Chapter 29
Sigurd
Avery and our children are the first thing on my mind when I wake up.
I sit up immediately and realize I’m in a cell. A cell with reinforced bars and a warning sign on the wall that the bars are electrified. I don’t need to test them to know if it’s true. They’re practically crackling with it.
“Fuck, fuck, where the fuck am I?” I question, looking around.
I’m on a cot. It’s the only thing in this cell other than a toilet. Erik is in the cell to my right. Ivar is in the cell to my left. They’re both still unconscious.
My head pounds when I get out of bed. I have to hold it so I don’t fall to my knees. Wolfsbane leads to one hell of a hangover, according to the legends. This is as mythical as Thor’s hammer and Freya’s magic. But that hit felt exactly like it was described in those stories.
“Erik!” I shout. “Ivar!”
I walk to the front of my cell and see a long hallway. We appear to be the only prisoners here. There are no guards that I can see.
“What the hell?” Ivar sits up.
“Ivar!” I say running over to the side of my cell. “Don’t touch the bars. They’re electrified.”
“Where’s Avery? Are the babies okay?” Ivar rubs his head, then shakes it.
“I don’t know, brother,” I sigh. “I just woke up in this fucking cell like you did.”
“Those men… how did they know about wolfsbane? None of us have ever even seen it before,” Ivar groans. “But it sure as hell hurts like the stories described.”
“No fucking clue,” I growl, then I walk over to the other side of my cell. “Erik! Wake the fuck up!”
I can’t risk reaching through the bars to nudge him, so I just keep yelling until he stirs. I give him the same warning I gave Ivar and watch as he shakes off the fog. His eyes are bloodshot when he finally sits up. He’s feeling it more than I am.
“This shouldn’t be possible,” Erik murmurs. “I’ve researched their history. There was no mention of Vikings or wolves. Why would they even have wolfsbane?”
“Does it matter? They know what we are,” Ivar says. “Question is how.”
“I was so fucking careful,” Erik groans, then he looks around desperately. “Is Avery here? Are the babies okay?”
“You know as much as we do,” I say. “If the legends are true, it takes days for wolfsbane to clear our system, but they could have kept drugging us. It feels like I just woke up from a coma.”
“We should be careful what we say,” Erik mutters. “They could be watching us.”
“No cameras that I see,” Ivar says. “But these cells weren’t meant to hold people from this planet. Regardless of what their history says, this isn’t the first time they’ve encountered our kind. They knew exactly how to fight us.”
“Bastards,” I growl. “Even the Intergalactic Alliance doesn’t know about wolfsbane.”
“Their weapons are stronger than wolfsbane,” Erik sighs. “Besides, in our armor, it would have been a lot harder for them to hit skin with those darts. We would have won that fight if we had our armor and weapons.”
“They caught us with our fucking pants down,” I snarl. “No armor. No weapons. We were there for our mate and our children!”
“We let our guard down. We fucked up,” Ivar says. “Damn it, why weren’t we more careful?”
“I took all the precautions. Did all the research,” Erik snaps. “Fuck!”
All we can do is wait in our cells. Hours passes.
The wolfsbane gets weaker in our system, but not enough to call our wolves.
Not that it would matter. Electricity, especially at a high voltage, would incapacitate them just like wolfsbane.
Except we may not survive. They have a prison strong enough to hold us, and that’s a really bad sign.
Finally, the door at the end of the hallway opens. A man walks toward us, dressed like the man from the hospital. His suit is black, and now that I can actually focus on it, I can tell it’s made from fine silk. A luxury on this world.
“Who the fuck are you?” I growl, walking closer to the bars. “Let us out of these damn cages!”
“My name is Agent Anderson,” the man says, narrowing his eyes at us.
Despite his dress, he looks like a warrior.
He’s over six feet tall and well built. Most of the men we’ve encountered on this world don’t look like him.
“You’ll face Morlock’s judgment soon enough.
We have more than enough evidence to convict you of robbing First Egypt National Bank. ”
The bank robbery. That’s what this is about. I thought it might be, but since they used wolfsbane, I wasn’t certain. We didn’t call our wolves during the robbery, and we were wearing masks. We should have been safe.
“What about my wife?” Erik asks. “And my children?”
“We don’t execute children,” Agent Anderson says, some disgust in his tone. “As for Avery Smith, or whatever her name is, we could find no record of her or your marriage. She’ll face Morlock’s judgment, just like the three of you will.”
“No!” Ivar says. “She had nothing to do with it! We robbed the bank. If anyone should face Morlock’s judgment, it’s us. Not her. She’s innocent.”
