“Someone in your past was.” Fen settled back down on the bed, curling himself around his sleeping mate. “Your great-grandmother, or even further back, was a Valkyrie. They have always been lovers of mortals, and sometimes bore children with them.”
Her head shook in disbelief. “But I’m Italian, not Norwegian.”
“Then someone lied to you, or forgot that one of your relatives wasn’t Italian.” Travis brought her a drink of water. “Here. I’ll get some blankets and you can borrow some of Jamie’s pajamas.” He raised his hand when Toni opened her mouth to protest. “You’re in no condition to drive, Detective, and you know it.”
“I have to file my report.”
“You have to get some sleep and file it in the morning.” Travis smirked. “Or should I contact Nik?”
She glared up at him and downed the water. “Get me the fuckin’ jammies.
Sadistic bastard.”
Fen ignored them as Jeff’s breathing slowly evened out. The wounds were still there, but the worst ones, the ones that had Fen howling in grief, had partially healed under the touch of the detective. He raised his head and nodded to her. “Du er familien nå. ”
Travis paused as the meaning of the words Fen spoke sank in. Then he huffed out a laugh and handed the detective the pajamas. “Congratulations.
You’ve just been adopted.”
“Huh?” Toni rubbed wearily at her eyes. “What?”
“Fenrisùlfr just declared you family. Welcome to the, um, pack.”
Her eyes closed, her head slumping back against the chair. “I hate you all.”
Fen noticed her protest was half-hearted, whether from fatigue or not, he didn’t know, nor did he care. He shifted, wrapping his warmer, furred self around his mate, protecting his mate as he slept.
The Old Man would not get to Jeff a second time. He barely acknowledged Jeff’s family leaving the room. He just breathed in the scent that was uniquely his mate’s, reassuring himself that Jeff still lived.
A wash of hot and cold power ran through him. The wards were finally back in place, weaker and less subtle, but there. Fen allowed himself a small sigh, but would not allow himself sleep. Not now.
Not until the Old Man had been dealt with once and for all.
Jeff woke up to the feeling that he’d gone three rounds with an elephant and lost. Everything hurt, from his hands to his eyeballs. Hell, he was pretty sure his fingernails hurt, but with everything else aching he wasn’t quite sure. He also wasn’t sure when he’d become human again. Last he remembered he’d been in dire need of a depilatory.
“God morgen, min kjærlighet.”
Jeff couldn’t even smile, though he wanted to. “I got ‘good morning’ out of that.”
A soft kiss pressed against the nape of his neck. “Good morning, my love.”
Jeff sighed. Hell, he liked that, probably more than he should. “Why do I feel like hammered dog poo?”
“Do you remember nothing of yesterday, elskede?”
Jeff shifted his legs and immediately wished he hadn’t. “Ow.” He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was his hands. It looked like he’d put them through a lunchmeat slicer. “What the fuck?”
Bits and pieces of memory began to float through the fog of sleep and lack of caffeine. “My grandfather did this, didn’t he?”
“Yes.” Another feather-light kiss landed on the nape of his neck. “I’m so sorry, elskede. I should have stopped him.”
Something else was nagging at him. Something important. His blood ran cold as more and more of the events of yesterday unfolded. “Oh fuck. Dad.”
Fen’s arms tightened around him. “He died trying to save you.”
Jeff’s hands clenched despite the pain. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch.”
“Get in line.” He felt Fen jump behind him as Kir’s voice washed over them, echoing with power. “Hey, Jeff.” Kir settled on the bed next to them, his hand rifling through Jeff’s hair. From the storm clouds gathering in Kir’s eyes, it was obvious Baldur had risen. Light flashed through the room, and Jeff realized there was a thunderstorm brewing once more over Philadelphia, the result of Kir’s anger. “You had a busy day yesterday, didn’t you?”
“You could say that.” Jeff winced as Kir took hold of his fingers, checking them with a frown on his face.
“We had no idea the Old Man would move quite that fast once Kir and I were gone. We’d never have left if we had.” Logan moved behind Kir, one hand on his lover’s shoulder. “We’re so sorry, Jeff.”
