Perfekt Order (The Ære Saga Book 1) (30 page)

“You going to talk to me now?” I crossed my
arms.

Tyr kept his eyes on the road. “About
what?”

“I’m not moving in with you.”

“Yes, you are.” Tyr drove.

“No, I’m not. That’s something couples decide
together. Maybe not in whatever boondocks part of Asgard you come
from, but in these parts, that kind of thing isn’t a unilateral
decision.”

Henrik snorted from the backseat, and Tyr
shot him a look. “Fine. Mia Ahlström, would you please move in with
me?”

I shot him a fierce look. “Now you’re just
being patronizing.”

“I’m not patronizing anyone. I’m trying to
play along. Because at the end of this conversation, Brynn is
getting your stuff and moving it to my place. This isn’t a
negotiation.”

“You don’t get to tell a girl she’s going to
move in with you.” I recrossed my arms and turned to Henrik. “He
doesn’t get to tell me I’m moving in with him!”

“He does, actually.” Henrik didn’t even try
to hide his amusement. “He’s the God of War. Even Thor doesn’t get
to question him.”

“Maybe that title means something in Asgard,
but around here, you can’t just order people around. There are
steps to observe. Rules to follow. And besides, I’m not ready to
live with you. I don’t even know your middle name.”

“It’s Ragnar.” A corner of Tyr’s mouth
twitched.

“Oh. Well.” I tapped my foot. “That’s a
really nice middle name.”

“Thank you. Now, is this argument over?”

“No. I am not moving in with you. I like you
too much.”

“That makes no sense.” Tyr reached across the
console to hold my hand. “You like me. I like you. You’re the only
girl I want to be with, and you’re the only girl I’ve ever asked to
move into my house. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“Ever? You’re, like, a thousand years’ old.
Seriously, you’ve never lived with a girl?”

“Nope. I like my space.”

“Oh. Well. You’re not living with me
because…” It was hard to maintain the right amount of indignation
when he was touching me. “Because you’re doing this for the wrong
reasons. You’re not doing it because you want to live with me;
you’re doing it because a killer wolf god is after me, and your
macho alpha gene is kicking in. This is an impulse decision, not a
rational one.”

Tyr shrugged. “I do want to live with you.
And my alpha gene is always kicking in. They don’t have to be
exclusive.”

“But if we live together, I want it to be
because we both want to, not because we’re afraid of something.” I
pounded my fist against my thigh. It was like talking to a rubber
wall. Everything I threw at him bounced right off.

“Listen, baby, I get that you’re scared.
There’s a lot to be scared about right now. But you don’t ever need
to be scared of this.” He placed my hand over his heart. “This
isn’t going to change. You mean more to me than you know, Mia
Ahlström, and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you. Even if it
means pissing you off.”

I held very still, debating Tyr’s offer.
Pros: Spend freshman year living under the protection of the
Norse pantheon. Increase likelihood of surviving bizarre wolf
attacks. Catch nightly glimpses of the Norse God of War in his
pajamas. Cons: Um
… My brain was stalled on the mental picture
of pillow talk with Tyr.

“You don’t have to share my room. You can
have the upstairs guest room. But I need you close; at least until
we trap Fenrir. Then, if you want to leave, I won’t stop you.”

He kissed my fingertips with a smile, but I
heard the strain in his voice.

The truth was, if I moved in with Tyr, I’d be
happy as a chipmunk in an acorn tree. And that would make it that
much harder to move on someday when he had to go back to Asgard.
Tyr was constantly taking care of me—the sweet dates, the early
morning runs, the surprise visits at school. He ‘mysteriously’
showed up after class to walk me to my car, and his secondary
bodyguard just happened to be my roommate. Whether it was Freya’s
interference, or Tyr’s protective nature, I’d been looked after
since the day I arrived in Arcata. So much for my college
independence; I’d left my parents’ home to be guarded by the
gods.

And now they wanted to move me into their
cabin. Because they didn’t think I could defend myself from their
evil wolf.

“Tell me what happened that day in the woods.
I need to know why Fenrir attacked
me
, and not one of the
other girls Freya picked for you.”

“How do you know about Freya’s girls?” Tyr
shot me a glance.

“Brynn explained everything the night I found
out what you are. So why me? Why didn’t he trail someone else and
attack them?”

