right except this one. Couldn’t he see that?

“Please,” she said, because if he didn’t understand how wrong this was, she didn’t know how to change his mind.

He picked up his coat and glanced at someone behind her. Carly, she imagined. For one moment, Fen looked directly at her and Raquel thought he might change his mind. His face was stark. The neon light that had been so kind to Carly only highlighted the hollows of his cheeks and eyes. He looked so painfully unhappy that she couldn’t help but take a step closer. He started for the door, his arm bumping her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

She thought about tripping him, knocking him over the head, spelling the door. But she couldn’t do any of those things. She’d made her choice. She had to let him make his. There was nothing else she could do to change his mind. She was right about them. What was between them was good. Truer than pacts or curses or prophecies. They belonged together. She felt that all the way down to her bones. She hoped Fen would realize it too, before he did something phenomenally stupid.

* * *

They left without eating and Christian didn’t speak until they pulled into her driveway. The porch light was on and she saw the curtain move before Christian cut the headlights. Of course, her mother would be waiting up for her tonight of all nights.

Christian reached over and lifted her hand. “I knew there was an interest. I didn’t realize how strong it was on both sides. I’ll talk with him, but I don’t know if I can get him to see sense. He can be so damned hardheaded it drives me crazy.”

“I didn’t see it happen. If I’d known it was going to...” She couldn’t make herself say she would have prevented it. She wished things were different, but not that way.

She couldn’t quite read the expression on Christian’s face, but he didn’t seem angry. “Let me go stop him. We’ll figure everything else out later.”

“Do you think you can?”

Christian squeezed her hand. “Even if Fen changes his mind about Carly, I doubt he’ll change it about taking a wife. His parents were reasonably happy, but that’s rare for hound matings. And Fen’s father was never pack leader. The clan’s expectations are hard enough to deal with. Add pack ties to that and you can see why he wouldn’t want another collar wrapped around his neck.”

A collar. Is that really how Fen saw her?

“I don’t want to collar him.”

Christian held her gaze for a long time and then nodded. “Don’t screw around with him, Raquel. He’s my friend. I won’t help you hurt him.”

“Go stop him from making a huge mistake even if you have to beat him over the head to do it. Regardless of what happens, I don’t want to see him hurt.” She blinked back tears. “Christian?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want you hurt either.”

He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her forward. A quick kiss to her forehead and then he let her go.

“We’ll talk later.”

Chapter Seventeen

At times, it wasn’t so bad. There were moments, brief and precious, that kept him from sinking into darkness. The way the blue-tinged light filtered through ice, casting kaleidoscope patterns on the bare rock. The special game he’d made of recovering Asgard’s most sacred treasures before Surtr could claim them. The peculiar triumph of escaping a pack of demons on the hunt. He knew it was dangerous to become addicted to the rush of adrenaline, but it was one of the few pleasures left to him.

He didn’t age. He didn’t feel hunger, leastways not for food. But he was slowly fading into the twilit world of Asgard, this cursed place of frozen death suspended between worlds. He’d been cast out of Vanaheimr. Rightfully so. His pride had cost countless lives. He could appreciate the justice of it, had even been resigned to accept his sentence. Exile. Death in the world broken by his hand.

But death wouldn’t come.

It would come soon though. After all these years, it crept over him inexorably as a rising tide. The cold presence at the edge of his consciousness claiming more with every breath. Surtr, in a fit of pique, had melted the ice he stood on, sealing him to the hip and binding his power with scraps of the same chain that had once held Fenrisúlfr. The chain alone would have restrained him. The ice was overkill, was, in fact, slowly killing him—though he had no intention of pointing that out to Surtr. He would die rather than let the bastard suck him dry so he could invade yet another world.

If he could spare Midgard this fate, he would. He blamed the girl for this strange willingness to sacrifice himself. She’d been such a fragile thing, dragged through the portal from Midgard by one of the sons. He’d come across her entirely by chance and some long-buried instinct to protect a child had compelled him to help her. He hadn’t been able to send her back.

When Odin cast the spell that allowed his people to live in Midgard, he’d also spelled the bridge that permitted their escape. A Vanir couldn’t cross that bridge. He couldn’t even be near it without every hair on his body standing on end. The backlash from what Surtr was forcing him to do was tearing him apart. It was why he couldn’t escape the ice or heal his frozen legs. It was why, after all this time, it would be something as simple as the cold that would kill him.

The crow was back. Her glassy eyes, hard and unblinking, fixed on him with disconcerting intensity. Asgardian spy. Black-winged birds had long been a harbinger of death for his kind, so he supposed it was only fitting that she should be here now. Her feathers ruffled in the stiff wind.

“Go away, stupid bird. They nearly tore you apart last time and I won’t distract them again.” Surtr had taken his anger out on him when she escaped. “One chance is all you get. I won’t encourage stupidity.”

She shifted her wings and resettled. Such a conceit of Odin’s to bespell his people to assume his various incarnations. He’d so enjoyed playing the crow. “I told you what you need to do and you didn’t bring a weapon. My own blade fell into the crevice there if you wish to retrieve it.”

He spoke to her with his mind, knew that she could hear him. Unlike last time, she replied. “I won’t kill you.”

“The sooner you do so, the safer you will be.”

“We’re safe enough for now.” She tilted her head. “Our witch has strengthened the wards.”

He laughed. There was a powerful witch on the other side. Wild and completely out of control. She’d almost destroyed not only the portal but the bridge itself. All the Æsir in Midgard would die if the bridge connecting them to their home was destroyed. Asgard would be lost beyond recovery and Vanaheimr would likely suffer as well. It was something he hadn’t considered when helping to plan the invasion. The bridges were the energy conduit that connected the worlds, but they weren’t the only thing binding them together. Odin had complicated things before his death, protecting his people but making it harder to undo the damage. At this point, anything that tampered with the delicate network of spells could be catastrophic.

One of many reasons that he would welcome a quick death.

Rather than waste time forming the words, he pushed that opinion toward the bird and she closed her eyes while she sorted through it. Why had she come back? Even with him using what little energy he had left to cause that small rockslide and distract the demon torturing her, she’d barely escaped. If her idiot clan leader had sent her back, it should have been with an order to slit Kamis’s throat.

She opened her eyes. “He didn’t send me. The woman and child you helped to survive belong to him and he feels beholden to you. The hunt plans to ride and will free you. Our witch thinks she can pull you through the portal.”

“She’s young and doesn’t know what she’s dealing with. Tell her to leave the portal the Hel alone and cut her teeth on weather magic until she learns humility.” The idea of an untrained witch with so much power terrified him, especially when she had her sights set on portal magic.

He would swear the crow was laughing at him. “She might learn portal magic from you but likely not humility. Aiden will cross. He’ll free you. Be ready for that, whatever you decide.”

And she was gone, lifting into the bruised sky and winging toward the portal. He remembered the woman, Grace—human, vulnerable, stubbornly brave. Lately, he’d had the feeling that she was trying to reach him but had hidden himself from those questing dreams.

Vanaheimr was lost to him. He couldn’t go back to his world, wouldn’t want to if he could. By now, everyone he’d ever known would be long dead and buried. But the woman and child—that brief connection he’d made with each. The evidence of love in the sacrifices the Æsir made to find the lost members of their clan. It had planted a seed of hope. Maybe instead of looking back, it might be possible to move forward, to leave his past and this place behind him and become a new man.

He had a library full of ancient texts. There had to be a way to unravel it all. To make things right. Or was that only his pride speaking? And could he risk being wrong again?

Chapter Eighteen

Raquel pulled onto the gravel road that led to Aiden’s home behind a red Explorer. She eased up on the gas pedal so she wasn’t following right in the dust trail the truck kicked up. It was a lovely day—sharp and cold but as icily beautiful as cut crystal. Tomorrow was the first of December and the forecast called for snow, but there were no clouds in the sky yet.

Aiden had called a meeting to prepare the hunt for the crossing at the full moon in two days time. Raquel was nervous about attending although she’d already met most of the hunt at her welcome party.

She hadn’t talked to Christian or Fen. She hadn’t slept at all last night. Green Day came on the radio as she pulled into the driveway and she turned it off, parking in the grass behind the Explorer. Three men climbed out just as she did, the last one was Fen.

He stopped when he saw her and waved the others ahead. Frowning, he stared as she approached. She stared back but no matter how hard she tried, he didn’t seem any different. He was still...Fen. She’d hoped that if he bonded to someone else, she’d feel it too. That their strange connection would be severed. She’d spent a lot of time last night contemplating that, waiting to feel the knife. But it was still there, strong as ever. She met his dark gaze and reached for a smile.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey yourself.” A pause and he glanced back at his men climbing the stairs to the porch. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m crossing with the hunt.”

His expression went black. “The hell you are.”

“No, not Hel technically. Asgard.” She started toward the house, knowing he would follow. He caught her by the elbow before she’d taken more than two steps. When she swung on him, he released her as if she burned. And that reflex—as if he couldn’t even stand to touch her—goaded her into demanding, “Did you do it?”

She had no right to ask and it didn’t matter. She needed to know. His lips thinned and he shook his head. “I couldn’t.”

“Thank the gods,” she whispered.

He laughed harshly. “If there were any gods left, we wouldn’t be in this position, would we?”

“I’m glad you didn’t bond yourself. Not like that.”

He looked at her in disgust. “You don’t understand. I said I couldn’t go through with it, not that I didn’t want to. Not that I didn’t try.”

She frowned as he walked away. What did he mean? She ran to catch up. “Fen. Wait.”

“I have to talk to Aiden before he starts the meeting.”

He jogged up the steps and reached for the door just as Christian opened it. Fen jerked his head her way. “You knew about this?”

Christian stepped onto the porch, let the door slap closed behind him. “It was Aiden’s call, not mine.”

Fen reached for the door. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Good luck,” Christian called as Fen disappeared inside the house. Turning back to Raquel, he shook his head. “I’ve never seen him like this.”

She scowled at the closed door. “Angry?”

“Yeah. He’s always been easygoing for a hound. Until you got under his skin. Like a splinter.”

She turned her scowl on Christian. “I want to help him with this, but he won’t talk to me.”

“He’ll work it out.” He smiled and in a drippingly sarcastic tone, said, “You have to give these things time, Raquel.”

She snorted. “I am sick to death of waiting.”

“He needs to make up his own mind.”

Christian drew her aside as another group arrived. He nodded at the pair of women. Raquel knew she’d met them before but wouldn’t have been able to name them if her life depended on it.

“I talked to Aiden about the possibility of changing the terms of the contract. He’s willing to release you from the marriage, if you decide that’s what you want.” He paused, blue eyes calm and clear. When she nodded, he blinked once and continued, “We’ll need to convince our parents to agree to that, but Aiden won’t release you from the terms of service.”

“You mean—”

“Either way, you’re the clan witch.”

She swallowed and stared at the closed door. “So Aiden knows.”

“Not about Fen. That part is between you and him. By the time I reached Carly’s last night, Fen was already gone.”

“He said...” She wondered if she should really be discussing this with Christian, but he didn’t seem heartbroken.

“That he’s not bound? That’s what Carly said too, but I don’t know that it changes anything for you. I want to...I’ll talk to him and tell him how I feel about it.”

“How do you feel about it?”

Christian’s eyes went a little unfocused as he considered his answer. One corner of his mouth turned up and he shook his head. “Like the wall I’ve been leaning against my entire life is gone. I don’t know how to feel about it.”

She touched his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s past time I learned how to stand on my own feet.” His smile widened and he nudged her toward the door. “You figured it out. How hard can it be?”

“You’re really okay with this?”

“I have to be, don’t I?” He held open the door for her. “I wouldn’t gain anything by forcing you to marry me. But if there’s a chance this is just cold feet...”

“It’s not.”

He nodded and they went inside. She grabbed a folding chair from the stack against the wall and found an empty spot in the living room. Christian set up beside her and asked if she wanted anything to drink. She said no, but he still walked purposefully toward the kitchen. Even from out here, she could hear Fen’s angry voice and Aiden’s deeper one.

Really, with all the trouble she caused, she was surprised Aiden wanted to keep her.

Grace sat next to her and winced when a particularly inventive turn of phrase drifted down the hall. Conversation in the room paused briefly and resumed as if no one had heard a thing.

“I’m so very sorry,” Raquel said to Grace. “Fen’s angry with me and taking it out your husband.”

“They’ll figure it out.” Grace pushed a mug into her hands. “Here, take this. Aiden bought me an espresso machine for Christmas. It’s a latte, but it’s a double. You look like you need it more than I do.”

“That bad?”

“Just worn thin.” Grace turned her chair ever so slightly, placing her back to the huntswoman on her other side who’d seemed on the verge of asking questions. Grace, Raquel had noticed, was as subtle as Aiden was direct. Right now, she cast a warm and completely guileless smile in Raquel’s direction. “I imagine you didn’t get much sleep last night. Are you having second thoughts about the crossing? Aiden was surprised you offered.”

She regretted shaking her head in denial when Grace’s warm eyes narrowed. “Did Christian do something?”

“No,” Raquel rushed to reassure her, struck by a sudden certainty that if she didn’t convince her of that truth Grace would beat him into a whimpering puddle of apology. “Christian has been great. It’s not that.”

Grace opened her mouth, closed it and then tried again. “I won’t break a confidence, you know.”

“Not even to Aiden?”

