Vindicated by Bella Klaus

Chapter Twenty-One

Iglowered at the stalactite, which was a thick mass of mineral deposits that stretched up into the dark to a ceiling goodness knew how tall. It was a sandy white, bordering on beige that looked impossible to break.

A rapid pulse fluttered in my throat, and my tongue darted out to lick my dry lips. This was an impossible task—breaking hundreds of these stone bonds from the body of a wolf so big that he formed part of the landscape.

“Fenrir,”I said, my heart aching. “If I can’t free you in time for the hostages, then I’m going to stay in here and chip away at your bindings so you can stand up to your sister and her demons.”

The enchanted hammer thrummed in my two-handed grip, urging me to wield its power. Thor hovered at my side, his gaze fixed on his weapon.

Wolfette barked.

She was right. I needed to hurry, but I also needed to psych myself up. Smashing this monstrous stalactite would bring down a mass of debris. Debris that had been festering in this cave for over two thousand years.

With a deep breath, I swung.

The hammer hit the thick column with a spray of white sparks and a heavy thud, forming a hairline crack.

“Put some power into it,” Thor muttered. “The hammer won’t work to its full capacity for anyone else but me.”

I gulped. That was probably a hint for me to hand him the object—my only chance of freeing Fenrir. Ignoring him, I walked back several steps, making my wolf whine her confusion, and locked into my target.

Instead of relying on the hammer to do all the work, I channelled some of my power into its metallic handle, which pulsed within my grip.

“Ready?” I said to the hammer as I pulled it back like an ax.

I took its resounding buzz to mean yes.

A war cry tore from my lips, and I charged at the stalactite. At that moment, I felt like a Viking warrior rushing at my prey. Magic thrummed through my fingers, my wrists, my forearms, and my biceps.

I swung, this time using my entire body as momentum, and when the hammer struck, it was with a deep thud that resounded through my bones.

A wolf-sized chunk flew through the air and landed on Fenrir’s massive ear. Deep cracks formed on the rest of the stalactite, but its structure remained intact.

Before I could strike again, the cave rumbled with a volume that pounded on my eardrums and made my stomach tremble with cold dread.

“Shit!” Thor raced toward me, grabbed the arm holding his hammer, and lifted it up.

I pulled back. “What are you doing?”

“There’s no time,” he yelled over the sound of creaking. “Form a protective barrier over us and bring your wolf.”

Wolfette was already at my side and growling with her teeth bared.

Dust fell on our heads, followed by shards of rock the size of grains of rice. I turned to Thor, my eyes going wide. “How do I make a shield?”

“Same way you summoned the hammer.” He yanked my arm back over my head. “Picture it.”

As the particles became larger, I squeezed my eyes shut and imagined a protective dome over our bodies. The hammer buzzed, growing hotter with each passing second, and white light seeped through my closed eyelids.

The rumbling continued, becoming louder, more violent, and made the stone beneath my feet tremble.

My stomach tightened.

That was no stone or rock or floor.

It was Fenrir’s wolf.

“Here it comes,” Thor yelled.

My wolf threw back her head and howled.

The air filled with a cacophony of tumbling, rumbling, thundering, and crashing that made my ears ring. I would have clapped both hands over them but it was me who was holding up the hammer.

I cracked open an eye to find jagged stalactites raining down on us, some of them as large as ten feet. They crashed down onto the stone encasing Fenrir’s body, forming deep cracks across its surface.

“It’s coming apart,” I shouted.

My wolf gave me an I-told-you-so bark. I gazed down into her smiling yellow eyes and asked over the sound of the avalanche, “How did you know which stalactite to strike?”

Her sharp bark told me to make my question more specific.

“Did Fenrir tell you?”

She barked yes.

“That’s why you tried to burn it?”

She nodded.

The rumbling continued for a few more minutes until we were completely buried in rock, stifling the glow of the hammer’s magical barrier. Now, the only illumination came from Wolfette’s eyes.

Sweat broke out across my brow, and my throat dried to the consistency of dust. My nerves pulled tight enough to snap, and the sharp claws of claustrophobia loomed over them like daggers. This was worse than waking up in a shallow grave. Worse, because this cave-in was burying me alive.

“Fenrir?”I said into our bond, even though my words weren’t reaching him. “I hope you’re all right. As soon as this avalanche subsides, we’ll get you out.”