“Honestly?” Tyr tapped the steering wheel. “I
have no idea. With the hack on the Norns’ security, he had to know
I was fated to be with someone who might be a mortal; though the
prophecy that I’d end up with someone
not of Asgard
could
just as easily have been about a Vanir, or a light elf, or, Odin
forbid, a mountain giant. I guess because Freya had bought into the
idea my partner would be human, Fenrir was willing to, too. That
day, you were running on a path that led directly to my house, so
maybe he thought you were going to see me. And I never met the
other girls, not that I know of, anyway, so I don’t know what they
looked like. But Fenrir should have known me well enough to know
that I’d be attracted to you.” Tyr winked. “I’ve always had a thing
for leggy brunettes.”

“So he tried to kill me because I was jogging
toward your house, and because I’m your
type
?” My voice
squeaked. “That’s crazy.”

“It could have been a hundred other reasons.
We’ll probably never know.” Tyr shrugged. “But I came out of my
house when I heard the growling, and I got to you in time to help.
Just know that I was taking care of you then. And I’m trying to
take care of you now.” Tyr leaned forward slightly. “You said on
the beach that you trust me. This would be a really good time to
prove it.”

We’d have a heck of a lot to talk about after
all this went down, but his expression was so adorable, it only
took two minutes of stewing before I resolved to meet him
halfway.

“Okay. Here are my terms. I will move in with
you as a trial. One week. If, after one week, we feel it’s too much
too soon, you will let me move back to my house without any guilt
or judgment or weirdness. And I’ll follow whatever rules you need
me to so you feel like the wolf won’t get to me. I won’t go jogging
by myself, or go to the store late at night, or whatever. But if
it’s making things awkward with us,”
or if I feel like I’m too
attached to handle it when, someday, you have to move back to
Asgard full time
, “we stop right away. Deal?”

Henrik snickered from the backseat. Tyr and I
both glared at him.

“Sorry. I’ve just never seen anyone barter
with him before. Barter with Freya, yes. Idunn, for sure. But never
with Tyr.” He doubled over laughing.

“Do we have a deal?” I asked again, ignoring
the peanut gallery.

“What happens if I say no?”

“Then I go back to my house and carry on with
my life like there’s no crazy wolf chasing us, and you just have to
deal with it. I’ll call my brother if you try to abduct me and make
me stay with you, and you do
not
want to tick off Jason. He
threatened to end you if you broke my heart, just so you know.”

“Oh he did, did he?” Tyr smiled.

“He did. So do we have a deal?”

“Fine. Deal.” Tyr nodded. “Now stop
distracting me, both of you. If there really is a portal in these
woods, Fenrir might come back—and he might bring friends. We know
he’s working with someone, it’s only a matter of time before
whoever it is shows up.”

I shivered and squeezed Tyr’s hand. We drove
in silence for a few miles before I worked up the nerve to ask.

“What kind of friends does a killer wolf hang
out with?”

“His siblings.”

“That’s right. The wolf has a brother that’s
a snake.” I remembered, but it still seemed absurd. “And their
sister is Hel.” While I played with the wrists of my sweater, I
wondered what other human euphemisms were about real people.

Tyr kept talking. “Odin knew Jörmungandr was
going to be a major problem, so he threw him in the ocean of
Midgard. The serpent got so big, he bit onto his own tail and held
on. But his jaw locked, and he hasn’t been able to free himself.
Remember, when Jörmungandr lets go of his tail, your world’s gonna
end.”

“So if Fenrir brings Jorga… Jomug… forget it.
If he shows up with the snake, there’s going to be some kind of
apocalypse?” I pressed my palms against my thighs.

“Pretty much. But you can sure as Helheim bet
they’re gonna try and kill you first.”

Well, that pretty much sucked. Suddenly my
brother’s
live a little
advice wasn’t looking so hot. A
shudder wracked my body. I hadn’t given a lot of thought to how I
might die, being seventeen and in peak physical condition from
downhill training, and all. And it wasn’t like there was an ideal
way to go. But death by giant wolf god and/or snake monster weren’t
exactly top of my list.

“Get over here,
prinsessa
.” Tyr held
out an arm, and I scooted as close as the console would allow.

“I’m still mad at you for trying to order me
around,” I clarified. “This doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for
your seriously backwards bonehead move.”

