He stepped toward Abeille’s desk. “This really should not be so difficult, witch. I am offering you your heart’s desire.”
The scent of rum mixed with patchouli peeled from the woman’s white blouse as a cuff of wide lace folded down her arm as she adjusted her right elbow against the desk. “Do not toy with me, Viking. I can curse you in ways not even Rorik thought possible.”
“Making things worse between us is not my intention,” He said, “for I truly have come to give you Rorik’s sin, though I admit to wanting something in return.”
Abeille pursed her lips, appeared to be mulling over his offer. “What will it cost me?”
He wanted to do this right, word his request properly so the old hag could never come back saying there were strings attached to the deal. “Rorik’s sin was transferred from my heart into a female sin-eater’s soul. Remove it from her and you may have it freely.”
Abeille tapped her fingers on the desk. “If I take Rorik’s sin, since I helped formulate it, I can reach him in the afterlife.”
“I believe so. Yes.”
The witch nodded. “I’d like that.”
He bet she would. “In return, I want you to free this woman of my wolf. Make her wholly human again.”
“I can do that. But what do you want for yourself?”
He wanted to be rid of the damn darkness he’d engulfed when he’d attempted to free Leila of his wolf. But that would have to come at a price, as Abeille never gave without taking something in return. “What is the going rate for extracting and destroying, eighteen years of a sin-eater’s darkness?”
Abeille rubbed her pudgy hands together. “The splicing of one span of immortality.”
The witch wanted to weaken his immortality, cut it in two to give half to another soul. He could live with that. “I will agree, provided you give what you take from me, to a host designated by me.”
“You make it sound as if I had no reason to do this other than the mere fun at being able to do so.”
“I know you, Abeille. You like working magick for no reason other than the fact that you can. So, what say you?”
“Give me the location of this woman and it shall be done.”
“And removing the sin-eater’s darkness from my soul?”
Abeille wiggled her right forefinger. “Come close, Viking.”
He did as the witch commanded.
“Open your mouth.”
Again, he followed the request.
Abeille placed her hand in front of his mouth and maneuvered her fingers as if she were drawing out some invisible entity.
A pulling clawed at his core.
Vidar gasped.
Abeille continued working her hand until a tiny bee floated by and vanished into thin air as it crossed the space in front of the witch’s fingers. “It is done.”
“That is it? Eighteen years of a sin-eater’s darkness and you removed it in seconds?”
“I have a talent.”
“Will it ever come back? The sin-eating? Will it ever return to the woman whom it belonged to?”
“That depends. If she is happy in her life, then no. If she is not, then it might find a home in her heart again.”
He was not going to let that happen. “And the wolf?”
“Rorik’s sin will be removed from the woman’s body instantly. Just tell me where she is.”
“Wolfsden Keep.”
“The alpha’s castle?”
He nodded.
Abeille leaned back in her chair. “That complicates matters. You should have told me first.”
“Why?”
“The MacHendries and my coven do not get along. They killed a colleague of mine last year.”
“Jarle was Rorik’s accomplice. The MacHendries had good reason doing the man in. Besides, you will be getting the link to access my uncle in the afterlife. Isn’t that what you’ve wanted for centuries?”
“Very well. I will do this, but don’t ever come back to me, Viking. I no longer wish to engage you or your men.”
“Nothing would please me more, witch.”
“Then it is done. Now leave.”
He hesitated, but really had no choice other than to trust Abeille. Demanding proof would only anger her and an irate immortal witch who could hex him to hades and back wasn’t someone he wanted to deal with tonight.
He walked out of the office and back through the store until he was out on Bourbon Street again. He could go home, or go to Katya and Mortimer’s place, though neither option appealed to him.
But a good drink, however, did.
Three doors down, he entered the Lycan Lounge and headed for the bar.
A hulk of a man grabbed his shoulder, stopped him halfway across the floor. “Wolves only.”
“But I am wolf.”
“Not according to the lady over there.” The man nudged his chin in the opposite direction.
Vidar followed the guy’s gaze over to the corner where a dark-haired woman sat in a booth, a large, floppy hat obstructing her face. She sipped a drink through a straw.