“Not if it doesn’t concern him,” she said. “Though I trust Aiden completely. And he is the clan Odin. This...all of this weighs heavily on him, but he would move worlds to help any one of his people.”

Like Fen and Christian. Despite all the promises and contracts, Raquel wasn’t really a member of this clan yet. And she wouldn’t put Aiden in the position of having to choose between two of his men. “I know that.”

“It’s a shame that this is interfering with your plans for the wedding,” Grace said carefully, holding her gaze. Gently probing. Raquel knew that Grace was still a licensed private investigator. She imagined she was very good at her job and not just because she was Verthandi. “If there’s anything at all that I can do to help, just let me know.”

Raquel stared. Crap. “He told you.”

“Then Christian did speak to you first?”

“Of course he did. I’m the one who—”

“If you think...”

But Raquel missed the rest of whatever Grace said because Fen stormed in, expression thunderous. Without looking at her, he crossed to the far side of the room. He turned his hips and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. It hadn’t gone well then. Good. Someone touched her elbow to draw her attention, but she waited for Fen to look up. He scowled at the fireplace and, very pointedly, did not look at her.

Beside her, Grace made a choking noise.

“Are you okay?” Raquel asked absently, forcing herself to turn her head.

“No,” Grace said in strained voice. “I really don’t think that I am.”

But she looked fine, a little flushed and bright-eyed but not in need of a Heimlich maneuver or anything. Frowning, Grace glanced at Fen and back at Raquel.

Before Raquel could ask her what was wrong, Aiden entered the room. Christian took the seat beside her and the hunt quieted. Everyone turned their attention to focus on the Odin.

“First, for any of you who haven’t met her, this is Raquel.” Aiden pointed in her direction and Raquel straightened in her chair. “She’ll be our clan witch when Lois retires. And she’ll be riding with us.”

“She’s crossing?” Rane glanced her way and, when Aiden nodded, said, “Good. We’ll need a witch to get him out. He did have a message for you though.”

The wry smile on Rane’s face told her it wasn’t a good one. “How does he even know who I am?”

“He felt you blow through the wards and said to...be careful with the portal magic. He seems to think the bridge is more fragile than we suspect.”

Raquel turned cold. She hadn’t done anything to hurt Asbrú, had she?

Rane read her expression and shrugged. “Not because of our wards failing. I told him we meant to get him out and he didn’t think that was a good idea.” Hands clasped in front of her as she leaned forward, she returned her gaze to Aiden. “He asked me to kill him again.”

“Again?” Aiden’s voice was lethal as Skimstrok.

“I didn’t—”

“You were warned.” Rane opened her mouth again, and he waved his hand in a cutting motion. “We’ll discuss that later. Raquel is coming to see if we can get him out. Grace was able to contact him without placing herself in danger and from what she learned, he knows more about the bridges than we do.”

“He’s not the most reliable source,” Christian pointed out.

“In this, we listen to him, especially when he advises caution. Especially after Julian’s vision.”

Someone muttered something about Norns, but Aiden continued as if he hadn’t heard. “Julian saw the bridge fall and in the vision, the Vanir witch was dead. Until we understand exactly how those two things are connected, we do our best to keep the Vanir alive. If he’s well enough to avoid Surtr on his own, we simply set him free. If we can get him across, then we do that. We have to act as if it’s a true vision and preserve the witch’s life until we’ve no other choice.”

There was some grumbling but most accepted the unwelcome news in silence. Raquel turned her head to find Fen watching her. It was news to him. She saw a flash of surprise in his eyes along with worry and regret and grief before he looked away.

“Julian won’t be reliable until he’s matured and had some training,” Elin said. “Skuld visions are notoriously difficult to interpret. It could be that the bridge falls because of something we do to protect the witch.”

“Very true. It’s a complication and another reason why we need to bring Raquel with us. She’s our insurance plan.” Aiden glanced at Fen as if braced for an argument. When Fen didn’t object, he said, “Aside from Raquel, who I’ll brief separately, you all know what to expect when we cross. We follow Rane. Raquel will pull the witch from the ice as quickly as possible. And—yes, Michael?”

“What’s keeping the witch from escaping now?”

Rane answered, “Surtr found a binding charm. I think—Kamis thinks—it’s what they’re using to drain him too. I’ve seen it through the ice, but it’s wrapped around his ankles. Probably why they froze him into the ice in the first place. They’re not manacles. It’s a black chain that doesn’t appear to be attached to any kind of lock.”

“Was it rune-marked?” Raquel asked.

Rane grimaced. “I imagine that it is, but between the color and the distortion of the ice, I couldn’t tell.”

Raquel leaned forward to see past Grace. “I have a file of pictures on my laptop of all the magical artifacts retained by the clans. There are a few that might be similar to what you’ve described. Would you mind stopping by later to take a look?”

“Not at all. I can drive back into town with you after we’re done.”

“Did he say anything else we need to know about?”

Rane shook her head, black hair stark against her pale skin.

“Grace?” Aiden looked at his wife and for an instant, Raquel saw it again—a softening in his eyes, a warmth in his voice. The Odin was a real man after all. It was almost eerie, like seeing a granite statue coming to life.

“He didn’t say much. He pushed a barrage of impressions down the link. Mostly, his acceptance of his own death, his concern for us and the bridge. There’s an image of earth and Asgard and Vanheimr connected by...threads of light. You know the one in Hallie’s textbook?”

Aiden walked over to the bookshelf and picked up a thick book wrapped in a hot-pink-butterfly-print book cover. He flipped through until he found what he was looking for and brought it to her.

Grace nodded. “That’s the one.”

Raquel recognized it. She still had the same book in her bedroom at home. She’d left it behind with her collection of dragon figurines and that well-worn picture of Christian. Grace hadn’t been raised clan, and she seemed to be searching for the right words to explain what the Vanir had tried to communicate.

Raquel reached for the book. “May I?”

Aiden released it into her hands. She scooted closer to Grace and traced the threads with her fingertip. “This, we think, is the reason why Asgard didn’t fall completely. The bridge from Muspelheim was severed, which is why the demons can’t return to their home world without help from the Vanir.”

“Which they won’t give until we’re all dead,” Grace said.

Raquel nodded. “But Asgard is still connected to both Midgard and Vanheimr. This is Asbrú, the bridge we use to cross into Asgard. It’s one bridge formed of many threads. The colors in the picture are just to differentiate between the threads, but that’s why they call it the rainbow bridge. The threads split off from the bridge to wrap our planet and anchor the bridge. They do the same to Asgard. When we open a portal to make a jump between clans, we follow one of the individual threads, not the bridge itself.”

Understanding brightened Grace’s eyes followed by a shadow of uneasiness. To Aiden, she said, “He showed the bridge unraveling, but it started with one thread and there were far fewer threads binding it to the Asgard side than ours. Can it be so weak?”

Aiden looked to Raquel for an answer, but she had none to give. She hoped that wasn’t true, hoped the Vanir witch was only trying to scare them off. She was powerful, but no Æsir living or dead was powerful enough to fix Asbrú.

* * *

Fen watched Raquel leave with Rane. He didn’t even have to push aside the lacy curtains Grace had hung in the front window to do it. He wondered if that’s why she’d picked the lace. Grace liked to know what was going on around her at all times. It had something to do with the things she’d seen in her job as a private investigator but more to do with the way she’d grown up, he thought.

She came to stand next to him now and wrapped her arm around his waist. There was a time not long ago when Grace had flinched every time someone touched her. Aiden seemed to have cured her of that. Fen resisted the urge to curl into her for comfort. He wasn’t a little boy, and there were still a few of his men wandering around the house. And Aiden...well, he was already pissed off that Fen had challenged his decision.

He looked down into Grace’s upturned face. “Didn’t see this one coming did you.”

“Nope,” she said. “And I’m a Verthandi not Skuld. There’s a difference. I can’t see the future.”

“So you keep telling me. Are you sure you didn’t just keep this one to yourself for the entertainment value of watching it knock me off my feet?”

Her brown eyes lit. “She knocked you off your feet?”

“Like a jötunn taking down a toddler. There was nothing pleasant about it, so you can wipe that goofy romantic grin right off your face.”

Her smile widened and she hugged him tighter before letting him go. “Maybe the pleasant part will come later.”

“Brat,” he said without heat. “There’s not going to be a later. Christian—”

“Christian never loved her. He came to talk to Aiden last night about the possibility of reworking the contract. He seemed...frustrated by the mess of it, but he wasn’t heartbroken. You’re the hot mess...and Raquel doesn’t look like she’s been sleeping either.”

Raquel’s car bumped down the driveway that would need to be regraded in the spring, and Fen turned away from the window. “She would be happier with Christian than she would be with me.” Grace opened her mouth to object, but he held up his hand. Grace hadn’t been raised clan and didn’t see all of the possible complications. “How many happy hound relationships have you seen?”

“Your parents.”

He shook his head. Everyone held them up as an example. “You didn’t see it from the inside.”

“That doesn’t mean it would be the same for you. I might not have been raised clan, but Raquel was. Trust her to know what she’s getting herself into.”

He smiled then because he couldn’t help it. She didn’t understand Rocky at all. “She leaps into trouble with both feet. You saw her face right after she crossed over, all starry-eyed and drooling when she saw Christian.”

“But she figured it out soon enough.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “And the runes on her leg?”

“Everyone makes mistakes, Fen.”

He grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair. “I know that. I just don’t want to be one of them.” He dropped a kiss to her forehead and headed for the door. “Stop worrying about me.”

“Fen,” she called out and he turned. “What happened with Carly?”

Of course, Grace would know about that. By now, everyone in town probably knew what a pathetic fool he was. And they didn’t even know the worst of it. Gods willing, no one ever would.

“Nothing happened. Nothing at all.”

* * *

It had been Audrey’s idea to come out to the scenic overlook to break the news to their mother. Five miles outside of town. A steep drop. Total isolation. Raquel arched one brow at her sister. “Nice place to dispose of the body.”

Audrey smiled enigmatically and leaned against the hip-high stone wall. “I didn’t know about this either, Mom. Not until this morning.”

Raquel shook her head and turned to look at her mother’s retreating back. On impulse, she spun back to the cliff and shouted into the gorge. It wasn’t nearly as satisfying as she’d hoped. The sound echoed, empty and hollow, before merging with the dull rumble of thunder. Audrey glanced nervously at the sky. Raquel followed her gaze and swore under her breath. Storm clouds roiled directly over their heads. Black and ominous, maybe they would have passed for normal during the summer. No way would that pass for normal in November.

Lightning sliced down and she could feel the impact below her feet. “Mom.”

“I’m going to call your father.” She stormed off toward the car.

“You’re lucky she didn’t hit you with that one.” Audrey smirked. “Æsir or no, that would have stung.”

“She’s not going to let this go easily, is she?”

Audrey tipped her head to one side. “You sound surprised. She’s only been planning this wedding for the last twenty-five years.”

“I don’t care about the wedding.” Raquel sounded childish and bitter even to her own ears.

“But she does. Dad will talk her down. You should have called him first. He would be here within the hour if the full moon wasn’t tomorrow.”

“Well, that’s something.”

“This is about Fen, isn’t it?” The frown on Audrey’s face was more confusion than concern.

Raquel pushed away from the wall and brushed the sandy grit from her palms. “Yeah, it’s about Fen. Not his fault or anything. He just made me realize I couldn’t go through with marrying Christian.”

“You should have told her we were just swapping out the grooms,” Audrey said. “Sure, she’s a little in love with Christian herself but if she at least gets to have her wedding, she might not blow anything up.”

The black clouds were slowly dispersing, like ink dropped into clear water. Raquel wondered what the news would make of it. Iowa weather seemed...odd. Possibly the locals wouldn’t even blink.

“Fen doesn’t want me.”

Audrey made a dismissive sound. “You’re wrong about that. He’s one great big furry ball of wanting you.”

“And you know this how?”

“I’ve spent time with the two of you. I figured you didn’t want to deal with the complications of bonding a hound or that you liked Christian more or that you were going to do your normal thing and go along with what everyone wanted you to do. It’s cool, you know, you tearing up the contract and going after what you want. Crazy in a berserker sort of way, but cool.” Audrey squinted into the sun and grinned. “Are you going to toss Fen over your shoulder and chain him to your bed?”

Raquel rolled her eyes. “I’m letting him make up his mind.”

Audrey was silent for several moments. A bald eagle dropped from its high perch in the tree across the river and dove toward the water, bringing up a struggling fish. The enormous bird beat its wings to gain altitude and then drifted in a gentle arc toward the tree line again.

“What does Fen say about all this?”

“That he never wanted a mate.”

“Some hounds don’t. You’re asking a lot from him. You’re asking him for everything.”

Raquel shoved her hands in her pockets. “He says he doesn’t want to get between me and Christian, but I think you’re right. He’s scared.”

“Well, you did almost destroy his town.”

“Shut up.” She grinned. “He doesn’t like change.”

“No hound ever does.”

“He doesn’t want to have kids. And...” Audrey waited, patient, attentive, concerned. Raquel sighed. “And he hasn’t said this, but I think he’s worried I’ll decide in a few years that I picked the wrong man.”

Her sister’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve only known each other a few weeks. Is it a possibility?”

“No,” Raquel said softly. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”

Chapter Nineteen

They gathered at Aiden’s house at four on the night of the full moon. The diner had sent over a few trays of lasagna, garlic bread and salad along with every sort of pie they made. When the riders went to prepare the horses, Raquel offered to help Grace clean up the mess because she couldn’t sit still and do nothing but worry.

