Page 35 of Elf Shot

"Can't sleep?" Tor appeared through the trees, his eyes gleaming with animal light.

"No. I can take over the watch if you like," Layla replied. Tor was sleeping less than even she was.

"I'll be okay." He sat down beside her. "I have always liked Svartalfheim when I've visited, but something feels so off in the land. I don't know if it's because I haven't been to this part before or Vili's return, but the forest feels wrong."

"What do you mean?" Layla asked.

"It's far too quiet for a start. There should be a lot more animals around, but from the tracks I've been seeing, they have been migrating."

Layla frowned. "Away from the mountain?"

"Yes. Animals always know when to leave an area that is hostile to them." Tor rubbed his face. "The sooner we get Arne and go back home, the better."

"That we can agree on. You can tell Ciara loves all of this nature, but I've never been able to relax out in the open like this. Too scared of spiders trying to make a nest in my sleeping bag or laying eggs in my ear or something," Layla replied with a dramatic shiver.

"That sounds horrible," Tor chuckled. His gray eyes drifted to the curled up sleeping ball of Ciara. She was shivering a little, her dreams bothering her like they usually did. Layla knew better than to try and wake her up. "Why does she hate wolves so much? I know you are all hunters, but her hatred is kind of famous. She earned her Wolf Slayer title."

Layla chewed on her lip, debating whether or not she should say anything at all. Ciara never would, and Layla didn't want Tor to take her cold mood personally.

"When Lachie and she were kids, their parents were tasked to hunt down this crazed werewolf. He was a serial killer and had a bunch of copycats that made the whole hunt messy and confusing. They thought they had finally killed the real beast, and they returned home," Layla whispered, not wanting to wake Ciara up by accident.

"But it was another copycat?" Tor guessed.

"Yeah. The actual killer tracked them back to the house and killed them. Ciara woke up with the screaming. She went straight to Lachie's room, woke him up, and then hid him in the back of a linen cupboard. Then she went to confront the wolf in the house."

"Fucking hell. How old was she?"

"Eight." Layla pulled her jacket closer around her. "The wolf cornered her in the kitchen. The place was covered in what remained of her father. He had…he had gone down for a midnight snack when he had been attacked. I don't know all the details, but I do know Ciara killed the crazed wolf by shoving a butter knife through its eye and into its brain. Ciara and Lachie came to live with us after that. Wolves became her specialty."

Tor was staring at the fire, his face racked with sadness. "Those poor kids. No wonder she hates all wolves so much. The Ulfheðnar clean up their own messes when a wolf goes bad. I sometimes forget not every pack is like that."

"Is that what happened with Varg?" Layla asked.

Tor poked the fire with a stick, his expression shifting to anger. "Varg was exiled because he was becoming extreme in his thinking. He had always been a dark soul, but after the fae returned, he got a lot worse. He saw it as a time for the magical kind to rise up and take their place above the humans. He was getting followers that were terrorizing humans when they could. Girls went missing, and though we never found the evidence we needed to execute them, we all knew Varg and his cult were to blame. One of the girls who went missing was…was my sister."

"Fuck, Tor, I'm sorry." Layla placed a hand on his arm. "Did you ever find any of them again?"

Tor shook his head. "Not a sign or a whisper. They were just gone. Linnea was always different. I still don't know why they would have taken her except for revenge on me."

"What do you mean?"

"She is a wolf from a powerful bloodline, but she has never shifted. Not once. She was shunned a lot because of it. She preferred to live in Oslo, amongst the humans. It was easier for her."

Layla didn't want to dredge up anything more painful, but she still asked, "Why do you think Varg took her? If she was living in a city by herself, anything could have happened."

Tor shook his head. "I know it sounds crazy. Trust me, plenty of others have told me the same, but I know Varg. He is petty and vicious. I was the one who started speaking against him to the Ulfheðnar council. He took Linnea out of spite. I couldn't find where he and his cult went after we exiled them."

"And now you know they came here to Vili," Layla said, and Tor nodded.

"It makes sense that they would. Varg probably sees Vili as a way to get what he and his cult wants."

"And what's that?"

"The location of Fenris," Tor replied, and a chill swept down Layla's spine. "If Vili wants to start Ragnarök, he'll need the Great Wolf. Varg's cult sees Fenris as the first shifter. Our god. They will do what Vili asks for, just for the chance to find him."

Layla stared at him. "Fuck, Tor, you've been holding this back since we were in Alta? What the hell? How are you not totally wild right now, seeing your sister's killer?"

"Going wild won't help anything. Arne is my brother, and getting him back is my first duty," Tor replied firmly. "And I don't think my sister is dead. I would feel it, Layla. Varg took Arne, so if we find one, we will find the other. Stopping Vili means stopping Varg, and maybe then I'll be able to get some answers about my sister. I didn't have permission to pursue him before because there was no evidence. This shit with Vili will give me leverage to hunt Varg and his followers down."

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