Gods (3 page)

One thing about living in Eljudnir was lack of distraction. Grimnirs reaped, used the gym, and hooked up. There were no movies, games, or Sunday night football to keep them entertained, so I wasn’t surprised when some left the hall and started toward us. These two didn’t need an audience. What they needed was some sense knocked into their thick skulls. I had no idea what their issues were, but Mother had made her wishes clear.

“Keep the gawkers away,” I called out to Ranger and Daiku, then moved closer to Echo and Rhys. I didn’t want to be caught in their body-slam jam, so I yelled from the sideline, “That’s enough.” But I doubted they heard me. More pounding and cursing followed. More Grimnirs were leaving the hall to watch the fight, but Ranger and Daiku had the situation under control. Some were heading back while the really nosey or bored ones stayed to watch from afar.

I engaged strength runes, jumped in their midst, grabbed their arms, and pulled them apart. Since they weren’t expecting me, I managed to separate them, but they were high on adrenaline and rage. The heel of Echo’s hand slammed into my chest while Rhys’ fist connected with my solar plexus. The double impact sent me flying across the snow.

Ticked off now, I got up and closed in on them. The scales already covered my skin as my body naturally protected itself by partially shifting. Making sure my fists were covered, I went after both of them, putting the strength of a dragon behind the punches. The impact pushed them apart and they landed a few feet away. I stayed standing between them.

“That’s enough, damn it! You are both senior Grimnirs and your behavior is a disgrace—”

“Stay out of this, Baldurson,” Echo snarled and eyed Rhys, who was also on his feet and ready to charge. Since I was right smack in the middle, they’d have to go around me or slam into me.

Now they were truly pissing me off. I wished I had my fight suit on, so I could shift completely and melt the snow from under them. Being dunked into ice-cold water might force them to cool off. The fire I made when I was in a partial shift wasn’t big enough to melt a large chunk of ice. That left only one solution.

I focused on my back muscles, localizing the shift. The sound of my favorite duster ripping filled the air as the giant wings shot out. When they rushed each other, I bitch-slapped them face down into the snow and didn’t ease up.

“When I lift my wings, you two had better be ready to act like grownups. Mother’s orders.” They tried to wiggle from under the weight of my wings with little result. Echo started cursing me out. “Dude, shut up, or I will give you the thrashing you obviously need.”

“You could try,” he mumbled.

I would one of these days, but Mother would not forgive me. He was her favorite. “I have places to go instead of refereeing this childish display. And you owe me a duster. This was a present from Grandmother Frigg and my favorite. That alone is enough to make me want to whoop both of your asses from here to Earth and back.”

“Bring it on, Junior,” Echo retorted.

Seriously, the man had a death wish. I lifted my wings and set them free. They both left bloodstains on the snow and looked like crap despite their healed wounds.

“Stay down. Both of you.” Echo glared at me before his focus shifted to Rhys and his eyes glowed. “No one gets up until you talk this out.”

“This is none of your business, Baldurson.”

“When it bothers my mother it is.” The look Echo shot me was filled with hatred. I didn’t care. “Start talking. I had to put up with your attitude during our mission across the realms, but I will not do it again, especially when it upsets her. So, who goes first?”

Silence.

“One of you will have to start talking, because no one is going anywhere until you do. And, the longer I’m forced to stay here and wait for you two, the more pissed I’ll get. So unless you want me to go full dragon on your asses, someone had better start talking.”

They continued to glare at each other instead of talking. I retracted my wings, shrugged off my ripped duster, and studied the rip. It was long. I waved Ranger over.

“Could you take this to Maera and ask her to fix it while I wait for these two boneheads?”

“No problem,” he mumbled, his eyes volleying between Echo and Rhys. I could tell he was dying to find out what the fight was about.

“Thanks, Ranger.” I waited until he left, then studied the two reapers. Damn Druids! I hated them at this very moment, hated their stubbornness. “So no one is talking? Fine. We’ll stay here, until you do. Call it a timeout. I don’t care if you turn blue because of the cold. I, on the other hand, have my scales, so I could sit out here for hours.” I sat, scales covering my body.

Silence continued.

“Are you seriously going to make us sit out here like some damn two-year-olds?” Echo snarled.

