Page 16 of The Fanged One

"You're a menace," she informed him and picked up the next piece.

By the fifth piece, her wolf was making a sound that was entirely too pleased with itself, and Linnea had stopped pretending she was annoyed. He was being so careful. The enormous warm head was bumping gently against her wrist between bites, looking for a scratch. Linnea, who had been raised by úlfheðnar and was supposed to know better, scratched him behind his ears anyway.

The wolf made a low rumbling sound that started up in his throat and only stopped when she stopped scratching.

"Right. I'm sure that's totally normal," she said briskly.

Excellent. Wonderful. We are going to die at Von's tonight if he decides that he's tired of being a human and becomes a wolf wanting an ear rub.

It probably wouldn't be the weirdest thing that happened in Ritual on an average night if she really thought about it.

The sun was past its weak winter peak when they finally locked the front door and got into the car again.

Fenris shifted in the passenger seat as she pulled out onto the road, and his clothes came with him. It was probably a good thing not to sporadically become naked. Good for her anyway. She had enough to worry about as it was, and Fenris made her brain short-circuit just sitting beside her.

Fenris buckled the seatbelt without being shown and said nothing about spending the last thirty minutes licking her fingers. If he could be cool about it, so could she.

Totally, totally cool, Linnea told herself firmly and started the Land Rover.

Fenris's pale blue eye and his half-gray eye took in everything as the road unwound. The tarmac. The painted lines. The reflective markers along the verge. The trucks. The signs. The man on the side of the road in a high-vis vest with a STOP/SLOW lollipop, doing roadworks. The little screen on her dashboard that showed their speed.

"You okay?" she asked, after twenty minutes of his silent observation.

"Yes."

"Because Oslo is going to be a lot to take in. There will be cars, buildings, lights, and people. I'm not sure how much of that you are really going to like."

"I'm not afraid, little singer. I'm curious."

"You are also talking a lot more. What's up with that?" she asked, because she had barely gotten a word out of him until Havi and Freya had visited.

"I'm getting used to the new language sounds. The more I hear it, the easier it will get." He tipped his head against the headrest and looked out the side window, where the pines were giving way to a stretch of farmland. "What is that thing in the field?"

"That's a tractor."

"What does it do?"

"Digs, tows, depends? Listen, tell me what you want to know first. Family or technology, because you are about to encounter a lot of both," she said, not taking her eyes off the road.

"I want to know about your family."

She breathed out because she had been hoping he would say that.

"Right. Well, my mother left when I was young, and I don't know if she's even still alive, so we aren't going to talk about her. My father is dead, and we are not going to talk about him either. My oldest brother is Tor. You'll meet him at Ritual tonight. He's the úlfheðnar alpha for our region but will deny it if you ask," she began, not worrying about babbling. "He's mated to Ciara. She's an Ironwood. They’re a family of monster hunters. Most of the wolves are shit scared of her. My other brother is Arne. He's not my real brother, but we grew up together. He's the prince of the light elves, and his mother, Aunty Alruna, is the queen and has kind of been like my adopted mom. Arne lives in the apartment next door to Tor in Oslo, and you can bet your ass he will be at Ritual tonight with his mate, Layla Ironwood."

"Alruna, the queen, is Arne's mother, so who is his father?" Fenris asked. "Is there a king?"

"Ah, that would be Vili. As in, Havi's brother." Linnea blew out a long breath. "And boy, do they have some messed-up history. You probably missed all of it, but Havi or Arne can tell you because it's their family stuff. And I suppose your family because Vili is..."

"Vili is my uncle." He smiled. "He used to bring me apples when my father was in trouble with the others. He and Týr were always nice to me."

Linnea drove for a moment without saying anything.

"I should warn you, Vili has done some fucked up things to Alruna and Arne, and no one really knows why exactly." After a moment, she added, "Vili and Alruna are also mates."

"It sounds like a lot to keep up with," Fenris replied.

Linnea laughed. "Oh boy, we have only gotten to the direct family members who you are going to probably meet soon."