“You don’t have to help with this. I can take care of it after...” Grace frowned at the bubbles in the sink. “I hate that he’s going without me.”

Raquel dropped a handful of forks into the soapy water. “You want to go?”

“No one in their right mind wants to go. But if he has to cross into Asgard, I’d like to be there too. I haven’t been training for very long with the sword.” She shrugged. “The gun has always been my weapon of choice.”

Guns were like engines, unreliable during a surge. And nonnative metals often didn’t come out the other side of a portal in the same shape they entered.

Grace gripped the edge of the counter, head bowed. “I’m sorry. I hate this. I wish...”

For one alarming moment, Raquel thought she was going to start crying. Raquel liked Grace well enough—what she knew of her—but she barely had the strength to keep her own nerves in check right now, let alone try to soothe someone else’s. But Grace didn’t cry. Her hands balled into fists and she scowled at the dishes. There was a slight tremor in her shoulders. This was worse, watching her try to swallow all her emotions.

Hesitantly, Raquel put her hand on Grace’s back. When Grace took a squeaky breath, Raquel took a step closer. Aiden walked into the kitchen just as she was wrapping her arms around his wife. He paused in the doorway before stepping forward.

“Your husband looks jealous,” she whispered into Grace’s hair. “He’s not going to drag me outside for this, is he?”

“I’ll protect you if he does.”

“Maybe between the two of us we can take him.”

Aiden grunted. “I might risk it, but I’m pretty sure both Christian and Fen would take your side.” He drew Grace into his arms and nodded at Raquel. For once, there was a touch of real warmth in his eyes. “I’ve got this. Thank you.”

Raquel dropped her hand towel onto the counter and left them alone. The twins were playing UNO with Hallie on the living room floor. A dog sprawled beside them, head on his paws, watching the fall of the cards with interest. For a split second, Raquel wondered where the hell the dog had come from until she realized it was one of the hounds, already changed.

Not Fen. This one was smaller and dark brown rather than midnight black. She waved when Rane looked up and then fled upstairs to the only bathroom in the house. If she’d actually managed to eat anything at dinner, she’d probably throw it up now. She didn’t really have to use the bathroom. She just needed a minute to herself. Her hands shook as she closed the door and leaned against it.

She hadn’t been in there long—she didn’t think she’d been in there long—before there was a knock on the door. Opening her eyes, she breathed a curse.

“Just a minute,” Raquel called out as she washed her hands to cover up the fact that she was in there hiding like a coward.

She flung open the door and froze when she saw who it was. Fen. One hand resting on the doorframe, dark head bent.

He looked up when she sucked in a mouthful of air. “Can I come in?”

Stepping back, she sat on the closed toilet seat as he shut the door.

“Are you okay?”

“Great.” She might die tonight. She’d destroyed every plan she had for her future. The man she’d fallen hopelessly, desperately in love with had rejected her. Twice. “I’ll be fine.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned against the wall opposite her. “You know, for two people who just met, we spend a lot of time in the bathroom together.”

Despite everything, he still had the power to make her smile. “This one wasn’t my doing. I was innocently using the bathroom when you came along.”

“You were hiding,” he said. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Is that why you tracked me down? You don’t have to smother me, Fen. I get plenty of that.”

“Is your mom giving you trouble...Christian?”

She glanced at the door and thought about skipping this conversation, not sure her nerves could take it. But then she thought about all the people waiting downstairs, remembered Grace in Aiden’s arms. Fen stood as far away from her as he could get in this small space, but he was here. Her friend despite the fact she’d done nothing but complicate his life.

She sighed. “They’re fine. Neither of them wants me to do this.”

Fen frowned at the tips of his boots. “I have a right to watch out for you too.”

“As a clan member.”

He raised his head and something about the look in his eyes locked her in place. A hard look. No hint of humor there. Just a deep and raw hunger she felt like an ache in her bones.

“More than that, Rocky. You know that.”

“A friend.”

He stared and seemed to struggle with himself for a moment before pushing off the wall. One step brought him within reach, another and he did touch her, sliding his fingers along her jaw to lift her face. She closed her eyes, absorbing every second of that touch, wrapping it up in memory and making it a part of her.

He waited for her to open her eyes, then stared at her for a moment longer.

The corners of his mouth were pulled tight. He really had a beautiful mouth for a man—wide and expressive. His lips thin but fascinatingly mobile. Tension trembled in the hand that cupped her face, but his touch was careful, almost reverent.

“You really have no idea, do you?” His voice was husky. “I thought for sure that you would know.”

“Know what?”

He swallowed, the muscles in his neck flexing with the movement. “I barely understood what sex meant when I swore it off. It hasn’t been easy to keep that promise. It was never easy. But I never doubted it was the right thing to do.”

“Until you suddenly decide to bond to a woman you don’t even like?”

“I like Carly.”

She flinched as if struck.

“That’s not what—” Fen swore and leaned down to grab her hand. “Come here.”

“Fen...I can’t do this right now. It hurts.”

“I know. Believe me, I know it.” He straightened, pulling her up with him. When his arms settled around her, she stiffened. She wanted this so badly. But her world was falling apart right now and she couldn’t handle another blow. Pressing his cheek to her hair, he whispered, “Let me hold you, Rocky. Please. I just want to hold you for a minute.”

How could she say no to that?

A shudder ran the length of her body, and she let him draw her in. His legs were parted and she stood between them, her hips snug to his, her head resting on his shoulder, lips pressed to the side of his neck. He’d showered before coming. His skin smelled strongly of the soap he used, the fabric softener on his T-shirt, Fen. She could feel his warmth seep into her where they touched, feel the strength in his lean, hard body.

“This okay?”

Okay? Nothing...nothing had every felt so deeply, perfectly right. When she wrapped her arms around his waist, he sighed and touched his lips to her temple.

“I’m doing a crap job of this. When we get back, we need to talk.” She held her breath, waiting for him to continue. “About you upending my life and shaking out all the pieces. About exactly how the mating bond works.”

He wasn’t making any promises, she noticed, but hope filled her anyway, as powerful as the flow of magic passing through the fault. “We can talk now.”

“Not now. It’s almost time to go.” Placing him thumb beneath her jaw, he tipped back her head. His eyes fairly glowed. “I need you to do something for me. Don’t take any chances while we’re over there. You listen to Christian, and to Aiden.” The arm around her waist tightened. “You make it back. Okay, Rocky?”

She swallowed past the lump in throat. “Same goes for you.”

He touched his forehead to hers and closed his eyes. She thought he meant to kiss her. And—oh gods—did she want that kiss. Warmth slid down her spine. Her whole body tingled in expectation. He seemed to brace himself, but instead of kissing her, he let out a shaky breath. Then he let her go. She didn’t immediately release him, but Fen backed away slowly, as if every muscle had gone stiff.

“They’re bringing the horses around now. You’re sure you want to do this?”

“I’d rather finish this talk.”

A touch of amusement in his eyes, but the smile there didn’t reach the rest of his face. Reaching past her, he opened the door. “Make it back and we’ll do that.”

* * *

Christian touched her knee. “Comfortable?”

“Sure.” She adjusted her foot in the stirrup and after trying and failing to figure out what else to do with her arms, she wrapped them around his waist.

He stiffened and then let out a short laugh as he relaxed. “You know, when I used to imagine this kind of thing, I always thought you’d be more enthusiastic.”

“Yeah?”

“And naked.”

“On a horse?”

“You lost your right to criticize my fantasy life.” She slapped his stomach, but her position didn’t allow her to do any real damage. He rubbed her arm. “As much as I enjoy this, I’d rather not die before we leave the yard.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Fen’s already shifted and I’ve seen him give demons kinder looks than the one he’s giving me now. What exactly happened upstairs?”

She loosed her hold on Christian’s waist and tried to see over his shoulder. His stiff leather armor made him even bulkier than normal and she couldn’t see a thing.

“He wants to talk when we get back.” For a minute she’d thought Fen might kiss her, but he hadn’t. “He tried to talk me out of coming again.”

“Huh.” Christian drew in a breath as if he might say more, but she was pretty sure he changed direction at the last minute. “I’ll get you back safely. Here.” He took her hand and moved it. “Aiden had this saddle designed when Grace rode with us to find Hallie. There are handholds so you don’t get in the way of me using the sword.”

“I don’t like feeling helpless.”

“You’re a witch,” he countered. “A good one. You’ll never be helpless. I’ll take care of the demons. You worry about getting the Vanir free. Deal?”

“Yeah.”

Aiden lifted Hallie into a bear hug and then kissed Grace one last time before mounting his big, black horse. Christian’s was a dappled gray that seemed silver in the quickly fading light.

Aiden held up his hand, half goodbye, half signal, and they moved toward the woods.

The days were short this time of year and the sun set quickly, sinking like a pebble in a pond. Raquel could almost see the shadows moving, spreading from the trees to slip over the fields. Reaching toward them like long black fingers. Frost crunched beneath the horses hooves but otherwise the hunt was silent. It was weird being with them. Ever since she was a little girl, she’d watched her father ride out at least twice a month to make sure no demons slipped through into their town. She’d always understood that he risked his life to keep her and all of the Æsir in his care safe. But she’d only ridden with them once, on her own horse, when Kathy convinced her father that a clan witch needed to know exactly what the hunt did. He’d planted her as far away from the fault as he could manage, stationing half the hounds and two huntsmen around her.

And it had still been terrifying.

The speed with which the demons moved. The ferocity of the riders. The blaze of Skimstrok and the black darts that were the hounds. And the magic, more powerful than anything she’d been exposed to, raw and bleeding from Asgard into this world. The riders were people she’d known all her life, but that night had been a revelation.

She’d understood why Kathy insisted she go. Raquel had asked to accompany the hunt a second time to try to make sense of the magic, all those small interactions. It was like an incredibly complex symphony and experiencing it once hadn’t been enough. Despite her fear, she’d wanted to witness that horrible perfect beauty again in an attempt to grasp the how of it.

Seeing the hunt in action had also made her aware of all they had lost. An ancestor of hers had cast the spell that made it possible. She could barely comprehend the complexity of the spellcraft, let alone hope to recreate something similar. Instead of giving her some insight to enable her to reach her magic, it had only made her more wary than ever—and she was not by nature a particularly humble or cautious person.

The harsh caw from a crow caused her to jump and Christian touched her knee. “Steady. It’s Rane letting us know she’s reached the portal and that the way is clear. A couple months ago, it split early and we ran right into a pair of demons heading toward Alan’s house. Elin saw them a few seconds before I jumped the ditch they were hiding in. She saved my life. Aiden’s had the crows scouting the area early and thoroughly before we ride, especially with the fault so unstable.”

That thought distracted her temporarily and she grabbed onto it. “Christian? What’s between you and Elin? Without the contract in your way, maybe you can be together.”

She felt his sigh more than heard it. He dropped back a bit and the deepening darkness gave them the illusion of privacy. The frost on the ground glinted, making it seem as if they passed through a field of stars. It crackled beneath the horse’s hooves as they rode. Christian’s voice lowered even further though they’d barely been speaking above a whisper. “Did Fen tell you that? That’s not why—”

“No,” she said. “That’s not the reason I can’t marry you. You know this isn’t right either or you would have been more upset about me breaking it off. I didn’t even get a sniffle.”

“Maybe I’m crying on the inside. Is this you trying to ease your conscience?”

“Do I need to?”

He gave a long-suffering sigh. “If I say yes, do you go back to being too scared to talk to me?”

“I was never scared.”

“Good.”

“Elin?” She prodded gently when he fell silent.

“Elin’s in love with a man who’s been dead nearly a century. She’s no more in love with me than I am with her, though I do love her dearly.”

And now Raquel felt like crap for bringing it up, not only because she again felt guilty about ditching Christian but also because her heart ached for Elin. “I’m sorry. I thought you were together.”

“We were,” he said quietly. “For a time, until I realized she was only interested in me because I reminded her of someone else.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say anything to her.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“And you don’t need to worry—” His head lifted as if he scented the wind. All the hair lifted on her body. She felt it too. “It’s starting.”

Christian kicked his horse forward. She wanted to rub her arms to scratch away the pressure against her skin. Old magic. It called a response from inside her. Odin hadn’t created the bridge, no Æsir had. They simply were, like the stars and the planets. Her people had learned to travel them, manipulate them to some extent. But if they’d ever understood completely how the bridges worked, that knowledge was lost to them now.

Odin, to protect his fleeing people, spelled Asbrú to prevent the non-Æsir from crossing. The fire demons could cross though. The geis they were under to destroy the Æsir allowed them to pass. Their magic tied to both Asgard and the Æsir. If what she suspected was true, the demons might not survive the fulfillment of their bargain with the Vanir. And maybe that’s what the Vanir had intended all along. Who could say? Motivation wasn’t her concern. She just needed to untangle the mess left behind. It was the geis that had given her the idea to tether Kamis’s magic to hers. It should allow him to cross.

She wrapped her hands around the leather grips until her knuckles ached, forced her fingers to relax so she didn’t lose the use of them. The hunt gained speed as they approached the fault almost as if pulled to it. When the portal was open like this, there was no mistaking the location. Even the horses, bred from Asgard stock, could feel it. The horses not with them would be locked in their stalls so they couldn’t follow the call. Children would be watched over more closely than usual. Doors would be locked. The hunt thundered through the woods toward the source of the magic, frost crackling beneath their feet, steam billowing with every breath. The faint glow emanating from their Skimstrok blades grew stronger the closer they got to the portal. And they were very close now. Despite her fear, her heartbeat slowed to match the low throb of the magic. The trees passed in a blur. There was only the hunt, ancient, fierce, terrible and necessary.

