Protector (Night War Saga Book 1)

by Leia Stone

  A shout from the doorway broke our trance. “Allie’s roommate is here!” Mack yelled. We both jumped backward, the moment shattered.

  I quickly dropped down to tie my shoe, even though it was still double knotted. “Right,” I muttered. “Sorry, I forgot I invited her over when I was verifying Johann’s whole ‘staying with my cousin’ story last night.”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Mack’s eyes glittered as he looked between me and Tore. “Well, I’ll tell her you will be right in.” He backed out of the complex, and Tore quickly strode after him.

  “Come on, Pepper,” Tore barked. His wall was back up. “We have a guest to attend to.”

  I sighed. Can’t a girl get a break?

  ****

  After spending some time showing Mallory the house and introducing her to my ‘cousin’ Johann and his roommates, we broke the lie that my aunt—Johann’s mom—had recently passed. Mallory sniffled when we told her Johann and I would be moving home for a semester, so we could help the younger kids transition. She hugged us both and drove me back to our dorm while the boys followed in their Range Rover.

  “What about exams?” Mallory asked as she loaded one of my suitcases in the back of the SUV.

  “I talked to my professors, and they’re letting me take them online.” Actually, Professor Vidarsson from the University of Trondheim, had spoken with the faculty on my behalf that very day. Professor Vidarsson had impressive powers of persuasion.

  Mallory sighed. “I’m going to miss living with you.”

  I hugged her tight. “I’m going to miss you, too,” I said honestly. “But I’ll have e-mail. And I’ll be back on campus next year.” I hope.

  Mallory held me at arm’s length. “If you need any disgusting coconut-seaweed water, you know where to find me.”

  Laughter bubbled in my throat. It almost overpowered my fear of moving to a house I’d never seen, with four guys—four immortals—I’d only known a few days, to train to fight a monster who’d put my mom into a seventeen-year coma, and, more recently, put a hit on me.

  Almost. But not quite.

  CHAPTER SIX

  SNOW DUSTED THE HIGHWAY as we drove north out of Skykomish, toward the Canadian border. We were packed tight in the SUV—I was wedged in the backseat between Bodie and Johann, who apparently liked hockey, and spent a good hour of our trip debating the Canucks’ Stanley Cup chances. By the time we crossed the border and drove into Vancouver, they’d vetted the likelihood of multiple Pacific Division teams making it to the finals, complained about the preferential screen time given to Eastern Conference teams, and decided that if we made it through this Nott drama, they’d invest in season tickets to whichever team we ended up living by.

  “Aren’t we going back to Washington when this is over?” I asked. “I have to finish school.”

  “You might choose to do that,” Tore said from the front seat. His long hair moved against his shoulder as he turned his head to check for cross traffic. “Or you may want to permanently relocate here.”

  “Relocate to Canada?” I’d never considered that.

  Tore smiled at me in the rearview mirror. “Or Asgard. You can go wherever you want when this is over, Allie. In your case, the sky is literally the limit.”

  Whoa. That was a lot to digest.

  Tore steered the car up a snow-covered drive. White-dusted evergreens lined the path, and the full moon illuminated the mountain range in the background. There were no streetlights in this part of town, if it was even a town at all. From what I could gather, the guys were taking me straight into the middle of a forest. We drove for what seemed like ages before a soft glow appeared in the distance.

  “Is that your safe house?” I craned my neck from the backseat.

  “Yup,” Johann confirmed. Tore pulled the Range Rover to a stop, and the guys piled out. Tore held out his arm to help me down, and as I rested my fingertips in his palm, a warm pulse shot to my heart center. I ripped my hand from his the second my feet touched the ground.

  “Thanks,” I said, unsure of how to read him.

  “Welcome,” he muttered. Then he tilted his head. “Velkommen to the safe house.”

  I tried not to gape as I looked up. The massive cabin was framed by a thick forest and bathed in the moonlight. It had a vast, wraparound porch, complete with a swing and bright porchlights that illuminated the snowy driveway. The structure had two stories and at least one chimney, and had a secondary building near the back that seemed to be the Canadian version of the complex.