“Until you quit behaving like one, yes. Or until I decide to shoot fire at your feet and make you dance.” Rhys chuckled. “You too, Rhys. How can two people hold a grudge for… what?”

“A millennium, and I’ll continue to do so if he doesn’t see there’s no excuse for betraying your own,” Echo retorted.

“Good,” Rhys shot back. “Because as long as he is so hot-headed and incapable of thinking before he acts, he’ll never understand that people make mistakes and when they are family, you forgive them.”

“That traitorous bastard was never my family,” Echo snapped.

“We took a blood oath, you sanctimonious piece of shit,” Rhys yelled. “You, Dev and I were brothers in every way. You broke it when you killed him.”

“Oh, so this is about some dead guy?” I said.

“Shut up!” they both snapped at the same time, and I grinned. If they turned against me, they might actually agree on something.

“So what did Dev do?”

“He betrayed us and many of our own died,” Echo snarled. “You never said a word when I told you I’d killed him. Instead, you turned your back on me.”

“No,
you
turned your back on me and Nara, and started making unilateral decisions. You didn’t trust anyone anymore after that, except yourself. We became nothing to you, except puppets in your plot for revenge.” He jumped to his feet and started to pace. “We were perfectly fine being Valkyries, but
you
”—he jabbed a finger in Echo’s direction—“decided being Grimnirs was better because we would take revenge on those who’d destroyed our race.
You
decided we should ignore Valkyrie laws, go to Nidavellir, get as many artavo as we could buy from the Dwarves, and turn thousands of our people into Immortals whether they wanted it or not.”

Echo’s eyes glowed, and for one second, I was sure he’d leap up and snap Rhys’ neck. Instead, he stood and wiped off the snow from his duster. When he spoke, his voice was calmer, but deadly.

“Tell me where you are hiding his rotting corpse.”

Rhys sneered. “Why? So you can burn it? And it’s not rotting. I preserved it for the day I’ll find his soul and the right spell to bring him back.”

“He got his shot at being one of us and screwed it, Rhys,” Echo said. “His soul is rotten. And like a coward, he took off, instead of allowing us to reap him and send him off with dignity.”

Rhys growled. “Do you ever listen to the words coming out of your mouth? There’s no dignity in spending an eternity in Corpse Strand.”

“It’s called penance,” Echo shot back. “Knowing Dev, he’s done many despicable things in the last millennium to get by, so whatever you bring back with your necromancy crap will not just be a traitor. It will be a monster. His dark soul deserves eternity in Corpse Strand.”

Rhys jabbed a finger at Echo. “Dev will walk again, and when he does, you will face what you did to him. What you did to us.” He let out a string of words in a language I assumed was Druidic then looked at me. “I’m done.”

Okay, that was very illuminating. “I don’t know, guys. Mother said you need to fix this and you two sound real broken up about it. We’ll revisit this, until you two are buddies.”

“Are you kidding me?” Echo asked. “I’m done dealing with him.”

“No, you’re not. We’ll sit down again and discuss this at length. I don’t know this Dev person or your history with him, but whoever he is, you two have strong feelings for him.”

“I despise him,” Echo said. “Is that strong enough for you?”

“If it makes you sit down and talk, yep. I don’t know why you killed the dude, but you need to explain it to Rhys.”

“Damn right,” Rhys retorted.

Echo sneered.

“And I don’t know why or how you preserved his body, Rhys. I just know that bringing a dead body back to life is a nasty business. When the soul is dark, that’s another level of nastiness.”

“Exactly what I told him,” Echo chimed in.

“So you two talk and when I come back, let me know what’s next for this Dev guy.” I glanced behind me. Ranger was still in the hall, which meant racing there for another duster before leaving. I focused on the quiet Druids. They still looked pissed, but they weren’t going to rip out each other’s throats. Still, someone will have to keep an eye on them while I was gone. “Where’s Nara?”

“She cannot know about this,” Rhys said quickly.

Echo laughed. “She doesn’t know?”

“Of course not. You know how she felt about him.”

“Is that why you want to bring the traitor back? For your cousin?”

“Stop calling him a traitor.”