Humans thought the riders of the hunt were ghosts. Raquel could see that. There were ghosts here tonight. Her ancestors, explorers who’d first crossed into this world to learn about its people, as gods and then as refugees, and every generation of her family since then, riding this hunt beneath full moon and dark, the magic of Asgard pulsing in their veins.

Christian gave a shout and she found one erupting from her own mouth when the portal came into sight, a shimmer of magic, spreading like a ripple in the fabric of this world. The crows were first through, dropping to a glide and then disappearing as soon as they touched the portal. Fen. Aiden. Christian’s body tensed and her heart skipped a beat as they were engulfed in the most powerful magic she’d ever encountered. The sliding sensation of movement even though her thighs and hands locked her to the horse. Like riding the world’s shortest, fastest roller coaster.

Then they were in Asgard.

Christian didn’t hesitate. At some point during their mad ride, he’d drawn his blade. Not two steps past the portal and something leaped at them from the right. She flinched, the horse’s step faltered briefly and Christian’s body flexed as he slashed the thing to the ground. They moved on without making sure the demon was dead. She’d been warned that speed was of the greatest importance. Get in and get out before the demons had a chance to swamp them.

Right now, there were only a few demons around them and the hunt passed easily, following Rane and Elin through the stark landscape. There was no wind, yet the cold still cut to the bone. It looked like the waste left behind after a volcanic eruption, but the jagged hills weren’t formed of volcanic rock, they were covered in a slick black ice. Raquel was surprised to see trees—bare and twisted, possibly petrified. She couldn’t imagine how they could be alive, how anything could survive here.

She also couldn’t have imagined the hunt moving faster than it had been when they accelerated for the crossing. But now, with the demons on their heels, they flew. Hooves clattered on the brittle ice that fractured like obsidian. No wonder they wrapped the horses’ legs. She was grateful for the leather guards protecting her own. She shifted her weight when Christian leaned forward, trying to move with him, trying to stay the hell out of his way. They slowed briefly, though she didn’t know the cause of it until they surged forward again and she looked down to see the slaughtered demons beneath the horse’s hooves.

A claw tipped hand reached for her foot and she kicked out. Christian turned his head. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she shouted, trying to get her foot back in the stirrup. “Just keep going.”

He’d never really paused. She had the feeling that if she’d been injured, he would only have spared enough time to make sure she was securely strapped to the horse. Down they passed, into a narrow and sheer-sided canyon, which seemed to her to be a really good way to be ambushed, but she trusted Aiden to know better than she did. The bridge that arched overhead was delicate and far too symmetrical to be a natural formation. The road they traveled on now might have once been a thoroughfare. People, her people, had once lived here.

A mass rose up ahead of them and she craned her neck to see it better over Christian’s shoulder. Algae clung to the battered rock, glowing with a blue light that outlined the ruin beneath.

A hound bayed, and they turned sharply right when they came out of the narrow passageway. To the left a pair of hounds blocked off a group of demons coming from the opposite direction. Her head snapped forward when Christian spoke her name.

“He’s here. Up ahead near Aiden. Can you dismount?”

Forcing her shaking muscles to move, she grabbed the arm Christian offered to steady herself. He grinned at her before letting go, lifting his chin toward the front of the line. “Up there. Hurry.”

Aiden had already dismounted and climbed onto a ledge. As she approached him at a shaky run, he held out his hand. One of the crows perched on an outcrop of rock above them, the other still circled far overhead, a black speck, calm and far removed from the chaos on the ground. Maybe being a crow wouldn’t be so bad, after all.

Aiden grabbed her forearm and pulled her up. And Raquel found herself standing face to face with the most powerful witch she’d ever encountered.

There was a definite pecking order within any coven. Nonwitches, even pure-blooded Æsir, usually couldn’t distinguish levels of power unless they were of enormous magnitude. Aiden’s frown was fierce and she wondered if it hid as much fear as she felt welling up inside her. How could she hope to contain someone like this?

The Vanir was ancient, very powerful, and he was dying. Glassy gray eyes blinked open above hollowed cheeks. A face that looked to have been lean to begin with was now emaciated and pinched with pain. It wasn’t lack of food that had done this. She could feel the power draining from him. Rane was right, whatever the demons were using to steal his energy was buried beneath the rock that encased the lower half of his body. How did they channel it? She wondered if—

“Can you get him free?” Aiden demanded.

She stepped forward, dropped to her knees and pressed her face to the rock. She couldn’t see a damn thing, but she could feel the energy and it was familiar enough that she didn’t really need a sight confirmation. A piece of Gleipnir, the chain that had bound Fenrisúlfr until the last battle. Her clan had a link of it in the vaults, as did most of the others. She’d studied it extensively back in junior high.

She looked up at Aiden and nodded. “Stand back.”

Rane cawed and he leaped down from the ledge. As soon as he was clear, Raquel pressed both hands to the rock as close as she could get to the witch’s legs without actually touching him. She didn’t want to touch the chain’s magic yet. The rock first. Closing her eyes, she went to work.

A pained gasp came from the witch a moment before she felt the rock liquefy beneath her palms. She kept a portion of her concentration directed toward keeping the ground beneath her knees solid. “Can you pull yourself out?”

“I can’t move my legs.” But Kamis reached back to grab onto the lip of rock. With his right hand. He was missing his left. “I think...I can do it.”

After a few seconds of watching him struggle to lift his weight, it became clear to her that he simply didn’t have the strength.

“Aiden,” she turned to shout. When she looked back, the witch was already swinging his legs free, yanking at the chain wrapped loosely around his ankles. She lifted her hands and Aiden hauled her to her feet.

Kamis looked directly at Raquel and ice slid down her spine. “All this trouble just to kill me. You should have sent the crow to do the job.”

Aiden shook his head. “We haven’t come to kill you.”

The Vanir witch laughed, which was particularly creepy because his mouth never moved. She could simply feel his amusement through the telepathic link he used to communicate.

“I cannot cross Asbrú. Odin spelled the bridge to prevent us from traveling to Midgard. Who knows what damage this—” he cast the chain away in disgust, “—has already wrought?”

She pulled the amulet from beneath her armor and the witch’s attention shifted to her. He stared at the amulet at first in confusion and then in dawning horror as he recognized what she held. “You think I’d rather be your pet than Surtr’s? You don’t know what powers you play with, little girl.”

“There’s a risk,” she said, and the Vanir barked out a harsh laugh.

“It’s a simple geis.”

“I know what it is,” he hissed.

She swallowed hard. “It will allow you to cross without danger to the bridge.”

“Or it might kill us both. You cannot know for certain.”

“The reason the demons can cross Asbrú is because of the geis binding them to us. They can’t leave Asgard until all of us are dead. If you’re bound to me, you can cross too. It will work.” She saw confirmation of that on the witch’s face.

“You dabble in things you do not understand, child,” Kamis said. “Even the gods did not place such things lightly.”

“It’s the only way I could think of so. Unless you have a better idea...”

His jaw clenched and she felt certain that he would deny it even though she knew she was right. Rane dropped from her ledge, landed a foot away from him. Kamis looked at her and some of the defiance seemed to drain from him. “Until Surtr attempted to use my magic to break the curse laid on his kind by mine, he believed that there was a chance he could one day return to his home. They’ve lost their connection to their world and only survive because you do. The geis keeps them alive, binds them to you and allows them to cross Asbrú. It has also...changed them. Once they were not so very different from you or I. I don’t know exactly what your geis will do to me, but it will change me as well.”

“But will it work?” Aiden repeated.

Kamis stared at Raquel as if looking into her soul. Measuring, weighing her and the price she was asking him to pay. The geis would give her complete control over not only his power but his will, if she chose to abuse the link. “It will allow me to cross Asbrú.”

“Will you accept it?” Aiden asked him. The alternative was death, he didn’t need to say it out loud. But many people would choose death over the alternative she offered.

When Kamis nodded, Raquel stepped forward to place the slender chain around his neck. At first there was nothing. Kamis touched the small stone which was bound in silver and suspended on a leather cord. She felt a flash of disappointment as she started to climb to her feet. Then the rune magic activated and dropped her to her knees. Too much. His power compared to hers—the imbalance was too great. The witch’s power wrapped around her body and entered her, seeking to bond to her magic, trying to find space inside her where there was none.

He was so strong. She’d never imagined...

Vaguely, she was aware of someone shaking her shoulder and then of Aiden shouting in her ear. She couldn’t swim up to the surface to answer him. It was the Vanir that kept her from drowning when he could have taken control of her magic, overpowered her through the link and leashed her instead. He...pulled back even as Aiden tossed her over his shoulder and passed her to Christian. When Christian called her name, she blinked and the world snapped back into place.

But this wasn’t her world. They needed to get the hell out of here.

The demons were beginning to swarm. The hounds were still holding them back but even as she watched, the circle tightened. They would need Christian’s sword and he couldn’t fight when he was carrying her.

“I can hold on.” By the time she was secure behind Christian, Aiden had managed to get the Vanir witch onto the horse with him. She didn’t know how Kamis was holding on. He looked half-dead, but his face tightened with determination as Aiden gave a shout. The hunt was on the move again.

She was aware of motion. At one point, she was nearly bumped out of the saddle by a sudden stop, but Christian grabbed her arm and jerked her back into place. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she shouted, but she wasn’t really. It was taking all her concentration to get a grip on the binding. Kamis was not only the most powerful witch she’d ever encountered, he also had exquisite control over his power. She was beginning to suspect that he’d nearly reversed the geis just to show her that he could. To prove a point. Not out of pride, but out of warning. It wouldn’t matter. He couldn’t remove it now that it was set, no more than he would be able to remove the amulet from his neck. He was hers, but she was having a hell of a time adjusting to the change. It was more of a burden than she’d expected and she felt like a donkey with a poorly weighted load.

“An ass,” came the amused commentary from down the link.

Oh, shit. “Get out of my head.”

Christian stiffened. “Raquel?”

“I’m fine,” she said, and Christian bent again over the neck of his horse. The horses could ride faster than the demons could run and it was a full out race to the portal now. The only demons they engaged were the ones they couldn’t avoid. Those they trampled when they could, attempted to behead them if they got within range of their weapons.

Kamis’s consciousness crowded her and Raquel pushed against it, aware that she needed to lock her own thoughts inside her head. As they streaked through the shadow world that Asgard had become, she built a mental shield. She didn’t want the Vanir to be able to pick up on her thoughts. Even more than that, she didn’t want to know his.

Ahead, the portal was an open gash, bleeding the warmth of Midgard into this dead world. At the edge of her consciousness, she felt Aiden removing the blocks he’d placed after they crossed. As they barreled toward the portal, he widened the flow so that the hunt could pass through again and return home. She and Kamis should go last...just in case.

Christian and Aiden seemed to think the same thing because they slowed, allowing the rest to push forward. A flash of movement caught her eye and she sucked in a mouthful of cold, metallic air before realizing that it was Fen. How long had he been there? Pacing along a step behind them, protecting their flank.

The static hum of the portal increased as the first riders reached it. Almost there.

Five yards before they reached the shimmering air that marked their goal, a large demon unfolded from the shadows. Christian’s horse screamed and instinctively tried to stop. Fighting for control, Christian urged his panicked mount forward as the animal tried to turn and run. The portal was their only chance and they were so freaking close. Fen leaped at the demon’s throat and was swatted aside with a heavy sound that made her stomach clench in fear. She turned her head to follow him, but her attention snapped back when Christian wheeled his horse around. The demon went directly for Aiden and Kamis. Aiden was hampered by Kamis, slung over the horse’s back like the deadweight he currently was. Christian swore and she felt his indecision.

“Put me down. I can make it through on my own. Bring me Kamis if you can. Aiden needs you.”

There wasn’t time to discuss it and Christian damn well knew it. He dropped her to her feet and shouted at her to run. She couldn’t help scanning the area for a sign of Fen. She didn’t know where—

There, beside Aiden, crouched, snarling and ready to lunge for the demon’s throat at the first opening. A sob of relief and frustration escaped her. She lowered her newly built shields and said to Kamis, “You need to get to me. We need to cross together.”

“I don’t—”

Christian engaged the demon and shouted something at Aiden she couldn’t hear. Aiden dropped back and lowered Kamis into Raquel’s waiting arms before returning to the fight. Her legs nearly buckled beneath his weight until he managed to stand on his own. She placed her shoulder under his armpit and dragged him toward the portal. The demons that had been chasing them on their ride were there now too, some distracted by the higher level demon fighting Aiden, Fen and Christian beside the portal, but a few were headed their way. She gathered electricity from the air and zapped the first one stupid enough to get close.

“Five more feet,” she said as much to Kamis as to herself. “You can do this.”

But his legs were barely moving. He couldn’t support his own weight and the demons, even the singed ones, were drawing closer. The Vanir’s cold, thin arms wrapped around her waist and his breath touched her ear. But when he spoke, his voice was inside her head. “Am I worth this, little girl?”

“Shut up,” she snapped and turned them toward the portal.

She directed another bolt at the closest demon, but defending herself in this way required both an enormous amount of energy and concentration. She heard Fen howl in rage or pain and turned her head. Mistake.

