Vindicated by Bella Klaus

Chapter Nineteen

Fenrir’s words hit me so hard that I grabbed the banister to hold myself steady. All this time, I assumed his human and wolf sides were connected the same way as Wolfette and me. Now, he was implying that his giant wolf wasn’t watching through his eyes.

I placed a hand on his chest. “Is that what you’re afraid of?”

His lips tightened, indicating that the answer was yes.

“How can you be sure you will lose this form?” I asked.

“This body wasn’t something I developed on my own.” He continued down the stairs with his head bowed.

“But you’re a god with the power of creation. You used that statue to make your body.”

He shook his head. “I made myself corporeal based on that human form.”

“Right.” I exhaled a long breath. “Do you think your wolf is capable of shifting back?”

“There’s no way of telling. Before the Great Divide, I was little more than a wild beast.”

I stood in the middle of the staircase, staring at his broad back. “You would rather be human-shaped and under the control of a sadist than a free wolf?”

He turned around, his eyes flashing. “At least I have a chance of finding my way back to you like this.”

My mouth dropped open, but I couldn’t make a sound. The pulse between my ears thrummed a rapid beat, and I scrambled for something—anything—to say. Everything Fenrir had told me about life before the Great Divide had seemed lonely. He’d been too large to befriend other wolves, and not human enough to be considered more than Loki’s pet, even though he was his son.

Fenrir pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s a shitty dilemma.”

“I would always choose freedom,” I blurted.

His shoulders sagged. “Even if it meant losing your mate?”

“You wouldn’t lose me.” I hurried down the steps and glowered up into his sad eyes. “If something goes wrong when I unlock your power, we’ll find a specialist who deals with shifters.”

“And the hostages?” he asked.

“Mum’s searching for a shapeshifter faerie who can stand in for you.” I reached down and squeezed his hand. “Or if your sister’s so desperate to have you back, then she can deal with a furious wolf god with a grudge against her and her demons. I’ll even let you swallow me so you can blast her with fire.”

Fenrir’s laugh was like dark chocolate, and it filled my insides with hope. At least he didn’t sound so resigned to returning to his imprisonment.

The temperature dropped as we continued down another set of stairs and into the darkened space beneath the alpha’s compound. With its red brick walls and concrete floors, it was more of a subway than a basement. Beowulf had hosted cage fights down here, but Mum told me that previous alphas had stored entire groups of prisoners here.

My nostrils filled with the faint scent of blood, and I tried not to shudder as I led Fenrir toward an octagonal fighting ring. We climbed the steps that led to its raised platform. At the top, I pushed open its door, and we stepped inside.

He folded his arms across his chest. “What are you doing?”

I sat in front of one of the posts and crossed my legs. “You’re going to extract my soul the way you did when we first met.”

His lips tightened. “Lydia—”

“And I’ll travel through Midgard and free your wolf,” I said in a much louder voice.

Fenrir squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What?” I snapped. “Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind?”

“How could you ask this of me?” he growled.

I pushed myself to standing, strode across the ring and placed both hands on his shoulders. “The same way you expected me to watch you walk into your sister’s clutches and sit around waiting for you to escape.”

My wolf barked her agreement.

“We’re not going around in circles again.” I gave his shoulders a firm squeeze. “The sooner we get started, the sooner we can fix things if they go wrong. If we succeed in time, I’ll let you hand yourself over to your sister.”

His brows rose. “You’ll let me?”

I slid my hands down his shoulders and rested my palms over his hard pecs. “You might be a millennia-old god, and I might be a mortal who depends on you to stay alive, but I’m still your mate.”

The corners of his lips lifted into a smile. “You think this will work?”

“How many gods out there still have worshippers?” Before he could answer, I continued. “Hardly any of them, but shifters have sent you offerings since the Great Divide.”

“Correct,” he said.

“And how many wolves have you absorbed?”

He shook his head. “Hundreds? I’ve lost count. Maybe even thousands.”

“Then we’re going to use that power to make sure Hel never interferes with you or our relationship again.”

“You mean I will,” he growled. “Because you’re not coming with me.”

“Of course,” I lied. “Now, may I please bring out your power?”

