Howl for Me (13 page)

The serpent? Fen blinked, stunned. His brother, Jörmungandr, the World Serpent, was supposed to be the one to kill Thor. The prophecy said so. But here Thor lay, his life’s blood on the carpet.

Fen set up an urgent howl and prayed one of his mate’s siblings heard his plea. Doors thudded open as Fred Grimm’s family rushed into the hallway.

“What the hell happened? Where’s Jeff?” Travis ran into the hallway and stopped dead at the sight of Fenris sitting next to Fred. “Oh shit.”

“What the fuck?” Jordan, her scent one of horror, fell to her knees.

“Oh my God! Dad?
Dad!
” Jamie fell at her father’s feet, her hand over her mouth, eyes glittering with tears.

“Holy shit.” Val, the Avenger, stared at his brother, stunned expression quickly turning to anger. “Who did this?”

Fen barked. They had to do something. His mate would be devastated if Thor died.

“Hold on, Fred. We’ll get you help.” Travis knelt down by Thor, whipping off his shirt and pressing it against the gaping wound in Thor’s chest.

Something strange was going on, something that shouldn’t be. He whined and licked at the dying god. How could this be happening?

“S-sorry.” Fred coughed and sprayed blood all over Fen. Fen shuddered.

“He got Jeff,” Thor wheezed. His hand flailed out and another one took it. One that glowed brightly. Travis clung to his old friend with his only hand. “Grimm has my son.”

Travis nodded grimly. “We’ll get him back. Rest. We’ll save him, I swear.”

Fred coughed again. Fred couldn’t survive his wounds. His breath whistled, and Fen knew his lungs had been punctured.

“Fen.”

Fenris turned to find Jamie, tears streaming down her face, holding open the elevator doors.

“Change back. We have to go get my brother and kill that son of a bitch.”

“Ja-Jamie!” Fred’s eyes were wild as he tried to push himself up, protect his daughter as he hadn’t been able to before.

She sobbed, but she didn’t move. “I love you, Dad.”

Fred shuddered. “Love you. Baby girl.”

His breathing was labored. He didn’t have long.

“An ambulance is on its way. Hold on, Dad.” Jordan was pressing something against Fred’s chest, sobbing as the blood poured through the cloth.

Fred smiled and placed his hand over her stomach. Fen heard her sharp intake of breath. “Love. You. So sorry.” He sighed, the sound rattling and loud. “Jör…not…serpent…”

His bloodstained hand fell away from Jordan’s stomach.

“No. No. Don’t you do this to me, you stubborn son of a bitch.” Jordan smacked Fred’s cheeks. “C’mon, Dad. I still have to tell you how much I hate your ass.” Tears streaked down her cheeks. “Dad?”

Fen turned away from her grief and tore into the elevator. He would mourn with his mate later, after he’d rescued him.

“Daddy?”

The elevator doors closed with a soft snick.

Jeff took a deep breath and instantly smelled something cold and nasty. He wrinkled his nose and wondered when the hell he’d fallen head first into a fish barrel.

“Ah. You’re awake, Fenris.”

Jeff froze. Fuck. He knew that voice, even if he wished he didn’t. He opened his mouth to respond but all that came out was a low growl.

Uh-oh.

“Are you
sure
that’s Fenrisùlfr? He looks a little…red to me.”

Jeff snorted and sneezed. Hell. He was in serious trouble if Grimm’s girl Friday was here too.

“How should I know? He was covered in his own filth for so long I can’t remember what color his fur used to be. But how many giant wolves are roaming around the greater Philadelphia area?”

Rina Southerland, his Uncle Val’s mother and Grimm’s mistress, sighed. “I’m just saying.”

“Hmm.” Footsteps sounded. Jeff opened his eyes and found himself snout to toe with Grimm’s boot. “Do you see this?”

Jeff eyed the thin, barely there rope in Grimm’s hands. He recognized it. He growled and struggled to sit up.

“Ah-ah. No you don’t.” Grimm snapped his fingers and Gleipnir wrapped itself around Jeff’s limbs, immobilizing him instantly. “I see you do remember it.”

Jeff rolled his eyes and yanked. Hell. It should be a piece of cake to get out of this once Grimm left the room.

“This time, I think hurting you won’t be enough.” Grimm smiled down at him. “No. I think this time we need to kill you.”

Jeff growled and tried to relax. Fen would come. Fen would save him.