A demon leaped down on them from a boulder and hit her shoulder hard. She heard a ripping noise and felt the warmth of the blood before the pain hit. She wouldn’t look. Struggling to her feet, it was now Kamis trying to pull her toward the portal. With a last heroic effort, she managed to get her feet under her and lunged forward. They hit the portal just as the injured demon rolled to its feet. White light exploded in her head. Behind her eyes. For an instant there was nothing except her and Kamis and that cursed silver amulet binding them. Then there was pain.

And darkness.

They passed through and for a second she thought she’d made a mistake. That the geis hadn’t worked or they’d accidentally exited through another portal. Everything looked strange and unnatural, a white hazy wash of light that hurt her eyes, which had adjusted to the darkness of Asgard. But then she realized...

It was snowing.

She looked down. Blood stained the snow red where her hand pressed to the ground. She still had a hand though, two of them, so that was something. A shout came from the left followed by the clean whistling slice of a Skimstrok blade. Hard hands dragged her away from the portal, but she could barely open her eyes. She didn’t know who lifted her onto a horse. Someone cradled her on his lap, but she couldn’t drag her attention away from the portal. They would make it out. They had to.

Snow drifted down so sweet and soft and gentle.

The open portal shimmered in the air like heat from a hot sidewalk on a summer’s day but didn’t melt the snow. The heaped body of the demon stupid enough to chase them directly into the waiting hunt lay beside the portal. She stared until her eyes burned. And then Christian emerged, followed by a bloody Aiden hunched over his horse’s neck. And finally, after a brief pause, there was Fen. She closed her eyes.

Chapter Twenty

“Ouch, Alan.” Raquel tried to pull her arm back, but Alan had a firm hold on her wrist and the pain that accompanied her attempt made her vision go gray at the edges.

He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and cut through what was left of her shirt. With one last snip, he clipped her bra strap and grinned. “Don’t worry, I’m a doctor and happily married and attached to my head. I don’t know if Christian or Fen would rip it off faster.”

“Ha.” He wasn’t interested in her body aside from the great gaping slash on her shoulder and she knew it. There were actually three gashes at the top of her shoulder that sort of blended into one tear ending beneath her armpit. It was still weeping blood, and she’d been dizzy and a little nauseous before she got a good look at it.

He whistled softly. “That is a beauty. Here, you can lie down. It stops before it reaches your back. Okay, now you have to let me in.”

He placed his hand directly over the wound, not touching her skin but close enough to breach her personal shields. She closed her eyes and set aside her protective blocks. Normally, she didn’t bother with them though some witches kept them up all the time. She’d placed them before the crossing and held them because they added an extra barrier of protection between her and Kamis. Now, as she dropped her shields, her awareness of the Vanir witch increased. He was sleeping, thank the gods.

“Did you look at the witch’s legs yet?” she asked and then hissed as Alan began to repair the deeper wound in the muscle.

“Briefly. Whatever Surtr did, it didn’t affect blood flow so there’s no permanent damage. Mostly muscle atrophy. A burn where the chain was wrapped. He needs rest...if Aiden decides you can keep him.”

“He’s not mine.”

Alan gave a huff of laughter. “Says the woman who ensorcelled him. I think it’s something like ‘you brought him home now you have to take care of him.’”

“He’s not a stray dog.”

“No.” The smile left his face. “He’s a Vanir witch exiled to Asgard for reasons we don’t understand, and you’re the only one who can control him.”

She winced and he patted her leg before sitting back to reach for the washbasin. “Make sure you do that, Raquel.”

She dropped her head onto the pillow and closed her eyes as he started to wipe the blood off. “I...”

“Didn’t think it through? Yeah. That’s what they’re arguing about downstairs. Decide now because if you decide to keep him, you’ll have to convince the town he’s safe. His life is now officially in your hands. Can you raise your arm for me?”

He put a hand behind her back to help her up and then tested the range of motion in her shoulder. There was a dull ache in the area he’d healed, but that sharp, slicing pain was gone. “It should feel completely normal by morning. Let me know if it doesn’t. I’ll tell them you need to rest. That’ll buy you a few hours.”

“Thanks, Alan.”

He nodded, blond hair falling across his forehead. He looked rumpled although they hadn’t had to rouse him from bed. He’d kept a vigil with Grace last night, along with the other family members of the people who’d crossed.

“Fen’s okay? Really?” she asked for the third time. She’d have sworn she heard bone breaking when the demon slammed him into the rock. “Christian and Aiden too?”

“You were the worst.” He switched the light off before opening the door. “Get some sleep.”

Sleep was an impossibility, but she closed her eyes as she began to restore the shields that walled off her awareness of the Vanir witch. Her responsibility. On some level she’d known it would come to that. It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought it through but...what choice did she have really? Even now, occasionally brushing up against his mind like two people trapped in an elevator, he didn’t really seem evil. She could sympathize with Grace’s reluctance to kill him outright...and Aiden’s.

She had no idea how to convince the town of that. But then she didn’t really need to convince the town that he meant them no harm, she had to convince the town that she could keep them safe from the threat of him. And she wasn’t sure it was the truth. He was powerful and while she didn’t think that he could break the geis without killing her, he might be powerful enough to kill her even while he was bound.

“Don’t fear, little girl. I won’t harm you...or your town. I’ve no desire to return to Asgard and no way to survive here without you. Killing you would mean my death as well.”

Tentatively, she reached out with her mind. “It’s not safe then.”

“Safety is as much an illusion as certainty. That’s as true in this world as any other, I imagine.” She felt his amusement, touched by a big, fat load of condescension.

“I want you out of my head.”

A pause. “We’ll rework the amulet in the morning so that we both have our privacy.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Nor should you.”

He was gone, proving that he could withdraw as easily as she could. The magical chain formed by the geis was loose enough to provide that much space. She needed to place a barrier there. Kathy would know how to do it. If she—

The door creaked open and the light from the hall outlined Fen’s dark shape. He paused on the threshold before entering.

“Fen?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “It’s me.”

The room was dark and she only caught glimpses of him as he moved across the room. The curve of his cheek when he turned his head, the sheen of bare skin when his arm was touched by the light seeping in from under the door. He sat down on her bed.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.” He touched her hand, the backs of her knuckles, in a brief, glancing caress. “I wanted to make sure you were all right. Alan said you needed to rest and I worried it meant you were hurt worse than I thought. I needed to see for myself.”

“He healed my shoulder. It aches.” She caught his hand when it moved to her arm. “It’s okay. He didn’t think I was up to an inquisition.”

Fen chuckled, a low sound that made warmth coil in her belly. That sound coming out of the darkness...

“Is that what he said? It’s not as bad as that. Aiden’s assuming full responsibility for the Vanir witch.”

He paused and she said what he’d been too kind to say out loud. “But you know better.”

“Of course I do.”

She waited for him to say something else. Yell at her for her impulsiveness or putting herself into danger again, but he didn’t. He didn’t seem angry at all. Just...tired.

“You’re not going to tell me how stupid it was to put a geis on him?”

“You’re not stupid,” he said. “I never called you that. You’re braver than I wish you were. Rash. Why did you risk your life for him?”

She started to scoot back before remembering that beneath the sheet she was bare to the waist. The hounds had excellent night vision and she didn’t want to test it now. She drew the sheet up a little higher. “It was wrong to kill him. He knew he was sacrificing his life for ours and was willing to do it. I didn’t want to force Aiden to act as his executioner. Not when there was a choice.”

“How did you know it would work?

She blushed. “We’ve always known the Vanir used bond magic to form the geis that compels the demons to hunt us. It’s what’s kept them alive all this time even though the bridge to their home world is broken. Their lives are tied to ours. And since our presence here is what allows the demons to cross Asbrú, I knew that if I bound Kamis to me, he’d make it too.”

“You suspected he would.”

“I knew...” How to explain it? “I’ve been studying this my whole life, Fen. I know it looks like a wild risk from the outside, but I knew what I was doing.”

“Kathy—”

“Kathy said I shouldn’t try it. I brought the amulet anyway, as a last resort. I know this sounds like I have an enormous ego, but I’ve gone as far as I can go with Kathy’s training.” She shook her head. “Maybe that’s why the block was there. It’s like you know how to shift. I can feel that magic. I know when it’s right and I know how to change it.” She paused, but Fen didn’t comment. He toyed with her fingers while he patiently heard her out. “I was maybe a little bit selfish too. Kamis...I think I can learn a lot from him.”

He looked up. “It’s not really a mating bond is it?”

“No,” she said, quickly responding to the strain in his voice. “A geis is far less intricate than a mating bond. This one is barely a tether.”

“Can you control him?”

She hesitated and Fen groaned. “Rocky.”

“If I need to, I can.” It would kill her too, but she could stop him. She chose not to share the entire truth. If Fen was aware of her omission, he didn’t call her on it.

“Can you transfer it to Kathy?”

Raquel thought about all that power. “No.”

“Okay.” He squeezed her hand. “We’ll deal with it then.”

She squinted, trying to see his face, but she could only see his downturned profile. The sharp blade of his nose, the angle of his jaw.

“We?”

“You’re part of our clan, Rocky. No backing out now.”

The bed creaked when he stood and he paused, looking down at her. She resisted the urge to grab onto the hand that hung loose at his side. Would he stay with her if she asked?

“Rocky?”

“Yes.”

“It would help me immensely if you would learn to be more cautious. No more leashing Vanir demigods and bringing them home as pets, okay?”

“No more pets, got it.” She gathered her courage. “I’m ready for that talk now, if you are.”

“You’re supposed to be resting.”

“I’d rest easier if I knew what you wanted to talk to me about.”

He hesitated and she reached for his hand again. She’d given him a chance to run and he hadn’t taken it. He couldn’t expect to stand there all night without her trying to touch him. Gently, he turned his hand so their palms were pressed together. His long fingers curved around hers, warm and solid and reassuring.

“I want to try.” He drew in a deep breath. “Us. I want to try to make it work. When this has all settled down, I’d like to take you out. For dinner or a movie, whatever you want to do. I spoke with Christian and he’s okay with that.”

That conversation had to have been hard for him. Tears pricked her eyes, but she managed to keep her voice steady. Mostly. “I’d like that, Fen. I’d like it a lot.”

He cleared his throat. “I worry that we’ve moved too fast. With the wedding and the crossing...I don’t want you to make a quick decision you’ll regret later.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“Since Aiden plans to keep you on as clan witch, there’s no rush. We can take things slow.” His hand flexed and released her. “You make sure I’m who you want.”

“I know what I want.” She hesitated and then plunged ahead. “What do you want, Fen?”

His gaze angled up to meet hers, but it was a long time before he spoke. The words spilled softly into the dark room. “You. It frightens me how much I want you. I’d give up the pack, the clan, my oldest friends. I would lose myself to have you and that terrifies me.”

“Fen—”

“The right thing—the best thing—would be for me to let you go. But what I want is you, all of you. I have from the beginning. And I worry that it’s selfish, and I worry that you’ll change your mind.”

Raquel swiped at the tears on her face. Fen made a soft sound. The mattress shifted beneath his weight and then his arms were there, surrounding her, drawing her into the shelter of his body. Slowly—because she didn’t want to chase him away—she reached out to touch him.

When he didn’t pull back, she traced the seam of his jeans with her fingertips all the way to his hip. She skated her fingertips over his abdomen and his muscles contracted beneath her touch. She smiled against his neck. So many muscles. She wanted to trace that path with her tongue. That might be pushing too hard. He wanted to woo her. A warm rush of feeling accompanied the thought and she turned her head, breathing him in.

She laid her palm upon his chest. His heartbeat was fast and strong, thundering away as fast as hers. She lifted her face to find him staring at her intently. His eyes nearly glowing in the faint light. His beautiful expressive mouth turned up at the corners as he took her hand and guided it back to the bed.

“But before any of that happens, you need to finish healing. You need to rest.”

“I want you to stay.”

A flash of white teeth in the darkness. “Sometimes I think you’re purposefully trying to drive me crazy.”

“I won’t change my mind.” He didn’t argue, but she could tell by his expression that he wanted to. “I know you think I rush into things, but I’m right a lot of the time.”

He bent and pressed a kiss to her forehead. A light sweep of his lips that tingled all the way to her toes. “Give me some time to get used to the idea then.” His lips curved against her skin. “Let me woo you.”

“I’ll let you woo me all night long.”

He swallowed a laugh. “This is Aiden’s home and you were injured. Don’t worry, I’ll be here in the morning. I’ll always be here when you need me, however this turns out.”

When he reached the door, she called his name and he turned around.

“I love you, Fen.”

She could see his smile even in the dim light. “Go to sleep, Rocky.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Kamis walked into the living room on his own feet, leaning heavily on a cane. Christian had driven her home. At least until she figured out where she was going to live permanently, this was her home. She made a mental note to ask Christian if she’d be able to rent the place from him.

Kamis would have to stay here too because...well, he was her responsibility now. And maybe Fen had gotten his wish—next time she rescued someone from demons she was going to think long and hard about it first.

Fen... When she’d come downstairs the morning after the crossing, there’d been too many people crowded into the small house for her to speak with him privately. Aiden—hoping out of sight meant out of mind where the clan was concerned—had wanted Kamis out of his home as soon as possible. She was anxious to see Fen again, growing increasingly impatient because first she had to deal with this—a sarcastic Vanir demigod who wouldn’t stay out of her head. She set aside the book she was reading and when she looked up, Kamis inclined his head in a strangely formal manner.