  Maybe this relocation wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

  ****

  After three weeks of living in the safe house, I was singing Canada’s praises. Moose, Mounties, seemingly-primeval forests, maple syrup on everything, those tiny donut holes, and the amazingly congenial atmosphere of the locals I’d met on that one trip the guys had let me take into town—everything about Canada was civilized, and dignified, and . . . and magical. I loved it. My training regimen . . . not so much love. Every morning started with a huge breakfast with the guys—that part was awesome because it involved copious amounts of both American and Canadian bacon. Then we transitioned straight into four hours of weight training before breaking for a protein-packed lunch. According to my protectors, I was too skinny to take on a mentally unbalanced night goddess. They acknowledged that my failure to meet Asgardian weight goals was not my fault, since I’d spent eighteen years eating and exercising like a human, but they insisted I’d need to reprogram my metabolism to meet demigod standards. Apparently, my existing mass was insufficient to fight off a night elf, or a dark elf, or, god forbid, something called a fire giant. So ‘bulk Allie up’ became the house mantra, at least for the first few weeks. We needed to start tracking down the pieces of my weapon so we could take down Nott and wake up my mom, but the boys vowed to pack ten more pounds of muscle on me before we headed to Alfheim. Apparently, Mack’s home realm would be the first stop on the weapon-locator-tour, since it was the one we’d be least likely to get killed in. It sounded better than one of the dark realms, but I was still nervous.

  Johann, Bodie, and I had a nice Thanksgiving together eating an insane amount of store-bought turkey, while Mack went home to Alfheim to be with his family, and Tore headed back and forth to Asgard on some kind of 'business.’ When we were all together again, my days dragged on with hours beyond hours of weapons control. After dinner, Tore and I would head to the complex alone. Those evening sessions were private tutorials; time for Tore to teach me how to shut down my energy centers so I wouldn’t be trackable. They were a total nightmare at first. Tore started out by laying his hands on different parts of my body, thinking I needed a physical trigger to learn how to lock in the energy coming from wherever he touched. Initially, the only physical trigger I got from Tore’s hands was of the hormonal variety, and I spent two straight evenings trying to hide my obvious attraction. By night three, I caught the demigod smirking at my overheated cheeks as he placed his hands atop my stomach. I quickly realized he could read exactly what I was feeling, and he was taking an ungentlemanly amount of amusement from my inappropriate thoughts. That knowledge was all it took for me to figure out how to shield myself. After that, Tore only needed to intend his energy brush against mine, and as soon as I sensed it, I shut down my centers and became an energetic black hole. Rule number one of tutorial time: the most effective teaching tool is an intense desire to keep your tutor in the dark about how badly you want to jump him.

  We worked that way for a week, and Tore never spoke again about the guilt he felt at having my weapon stolen on his watch. But I could sense that he was opening up to me. Slowly.

  One mid-December morning, I worked my way through Mack’s staple breakfast of bacon and eggs and mentally prepared for a morning of getting my butt handed to me by my protectors. But instead of ordering me to the complex, Tore took me by surprise.

  “Hey, Pepper, I’m going for a hike. I can show you some scouting techniques if you want to come.” Tore look
ed entirely too inviting in a beanie and hoodie, hands shoved in his pockets, just waiting for me to answer. I’d come to terms with my crush on the irritatingly hot demi. Apparently, complicated bad boys with daddy issues were just my type. Awesome.

  “I’ll go. But only if you let me show you how to spray an attacker.” I tapped my new, glittery pink can of pepper spray—a gag gift from Bodie.

  Tore shot me a sly side grin. “Cute. Let’s go.”

  I dipped my last piece of bacon into maple syrup and popped it into my mouth. Then I laced up my winter boots and threw on my white puffy marshmallow jacket. I met Tore on the porch, where he was staring calmly at the beautiful mountainside.

  “It’s amazing here,” I said.

  He spun around to look at me. Instead of hurrying to break eye contact like he usually did, he just stared into my eyes. “Yes. It is.”

