Running Ember: Wolf Shifters of Norse Lore

Chapter Seventeen

Sitting across fromhis Pack Alpha, Matt sometimes caught a glimpse of the look in his eyes. Since the Draugr incident, Steffen found little rest, and his ember was constantly working. Like Sk?ll’s had been since it rose from a Warlord’s Bite. Before then, Matt’s ember had sparked all over the place for years, and that was normal for a young and confused Alpha. Steffen’s ember had been confused during the blue dream, as the Rigr referred to it, yet once it blazed to life with purpose, it had glowed a steady and soothing heat that made Warlords drool.

Given a moment, Steffen would focus on the task ahead—even when relaxing with pack. Mischief would light in his eyes as he played with Oline and Ulrikke. But then he’d get that serious look—the one Matt had met the very first time he’d seen Steffen. The Pack Alpha he’d feared meeting had turned those intense and intelligent blue eyes on Matt.

It seemed like whatever waited ahead would test them both, and Hati had more than one to drag out of war to play again.

Matt could see why people feared that he’d lose himself to war. The Warlord side of him was a good reason. But Steffen’s ember had been awoken for new actions, and the Warlord side of Matt recognized something. The willingness or rather stubbornness to keep going until dead or the objective had been reached.

Once, Steffen had conceded to Rolf and promised he’d bring Matt home from war. Well, he’d said he’d support Matt until the early ember slumbered again. He’d stay with Matt all the way. Matt no longer doubted that Steffen had the drive to do that because his ember held the power of a Regional now, and he could run way harder after the Draugr incident. But whatever had called the ember to life anew burned for a mission that lay away from Matt. It was still in the same end of the field, but Matt had a sneaking suspicion that the road they walked together would soon fork. In fact, he’d had a dream about it. Of them walking up to a mountain, and the road had split into two.

They’d argued about which road to walk around it.

“This is not my mountain,” Steffen had said in the dream. “My mountain is one I have to climb without a Warlord but with a Warlord’s support.” He’d pointed down one road. “My mountain is that way.”

Scorched loofah lay everywhere he walked, and down that road, blue dust balls became more and more numerous.

Did Matt remember correctly when thinking he’d seen blue zombies on the road Steffen chose to walk in the dream? He wasn’t sure, but he was sure he’d seen an eagle soar in circles in the sky ahead on the side Steffen picked. And he knew that he and Hati had to go the other way.

He’d woken up before they’d decided whether to take their leave with their Pack Alpha and let him and Tristan walk their own road, giving Matt something to contemplate.

Also, he’d asked Steffen if he needed a chat, and Steffen had confirmed. But he’d clearly asked for a friendly one, considering he’d called Matt pup, so Matt set about making two mugs of bonfire coffee and stood with both. “Stef?”

Steffen looked up, and Matt indicated with the mugs and tossed his head. Steffen smiled, got up, and they quietly made their way away from the bonfire with their visiting pack members. They went to the small wooden pier that Matt and Rasmus had retreated to during their last sleepover at Elakdon’s place. Back then, they’d needed the first of many serious conversations about Matt’s hygiene phobia regarding sex because the Vargr side hadn’t cared when mating with Hati.

Matt sat and plopped his feet into the water. Steffen copied and accepted one of the mugs. For the next five minutes, they said nothing and merely enjoyed the sight and sounds of nature around them while watching the setting sun play on the surface of the pond, making it look fiery.

“Do you see my eagle?” Steffen asked.

“Not now, but during shading, I see shadows in the sky.” Matt looked up, but he only saw regular birds flitter around to find their branches to sleep on. Or whatever birds did at night. “They could be eagles. And swans. I see more and more weird things.”

“Like what?”

Matt ran the line of strange sightings through his head. As the shading grew in power and density, it was like it revealed more and more. Strange things walked out of the shadows or moved in them. “Like...ghosts of old warriors.”

“I know Vestergaard sees them, too. Don’t know about Nissen or Kasper. I should ask.”

“What do you see?”

