Chapter 39
My phone ringing woke me. I was wrapped around Wren after managing to basically strong-arm my way into her bed without any added participants. She was still sleeping soundly, and I flailed an arm around, searching for the offending noise-maker.
It was probably Clio, who didn’t really respect my sleep when we were in the same time zone, so I doubted she’d pay much attention now.
“Hello?”
“Wake up! They’re attacking. They’ve found someone to break the wards, and they’re coming for Wren.” The line sounded crackly, but the words came through crisp and clear, like the scream of the banshee she was. “I can’t get there, but I’m sending help from closer. Accept the aid, Néit. She’ll need it.” There was a scuffle from the other end. “I need to go. Shit is getting insane here. People have lost their minds.”
The line went dead.
Dread I hadn’t felt in a long time welled up inside me. Rolling out of the nest, I stepped out of the room, growing to my full Godly height. My trusty ax appeared in my hand, and I wished more than ever that I’d brought my sword too.
I barged into the living quarters of Milo, who was up with a sword in his hand before his eyes had even opened. “What’s wrong? Is Wren okay?”
I shook my head. “My source in the States says they’ve worked out how to break the wards. I need you to make sure they stand. She said they’re going to attack.”
Fear flashed across his face. “He said they were going to attack tonight?”
I shook my head, frustrated at myself for not asking more questions. “She didn’t say.”
Milo didn’t ask anything further, just rushed along the halls toward Erus’s room. I wasn’t surprised to see Erus and Tryp together in bed, but they both startled awake as the bedroom door banged against the stone wall.
“Fucking hell, Milo. What’s wrong?” Tryp grumbled.
“Check the wards.” It was an order, even though I didn’t think Milo was further up the hierarchy than Erus or Tryp.
Erus was instantly out of bed and moving toward a glass jar that glowed in the corner of the room. Inside it was a single luminous strand of hair. He chanted over it in a language even I didn’t know, then suddenly, the jar went dark.
Tryp sucked in a deep breath, his eyes flying to Milo. “They’ve broken the wards around the island.”
“But the compound’s wards still stand?”
Erus nodded. “For now.”
Milo made a truly horrendous bellowing noise. “They’ll attack tonight.” Erus and Tryp were already nodding, grabbing weapons.
“We should wake Demke,” I said, and they looked at each other. “What?”
Their expression told me we were more fucked than I thought. Clio didn’t have to worry about me rejecting help; she should be worried that it wouldn’t be enough.
Teron’s Gryphon—orGriff, as Wren called him—paced angrily. He’d found a small army of monsters making their way up the coast, and while he’d taken out the scouts, he knew as well as I did that we were vastly outmatched.
Before ceding control to the Gryphon, Teron had given us a bunch of orders and made calls to Gods who scared the shit out of me.
A sound that sent fear down my spine echoed around the building, making it shake slightly, and making Wren whimper and bury her face in Tryp’s neck.
“Griff needs to stay with Wren. If we fall, he needs to take her as far away as he can get. Take her somewhere. North, to the Norse—they have no love lost with the Europeans,” Erus suggested. I hated the thought of her anywhere but at my side, but in this, I agreed.
“No.” Wren shook her head violently. “I’m not leaving you guys.”
Tryp smoothed a hand down her spine. “Baby, if it comes down to us or you and those babies, the choice is easy.” He gave Griff a hard stare, and the beast clicked his beak.
She was still shaking her head. “I can’t leave you.” It was a whimper now, but I knew if it came to it, she would, or Griff would make her.
I knelt in front of her. “Mo stóirín, I am a bloodsoaked God, and I have no intention of dying tonight. But I can’t fight if I know you’re putting yourself in danger.” I looked at Griff. “If you need to go, fly north to Gamla Uppsala in Sweden. Find the Old Gods. They’ll protect you out of spite.”
A laugh echoed around the hall, and we were all on our feet, weapons drawn in an instant. A woman I didn’t know stepped into the room, and behind her were eleven more women. They shone with a golden hue that hurt even my eyes, so I knew it must be incredibly painful for Wren.
“Well, you’re right about that, Néit, Old God of War.”
Standing in front of her, I raised my ax. “How’d you get in here?”
She shrugged. “That doesn’t matter. We were asked to render aid, and if the hoard we passed was any indication, not a moment too soon. I am Mist, and these are my sisters. We are Valkyrie. Cliona is indeed a great friend of yours; she called in a favor that has sat between us for many centuries.”