I had no idea how to make good on that promise, but something needed to be said. Fenrir’s wolf had to be terrified. I tightened the muscles of my outstretched arms, which trembled and ached and strained from the effort of keeping up the shield. No matter what, I would hold position until the noise subsided.

Several moments passed, and the tumbling slowed to the occasional thud.

“Thor?” I said in the semi-darkness.

“Yes?”

“Any ideas of how to escape being buried under tons of rock?”

“A sharp burst of magic will push it away.”

My mind conjured up the image of an explosion. “Won’t that hurt Fenrir?”

“Have you seen the size of Fenrisúlfr?” he said. “The blast would feel like a slap to a beast his size.”

I exhaled a long breath. He was right, of course. Time was also running out, and we had only managed to break one stalactite out of hundreds. “Guide me through the process,” I said. “We have to get it right.”

Thor hovered a hand over the hammer’s head. “May I?”

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll need a little of my magic so I can help you make the blast,” he said. “If we don’t get it exactly right, those rocks surrounding us will crush our bodies.”

“Do it,” I said with a sharp nod.

The moment Thor’s fingers touched the hammer, the entire thing lit up like a ball of lightning, complete with miniature thunderbolts. My wolf buried her head in her front paws and whimpered.

My stomach plummeted. “What’s this?”

“A long-awaited reunion.” He pulled back his hand and smiled, seeming more handsome, more muscular, more powerful. Somehow, Thor even managed to generate his own light. He looked like a medieval Viking superhero.

“Did you get enough magic?” I asked.

“Enough to blast this rock to the outer edges of the cave.” His grin broadened.

I narrowed my eyes. “Make sure none of this hurts Fenrir.”

His features softened, and he placed his large hands over mine. “I promise.”

Power sparked from his hands like static electricity. If it wasn’t for my desperate need to save Fenrir, I would have cringed away from his touch.

“Are you ready?” he said, his voice deepening.

“You haven’t explained what I need to do!”

Thor chuckled. It was the rich and confident sound of a man who’s gotten back his mojo and was prepared to let it loose. “Allow me.”

My lips parted, but before I could ask what he meant, a wave of power blasted out from the hammer’s head. Every hair on my body stood on end with the sensation of being at the epicenter of a lightning storm. My insides lurched, and I sucked in a breath through my teeth.

Rocks flew to all sides, forming a two-story fortress around where we stood. Thor released his grip on my hands and stood back with his fists on his hips.

“How do you like that?” he said.

My mouth opened and closed, but I could make no sound. Not because of Thor’s impressive feat of magic, but because we now sank into dense white fur that reached my shoulders.

The familiar scents of earth and woods and musk filled my nostrils, and joy burst from my heart. I dropped to my knees and pressed my palms onto Fenrir’s warm skin. “This is you?”

He made a satisfied rumble.

I lay my head on this silky fur, luxuriating in this newfound closeness. This wasn’t the same as wrapping my arms around his neck as I had done with Wolfette, but this was the first part of Fenrir’s wolf that I got to touch.

“Hey, Lydia?” Thor said.

“Yes?”

“Your wolf just flew to another stalactite. Now, she’s marking it with her fire.”

I pulled myself to my feet and glanced over the trench Thor had created with his magical blast. Wolfette flew from a stalactite thirty feet to our right, and then drifted to another the same distance away.

“Do you think Hel drove those things into his head?” I walked to the edge of the fort and studied it for hand and footholds.

“Have you ever trapped an animal?” He held out his hand.

I glanced down at his palm, taking a moment to realize that he was offering to hold the hammer while we climbed. At this stage I had to trust that he wouldn’t run off with my only means of freeing Fenrir. The quickest way for Thor to get free was by helping me complete my mission, and there was also his grudge against Hel.

“What were you saying about traps?” I handed him the hammer.

He hooked it onto his belt. “If an animal gets his limb caught in a trap and has no means of freeing himself, he’ll chew it off.”

“So, she wanted to make sure Fenrir couldn’t escape.” I placed one foot on a piece of rock and grabbed the corner of a broken stalactite.

Thor grunted his agreement, and we continued up the wall of rubble. By the time we reached the top, Wolfette had marked three more thick stalactites. My chest tightened. At the rate we were working, we would never free his wolf in time for Queen Hel’s deadline.

