11. SEE YOU LATER, ALLIGATOR

11

SEE YOU LATER, ALLIGATOR

" I am not going to protect you," Han repeated. "But maybe…I suppose it will continue to screw things up for Sven if I slow my brother down? Only fair since he had me spelled for so many years."

The mark on my neck lit up, like I'd licked a wall socket. I shook and stumbled backward, toward the pond, muscles convulsing and shaking.

Havoc's eyes never left me. A low grumble trickled past his lips and the sound…fuck me the sound still did terrible things to me, as if he'd put his mouth to my core and just…fucking vibrated.

I whimpered; I couldn't help it. Han's head whipped to the side to look at me. "What is wrong with you?"

Havoc shifted right there, to two legs, naked, muscles all on display. His smile was wicked, tugging at the scar along his face. His dark eyes—yes, dark when he was on two legs—were as fathomless as any future I might have tried to see for myself. "Because she can't help but want it."

Han's eyebrows shot up. "You really did fuck him?"

"Saved the world," I said.

"And the other times?" Jor asked. "I know there were other times you bedded him, did that save the world then too?"

"Not helping," I muttered as the heels of my feet hit the edge of the pond.

"How did you find me so quick?" I asked Havoc.

Because the bond between us was gone. I slumped, understanding rocking through me. "Claire? You used her, didn't you."

He smiled, a bare flash of his teeth. "She still wants me. I used that."

Han whistled. "Jor, you're right, we should have gotten popcorn."

"You'd just let her die?" Jor gasped. "That's not right."

"You are no hero, Jor," Han drawled. "Nor am I. And neither is Havoc, though I think he wanted to be for so many years. Now he's a monster again. Just. Like. Us."

Havoc was completely naked as he stalked toward me. I couldn't move. I needed to get away, but I was pinned between two wolves who had reason to kill me and a giant serpent.

"Jor," I whispered. "Can you get me to the Norns?"

I mean, if anyone might be able to get me closer to them it was the Midgard serpent, a creature who moved between realms and places.

"Well…that's a hero move," he grumbled. "I don't know. I'm not sure I should. I already broke rules when I helped you back when you were fighting your old pack."

"This is not the time to suddenly go back to your gray morals, Jor!" I snapped.

He grunted. "Can't help it. And you can't… make …me."

Make him? Did he mean that he'd do it if I threatened him? It was worth a try.

"Bebe." I called her and she leapt toward me. Havoc took a few steps, his hand held out to the side as his double-sided axe just…appeared out of thin air, like he'd pulled it from an invisible pocket. He grasped the handle and took an experimental swing.

Han sighed. "Brother. We don't have the same task now. Her birth alone fucked everything up—but we didn't know that. So whatever Sven has put on you, it won't do what you think if you kill her."

"Thanks?" I muttered and took another step back so that the water rose above my calves, and I was bumping against Jor's snout. I had an idea. A terrible, horrendously bad idea, but honestly it was all I had.

One bad idea against two men that wanted me dead. "Bebe, work with me."

"You got it, babe!" She butted her head under my chin.

I reached down and touched Jor's head, and he lifted himself up. I slid around and straddled him, as if I were getting on a horse. "Take me where I want to go, or you get the cat claws." I held Bebe over his head.

She hissed and extended her claws so that they touched Jor's neck. His eyes lit up. "Oh, that's good, threaten me with the razors in the cotton balls! I like this, yes, wait, sorry, of course, I am terrified of cats , I'll have to do as you want." He ruined it by snickering. I pulled Bebe back to my chest.

Havoc hadn't moved.

His muscles trembled as if he were…fighting with himself.

Han laughed. "I do believe he might be fighting the compulsion. Interesting. I never bothered. Perhaps that's why Sven put all his energy into him, and none into me."

Jor slid backward deep into the lake. "I'll be honest, I don't know if this will work. It could kill you both. I've never taken anyone with me through the water tunnels before."

"What?" I screeched as Jor's magic locked around us, holding us tightly to his body as he sunk down, swirling and diving.

The last thing I saw was Havoc sprint toward the water, and Han intercepting him.