“Fine.” He stormed into the fighting ring and settled himself on the mat with his back braced against one of the posts. “If you think you can free my wolf, I’ll tear out your soul as you requested.”

I followed after Fenrir and sat at his side. “Thank you.”

He scooped me onto his lap. “If you insist on dying, the least I can do is warm your corpse.”

I leaned in to his broad chest. “That’s…” A shudder skittered down my back. “That’s generous.”

“Having second thoughts?” he murmured into my ear.

I shook my head. “This has got to be better than being shot in the head or hit by a falling beam.”

“What?” he snarled.

“Two other ways I got sent into the pocket realm.” I wriggled on his lap.

Fenrir clutched my hips with his large hands. “Stop that.”

“Sorry.” I inhaled a deep breath, psyching myself up for yet another death.

“This might be the last time we see each other in this form,” he said, his voice unusually tender.

I exhaled a long breath. “Don’t think like that.”

He slipped his fingers through my hair and cupped the back of my head. “If this is the last time—”

“We can’t go into this thinking it will go wrong,” I said.

“Listen to me.”

The growl in his voice sent tingles across my skin that settled on my tightened nipples. Flecks of white flared across his irises, reminding me of the extent of his magic. Fenrir wasn’t just my mate, my alpha, the man I loved. He was the most powerful wolf in existence, a being who commanded both my awe and my respect.

“Yes?” I whispered.

He adjusted me on his lap so I straddled him with my knees on either side of his thighs. I rested my hands on his broad chest, feeling the steady thrum of his heart.

“Look at me.” His deep voice resounded through my entire body.

I let my gaze trail over his collarbone, over his thick neck, over his strong chin and those lips I longed to kiss. Then we locked gazes. Fenrir’s eyes shone with such love and longing that my heart ached. His words finally made sense.

He thought this would be our last chance to be together. At least both in the same form. It didn’t matter that we had the entire Supernatural World at our disposal if anything went wrong—Fenrir wanted to say goodbye.

“I love you so much.” He lowered his forehead onto mine.

“You know that we’ll be together, whatever happens next?” I murmured.

He drew back, his turquoise eyes devouring mine. “Even so, I need you one more time.”

“As long as you understand it won’t be our last.” I slid my arms over the hard contours of his biceps, and around his shoulders.

Fenrir placed his hands on my hips, his fingers resting on the curve of my ass. He didn’t reply to my comment. Maybe because he didn’t share my optimism, but it just made me love him more. Fenrir was willing to extract my soul and let me unlock a power that could change the nature of our relationship. All because of his desire to protect me.

“I love you, too.” My voice shook with conviction. “And no matter what form you take, I’ll always be yours.”

He captured my mouth in a kiss so heated that I melted. His lips were strong, demanding, devouring against mine in an urgency that made my head spin. His magic tingled against my skin and enveloped me in a warm cocoon of power that made me feel loved.

“I want you,” he growled into the kiss. “Here, now, and forever.”

“Yes.” I lost myself in the sensations, surrendered myself to the eager mouth that claimed and caressed and cajoled.

Fenrir undressed me as we kissed, and I fumbled at the buttons of his shirt with trembling fingers. Thoughts of hostages and Hell and hostile queens drifted from my mind as my entire world concentrated on what was possibly our last moment together as corporeal humans.

At that moment, I needed him with a yearning that burned hotter than my heat. I tore open his shirt and ran my hands over the smooth contours of his chest and abs.

Fenrir lifted my hips off his lap and yanked my knickers and leggings down to my ankles. As I shifted to straddle him again, he unbuckled his belt.

“Let me.” I reached down to the waistband of his pants, unzipped his fly, and exposed his huge cock.

It was hot and hard and smooth to the touch, and I tightened my fingers around his thickening shaft. Slick heat flooded my core, and my throat clenched in time with the muscles that tightened and spasmed in anticipation of being filled.

Fenrir’s low groan made my nipples tighten. “Get on top of me,” he moaned into the kiss. “Now.”

He didn’t need to tell me twice. I rose up to my knees with one hand balanced on his shoulder and the other clutching his shaft. Fenrir’s face was a mask of concentrated hunger, his eyes flickering with blue flame.