“If he snitches like one and hides like one, then he must be—”

Rhys rushed him, but Echo was ready. This time, I went into hyper speed, grabbed both their chins, and snapped their necks. I stepped back and let them drop to the snow.

“Idiots,” I murmured.

“I agree,” Nara said. “Let me guess. They were fighting over Dev.”

“Yep. So who in Hel’s Mist is Dev?”

“A former friend whose worthless soul I’d love to personally reap. He was a pain in the butt alive and even more so dead.” She engaged strength runes and looped an arm around Rhys. I took Echo. “I’ll make sure they sleep it off, but don’t hold your breath. This is not over.”

We carried them toward the hall.

“What was that about?” Daiku asked when we met him.

“I have no idea.” Grimnirs loved to gossip, and I wasn’t going start one over some dark soul. Who in their right mind would want to put one in a body and bring them back to life? Daiku took Echo, and I went to find my coat. Hopefully Maera was done mending it.

CELESTIA

I was resting in bed when the mirror went grainy and a portal formed. Eirik walked in and closed the gap between us, his eyes intense as though he hadn’t seen me last night and held me in his arms while I slept. He’d gone home to shower and change.

“Hey,” he said, but didn’t give me a moment to respond before pulling me into his arms. He buried his face in my hair. “You smell good.”

I smiled. He smelled good too. “What took you so long?”

“Grimnirs. I had to break up a fight.” He leaned back and searched my face while gently stroking my cheek. “How are you feeling? You still look pale and tired. Like someone sucked your energy.”

He didn’t pull punches. “Gee, thanks.”

“You need fresh air and sunshine.”

“Does that mean we’re going to the beach?”

“No, Jötunheim. Fresh, unpolluted air will be good for you.”

“Are we visiting Chief Skavnir?”

“No, but we’ll stop by to say hi or he’ll feel slighted. We’re going to this perfect spot I found for a picnic. You’ll love it. It’s right between the Wolf and the Cat Clan settlements.”

“No gnarly trees?” I asked, not bothering to hide my revulsion. I hated the outdoors.

He pressed a kiss on my forehead. “No gnarly trees.”

“Giant bugs and lizards?”

He chuckled. “I’ll protect you from all lizards and bugs. Layer your clothes and carry sunscreen. While you get ready, I’ll go to the store for sandwiches. Do you need anything special?”

“No.” I’d offered to go shopping today, but Dad had insisted I rest. I came out of a coma the day before and I was still feeling lethargic.

“I promise you’ll love it,” Eirik added before he disappeared through a portal. His idea of what I’d love and what I actually loved were different.

I changed, left a note for Dad in case he came back and found me gone and started to panic. I shoved my cloak and a blanket into my backpack, got bottled water from the fridge and sighed at the empty shelves. Dad must not have shopped in weeks.

When Eirik came back, I was ready. He’d bought sandwiches, drinks, a mixed fruit bowl, a cheese and crackers tray, and an insulated picnic bag. I helped him pack; then he opened a portal into the cave. A few Grimnirs who were arriving with souls, saw me and waved.

“See that? That’s why I’m not taking you to the hall. Everyone will want a piece of you and you need to rest.”

I wasn’t ready to answer questions either.

“Mom wants you to visit, so you can chat. Trudy wants to know when she can visit you, and Maera wants to know if you’ve lost too much weight so she can fatten you up.”

I smiled. “I miss her pastries.”

“I don’t blame you.” He opened a second portal into the cave we’d used to get to Nidavellir from Ironwood, an area in Jötunheim. We left the cave and entered the sunlit realm. Fresh, unpolluted air greeted us. I inhaled and sighed.

“You were right. I needed this.”

“This is not our destination. We are going up.”

I studied the surrounding mountains. The walled town of the Wolf Clan was straight to our right and the Ironwood Forest was to the south. “Up where?”

He pointed at the one to our left. “There’s a lake at the base, but you can’t see it from here.” He gave me the backpack with our picnic, shrugged off his trench coat, and draped it around my shoulders.

“It’s a long drop from up there. You know, in case some bear chases me.”

He chuckled and stole a kiss. “You’re adorable.”

“I know.”

He grinned. “Your humor is returning. I missed it. Can I remove my shirt now and shift before the cubs get here?”