They went down, roaring and snarling and then the water was over my head, and everything was muffled, water filling my ears. I clutched Bebe and she clutched me, and it was all I could do to hang onto her and my breath and hope that we made it.

Dark, cold water slipped over us. I counted the seconds to keep myself from panicking. At forty-five the temperature changed, warming until it felt like tepid bath water. Things bumped against me, hard, scaled things, bits and pieces of logs.

At a minute, Jor burst upward, and I gasped for air. Bebe spluttered. "What the actual fuck, where are we? Oh, shit, this is not good!"

I blinked, water streaming down my face. We were still sitting on Jor's back, but all around us were alligators and crocodiles. Okay, I was assuming both. Maybe it was only one, I was no biologist. There were a lot of snapping jaws around us, that was the important thing to note. I tucked my legs up on Jor's back.

"Please don't dump us in the water," I said.

"Nah, that would defeat me bringing you here. Welcome to the Everglades! There's a nice little troll encampment over there." He swam along, and the gators hissed at him, but otherwise didn't bother the big serpent. Smart gators. Crocs. Whatever.

"That's where you need to go if you want to find the Norns. Trolls have all sorts of maps, and they are sneaky buggers, so watch whatever jewels you have."

I kept my legs tucked up and only once we were clear of most of the crocodilians, did Jor's words register. "I'm sorry, did you say troll camp ?"

"Yup, they protect the entrance to the Norn's in a roundabout way. You need to go through them. Should be a good fight. Very entertaining."

Jor dropped us off on a sand bank. Bebe and I leapt off his back and he rolled around to face us. "You know, you really are great fun. I like that about you. You make life interesting."

"Thanks for the help, Jor." I gave him a jaunty salute. "You're a good friend, and I think you might be turning into a hero, despite your protests."

The horror on his face made me laugh. "I am…not…a…hero." He spluttered and then softened, leaning in close. "But maybe I am a good friend. That's acceptable I think."

He spun and flipped himself back into the water, gone before I could ask him for any other suggestions.

The truth of the matter was I'd never dealt with trolls. Like dragons and other creatures, I knew they existed but we all kind of kept to our own areas as supernaturals. Which meant there wasn't a lot of intersection between the different species, and not a lot of good knowledge on how to deal with one another.

"What do you know about trolls?" Bebe shook, casting out droplets of water. Acting for all the world like we'd not just come all the way across the country, landed in a swamp, and had literally zero tools, weapons, or help.

No problem, we were bad bitches, we had this.

I dug around in my memory banks for what little I knew. None of it was great. Most of it bad. "Trolls like the swamp lands, as deep into the marshy areas as they can get, typically, as far from humans as possible." I looked around the sandbar that Jor had dropped us on.

"So…we probably need a boat?" Bebe looked at me, hope in her eyes. I grimaced.

What I didn't want to tell Bebe was that trolls had a taste for fresh flesh, of any kind. As long as the creature was still alive, they'd eat it. While it thrashed and screamed, preferably.

"I don't think a boat will get us through this."

Jor had indicated to head to the west, so that was the direction I started out, Bebe trotting alongside me. The sandbar turned out to be an island, one side leading further inland and covered in thick mangroves. Yellow eyes peered at us from the water between the roots as the light began to fade, the crocs and gators just waiting on their next meal to get too close to the water's edge. Going on in the dark was stupid, and would get us killed or worse, trapped by trolls.

Either way, we'd get eaten.

"We need to stop for the night." I pointed at a pair of mangrove trees that had wound around one another, creating a bit of a bowl in the middle, about fifteen feet up. "That will work."

A few minutes later we were up in the tree nest, and I curled so I could stare out at the ocean. Bebe settled herself on my hip. "Cin?"

"Hmm."

"What are we going to do about the trolls?"

I shook my head. "No idea. I'm hoping that a good night sleep in a mangrove tree, while crocodiles dream of tearing me to shreds, will give me inspiration."

She sighed and a low purr rumbled through her. "Well…a good night's sleep can never be bad, right?"

Sure.

Except that it was anything but a good night's sleep.