News that he’d lost his wolf to Leila wasn’t something he’d revealed to anyone save for Katya and Abeille. Maybe the woman was one of the witch’s cohorts because he knew his sister would never betray his privacy.
A flash of blue caught his eye. The brilliant topaz dangled from a gold chain that fell between the tops of the woman’s breasts which were exposed due to her partly unzipped leather shirt. He turned and walked over.
“You had a lot of nerve leaving me with the pack,” the woman said.
Leila?
What the hell was she doing here? He stepped closer to the booth, stood at an angle that offered him a good view of his former mate’s gorgeous face. He’d never get tired of looking at her.
“I live in New Orleans, knuckle head. I told you I had no desire to spend the whole month with Bane and those feral dogs of his.”
“Do not call a wolf, a dog.” He paused. “I thought you were at least going to spend New Year’s with your uncle.”
“I couldn’t take all his fussing,” Leila said. “He waited on me hand and foot, employed the best darn doctors—both human and shifter. And let me tell you, those magickal physicians can heal a body fast. It was amazing, to be honest. But Bane drove me nuts, wouldn’t let me do a darn thing for myself. Made it seem as if I’d almost died. Getting out of Wolfsden was a relief.”
She had almost died. The memory of Leila on the floor, her body still as a corpse, was one he’d never forget. “I’m glad you’ve recovered. I’m going home now.”
“Oh, no you’re not. It’s two minutes to midnight. If you think you’re going to leave me here, in this den of wolves, alone, to celebrate the new year by myself, you are sorely mistaken. Now sit.” She pointed to the seat across from her. “We need to talk.”
“No. We don’t. I’ve seen Abeille about removing the wolf from your soul. You shouldn’t have anything to worry about now.”
“That may be, but you’ve taken away my sin-eater.”
He slid into the booth. “And I’ve replaced it with immortality. It was the only option I had.”
Leila pushed her drink aside. “So, let me get this straight. I am no longer wolf.”
“Correct.”
“And my sin-eater is gone for good.”
“That can’t be guaranteed, but it is my hope.”
“And I am now immortal.”
He let out a deep breath. He’d just told her all this. Why did she waste the energy of words? “Yes.”
“Then that leaves only one thing left to discuss.”
What the hell was she talking about? Everything he’d screwed up, he’d just fixed. There was nothing else left. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She pulled a fairy wing from her jacket pocket. “Fiona demands her mobile fixed.”
The damn pixies again. “I’ll do better. I’ll buy her a new one.”
“She wants the one she has now.”
The scent of roses drifted across the booth. That intoxicating fragrance was never going to leave his senses, would probably torment to eternity.
“Fix the mobile,” Leila said.
“Fine. Bring me the damn thing tomorrow, at my place, and I’ll glue the stupid wing back on the stupid fairy. Are we finished now?”
“Not quite.”
Between the loud music, the stench of wet dog coming from the sweaty dancers, and the leers he was getting from the wolves now that he was no longer one of them, he wanted out of the place. “What else do you want?”
“I turned down Abeille’s offer of removing the wolf in my heart.”
“How did you manage that when I only just came from her office?”
“I’ve had dealings with the witch myself. We have a…connection…if you want to call it that.”
He wasn’t so sure he wanted to know more on the matter. “Why do you want my wolf? It’s cursed.”
“I didn’t say I hadn’t given up the hex, just not the wolf.”
“Now why would you do that when you told me you thanked God you weren’t born wolf?”
“Oh, I didn’t say I was keeping him for myself. Hell no. I’ve instructed Abeille to return him to you, which should have been done by now. Though I suspect you won’t truly sense it until the next full moon.”
He had his wolf back? His old, unhexed wolf?
Leila rolled her eyes. “Don’t look so surprised. I did get immortality out of the bargain and I no longer have to carry around that internal Pandora’s Box. So, overall, I made out pretty well in this deal.”
She had. And he was glad of it. “I’m pleased for you. Can I go now?”
“As long as you take me with you.”
What? “Excuse me?”
“We are mates, Vidar. Eternal mates.”
