Howl for Me (16 page)

“Jamie doesn’t agree, apparently.” Travis grinned, but compared to his usual expression it was weak at best. “Has your father shown you how to make French toast yet?”

Fen tilted his head. “French what?”

“C’mon, kiddo. I have the feeling this might take awhile.” Logan threw his arm over Fen’s shoulder. “Besides, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Right, Blondie?”

“Right. Which is why we’re ordering pizza for lunch.” Kir smiled, but it was half-hearted. His blue eyes still had clouds dancing through them. Out the window, rain fell in thick sheets as the sky cried for the lost god.

“Hey.” Logan took Kir’s face between his palms. “We’ll get him, I swear it.”

“Soon, Logan.” Kir’s voice took on a deep, resonant timber that had Fen bending knee before him. “Before anyone else dies.” Kir leaned in for a kiss from his lover. “Especially you.”

“Nik’s the one who’s supposed to kill me.” Logan shivered. “I still don’t know which side that bastard’s going to come down on.”

“His own.” Travis grimaced. “Even when I ruled the Vanir he was a secretive son of a bitch.”

Logan frowned. “He is
Dökk Alfar
, right?”

Travis opened his mouth, then frowned himself. “You know? I’m not entirely sure.”

The four of them exchanged glances. Kir broke the silence first. “Fen?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you scent the differences between
Lios
and
Dökk Alfar
?”

Fen’s brows rose. “I didn’t know many of either, but I might be able to.”

Jordan stomped back through the bedroom door and into another room, the one Jeff used as an office. She came back quickly with Jeff’s laptop and once more slammed the bedroom door shut.

“Shit. She’s still pissed.” Logan sighed. “I’m not entirely sure I blame her.”

“Blame the hormones.” Travis leaned against the kitchen counter. “I do.”

Fen shook his head. “She’s grieving, and she needs her pack.”

Kir, Travis, Fen and Logan exchanged another long look. Logan grinned and headed for the bedroom. “He’s right.”

Without another word the other three followed him. If the Grimm children needed their pack, then by the gods they’d get their pack. All of them.

“Oh, Vincente.”

“Oh, my stomach,” Jordan groaned. The laptop had been placed on the bed near Jeff’s head, the two ladies hovering over him as they watched the action on the screen.

“Shh! This is the best part.” Jamie’s gaze was glued to the screen, her green eyes shimmering with excitement.

“Whatever shall we do? Sylvia refuses to grant your divorce, my love!”

“Miranda, my darling, we shall survive.”

Fen blinked and moved so that he too could see what was going on. Two people, both dark haired, were kissing ravenously. It looked like the man was trying to eat the woman’s face from the inside out. The lip-smacking noise that came from the tiny computer speakers was revolting.

Eventually the pair’s lips pulled apart with an audible smack. “My darling Vincente.”

“Oh, Miranda.”

Fen shook his head.
This
was Vincente?

“Hell. He’s wearing the gold lamé briefs.” Jordan got out of bed, careful of her brother’s wounds. “I’ve gotta barf now.” She shook her finger at the twins. “My children will be warped for life.”

Jamie giggled, the sound high and sweet and oh, so welcome. If Jamie was feeling well enough to giggle, then Jeff must be feeling better as well.

“I swear if their first word is Vincente you two are toast.”

Jeff’s shoulders were shaking. “But he’s so hot!”

“I’m thinking of naming my first son Vincente.” Jamie batted her lashes at Travis.

“Oh hell no.” Travis was shaking his head in horror. “No fucking way. You’re cute, but you’re not
that
cute.”

Kir was laughing, the storm clouds in his eyes lightening at the sight of his wife’s smiling face. Outside the rain eased up, still there but not nearly as ferocious.

“Hell, Jamie, you can’t name a kid Vicente. That’s skanky. I’d never be able to moan his name again without thinking…ew.” Jeff shuddered, trying to hide his wince of pain.

Jamie sniffed. “Then keep your pervy fantasies to yourself.”

Fen growled. The man on the screen was Jeff’s fantasy man?

Jeff turned his head slowly and caught Fen’s eye. He winked as soon as he saw he had Fen’s undivided attention. “Then don’t name the kid Vincente.”

Fen relaxed. The man on the screen might be a fantasy, but Fen was Jeff’s reality.

He could live with that.