I lined up my opening over the bulbous tip of his erection and sank down, letting his girth stretch me open. Pleasure skittered along my nerves, and I cried out. Fenrir held onto my hips, keeping me steady as my core devoured his length, inch by delicious inch.

“You’re such a perfect fit,” he hissed through his teeth.

When I engulfed him to the hilt, he lavished my neck and jawline with hot kisses that sent sparks of sensation exploding across my skin.

“Did I tell you how much I love our connection?” he growled into my ear.

“I never get tired of hearing it.” I wrapped my arms around his neck. “When I free your wolf, you’ll have the power to do whatever you want. We’ll defeat our enemies, return home, and make love for another week.”

“You make me feel like anything is possible,” he murmured.

“It is for an unshackled god.”

His lips crashed onto mine in another fervent kiss, and I rocked back and forth on his lap. It wasn’t the frenzied passion of my heat but a slow, sensual slide of two souls trying to merge into one.

I clenched around his length, extracting fevered moans that I felt across my skin. I wanted this moment to last forever, for the entire world to no longer exist except for Fenrir and me. My clit ground against his pelvis, sending a tingling heat up my belly and down my inner thighs.

Fenrir swelled inside me, his hips making slower thrusts, his large hands massaging my breasts. It felt like he was also trying to prolong our coupling, but I was getting close. As he rolled my nipples between his thick fingers, my entire body became a conduit of pleasure.

We moved against each other like this for several moments until the sensations built with pressure that threatened to crack.

“I’m so close,” I whispered.

“Cum for me,” he growled.

A climax rolled through my body like thunder, making my muscles spasm and twitch around his shaft. I slumped against his larger body as molten ecstasy filled my veins. My wolf howled somewhere in the back of my consciousness, but I was too caught up in the orgasm to do anything but ride out the sensations.

Fenrir gripped my hips tight enough to bruise, and he jerked back and forth within the grip of my core, filling me with hot fluid.

As my orgasm ebbed away, and his panting subsided, I leaned back and met his turquoise eyes. Fenrir drank me in, this time smiling with a confidence that assured me that we would do this again soon.

“Ready?” I asked.

“I should be asking the question of you.” He lifted me off his lap.

I fumbled at my leggings and pulled them up my hips. “Do it.”

Fenrir’s large hand settled on my chest, and his power seeped through my breastbone and into my heart. Instead of the shock he’d given me when we first met, all I could feel was the intensity of his love. It was warm and protective, yet tinged with an alluring passion. Part of me wanted to stay and luxuriate in those sensations, but the other part kept flashing back to the hostages.

My entire world somersaulted, and I tumbled off his lap and landed on my hands and knees. “Shit.” I pushed myself up to standing and stared out into the vast basement. “It didn’t work.”

“Look to your side,” Fenrir said.

I glanced down and locked gazes with my wolf.

A breath caught in the back of my throat. I’d seen her before: reflected in the mirror and as a holograph marked up with Marchosias’ magic, but this was the first time I’d actually met her.

She stared up at me through amber eyes that reminded me more of a welcoming fireplace than Hellfire. Honey-colored flecks flicked across bronze irises within a ring of walnut. The effect was just as Fenrir had described her—warm and loving.

Her face was furless, but she had black hair atop her head that swept down like a mane. Warmth filled my chest. I bent down and wrapped my arms around her neck.

“You’re so beautiful,” I murmured into her coarse fur. Her scent filled my nostrils, reminding me of morning dew. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

She signaled her agreement with an enthusiastic bark.

Fenrir cleared his throat, making us both separate and turn to him. My physical body sat on his lap like I’d just fallen asleep, and he wrapped his arms around the chain tattoos that had once been physical and attached to the walls of his shack.

“Are those connected to your wolf?” I asked.

He nodded. “If you can set him free, I’ll hang onto the chains at my end.”

Tilting my head to the side, I studied the inked bindings across his skin. “You think they’re holding your human form together?”

“Possibly,” he replied with a grimace. “I’m not willing to take a chance and get rid of them completely.”

“All right.” I drew in a deep breath and placed a hand on the back of my wolf’s neck. “Can you send us to Midgard without swallowing us?”