Jeff nodded, though it hurt incredibly. He didn’t blame either Logan or Kir—
he blamed Grimm. “Did you find my brothers?” Morgan and Magnus would need to know Dad was… Was…
Hell, he couldn’t even bring himself to think it.
“No. Nik caught us on the bridge and told us what had happened. He opened a portal for us to come back. He said he’d try and get word to them to come home as soon as possible.” Logan looked toward the door. “I’m going to go strengthen the wards and check on Jordan.” He winced. “She’s not doing well.”
Jeff tried to sit up but the flaring agony forced him still. “The babies?”
Kir smiled gently. “They’re fine. Jordan’s grieving. She got to say good-bye, though.”
Which was more than Jeff, Morgan or Magnus would get. “I want him to hurt, Kir. I want him to hurt the way he’s made us hurt.”
“Not possible, kiddo. You have to love before you can grieve.” Logan kissed the top of Kir’s head. “Be careful, Blondie.”
“I will.” Kir smiled up at Logan. “Go on now. She needs you.”
Logan nodded. “Fen. If you wish to collect blod gjeld for your mate’s injuries, I’ll be waiting.”
“Logan.” Kir’s voice was sharp, the clouds racing across his irises darkening to near black.
Jeff chuckled. “The only one who owes blood debt is my grandfather, you masochist.”
“I agree.” Fen’s hand stroked down Jeff’s side, lightly brushing the sutures.
“You have paid enough blood, Pappa. You did the best you could. The one who owes blood is Odin.”
“He did it again, you know.” Jeff looked up at Logan. “He disappeared right under Fen’s claws. How the fuck does he do that?”
Logan grimaced. “I have no clue. I can’t do it and neither can any other Jotun I know.”
“The Aesir can’t either.” Kir rubbed his chin. “Last I checked we need to travel the old-fashioned way.”
“What about the Vanir?” Jeff wiggled the tiniest bit, trying to get even closer to Fen’s warmth. Fen responded by moving closer, cradling him a little bit tighter. “Has anyone asked Travis?”
“The Lios Alfar can bend light around them, making it look like they’ve disappeared, but it’s exhausting and not something done lightly or for very long.” Kir and Logan exchanged a long, speculative look. “Could he be doing that?”
“Not sure, but it’s possible.”
Fen was shaking his head. Jeff could feel it against the pillow they shared.
“No. His scent was gone, disappeared from in front of me. I thought he’d moved into another room and followed it, but he wasn’t there.”
“Was he in shadow when he disappeared?” Jeff watched the expressions on Kir’s and Logan’s faces closely. “If the Lios Alfar can make themselves invisible, could the Dökk Alfar somehow manipulate shadows? Even move through them?”
“Son of a bitch,” Logan breathed. “You might be right.”
“Do we know any Dökk Alfar?” Kir’s fingers brushed against the pendant at his neck.
“Yeah. Nik.” Logan stormed from the room, flames dancing along his skin.
“That son of a bitch. We were just there, damn it. He’s the one who told us to hightail it back here.”
Kir rolled his eyes. “Here we go.” He brushed his hand over Jeff’s hair.
“Take it easy today, all right? I’ll have Travis bring Toni over once she wakes u
p.
Maybe between the two of us we can help your healing along a little bit more.”
“Thanks, Uncle Kir.” Jeff grinned when Kir shuddered, but the clouds in his eyes had lightened up. Kir was still pissed, but Jeff had managed to calm him somewhat with his joke. Perhaps Jordan and Logan would be able to take care of the rest.
For all he’d called Thor an asshole, the man had been Kir’s brother. Kir had to be grieving too.
“Pain in my ass.” Kir waved good-bye and followed his lover out of the room.
“How is the pain, elskede?”
Jeff grunted as Fen shifted position behind him, moving the mattress beneath Jeff and thus moving Jeff. “Let’s just say that you may be glued to my backside for the foreseeable future.”
There was silence for a moment before Fen huffed out a laugh. “This is bad why?”
Jeff chuckled again. Damn, that hurts. “Because it means you’re not going walkies for a potty break.”
Fen licked his neck, right where he’d marked Jeff. “I can live with that.”
