Page 56 of Fenrir

“Hödr? He’s the blind one, right?”

Fenrir nodded. “Yeah. He has a seeing-eye dog that I trained for him. Rolo and Layla were inseparable when I had them both. We still get them together once a month for some doggy play time.”

Grace couldn’t help the huge grin that spread across her face. For all of his gruff exterior, Fenrir was a giant teddy bear. He was going to make a great dad one day.

He rubbed his neck and looked at the floor. “You must think I’m an idiot. I don’t even have a computer.”

“What? Of course not. Why would I think that? I’m sure there are a million things you can do that I have no clue about. Does that make me an idiot?”

“No.”

“Exactly. Until six months ago, I’d never used a debit card before, either. I’d never lived in my own place or had a job I was paid for. I’d never even been in a bar before I got here. So in a way, we’re the same. We’ve both been sheltered in our own ways. But maybe that’s one of the reasons we’re so good for each other. Not only can we help each other learn the things we need to know, but we can explore the world and life together. Experiencing things together for the first time.”

Fenrir smiled. “I’d like that.”

“Me too.”

She stood and kissed his cheek before walking around the bedroom, looking for her underwear. “So I’ll meet you back here later.”

“Are you sure? I can take you back to your place.”

She shook her head. “I’m good.”

His phone rang. He walked to the nightstand and lifted it.

He sighed.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. It’s Tyr.”

She pulled her shirt on. “Well, tell him you can’t help him because we are going on vacation.”

Fenrir looked at his phone.

“Fen.”

He looked up at her. “You don’t have to answer him. You don’t owe him anything. You are your own person. And they are going to have to learn to deal without you. You don’t want to keep doing their grunt work for them, and I don’t want you to keep doing things that make you uncomfortable. If you want to take a job from them to help someone, I support you. But if you don’t want to, don’t. Like you said, you don’t need the money.”

Fenrir nodded and shoved his phone into his pocket.

Grace smiled, and as she bent over to pull on her pants, he kissed her neck from behind.

“Thank you,” he said.

She turned to him and buttoned her pants. “For what?”

“For being exactly what I’ve been searching for my entire life.”

She laughed. “Well, ditto.”

He kissed her hard. “I mean it. Now that I have you, I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”

She smiled. “Then it’s a good thing I’m not going anywhere.”

Grace enteredOdin’s place thirty minutes later and stopped at the bar. She opened her mouth to tell Odin she needed a new uniform shirt when he smiled at her.

“Frigg needs some help at her place if you are up for it. There’s been a large influx of refugees that have shown up suddenly, and she is trying to help them all find places to stay and get settled,” said Odin. “She asked if you’d mind helping out. I told her I could spare a couple of people to help with logistics.”

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