“Viking warriors, standing their ground. Almost waiting. Spears, swords, and shields lie crumbled and broken everywhere in some places. Like we’re crossing old battlegrounds or graveyards. Shadow wolves, big and small. My eagle, but I see it even out of shading now. Like it’s getting stronger or...I dunno...closer? It’s waiting for something.” Steffen sighed, looking wistfully into the sky. “I don’t know for what, but I feel this strange sense of longing and loyalty toward it.” He looked at the water again, and Matt felt a need tug at the bond. “To be its friend,” Steffen mumbled.

Matt studied Steffen for a beat. He seemed lost in thought while lazily swinging his legs in the cooling pond water.

If the V?lve were represented by swans and Valkyries by eagles. Somewhere, a Valkyrie was looking for her Rigr. Was she, and the eagle, waiting for Steffen to listen to his ember? Were the Valkyries waiting for Rigr, in general, to get a sense of the actions they needed to take?

Matt wished he knew more, but the lore on Valkyries was sparse. They knew they held magic or a form of seidr, so it wasn’t a big stretch to think of them as a form of V?lve. That later Christian writings on the topic had interchangeably linked Valkyrie with shieldmaidens, who were just female Rigr, didn’t make it easier to dig through now.

Steffen’s ember had changed, but it still invoked the same in Matt. He still respected his Pack Alpha as such, and he’d follow Steffen against any enemy he saw worthy of meeting head-on in protection of the pack. That Matt was far more capable in both detecting and neutralizing threats was a different matter. A Pack Alpha like Steffen took upon himself more battles than the ones a V?lsung Warlord were equipped for. No matter what, Matt trusted that his Pack Alpha knew what to do, and then he’d do it to the best of his abilities, ask for help, delegate competently on that foundation, and keep going until he succeeded and could bask in the smiles and laughter of his happy pack.

“What is it your ember asks of you now?” Matt asked.

“It’s waiting for me to figure that out, but I know I have to run with Rigr.” Steffen met Matt’s gaze. “We, the risen Rigr, have to take them all to a Draugr’s grave. Test them. Weed out the traitors.”

And there it was. The fork in the road.

“Freki dreams in colors, and he says all colors around you are now blue, except it won’t touch you anymore,” Matt said. “Where you step, the blue retreats. And in my dreams, the blue looks torched.”

Steffen smiled, and determination burned in his eyes as his ember rose with pure purpose. “It doesn’t belong here,” he whispered, then looked out over the pond. “I don’t know why, but...I need to figure out how it works, and I need V?lve for that. Mainly, I fear it’s contagious. That it can spread to others.”

“You fear Aksel infected someone on the run?”

“No, we’d probably have felt embers firing wrong by now. But we ride with human Rigr, too, yet to suffer the battle of the blue dream. I need to test them.” Steffen shook his head, thinking. “Why are your eyes the color of the fungus?” He looked at Matt. “Do they attract those infected? Or those prone to take the fungus for themselves instead of burning it?”

“Like how? What made you think of that?”

Steffen shrugged and drank from his coffee. “The way it tries to manipulate us. Some hoard power, and...my human side selfishly tried to make me passive so that I could hand over responsibility and just be with Tristan.” The pain of separation bled into Steffen’s voice. “If any human or Vargr tries to get close to you to get to power...” Steffen looked at Matt. “Has any?”

“Well, Aksel has.”

Steffen nodded. “I noticed he kept an eye on you more.”

“While on the run, I seriously don’t pay attention to something like that. If any tried, I’ve probably just walked off, not thinking their attention brought value to the objective.”

“They don’t stop, Matt. They’re so persistent they’ll try to sit on your lap and frighten away anyone close...Rasmus. If anyone tried, they’d have tried to push Rasmus away to not share your attention.”

Matt managed to suppress an angry snort because he managed quite well on his own, and a small but existing nagging of a guilty conscience kept poking at his heart. But back to Aksel. “Did Aksel try to do that?”

“Yeah, but we, the risen Rigr, have kept an eye on him, and I made sure Rasmus was never alone with him. Also, I noticed he stayed clear of the V?lve, who Rasmus hung out with most of the time.”