  My heart knocked up a few notches. I couldn’t help but remember what he’d said back in the Washington complex, about how every time he looked at me, he was filled with regret. Was he feeling that way now? Or had we finally moved past his guilt issues? I didn’t want to be the first one to speak, to break the moment if we were having one. But if there was any chance we could get over this enormous hurdle, I wanted it to happen sooner than later. I was more into Tore than I wanted to admit, and I wanted things to be less weird between us.

  I really, really wanted that.

  After an eternity, Tore looked away. His eyes focused somewhere out on the mountain, so he appeared to be talking to the trees when he said, “I want you to know something.”

  I didn’t respond, didn’t even breathe for fear of spooking him. After a long pause, he pulled his eyes away from the mountain and looked at me again. “I want you to know that I’m here because I want to be, not just because I took an oath.”

  I released the breath I had been holding. For Tore, that admission was on par with saying ‘I’m totally into you.’ Or, at a minimum, ‘Sorry I’ve been such a giant jerk face.’ My stomach fluttered, and my heart turned a dozen cartwheels in my chest before I took another breath and strategized my next move. I knew I needed to make a joke so the seriousness of this moment wouldn’t send Tore back into the jerk-zone, and I hoped he’d open up with me more if I didn’t push him on this one.

  I shrugged and threw him an easy out. “I’ll be honest, Protector. I’m totally only here because I have to be.” Then I waited to see if my calm had worked.

  It did. Tore gave a full belly laugh, evoking a hidden dimple I hadn’t noticed in his left cheek. “You’re funny, you know that?”

  “I’ve been called worse,” I teased. Tore led the way down the stairs, a smile on his perfect face. I followed, practically skipping after him. This was the lightest my energy had felt in days. It radiated pink and white, reflecting my joy at having just had a very normal conversation with my very ornery protector. As we progressed through the snow-covered woods, I shot him a question. “Hey, why do you hide your energy? Is it so you won’t be tracked?”

  He chuckled. “That’s one reason. Another is that I knew when I was assigned to protect you, you’d be able to read my energy. The last thing I wanted to do was be an open book.”

  “Nothing wrong with being open.” I shrugged.

  He climbed atop a huge boulder and reached out to help me over. Warmth radiated in my belly the moment I grabbed his hand. He must have felt something too, because his face closed off. He dropped my hand the minute he’d pulled me up.

  “I don’t have the sunniest energy,” he muttered. “I guess I didn’t want you to see that and judge me.”

  He’d been right to hide his energy—not because I would ever judge him, but because I was a fixer. If I saw someone hurting, I wanted to make them better. Since I’d met Tore, I’d begun to understand why—I was the freaking offspring of the Goddess of Healing. How could I not want to fix everyone?

  “I would never judge you,” I said honestly. “Things happen. We all have our demons.”

  “Some more than most.” A shadowy look crossed his features. Tore was careful to keep his guard close, but the more he let me in, the more I liked what I saw. Sometimes the guys with the toughest shells were the softest inside.

  “Can I ask you something else?” I queried.

  He just looked back at me with a raised eyebrow.

  “I think I know the answer but . . . my dad. I don’t have one right? I mean not a living one?” I felt so vulnerable having to ask, but it had been on my mind for weeks.

  Tore’s face fell, a lock of golden hair falling in front of his eyes. “Oh, Allie, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before. Your dad was a warrior. He died protecting the Alfödr.”

  “Oh.” The trees swam out of focus as tears pooled in my eyes. “I’d kind of hoped he was alive and, I don’t know, wanted to see me or something.”

  Snow crunched beneath Tore’s boots as he stepped closer to take my hands in his. “From what I understand, he was killed when your mom was near the end of her pregnancy.”

  My heart sank. Gran hadn’t been lying—she’d told me my dad died before I was born. I’d never even gotten to meet him.

  Tore squeezed my hands. “There was a skirmish in Svartalfheim. Your dad’s unit was sent to the dark realm to support one of our ground teams. A splinter group of dark elves broke off and opened a portal to Asgard—they wanted to get to the Alfödr. Your dad followed them, and he saved the Alfödr’s life.”