As we climbed down, I turned to Thor and asked, “Do you think you could do a faster job than me?”

“Not only can I smash through the stalactites with my hammer, but I can create a blast that will send the debris toward the back of this cave.”

“All with one hammer?”

He stared at me, his brows furrowed. “It was forged by the most talented dwarves in all the nine worlds. I was shocked that you could wield it at all.”

We continued down to the bottom, where my wolf stood at the base of the fort with her eyes bright, her tail wagging.

I wrapped my arms around her neck and gave her a hug. “Thor is going to break down the other stalactites for us.”

As I drew back, she cocked her head to the side and frowned.

“He’s much better at using that hammer than me,” I said.

She gave me a hesitant nod.

I leaned into her side. “Don’t you trust him?”

She shook her head.

Now it was my turn to furrow my brow. Perhaps she had promised Fenrir’s wolf that I would personally free him from the cave. Maybe if circumstances were different, I could have spent time doing the work myself, but it was a matter of Fenrir’s liberty and the lives of the hostages.

“Leave it with me.” Thor unhooked the hammer from his belt and ran toward the nearest of the columns Wolfette had marked.

Wind whistled through the cave as he took a flying leap, pulled back his arms and swung.

White lightning crackled from the hammer’s head, forming a massive ball of energy that I could feel from where we stood. My breath froze in my throat and my pulse pounded harder than a boombox.

My wolf cringed at my side, her teeth clenched, her fur bristling. I couldn’t blame her—Thor’s entire body lit up like he’d been struck by lightning.

I thought he would strike at the stalactite with the hammer, but he hurled it across the air. It spun like an out-of-control frisbee and spit out sparks before smashing through the first column with a clang.

An almighty rumbling filled my ears. I wrapped my body around my wolf as a shield, but a gust of wind blew debris across the cave.

Thor’s laugh echoed in the cave, sounding louder than the falling stalactites. My head snapped up, and I gaped at the god snatching his hammer by the handle.

“You see?” he said.

“That was impressive.” My voice shook.

Wolfette let out a yip of agreement. It sounded like she finally understood that Thor could do a better job at smashing through the stalactites than me.

Over the next few minutes, he demolished the columns of rock restricting Fenrir’s head. My wolf flew down to his neck and blew flames at a thinner set of stalactites that he destroyed in an instant.

I placed a hand on my chest, breathing hard to calm my pounding heart. “Our plan might actually work,” I said into the bond. “With you so huge and powerful, I can’t see your sister or any of her minions keeping you confined for long.”

The giant wolf’s satisfied rumble vibrated through my feet. I wrapped my arms around my chest and stared down at Thor and my wolf working together.

Part of me could already taste our victory, but I held back the euphoria. Nobody knew what freeing Fenrir’s wolf would do to his human body. If he appeared in our world in this form, he would tear apart the alpha’s compound.

And everyone would die.

Thor broke through the last of the stalactites encasing Fenrir’s neck, and the wolf beneath us shifted. I held out my arms for balance, and my wolf leaped into the air with an annoyed bark.

Something in the air shifted. It started with a cold breeze and continued with pinpricks of light shining down from the ceiling.

I took one step backward then another and another, my gaze fixed toward the ceiling. None of the usual signs of collapse were present—no dust or tiny pieces of rock. Every instinct told me to run, but I needed to wait for my wolf.

A rumbling filled the air, louder than anything Thor had produced with his hammer. The Norse god sprinted over Fenrir’s neck, up the slope of his head, and toward where I stood between his ears.

“Run,” he yelled.

He didn’t need to tell me twice.

I turned on my heel and charged down Fenrir’s forehead. Thor caught up with me as I ran down the space between the wolf’s massive eyes. They shone like beacons in the darkness, but right now, I wasn’t feeling completely safe.

“Fenrir,” I yelled out loud. “Stay still until we leave the cave.”

His head shifted again, this time breaking the thinner stalactites with several high-pitched snaps.

Dust rained down on us, and my stomach plummeted. “Thor,” I yelled. “Use your power to sweep away the debris.”

“Come close,” he shouted over the rumbling. “It’s better to create a barrier.”

“Right.” I ran to his side and beckoned for my wolf to follow.