Matt was grateful to hear that, yet a thank you didn’t seem relevant. Steffen took responsibility regarding everything that had to do with the Rigr now, and how Steffen had taken charge lately proved it.

“We need to keep an eye on Ole, Lars, and Flemming,” Steffen continued. “They’re not Alpha, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be Rigr. I fear it indicates lust for power, even though I’ve never seen the selfish strive for it on their behalf. But according to Kasper, neither did his friend, and he ended up frantically crawling around on the ground to collect every speck of gold.”

Matt’s brain worked overtime. “My uncles,” he whispered.

Steffen merely nodded, looking like he’d already had the thought. “Like attracts like. If Ulrik was infected, did he infect them?”

Matt needed to learn more, so he’d have to call Patina and have her ask the pet. “Well, that’s good news for the triplets.”

Steffen smiled at Matt, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Unless the color of your eyes, a Warlord’s eyes, is bait.”

Okay, that thought brought home the perspective that let Matt understand his worry about the triplets. But that was Freki’s task, and Matt would share those thoughts with him. On second thought, maybe Steffen should just continue to take charge on that, considering he took charge of the testing of Rigr, which was also Freki’s domain. Yeah, Steffen needed Freki more than he needed a Warlord. But this was the friendly conversation Steffen needed, and Freki wasn’t that delicate when it came to matters of ideas, thoughts, and emotions.

“Your ember whisper hasn’t changed. I can still hear it when we run. But something wants to be added, doesn’t it?” Matt hoped to poke at what the eagle might be waiting for.

Steffen nodded and drank some more of his coffee.

Matt didn’t feel like coffee, but he drank his anyway because it was a good way to keep it casual and gave for natural pauses to mull things over.

“Humble, humble, bow down and pick up power,” Steffen mumbled. “See them smile. Humble, humble, rise to take down power. Watch them burn.” Steffen’s voice trembled as he revealed that last part. “Nissen burned people in his dream. So did Kasper. And Vestergaard decided who to save, and who to...feed to V?lsung.”

“And you battled the need for your mate against the need to stand strong as a Pack Alpha.”

Steffen nodded. “I didn’t burn anyone. I burned the passive side with my ember by making him run so that his body would warm.” Steffen clearly wasn’t done, and Matt gave him time, drinking more of the coffee he really didn’t feel like. “Why are Vargr Rigr different from human Rigr?”

“I don’t know.” Matt contemplated how best to aid Steffen now and set him up for success in a branch of the fight to obtain the objective that was equally important for their unity project. “I’m going to support you fully in this, but I’m also going to take a step back and focus on the territory of Wolf. Instead, you need Freki, the Alpha testing the ranks, and you need the risen Rigr. Even Randr, and you’re close enough to Ela and Randr to take that one up with them yourself. But you need to be the one representing Vargr Rigr. Mainly because you’re a keeper of history, too, but you also have visions, right?”

Steffen nodded absentmindedly and looked at his toes, drawing circles just under the surface and making tiny whirlpools. It reminded Matt of J?rmungandr. “To tend to Rigr, I’ll have to stay and not run with you and the bond. But Tristan is needed to gather the Feral and wild wolves. I can’t be separated from him now. Especially not when considering how hard my ember is firing. I need him to calm me down. It’s what my ember cried for when we mated along with the ability to remain fair. Please advise me.” Steffen looked at Matt. “Warlord.”

Matt smiled and weighed the pros and cons from a strategic point of view on his main mission. Then from Steffen’s. And the unity project as a whole. “Okay. Run with us to Brussels because that’s the time Tristan works. Have Kresten, Randr, and the risen Rigr work with you on gathering all Rigr and potential Rigr on our way down there and while we’re there. Warn Freki. Then take all of them to a Draugr’s grave along with Stallions to aid you in hard work and some V?lsung as guards. Weed out the traitors and build the humans an army of honorable men and women. And figure out what Vargr Rigr are all about.”

