Page 24 of Elf Shot

"It has been a long time since we were all together like this. It's going to be a good summit; I know it. Have you seen Arne anywhere? I'm surprised he let you out of his sight for long," Alruna replied, a knowing twinkle in her eye.

Tor covered his grin with his glass of mead. He knew they had been making out. He could probably smell Arne all over her from where she had ground up against him.

"You know, I think I saw him talking to one of the dwarves outside," Layla replied and drank a big mouthful of vodka. A flicker of light caught her eye, and she looked up at the mirror designs on the roof in time to see a panel slide back.

"That's weird…" she began, freezing when the edges of a cross bow appeared. "Get down!" Layla grabbed a metal serving tray off the bar and threw it up in front of Alruna. Her arms jarred as two bolts pierced the metal tray by her face. Torsten had Alruna tucked underneath him in a blink, shielding her with his body.

"The shooter is in the roof!" Layla shouted, throwing one of her daggers at the hole where the crossbow was being pulled back through. The ballroom erupted into a panic.

"Keep the queen safe and find where the fuck the roof access is!" Tor roared at a group of elven guards. Layla pulled her other dagger free just as Tor's hand grabbed her. "You need to stay out of the way, Layla. We need to keep you safe."

"Let me go!" Layla shook him off. "If they are shooting at Alruna, we need to get to Arne."

Tor's face shifted immediately. "Where did you leave him?"

"Outside in the gardens, near the balcony. Follow me." Layla worked her way through the panicking people to the edge of the glass wall and followed it around to the door. She ignored the fear that was pulsing through her, her hunter training shoving it down so she could focus.

Layla pushed out into the cold air and hurried across the grass and through the trees. Magic hit her, her mouth filling with the taste of blood and iron filings. She stumbled, but Torsten grabbed her before she went down.

"Fuck…that magic. I know it…" he stammered. Layla ran to the circle of trees where she had kissed Arne. The golden hair dwarf and two huge black-haired shifters stood before a portal, Arne's limp body over one of the shifter's shoulders.

"Arne!" Layla shouted. Torsten roared into a shift, racing across the grass toward them in wolf form.

"Too late, little alpha. Vili will have his boy back," one of the shifters taunted as Arne was dragged through the portal.

Layla threw her dagger, hitting the shifter in the shoulder. He only laughed as he disappeared into the light. Torsten leaped for the portal, but it vanished under his paws.

Arne was gone.

9

As a child who had way too much responsibility thrusted upon her shoulders at a young age, Layla had learned to control her temper early. Losing it happened rarely, but when it did, it was something to be feared.

"What do you mean you didn't find the shooter?" she demanded. The elf warrior took a step back in shock at the fury in her tone.

"They got out of the roof through a large air vent. There's a hole in the wall where they pulled the grating off."

"I bet the shooter was one of those big fucking shifters," she said to Tor as she paced the trashed ballroom.

"It was Varg and one of his pack," Tor said to Alruna. "I thought he was dead."

"Clearly, he went to Svartalfheim after the Ulfheðnar exiled him," she replied.

"Or since Vili returned. He would've loved the idea of serving Odin's rival after we kicked him out."

Brök and Eydís were sitting at Alruna's table, both looking tired and pissed off.

"We haven't seen any new Ulfheðnar coming through the portals from Midgard," Brök said. "Vili has always preferred the bear shifters over wolves."

"Varg is one step away from feral. His fury would appeal to someone like Vili," Alruna replied.

Layla stopped pacing. "Wait up. You guys all know where Vili is? Like right at this second?"

"Not for certain, but there's a good chance he's back in his old halls in Svartalfheim," Brök replied. "My scouts have seen smoke rising from the mountains furnaces again after centuries of being abandoned. The forest around there has always been a dangerous place, and four dwarves have gone missing on its borders already."

"We have had seven elves go missing in a village south of there too," Eydís added. "One was a black smith; the rest were women."

"So why hasn't anyone gone to check it out to make sure?" Layla demanded.

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