“Trust me, I know. And I also know all of
this is intimidating. You’re tougher than you look, and I
appreciate that you haven’t jumped out of the window to get away
from all the crazy. But I’m not going to let anything happen to
you. Not today, not next week, not ever. I’ll fight to the death to
make sure you’re safe. You get that?” He spoke with a vehemence
that left me slightly awed.

“Yes,” I whispered. His stubble tickled my
lips as I leaned over to plant a soft kiss on his cheek as he
drove. When I pulled back, he settled me neatly under his arm.

“Now hold on.” He narrowed his eyes and
stepped on the gas as we hit the freeway. “It’s gonna be quite a
ride.”

****

When we got to Tyr’s house, he jumped out of
the Hummer with his arms outstretched. He muttered something I
couldn’t understand, and a shimmering bubble appeared. It covered
the house, stretching in a twenty-yard radius around the
structure.

“You’ve made that before. What is it?” I
climbed out of the car, now safe inside the golden sphere.

“Protective casing.” He murmured again, this
time aiming his hands at Elsa’s cottage. “This should keep Fenrir
away until we relocate to the northwest compound.”

“I’ll check on your sister, then meet Brynn
at the girls’ house.” Henrik glanced at his phone. “Forse ported
over so he could look after Elsa. You just worry about Mia.”

We’re relocating? And who’s Forse?

“Call immediately if anything’s off at the
cottage,” Tyr ordered.

“You know I will.” Henrik handed Tyr the
bucket of fish, jumped into the driver’s seat, and peeled the
Hummer out of the drive.

“Inside, Mia.” With his free hand, Tyr lifted
me in a fireman’s hold and sprinted into the house.

“I am capable of walking on my own,” I
pointed out from my position on his shoulder.

“Yeah, but you can’t run as fast as I can.”
Tyr slammed the door behind him and placed the bucket on the
ground. I squirmed until he set me on my feet.

“Why don’t we race
without
you using
your super speed? Then we’ll see who’s faster.” I planted my hands
on my hips.

“Great. Tomorrow. Right now, we’ve got a few
things to take care of.” Tyr darted up the stairs with otherworldly
speed, slammed some doors, and returned to the first floor in the
time it took me to draw two breaths. He circled the downstairs
rooms in two seconds, and skidded to a stop in front of me. “It’s
clear.”

“That’s really freaky, you know that?”

“It’s efficient. Now let’s get you something
to eat. Mac and cheese okay? I’m not really in the mood to fry up
those fish anymore.” Tyr headed toward the kitchen.

I picked up the bucket, then called out.
“Tyr. Wait.”

He pulled off his baseball cap to rake his
fingers through his hair as he turned around. “What’s up,
baby?”

“It’s going to fall.” I pointed to his
pocket. The vial with the fish’s breath poked out of the top.

“Jeez, thanks.” Tyr tossed his hat on a side
table and grabbed the vial. “I forgot all about this. Better put it
away.”

“You do that. I’ll put the fish in the
kitchen.”

We walked down the hallway together. At the
end, I turned right and deposited the bucket on the counter—we
could freeze them to cook later. When I returned, Tyr had removed a
mirror from the wall. He turned the dial on the safe hidden behind
it, and the door swung open. When the jar was safely in the vault,
he sealed it shut.

“The rest of the ingredients are here. All
except the bear’s sinew.”

“When are we going to track that down?” I
asked as he re-hung the mirror.

“
We
aren’t. It’s too dangerous.” Tyr
tried to lace his fingers through mine, but I pulled away.

“You’re going to have to stop underestimating
me at some point. I’ve already proven I can outshoot and out-fish
you. Who knows? I might just be an exceptional bear tracker.” I
crossed my arms.

“Wouldn’t doubt it. But I can’t have you out
in the woods with that dog lurking around. I’ll take care of the
bear.” Tyr reached for my hand again, but I stepped back. He gave
me a long look. “You can be mad at me all you want,
prinsessa
; it’s not going to change anything. You’re staying
here until I know you’re safe. You might as well make yourself
comfortable.”

With that, Tyr walked past me into the
kitchen. I stood in the hallway and resisted the impulse to stomp
my feet. Instead, I took several deep breaths, and followed the
world’s most irritating deity, gearing up to give him another piece
of my mind.