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Garmr wasn’t interested in agreeing with such an arrangement. He turned for Astrid, snapping at her beautiful wings.No, you don’t!I swung my arm at him, the one without a hand, not caring if this would hurt or not. I would protect Astrid from this beast.
A strange and powerful sensation ran through my arm. And just before I made contact with Garmr’s face, my hand appeared, slamming into the wolf’s eye. He yelped and stumbled back.Thank creation for Astrid’s magic.
But it wasn’t enough. The two of us weren’t enough for all the enemies we faced. No matter how much blood I drew from Garmr with my axe, no matter how many times they threw Astrid and me into something and we came back for more, neither of us could break through any weak points in our enemy’s defenses.
My senses sharpened when a wolf howled, and then my warrior spirit soared when I recognized it.
Fen charged into the street and barreled right into Garmr. The two wolves tangled in a powerful bundle of snapping teeth.
He wasn’t the only one here. Berserkers charged into the fray, Bjarke and the others, attacking creatures still after the hiding townsfolk. Aya appeared, going for Ingrid, her face twisted with fury and battle-rage. She and Astrid focused on Ingrid, pushing the woman back.
Though, oddly, Astrid’s mother didn’t seem all that worried with our reinforcements. In fact, she appeared quite smug, as if this was fun for her or something.
Garmr was a surprisingly hearty shifter. All the Norse gods knew he’d been struck by some mysterious degenerative illness, but like the warrior he was, he put in his all for Odin. And while it appeared immortality hadn’t cured him of that affliction, like it usually did for other conditions, he still showed that same tenacity I was used to.I wonder how much he’s being bolstered unnaturally.I didn’t know what other benefits he received from working with Ingrid.
Garmr untangled from Fen and came at me. But before I needed to put up my defenses, a chilling snarl filled the air. Garmr scrambled back, his wolf eyes going wide. But he wasn’t fast enough.
Diego, in his full dragon form, snatched the wolf shifter in his massive jaws and bit down. The squelching sound of tearing flesh and crunching bones echoed through the street, pausing much of the skirmishes. Blood splattered everywhere. Diego slammed Garmr’s body on the ground, and it hit with a hardthud. Diego roared, the sound shaking windows.
Garmr’s breaths came out in a wheeze, and his limbs twitched.“You think… you have won…”He chuckled.“But you haven’t. He is coming… for you. He’ll kill your… precious Valkyrie… or enslave her.”
He gurgled out another chuckle before Diego gored the shifter.
Garmr breathed no more.
I stood there, staring at the dead wolf, my breathing coming in panting puffs. He was dead. The shifter who’d caused us so much pain was finally dead. And I was alive.
The prophecy I’d heard so long ago flitted through my mind. It’d come true, but now how we expected.
Garmr was dead, never prevailing in his ultimate quest to kill me. And Diego struck the killing blow, stealing that honor I desired in revenge for what he’d done to my Valkyrie.
Ingrid put on the most forced act of concern I’d ever witnessed. “Oh no. You’ve broken one of his toys. He’s not going to like that.”
Damn. Some ally she was.And what did she mean by that last comment?What had Garmr meant with his final words?
The woman grinned. “Oh well. More fun for us.”
I took a step back when she threw out her hand and dark magic sprang from her fingertips. It shot for Garmr’s body and sank beneath his bleeding flesh.
He twitched.
He writhed.
He jerked his head up, eyes devoid of life.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Ingrid was making these corrupted creatures. Was that how they were always made, even when the host was alive?
It didn’t matter. I summoned my sword and swung for the corrupted shifter. I wouldn’t allow this thing to so much as move.
The blade sunk deep into Garmr’s neck. With what should have been an easy head sever, my sword met with magical resistance. I yanked my weapon free, the body jerking and struggling. Aya jumped in, swinging her weapon into the slice I’d made, severing Garmr’s head from his shoulders. The wolf body dropped and his head rolled.
Ingrid scowled. “Well, that was no fun.” Her mood switched to flippant and uncaring. “Oh well. This won’t save any of you. You will die, no matter how hard you—”
A gun fired three times.
The woman blinked and stumbled back. She looked down at her chest, where a mix of blood and black ichor oozed from three bullet wounds. Her livid eyes snapped up, and we all jerked our attention to Officer Rory.
“You fool!” I shouted.Why the hell is he out here?
