Dana Bell: Howl for Me

To Mom, who fell in love with Charlie’s new miniature daschund. You know you want one. Dad’s going to come home and find you cuddling it, and he’ll be helpless to say no.

To Dad, who doesn’t complain too much when we critique his local wine collection. Yes, it does take the whole bottle for your children to make sure it’s good.

And to Dusty, who thinks I’ll eventually get over my obsession with BioWare games. You poor, deluded man. That’s like saying I’ll eventually get over my unholy love of M&M’s.

Long ago…

“No.”

Odin held up the third set of bonds with what Fenris assumed was supposed to be a guileless smile. Fenris knew better. Odin smelled wrong. He always had and Fenris suspected he always would. “But surely this bond will be the easiest of all to break.”

He’s lying. Odin’s stench had intensified. Fenris eyed the whisper-thin thread Odin proposed to test him with. He’d broken the last two bonds Odin had placed upon him, but he grew weary of the game, and Odin seemed far too pleased with himself.

“No. The game grows old, and my patience thin. Find some other way to amuse yourself, Old Man. I refuse to be your toy for the day.” And Fenris curled up once more beneath the tree and closed his eyes, content to drowse in the afternoon sun.

“Afraid, oh mighty wolf?” Odin’s voice drifted to his ears and tempted him to comply with the god’s wishes.

But Fenris was the son of Loki and no one’s fool. Odin was up to something and all the honeyed words in the world would not lure him into giving the Old Man what he wanted. “Go away, Old Man, unless the thought of my teeth in your flesh grants you pleasure. Then, by all means, remain.” And he wolf-grinned up at the god, pleased by the hint of fear he saw.

“But Tyr would be pleased to see your strength once more.”

Fenris glanced over at his foster-father, the one being he trusted more than any other, even his wayward father. Loki had placed him with Tyr in the hopes Odin would spare him the way the god hadn’t spared his brother and sister. He knew that, but at times his father’s avoidance still hurt. The best thing to come of that had been his relationship with the man he respected most in the world.

Whatever Tyr wished, Fenris would do his best to provide. “Tyr?”

Tyr smiled at him gently.

“Perhaps he’d be more willing to play my little game if he has some reassurance, eh, Tyr?”

Fenris tilted his head, wondering where Odin was going with this. He had no desire to play the game, but if Tyr requested, he’d gladly show his strength once more.

“Since you fear such a flimsy, thin rope so much, Tyr will place his sword hand between your jaws. If for some reason you find you cannot free yourself, simply close your jaws on his wrist and we will release you.”

He didn’t trust Odin’s words, but he trusted Tyr’s. “You promise?”

Tyr stepped forward and held out his hand, palm down, his expression gentle, loving.

Fenris laughed and allowed the gods to bind him.

Present Day

“ Jeg er din forlovede, behage spiser ikke meg. Og spiser ikke Tyr, den ville ergre din ny moder. ”

“Again.”

“ Jeg er din forlovede, behage spiser ikke meg. Og spiser ikke Tyr, den ville ergre din ny moder. ”

“Good.” Logan Saeter, pain in the ass extraordinaire and Jeffrey Grimm’s brand-new brother-in-law, sat back in his chair with a smug grin. “Just say that to Fenris and everything should be fine.”

“What does it mean, exactly?” Because he’d really rather not tell a giant, hand-eating wolf that his breath smelled like a baboon’s ass. Knowing Logan’s penchant for practical jokes, he might be teaching Jeff to say just that.

“That’s not something you need to worry about. It’s a code Fenris and I came up with to let him know it was safe, to trust the one I sent to release him.”

“Why wouldn’t he?” If Jeff were the one bound he’d jump at any chance for release.

Logan snorted, amused. “Why would he? Grimm is more than capable of trying to trick him.” Logan stood and stretched, the taut muscles of his body nearly causing Jeff to groan. If Jeff didn’t find the other man so annoying he’d be perving all over him.

Well, perving over him more . Logan was in a relationship with the other hottest man Jeff knew, and he might have made a play for them both, pain in the ass or not, if it weren’t for Jordan. Logan and Kir adored his older sister and Jeff would never do anything to hurt her, serious gay hotness or not.

Surrounded by luscious man meat and I can’t have a taste of any of it. It’s enough to depress me. Oh well. Jordan’s happy. That’s what counts most. He tried to stare down Logan, aka Loki, the Norse God of Mischief and Fenris’s father. “You’d better be telling me the truth.”

“Trust me. The moment you tell Fenris those words he’ll be eating out of your hand.” Logan walked out of the study, nodding to an incoming Travis on the way out. “He’s all yours.” The evil chuckle he gave as he closed the study door did nothing to ease Jeff’s fears that he was the butt of one of his brother-in-law’s infamous jokes.

Travis slipped into the room. “We’re ready. You?”

Jeff nodded and grinned at his twin sister, Jamie, standing just behind her one-handed lover. After a brief freak-out at being loved by a god, Jamie was settling in surprisingly well. It helped that she’d picked up some new tricks of her own along the way. “Hey, vixen.” Jamie smiled at the nickname only Jeff used for her. “Wanna go to Norway?”

She fingered the earring Logan had given her and grinned. She swore she could feel magic flowing through it, but Jeff couldn’t sense a thing. He’d have to trust her. She’d been what Logan called an instinctual mage before sharing blood with Travis and Logan. Now, his twin sister was a goddess in her own right.

He had a matching earring in his own ear. Logan had sworn it would keep Odin and his magical ravens, Hugin and Munin, from finding them. Something about wards and counter-magic that made absolutely no sense to him whatsoever but had both his sisters and his brothers nodding in approval. Thank God his ear had been pierced for years. He’d seen what Logan had done to Magnus and Morgan to get the earring in. His brothers had screeched like little girls tossed into cold water.

The wusses.

“More than.” Jamie’s arm went around Travis’s waist, her new radiance stemming from the strange magic that now flowed through his twin’s veins. The love on her face for Travis was obvious, as was Travis’s devotion to Jamie.

For a brief moment Travis’s whole body glowed, but the God of Justice got it under control before Jeff had to cover his eyes. “Let’s head out, then.”

He followed the pair out of Jordan, Logan and Kir's condo and headed toward his own. It was strange, really. Only a short time ago he’d been nothing more than one of the private investigators employed by Guardian Investigations.

His parents had been human—or so he thought—his family, normal. Then his grandfather, Oliver Grimm, had kidnapped his twin and tortured her and Jeff’s world had fallen apart at the seams. Lies and betrayals, myths and legends now filled his waking thoughts and his every dream. His father was Thor, God of Thunder and son of Odin. His grandfather was the psychotic ex-leader of the Norse gods, the Aesir and Vanir. His older brothers, his uncle Val, even his once sweet but flighty grandmother were all gods, and had lied to him from the start.