  I closed my eyes. “But he died in the process,” I whispered.

  “No.” There was an edge to Tore’s voice. “He died after the Alfödr was secure. Nott killed him.”

  My eyes flew open. “Nott?” How was one goddess responsible for so much loss?

  “Apparently, the splinter group was made up of night elves. Nott jumped through the portal, and when her soldiers failed to kill the Alfödr, she personally took out the warriors that stood in their way. By then, the Alfödr had been evacuated and was locked away in a safe location. But his warriors . . .” Tore trailed off.

  “Didn’t make it. Got it.” I dug the toe of my boot into the snow.

  “I’m sorry, Allie. I know this is hard.” Tore studied me through thick lashes. His hair spilled out from under his beanie, hitting his shoulders in a tangled blond mop. He still kept his energy on lockdown, but the concern in his gaze was unnerving. It felt like he could see every spark of my pain.

  “Whatever, it’s fine,” I lied. I dropped Tore’s hands, then turned on one heel and walked further into the forest. The loss of contact sent an ache through my centers. Stupid centers.

  “It’s not fine.” Tore’s boots crunched behind me. “Losing a parent is Hel. But I promise we will make this right. We will get revenge on Nott and all who stand with her.”

  “How are we going to do that?” I walked past a grove of loopy trees—their branches curved in S-shapes, making them look almost whimsical. Despite my heartache, I couldn’t help but take a mental snapshot.

  “I know a thing or two about revenge, Allie.” He winked, and I gave him a small smile.

  “Right.” Please don’t get revenge on me for pepper spraying you.

  He gazed at me seriously now. “We’re going to avenge your parents by taking down Nott. She’s left a wake of death across the light realms for decades, killing entire villages in her attempt to spread darkness. Her Night War began a long time ago. And it’s destroyed far more families than just yours.” Tore fell into step beside me.

  “What’s her deal, anyway? What’s in this for her?” I stomped faster through the trees, anger fueling my movement.

  “Power.” Tore matched my pace. “When Nott betrayed Asgard, she was banished to Svartalfheim. She didn’t like living under the dark elves’ shadow—as a non-native, she was forced to take a subservient role within their political infrastructure. She wanted a realm that she could claim as her own. When she realized she’d never be able to take down Asgard, or Vanaheim, she set her sights on Midgard. It’s the wea
kest of the light realms, and as such, would be the easiest to drain to darkness. Nott put your mother into the Night Sleep because she knew that without Eir, Midgard would lose its connection with its essence and untether from its core. Nothing can survive when it’s ungrounded—not even a realm.”

  “If the earth has been dying all this time, why didn’t you guys come and get me sooner? We could have tracked down my weapon and taken out Nott, and all of this would be over already.” I stopped beneath one of the loopy trees and looked up. It had begun to snow, and tiny white flakes drifted slowly past the curves of the branches.

  “Allie.” Tore stopped beside me. “We’ve been working around the clock for weeks to get you ready to face Nott, and you’re still not even close. Do you honestly think you could have taken on the night goddess when you were sixteen? Or younger?”

  “I don’t know, maybe.” I tried not to sound petulant. But I knew Tore was right. At sixteen, I’d been wrapped up in puppy love and teenage drama. I wouldn’t have had the maturity to leave everything behind to traipse around the realms looking for some demon goddess.

  “Well, I do know, and you weren’t ready. We were instructed not to come for you until your tracker signaled us.” Tore reached over to tap the crystal that hung at my throat. At his touch, the crystal sent a shivering pulse to my heart.

  My hands flew to my neck. “What? Oh my God, this is a tracker? Can anyone else find me? Take it off!” I tugged at the chain, but it didn’t move. As it had been since that first day, the necklace stayed fused in place.

  “Relax.” Tore chuckled. “Your grandmother programmed it so it could only signal Asgard. She set it to alert your protectors when you came into your powers. When the Alfödr saw the beacon, he knew it was time to send in the heavies.”