Page 31 of Fenrir

He wanted to object, but he didn’t. Instead, he nodded and handed Freyette to Grace.

Fenrir went out into the warm night air with Loki and looked over his shoulder. Grace settled in the middle of the front room on a baby blanket. She pulled over a basket of toys and sat them in front of Freyette.

Loki handed him a mug that had previously not been in his hand.

Fenrir took it and sipped the Valhalla ale without taking his eyes from Grace.

“How is it going?” Loki asked.

Fenrir’s gaze flicked to him and back to Grace. “I… I don’t know what is happening to me.”

Loki chuckled. “I would have thought it was obvious. You found your mate.”

Fenrir glanced at his father again. “How can you know that? You’ve only just met her.”

Loki snorted. “Even Hödr, who has been blind for over a thousand years, could see that she is your mate. Fen, you’ve never even looked at a woman before, and now it’s all I can do to get you to keep your eyes off her for thirty seconds so we can chat.”

“I… I don’t want anyone to hurt her.” At that moment, Thor and his wife Sutrelle introduced themselves. Followed by Váli and Hermódr.

Fenrir took a step forward, but Loki grabbed his arm.

“Easy. They are just saying hello. They aren’t going to do anything.”

“Why not?” Fenrir asked. “She’s the most beautiful creature in the world. And they like to bed, beautiful creatures. What’s to say they won’t try to bed her too?”

“Well, for one thing, they know she came with you.”

“That makes no difference.”

“And for another thing, I warned them that if they tried anything with her, I’d cast a glamour spell on them that made them look like dung trolls for the next hundred years.”

Fenrir looked at his father for the first time to see if his words were true.

Loki smiled, and Fenrir couldn’t help but chuckle. His father really was trying to help.

Eventually, Tyr made his way over to Grace, followed soon after by Hermódr and Vidar.

Fenrir snarled, and his beast leaped to the surface.

“Easy, son,” said Loki.

“Why is it so hard with Tyr?” Fenrir growled. “I know he forgave me for biting his hand off, but I just can’t seem to forgive him for his betrayal.”

“He knew at the time that his injury or death was a possibility. It’s why he forgave you so easily. He made that choice beforehand. But you did not choose what happened to you. You were a victim. Forgiveness is harder in those situations.”

He’d never thought of it like that before.

They watched Grace for several minutes.

“She fits in like she was made to be one of us,” Loki finally said.

“That’s because she was.”

Loki’s eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean?”

Guilt slapped Fenrir. He wasn’t supposed to say anything about her being the daughter of the Moon Goddess Luna.

“Oh… uh… nothing. I just meant that I think you’re right. It does feel like that.” He sipped his ale and watched Grace as she smiled politely at Tyr, Hermódr, and Vidar but seemed no more interested in any of them than she had been of Hel. Polite, not interested.

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