“There were four people involved in the robbery. The three of you and a driver who was waiting outside,” Agent Anderson says dryly. “If you’d like to give me the name of your accomplice, I’ll update the docket; otherwise, I’m going to assume she’s already in custody.”
“In custody? She just had triplets!” Erik says angrily.
“Yes, we’re holding her at the hospital until she recovers,” Agent Anderson says. “Which is quite fortunate for you. You’d face Morlock’s judgment tonight if we didn’t want the four of you to face it at the same time. Until then, you’ll remain in your cells. Dinner will be served shortly.”
The man turns away and I yell at him, but he ignores me. He walks to the end of the hallway, opens the door, and it slams behind him with a thud. I want to put my fist through these bars. Or at least try. But that won’t do me any good. It’ll just fucking hurt.
“What do you know about the legal system on this world?” Ivar says, turning to Erik. “How do we get out of this? How do we protect Avery?”
Erik sits on his cot and shakes his head. “We’re in serious trouble. So is Avery. Justice is swift here. And Morlock’s judgment…”
“Means we’ll be fucking executed,” I growl. “We didn’t suffer for fifteen years and finally find our mate just to die here. There has to be a way out.”
“These cells are designed to hold strong warriors. Even our wolves couldn’t break through the bars,” Erik sighs. “All we do is wait… and pray.”
I don’t want to wait or pray, but I say a few prayers anyway, then start pacing in my cell. Anger rises inside me with every step. I can almost feel my wolf again. Not that it will do me any good. Erik is right. We’re trapped. There’s no way we’ll get out of these cells until they open them.
Dinner is served nearly an hour later. It’s milky sludge in a bowl that tastes disgusting, but I down it anyway, because I need my strength. After that, there’s more waiting. There are no windows, so the clock on the wall is the only way for us to know how much time passes.
Erik passes the time by studying the bars, the locks, and the cables that keep the bars electrified. He doesn’t find anything that could help. Ivar passes his time moving around his cell, punching the bed a few times, because there’s nothing else he can punch without getting electrocuted.
Two days pass before Agent Anderson returns. The guard who brings us our food never speaks. If we’re going to get answers or updates, he’s the only one who can provide them.
“How is Avery?” Erik asks immediately.
“She’s still recovering,” Agent Anderson says. His tone is softer now. He doesn’t look like judge, jury, or executioner. He actually looks rather tired. “Your babies are doing well. Vivar is already nursing. Revna and Tove aren’t ready to nurse yet, but they are getting stronger.”
Vivar. Revna. Tove. Avery already named them, and those are names we discussed, so it’s a sign she’s doing okay. As okay as a woman being held prisoner at a hospital can be. I’m sure she’s worried about us. More worried about her children.
“How long until we face Morlock’s judgment?” Erik asks.
“A few days still,” Agent Anderson replies. “But your time will come. I was asked to provide you with an update on your… mate and your offspring. That’s all I have to say to you.”
Agent Anderson turns and walks away. Once the door slams, Erik moves closer to the bars next to me.
“He called Avery our mate. He didn’t call her that before,” Erik says.
“I noticed that,” Ivar says. “And he said he was asked to provide us with an update. By whom? Avery?”
“Nobody else would give a fuck,” I growl. “What the hell is she doing? I hope it’s not something stupid.”
“Whatever it is, it isn’t enough to save us from execution,” Erik sighs. “But at least we’ll die knowing our children are safe.”
“For how long? After we’re gone… after Avery’s gone. They’ll be stuck on this world. Probably raised by people who have no idea what they are,” I say. “And if Vivar has Fenrir’s Mark, he won’t survive long enough to become a man.”
“If he does, they’ll turn him into some kind of weapon, like the wolves who have been captured by our enemies,” Ivar laments. “He’ll never sit on my throne.”
“We have to find a way out of here,” I snarl. “I don’t care what it takes. We can call our wolves now. We have to try something.”
“Suicide isn’t something, brother,” Erik chides. “It’s a waste. If we wait until we face Morlock’s judgment, we’ll at least see Avery again. One last time…”
It feels fucking hopeless. I don’t know what happened, but it can’t be our fault. Erik is overly cautious at times. The rest of us stayed hidden on the farm. Until we had to bring Avery to the hospital. That was clearly a mistake.
We’re forced to wait. Another day passes. Then another. We don’t get any updates. The only people we see are the silent guards who shove disgusting porridge into our cells. Eating it is the only choice we have if we don’t want to starve.