Chapter Eight

“Stay still,
elskede
.” Fen carefully carried his mate to Logan’s condo. “We’ll be there soon.”

Jeff shivered in his arms. With his injuries he should still be in bed, but Jeff had insisted on going to Logan’s when word reached them that Jeanne Grimm had arrived. He hadn’t wanted to wait even a single second before checking on his mother. Fen had given in the moment Jeff threatened to crawl there if he had to. Fen knew the man was stubborn enough to do it. “God. Mom’s gotta be pissed.”

“What do you want me to do?” Fen would do anything to get that look off Jeff’s face. The visit from his siblings had eased him somewhat, but the raw grief and pain were still there in the dull eyes and lackluster smile. “I will do whatever you wish, love.”

Jeff winced as Fen shifted him. “Don’t drop me.”

Fen smiled as best he could. “I promise.”

The door to his father’s condo opened. Kir winced as he saw how pale and sweaty Jeff looked. Sharing blood hadn’t healed his beautiful redhead, and neither had a visit from Toni. Fen was at his wits’ end. Fen could hear the sound of quiet sobbing coming from the room behind Kir. “C’mon in, you two.”

Fen carried Jeff in. The cry from Jeanne Grimm as she got her first look at her battered son tore at him. “Oh my God.” She raced forward, but Fen moved, keeping her from touching Jeff in any way. He growled, warning her away before she could inadvertently hurt Jeff further.

“Shh.” Jeff reached up with a shaking hand and caressed Fen’s cheek. “It’s okay. She won’t hurt me.”

Fen closed his eyes and tried to get himself back under control. Just the thought that someone could hurt Jeff sent him into a murderous rage. His jaw clenched and it took him a moment before he could speak, a moment where Jeanne watched him warily. “Be careful. He’s hurt badly.”

She frowned, the look fiercely protective. “Then why is he out of bed?”

“Because you came to claim his father’s body.”

Grief tightened her features. “Whatever else he did, Fred Grimm was the love of my life.” Tears pooled in her eyes, eyes the same exact shade as Jeff’s. She tsk’d. “Put him on the sofa before you drop him.” She led the way, pointing to where she wanted her son. “I gather you’re Fenris the werewolf?”

He nodded, watching Jeff’s face closely as he lowered him to the cushions. “Better,
elskede
?” He touched Jeff’s cheek, smiling when his mate nodded. He straightened and faced Jeff’s mother once more. “Yes, I’m Fenris Saeter. Your son’s mate.”

She smiled at him and nodded. “Good.” His brows rose in surprise. “I can already tell you’ll take good care of him.”

“Mom,” Jeff whined behind him. “I’m not twelve and he’s not my first boyfriend.”

Fen held back his snarl. His mate hadn’t come to him a virgin, but the man didn’t have to mention it any more than necessary.

Jeanne wiped her tears away and smiled again. It was easy to see where Jamie got her beautiful smile. “I’ll decide how I speak to my new son-in-law, young man.” She eyed Fen again. “You’re the one who’s supposed to kill Oliver?”

Fen nodded. “I believe so, if Oliver is Odin.”

The fury and determination that lit her face startled him. “Good. Get a bite in or two for me, will ya? And make sure it bleeds a lot.” She tilted her head, a speculative gleam in her eye. “Maybe the groin area?”

Behind him every man in the room choked or coughed. He was pretty sure at least one of them had cupped himself.

Fen nodded, unfazed by the request. “It will be my pleasure.”

She smiled sweetly again and patted his cheek with a maternal hand. “You’re a good boy.”

“Will he get extra cookies if he bites Grimm’s dick off?”

She frowned over Fen’s shoulder. “Language, Logan.”

“Yes’m.” Fen could hear the suppressed laughter in his father’s voice.

Jeanne settled on the ottoman where she could easily reach Jeff without jarring him. She took her son’s hand in her own. “Tell me everything.”

Fen carefully settled himself behind Jeff, his mate cradled between his thighs, Jeff’s head resting against his chest. Jeff told her everything that had happened to him, only interrupted by Jordan when she told her mother how Fred had passed away. By the time he was done Jeanne Grimm was pale and shaking with fury. “I take it back. I don’t want just his dick bitten off.”

Logan wisely kept his mouth shut.

“I want him where he can’t hurt anyone ever again.” She glared up at Kir and Logan. “Tell me about the prophecy.”

