Page 42 of The Fanged One

"Thank you."

Ciara pressed play on the TV. Trevor went back to cracking his whip at things. Layla refilled their glasses, with extra in Linnea's, and the three of them settled back in like she hadn't just verbally spewed all over them. Without a word, Layla rested her head on Linnea's shoulder, and Ciara stretched her feet across both their laps.

Linnea's wolf had gone quiet again, and she told herself she preferred it that way.

They watched the first season and were well into the second, which Linnea got through with her head on Layla's shoulder. The credits on an episode were rolling when Layla shook her gently awake.

"Come on, bedtime. The men will be back any minute."

"What time is it?"

"Half eleven. Up you get."

Linnea dragged herself up and hugged them both before heading for the cool dark of her room. She undressed without turning on the light and climbed under the covers.

The sheets smelled, very faintly, of Fenris. She didn't think to change them, and now she was going to sleep in the smell of him on purpose, like a lunatic.

This is fine, she told the dark.

She rolled onto her side, pulled the duvet up under her chin, and worked through the same argument she had been working through since Von's bathroom.

Normal people had hot times with hot men all the time, and they came out the other side fine. She would have hers, and when the quest was over, and he went back to wherever, she would remember it as a moment in time and not be sorry. You know, if they managed not to all die during Ragnarök.

Humans didn't have mates. They had relationships that were different. They had flings. They had nice memories.

She had always been, as Skari had reminded her every day of her life until she left home, more human than wolf.

So she could do this the human way. She was equipped for it. She would survive Fenris the same way humans survived everything, by enjoying what they had and not asking the universe for more.

"Good plan," she murmured and rolled over.

She drifted down into the soft place she went before dreams and was almost out again when her wolf roused.

He's back.

Linnea's eyes stayed shut when the bedroom door opened and softly closed again.

Paws crossed the carpet, and something very large climbed onto her duvet and lay down beside her. A warm wolf nose pressed against the back of her hand where it rested on top of the blanket.

Linnea moved her hand across the duvet until her palm settled on the heavy paw lying beside her own. His tongue rasped across the back of her hand, hot and brief, and the knot of awful that had been sitting in her gut all day finally, finally let go.

She didn't know how to describe what she was feeling, even to herself. All she knew was she had never felt anything like this in her life. Not from any of the guys she had tried to date before she got kidnapped, and not from anyone after.

Mine, her wolf whispered, very small and very sleepy. Ours.

Linnea didn't try to argue. She was sliding back into sleep when the phone on the nightstand vibrated angrily. She fumbled for it, squinting at the screen.

Von: GET THE FUCK OVER HERE. I think I have found something.

21

Von opened the door before Tor had finished knocking. He was barefoot on the hall runner, in the same black T-shirt from the morning, the K-pop Demon Hunters' faces creased and smeared with more dust than before they had left.

"Fucking finally. Get your slow asses inside," he said, stepping aside.

"Give us a break. We were sleeping," Layla grumbled.

"Well, I haven't slept. I didn't bother trying. I've been thinking about all of Loki's children, not just lovely Fenris here. It kicked me off down a rabbit hole, but I did find things."