Chapter Three Baldr

The Night of the Attack

I awoke with a start, bolting upright. To my surprise, I found myself sitting on my own bed, the soft sheets pooled around my waist. Reaching up, I rubbed my eyes, sleep still stinging behind my eyelids.

I’d been having a vivid dream. In it, Loki and Heimdall were sneaking up the mountain, with Tyr just behind them. I could feel their hesitation just as much as I could feel Tyr’s ill intent. And when the resort came into view, I knew they meant to attack it. After that, it was just flashes of unlocked doors, dark hallways, and some sort of device I didn’t recognize that was meant to destroy. Then I saw Tyr, all by himself, running through dark halls with several grenades strapped to a bandolier across his chest.

It was a vision. It had to be. My dreams were never that vivid. However, I had no idea of when such a thing was going to occur. The vision was fuzzy, more so than usual, with little detail other than there was snow outside as they came up the mountain. But that meant their attack could take place anytime in the next three to four months.

As I thought about it, my mind wandered back to the scene on the Skoll mountain with Heimdall and Loki outside the dome. They’d mentioned something about needing to plan and prepare. Something clicked into place and without understanding how, I knew the vision and their plans were connected. Foresight, unfortunately, wasn’t an exact magic, and I was doing my best to take an educated guess. I had a feeling the attack would happen soon. I just wasn’t sure when.

However, when the first explosion shook the building around me, I realized my vision had come too late. The attack had already started. And that meant Tyr was inside the resort. If that were true, everyone was in danger.

Suddenly I was no longer tired, but filled with a cold fear. While I might be immune to anything Tyr could try, the rest of the pack was not. And there were still guests inside the hotel. In fact, we were coming up on the busy season. Humans loved to come to the hot springs in the winter to relax and wind down either before or after the holidays. The resort was filling up and if Tyr was inside it, there was a good chance people were going to get hurt. Or worse.

I sprang up out of bed, threw on a pair of jeans, and grabbed a hoodie. In a flash, I was out of my room and down the hall, banging on Thor’s door. It took him only seconds to answer.

“Are you okay?” I asked, terrified Tyr’s attack was focused on my family.

“Yeah,” he grunted, pulling his t-shirt on.

“What was that?” Flynn asked from behind him.

“It’s Tyr. He’s inside the resort.”

“You saw him?!”

“In a dream, yes,” I said, giving Thor that look I always did when I’d had a vision. “He’s here with Loki. It seems he’s…”

“What is it, Baldr?” Thor growled. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“I think… I think Loki might’ve betrayed us.”

Thor went silent, his eyes wide with shock. I understood how he felt. It had surprised me too at first. Even so, I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that I was looking at the situation from the wrong angle. Something about Loki felt off the day before when he was talking about Tyr. Neither he nor Heimdall seemed to like the guy much, so why would they choose to join them? Unless… they never had a choice to begin with.

“Leave Loki to me,” I said before Thor could respond further. “You need to sound the alarm and get this entire hotel evacuated now.”

“Baldr… you can’t go alone.”

“Yes I can.” I reached out, squeezing his shoulder with a reassuring hand. “I might not be as big as you and Loki, but I’m an Alpha, too. And a witch. I’m stronger than both of you.”

Thor might’ve argued with me on that if we’d been in a less dire situation. Instead, he just nodded, knowing there was no way to talk me out of something once I’d made up my mind.

“Get everyone out. Now.”

“But how? We don’t have an alert system or anything…”

“I’ll do it,” Flynn said, pushing his way past both of us into the hall.

He started to jog and Thor was about to go after him. There was no way a human was going to get the entire pack to evacuate in enough time. And Tyr was dangerous to us. Should he and Flynn cross paths, that would be the end of my brother’s mate. All the silver weapons had been locked away, so a repeat of their last encounter wasn’t possible.

But then Flynn stopped and reached out toward a small box on the wall. It was only then that I realized what he was doing.

“Sorry about the fine you’re gonna get for this,” he said before he ripped the box open and pulled the fire alarm.

All at once, an ear-piercing noise began to squeal through the hallways. The emergency lights popped on, flashing brightly to fill the darkness. In a matter of seconds, I heard the entire resort come to life. Even werewolves would try to get away from a fire. It was a genius move and one I hadn’t thought of in the moment.

“Come on,” Flynn cried, grabbing Thor by the hand. “We need to help Nana!”

Thor glanced back at me as he was dragged along by Flynn. “Go on,” I said, nodding in his direction. I reached down deep inside myself, drawing from my well of power and letting it fill my entire body. “I’ve got this.”

The ground around me began to glow with golden runes. Thor gave me one last glance before he disappeared around the corner with Flynn. Only when they were out of sight did I turn counter clockwise, uttering my intention under my breath.

“Take me to the one-handed monster, Tyr.”

