Page 9 of Luna Cursed

"So you decided to take them on all on your own?" Tor asked.

Ciara shook her head. "I was only meant to be spying on them. I was going to wait until after your party to call it in. I was getting a lay of the land, figuring out how far the camp stretched, and getting numbers of how many wolves there were. I saw your sister."

Something ripped inside of Tor. "How did you know it was her?"

"She looks exactly like you."

"No, she doesn't." Tor gripped the bench in front of her. "How did you know?"

"I looked up her disappearance. There was a picture. Happy?" Ciara replied.

No, he wasn't fucking happy. How did she know that Linnea had even disappeared? Layla wouldn't have told her…which meant she had been awake that night in Svartalfheim and had heard them talking. It still didn't explain why she took it on herself to look into it.

"Was she okay?" he asked.

"From what I could see, she wasn't injured. There was a group of women that seemed to be helpers or servants for Varg and the few wolves that looked like leaders. They weren't wearing manacles or anything."

Tor's teeth ground so hard together that his jaw ached. Varg had turned his sweet sister into a slave? He was so fucking dead.

"They wouldn't need to wear manacles. There's no way they could escape and outrun a full pack of male wolves," Arne said because Tor couldn't seem to open his mouth. He took a few deep breaths.

"How did you get hurt?" he asked when the rage had been pushed back down.

Ciara picked at the label on her beer. "I must have been spotted or smelled no matter how careful I was. Varg and two others jumped me from behind. When I wounded his men, he decided to get in on the action. He got me on the ground and thought he had me. He had just clamped his teeth when I sprayed a full can of wolfsbane in his face. It was enough to get him to let go and blind him as I ran to my car and got out of there."

Tor felt sick. That much wolfsbane would have melted half of Varg's face off. If he fully healed from that, he would kill Ciara in the most painful way possible.

"So why didn't you call us? Why did you go straight to Tor?" Layla asked and fluttered her long lashes innocently.

Ciara scowled at her and drank her beer. "I thought he'd want to know that I saw his sister. Figured he would be home. He was also closest to where I was."

"And where was that exactly?" Arne asked.

Ciara didn't fall for it. "At a camp."

"You're going to have to tell us. We need to go after Varg. He's probably not even there anymore," Tor said irritably.

"Which is why I'm not going to sit around here being babysat by you. That fucker did this to me." Ciara pointed at her ring of scars. "That's before I even get to the fact I might turn into a fucking wolf at the full moon."

"And going wolf would be a fate worse than death, wouldn't it?" Tor said and then hated himself.

Ciara's eyes narrowed. "I want Varg dead. I want to cut off his head and put it on my fucking wall, and no one will stop me."

"We wouldn't try, Ciara," Layla said, trying to soothe her. "Hey, we are still family, aren't we? Which means we fight together. We want you to go after Varg. We just don't want you trying to do it alone again."

"You're too busy with the elves, and you're mating, Layla. You're not going on a hunt," Ciara said stubbornly.

Arne laughed softly. "On that, we can agree. Layla is staying with me. Tor is going with you. I release you from bodyguarding duties. I don't plan on leaving Alfheimstod until the mating is over. You're free to hunt Varg with Ciara."

"Well, now that I have your permission," Tor said and rolled his eyes.

"That's not necessary. There are other hunters I can call in for backup," Ciara began to argue.

Tor turned on her. "You don't get a say. You already had your ass handed to you by Varg once. He'll just slaughter other hunters. You need a wolf with you to track him faster and have enough muscle to take him down. You're an Ironwood for fuck's sake. You should think more strategically than this."

A low growl rolled out of Ciara, and the whole kitchen froze. Tor's insides lit up with the challenge in the noise, the pure wolf in it.

"Ciara, what the actual fuck?" Layla whispered. Arne had pulled her behind him. He knew Ciara had just thrown a challenge right into an alpha's face, in his home, no less.

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