Steffen nodded slowly. “While we run, I’ll have Tris and Morten and the other good Regional Alphas help me look through that list Erik gave us. I’ll learn whether any of them rose Rigr from that blue dream.” He shook his head. “I just...can’t believe anyone did because then they’d feel the Rigr now.”

The pain and sorrow in Steffen’s voice matched the need in his ember, tugging for competent support from an Alpha of all. It poked at Matt.

“Something is awakening,” Matt said. “The rise of us is just one part of the grand wheel of...destiny.”

Steffen smiled. “The Kuramoto model.”

“Maybe it’s just time for Rigr to be awakening, too? Maybe it was dormant and waiting for the time where the swans land and the eagles fly?”

Steffen chuckled. “I’m usually the one offering the profound insight that takes your worries away, pup.” He smiled brilliantly at Matt. “I’m so proud of the Alpha and man you’re growing into, and you grow so fast.”

Matt put an arm around Steffen’s shoulder, happy when his Pack Alpha leaned in and rested his head on Matt’s shoulder.

They had a laundry list of stuff to see to before the run the following day, yet they all needed the break and to pile with the visiting members of their pack. Matt certainly took every opportunity to hug his mom and dad and sit with his little sisters. He’d given them their presents from little Anna Marie J?nnson from Kiruna and told them about the fun they’d had. That had been on TV, and so had the Warlord form hugging the little girl.

Right now, though, Steffen needed this, and Matt felt good about giving his Pack Alpha a moment of peace.

Whatever had started up would continue to evolve, and Steffen’s ember would help guide them in the right direction. Matt was sure of it. He felt no fear or dread for what lay ahead. He felt eager to meet it.

He wished he could feel the same regarding the problems he and Rasmus had.

––––––––

WHEN MATT AND STEFFENreturned to the bonfire, Steffen wandered off and returned with the risen Rigr. They kinda clumped together on one side with Steffen as the bridge to the pack, entertained by Finn and Patrick playing guitars and singing songs for the pups and cubs, who’d joined their many Cubi parents hoping to seduce someone for the night. The little ones not listening to music or singing along were off playing with Hati and the foals.

Matt sent a text to Tanja for Patina the moment he got back to his phone, and now he waited impatiently while trying to enjoy the fun tales from home and the regular casual tone. He especially enjoyed that Jan, the Omega that had once decked Freki at a mall, was more outgoing, laughed, and butted in, but still jumped the second someone needed anything, and he’d wait on them.

But there didn’t have to be anything wrong with that. It wasn’t necessarily for being stuck in Omega mode. Maybe he was just a helpful Beta? Vivi was proud of him—that much was for sure. And a Succubus circled him for about an hour before finding her way in to flirt, and Jan looked very receptive to her charms.

A text rolled in, and Matt quickly checked his phone. Shit, he’d have to join Steffen for a while, so he did, handing the phone over.

Steffen read the text and nodded slowly. “So, Ulrik didn’t pass it on but introduced them to the Draugr grave.” He handed the phone to Vestergaard.

“What does this mean?” Kresten asked. “I mean, I clearly sense a change in you, and I’ve heard you guys and Nissen talking about eagles and blue sponges, but what is it?”

“Nissen didn’t say anything?” Vestergaard asked.

“No, he said it was for later, but he’s all but lived in my back pocket since he returned.”

Vestergaard chuckled, but his gaze soon turned haunted. “There’s something out there we don’t understand. Something bad. And it splits the ranks of Rigr, turning some into...”

“Dark Superman,” Kasper said.

Some chuckled at the analogy.

“And fire is the kryptonite,” Steffen mumbled. “But not real fire. A burning stone that Rigr hid in their chests.”

“Meaning?” Kresten asked. “The...ember you keep talking about that I might have, too?”

“You gotta understand one thing,” Vestergaard said. “Yes, you were found from sharing the names of the Warlord and pup that made Sk?ll rise to power, and if not for a V?lve’s prophecy that you’re the hope of Karl, we wouldn’t trust you an inch right now. But we’ve learned that shit lines up for a reason.”

Kresten looked around at them. “Why would I not be trusted?”