There was a sudden rush of magic as the golden light grew instantly blinding. I felt all the air leave my lungs as I was yanked downward, my body falling through space and time at an alarming rate. However, a single heartbeat later, my feet hit solid ground again and I found myself standing in the main lobby of the hotel. It was filled with smoke and dust, the far wall crumbled into a million pieces like a bomb had just gone off. And behind me there was a deep, cruel laughter that I recognized immediately.

“I figured you might show up, witch,” Tyr spat as I turned to face him. “You have a habit of being a nuisance.”

“Funny,” I scoffed. “I could say the same thing about you.”

Tyr’s left hand flexed, my gaze darting down to the grenade he held in his hand. He had a whole bandolier of them strapped across his chest like he had in my vision. However, all the wolves he'd come up the mountain with were nowhere to be seen. For some reason, he was on his own. But that suited me just fine. He'd be easier to handle without distractions.

“Looks like it’s just you and me, old man,” I grinned, feeling the power rise up inside me. I knew Tyr was destined to be killed by some great power, but for some reason, my visions always got hazy before I could figure out who it was that did it. So I figured, why not? Why shouldn’t I give it a shot? “I bet you’re a little slower with one hand, huh?”

“Not as slow as you think.”

It was only then that I heard the pin clatter against the hard stone floor beside him. I barely had time to react as Tyr threw it in my direction. It struck the floor once as I dove over one of the large lobby couches and struck the hard floor on the other side, rolling away. The next moment, an ear-splitting explosion rocked the room, sending debris flying in all directions. Broken stone and dust rained down on me as I came to a stop. Once more, the room was completely obscured. However, as I got back to my feet, I realized how lucky I was. The entire backside of the couch was blown to pieces. Another second slower and that might’ve been me.

“Don’t you remember what happened last time?” I called out into the haze. “If you hurt me, my magic will rebound on you again and you might not survive it this time.”

“I won’t be the one hurting you,” he growled back from somewhere to my left. “But you’re welcome to retaliate against the grenade all you want.”

Another pin struck the floor, and I knew I only had a second to act. Without the time to think about it, I chose to dive to the right. However, no sooner had I hit the ground than I heard the grenade land only a few feet away. I only had enough time to curl myself into a ball before it went off.

All sound ceased the moment it exploded, replaced by a high-pitched whine that blocked out everything else. The concussive wave hit me first, pushing me across the floor. It wasn’t until it fell away that I realized how much pain I was in. Little pinpricks of heat alit all over my body. I reached back and ran my hand over my side. It came back warm, wet, and covered in blood. And yet, even though Tyr had been the one to throw the grenade, my magic didn’t rebound.

When the high-pitched whine began to ebb, it was replaced by Tyr’s maniacal laughter filling the room.

“That’s what I thought, witch!” he cackled. “Your protection doesn’t extend to inanimate objects. Or maybe it only activates by proximity. Either way, now I know you can be killed.” I could hear the sneer in his voice. “You’ll be the first to go in your traitorous little family.”

He was trying to taunt me, but I wasn’t going to fall for it. The moment I spoke, he’d know where I was. But I didn’t care about his petty threats because his boots were crunching against the debris on the floor as he searched for me and that told me everything I needed to know.

Drawing up my power, I tasted the runes for fire and burning on my tongue, the metallic tang almost like hot iron. Reaching my hand out in the direction of the sound, a tiny red beam shot from the end of my finger. It struck the floor a few feet away, exploding into a ball of flame that filled the room with a sudden flash of heat.

Tyr cried out in pain, his figure silhouetted against the flames. From the looks of it, I’d only caught him on his right side. My aim, unfortunately, was a little off when I had nothing to go on but my ears. Still, it was enough of a distraction to put him on the defensive for a moment. That gave me time to get back to my feet and scramble away from him.

I’d just made it to the other side of the room, intending to hide just beyond the door, when I ran face first into someone and both of us toppled to the floor. I landed on my ass, a bruise forming the moment I made impact. Pain shot through me, but I had too much adrenaline in my system to pay much attention to it. Before I could comprehend what had happened, a familiar voice spoke.

“B-Baldr?”

I looked up, seeing that long dark hair and those brown eyes I knew so well. “Loki?”

I wanted to ask him what he was doing there and why Heimdall came skidding into the hallway behind him, a look of concern on his face. But I already knew the answer to both. He’d switched sides. Maybe he wasn’t loyal to Tyr, but he had shown him how to get into the building. Of that, my visions were certain.

“Why Loki?” I barked, giving him the most venomous look I could muster. “Why did you let that crazy asshole into the resort?”

But my brother just stared at me, his jaw flexing and his mouth open, by no sound coming out. The look in his eyes was one I’d seen before. In fact it was the same one he wore the day we found out our father had been killed by Tyr. It was fear.

“Tell him Loki,” Tyr laughed from behind me. “Tell him how you sold out your pack and joined me. Tell him how you not only showed me the way into the resort, but how to cripple it so they would never recover. Tell your own brother how you intend to take his pack down so we can finally be reunited as one true pack once more.”