“What cubs?” I looked toward the village and saw about four wolves racing toward us. “Ooh, how cute. I want to meet them.”

“No, you don’t. They talk too much and whine, and are a pain in the ass.” He reached behind him with one hand to pull his shirt off, and I forgot about the cubs.

Muscles shifted as the shirt inched higher. I’d forgotten how graceful he was. How masculine. The black T-shirt might be a regular tee, but the pants were from his realm. Made with a material that looked like leather, they hugged his powerful thighs and shifted back and forth when he did. He removed his shirt, and I sighed. He had a beautiful body—wide chest, hard, flat abs. A chuckle had me looking up, and I caught the grin on his face.

“You want me to put it back on and remove it again?”

“Oh yes.”

He laughed. “I’ve missed you, Dimples.” He closed the gap between us and lifted me up. “I’m happy you are back.” He studied my face and the smile disappeared. “Do you know how crazy I am about you?”

“Show me.” Then I realized we had an audience. Three medium-sized gray wolves and one white one stood behind Eirik, panting. “The cubs are here.”

He groaned and lowered me down, his arm anchoring me to his side. “Guys, no ride today.”

“Why?” one grey cub asked in a high-pitched voice.

“Karle won’t take us up,” another chimed.

“Please?” a third added.

“Is that your sleeping mate?” the white one asked. She sounded like a girl.

“Yes, Laufey. She is finally awake.”

“Hi, Celestia,” the cubs said in unison and I smiled.

“Hi, guys. They’re adorable, Eirik. You should take them up.”

He shook his head. “Oh no. They’re playing you.”

“Look at their faces. Please?” I said and the pups echoed it.

“No.” Eirik gave me his T-shirt, and walked a few steps away from me then engaged pain runes and shifted, his bones breaking and snapping. The Wolf pups watched him in awe while I cringed. When he was done, they howled. His special pants were wrapped around his hind legs like leg braces.

“Okay, cubs,” Eirik said. “Go shift and put on some clothes. I’ll come get you from the courtyard once I take Celestia up.” They took off.

“Thank you, Celestia,” Laufey said. That wolf was adorable.

“I knew you’d fall for their act,” Eirik griped, but I knew he was faking annoyance. I had a feeling he’d wanted me to meet the cubs. “Hop on up, Dimples.”

“How often do you come here?”

“Whenever I need a break from Helheim. Karle is a pretty decent company when he’s not bitching about the wolves he trains. As you can imagine, I take those four imps up every time. They adore me.” His dragon was still full of himself. He lowered his legs and waited. The second I stepped on him, he yelped, “Ouch.”

I froze. “I’m so sorry.” I smacked him when he laughed. “That wasn’t funny.”

“You are such a softy.”

Once I settled at the base of his neck and secured the backpacks, he took off. The landscape around Ironwood was just as mesmerizing as the first time I saw it—one side lush with a thick forest and the other side dry and desert-like, but Eirik’s mountain was grassy with a group of trees at the top. The edge dropped sharply to a lake at the base.

“What do you think?” Eirik asked.

I loved it when he talked while in dragon form. I could feel the effect of the vibrations through my whole body. “It’s beautiful. Keep flying. I want to see what’s on the other side.”

“The Cat Clan’s land. You want to meet them?”

“No, some other time, but I want to see it.” He flew over the mountain. The surface sloped into a valley with a lake and a large settlement around it. Like Karle’s home, they had a wall around their little town, but they made it virtually impossible for anyone to access the water without their permission, Eirik explained. He mentioned the Cat Clan liked to steal fish for their lake. I could see how the cats could easily climb to the top of the mountain and find their way to the unguarded Wolf Clan’s lake.

Eirik flew down toward the lake. People rushed out of their houses and waved. He bellowed and circled back. I was still feeling the vibrations as he shot up.

“Roar again,” I called.

He did it then spoiled the moment by asking, “Are you making out with my dragon, Dimples?”

It was the closest to it, but I wasn’t admitting anything. I laid my cheek against his mane and sighed. He chuckled and the effect was subtle, but still just as stimulating. Yep, I was totally making out with his dragon.

