Page 10 of Blood of Ancients

Before the shock could fully register, before I could say a thing, Edda punched me in the face, snapping my head back.

My mind spun, blackened. I blinked rapidly to gather my thoughts, spitting up blood. “What is . . . this . . .”

Behind me and to my right, Ulf and Olaf kept me pinned. Edda was a strong woman who only spoke when she had something to say. She shot first and asked questioned later.

So she decided to wail on me instead of telling me what the fuck was going on—whymy own packwas betraying me.

Confusion melded into pain as she lobbed fists into my belly, my face. It stunned me enough that Ulf and Olaf could let me go and I only wobbled in place on my knees, unable to defend myself because of my sheer shock.

My brothers—one younger, one older—started kicking me and forced me into a fetal position to protect myself. My eldest sister spat on me and joined the fray with her own heavy boots.

“You’ve been lingering too long with the silver-haired pup, Sven!” Edda yelled. “You have failed to lead us and propel us forward. Enough is enough. It’s time for new leadership with the changing of the times.”

“Father will h-hear of this!” I croaked through the waylaying, the pain, the rustling of kicks being levied at my body. Dirt kicked up in the air and I started coughing, retching as agony lanced up my sides from broken ribs.

Edda scoffed, letting out a rare bark of a laugh. “Father? Are you jesting, man? This washisidea!”

The betrayal sank deeper. Soul-deep.She’s lying. Father would never authorize such a cowardly betrayal of his own son!

I had been the golden boy. The pack leader here at Vikingrune. Now Edda was saying I was unworthy of the position, and that pissed me off more than anything. Even more than the fists and boots raining down on me.

“Was hoping we’d not need to get our hands dirty, brother,” Olaf said in a low voice. “Sorry.” He added another kick to my gut for good measure.

I spat up blood and thick saliva. The physical pain was bad, but the emotional pain was unbearable. I felt myself losing it, drifting out of the realm of the living.

It was impossible to imagine. My own flesh and blood had teamed up with the Lanfens to root me out, chase me to my own pack den, where my brothers and sister could finish the job.

“You were so busy burying your cock in the silver-haired whore you didn’t even notice the missive we received from Father two weeks past,” Edda said.

A crumpled piece of paper slid from her hands, onto the ground near my naked body.

“Father wants change, growth. You’ve given us none of it. Your own brothers and sister don’t even know where you are half the time.” Edda snarled and kicked me again, harder. “The buck stops with you, baby brother. You’re no leader of wolves. You’re a follow-pup, just like the Lanfens.”

She scoffed. The battering had stopped, leaving me bruised, my breath rattling in my chest, my eyes nearly blurred shut from the vicious attack.

Vaguely, randomly, memories of better times with my kin popped into my head. Laughing as we jostled each other and pretended to fight, cock-measuring. Once upon a time, before Vikingrune Academy, we’d been thick as thieves.

And now this.

“Y-You . . . cowards.” Red strands of blood spilled out the corners of my mouth. I wondered how many shattered bones I had. Most of me had gone numb.

Edda stared down at my broken body, meaty arms crossed over her large chest. “Father has a plan, Sven. And you are no longer part of it.”

She slammed the sole of her boot against my face, and blessed darkness took hold.

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