Jeff barely restrained his shudder. How could something feel so good when everything else hurt so bad? “Fen. Ix-nay on the ex-say. I’m really not up for it.”
He took Fen’s hand and brought it to his flaccid cock. “See?”
“I want to share blood with you.”
Jeff blinked. “Ah. I see the train has stopped in Wacky Land once more.”
“Hmm?”
“Never mind. What the hell is that supposed to mean, anyway?” He shifted his legs to get more comfortable and hissed as the stitches pulled.
“You’re still mortal, Jeff.”
“And?”
Fen sighed. “We think that, though I marked and changed you, you remain mortal, which is why you haven’t healed the way I do. If I share blood with you, there’s the possibility all of your wounds will disappear.”
Jeff nodded thoughtfully. “I remember when Logan did that for my sister. It was…bad. She went into convulsions and stopped breathing. Kir came in and saved her life.”
“Because she’d shared blood with Travis and Logan one right after the other.
Travis told me about it.” Fen nipped his neck. “Your sister shared with you last night, hoping you’d get the healing she got from Logan, but it didn’t work. If you share with me, it just might.”
Jeff thought about it. Was it worth it? “Is it too soon?”
“I don’t know, elskede. But watching you suffer is killing me.”
“Would watching me die kill you more?”
Fen’s arms tightened again, earning him a gasp of pain. Fen’s arms loosened immediately with a murmured apology. “Yes.”
“Then maybe we should wait until Kir is here in case anything goes wrong.”
He felt Fen nod. “That makes sense.” They snuggled for a few minutes. Jeff felt himself nodding off again when Fen spoke. “You scared me.”
“I know. I was scared myself.”
“You can’t leave me.”
Jeff couldn’t turn to hold Fen, couldn’t comfort the man the way he wanted to. But he could do something. “Bring your hand to my lips.” He waited until Fen did as he asked. He pressed his own kiss to the back of his wolf’s hand. “I won’t. Not voluntarily.”
“Not ever. I need you too much.”
He wished desperately that he could see Fen’s face. The man sounded tormented. “I knew you’d come for me.”
Fen shivered.
“I held on because I knew you’d never leave me there. I knew, Fen.”
“Not even Hel can have you.”
Jeff nodded. What did you say to something as outrageous as that? The man literally had an in with death herself. Did Hel have a cell phone? Was her ringtone Rob Zombie’s “Living Dead Girl”? “You’ll have to ask her opinion on that some time. I might not even be slated to go to her when I die.”
Fen tensed. “Why not?”
“We weren’t very religious growing up, but my mother’s always been Christian. My father refused to go to church.” Jeff shook his head. “Now I know why. Can a god perform sacrilege?”
“Yes.”
Even raising his eyebrows hurt. Fen’s answer had been firm, unequivocal.
“Okay.”
“I’m more interested in what you may have gotten from sharing blood with your twin.”
He snorted out a laugh. “Wonder Twin powers, activate.”
He heard a feminine laugh, one as familiar to him as his own. “Shit. You had to go there, didn’t you?” Jamie yawned and settled into the chair next to the bed.
“How are you feeling?”
He snorted a laugh. “Like hammered dog poo.”
His twin had dark circles under her eyes. They were bloodshot and puffy, as if she’d been crying. He wondered how much sleep she’d gotten the night before.
Her hair was a mess of curls. In her hand was a hairbrush. “Ditto.”
He pointed toward the hairbrush with his chin. “I can’t.”
“I know.” She gestured toward Fen, who moved away from him slowly. Jeff sighed as the brush moved through his curls, soothing him. “Jordy’s a mess.”
“Does she need me?” He winced when the brush smacked him on top of the head. “Hey!”
“Dork. Like you could go two steps without falling on your flat ass.”
“My ass is perfect, thank you very much.”
“Yes, it is.” Fen blew him a kiss and left the room.
“He’s biased.” Jamie chuckled when Jeff stuck his tongue out at her. “Jordan will be here later.” The brush stroked again, untangling his hair. “What do you think he would have been like off the juice?”
Jeff closed his eyes. He knew who she meant. “Dad would have been pretty much the same, I think. Still making Mom moan and groan. Still kicking our asses when we were stupid.”