Grimm’s rump was about to become roast for the beast.

“Rina?”

Rina stepped forward. In her hand she held a silver knife.

“Would you like a fur coat?”

Rina’s eyes gleamed with twisted pleasure.

Jeff shuddered.
Guess I’m going to find out if that myth is true after all.
Because if the silver didn’t kill him right away, he’d be dead by the time they were done skinning him.

He knew which death he preferred. He closed his eyes and thought of the man he’d left behind.
Find me, Fen.

I need you.

“C’mon. We don’t have much time.” Jamie shoved his ass in her car and took off like a bat out of hell. “He’ll kill Jeff thinking he’s you.” She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. “I want him dead, Fen!” She was shrieking, her voice, powered unconsciously by her magic, rattling the windows of the car.

“So do I.” Fen held on for dear life as Jamie raced through the nighttime streets of downtown. “Do you know where he took Jeff?”

She nodded and touched her earring. “Jeff hasn’t taken this off yet. I’m able to use it to track him.” She sniffed. “Where the fuck are Kir and Logan?”

“They went to get Magnus and Morgan. They believe Skye is actually Skuld, the Norn who reads the future.”

“The one who gave Odin the prophecy of Ragnarrok?” She turned sharply down a narrow street, her brows lowered in concentration.

“Yes.” Fen sniffed. There was the faintest whiff of his mate on the evening breeze. “There.” He pointed toward a narrow, red brick building with a black door.

Jamie nodded and parked the car at the first spot she came to, which was over a block away. “Act natural.”

Fen switched to his wolf form.

“Not
that
natural.”

Fen growled but shifted back. He sniffed, his head whipping around as the sweet scent of his mate filled his nostrils. “That way.”

Jamie led him to the building, but unless they wanted to go in through the front door there was no way they’d be getting in. “There’s got to be an alleyway somewhere around here.” She tapped her teeth with her nail and looked up and down the street. “There!” She took off and Fen followed, wondering where his mate’s sister was leading him.

Wherever it was, it was away from the slowly growing scent of blood.

“I killed Thor tonight because of you.”

Jeff whimpered. The knife sliding through his skin was sharp agony, distracting him from the stupid shit Grimm was spouting. Rina had a wicked touch with that fucking blade, drawing the pain out in ways he hadn’t thought possible.

“He was stupid, but he was loyal. Unlike your father, who’s been a thorn in my side since the beginning.”

Wait. Did he say
Thor
was dead? But that meant… That would mean…

The knife slid between the pads of his paw and Jeff nearly screamed. It was the last of his paws to be sliced. Each time was a fresh hell.

“Loki has a lot to answer for.” Grimm knelt down and stared into Jeff’s eyes. “I wonder how he’ll feel finding his son’s furless body at his doorstep. You think he’ll cry?”

Jeff snapped at Grimm. His teeth snagged on Grimm’s chin, drawing blood.

Grimm pulled back. His expression was hard to read, but Jeff recognized the scent of fear. He’d smelled it on husbands who’d cheated on their wives and been found out. It filled the air around men and women who’d stolen or lied or cheated and been confronted by Jeff. Now his grandfather reeked of it.

“Rina?” Grimm wiped the blood from his chin. All emotion drained from his face. “Give me the knife.”

Fen bolted down the alleyway. He could hear the agonized howls of a wolf and knew his mate was suffering. He’d long since shed his human skin, running far ahead of his mate’s sister. She could take care of herself. He had to get to Jeff before it was too late.

No matter what else happened in that house, Grimm was a walking dead man.

Fen burst through the back door and followed the scent of his mate’s blood. There in the living room was Grimm and a frost Jotun, huddled over a blood-coated wolf.

Fen snapped. He threw himself at Odin, snapping and snarling and tearing into skin, reveling in the blood that flowed down his chin and throat. He ripped into Odin with a ferocity the man before him couldn’t respond to fast enough.

Pain slashed into his side. Fen turned and bit, earning a startled cry from the frost Jotun.

When he turned back Odin was gone. In the blink of an eye the man he hated most in the world was no longer beneath his paws. He howled his rage. He could still smell him, hear his pained, fearful breaths, but he couldn’t
see
him.

Fen turned to the blonde female dashing through the front door. She was no longer a threat. Once Odin was destroyed the female could be hunted at his leisure.

“Jeff!” Jamie raced forward. “Oh my God. What did they do to you?”

