Love's Choice (16 page)

The wolf took the next left, smashing through a traffic light. The metal bent and crumpled, falling with a crash across the hood of an SUV. Magnus turned his bike. We bounced off the sidewalk and wove between the cars. Drivers honked at us as we rushed by them.

“Duck,” Magnus growled.

I leaned down as we drove beneath the crashed traffic light and up onto the next sidewalk. Fenrir raced before us, trampling a display of flowers set out on the sidewalk. Potting soil and petals flew through the air. I closed my eyes as we drove through the grit.

We were gaining on the beast.

I grinned. “Closer. Get alongside of the beast. I want to hack his leg and lame him.”

Magnus laughed before me. “So vicious, Valkyrie.”

“Yes.” My blood boiled with anger. “He killed my parents.”

The engine roared louder. Magnus dodged a crumpled, blue mailbox. A cloud of letters whipped behind us. Fenrir was back out into the road, racing across the hoods of cars. A bus loomed before him. The wolf leaped. His paws crushed the roof.

It slowed him down.

Magnus pulled alongside Fenrir as he leaped down into an intersection. I raised my sword. Fenrir's tail swung and struck my back. My swing went wild, missing the wolf. The blow pushed me into Magnus. The bike swerved.

“Fuck,” Magnus snarled as he fought to control the bike.

Fenrir pulled ahead. The wolf glanced back at us, red eyes staring right at me. Teeth as long as my arm appeared as the beast snarled at me.

“I'll kill you!” I shouted as he kept running and raced around a corner.

“Is he heading for your coffee shop?” Magnus asked as he regained control of the bike. “We're nearby.”

Ahead, Fenrir took the next left. My eyes widened as I realized where we were. “Yes. The alley! It cuts over.”

Magnus leaned the bike as he took the turn. The end fishtailed around with a squeal and a trail of acrid smoke. I held on tight as Magnus put his boot down on the sidewalk to keep us from tipping and crashing. The tire squealed and smoked behind us and then we shot down the narrow alley.

Dumpsters lined the path. Magnus weaved through them. Garbage kicked up around us. I wrinkled my nose at the foul odors. It was dark between the buildings. Ahead, the street was bright and there was the coffee house.

We burst out of the alley. A teen on the sidewalk screamed as she jumped back from us. I ignored her. Fenrir was on our right. The giant wolf crashed through the glass facade of the Boar Coffee and Cafe. A woman in a business suit raced out of the front door, her coffee cup gripped tight in her hand.

Fenrir lunged at Owen. His jaws savaged Owen's side. The one-eyed man screamed in pain.

Chapter Seventeen

Raven

Fenrir's jaws sank into Owen's army-green jacket, biting deep into his flesh. The old man's scream pierced through the cries of alarm of the pedestrians and the snarls of the wolf. Fenrir shook the old man as Owen's fists beat at the beast's gray muzzle.

It was hard to think that Owen could be the same Odin that had driven off Fenrir when I was a child. He looked so weak and helpless in the beast's jaws. Could Loki have been right about Owen? Was he really the one-eyed god of death and battle? Had he stranded Magnus and me in Utgard to train us, risking our lives and potentially keeping us trapped in that frigid nightmare?

Or was he just a weak, old man being savaged by a monster, that needed my protection?

Magnus roared across the street, past a smoking sports car with a crumpled hood, and barreled through the shattered glass of the cafe. Freddy and Gerdie peaked over the counter, Freddy's lipstick a brighter shade of red than his wife's.

“Fenrir,” I roared as I hopped off the back of the bike, my armor clinking as I brandished my blade.

The wolf tossed his head and threw Owen. The old man crashed into a table. It buckled beneath him and collapsed into splinters. Owen groaned, blood smearing his white beard as it leaked out the corners of his mouth.

Anger seized me. My parents lay dead before me. The beast stood over their body. I wasn't a scared, little girl clutching my dolls and crying in horror. I was a Valkyrie now. I had power. Fenrir would feel my vengeance.

I charged forward past the bike, leaping over the debris strewn across the cafe's floor. Fenrir's baleful eyes fixed on me. He snarled as he turned. Magnus shouted behind me. My blood hammered too loud for me to hear.

I raised my flaming sword.

Fenrir swiped with a heavy paw. Metal screeched and rent. Pain flared down across my side and abdomen. Sharp claws ripped at my flesh. I flew back. My sword fell from my grip and vanished. I crashed through glass. The shards spun around me like glittering teeth before I hit the sidewalk and rolled to my back.