Again, Loki didn’t speak. He didn’t even look up at Tyr. Instead, he just stared at me, his gaze fixed on mine. Power surged through me as I cast a familiar spell linking Loki’s mind to mine.

“Tell me,” I growled through our connection. “Have you truly betrayed us?”

Loki flinched in front of me, but he made no motion for his head. Instead he narrowed his eyes, fixing them on me.

“Just think and I will hear it,” I said, knowing we were running out of time.

“I left something for you at the hot spring we used to go to as boys,” he said, his thoughts loud and full of fear. “It’s under the big rock by the tree.”

And just like that, our connection broke.

“I have nothing to say to you,” Loki snapped, pushing himself to his feet. The fear in his eyes was gone, replaced by nothing but malice. “You and Thor know what you’ve done and you’ll pay the price for it. Either turn over the Hati pack to us or be destroyed. Those are your choices.”

Behind him Heimdall forced an expression of fury, but it was only half-hearted. I found myself hesitating for what to say. In the past few seconds I’d received so much conflicting information that I wasn’t sure which way to turn. And it was just enough to distract me from another grenade pin hitting the floor. In fact, I didn’t know one had been tossed until it landed against a wall only a few feet away.

“Look out!” Loki shouted.

His hand grabbed mine, yanking me toward him. He wrapped his arms around me and turned his back to the grenade, shielding me with his body just as the explosion rocked the corridor.

Both of us were thrown off our feet. We hit the cold hard ground once more, surrounded by that awful ringing noise that seemed to swallow up the entire world. The force of the blast had stunned me, but only for a second. But when I tried to move, I realized Loki was still on top of me. Reaching up to move him out of the way, my hands found him warm and slick to the touch. It took me a moment to realize he was covered in blood.

He’d taken the blast to protect me.

“Loki!” Heimdall screamed behind us. It was the first noise I heard after the blast, although my ears were still ringing. “Loki! Wake up!”

Heimdall was already at my side, pulling Loki off of me and into his arms. He stared down at the limp man, his eyes filling with tears in an instant. The moment I saw that, there was no longer any doubt in my mind that they were mates. Heimdall’s gaze snapped up in the direction of his father, but it was too dusty to see much of anything.

“I’ll fucking kill him…” he growled under his breath.

Before I could get anything out, Heimdall scooped Loki up, threw him over his shoulder, and took off down the hallway. I watched him go, my ears ringing and the fire alarms still blaring. I couldn’t hear Tyr’s taunts anymore, but that didn’t make me feel better. I was worried he might be sneaking up on me again and I wasn’t going to get lucky again with those grenades.

Forcing myself off the floor, I ran in the direction Heimdall had gone, trying to get as far away from the lobby as possible. My magic could’ve handled Tyr. But heavy artillery was another thing entirely.

As I ran through the halls, I saw guests and wolves alike heading for the exits. I followed them outside into the snow of the front lawn at the top of the mountain. Wiping the dust and debris from my eyes, I looked around, searching for Thor and Flynn. My heart beat wildly in my chest and it wasn’t until I finally spotted a bright red mop of hair that I felt some relief. I rushed over to them, finding my brother, Flynn, and his grandmother all cold, but in one piece.

“Are you alright?” I asked, skidding to a halt in the snow.

Thor looked back at me, his jaw falling open. “Me?! What about you?!”

“I’m fine,” I said, dismissing his concern. “Is everyone out?”

We both stared back at the resort as people stopped streaming out of the front doors. There was a large crowd standing in the lawn and it was impossible to tell if we’d gotten everyone or not. However, the size of the group made me feel a little better. If it wasn’t everyone, it was damn close. At least they were no longer inside with that fucking lunatic.

“It was Tyr,” I said, looking back at Thor. “He was setting off grenades in the main lobby. And Loki… Loki was with him. But he tried to–”

I never got the rest of my words out as a thunderous explosion rocked the earth under our feet. Everyone cried out, covering their ears and dropping into a crouched position. Thor and I were the only ones that didn’t duck because our eyes were fixed on the resort.

On the far end where the main utilities were housed, was a large cloud of dust shooting into the sky. Glass shards flew through the air, sparkling in the lamplight before the electricity cut out. That section of the building was engulfed in dust, but that didn’t stop the crunching and cracking of concrete from reaching out ears. A moment later, with another loud snap, I heard an unfamiliar sound, almost like sudden torrential rain, but louder.

We looked on, our eyes adjusting in the dark. The alarms had stopped, the lights were out, and the snowflakes seemed to mock us with their gentle and calm downward spirals. It was about the time I heard the first outcry that the dust faded away enough for me to see what had happened to Fenris Hot Springs Resort.

The entire back end of the building had collapsed. It was now nothing more than a pile of rubble on top of a cold, dark mountain. My heart sank, seeing my childhood home nearly destroyed. Not to mention, a large section had collapsed into one of the hot springs, filling it with broken glass and rubble.

I just hoped nobody was inside when it came down.