Page 26 of The Fanged One

"They were only the last ones who did." Tor didn't flinch. "They only got to her because Ulfheim had already failed her."

Fenris's grip on the wolf strained, his half-gray eye warmed in his skull, and the taste of iron filled his mouth. "Who else hurt her?"

Across the table, Arne went still, and Von's smile slipped.

"My father," Tor said quietly, his eyes flicking to make sure the women weren't coming back yet. "Skari used to beat the shit out of her because she couldn't shift. I killed him in a holmgang when I could officially challenge him, so I could protect her, and to free Ulfheim from his rule."

"Lucky for him that he is already dead, or I'd really make him suffer," Fenris said when he got his rage under control.

"I wouldn't say that he didn't," Arne replied, magic burning in his amber eyes.

Fenris looked at his cousin, who had been quiet through Tor's telling. "He didn't die fast?"

"No," Tor said bluntly.

"Good."

"She still can't shift, in case she hasn't told you," Tor went on, dragging the conversation back to the present. "But she has strong magic and is safe back in Ulfheim, even though she doesn't really trust any of them. I can't help but wonder why she would let you, the biggest wolf of them all, get close enough for you to carry her scent."

The wolf in Fenris pressed up against the back of his sternum. Tell him.

No. She doesn't know yet.

Tell him enough, or he will stand in the way. He has the right to.

Fenris really wanted another drink, but he plunged on because he needed them to trust him with Linnea, or they would get nowhere.

"Why do you think I woke for her blood when it was spilled?" he asked them. "Why do you think it was her song that soothed me when I was bound by powerful magic?"

Across the table, Tor's face went through three expressions in the space of one breath.

"You are mates," Arne whispered, eyes widening.

Fenris inclined his head a fraction. "Yes."

"Holy fuck," Tor said, very quietly.

"Please don't tell her," Fenris replied. "Everything is too complicated as it is. She gets to find this out herself, when she is ready, in her own time. Not from her brothers."

He didn't add, 'I'm scared that the moment she belongs to me, my enemies will have a new target, and because I've already had to deal with one human woman who hated what I was and couldn't bear to be with me anymore, I'm not in any hurry to find out whether this one stays.

"I don't understand," Tor said, frowning. "She has magic, yes, but she can't shift, and you are…well, a wolf god."

"Her wolf isn't gone," Fenris replied, shaking his head. "Her wolf is locked behind a wall of her own making. When her father beat her for not shifting, she might have protected her wolf by locking it down further, where he couldn't reach it."

"Fuck," Tor whispered. "That would explain so much."

"It would explain everything," Arne murmured. "Skari needed her to shift so he could marry her off to whoever he wanted. While she didn't, she was robbing him of that."

"What a fucker," Fenris growled.

"Understatement, cousin," Arne replied. "Why don't you want her to know what she is to you?"

"To keep her safe," he said simply. From his enemies. From himself. It amounted to the same thing.

"Oh, looks like the ladies need an extra hand, so you better wrap this up before I get back," Von warned them, going to join the women.

"She knows how to fight, and she won't back down from one," Tor said quickly. "Please don't put her in a position where she will get killed to try and save you."