Weaving Fate - Nora Ash Page 0,61

my sight and numbing my other senses.

“Hmm. You are strong, little bird. Perhaps you even have enough power to trick Odin himself. But you’re very raw, aren’t you? Just an inexperienced little lamb attempting to intimidate the God of Mischief in a last-ditch effort to save the day.

"I’m sorry, my dear. I’d rather not risk my neck on the off-chance that you can get enough control of your magic in time to help me escape the god-king before my untimely beheading. You’ll have to count me out of this little plan of yours.”

A whooshing sound made me stumble forward, followed by the sudden return of all my senses in one horrific kaleidoscope of sensation.

I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the brightness of the white-covered landscape. Only it wasn’t like it’d been only moments ago.

Eerie déjà vu filled me as I stared at the snow-covered ground, dread following in its wake.

“We have to get out of here,” I whispered, fear clenching my lungs too tight to speak any louder. “Now!”

“Annabel?” Modi asked, but his voice seemed to come from another plane.

“Run!” I shrieked. “For fuck’s sake, run!”

But it was too late. The powdery snow trembled below our feet, and not ten yards away a humongous, snake-like monstrosity broke through the surface, hurtling into the air.

It came back to me in all too-vivid detail: the vision I’d had in Verdandi’s cave—it was happening. It was happening now. I’d been wrong—it wasn’t Saga and Magni I’d lose to it.

It was Modi and Bjarni.

I didn’t think—the power rose from within me and out of my palms, crashing into the beast.

“Annabel!” Modi shook me, making my focus wobble. “Annabel, stop!”

I stared at the monster, Modi’s touch strengthening me even as naked fear squeezed my lungs. My magic had done nothing to the wyrm, its gleaming scales unmarked.

Once again I pulled power from the depths of my being and hurled it at the monstrosity, saw the ball of golden energy collide with it—and leave not so much as a scuff.

“Run! Run, I can’t stop it, run!” I shrieked, spinning around to reach for both men. I could lose them. They could die.

Two sets of large hands clasped my biceps, rooting me to the spot.

“Annabel, stop. Whatever you’re seeing, it isn’t real!” Bjarni shouted. “He’s the God of Mischief—he’s playing tricks on your mind.”

Tricks.

I shuddered, my alpha's words finally penetrating my terror.

“Annabel,” Modi said from my other side. “Come back to us—we need you. It is not too late to stop him.”

I blinked again, looking over my shoulder. The wyrm was gone, but two singe-marks on the ground free of snow showed where I’d hurled my magic at nothing.

Pealing laughter sounded from the rubble of the house where Loki was halfway into some sort of feathery costume. His legs, which had been human the last time I checked, were now long and spindly like a bird’s.

“If you have any desire to tangle with gods, little omega, you need to get a lot better at deciphering between what’s real and what’s not,” Loki mocked. And with that, he pulled the costume over his shoulders, leaving a heron where he’d stood.

I gaped at it as it took flight, my breath still coming in harsh gusts.

By my side, Modi growled and raised his hand. Blinding light split the air, and a bolt of lightning struck the heron. It shrieked and fell, a plume of smoke from its tail feathers following its path to the ground. It landed in the snow on the other side of the small clearing where the cottage had stood.

As one, Modi and Bjarni stalked toward it, bringing me stumbling along. It was only when Loki climbed out of his bird costume, sputtering snow and cursing, that it finally dawned on me exactly what had happened.

He’d penetrated my mind, found my worst nightmare… and made me believe he'd summoned it into reality.

He’d made me relive the horror of that vision—of knowing I would lose my mates.

Rage unlike anything I’d experienced rose from my gut and filled my limbs with leaden fury. Oh, was he going to pay!

I thrust both palms out and threw my magic at Loki, screaming with fury.

He managed to dodge at the last minute, darkness rising around him as he summoned his own magic.

“Don’t make me hurt you, girl,” he called out. “You’re still valuable to me, and to my blond oaf of a son.”

His words only made me angrier. He didn’t want to hurt me because he believed I was needed to secure