Logan groaned. It was Travis who stepped forward and quoted the prophecy they all knew and feared

“High blows Heimdall, the horn is aloft;

Odin communes with Mimir’s head;

Trembles Yggdrasill’s towering Ash;

The old tree wails when the Ettin is loosed.

“What of the Aesir? What of the Elf-folk?

All Jötunheim echoes, the Aesir are at council;

The dwarves are groaning before their stone doors,

Wise in rock-walls; wit ye yet, or what?

“Hrymr sails from the east, the sea floods onward;

The monstrous Beast twists in mighty wrath;

The Snake beats the waves, the Eagle is screaming;

The gold-neb tears corpses, Naglfar is loosed.

“From the east sails the keel; come now Múspell’s folk

Over the sea-waves, and Loki steereth;

There are the warlocks all with the Wolf,

With them is the brother of Býleistr faring.

“Surtr fares from southward with switch-eating flame;

On his sword shimmers the sun of the war-gods;

The rocks are falling, and fiends are reeling,

Heroes tread Hel-way, heaven is cloven.

“Then to the Goddess a second grief cometh,

When Odin fares to fight with the Wolf,

And Beli’s slayer, the bright god, with Surtr;

There must fall Frigg’s beloved.

“Odin’s son goeth to strife with the Wolf,

Vídarr, speeding to meet the slaughter-beast;

The sword in his hand to the heart he thrusteth

Of the fiend’s offspring; avenged is his Father.

“Now goeth Hlödyn’s glorious son

Not in flight from the Serpent, of fear unheeding;

All the earth’s offspring must empty the homesteads,

When furiously smiteth Midgard’s defender.

“The sun shall be darkened, earth sinks in the sea,—

Glide from the heaven the glittering stars;

Smoke-reek rages and reddening fire:

The high heat licks against heaven itself.”

Jeanne blinked. “One of you is going to translate that into English for me, right?”

Jeff laughed, groaning in pain at the same time. “Preaching to the choir, Mom.”

She leaned forward. “Easy, Jeff.” She reached for Jeff’s shirt but pulled her hand away before she could make contact. “I want to see how badly he hurt you.”

Jeff nodded. “Fen?”

Fen carefully lifted Jeff’s shirt, revealing the healing wounds to his mate’s mother. She hissed in anger when she saw them, her hands shaking in her lap. Her foot began to tap a rapid tattoo on the hardwood floor. “Tell me you hurt him.”

“I hurt him.” Fen lowered Jeff’s shirt, wincing along with his mate when the fabric caught on one of the stitches. “Grimm bled before he got away from me.”

She sat back on the ottoman, but her foot kept tapping. She blew out a breath and frowned, her thoughts turned inward. “Has Heimdall blown his horn yet?”

The room went still. Kir’s brows rose nearly to his hairline. “You know, I have no idea.”

Jeanne eyed her son-in-law. “Call him and find out.”

Logan shook his head. “Can’t. No cell phone service on the Bifrost Bridge.” He smirked at Kir. “We need to fix that.”

Jeanne shrugged. “How did you use to communicate? Smoke signals?”

“Shank’s mare.” Logan held out his leg and wiggled his foot. “Pretty much what we were trying to do when Heimdall told us to turn around because Grimm had Jeff.”

“So you were on the bridge? Recently?”

Logan sighed. “Yeah. It blew all of our magical protections to get there too. That’s how Grimm got in and managed to kill Fred and get to Jeff.”

“He thought I was Fen.” Jeff shuddered and Fen stroked his mate’s hair, hoping to soothe him. Jeff turned his head so that his nose was buried against Fen’s neck. “God, you smell good.” Fen understood how close Jeff’s wolf was to the surface as Jeff, despite his injuries, tried to burrow his way further into Fen’s arms. His mate tried to wallow in Fen’s scent, and Fen smiled, stilling him.

Kir handed Jeanne a coffee mug. “How could he mistake you for Fen? No offense but you’re a lot redder.”

“He said Fen had been under dirt and filth for so long he couldn’t remember what Fen’s original color had been.” Jeff twisted in his arms, trying to get closer to Fen’s neck. Fen felt Jeff wince at the movement, but it didn’t stop the man. He just moaned and licked Fen’s neck. “You taste good.”

Jeff wanted to mate. If Fen let him, the other man would bite Fen’s neck and the mating cycle would be complete. He would belong to Jeff forever.