Page 24 of The Fanged One

"My father once had his lips sewn together. He wouldn't allow it to happen a second time even with magic."

Linnea made herself look at Tor, hoping like hell he wouldn't try to fight her. "I have been chosen for this by Freya. It's my wyrd, and I'm not leaving Fenris to do this alone. Not for you, big brother. Not for anyone. So don't bother trying to talk me out of it."

And what help could you possibly be to the Great Wolf? Skari's voice whispered in her ear. You are not a wolf. You are not anything. You are a mistake, with a few magic tricks, who has been told she is important.

Linnea reminded herself that her asshole father was buried under a stone with no name carved on it. Her wolf snarled and sank its fangs into the throat of the dead man.

MINE, her wolf said, and the dead man went quiet. MINE. NOT YOURS. MINE.

It was the first time her wolf had turned on her father's ghost.

Linnea breathed out and focused on the warmth at her thigh where Fenris sat. It didn't matter what Skari had thought of her. He was dead. She had promised Freya, and a goddess outranked a fucking ghost.

"I know you need to do this, Linnea. You can stop glaring at me now," Tor said quietly.

Von set his elbows on his knees and gave Linnea an appraising stare. The party-boy was gone entirely, and what was left was who had hunted down every variant of the myths of the Norse gods, especially the All-Father. He was always a devoted collector first and a club owner second.

"Well. Fuck me," he said at last and slumped back in his chair. "We are going through my collection tomorrow when I'm sober. Tonight, I need to get drunk to begin to process this."

"You're going to help us?" Fenris asked. "Just like that?"

"Of course I'm going to help, my darling wolf. I can hardly say no when Havi and Freya have sent you to me. Do you have any idea how rude that would be? Not to mention what it would do to my honor?" Von raised one finger. "But I do have conditions."

"And what are they, shaman?" Fenris asked, eyes narrowing just a little.

"Firstly, I will need to know everything you know about the Norns' real prophecy. I've been told the bullshit version my entire life, and I want the truth. Baldur. The thing about you eating Týr's hand. Loki's role. Vili's role. Freya's role. The All-Father's role. If we are going to find Loki, I need to know what we are actually doing, and right now, half my knowledge is propaganda Havi probably signed off on."

Fenris nodded once. "I can give you what I know. When it comes to Vili's role in this, Arne will need to talk to his mother. It was after I was put in the ground."

"He hadn't met Alruna yet?" Arne asked, his golden eyes widening.

"No. Vili was living on Asgard."

"I would like to know the truth about it, then, given what he put my mother and me through."

Layla, who had been quiet through Linnea's whole telling, opened her mouth, hesitated, and quickly blurted out, "She must know something, or she wouldn't keep going to visit him—" and shut her mouth again.

Arne's head snapped toward her. "Excuse me? She has been visiting him?"

Layla closed her eyes. "Shit…um…"

"Layla," Arne growled.

"I didn't know if I was supposed to say anything!" she said quickly. "I only know that Havi sometimes comes for her with Sleipnir because I've seen him. They disappear for a bit, so I assumed he was taking her to Asgard. First, I thought maybe they were hooking up, but Vili is her mate, Arne. I would visit you."

Arne dragged a palm down his jaw. "I will ask her. Gods, I hope she's not shagging Havi."

"She wouldn't be. Havi hasn't really wanted anyone except Freya," Fenris replied.

Linnea's brows shot up, but she bit back her questions about what he meant by that.

"Are you angry?" Layla asked, her bottom lip sticking out in a way that was so adorable that there was no way anyone could be mad at her.

"I'm not angry, just confused why Alruna hasn't said anything to me about this," Arne said, putting his arm around her.

"We can both ask her, love." Layla put her temple against his shoulder, and Arne's hand went to the back of her neck and stayed there.

"What's the other condition of your help, shaman?" Fenris asked, quietly bringing the room back to Von.