Fenrir’s chuckle eased a little of my tension, reminding me that he wouldn’t allow either of us to venture into such a mission if it was really dangerous. He flicked a hand, and a portal opened up into a forest of tall evergreens that stretched up into a cloudless sky.

Cool, pine-scented air drifted into the basement, making my skin tighten with trepidation. “What is this?” I tried to keep the tremble out of my voice. “Land of the giants?”

“I can put you back into your body,” Fenrir said, his voice unusually tender.

Every muscle in my body tightened with readiness. This was for Fenrir, for the pack, for the village, and for the safety of the hostages. I wouldn’t let myself give in to fear.

My wolf released a sympathetic whine, assuring me that Midgard wasn’t frightening.

“You’re right.” I pulled back my shoulders and gave her a sharp nod. “Let’s go.”

She took the lead and trotted through the portal, pausing once she’d reached the other side. I cast Fenrir one last glance, and said, “I can’t wait to meet your wolf.”

“Good luck, Lydia.” He offered me a strained smile. “Whatever happens, I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

My wolf barked, indicating for me to hurry, so I turned back to the entrance and made my way to the portal. The moment I stepped inside, a strong wind rushed through the trees, making them groan and creak and sway. It swirled around my body, sending a chill across my skin.

The portal closed, encasing us both in an endless vista of skinny tree trunks. I tilted my head up to find them stretching as tall as high-rises. Their branches were as narrow as my forearms, likely because they’d grown so close together. I wondered if they were like this because no one had tended to the trees for two thousand years.

My feet sank into the cool and damp moss, which threatened to numb my toes if I kept remaining still. I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet, and took several deep breaths to get used to the change in temperature.

A furry body sidled up to me, sharing her warmth. I glanced down at my wolf, who flicked her head to the left.

“Do you know where he is?” I asked.

She nodded and bounded through the woods.

I wrapped an arm around my boobs and broke into a run. Pine needles crunched underfoot, as did the occasional pinecone. My wolf darted over a worn path that meandered around the trees.

Up ahead was a five-foot-tall mound of what appeared to be earth-covered moss but reminded me of a giant mole hill. I thought my wolf would run a wide path around the anomaly, but she darted behind it.

“Hey, Fenrir,” I said into the bond. “Can you hear me?”

When my words were met with silence, I gulped. Was he not replying because his human half couldn’t access Midgard, or had something or someone infiltrated the lower basement?

I shook off those speculations and charged ahead, losing sight of my wolf. It was probably just my paranoia getting to me, and a need to take control. Even if the worst had happened, the best I could do for Fenrir was to free his wolf.

Speaking of wolves… I jogged around the huge mound, which turned out to be a long, tunnel-like structure supported by thick branches. Surely this couldn’t be the work of a canine.

“Hey, wait,” I shouted into the trees. “Not all of us can gallop.”

She shot out from behind the mound and gave me a yip that didn’t sound even remotely apologetic.

“Well, sorry I’m slow,” I said.

She raced toward me and pressed her wet nose into my side in a gesture that probably meant to communicate her impatience. Huffing a laugh, I picked up my pace.

The farther we ran, the less dense the forest became, with shorter and thicker trees. Shoots emerged from the ground, forming a grassy carpet. The wind calmed and the temperature rose, warming my skin.

Insects hummed, birds tweeted, squirrels scrambled across the branches. Building up a relaxed rhythm, I took in the sounds and sights of this more hospitable part of Midgard. A herd of deer scattered in the distance, disappearing behind the trees.

My wolf led us to the bank of a large lake, where she placed her front paws in the shallow end and bent her neck to take a drink.

Across the water was a small settlement of dome-shaped homes made from earth, reminding me of the structure we’d seen earlier. Wolves lounged beside the homes, while people wearing long tunics cooked a large carcass over an open spit.

My lips parted. These had to be the shifters Fenrir had absorbed over the centuries. I sank my fingers into my wolf’s fur. “Are we close?”

She shook her head.

Some of the people on the opposite bank of the lake waved. Waving back, I asked her, “Why would Fenrir deposit us here and not directly in front of his wolf?”