Above, a perfect, summer sky burned blue.

~   ~   ~

Magnus

A great, violent anger took me as Raven was struck and thrown through the window. She trailed misty blood, a shining comet hurtling out of the cafe. The wolf howled inside me. I put on its cloak. My body changed. Fur sprouted black. My arms grew longer, my fingernails sharper. I howled from a hungry muzzle. My paw gripped the rainbow battle ax.

I threw myself at Fenrir, howling in rage.

There was no fear. There was no room for it. I was consumed with anger. It burned inside of me. My Valkyrie had been hurt. Nothing else mattered but the blood lust. I was the wolf, and I would savage the beast that hurt her.

Fenrir lunged at me. I met fangs with colorful steel. The ax head leaked rainbow light as I swung it. The blade struck the beast's sharp teeth and rebounded. Fenrir snarled and I howled back. We snapped our teeth and swung our claws at each other.

He was bigger than me. Faster than me. I didn't care. I would kill him for hurting my Valkyrie.

A paw swiped at me. I ducked and swung the ax for his hamstring. I would disable him before sinking my teeth into his throat. I would drink Fenrir's hot blood while he whimpered in pain. My jaws would crush his throat until he suffocated.

I dived beneath the wolf. My ax swung at his broad belly. The beast leaped up, his back crashing through the drop ceiling. Plaster tiles rained down and shattered on floor. The wolf landed and lunged at me.

I leaped. The top of Fenrir's muzzle struck my stomach. With a flick of his head, he tossed me. I growled as I tumbled through the air and crashed into crumpling metal. Hot coffee spilled across my hide. I didn't feel the pain of the burning liquid over my rage.

My feet pushed against the crumpled espresso machine, hurtling me back at the beast. My ax slashed. Blood spurted. An angry rent marred Fenrir's side. The beast snarled in pain as his head twisted. Jaws snagged my leg.

Pain filled my leg. I ignored it and swung my ax again. The blade bit through the thick hide and lodged in the ribs. The jaw tightened on my leg. The beast's head swung to the right and threw me. I flew through shattered windows and struck a streetlamp. The breath exploded from my lungs. Metal twisted before I fell onto the sidewalk.

“Kill,” I howled.

I struggled to stand. My leg didn't work right. My back throbbed. Fenrir lunged after me, the ax glinting, still buried in the beast's side. I gained my feet. I couldn't be weak and feel the pain. The anger swallowed up everything but my bloodlust.

Snarling, I leaped at the hurtling wolf. We crashed in the air. Our teeth snapped and our claws tore.

~   ~   ~

Raven

My mother died fighting Fenrir. Why did I think I would fare any better? I barely knew what I was doing. I didn't know how to fight. Pain burned on my side. Wet, sticky blood flowed out of rents in my armor. My body shivered.

Snarls and roars echoed. Metal crunched.

Magnus fought the wolf. Like me, he would fail and lie dying on the street. I never should have gotten him involved. He valued his freedom. He had rebelled from modern civilization, giving it a big middle finger and going his own way. And then I came along and chained him to this new destiny. He didn't have a choice.

Magnus didn't choose this. I did. I decided for Magnus the moment I sent that text agreeing to the date. I was told to be careful with the choice.

A black-furred body hurtled over me. Magnus had become the werewolf again. Glass shattered and he snarled in pain. He crashed into a streetlamp. Blood matted his fur. Fenrir charged after him, Heimdall's battle ax embedded in his side.

“You did better than I did,” I whispered.

A raven stared down at me from electric wires. It cocked its head . It gave a caw and then spiraled down to me. It landed on my chest. The raven's beak was a sharp, waxy black and its eyes were liquid glass. It peered into my eyes.

“Fight,” the raven cawed.

Now I was going crazy.

“I'm hurt,” I told the raven.

Its head moved in quick, staccato fashion, looking right and left before peering back at me. “So. Fight, Valkyrie.”

“I'm hurt,” I said with more heat. “And it's hopeless. Fenrir's winning. He killed me like he killed my parents. They couldn't beat him.”

“See my memories.”

The raven's eyes filled mine. I shuddered and...

...
I sat upon a tree's limb looking down at a yard. Fenrir battled my parents. My mother moved with such grace in her shining armor and wielding her flaming sword. Father had become a werewolf gripping his battle ax. The fight seemed to last much longer than I remembered in my dreams.
 

