"Hey, what am I?" Layla complained.
"You're dick struck over your new mate, who won't let you go waltzing off to hunt a feral pack of wolves," Lachie retorted.
Arne grinned. "He's right. What the fuck happened, Tor?"
"I'm fine. I just need a meal and sleep." Tor took the arm that his blood brother offered him. "And you need to talk to your mother about calling a council with the wolves."
18
In the end, Ciara and Lachie ended up going to stay at Arne's apartment instead of Freya's.
Arne was smart enough to know that Tor wouldn't let Ciara get too far from him because of the bond, and Freya's place couldn't hold them all.
Ciara left Tor to update them on what happened and headed straight for the shower. The hot water felt like heaven pouring over her cold skin.
She stared at the orange water at her feet and tried not to let the horror of seeing Tor hurt overwhelm her. She was a hunter; people got injured. Why did she feel so terrible about it all of a sudden? He was alive. That's what mattered.
Damn bond is messing with your head,she told herself and soaped herself down again.
By the time she got out and into clean pajamas, Tor was gone, and pizzas had arrived.
"I ordered you a vegetarian one," Lachie said, passing the box to her. "I know how you're not up for meat after an interrogation."
"Thanks, bro," she replied, a lump in her throat. Her brother always surprised her with the small things he remembered. She sat down on the carpet in the lounge room and pulled out a piece. Cheesy carbs were the answer.
Layla came out of the bedroom, and she and Lachie joined Ciara for a picnic on the carpet.
"Where are the boys?" Ciara asked.
Layla waved a hand. "Sorting out logistics. We need to go home to Finnmark tomorrow and talk to the wolves. I can't believe Charlotte's cuffs failed on you."
"She's going to be so mad. Especially 'cause the dude is dead, and there's no way she can find out what he did," Lachie replied, stacking two pieces of pepperoni pizza on top of the other before having a big bite. "What's going on with you and Tor?"
"Nothing," Ciara replied. Both Layla and Lachie rolled their eyes. "He put a bond on me, and after this fight with Varg and the full moon, he will remove it. In the meantime, I have some of his strength and healing abilities. It's a pretty good deal."
"What about his monster dick?" Lachie asked.
Ciara choked on pizza. "Excuse me?"
"Don't act all offended. Imogen told me. She was worried about you too and called me. It kind of slipped out."
"I'm going to fuckingkillher."
Layla laughed. "It's your fault for telling her. You know she sucks at keeping a secret. Don't worry, I'm sure only we know."
"Great. I've never given you a hard time about your hookups," Ciara said. She didn't want to deal with teasing after the day she'd had.
"We aren't giving you a hard time. It was bound to happen. You two were either going to have a proper fight or fuck it out. It's good that you went with the latter," Lachie replied. He bumped into her. "You guys talk about it, or are you doing a Ciara and refusing to acknowledge it happened?"
Ciara picked at the cheese on her pizza. "We talked about it and decided it's not a good idea to have distractions on a hunt. So there's nothing to tell. We should probably go back to Uppsala and check things out properly. He was just bleeding everywhere, and I…"
"You panicked?" Lachie guessed, and Ciara nodded.
"He got hurt because he shielded me from the blast. He could have died. I couldn't live with myself if that happened."
Layla put a hand on Ciara's arm. "You did the right thing to bring him back to a safe place to heal. You guys didn't know how many of Varg's cult were around, and if they ambushed you, there would be no way to survive it. We can always go back, but it's more important we tell the wolves they have a spy."
"I'm sure they will love hearing it from the Wolf Slayer," Ciara grunted. Her appetite was gone, but she forced herself to eat another piece of pizza.