“Excuse me?” said an accented voice.

I spun toward the forest, where a blond man poked his head out from behind a twisting oak. His hair was shaved on both sides with a braid down the middle, which was decorated with the skeleton of a snake.

“Who are you?” I placed my free hand over my crotch.

My wolf rushed ahead of me and barked, but it wasn’t an unfriendly sound. It looked like she was trying to protect my modesty.

He gave her a wary glance. “Did you mention Fenrisúlfr?”

My eyes narrowed. “Yes, why?”

He stepped out from behind the trees, wearing a brown tunic made of rough fibers with a matching pair of baggy pants. Flint tools hung off leather belts wrapped around his waist, giving him the look of a medieval repairman.

The man’s gaze flickered down to my wolf. “What are you doing with that fire-breathing beast? The last time I saw her, she was alone.”

“You’re asking an awful lot of questions,” I said, my voice tightening. “Who are you and what do you want?”

The man raised both palms. “I mean no harm. Every mortal who comes here with their wolf mentions having met Fenrisúlfr. And I just wanted news from the outside.”

“You still haven’t introduced yourself.”

“Call me Thor,” he said, his shoulders sagging. “And I’ve been stuck in Midgard forever.”

My brows rose. That name belonged to a Norse god, but the man standing before me seemed too downtrodden to be a deity. He was probably some Viking from long ago who decided to call himself something cool.

“Did you come here through Fenrir?” I asked.

He glanced around the woods and across the lake before answering. “His sister imprisoned us in this realm.”

I stepped back toward the water. Thor wasn’t exactly dangerous, but that didn’t mean I needed to drop my guard. “You’re not a wolf shifter.”

“I may as well be a human,” he replied with a long sigh. “That monstrous bitch took my magic, sealed it in my hammer, and banished me to Midgard.”

My lips tightened. “Well, she’s terrorizing people on the outside. We came here to unlock Fenrir’s wolf to give him a power boost.”

Thor stepped back. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s my mate.” I pointed at Wolfette. “In the outside world, we’re the same person. Queen Hel trapped him in a human body and imprisoned him for millennia.”

Thor stared at me for several moments before saying, “Be careful. Fenrisúlfr has turned monstrous over the years. People enter his cave, but never leave.”

My head tilted to the side. Nothing about the man suggested that he was trying to mislead me. Maybe he really was a god who had fallen on hard times and had become skittish. But even if the giant wolf had morphed into something terrible, he was still my mate, and he still needed my help.

“Who are you, really?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nobody. Not anymore.”

I glanced down at the other part of my soul. “Have you met Fenrir’s wolf?”

She gave me an enthusiastic bark.

Any reservations Thor had instilled in me about the giant wolf vanished, and I turned in the direction where we had originally been headed. “We’re in a hurry, so—”

“Don’t leave,” he blurted.

“What do you want?” I backed away from the man.

Thor licked his lips, his gaze roving my form. “Let me at least watch your back as you go on this dangerous quest.”

Irritation tightened my skin. Like I was really going anywhere stark naked with a mysterious guy. I clenched my teeth. “Give me your tunic.”

“Why?” he asked with a frown.

“Because it’s not my back you’re interested in watching, is it?” I held out my hand.

Pink spots bloomed on his cheeks. “You want me to get undressed?”

“If you think my mate is a monster now, I don’t think you’ll want to be around when I’m strolling naked with you into his cave.”

“Your mate—” His gaze dropped down to Wolfette. “Why would you want to associate with a creature like Fenrisúlfr?”

“Fenrir is just as much of a prisoner here as you,” I snapped. My wolf snarled her agreement. “Are you going to step aside, or will we have to set your ass on fire?”

“Neither.” Thor tore off his tunic, revealing a muscular chest covered in tattoos. His markings took the shape of snakes instead of massive chains. He glanced down at the garment before tossing it to my side.

I caught the garment before it landed on the ground and pulled it over my head. Instead of the rank body odor I’d expected to smell, its scent reminded me of the sweet aroma of ozone that usually hung in the air before a thunderstorm.

As soon as my wolf was sure that the garment covered my nudity, she trotted around the lake, leaving me with Thor.