He landed on top of the mountain and I could see why he liked the place. The patch of trees offered shade, but the grass area surrounding it was flat and low as though someone had mowed it. A few giant rocks were scattered around it. Surrounding the grass and the rocks were yellow flowers. Maybe Eirik had created it for us. Both villages were visible from his back. But when I got down, all I saw was the big sky and distant mountains.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“It’s perfect. Like a landscaped backyard.”

“Good. Would you be okay if I gave the cubs a ride?”

I nodded and looked around again, searching for the perfect spot to set the picnic blanket. Anywhere would do because it was
perfect
.

“I’ll be back in a few.” He bumped me with his muzzle, and I planted a kiss on it before he took off, the displaced air whipping my hair every which way. I shaded my eyes and watched him. When he circled and did aerial tricks, even blowing fire, I laughed and waved. He was such a show off.

I removed my winter coat and chose a spot by the largest, striated rock. If a snake slithered from under it, I could always climb to the top of the rock and escape it. Of course, it could turn out to be an anaconda-like giant snake.

Not liking the direction of my thoughts, I spread the blanket and laid out our picnic trays, then rolled up my coat, and placed it at the foot of the rock. It was going to make a perfect pillow. Sipping water from a bottle, I sat, leaned against the rock, and sighed. This was nice. I knew I should put on some sunscreen, but I was too busy soaking up the rays to care. Besides, it was warm, not hot, so I had nothing to worry about.

A dragging sound reached my ears and I looked around frantically, trying to find the source. A soft breeze was all I felt. Hopefully, a giant bug wasn’t trying to crawl out from under the rock. Not a good thought to have when I was alone.

Feeling vulnerable, I buried my nose in Eirik’s T-shirt and inhaled. Immediately, I felt better. I was contemplating putting it on when he flew past with three boys and a little girl on his back. He looped while the children howled. Every time he did it, I expected one of them to fall, but they must be used to it. I stood and waved when they doubled back and swooped low. I saw something I’d missed while they were high up. There was some type of harness around his midsection securing the children to his back. I should have known he wouldn’t perform those maneuvers without making sure the children were safe. When he was out of sight, I pulled on his shirt and tugged the hem. It was so long it came to my thighs.

Smiling, I settled down and opened the cheese tray. It was another ten minutes of flying past while the kids howled when he returned, landed, and said, “I see you found Leo.”

“Leo?”

He pointed at the rock.

“You named the rock?”

He chuckled. “Of course not. Come out, Leo, and meet Celestia.”

The rock moved, a head sliding from one side. I’d never jumped so high or screeched so loud. Instead of a rock, I stared at a giant tortoise. It, uh, he stared right back at me, his mouth moving as he chewed. I swallowed and took a step back.

“Hi, Leo,” I said.
Go back to sleep far away from here.

The same dragging sound I’d heard before came from behind me and I whipped around. The other tortoises were moving too. Now I realized why the place looked like it had been mowed. The tortoises ate the grass and the flowers.

Man, I hated the outdoors.

As if that wasn’t enough, Eirik started to shift back. I closed my eyes and blocked my ears with my thumbs. Still, I imagined the sounds and the pain he was going through and cringed.

I felt him before he pulled my hands from my ears. “What are you doing?”

“I can’t stand the sounds of your bones snapping and reforming.”

He grinned. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. I go at super speed and use pain runes. Come on, Leo decided to stay put so we can use him.”

There was no way I was leaning against the tortoise. Eirik had no problem doing it, so I used his lap as a pillow instead. He didn’t ask for his T-shirt back, which I didn’t mind. I liked staring up at his bare chest. He opened the lid of the fruit bowl and popped several grapes in his mouth and fed me one.

“How did you find this place?”

“I came here a week after I took you to the hall. Maera needed certain medicinal herbs to make that nasty green concoction she fed you. She told me I could get them fresh from the caves and hillsides of various realms or the marketplace in Nidavellir, which wouldn’t be fresh. Since we wanted the best for you, I chose to visit different realms and check each herb off the list when I found them. Karle and Olea searched these mountains with me, until we found the moon mushrooms, which look more like toadstools but only bloom during the full moon. Since then, I’ve visited several times a week to help Karle train the cubs. The first lot will graduate in a few weeks and join the pack patrol. The other herbs I got were from Vanaheim and Alfheim.”