“Yeah.” The brush kept going in smooth, careful strokes even as Jamie’s voice choked up. “Yeah, he would have.”
Travis handed Fen a mug. “Here. How’s he doing?”
“In pain. Exhausted. Grieving.” Fen shook his head. “I can’t lose him.” He’d follow Jeff to Hel, or wherever the gods took his mate. Living without him now was no longer an option.
“I know.” Travis stared toward the closed door of the bedroom. “When Jamie was hurt I could barely bring myself to leave her long enough to pee, and only if someone I trusted was with her.” The torment in Travis’s eyes matched the agony in Fen’s heart.
Fen nodded. He knew exactly what Travis meant. He could barely keep himself from checking on them, and it had been less than five minutes since Jamie had entered the bedroom. “When do you think Jordan will be here?”
The front door slammed open, propelled by one pissed off pregnant lady.
“I’d guess now.” Travis nodded to Jordan. “Hey, Jordan.”
Jordan nodded briefly and went straight into Fen’s bedroom. She too looked like she’d been through the ringer. Her long, dark hair was limp, her eyes redrimmed. Kir and Logan were right on her ass up until she slammed the bedroom door shut in their faces.
“Is she pissed at you two?” Travis frowned at the door, his expression confused.
“Yup.” Logan ran his fingers through his hair. “I think she blames us for Fred’s death.”
Jordan’s voice suddenly rang out from the bedroom. “Ow! Not the brush, not the brush! Shit, Jamie!”
“Jamie doesn’t agree, apparently.” Travis grinned, but compared to his usual expression it was weak at best. “Has your father shown you how to make French toast yet?”
Fen tilted his head. “French what?”
“C’mon, kiddo. I have the feeling this might take awhile.” Logan threw his arm over Fen’s shoulder. “Besides, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Right, Blondie?”
“Right. Which is why we’re ordering pizza for lunch.” Kir smiled, but it was half-hearted. His blue eyes still had clouds dancing through them. Out the window, rain fell in thi
ck sheets as the sky cried for the lost god.
“Hey.” Logan took Kir’s face between his palms. “We’ll get him, I swear it.”
“Soon, Logan.” Kir’s voice took on a deep, resonant timber that had Fen bending knee before him. “Before anyone else dies.” Kir leaned in for a kiss from his lover. “Especially you.”
“Nik’s the one who’s supposed to kill me.” Logan shivered. “I still don’t know which side that bastard’s going to come down on.”
“His own.” Travis grimaced. “Even when I ruled the Vanir he was a secretive son of a bitch.”
Logan frowned. “He is Dökk Alfar, right?”
Travis opened his mouth, then frowned himself. “You know? I’m not entirely sure.”
The four of them exchanged glances. Kir broke the silence first. “Fen?”
“Hmm?”
“Can you scent the differences between Lios and Dökk Alfar?”
Fen’s brows rose. “I didn’t know many of either, but I might be able to.”
Jordan stomped back through the bedroom door and into another room, the one Jeff used as an office. She came back quickly with Jeff’s laptop and once more slammed the bedroom door shut.
“Shit. She’s still pissed.” Logan sighed. “I’m not entirely sure I blame her.”
“Blame the hormones.” Travis leaned against the kitchen counter. “I do.”
Fen shook his head. “She’s grieving, and she needs her pack.”
Kir, Travis, Fen and Logan exchanged another long look. Logan grinned and headed for the bedroom. “He’s right.”
Without another word the other three followed him. If the Grimm children needed their pack, then by the gods they’d get their pack. All of them.
“Oh, Vincente.”
“Oh, my stomach,” Jordan groaned. The laptop had been placed on the bed near Jeff’s head, the two ladies hovering over him as they watched the action on the screen.
“Shh! This is the best part.” Jamie’s gaze was glued to the screen, her green eyes shimmering with excitement.
“Whatever shall we do? Sylvia refuses to grant your divorce, my love!”
“Miranda, my darling, we shall survive.”
Fen blinked and moved so that he too could see what was going on. Two people, both dark haired, were kissing ravenously. It looked like the man was trying to eat the woman’s face from the inside out. The lip-smacking noise that came from the tiny computer speakers was revolting.
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