“Mistress.” There was no trace of mockery in his expression, but she could feel something through their bond that suggested laughter. “May I sit?”

“Of course,” she said. “And I’m not your mistress. Can’t you speak?”

A pained sigh escaped him as he settled into the chair. “I’m physically capable of forming the words, but it will take me some time to learn your language. Will it be a problem?”

“Only if you try to mindspeak a human.”

He shook his head. “They wouldn’t hear me.”

“Kathy will be here later with someone to check out the link. She thinks she’ll be able to modify it so it’s not so...”

“Transparent? I can speak to you through the link, not spy on you. If you had more control over the information you pass to me, it would take care of the problem without risk to either of us.”

“Are you saying I...broadcast my thoughts?”

He lifted his brows. “You send them, yes. It is...distracting but no different from any two of my kind forced to live in close quarters.”

“Maybe no different for you. We don’t read each other’s minds here.”

Another hint of laughter. “No. The Æsir were always a crude and secretive people.”

She bristled. At least the Æsir weren’t destroyers of worlds.

A bleak, empty despair filled the space between them. “No, they were not.”

She fought the urge to apologize. “Do you hear everything?”

“As I said, only what you cast at me, child. You’re already beginning to block yourself instinctively. Within another day or two, I’ll hear only what you send to me directly. Until then I can block you and if need be, I can be discreet.”

She considered how far she could trust him.

He frowned at his hand clasped around the head of the cane. It occurred to her that he could easily wield it as a weapon. “I meant it when I said I intended you no harm.” His gaze met hers. “I owe you my life.”

She didn’t want that, to hold him under that obligation. But she’d use whatever means necessary to keep him from hurting the people here. She stood when she heard a car door slam outside. Kathy and her friend had arrived. “Pay me back by staying out of my head.”

Kathy hugged her tightly the moment she opened the door. Peter was a tall, gaunt man with thinning blond hair and a shy smile. Blue eyes narrowed at her and he took her in while Kathy fussed. Behind them, a chill wind blew the snow around so wildly Raquel couldn’t tell if it was actually snowing or just drifting.

“Come on in. We’re in the living room. Straight ahead past the kitchen.” While she hung coats, Kathy led the way past the stairs and down the hallway.

Raquel took a deep breath, cast one glance at the door before following. Peter was a healer not a witch, but there was a fine line between the two. The Æsir with an affinity for healing tended to be more discerning as a whole, were overall less powerful but had finer control over their abilities. It was the discernment—that sight, the ability to see inside an injured person to the cause of the problem—that really set them apart. People who chose to become witches instead usually had more raw power and tended to rely on runes and ritual to control and direct it. By the way Peter kept sneaking curious looks at her as she served tea and coffee, she wondered what exactly he saw when he looked at her.

“Okay,” Kathy said, setting a black leather-bound book on the coffee table and opening it to a bookmarked page. “Here’s the rune Sheldon suggested we add to the amulet to fix your little problem.”

“I’m sorry,” Peter interrupted before she really got going, which told Raquel that he knew Kathy pretty well. She steamrolled when she’d made up her mind, and her tone of voice said she’d already done just that. Peter set his mug on the table. “How big of a problem is it? The link you’ve formed is solid enough considering the power discrepancy, but any changes we make at this point could damage it beyond repair.”

“Then we form another,” Kathy said. “I can place it this time.”

Kamis’s posture changed subtly. Peter spoke before the Vanir could raise an objection, “That might not be as easy as you think. Raquel barely has the power to anchor him and—” he looked at her again with those wide blue eyes, “—I imagine he was far more willing to let you place the geis than he might be now.”

They all looked to Kamis, who nodded. “I would suggest that you make no changes to the amulet itself, for the girl’s sake if not my own. There’s as much danger to removing such things as placing them.”

Kathy threw her hands up. “Then what do we do? You can’t have a Vanir witch eavesdropping on clan business. Aiden won’t stand for that.”

Raquel, who’d been far more consumed by the invasion to her personal privacy, hadn’t even considered that.

“A Svalinn focus,” Kamis suggested.

Svalinn was the sun shield of Norse myth. Raquel was vaguely familiar with the concept but didn’t understand how that type of shield would block Kamis.

Peter nodded thoughtfully. “That might work.”

Kathy looked between the men. “How?”

Peter cocked his head to one side. “The link’s not really open in a way that will allow him access to her power or her thoughts. She is the one who is in a position of power here. If she blocks her thoughts, they are blocked. If she sends them, he receives. A Svalinn focus is a training device that we can key to help her control what she’s sending.”

“Then he couldn’t eavesdrop on me?”

Peter gave her an apologetic smile. “Technically, that’s not what he’s doing now. You’re sending your thoughts to him. A Svalinn block will help shield your thoughts until you’re able to do it on your own.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What’s to prevent him from pushing through the link to search my mind?”

Peter shook his head. “That’s not how the link works.”

“And even if the link allowed it,” Kamis said. “I would not do such a thing.”

Raquel looked from Kathy to Peter. “Make me the focus.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cleaning up after a wedding wasn’t the most fun in the world. Cleaning up after a wedding that never even happened was particularly miserable. With Raquel learning how to deal with Kamis, the brunt of the task had fallen to Audrey and her mom. When Raquel walked into the hall, Audrey gave her a quick hug and pointed her toward the kitchen.

“How is she?”

Audrey shrugged. “Not good. But you’re lucky, Fen told her all about the crossing in terms that made it clear exactly how dangerous it was. Right now, she’s just happy you’re alive. You should run with that.”

“Fen was here?”

“He still is. Downstairs with Christian and Grace sorting through the boxes Mom had shipped to figure out what can be returned.”

They should be home recovering from the crossing. Raquel blinked back tears as she stepped into the main room. The chairs were stacked on wheeled metal carts and a radio was on in the kitchen. It sounded tinny out here in the big echoey space. “They all came to help?”

“Even Lois stopped by for a bit. Settled the bill with Mom, made a few snide remarks about you being impulsive. Mom looked like she was going to take a swing at her, but Aiden stepped in before it actually turned into a fight. Good times.”

Raquel pulled her sister into another hug. “I don’t want you to leave.”

Audrey patted her on the shoulder. “You are endlessly entertaining, but I do have school. Those of us without such high callings need to make a living too. I’ll be back this summer...provided the town’s still standing and all.”

Raquel laughed. “Okay. What still needs to be done?”

“Have you worked out your problem with the link?”

“Yes, thank God.” She held up the silver necklace Kathy had made with Peter’s help. “This blocks my thoughts from passing until I figure out how to do it myself. So as long as I’m wearing it, I’m golden.”

“Good,” Audrey said. “That would be pretty creepy otherwise. He’s creepy.”

“Kamis?”

“Yeah, with the mindspeak thing and the way he looks at you with those cold, dead eyes.”

Raquel shook her head but didn’t know how to explain that there was more to him than that. He’d been through a lot. He had secrets she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear. But...Raquel remembered the look on his face as he faced death. The sacrifice he was willing to make for their sake. There was something...human inside the ancient witch. Only time would tell whether he was human enough to make it here in Midgard.

Audrey gave her a curious look. “So you and Fen...”

Raquel raised her brows. “Yeah?”

She elbowed Raquel in the side. “You know what I mean. What’s going on? He seemed distracted and he asked about you, several times. I think he was disappointed that you weren’t here. Or relieved, it was hard to tell.”

Raquel looked toward the door to the basement. “He asked me out.”

“A date?” Audrey rolled her eyes. “I thought for sure he was going to tell me you’d bonded but was giving you the chance to get to me first.”

“A date is a big step for him.”

“If you say so. Before you go and chase him down, come talk to mom. At least let her see that you’re alive and okay.”

Audrey led her into the kitchen where their mother was standing on a stool trying to shove a box of napkins into a full cabinet. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled.

“Raquel, you’re here. Should you be out of bed?” She climbed down and crossed the room, wrapping her arms around Raquel’s shoulders and then pulling back to take a look at her.

“I’m fine. Really.”

Her mother stole another hug and then gestured at the room. “You don’t need to stay. We’re only tidying up.”

There were five big rolls of tulle stacked on the island. Her mom had ordered them online to decorate the hall. She’d always considered the big communal space the clan used for their gatherings to be dated and far too plain for the grand ceremony she envisioned—late-1980s Knights of Columbus when her mother had wanted elegance.

Raquel ran her hand over the satin-covered guest book sitting beside it. “I’m so sorry, Mom.”

“We’re saving it.”

“What?”

Her mother’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Dad’s not coming out because Gary was injured on the hunt. Not badly, but he says since if there’s no wedding there’s no reason for him to be here and every reason for him to stay home. Which is fine because he would have me pack up everything I spent the last two years picking out.”

“But...there’s not going to be a wedding.”

“Today,” her mother said, and Audrey gave a slight warning shake of her head. Her mother grabbed Audrey’s hand too. “But look at the two of you. My two beautiful daughters. It’s only a matter of time. We’re not canceling the wedding so much as delaying it, Christian was kind enough to point out.”

Audrey grinned at whatever expression was on Raquel’s face. “Wasn’t that kind of Christian? He’s very devious.”

Something about the light in Audrey’s eyes when she spoke of Christian made Raquel pause, but then her mother turned her around and pushed her toward the door. “Can you go downstairs? The boys are supposed to be finding a place to store the boxes. Make sure it’s dry and well ventilated, will you? And you—” she swung on Audrey, “—I thought you were headed to the store for more bags?”

Raquel slipped past them both and into the big empty room, heading for the stairs. There was still one table set up beside the stairs. She recognized the binders that held everything from dress clippings to seating arrangements. Raquel paused beside the table when she saw it was opened to the guest list. Two typed pages of names and phone numbers. A small checkmark in blue ink beside each entry. Her stomach sank, and she sat down.

She’d done the right thing. The only thing. She couldn’t imagine getting married today.

Not to Christian.

“Having second thoughts?”

Fen stood in the doorway at the top of the stairs, his long legs splayed and his hands open at his sides. He wore beat-up jeans and a black T-shirt, the fabric worn and molded tantalizingly to his chest and biceps. A jolt hit her right in the chest, just like the first time she’d set eyes on him. Her instinct was to rush him, throw her arms around his neck and kiss him silly, but she thought that might freak him out. Instead, she tried to put some of that same welcome into the smile she cast his way. “No regrets. Not about this.”

Glancing over his shoulder as if checking to make sure they were alone, he crossed the room. “Audrey said there was a problem with your link to the witch. I was on my way to find you.”

“It’s fixed.”

His brows lifted, but she didn’t want to explain it all again. She couldn’t sense the witch at all right now unless she focused all her attention in that direction. And all her attention was here, on the man in front of her, looking tense and uncertain and so freaking perfect it made her heart ache. “Then it’s not...”

She tipped her head to the side when he paused. “Not what?”

“Rocky...” He knelt so they were at eye level and his arms settled to either side of her body as though he was afraid she would bolt. Even as part of her was alarmed by that, the rest of her was melting because Fen was finally touching her.

She smiled. “Fen.”

“I need you to check me for a mating bond.”

Her heart clunked in her chest, stopping and then turning over like an old car. “But...you said you didn’t bond to Carly.”

“Not Carly. You,” he said, searching her face. “I think I might have already started to bond to you. That’s what I was worried about—that my bond might have interfered with the geis. That me not telling you about it put you in danger.”

“And you think you bonded to me?”

He reached up to brush a tendril of hair away from her face. “Who else?”

Any woman with eyes and a brain and a heart. She didn’t think it was possible but reached out with her magic to check anyway. She found the geis first and dismissed it before moving on to the tangle of emotions that hit her every time she thought about Fen.

While she looked, searching for that telltale thread of magic, Fen’s hands slid up, slowly, over her hips to bracket her waist. “The first time I saw you when you stumbled through the portal, it felt like getting zapped by a thunderbolt. And every second we’ve spent together since has made it stronger. I fought it because of Christian. Because I still think you deserve better than someone already bound to a pack. You want children.”

“I want you more.”

His arms tightened around her, pulling her to the edge of her chair. As much as she wanted to sink into that embrace, she continued to sort through the magic that surrounded them both. There was enough of it to make it complicated—her a witch with some of her magic still tied to the wards. Him a hound with all of his pack ties.

“I didn’t suspect a bond until I decided to sleep with Carly and couldn’t even get an erection.” He said it as if it were an awful confession.

“Good,” she said fiercely. “I’m glad.”

His mouth turned up at the corners. “You’re glad I might be the only hound to ever bond to a woman without getting to enjoy even one night of sex?”

“You’ll get at least one night.”

She’d meant it as a joke, but he flinched. “I don’t want a pity fuck, Rocky. Don’t do that to me.”

She stopped what she was doing to focus on him. Pressing her hand to his cheek, she looked him straight in the eyes. “I already told you what I want. I love you, Fen, that hasn’t changed. Remember? I’m just waiting for you to get used to the idea. I’m waiting. And we both know how good I am at that once I’ve made up my mind.”

He was silent. She could feel his chest expand against her thighs with every breath he took. The warmth of his body. The rock-hard, wiry strength in the arms surrounding her. He didn’t seem to realize what amazing restraint she was exercising by not reaching for him.

“What if I told you I’m used to the idea now?” The words were soft, barely a whisper.

