Page 65 of The Awakened Wolf

Odin smiled, stroking the ears of Freki, who slavered beside him, quivering with readiness to strike. “The Children of Halo will be driven from the shadows across every nation. My Most Loyal Servant has seen to it that they will be hunted as animals if they are not cleansed.” Odin bowed his head. “Blessed be the name of the one who paved my way.” He offered his hand to Sebastian. “Come now, Son of Damian, receive his final reward and rule this territory in my name that I might move on and restore order elsewhere.”

“Hey!” An obnoxious female voice rang out, nasal and thickly New York accented. “You said I would rule this territory in your name if I delivered the Marks. You didn’t say anything about him.”

I almost gulped a full glass of river water in shock as Odin cringed, and I turned to see Gigi standing in the shadows behind him, hands on her hips. It was hard not to bite back a laugh. As per usual, she was dressed to the nines for what I assumed she thought would be her coronation as the Number Two to an immortal. Skintight leather pants were topped by an authoritative and unusually conservative—by Gigi standards—camisole and blazer. Even in the dim utility lights lining the river, the fuchsia color of her cheeks said it all.

Odin’s smile didn’t reach his face cavity this time as he said, “And you shall, once you are humbled and given in marriage to my Servant’s Son.”

What? Gigi marry Sebastian? Oh, hell no.

I kicked, wincing at the fire in my ankle, but coming alive as well.

“That wasn’t the deal!” Gigi said, her characteristic whine carrying across the water. “The whole point of being humbled is so I don’t have to play second fiddle to an inferior male anymore!”

Odin chuckled, “You will be second to a superior male, my dear. Your sons blessed with powers beyond belief. No longer Betas, but gods among men.”

“To hell with you and your lies,” Gigi snarled, clenching her fists. “You and all the rest. Sons… men… You’re no different than all of them.”

“I never said the Children of Halo were completely without merit,” Odin said. “Once they’re humbled into human society, more than one kind of order will be restored. Females will know their place once more.”

At these words, everything clicked for me. Now I understood why Damien would sell his soul—and those of all other shifters—to this lunatic. I would never forget the things he said to me in the limousine on the way to Kiana’s mating ceremony. How deep his hatred for independent females like Aunt Moira ran. And how high his opinion of males, any males, but particularly human males who subjugated women was. He was willing to give up everything about being shifters, all our independence as a species, if it meant putting males back in charge of females everywhere.

As if they’d lost one iota of power as it was. As if what Kiana, and I, and apparently even Gigi—in her own screwed up way—had fought for had resulted in much. But ceding even these tiny bits of power was too much for me. Odin wanted to go back in time to the way things were when even human women weren’t considered fully human. I thought of what Odin’s ‘gods among men’ would be capable of, would be free to do. The thought of Damien forcing Yara without her even knowing filled my mind, followed quickly by a tidal wave of volcanic rage.

I turned to Gigi. I wanted to hate her for betraying our kind, but I understood the desperation all too well. The desire to be human and make her own choices. I tried to send her a message with my eyes, since I no longer had a wolf to speak directly with her. I did everything I could to put the message in my expression: Don’t do this. We can forgive you. Help us.

But Gigi lowered her head, making herself submissive before Odin and said, “Forgive me, All Father, I will accept the blessings of your Servant’s Son.”

No.

My fury blazed higher, lapping me with heat that made the chill of the water seem distant, as if someone else were bobbing in its embrace.

Satisfied, Odin turned to us and said, “Son of Damian, forsake the Mark of Chann upon your back and be humbled by the Mark of Marrak so that you might accept this willing vessel for your seed.”

My eyes flew to Gigi, whose face twisted as she battled her inner demons at this turn of events. Offering herself as a brood mare was hardly what she’d had in mind. I almost laughed. What was it the humans always said? New boss same as the old boss?

A wolf bellowed, startling me, and Odin pitched forward off the rocky ledge and into the river. He disappeared in an instant, his heavy robes pulling him under. Kiana lunged forward without hesitation, seizing her chance, but Geri and Freki did the same, plunging into the water after their Master. Gigi ran. Fluffing coward. I took it back. When I saw her again, there would be no mercy.

Oh wait. I’m a useless, broken human now.

This thought hit me as the twin death wolves headed for my sister like torpedoes.

No, no, no. Not like this.

I panicked, my fury replaced with terror at my own helplessness in the fight.

Sebastian nudged me, and I released him. He nodded to shore. I knew he wanted me to escape, like Gigi, but there was no way I’d run. Not that I could tell him that.

“Go help Kiana,” I said. “I’ll be fine.”

I pretended to paddle for shore so he’d go, and then watched in horror as my sister and my fated collided with Geri and Freki like battleships at war. I prayed that the vaccines they’d taken would work, because the snarling and froth erupting from the water carried the smell of blood in the spray, something I could detect even with only a human’s nose.

I swam for shore for real, not to escape, but to find a way to get help from the pack. My torn ankle was nearly useless, but I was able to half drag, half-float my way to the shoreline. As I drew near, I felt thrashing in the water, and I looked up to see Odin, scrabbling on the wet rocks as he tried to get out of the river. His sodden cloak was in the iron grip of the river’s current, and he was making little headway. The important thing to me was that he was distracted. I swam behind him, found purchase with my toes on one of the underwater boulders, and launched myself onto his back.

He was huge, even for someone used to shifter males, and it was an effort to wrap my arms around his throat, but I did it. I locked my wrists and swung backward, hanging my full weight, limp like I was dead, from his body to drag him back into the water. He choked as my weight pressed against his throat and reached one arm away from the rock wall to pry my arms away. I lifted my dangling legs and slammed my good foot into the small of his back, arching him further. He grunted, his fingers peeling at mine so hard they felt as if they would break. I gritted my teeth, pulling with all my weight.

And then we were airborne for a split second as he lost his grip and we fell, me still attached to his back like a tandem skydiver. We hit the water and sank, his massive bulk dragging both of us down…down… deeper into the darkness. He twisted beside me, wriggling, and I pushed away to clear myself. Then there was a release as Odin kicked away, but I was wound up in his cloak. He must have kicked free of it, but the fabric was still carrying me down. I shouted underwater, working my way free and pulling for the surface.

I broke through gasping, and lay flat on my back to float, spent. For a second. Then I tucked my feet and treaded water so I could see the shoreline again. The stupid Terminator was back at it. I almost let myself sink beneath the waves from pure exhaustion. How did movie heroines do it? What superhuman shit did they have that I didn’t?

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