Page 30 of Thor's Unexpected Mate

“Unlike you, I’m an Alpha that cares for his pack,” I spat, taking a step forward, the vein in my neck throbbing.

“I care for my wolves too, you know?” he replied. “But unlike you, I don’t force them to become pathetic servant dogs to a bunch of humans to live.”

“You’re on Hati territory, Tyr,” I snarled. “If you want to live, you’ll get the fuck out of here.”

He took another step forward. “Oh, I’ll go when I’m ready. I wanted to have a little chat with you. Alpha to Alpha.”

I put myself between my injured wolves and the monster standing in front of me. “Then speak.”

“I feel just awful about this little tiff of ours,” he sighed, feigning regret as he circled me. “I didn’t want to kill your father, you know. But I had to.”

“The fuck you did…”

“He was going to lift the law about telling humans what we were,” he replied. “I couldn’t let that happen. The Skoll and Hati packs might not see eye to eye on how to live in this world, but on that one thing we agree.” He glanced up at me, his golden eyes shining. “It seems your father went and found himself a human lover after his witch died.”

My eyebrows shot up and he laughed to himself, knowing he’s surprised me.

“I’ve never seen an Alpha go through so many women. It makes you wonder if he killed them himself because he got bored.”

“Don’t you talk about my father that way!”

“Either way,” he said, waving a hand in dismissal to my outburst. “The simple fact is that I couldn’t let him share his secret with the humans. That would be bad for all of us. I’m sure you can agree with that.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but then I thought of Flynn. I had to wonder, was Tyr telling the truth? Nothing had ever been said to me about him taking a human love. Then again, since it was so taboo, I can’t imagine he would’ve talked about it, even to me. But Tyr wasn’t exactly trustworthy either. He might just be trying to smear my father’s name.

And yet, I couldn’t agree with him. Not when Flynn was back at the resort lying in my bed.

Suddenly, Tyr was right next to me, his nostrils flared as he breathed in deeply.

“Oh,” he hummed in a sing-song voice. “So, you’re just like him, aren’t you?” He leaned closer, the heat of his body washing over me as he whispered in my ear. “You’ve taken a human mate. And a male one at that.” He clicked his tongue. “How disappointing.”

Tyr took a step back, his form swelling as he let the wolf begin to take over him. “Our packs may have split three generations ago, but we’re still family,” he snarled. “And I can’t allow you to destroy our way of life and destroy our family name!”

I didn’t try to argue. Instead, I forced the wolf out of me as fast as I could, the shift happening so quickly that I cried out in pain as all my bones snapped at the same time. I hit the ground in wolf form just in time to be tackled by Tyr, his jaws snapping at my white fur. He pinned me on my back, his golden eyes surrounded by midnight colored fur staring down at me. But I didn’t give him a chance to bite. I kicked my back legs up into the soft part of his belly, launching him up and over me.

He landed on his feet, but I was on mine now too. His lips peeled back, a deep growl forming in his throat as he bared his teeth. I returned the expression, all the fur on my body standing high making me look twice as big as I was. I was larger, younger, and more muscular than Tyr. But he was cunning and quick. That’s how he got the drop on my father. However, I wasn’t going to let him do that to me.

Before either of us could attack, two more wolves came barreling out of the underbrush and skidded to a halt next to me. One of them was pitch black, like Tyr, and the other was a silver gray that seemed to sparkle in the moonlight. I could see both of their golden eyes glowing in the dark, the Alpha blood in them rising to the surface.

My brothers had come to my aid.

For a tense moment, the three of us stared Tyr down. However, I could see the quick calculation in his eyes. Although he might be able to take down one of us on our own, all three would be far too much for him to handle. After all, he wasn’t as young as he used to be.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try to do damage on his way out.

I expected him to come for me or Loki. However, I was completely caught by surprise when he dodged to the right and lashed out at Baldr.

And that, I learned, was a mistake.

Baldr didn’t even try to dodge. Tyr’s fangs wrapped around his shoulder, and he bit down hard. However, the moment his fangs made contact with Baldr’s skin, there was an explosion of violet-colored magic. The metallic tang of it seemed to almost burn the inside of my nose and I had to turn away to shield my eyes. But when I turned back a moment later, Tyr was sailing through the air only to crash into the rocks thirty feet away. Baldr, to my surprise, was still standing there as if he’d never been touched.

As Tyr struggled to get himself to his feet, I watched Baldr shift next to me back into his human form. He stood tall; his pale skin gleaming in the moonlight as the bite marks on his shoulder faded away.

“You made a promise, Tyr,” he called calmly. “That promise will bind you until the end of time. The magic cannot be broken.”

He paused for a moment, staring down the black wolf that finally managed to get back to its feet. Tyr was bleeding profusely from his mouth. It looked like several of his teeth had been blown off along with a good chunk of his tongue. Most of it would grow back of course, but he’d be in pain for several days. Regrowing teeth was possible, but not easy.

“And if you ever attack my brother again,” Baldr added. “The magic you tasted tonight will seem like nothing compared to what I do to you. I can unravel you piece by piece until not even the memory of you remains.” He growled deep in his throat. “And you’ll feel every fucking second of it.”

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