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to woo you. A first date. Flowers. Dinner. I wanted you to have that.”

“We can still do those things. The bond isn’t an ending. It doesn’t have to be like that.” She traced a fingertip along the sharp edge of his cheekbone and pressed a kiss to his temple. “And you’re not bonded to me. Not yet.”

“You’re sure?”

The temptation to lie was there, but she couldn’t do it, would never do that to him. “The bond is desire and consent with sex to anchor it. When the first conditions are met, there’s a drive to complete it. That’s what you’re feeling now—that instinct. It’s probably stronger because you’ve been fighting it so hard when you know I’m willing.” She paused. “Don’t worry, though. There’s still time to change your mind if you decide you don’t want me.”

He exhaled sharply. “Not want you? Is that what you think?”

His hands flexed on her hips, fitting her tighter to his body. His chest pressed against her most intimate parts. She rested her arms on his shoulders as his arms encircled her back. His face was only inches away—expression intent and hungry and raw. His mouth was right there, so close she could feel his breath fan across her lips.

“I’m here thinking I might have bonded to you. Without sex. I couldn’t force myself to be attracted to another woman, but I see you and it’s all I can do to stop myself from throwing you down on the nearest flat surface. This table. That wall. The floor. Does that sound like I don’t want you?”

She shook her head. “Then why hold yourself back? You were going to bond to Carly. Why not me?”

She thought she knew the answer. She was only waiting for him to catch up. She would wait for him, however long it took. His eyes blazed—hunger and fear warring inside of him. Her heart melted, turning soft as taffy.

She curved her hand to the back of his head, threaded her fingers through his silky hair and closed the distance between them. She brushed her lips across his, and when he didn’t pull away, traced the seam of his mouth with her tongue. He opened for her and she took that as an invitation to deepen the kiss. When she found his tongue, he groaned, a deep, growly sound that made her nipples tighten.

His hands stroked her back, slid down to grip her hips and pull her closer. He leaned forward, hands coming to her face to hold her steady as he plundered her mouth. Nothing tentative about this kiss. All need and desire—twenty-eight years worth of it—hot and aching and desperate. Bending her knees to wrap her thighs around his waist, she arched her body to rub against him.

The edge of the table bit into her spine and she didn’t really give a damn. Because Fen, her Fen, was finally kissing her, moving against her and making deep, guttural noises of appreciation when she skimmed her hand down his body to stroke his cock. Somehow she hadn’t expected that. When she’d thought about what he’d be like in bed, she hadn’t imagined noisy. She smiled at the revelation.

His fingers slipped beneath the hem of her shirt and paused when they hit bare skin. She sucked in a gasp as his hand moved higher, easing over her skin in a light, dancing touch that made her drop her head back. Setting her elbows on the table behind her, she arched her spine to give him access. Fen kissed her jaw. Her throat. He murmured something indistinct but sexy as hell in that low growling voice, and his teeth nipped at the skin below her ear.

“Fen...we need to stop.”

“I’m not stopping, Rocky. You’re right. There’s no reason to wait. Whatever happens, I’m not walking away from you. Tell me again.”

She didn’t have to ask him what he meant. Tears pricked her eyes. “I want you. This. I’ve never wanted anything more.”

“Good. Hold on, then.” In a show of strength, he wrapped his hands under her thighs and lifted her. He swapped positions, sitting down on the bench and settling her on his lap. She straddled him, her legs tightened around his waist and her arms clinging to his neck.

“I didn’t care,” he said. “When I thought I might be bonded to you. You know what I felt? Relief because I didn’t have to fight this anymore. I don’t want to fight this.”

He pushed his hands into her hair and dragged her mouth to his. His tongue pushed inside her as he flexed his hips, rubbing his cock against her. They were both wearing jeans. Stupid jeans. There was no easy way—

A squeaking noise behind her jolted her back to her senses. The sound of crashing dishes brought Fen’s head up. His hand was under her shirt, his fingertips set to the underside of her bra.

Her mother beamed at them. “Are we having a wedding after all?”

Raquel groaned. Fen...whimpered and withdrew his shaking hand from beneath her shirt. His head dropped to her shoulder, leaving her to deal with her mother and now, Aiden, Christian and Grace, who filed out of the stairwell with concerned, then bemused expressions on their faces.

She cleared her throat and tried to pretend this was nothing out of the ordinary. “Hey, guys. Would you mind maybe giving us a few minutes?”

Fen was barely hanging on by a thread. Ignoring everyone else in the room, he said, “I can change and run. The pull isn’t nearly as bad when I’m running. I can come to you later...I think I can change now.”

She clutched at his shoulders. “You’re not going anywhere. I—”

Their audience hadn’t moved. Raquel looked around frantically until her pleading gaze locked on Grace. With a broad smile, Grace linked her arm through her husband’s and gave Aiden a tug to get him moving toward the door. “Why don’t we go back to the house and discuss changing the contract? Christian, you drive with Joanne. Fen and Raquel can follow when they’re ready.”

As Christian led her mother away, Raquel untangled herself from Fen, feeling a blush creep all the way up to her roots. Fen’s gaze fixed on her breasts for a moment before lifting to her face. Raw and intense. The same way he kissed. She wanted to kiss him again, to feel all that passion pounding against her skin. Her mouth went dry. She took a step back to regain her composure and Fen reached out to catch her wrist. The possessiveness in the gesture made her wet, made her knees wobble as he pulled her closer. His nostrils flared, and she knew he’d sensed her reaction.

Her mother paused at the door. “Fen. Would you be a dear and call the caterer? They’ll need the most warning if we want to get everyone back on track for Saturday. I’ll notify the other clans.”

Fen’s gaze never left Raquel’s. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Lindgren. That’s not going to happen.”

Christian swallowed a laugh. “I’ll handle the caterer. Is your coat by the door, Joanne?”

As soon as they were gone, Fen rose stiffly to his feet and hauled her toward the opposite exit. He didn’t speak as he bundled her into his SUV for the two-minute drive to his house. It wasn’t until they were inside that he even looked directly at her again. She knew why. She could feel the tension vibrating off his body, could see it in the way he gripped the wheel.

When he fumbled the keys at the door, she took them from his hand to turn the lock. Taking off her coat, she tossed it on the couch and when she turned, Fen was standing there. His hands came up to cradle her face, his skin hot compared to the icy-cold temperature outside. His gaze was hotter still. A wonder she didn’t combust on the spot.

“Are you on birth control? I meant it when I said I wouldn’t have children.”

She nodded.

“And you’re sure about this?”

Rising onto her toes, she kissed him gently. “Yes. Yes. Ye—”

His tongue got in her way as he kissed her deeply, delving inside and exploring every last inch of her. When she pulled back, gasping for air, he scooped her up and carried her up the stairs and into his bedroom.

She’d never been in his room before and it seemed different from the rest of the house. Intimate. The furniture was new, more modern. Dark wood. The walls a neutral gray with a hint of blue. The sheets soft as he laid her gently down before setting to work stripping off his clothes.

Every movement spare and efficient, he had his boots and shirt off before she could blink. She raised herself onto her elbows and stared. His body was truly a thing of beauty. Not skinny, he was lean. Hard muscle, smooth skin. Just that one tattoo after all. She could see the knobs of bone beneath his skin at his shoulders and hips. The rest was a fascinating study in male musculature.

She intended to devote a great deal of time and effort into that study. Years of dedicated exploration.

He unzipped and pushed down his pants nearly in one motion. Her throat went dry. A hard and perfect cock jutted from a bed of dark hair. It tapped the smooth plane of his lower abdomen as he started for her.

“You’re still wearing clothes.”

He grabbed onto the waistband of her jeans as she unbuttoned them. Two hard tugs and they were on the floor. The sound he made... Any insecurity she might have had about this moment fled out the window. She pulled her shirt over her head and tossed that aside as Fen knelt between her legs. He placed his hands on her thighs just above the knee and slowly slid his hands upward, avoiding the bandage that covered the runes.

“So soft.” He reached the juncture where thigh met hip and his thumbs settled in the notch there. As soon as she’d unhooked her bra, he jerked her down and she landed on her back. His hungry gaze lifted from her breasts to her face. “I want to taste every inch of you.”

“You’ve waited long enough, I think. You don’t have to—”

He covered her. She felt his erection slide against her thigh but instead of entering her, he lowered his mouth to her breast, his lips closing around her tight nipple. His moan echoed hers. When she arched her back, he slid an arm beneath her to lift her higher before moving to taste her other nipple. With light, teasing strokes and long pulls he tested her response. The scrape of his teeth, the tickle of his hair, the sweep of his tongue sending her into sensory overload. She regarded him through lust-slit eyes when he raised his head. He took one look at her and a smile split his face.

“These are amazing.”

She laughed, but he’d already dipped his head again, kissing a trail lower, down her abdomen. “Fen. You don’t have to do that.”

“I know.” He reared back, kneeling between her spread thighs. “This is what I want. Wider, Rocky. Let me see you.”

When she hesitated, his hands closed around her thighs and he exerted a gentle pressure. He looked up, into her eyes. “As soon as I come inside you, you own me. Give me this.”

She opened her legs wider, letting his hands guide her. He slid forward so his body held her open and her thighs fell across his. She felt exposed, vulnerable in a way that had her trembling—and that was before Fen stroked both thumbs through her folds. They caught moisture and slicked upward in a smooth glide.

A noise came from his throat, deep and primal, as if he’d taken a punch. Then he stroked her again, slowly, eyes on his hands...on her. Face slack with desire. He found her clitoris and she moaned. He smiled and circled that small knot with his fingertips. Barely touching her really. She angled her hips to increase the pressure and he accommodated her, briefly, before withdrawing his hands and then his body.

Her eyes shot open to find him stretching out onto his stomach. And then his hands were on her thighs again, holding her open for his mouth. His pressed a kiss to her clit and then shifted lower. His warm breath fanned across wet skin a moment before his tongue slipped through her folds in a long, slow stroke, toying with her clit when he reached it and then moving away. She fisted her hands in the sheets so she didn’t grab his hair. He’d waited twenty-eight years for a woman, surely she could have a little patience.

He groaned. “You taste exactly like I thought you would.”

“Guh?”

A huff of laughter. “Sunshine and magic. Delicious, every bit of you.”

He slid a finger inside her and curled it ever so slightly, as if testing the feel and shape of her. His tongue returned to her clit. A second finger joined the first and he flattened his tongue in the most delicious way. He was still exploring her, still learning her, but she was shocked at how easy he seemed to read her. His fingers moved and his tongue matched the rhythm. She rocked her hips to meet him, drawing closer and closer to orgasm. She panted.

It seemed wrong. He’d waited so long. The polite thing would be to let him come first. Right? Was there etiquette to this type of thing?

“Fen...”

He nipped at her clit, and she jerked. “Give it up. I’m not stopping. Come for me, Rocky. I want you to come.”

And he knew exactly how close she was. She could tell by the way he worked her—determined and intent, pushing her closer and closer to the edge. When he curled his tongue there at the end and shoved his long fingers inside of her. When he made that noise in his throat.

She let go, gave herself over to him completely. Fen cursed as an orgasm ripped through her body. She clenched around his fingers, and he pressed them deeper. Turned his head to kiss her thigh. She was still floating when he positioned himself over her. She trembled as he slid his cock against her and an aftershock passed through her.

“You’re so wet. Gods, Rocky, that was beautiful. I haven’t told you how beautiful you are.”

She touched his cheek. His hand curved around her hip as he fit himself to her. His mouth opened on a sigh, and she pulled his head down so that she could kiss him as he prodded at her entrance and then slid neatly, perfectly, fully inside of her. He sucked in a breath and his eyes opened wide. Glazed until they focused on her. “I love you, you know that.”

“I know it.” His lips found that sensitive spot on her neck, and she tilted her head to give him better access. “I love you too.”

His arms slid beneath her shoulders as he braced himself on his elbows. A tremor ran the length of his body. Goose bumps rose beneath her fingertips and she stroked his skin, soothing them down. He rested like that for a beat, deep inside her. His chest expanded with a breath and he began to move. The achingly slow withdrawal drew a moan from her lips.

He echoed her with a heavy growl that vibrated through her body. “You feel so fucking good.”

“Worth the wait?”

“Fuck, yes.” He pulled out, gave a shudder and smoothly slid back in. She bent her legs, drawing them up to hook her ankles behind his thighs as he pressed back inside her. Her nipples contracted so hard they ached.

“Rocky—” His voice was hoarse, tinged with an apology she didn’t want.

She tugged at his hair, pulling him down for a kiss. Coaxing his tight lips to part for her and then nipping at his tongue when he gasped. Sliding her hands down his flanks, she gripped his hips, loving the way his muscles flexed beneath her palms. Hers. Her Fen. Gods, she wanted all of him.

He plunged into her, ferociously deep. His arm slid beneath her hips, changing the angle so that he could fill her again. One stutter. Another hard thrust and he was gone, pouring himself into her. She could feel the wash of magic, tethering him, wrapping around both of them, and she twisted it just so, binding herself to him. Her wedding gift to him. She’d tell him later when she had breath to speak. His one insecurity. He wouldn’t have to worry about her changing her mind either.

As soon as he caught his breath, he lifted his face. Was he blushing? He was, a faint wash of color high on his sharp cheekbones. She pulled him in for a kiss. A slow, tender kiss that she hoped expressed exactly how she felt in this moment because she hadn’t the words. He rolled onto his side and curled his long body next to hers, resting one hand possessively on her abdomen. She smiled at the ceiling. “The sheet is tangled around my ankle. I think I’ve lost circulation in my foot.”

