Broods Of Fenrir - By Coral Moore Page 0,71

it, but I got two of them.” Brand stared at her. “How many did you transform then? Three, including Alice? All at once?” She nodded. “Another one went down trying to fight the change. The rest were too strong.”

“That"s amazing. I don"t think anyone has tried a Calling like that, at least not in my lifetime.”

“I really didn"t know what I was doing,” she said with an embarrassed smile.

He chuckled, making his ribs hurt anew, and waited for her to continue.

She placed her hand over his and squeezed. “Alice shifted, and that got her out of his grip. I"d been hoping she would run away from him and possibly draw his attention away from you, but she didn"t. She pounced on Björn and bit him in the face. He flung her around with all his strength, and she never let go. Next time I looked, she had him on his back, and he was dying.”

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Gunni whined. Brand stroked the wolf"s head, feeling the ache of Gunni"s loss with every touch. His own pain grew until he thought it would choke him.

“Björn managed to get to one of his knives.” Dagny swallowed. “He gutted her before Gunni could get to her.

More than half a dozen wounds. She lost too much blood.” She paused to wipe tears from her face. Brand waited, his hand resting on her leg, rubbing until she calmed. Gunni sat up to put his head on her shoulder. She hugged the wolf and sighed. She took Brand"s hand and tried to put on a smile. “She was so brave. She never let go, not even when he"d cut her.

When Björn finally died, Gunni managed to pull her off of him, but he couldn"t do anything. He held her as she ran to the moon. I think she knew she"d saved you as she went. She howled the whole way, the happiest song I"ve ever heard.” Tears stung the back of Brand"s throat, and he didn"t try to restrain them. His sweet Alice was gone, and she"d died to save him. Somehow, he"d known from the first day he saw her that he would lose her.

Gunni crept up beside him on the bed and rested his muzzle next to Brand"s face. The warm presence comforted him. Though it was painful, he shifted so he could put one arm around the wolf and hug the furry body.

When the last of the tears had fallen, he released his tight hold on the wolf and patted him a few times. “I know she wouldn"t have wanted it any other way. Doesn"t stop it from hurting though, does it?”

Gunni grunted and settled his head in the crook of Brand"s shoulder.

Brand had felt the moon as soon as he"d regained consciousness; today marked the half. “I"ve been out four days?”

Dagny nodded. She bit at the inside of her cheek when she did it, so he knew there was something she didn"t want to tell him.

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He reached for her hand. “You might as well tell me. I know you"re hiding something.”

“Hildibjörn is here. He flew in from Toronto the day after Björn"s death.”

“Hildi is his oldest son. He"d have control of the brood now. What does he want?”

She shrugged. “He won"t talk to me. I don"t think he"s here to start trouble. I wouldn"t let him inside, though.”

“Smart girl.” He smiled and let his thumb rub absently over the side of her hand. “He"s the most levelheaded of Björn"s offspring, next to Bera.”

“She vouched for him, that"s the only reason I didn"t make him leave altogether.”

“You can trust her when it comes to her family. Why don"t you let him in?”

She frowned and her eyes scanned every inch of him.

“You"re still not well.”

“I have complete confidence that you and Gunni can take care of him.” He ruffled the wolf"s neck and grinned at her.

The wolf jumped out of bed and stretched.

She shook her head. “He shouldn"t see you so weak.”

“And he won"t, if you"ll help me into the chair out in the living room.”

“You shouldn"t move,” she said in a shrill tone, when he started to get up.

He gritted his teeth through the pain and pushed himself up to sitting. “I need to find out what he wants. If you aren"t going to help, get out of the way.” She glared at him for a few seconds before she bent to help him stand. He was grateful for her assistance because spikes of pain tore through his chest as he tried to straighten to an