Page 41 of The Fanged One

"He absolutely does."

"He looked at you all day like he was working out the shortest possible distance between you and a horizontal surface," Layla added helpfully.

Linnea put a hand over her face. "Jesus, Layla."

"What? That's just what I saw! He has terrible game, by the way. Shocking. The yearn is uncomfortable to witness."

"I love you, but I'm going to need you to stop talking now."

"He stares at you when you think you aren't looking," Ciara said and started ticking things off her fingers. "He pulled out your stool at breakfast this morning. He sat at the head of Von's table because Von put him there, but he was watching the door the whole time you were in the bathroom. He looked like he was going to put his fist through the wall."

"You have got to stop watching us, you creepers," Linnea said, going hot under her sweater.

"Nope. We won't."

"Look, you two are spoiled," Linnea replied, ignoring the ache spreading through her. "You both have these great mate bonds, and you think every girl is going to get the same. Whatever Fenris and I have going on, it's not that. He just hasn't had sex in thousands of years. Thousands. I just happened to be the first girl there, and I'm also not afraid of him, which probably helps a lot. That's all it is."

"Lin," Ciara said quietly.

"And honestly? I'm fine with it being all that it is. The day I start complaining about making out with a guy that looks like Fenris is the day you should put me down behind the barn. Do you hear me? Just take me out into the woods. Do it humanely, but do it."

Layla put her glass down on the coffee table. "Linnea, stop."

"No, I'm being serious," she replied stubbornly. "I'm a grown ass woman. I'm allowed to want what I want, and it doesn't need to be deeper than that."

The two of them looked at each other, and a silent Ironwood conference happened. Linnea drank more wine because she doubted that they were done.

"Okay," Ciara said carefully. "Here's the thing we have to ask, so don't get pissy."

"Oh, gods. Do it if you have to, and let me watch my chaotic bi vampires already."

"Is Fenris making you uncomfortable? If he is, even by accident, because he doesn't know how to be around a modern woman, we can go and stand in front of him and explain it. Tor will. Arne will, and he hates this kind of conversation. We can ask Fenris to back off. You only have to say it."

The wolf inside Linnea that had been hiding all day came up so fast it lurched in her.

No. Mine.

Linnea's wineglass shook in her hand. She set it on the coffee table before she spilled it.

"No," she said. "No, no, don't do that. Do not. He isn't making me uncomfortable. Not even a little. No."

Ciara raised both hands. "Okay. I'm backing off."

"Promise me you won't tell Tor to talk to him, or I will lose my shit. I'm not some dumb ass teenage girl who needs her big brother to step in."

"Fine! We promise. Look at us, we are promising," Layla said, crossing her heart.

"I can fight my own battles," Linnea said, her voice thin and too fast. "If I want him to back off, I can tell him myself. I can handle a wolf. I've been doing it my whole damn life."

Ciara leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "We know you can."

"I'm okay, so you can stop looking at me all weird." Linnea ran her hands through her hair. "It is just that all of this is a lot. Fenris woke up, and the gods are like, 'Sorry, can't help.' There's a darkness coming that no one knows how to fight. And on top of all of that, the wolf at the middle of it has decided he likes me, and I let myself feel like maybe that meant something, and today at Von's, I was reminded that he's a god who has had a wife and children, and I'm a normal Norwegian völva who hasn't even finished my training or managed to shift."

Linnea had decided in Von's bathroom that she wouldn't cry over this, and she was going to stick to it. She sniffed hard and cleared her throat.

"It's okay. I just got a bit ahead of myself, and now I have caught up, and that's the end of it. Can we please go back to Trevor and Alucard kicking each other's asses?"

Layla leaned over and kissed Linnea's temple. "Okay, sis. Sorry for pushing."