He nuzzled her neck. “Can’t have that. I like your feet.”

“You’ve never even seen my feet.”

His sat abruptly and she lifted herself onto her elbows while he untangled her foot.

“No, but I plan to worship them later.” He kissed her arch, and she jerked her foot out of his grasp.

He climbed back onto the bed, lying on his side and pulling her to his chest.

She burrowed beneath his arm. “Do you like feet like you like ketchup?”

“I haven’t thought much about feet...ever, but I’m not ruling out any possibilities at this point.”

Idly, she walked her fingers across his chest. It was funny, considering his furry self, how little body hair he had in this form. The silky black hair on his head, wavy and slightly overgrown. There was no hair on his chest and his leg hair was fine and soft. She slid her foot down his leg until he moved his thigh to trap hers.

“Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” His smile was warm, immensely pleased. “That tickles.”

“I want to learn every part of you too.”

He brushed the hair from her face. He had an artist’s hands, strong but deft. Always aware of exactly how much pressure he applied to canvas or skin. “There’s time. I don’t want you to tire of me too quickly.”

He said it like a joke, but there was a flicker of vulnerability in the tension around his eyes. She touched his jaw and drew him down for another kiss. “I won’t tire of you. I might rush into things sometimes, but I don’t give up on people. And I’m not letting you go. You’re not having second thoughts are you?”

“No.” He gave a short laugh. “The minute you said yes, I was gone and this...nothing has ever felt more right to me.”

“I tweaked the spell.”

His hand cupping her shoulder, stilled. “What did you do, Rocky?”

“The bond. I tweaked it so it works both ways. I’m bound to you too.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment and when he spoke, his voice was oddly gruff. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

She raised her head to look at him and the depth of emotion in his bright eyes made her own tear up.

“It was easy enough.”

“Raquel...” He pulled her down and gave her a sweet kiss before tucking her head against his shoulder again. She let her hand wander across his chest, down over his tightly muscled abdomen. He didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. With anyone else, that might have made her self-conscious, but the way Fen looked at her left no doubt about how he felt about her body. Already, he was hard. She wrapped her fingers around his cock and he groaned.

“Do we need to worry about priapism or is this a hound trait?”

“Ha. Ahhh. Oh gods.” His voice grew rougher. “Do that again.”

She did.

“I’m twenty-eight and you’re the first woman who’s ever touched me like this. I softened after the last time so it’s not priapism.”

She laughed. “That was ten minutes ago.”

“Fifteen. There’s nothing wrong with me that two weeks in bed with you won’t cure.”

“Only two weeks?’

He lifted his hips, pressing himself into her hand. “And every night after. Maybe some mornings...whenever you can make it home for lunch.”

She kissed her way down the ridges of his abdomen. When she sucked him into her mouth, the entire length of his body tightened.

She pulled him deeper inside then released him. “Fen?”

“Uh?”

“I love you.”

He lifted himself onto his elbows and looked at her, hair tousled, eyes bright. “I love you too, Rocky.”

She lowered her head but only managed a quick kiss before he caught her under her armpits and dragged her up his body until she straddled him. “You were too far away.”

He fisted his hand around the base of his cock until her body met his hand. He moved so she could take all of him inside. His other hand slipped down from where it had cradled her cheek. He touched her throat, her breasts, finally settling on her hip. She began to move, slowly at first and then with increasing urgency. His fingers slid over her clit and returned when she moaned. He studied her. That intensity again, as if he intended to learn every last thing about her.

“Like this?”

“Yes. Please. A little lighter...oh.”

And that big smile broke over his face again, but she only caught a glimpse of it as her eyes closed and her head tipped back, swept away by warmth and pleasure. She came apart and he held her together. He sat up and wrapped his arms around her, lifted and flipped them both so she was beneath him. His hand pressed down on her hip, holding her in place as he slid out of her, neatly returning in a smooth motion. Everything he did had that same powerful athletic grace. Even the way he made love. She was so wet and her body was still recovering. A chill swept over her skin and another aftershock tremored through her even as he pushed himself deep and came inside her.

The muscles in his arms trembled and his head bowed over hers. Everything else was rigid except for the thick pulse of his cock shuddering in release. She wrapped her legs around him to draw him close. They fell into a sweaty tangle on the bed.

She hadn’t let herself think of Fen like this. His mouth hot and searching. Hard hands on her thighs. His lean body. All of it. Hers. He was hers. Completely. Irrevocably. Bound tighter than any oath. He lifted his head to look down at her and there was a smugness to his smile that made her happy down to her toes.

“Good?”

She rested her head on his shoulder, curled into his warmth. “Perfect.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

“You did it all wrong.”

Audrey scowled and held up three fingers. “Ceremony. Reception. Sex. It’s not complicated. It’s not hard. Now wipe the goofy grin off your face and put on the damn dress.”

“Audrey.” Raquel laughed. “It’s not a big deal. We can just skip this part if it’s stressing you out.”

Audrey, cool composed, never ruffled Audrey was very definitely ruffled. While she wholeheartedly supported the idea of Raquel and Fen as a couple, she wasn’t particularly pleased about restarting the wedding at the last moment. Raquel, on the other hand, was beyond anybody’s ability to stress. She couldn’t seem to stop smiling.

“I spent a lot of time on that dress. Mom has the whole town setting everything back up and Dad got here an hour before the two of you emerged from your little sex den.” She grimaced. “Do you know how much work it is to uncancel a wedding?”

“I’m sorry,” Raquel murmured meekly but couldn’t manage the expression to go with it. Audrey glared at her and her smile widened.

She wanted to see Fen again but as soon as they’d left the house, Audrey had dragged her away while Christian took Fen in the opposite direction. Apparently, they’d been plotting this wedding ambush the whole time she and Fen had been otherwise engaged.

Clean and sated, Raquel would happily do anything her family wanted right now if it meant she got Fen alone faster. Besides, she could use some food and possibly a little rest.

So wedding it was.

Her hair and makeup was already done. Fen apparently was already dressed and back at the hall along with his stunned parents, who she had yet to meet. All that was left was the dress. Raquel stood when Audrey lovingly lifted the dress from the bed. Aside from a dicey moment when a seed pearl caught in her hair and needed to be untangled, Audrey managed to slip the gown over Raquel’s head by herself. Grace brought the shoes in and buckled them before standing back and putting an arm around her weeping mother.

“You look beautiful,” her mother said and then pointed. “That’s not the necklace we picked out is it?”

Raquel touched the silver chain at her neck. Audrey winced. “Can you take it off for the ceremony?”

It didn’t match. She could tuck the amulet inside the bodice, barely, but you’d still see the chain and she wouldn’t be able to wear the one her mother and Audrey had so painstakingly selected. But...then there was the possibility of sharing her wedding so intimately with Kamis, and that would never do.

“I have to wear it.”

Audrey nodded and stepped forward to shoo everyone toward the door. The Ragnarok clan hall was only a few blocks down the street but a sleek black limo waited in front of the house. Audrey lifted the open bottle of champagne as soon as they were settled.

“Oh,” her mother said nervously. “What if she spills?”

Audrey grinned. “It’s not for her.”

Her mother paused. “Pour me a glass too.”

Raquel laughed and adjusted her skirts to keep them out of the way. Grace sat across from her mother and the driver closed the door. It was already dark outside. It had stopped snowing, but the whole town was covered white, the trees with frost and ice, the ground with snow. Her father waited in the entryway. The Odin of their clan, he was a big man, a warrior and still very fit for his age, with a shock of white hair and piercing blue eyes. And a smile on his face as he took her arm and pulled her aside.

He kissed her mother’s brow and gave her a gentle push toward the waiting usher. “Everything is ready.” When she hesitated, he said. “It’s perfect, Joanne. You did a wonderful job.”

Audrey and Christian paired off and walked into the hall a few steps behind her. Her father patted Raquel’s hand. “She wanted everything to be perfect for you. It’s why she’s driven us all crazy these last few months, you know.”

“I know. You had excellent timing, I notice.”

“I raised you well enough to be able to figure things out on your own. A little space and you claimed your birthright and picked your own mate. If I’d known I was to have such a headstrong daughter, I never would have attempted a contract in the first place.”

“Will this cause you trouble?”

“No. The Odin here is a reasonable man. Christian too.” He raised an eyebrow as they took their place. “No last-minute swaps?”

“No.” She laughed and then took her first look at the hall, which had been transformed into something magical. Carved wooden columns stood in place of the metal supports. The clan members were seated at long tables to either side of the aisle. It had the look of an ancient place, golden goblets and stars in the branches of the trees that supported the roof. Even knowing that it was a glamour, the sight took her breath away. Lois and Kathy had worked together to create it—as much of a miracle as the illusion itself.

The Odin and his wife stood on a dais at the front of the hall. Christian stood a step down and to one side. Audrey was opposite. She was radiant in a simple ice-blue gown. But it was Fen who drew Raquel’s gaze and held it. He’d dressed in a tux. His hair was neatly trimmed. And despite the fact that they’d spent hours together today as a couple, it was like that first moment all over again when she realized that he wanted her, that he was only waiting for her to say yes.

He smiled and shifted his stance to face her fully.

“I never thought you’d mate a hound,” her father said. “He’s not what I would have picked for you.”

“I know. He’s mine.”

“He’ll treat you well or he’ll to answer to me.”

“You don’t have to worry, Dad.”

“Because he’s so special for a hound?”

“Because he’s Fen.”

Her father stopped before the dais, took her by the shoulders and turned her. Her breath caught with the thought that he might withhold his approval here at the end. Not that it would matter much, but she wouldn’t like to have to defy him. Instead, his own eyes perhaps a bit over bright, he kissed her brow and placed her hand into Fen’s.

Something passed between the men she couldn’t quite decipher and then Fen’s warm hand closed around hers and pulled her to his side.

“You’re beautiful, Rocky.” His smile faltered. “I don’t know if I took the time to tell you—”

“I know.” She squeezed his hand, touched the rose tucked into his lapel. “This is one hell of a first date.”

His low laugh made her belly flutter. “I still intend to woo you.”

She intended to get him naked again as soon as possible. And though she managed to keep herself from sharing that bit of information out loud, she could tell by the look in Fen’s eyes that he understood exactly what she was thinking.

Aiden looked from Fen to Raquel. “We’re ready here?”

When they agreed that they were, Aiden nodded and addressed the crowd first. She thought part of that was to explain to their poor confused guests why Fen stood beside her instead of Christian. She barely paid attention. All her focus was on Fen, his palm as sweaty as hers and trembling ever so slightly. She wasn’t nervous about marrying him, not really. After the binding this was simply icing on the cake. Cake. The thought reminded her that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast and her stomach rumbled. Fen looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. His lips curled at the ends.

When Aiden called him Douglas, she raised her eyebrows and his cheek creased in a long dimple.

Relief had her giddy and trembling. Had her voice shaking as she repeated the binding oath. So many ties held them together. Vow. Magic. Family. Clan. None of them bound her as tightly as the look in Fen’s eyes.

A cheer rose up as he tugged her forward. His hand cupped the back of her neck and he kissed her, long and deep. A reminder of what had passed, a promise of what lay ahead.

And then the real party began.

She ate until she regretted allowing Audrey to take in the dress that last time. She danced until she wished she’d listened to her mother’s advice to break in the shoes. When the party was in full swing, Fen grabbed her hand and tugged her into the shadows.

“We could make a run for the Dumpster.”

She laughed. “That’s the first place Audrey will look now.”

He groaned. “You told her?” His lips grazed her temple. “You don’t tell her all of our secrets do you?”

She snorted. “Hardly.”

His hands slid up her neck in a light caress, thumbs hooking beneath her jaw and angling her face up. “I need to get you alone, Rocky.”

She lifted onto her toes and kissed him. “The limo’s still out front. We can leave anytime you want.”

“How about now?”

Her smile widened and she grabbed his wandering hand. “Now. I think we’ve both waited long enough.”

* * * * *

Thrilling and dangerously sexy, Demon Crossings is full of paranormal fun!

Pick up your copy today!

Demon Crossings

Private investigator Grace tracks a kidnapped child to middle-of-nowhere Iowa. Encountering a strange creature she knows can’t be a local animal, she doesn’t need her psychic abilities to figure out the sleepy town is not what it seems. When she meets the intriguing Aiden, she’s plunged into a world of Norse gods and fire demons where the Wild Hunt still rides the night.

Aiden needs Grace’s help to cross the portal between worlds and rescue his daughter. Grace is unlike any woman he’s ever met. He’s drawn to her courage, distressed by her vulnerability and doubtful of her motives. But he knows that her visions are the key to defeating the enemy and bringing everyone home alive.

Grace wants a future with Aiden, even if it means she’ll never have a normal life. When a test run to the portal takes a terrifying turn, they must learn to finally trust each other or Aiden’s daughter, and their chance at love, will be lost forever...

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About the Author

Eleri Stone was born and raised in New Jersey. She graduated from the University of Iowa and still lives in the Midwest with her husband and their three children. Eleri is a lifelong fan turned writer of fantasy and paranormal romance. She enjoys kayaking, cooking and hearing from readers. Visit her at www.EleriStone.com.

Content

Witch Bound
Twilight of the Gods 2
by
Eleri Stone

Dear Reader,

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

About the Author