“Yes, but Bane made it very clear he does care for me to be around you.”
She laughed. “You don’t know Uncle Bane.”
He did to. “I know the man very well. Well enough to know when he’s pissed. And he was sorely pissed three days ago.”
“The man set us up. He also sent you back to New Orleans to take care of what you needed to finish.”
No way could the alpha have done all that. “Bane could not have known how things would have worked out.”
Leila toyed with the ends of her long, brown hair. “True, but he definitely nudged us in the right direction and certainly, with Wolfsden’s help, put us in specific incidents that ended up working out quite well. Maybe he couldn’t control it all, but he also wasn’t that far away in case of an emergency. I think the man did quite good if I may say so.”
Quite good his ass. “He almost cost you your life.”
“Almost doesn’t count. I’m still here. And now with you.”
“I can’t guarantee things will always be easy with me, Leila. Rorik did a lot of bad things, to a lot of people. It’s my duty to fix those things. And not all of them are easy fixes. Plus, I’ll need to learn how to live with my wolf again.”
“You’ve never been easy. So, what’s new in that?”
“You need to be certain about this.”
Leila scooted out of the booth. “I am. But I have one request.”
“Anything.” He followed her.
“When we have pups of our own, I want them each to have their own mobile. Made by you.” She headed toward the door.
Vidar was right behind her. “I am not living in a house full of sugar plum fairies.”
“Oh, I don’t want pixies on the mobiles. Definitely not.”
“That’s a relief. What do you want instead?”
“Highlanders. In kilts.”
He laughed. His world was right again. He was back to dealing with those damn skirt wearers. He was even going to marry into a clan. Heaven help him, but Valhalla definitely was not going to be his destiny after he took Leila as his wife.
But he’d do anything for his mate. Anything at all. “Fine. I will accept making mobiles with skirt wearers, but only because I love you.”
“I’m so glad you said that because I want you to make them wearing kilts that will match the one you’re going to wear at our wedding. Which, by the way, Wolfsden has graciously agreed to host. I guess the castle liked having the two of us as its guests for a few days.”
The boom of fireworks vibrated through the air.
Leila spun around. “It’s midnight.” She leaned in and kissed him.
Oh, yes, his life was indeed right again.
Thank you for reading Viking Wolf. This is the third installment in my Shifters of Dundaire novella series, featuring a pack of Scottish wolf-shifters.
Dark Wolf – novella 1 (Callen’s story)
Christmas Wolf – novella 2 (Rhys’s story)
Viking Wolf – novella 3 (Vidar’s story)
Highland Wolf – novella 4 (Bane’s story, June 2017)
Blood Wolf – prequel (Mortimer and Katya, Sept. 2017)
Welcome to Dundaire, Scotland, a magickal city that doesn't appear on any map, where kilt-wearing, immortal Highlanders are plentiful, and where romance and danger brew daily...
Bane MacHendrie is Scotland’s most powerful alpha. He’s also the Highland’s most selfless wolf, having spent a thousand years sacrificing his own needs for the sake of his pack, his sons, and the goddess who owns his heart. But when an old enemy rises from the dead and challenges Bane for the woman they both once fought over, Bane must choose between love and honor. And being the noble beast that he is, his heart might just lose out for all eternity…
It isn’t easy loving a stubborn man, especially when that dude is a fierce alpha wolf. But when Aine, a Celtic sex goddess who has lived in the shadows for a thousand years, grows weary of waiting on her beloved Bane, she takes necessary action to bring her man out of darkness. But just when she thinks everything is going hunky-dory, an old flame shows up claiming rights to her heart and threatening everything Aine holds dear.
Warning: Contains kilts, one hot Highlander, a grumpy medieval castle with a penchant for French macarons, and sexy games that give new meaning to the term sword play.
About the Author:
National best-selling author Angelique Armae is a native New Yorker who loves all things royal, can trace her Irish roots back to the Scottish Highlands, is half Italian, and is owned by a long-haired Tuxedo feline. She spends most days writing, unless her cat deems otherwise.
http://www.angeliquearmae.com
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Shifters of Dundaire Series
Highland Wolf
About the Author
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