Page 4 of Thor's Unexpected Mate

“Just use one first name,” I sighed back. “I'm begging you.”

Nana put the lid back on the sunflower seed pail and sat it next to the door. She shook her head at me but grinned anyway. If there was one thing Nana and I were good at, it was driving each other crazy. In the best way possible, of course. She thought she could out sass a twenty-two year old gay man, and I was gonna prove her wrong. I don't think we'd ever had so much fun.

“You got all them chores done?”

“And then some,” I nodded. “You mentioned something about cleaning out Grandpa’s old shed? The locked one behind the barn, right? Did you want to do that before I head out?”

She smiled but shook her head. “Nah. That’s something we can do another day. It’s going to take some time.”

I could see the hint of sadness in her eyes. Even after all these years without him, she still wasn’t ready to part with his old things.

“Whenever you’re ready,” I added, patting her on the shoulder. “I know you still miss him.”

She nodded slightly and straightened herself up. “There’s a lot of years tucked away in that shed. Some of them are good years and some of them are bad. But everything still smells like him and it’s hard to let it go.”

“You don’t have to get rid of anything, Nana. Nobody will force you.”

“I know that,” she sighed. “But there are things in there I need you to see. Things I couldn’t show your mother because she ran off. But our family history shouldn’t die with me, even if she doesn’t want to be part of it.”

“Our family history?” She was piquing my interest with all this vague talk. “What are you talking about?”

“You’ll learn soon enough,” she said with a sad smile. “But that’s something for another day.”

“Nana… are you okay?”

She nodded, heaving a great sigh. “Anyway, do you still insist on hiking the mountain tonight?”

“Come on Nana, I like being out in the woods. It's a nice way to relax.” I waggled my eyebrows at her. “How am I gonna catch me a man if I don’t stay fit?” She just shook her head at me. “Besides, I wish you'd come with me.”

“No way,” she replied, her expression suddenly serious. “There's wolves on that mountain. Always has been and I don't want to tangle with their kind. You’re not… prepared for that kind of altercation.”

“Nana, there hasn't been a wolf in this town for over a hundred years.”

“I seen them with my own eyes. I know the truth.” She gave me a stern look. “So, you make sure you keep to the path. And whatever you do, do not go east.” She lowered her voice, pointing towards the eastern mountain. “And if you see the black wolf with scars… run.”

“Yes Nana,” I sighed, knowing it was useless to argue with her. I’d tried before and I always failed. But she was getting more sinister with her warnings by the day, and I was getting worried.

This whole wolf business was the reason the entire family thought she was crazy to begin with. Apparently, she told my mother some story about how a wolf attacked her when she was a little girl and nearly killed her. She said she and grandpa had to drive it off with a gun to save my mother from being eaten. Then there was something about silver bullets and I wasn’t sure if Mom was just making that up, or maybe Nana had watched too many horror movies. Either way, my mother didn't recall any such thing ever happening to her, of course.

And then when Nana started claiming that all the mountains surrounding Fenris were overrun by wolves, people started to suspect that she'd finally lost her mind completely. She was at that age where it was completely possible that dementia was setting in, but as far as I could tell, she seemed perfectly sane. Except when she talked about the wolves, which was almost every day now. Still, it didn’t seem like a disease or something like that, just that she’d gotten an idea in her head and couldn’t let it go.

It was like the wolves haunted her. Whatever they were.

For the past twenty years, she’d been living on that little farm on the side of the mountain all by herself. Sure, there were a few people in town she knew, and she was a regular at bingo night at the old folks' center. But she still spent almost all her time alone. Chances were she’d just started making up stories to keep herself entertained and it got stuck in her mind. Hell, maybe someone in town she trusted told her some crazy story and got her all riled up. She didn’t have internet and her television only got local channels, so maybe it was that. I had no idea. But I did know that she wasn’t crazy. That woman was sharp as a tack.

I ducked into the house to grab my bag and a fresh pair of clothes. I’d already pretty much rinsed off under the hose, another habit of mine that drove Nana crazy. She told me I looked like a dime-store floozy spraying myself down half-naked in the yard. I told her that I’d be happy to get a dime if some attractive man wanted to come watch. That always made her laugh.

Changing into my hiking boots, I threw the little backpack over my shoulder and stepped out onto the porch again. The bag might seem a bit silly, but it had water and my sketchbook journal in it, both of which I’d need once I got to the top of the mountain. Fenris had the most beautiful scenery I’d ever laid eyes on and since I was fresh out of art school, I needed all the practice I could get. Sketching chickens was alright, but they moved a lot. The landscape never moved, so it made an easy subject. However, I wished I had some models to work with. Drawing people was my favorite thing to do.

“You’ve got your water?” Nana asked, looking up from her ancient wooden rocking chair.

“Yep.”

“And a pocketknife?”

I sighed. “Yeah, it’s in there too. Not sure who you want me to stab while I’m out, but I have it.”

“You never know,” she said. “Hill folks can be just as dangerous as the wolves sometimes. Last winter, old Tom got into a bad batch of moonshine, and he was mad as a possum for damn near a week.”

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