Page 6 of The Fanged One

I'm okay. Can't explain yet, but I will when I can. Don't worry.

She sent it, and three dots appeared almost immediately. A moment later, his reply pinged.

You have 12 hours. Don't make me get Layla to track you because I will.

A small laugh slipped out before she could stop it, because that was Tor in a single sentence, all the worry and all the trust folded in together.

I promise, big brother, she sent back and put the phone face down on the bedside table.

From the kitchen came the slow lap of Fenris drinking water from the mixing bowl she had left out for him. Her brain made a small note that she would wash it thoroughly before they left, because leaving wolf slobber in the All-Father's bread bowl seemed like an interesting way to commit suicide.

Linnea lay down on her side still fully dressed in her T-shirt and jeans. She closed her eyes and tried to force her body to relax.

The drinking stopped before the unhurried click of claws on the wooden floor of the kitchen, moving through the living room, and coming down the hallway. The clicks reached the doorway of the spare room and stopped there.

Linnea didn't open her eyes, and the wolf inside her went still. The mattress dipped slowly behind her. The weight settled along the length of her spine, and the warmth of him washed through her clothes. A heavy head came to rest between her shoulder blades, and his slow breath tickled the bare skin at the back of her neck. Her own wolf, who had been like a hyperactive pup for hours, curled up inside Linnea and sighed once in contentment.

What the actual hell.

Linnea didn't dare move. He might have been acting like a cute wolf, but she wasn't going to forget for a second who he was. She wasn't afraid of him, though some concerned part of her mind screamed that the greatest predator in the Nine Worlds had cuddled up next to her. She was comfortable and content, and her body made the decision her mind could not. It surrendered for her, pulling her down into a deep and wolf-warmed sleep.

4

Linnea woke warmer than she had been in months, and with a heaviness pressing into her that her sleep-fogged brain took seconds to identify as a body beside her.

The fog cleared, and the previous night returned. She was still processing when the weight beside her shifted and vanished. The wolf's paws thumped lightly on the floor before walking from the room.

Linnea lay in the warm hollow he had left, staring at the ceiling for a count of ten while remembering how to be a person. Her stomach growled, and she slowly sat up. She needed all the caffeine she could get before she figured out how to contact Havi.

Coffee first, the gods later.

Linnea rubbed her face and headed for the kitchen. She stopped dead in the doorway, a soundless little choke lodging in her throat.

Fenris was standing in the lounge room with his back to her. His hair was a long, dark fall between his shoulder blades, and the silver scars that crisscrossed the breadth of his back looked like rivers woven across a map.

He was also buck ass naked.

Oh, YES, her wolf purred in delight. LOOK AT ALL THAT.

Linnea's brain shut down. Blue screen of death. Total system failure.

And because the Norns were cruel and had a terrible sense of humor, he started to turn.

Linnea slapped both hands over her eyes.

"Towel," she said, her voice a strangled whisper. "Please, get a towel or something immediately. Check the bathroom. I would be eternally grateful if you would like… cover all that up."

There was a long pause during which her wolf made a series of suggestions Linnea wasn't going to entertain. Somewhere from the other side of the room came a rusted little laugh.

Great. Fenris was laughing at her. Like an asshole.

"Shut up, you jerk," she snapped, her face burning behind her hands.

Still laughing, bare feet went past her and down the hall. The bathroom door clicked, and only then did Linnea lower her hands. She pressed her forehead against the doorframe and took several careful breaths.

Oh well, that was the best way to wake up, her wolf said again, more dreamily. Did you see the size of his massive…

Stop!