“Because you haven’t fought the blue dream,” Kasper said. “Until you do, you won’t understand it.”

“And then an eagle either cries out to you or falls into a fire,” Steffen added.

“The woman with the eagle,” Kresten whispered to himself.

“The what now?” they all exclaimed.

Kresten looked up. “The perimeter of Wolf Park has been visited by more and more outsiders. Most are just curious, some want to be a part of it, and some of them are...badass bitches and dudes on motorcycles. When they were asked to find a different route, a woman stepped off and into the soldier’s space, studying him. Eagles await shoulders to land on, she said. But not on yours. She’d looked past him down the road to Wolf Park, then returned to her bike, turned the whole fleet around, and they left. The soldier came to me and told me immediately, but they were gone by then, or I’d have gone after them. Patina scouted the shadows, and they made camp by Eagle’s Nest.”

Where Matt’s parents had run off and...made him. Coincidence, or was it Valkyries drawn to an area by name? But they had to be the Valkyries when talking about eagles. And badass women on bikes? Matt could see it. And now he missed his bike.

“If you know where they are, why not go to them?” Steffen asked.

“Because then we had to leave for here, and I won’t send anyone in my stead. Patina is keeping an eye on them, though.”

“Okay, so that soldier is either not Rigr, or he’ll lose the battle in the blue dream,” Vestergaard said.

“I’m still confused,” Kresten mumbled.

“You’re required to be.” Vestergaard studied his friend. “But trust us when we take you someplace to be initiated into the circle of trust. Kinda lies in the name, right?”

Kresten merely nodded.

“I had a chat with Sk?ll, and we three and Nissen take charge on this,” Steffen said. “We need to have a chat with Randr and Freki, though.”

Vestergaard nodded. “The sooner the better, but we’re closing in on midnight and need some sleep. Also, Randr and the King are feeding.”

“Then just Freki.” Kasper pointed to where Freki sat bunched with his litter siblings, Geri, and his sister, playing Uno.

Steffen smiled at the sight and sound of Freki crying out from apparently having to pick up a lot of cards when one card from uno. “Let him stock up on first bond tonight. We run at ten, right?”

Matt nodded. “And the sun wakes us early. You have a few days on the run to figure this out before we reach Brussels.”

“What will happen in Brussels?” Kasper asked. “I know you guys want to talk to the EU people, but what can they do about a piece of land in Greece?”

“They can help us with diplomacy,” Matt said. “But this is about way more than securing V?lsung their original territory. It’s about recognizing Cubi, Vargr, Sleipnir, V?lve, J?rmungandr, and...whatever else we haven’t figured out is out there.”

“Humans run the world for our benefit and have suppressed others enough to completely forget they exist in hiding among us,” Kresten said. “To secure V?lsung, we secure all. Including the humans.”

“Who’d be best for that?” Kasper asked. The look he sent Kresten didn’t hold trust but not downright distrust, either. It gave Matt some insight into how much the blue dream had influenced the risen Rigr. How close Steffen stayed with them was another indicator.

“I don’t know,” Kresten answered. “But I know I feel like provoking the hell out of anyone who thinks themselves worthy.”

“Which is why Freki and Finn like you so much,” Matt said. “It goes well in hand with those you share names with. Villum, in particular.”

Kresten grinned. “A great thinker, you said. I take that as a compliment then. And Kresten?”

“I didn’t get to know him that well before the fight I killed him in,” Matt said. Apparently, not everybody knew that because brows shot up. “He was strong, capable, and fearless, and I respected him for it.” Matt hoped that Patina would one day look back for his sake and share knowledge of the adversaries Matt hadn’t known but refused to hate for having stood on opposite sides. Only natural drive had separated them. In fact, he was sure Villum and Kresten would have joined him had he had a clear vision back then. But he’d been young and ignorant of his place in the world compared to now, which was strange, considering it hadn’t really been that long ago.

Steffen’s praise at the pond warmed him, but he couldn’t afford to rest on laurels. He had to keep growing to secure everybody, and he was still not smart enough to do that.