I looked over at Wren, who was squinting in their direction. “We appreciate your help.”
Griff huffed an annoyed noise, which made the Valkyrie all laugh as one. It was an unsettling sound. They looked like angels, but there was something bloodthirsty in their eyes that made a man’s blood run cold.
Mist walked toward Wren, but Griff inserted himself into her path. She raised an eyebrow at him. “A Gryphon mate? This one is indeed special.”
Tryp was clutching Wren close. “She can see through your glamor. Your luminance will hurt her.”
Mist turned her head to the side, an action that was definitely not human. Finally, she shrugged. “We all suffer.”
I could see Wren straightening her spine, and she dragged her face from Tryp’s neck and climbed to her feet to face the woman—the Valkyrie—opposite her.
The Valkyrie took in her stomach, her mouth falling open. “Clio said she was important, but she didn’t say why. I understand now.” She looked over her shoulder at the other Valkyrie crowding the hall. They had a silent conversation, before moving further into the room as one.
Then they dropped to their knees as one. “Wren, mother of the cloth of life, we will protect you with our honor and our swords.”
Wren looked at me, then back at the Valkyrie heads bowed before her, panic written across her face. I nodded, and she stared at the top of Mist’s head, shellshocked. “Uh, thank you. I accept.”
Mist stood, her face solemn. “Cliona should have told us who you were, and kept her debt. We would have come to defend you.” Two of the others appeared beside her. “These are my seconds, Hildr and Hrist. If I fall, they will be the ones who will lead the Valkyries.”
Wren was still squinting. “I hope none of you fall.”
Mist shrugged. “It is the nature of battle,” she said simply, before her lips curled into a smile that was definitely chilling. “And I do love a battle.”
I still didn’t know how they’d gotten in here, and if they wouldn’t turn on us at the worst opportunity, but right now, they were Wren’s best chance of survival. I would keep an eye on them, but I had to have faith in Clio and in fate.
Saying something to two of the Valkyries in the back, Mist sat down in a chair opposite mine. “Who is in charge?”
Well, that was a million-dollar question.
The guys all looked at me. “He is. He’s the God of War,” Milo stated simply.
Mist inclined her head, like that was as good of a reason as any to follow me. That made me even more fearful of fucking this up and losing the true love of my life. “Two of my Valkyrie are going to scout how long we have, but I would imagine less than an hour. Do you have a plan?”
Fuck no. I didn’t know the enemy. The terrain. I didn’t know anyone’s fighting experience, or if I could actually trust half of these people to keep Wren safe. Still, they were right. This was my area of expertise.
I rattled off a rough plan, including where Wren would be, who we were working with, what to do with the townspeople. The whole time, Wren’s pale face haunted me.
A mournful howl from outside had us all tensing. I looked at Wren, at the fear on her face. I wished I could skip this part for her. I wished it had never come to this moment. But it was pointless to wish for something that could never be.
Standing, I went over and kissed her softly. “It’s time to go, Wren. That was Cy. They’ve sighted them.” I stroked her stomach, making a silent vow to the babies that I would protect them and their mother with my very life if needed. I didn’t say it out loud, though, because Wren was already crying. “Go with Griff. We’ll come for you as soon as possible.”
“Nate,” she sobbed, and I kissed the tears from her cheeks.
“It will all work out how it is supposed to, mo stóirín. Have faith.”
The guys each kissed her and whispered in her ear. I walked over to the Gryphon, whose face looked solemn. “Her protection is on you. Do what is necessary to protect her, even from herself, no matter how she protests. Protect your mate. Save her young. Trust in Teron.” The Gryphon bowed his head low in response.
A chorus of howls went up around the compound. Hundreds of dogs giving a war cry.
I pushed the big bird-lion in front of me. “Go. If a single hair is harmed on her head, I’m plucking you completely to feather that damn nest,” I grunted, and Griff chirped a pissed noise, before he began herding her away and up to the roof cavity, where they could hide but also escape if needed.
When she was gone, I turned to the solemn faces in the room. “Tonight, we protect the future. We fight for a new age. We fight for Wren.”
The guys nodded, and the Valkyrie pulled their swords. Mist slapped my arm. “Tonight, we bathe in the blood of the unworthy.”
With that, we moved to our positions. This was the first battle, but it wasn’t the war.
I couldn’t protect Wren from her fate, any more than I could protect my heart from her.