“Keep her from Raven,” my mother shouted. “Odin's on his way.”

My father snarled in answer and leaped at the wolf. He turned Fenrir away as the beast tried to head towards the porch where the child me sat rooted in fear, gripping a doll. My parents fought, recklessly throwing themselves before Fenrir's attack to keep the beast from rushing at me.

And it had cost them. It left them open. Vulnerable.

Tears trickled down my cheeks as the memories vanished from my mind. The raven's eyes peered into mine. Sobs wracked my wounded body. “Is...that what really...happened?”

“Yes,” cawed the raven. “I am Muninn. Memory. What I see is what happened.”

Fenrir was after me. Loki mentioned a prophecy. He said I was special. Was he right? Had Fenrir been sent after me by the thief who killed Heimdall? I glanced at Magnus as he lay on the ground struggling to rise, his body broken by Fenrir.

“Not too late to fight,” crowed Muninn. “Not to late to save him.”

“It's my fault he's here,” I sobbed.

The crow shook its head. “He made his choice. He chose you. That night. In the fog. He chose to risk his life to save yours in the biker bar. He chose to risk it again yesterday when the troll chased you. And today, when Fenrir struck you, he made his choice a final time.

“It is your turn to choose, Valkyrie.”

Muninn's wings flapped and the raven took flight.

I had a choice. I could give up. I could lie here and be useless while Magnus died to protect me again. Or I could stand up and fight. I could be a Valkyrie. So what if my side hurt. Magnus was battered and broken and still he fought to protect me.

Why couldn't I do the same for him?

Gritting my teeth against the pain flaring in my side, I pushed myself up. I sucked in rapid breaths. Fire burned along the deep scratches in my side. Fenrir's claws had rent my armor and crimson stained the silver metal. I grabbed the fender of a lime-green Volkswagen and hauled myself to my feet. The terrified woman inside stared at me as my face twisted in pain.

Fenrir turned in the street, his body rolling an SUV onto its side with a heavy crash. Magnus limped behind the beast, reaching for the ax buried in Fenrir's side. But he was too slow. Fenrir's jaws opened to crush him.

“Fenrir!” I bellowed as I climbed up onto the hood of the car. The pain almost faded as I focused on the beast. I ignored it as I summoned my flaming sword. “I'm the one you want. Sigrid's daughter. You tried to kill me when I was five, and you failed.”

He let out a low snarl. My breath quickened. I couldn't be afraid. Magnus moved around the beast. He leaped and seized the ax buried in the wolf's hide. Blood spurted as Magnus ripped the ax from Fenrir's side. The wolf howled as he lunged at me.

I wanted to run. The gray beast hurtled at me. He was so huge. He would crush me. This was so stupid. His eyes gleamed with malevolence. Spittle dripped from yellow, saber-sharp teeth. Fetid breath washed over me.

I thrust my burning blade forward.

My sword pierced his gullet.

The beast slammed into me.

Metal crumpled as I was thrown back. My breastplate crushed into my chest. I crashed into the ground. Fenrir landed on top of me, snarling in pain. My sword was lodged deep into his mouth, the blade glowing hot. Anger filled me. I poured it into my sword.

“You killed my parents!” I howled as my sword burned brighter and brighter.

Flames shot from Fenrir's mouth with every howl. Burning blood trickled down his jowls and singed his fur. His thick paw crushed my chest. I groaned as his weight pressed on me. We would die together.

Magnus landed on Fenrir's back. The rainbow ax swung. A brilliant aurora danced through the air. The ax buried deep into the beast's neck. Fenrir howled and stumbled. The pressure released from my chest. The wolf let out a snarl before collapsing in a heap.

Magnus landed beside me. He became human again. His eyes were closed. His breathing was shallow. His leg was mangled, cuts rent his body, and blood matted his fur. Tears filled my eyes. My crumpled armor vanished. I ignored the blood pouring down my side as I hugged Magnus and cried.

“Don't leave me, Magnus,” I whispered.

“Not...going...anywhere...” he answered through the pain. His right arm went around my side. “Have you. Not...leaving...”

I smiled as I cried. Behind me, Fenrir burned.

Chapter Eighteen

Raven

The paramedics loaded Magnus into the back of the ambulance. It would be my turn soon. My side was bandaged. Fenrir left three long claw marks down my side. Above, Muninn perched on the electric wires looking down at the bustle of cops and paramedics. Beyond the perimeter, every news agency in the world hovered.