Fen couldn’t turn back now. He had to stop Odin, had to kill him. Had to hand him his Ragnarrok before he could hurt Fen’s mate, his pack, any more than he already had. It was up to Fen to stop him.

Prophecy demanded it. Just as prophecy demanded his death afterward. Fen would face that when the time came, knowing he’d protected those he loved with his life.

Ah. There. He could scent the foul stench of Grimm and knew where the other man had hidden himself. Fen snarled and broke through the door.

He fell back with a whimper. Inside that room…inside that room was carnage. An entire family, from the gram to the smallest child, had been torn apart in a frenzy of blood and gore. Innocent, blank eyes stared up at him covered in the film and stench of death.

Behind him he heard Jamie’s heaving breaths as she emptied her stomach beside her bound brother.

Fen backed away from the room. Grimm wasn’t here. He was long gone. This was part of the vision Skye had told them about.

This was a trap.

Fen quickly changed to his human form.

“We need to get out of here now.”

Jamie puked some more.

He squatted by Jeff. Gods above, the damage that had been done to his mate was worse than he thought. Great flaps of skin had been flayed from his sides and his legs. Blood poured from the wounds. Jeff panted, the whites of his eyes showing. Fen had to get Jeff out of there before his mate suffered any further. He had to find out why Jeff’s wounds weren’t healing. He eyed Gleipnir. “
Elskede.
How do I free you?”

Jeff, his entire body trembling violently, brought his bloody paws together and stared at Fen. His beautiful eyes were full of pain…and trust.

“Chinese finger trap.” Jamie heaved some more. “I need to call Travis.”

Fen remembered what Jeff had shown him two months ago in the helicopter. Fen grabbed hold of Gleipnir and, instead of pulling, pushed gently. The rope fell away from his mate’s paws. Jeff was free. “Change,
elskede.
We need to get out of here.”

Jeff whimpered. A strange sound started to fill the air, one Fen had never heard before. It was loud, the sound rising and falling like the screech of an angry dragon.

Jamie staggered to her feet, still looking the worse for wear. “Fuck. The cops are coming. Jeff, get un-furry, you stupid bastard.”

Fen could see Jeff struggling to find his human self, but the pain was overriding everything else. “We carry him.” Fen pulled Jeff onto his shoulders and winced at his mate’s canine scream. The moan that was torn from his mate’s throat brought tears to his eyes. “Can you get us to your car unseen?”

Jamie nodded. “I think so. Travis is on his way, so if we have to we leave my car behind and get in his.”

“Easy,
kjaere
.” Fen raced out of the house, his mate draped across his shoulders. “We’ll have you home soon.” With luck his father and Kir would be there and could help him figure out why Jeff wasn’t healing. Had he been wrong?

Was his mate still mortal?

Jeff tried to bite back his cries. Already he could hear the police moving around inside the house. He knew they’d find where Grimm and Rina had attempted to fillet him. From what little he’d seen they’d also find that poor family Grimm had slaughtered.

How had Grimm disappeared like that? Fen had him in his jaws, ripping into him and tearing him apart. One second he was bleeding from bites, the next he’d disappeared and not even Fen could find him.

Wasn’t Fen supposed to kill Odin? Or did some other piece of prophecy need to be fulfilled first?

“Jamie!”

Jeff opened eyes he didn’t even remember closing to find his sister in her lover’s embrace. Travis looked tormented, just as he had when Jamie had been in that hospital bed months ago. He closed his eyes again and waited.

“Shit. Is that Jeff?”

He felt Fen move, knew the wolf was climbing into Travis’s car. Fen placed him on the back seat, careful of his wounds, the werewolf’s hands never leaving him. He was surrounded by the scent of loved ones.

It didn’t dull the pain, but it made it more bearable.

“Why isn’t he healing?” The concern in Fen’s voice was sobering. Jeff struggled to turn human, but the pain overrode everything else. He was stuck in this form, at least for now. The car moved, taking them away from the death and carnage. How they’d avoided the police Jeff had no idea, but he was pretty sure he’d left a trail of blood right to the street. He figured his twin had used her woo-woo powers to hide them from detection.

Travis was driving like an insane man. “I don’t know.”

The car turned and Jeff moaned again. He was shuddering from the pain, freezing cold. It was possible he was going into shock from blood loss.

“And I can’t take him to a veterinarian. He looks nothing like a real wolf.” Travis idled at a red light, his fingers drumming impatiently on the steering wheel.