Broods Of Fenrir - By Coral Moore Page 0,70

echoes of his howls chased her as she ran to the moon with joy in her heart.

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Chapter 20

As soon as Brand awoke, before he"d even opened his eyes, he knew Alice was gone. Where she"d been, a gaping, terrible hole remained, as if someone had torn her away, out of the fabric of his brood. He supposed that wasn"t far from the truth.

He relished the pain that lanced through his chest and hoped it would banish the urge to give in to the grief. The exhalation that followed was more a sob than a breath. His ribs ached as he shook with sorrow. How long had it been since he"d cried? He thought it might have been his mother"s death, now five hundred years gone.

The weight of Gunni in wolf form compressed the bed next to him. The furry muzzle burrowed under the hand that rested on his chest. With tears streaming from his eyes, Brand patted the warm head.

When he could finally speak, he said, “I"m sorry, my friend.” It hurt to talk, and his voice came out as a rasp.

Gunni moved his head to lick Brand"s hand. He knew how much the loss of Alice hurt the younger male. The wrenching pain of it broke Brand"s heart. Still, Gunni sought to 195

help him through his grief. Brand understood now why Alice had fallen for him so easily.

Gunni lifted his muzzle to cover Brand"s hand with a short whine. The door creaked open, and Brand looked toward the sound, though he knew who it was. Dagny"s face peered into the dark room, light from behind her illuminating the walls and floor. He hadn"t realized until then that he was in one of the guest rooms at his lodge. The sight of her filled him with so much joy that he tried to get up, heedless of his injuries. The pain that burned through his belly froze him in place.

“Gods, Brand, don"t move,” Dagny said in a strained voice. She hurried over to him and pressed him back onto the bed with a hand on his shoulder. With her other hand, she turned on the bedside lamp and examined him.

Her worried expression hurt him, and he cursed himself for causing it. Though he wanted nothing more than to jump up and embrace her, he relaxed against the bed.

Her breath hitched. With a delicate touch, she wiped his tears away. “I"m so sorry about Alice.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers. The taste of her skin was intoxicating, and he suddenly needed her closer so he could smell her. “If you don"t come down here right now, I"m going to move again.” With a glare warning him that he shouldn"t budge if he knew what was good for him, she leaned forward and nuzzled her face against his neck. He inhaled the snowy pine forest smell of her until his lungs ached. The scent of her soothed him as nothing else could.

She sat up a bit, careful of his wounds. “What"s the last thing you remember?”

He leaned back against the bed and smiled. “You, moving like some kind of jungle cat and schooling a huge male in the art of knife fighting. Fenrir save me, I"ve never seen anything like it.”

A gorgeous pink blush crept up her neck to color her cheeks. If he could move, he"d be all over her. He shifted, and 196

his ribs reminded him of why that was a bad idea.

“I took him down eventually, but not quickly enough.” Her forehead creased, and she swallowed before she continued.

“Alice showed up out of nowhere. She jumped on Björn.”

“She what?” He hadn"t meant to shout, but afterward he realized that he had. Although he knew she"d died in the fight somehow, he hadn"t expected to hear that she"d attacked the single largest male to be born in the last thousand years.

“What in Helheim did she do that for?”

“He"d just knifed you and was about to finish you off.” She reached a hand for Gunni"s head. His eyes rolled toward her, and his ears dropped.

When Dagny found her voice again, she spoke swiftly, as if trying to get the whole story out before her emotions overwhelmed her. “She didn"t stand a chance against him. He was choking the life out of her, and I couldn"t do anything about it. Gunni hadn"t arrived yet, and you were dying of blood loss. I Called every wolf around me. Most of the males were strong enough to resist