Page 59 of Loki's Enemy Mate

My father met us at the edge of the village with five of his best wolves in tow. He gave us a gruff nod and a disapproving look when we arrived hand in hand, but made no comment. Instead, he just scoffed and tossed a heavy backpack at Loki.

“There’s the C-4 and the blasting caps. Don’t drop it.” He grinned, knowing full well that he could’ve just blown all of us to hell if the caps had gone off in the bag. “Lead the way.”

“YesAlpha,” Loki replied through gritted teeth.

But Tyr smirked anyway, knowing how much it pained Loki to call him by his title. But if Loki wanted to convince him he was part of the Skoll pack, he had to walk the walk and talk the talk no matter how much it hurt. And I had to do the same.

Together, the eight of us set off through the snow. We made quick work of descending the mountain to the edges of Fenris. From there we made a wide berth around town and headed for the backside of the Hati mountain. In the past we could’ve taken the path near the old woman’s farm at the bottom of the mountain. But now, thanks to Thor being mated to hergrandson and having the entire farm run by his own wolves, that path was off limits. Instead, we had to trek a long distance to the back of the mountain before scaling the harsh terrain up and over the top. It took over two hours before we’d reached the peak and everyone was sweating, cold, and irritated.

“You’re wasting our time,” Tyr barked at Loki as we all took a moment to rest. “You’re just trying to tire us all out so you can ambush us!”

“I’m taking you the most direct route to the resort if you want to remain unfound,” Loki replied. “Or we can go in the front door if you no longer care about your pack’s lives.” He glanced at the other five who had been glaring at him but were now suddenly wearing worried expressions. “You’re ready to die for the cause, right?”

“Stop trying to make me look like the bad guy,” Tyr snapped. “It won’t work. These wolves are loyal tome, their Alpha!”

“Then stop questioning my methods. None of you know this mountain like I do. I grew up here and I’ve lived in this resort since I was a pup. If you want to get in without loss of life or bloodshed, then sit down and shut up.”

Tyr’s face was red and the veins on his neck pulsed as he flexed his muscles. For a moment I thought he was going to wolf out and rip Loki’s throat out. Loki did tend to have that effect on people, especially when he was getting annoyed. However, a quick glance at the other wolves and their constant attention on him made Tyr take a step back and flop down in the snow. As much as he had Loki cornered, Loki had done the same to him. Both had to walk a thin tightrope between being the savior and the enemy of the Skoll pack. It was a dangerous game of chess they were playing. But who would win in the end, I wasn’t sure. I just hoped it wasn’t my father because if I had to, I would kill him to protect my mate. Of that much, I was certain.

Ten minutes passed in cold, snowy silence. Just when everyone was starting to shiver, Loki gave me a nod and stood up to address them all.

“We’re going to be sneaking in the back of the resort on the southern side. The heart of the entire operation is there. Not only are the pack offices located in that area, but so are several of the dormitory rooms on the second and third floors. However, our target is the basement.”

“The basement?” Tyr scoffed. “I don’t give a shit about the basement. I want those traitors dead.”

“Then you’ll want to cripple the resort,” Loki shot back. “Because the moment you start a ruckus, that entire place will lock down so fast it’ll make your head spin. Then you’ll be surrounded by wolves that will kill you and bury your bodies before anyone even realizes you’re missing. If you want to dismantle the security systems, we need to attack the utility hub.”

Tyr glared, but he didn’t say anything back.

“However, individual alarms will still sound after the explosion. And the building above will most definitely collapse. That means, if we want to avoid fighting, we have to be clear of the resort before the C-4 goes off.”

As Loki spoke, I kept my gaze on my father. There was a flash of something in his eyes at Loki’s words, something I couldn’t quite place. But just because I didn’t have a name for it didn’t mean I didn’t understand what it meant. Tyr was up to something, I just wasn’t sure what it was. However, knowing him, it wouldn’t be good.

“Well, it sounds like you’ve got it all figured out,” Tyr cooed, a sarcastic tone to his voice. “Let’s get it done.”

“Follow me then,” Loki sighed. “And stay low. The snow will give us some cover, but I don’t want to be discovered until we’re on the way out.”

The others pushed themselves up and fell in line as Loki and I led the way. I stayed closed to him, his fingers laced through mine, lending him all the silent support I could without drawing the ire of my father. It was only a few minutes before the resort came into sight, barely visible through the snow that began to fall harder and harder as midnight approached.

“I’ll be right by your side the entire time,” I whispered, glancing over at him. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

He gave me a quick smile, the pressure of the situation wiping it away faster than I would like.

“I love you, Dinky.”

“I love you too, Hamball.” Loki took a deep breath and signaled for the others to follow knowing full well that his family would despise him after tonight. But it had to be done if we wanted to clear the resort before the real fighting began. “Let’s get this over with.”

Together we crept down the hill, between the boulders and trees, and right up to the backside of the resort without hardly a sound. There were several floodlights in the back of the building, but the Loki had led us to was still shrouded in darkness. And there, centered perfectly in the dark, was a solid metal door with a deadbolt and nothing else.

“How do we get in?” I asked. “We don’t have a key.”

“We don’t need one.”

Loki crouched down and pushed his fingers through the snow until he found the edge of something and pulled it up. As the snow fell away, I saw the thick doormat made of coconut coir lift free. It looked like it was in rough shape and half rotted, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. Instead, it was the silver glint of metal on the concrete pad underneath that drew my eye.

“Really?” I scoffed. “A key under the mat?”

“You wouldn’t believe how many of the staff use this door for smoking breaks and lock themselves out. We got tired ofthem getting stuck out here all the time, so we put a key under the mate.” Loki picked it up, letting the mat flop back into the snow. “Lucky for me that they haven’t removed it yet.”

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