He walked at my side with his hands in the waistband of his pants. I glanced down at the tools clinking on his belt, noting that one of them was a familiar-looking hammer.

“How did Queen Hel get the better of you?” I asked.

“Something attacked the Tree of Life, which held Asgard as well as eight other worlds,” he said.

“People on the outside call that event the Great Divide.”

Thor rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. “The most powerful of the gods tried to hold the tree together, but the forces working against us were too strong. My father, Odin, was torn apart in the struggle, as were a few of my siblings. I got hit by a giant snake and knocked out.”

“What happened when you woke up?” I asked.

“The snake had coiled itself around me, and that monstrous daughter of Loki said she would save my life for a price,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Your magic, right?”

His entire posture sagged, and he stared down at his feet. “Death is terrifying for an immortal, and my veins were already burning with the snake’s venom—”

“That’s understandable,” I said. “Queen Hel still uses underhanded methods of coercion.”

“If I had my hammer, I would end her in a single blow,” he growled.

The trees on our left became more sparse, and the grassy undergrowth gave way to leaf litter. My wolf veered away from the lakeside and darted into a patch of forest populated by dead trees.

Thor swept his arm to the side in a gesture for me to follow.

“Are there any other gods here?” I asked.

“They all stepped into Fenrisúlfr’s cave, never to return,” he said, his voice heavy with regret.

“But my wolf says she’s been there, and she came out alive.” I stepped beneath the branches of a sprawling oak with twisting limbs.

“That’s because the wolves are the ones who bring him tributes,” he replied in a low voice. “Most of the souls who dwell here worship Fenrisúlfr, and they dedicate fifty percent of their hunts to the wolf god.”

We trudged across the dead forest in silence, our feet crunching dried leaves and twigs. Someone once told me that only a small percentage of people ever qualified for Heaven when they died, and everyone else was condemned to Hell.

Getting to live in a forest like this full of wild game, and having to provide for a giant wolf god seemed a reasonable alternative.

After several minutes, the trees thinned again, and even the dead leaves dissipated, leaving nothing but blackened earth. Beyond the spindly trunks was a vast clearing of rocky ground, which rose to form a hill with a large opening.

There were still too many trees in my way, so I couldn’t get a clear look at the mound, but the closer we got to it, the more I could observe its outline.

My throat dried.

It was a cave shaped like the open jaws of a wolf.

The cavern was triangle-shaped and about twenty feet tall, with thick tooth-shaped stalactites hanging down from its entrance, and identical stalagmites protruding from the ground.

Above the mouth-shaped opening was a snout, a pair of glowing eyes, and two ears. An ache formed in my heart, and I pressed the heel of my hand into my chest. It looked as though he’d been turned to stone and buried in the ground.

“Is that Fenrir?” I whispered.

Thor shook his head. “That’s just his lair. The real monster slumbers deep within the earth.”

With a happy yip, my wolf darted straight ahead.

Thor’s steps faltered. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Even if that cave is creepy, and none of your friends who ventured inside ever got to leave, we’re still going to save our mate,” I said.

“You go first.” His voice shook.

“Stay outside if that makes you feel better.”

I strode through the clearing, over the rocky ground, and toward the mouth of the cave. The stalagmites ahead stood at shoulder height, but the gaps between them were wide enough to let me through.

The cave’s interior was several degrees cooler than the clearing, with wind whistling through the cracks in the stone. A glowing amber light shone fifty feet ahead, reflecting on the water glistening on the cavern’s bumpy stone walls.

Goosebumps formed on my skin. Somewhere in this place was Fenrir’s true form, imprisoned here for two thousand years. I shook my head. How could Hel confine her own brother somewhere so dark and damp?

“Are you all right?” Thor stood between the tall stalagmites, his hands wrapped around the tooth-like columns.

“Fine, apart from it being a little dank.” I rolled my shoulders. “Right now, I’m really appreciating the tunic.”

His nervous chuckle echoed through the chamber, and he stepped inside. “It’s my best one, so I’d better come in and make sure you give it back.”

I snorted a laugh.

As soon as Thor crossed the threshold, the cave’s jaws slammed shut, encasing us in the dark.