As she landed between us and folded her wings, I wrapped my arms around her body and clung tight. I placed my lips by her ear. “Do you know what Thor is doing?”

She shook her head.

“Should we be worried?” I asked.

She shuddered.

The dust raining down on us thickened to stones the size of peas. White lightning filled the edges of my vision. It came from Thor, who stood above us with his hammer outstretched, his power forming a perfect sphere.

All the noise from outside the barrier muffled, and debris rained down on us like it was the end of the world. Clinging to my wolf, I ran my hands up and down her back.

“Are you all right?” I asked her.

She nodded.

“What do you think is wrong with Fenrir? Is he overexcited?”

She gave me another nod. As the giant wolf shifted beneath us, she leaned against me and yelped.

“One of you had better tell him to calm the hell down,” Thor snarled.

Just as I was about to pass on the request, Fenrir let out a huge bark that made my blood turn cold. The rumbling got louder and debris fell on our magical barrier, making sparks fly over our heads.

“Is it holding?” I yelled at the top of my voice.

“For now,” Thor replied from between clenched teeth.

My breaths turned shallow, and I squeezed Wolfette so tightly that she sent me a growl of warning. “Sorry.” I loosened my grip. “Could you tell him to stop, please?”

Her annoyed bark said she’d told him over and over, but he wasn’t listening.

The giant wolf moved from side to side, his actions dimming the light of Thor’s shield.

“Fenrir,” I yelled. “Keep still.”

Of course, he ignored me. If I were a wolf who had been confined in a cave for two thousand years with calcium deposits encasing my fur, I wouldn’t listen to someone yelling at me not to break free.

“Shit,” I muttered into Wolfette’s fur.

She made a sharp bark of agreement, for once taking my side over our mate’s.

I ground my teeth. What the bloody hell was my Fenrir doing out there? Didn’t he have control over his wolf? From the way the oversized brute was jostling us, the answer was a resounding no.

The rumbling stopped, and silence filled our little bubble.

“Thor.” I glanced up at the blond god. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he replied with a long breath, sounding relieved.

Fenrir moved again, and the rocks covering our dome fell away, drenching us in light. I stared up at the cloudless sky, my mouth gaping open.

He’d bloody done it.

He had broken free from the cave.

Euphoria filled my chest, making me feel like it would burst, and tears stung my eyes. I pressed a kiss on Wolfette’s muzzle and murmured, “Well done.”

“Impressive,” Thor said.

“Thank you.” I gave him my brightest smile.

Fenrir moved again, seeming to climb out from the cavern he’d just busted open. I straightened and stretched and hoped his other self would feel the surge of power and open up a portal.

Just as I was about to ask Wolfette how she had exited Fenrir’s lands the last time she was here, the giant wolf threw back his head and tossed us in the air.

Panic yanked at my stomach and pulled it into the back of my throat. I couldn’t breathe. I just kept flipping like a tossed pancake and somersaulting toward the cloudless sky.

“Bastard.” Thor’s raged bellow filled the air, and his hammer threw out several bolts of lightning.

As I hurtled toward an unknown fate, I finally got the chance to appreciate the sheer scale of Fenrir’s body. Only half of him had crawled out from the cavern, but he stretched across the dead woods and toward the lake.

“Fenrir,”I screamed into my mind. “What are you doing?”

Of course, he didn’t reply.

I stopped ascending for a split second before gravity pulled me down toward Fenrir’s open maw. My mouth opened in a silent scream, and I finally managed to get some air in my lungs.

Then something grabbed the back of my borrowed tunic, and my freefall slowed. I splayed out my arms and turned around to find my wolf clinging onto me with her teeth.

I was too big, too heavy, but she kept trying to save me, even though we both continued sinking toward Fenrir’s belly.

“Let go of me,” I yelled at her. “Save yourself.”

She shook her head and growled.

Thor dropped like an anchor, his hammer lighting the way down the wolf’s gigantic maw until he disappeared.

“Thor,” I screamed as he vanished into Fenrir’s gullet.

As we drifted down to our certain doom, one thought struck my mind. I’d once called myself the wolf shifter Cinderella, but I’d been dead wrong. Nor was I the Corpse Bride. Hell, I wasn’t even Shifter Red Riding Hood.

If I had to compare myself to a fairytale character, it would be the Gingerbread Man.

Just before he got himself devoured.