12. NOTHING STINKS LIKE TROLL SHIT

12

NOTHING STINKS LIKE TROLL SHIT

T here was nothing like sleeping in a mangrove tree for a good rest with the twisted branches jabbing me in every other rib. Between that uncomfortable bed, and the things I saw in my dreams, well…there wasn't a lot of down time for my brain.

The memory was not mine. And yet I knew it, because I'd been there. Only again I was seeing it through Havoc's eyes. I was seeing me through his eyes.

"Do you consent to this?" My voice was rough, I knew it, but seeing her so…hurt. I could barely contain the rage in me. Even this, mostly healed, I didn't want to add to her pain.

"I...yes. I consent." She paused, her eyes latching onto mine. "Do you consent to this?"

My hands were on the edge of the bed, which sagged a little under my weight. Had anyone ever asked if I consented to anything? To this life, to this task?

All I could do was stare at her, drink her in. Damn her for making me want her more. Not for her body, but for the heart that beat under her breast. What would it mean to have someone care about me like this?

"Havoc?"

A growl rumbled out of me, and she gasped, arching, her body reaching for me as if it had a mind of its own. This woman…she would be the death of me. I could feel it in my bones.

"Yes. I consent."

I slid my body up along hers, the fabric of my shirt brushing against her bare skin, teasing her gently. I held myself up on my forearms, our faces close together but not touching, not kissing.

Gods, her lips fucking begged to be kissed, to be crushed under my mouth, to have me demand and beg her to open to me at the same time. But that's not what this was.

This was a necessity, and she was doing it because she had to save the world. I didn't want this to be a necessity. I wanted it to be…more.

"On your back," she said, hooking one of her legs through mine and rolling me to the side.

I let out a grunt of surprise as she straddled me, positioning my cock so that it was right there at her entrance. The tension of holding herself there, of my hands on the swell of her hips, the sensation of her warmth beckoning me.

My cock ached, straining toward her as her body had strained toward me.

How long had it been since I'd…at least fifty years. Maybe more.

She held herself there, hesitating. She could have just slid onto me, and I didn't pull her closer. I waited, sweating and barely holding myself together.

Someone took that moment to knock on the door, gods damned moron.

"Fuck off," I snarled, and it turned into a low growl.

Moaning, her whole body quivering, she pushed down on the tip of my cock, her wet pussy parting for me. It took everything I had to not come right then. She placed her hands on my chest to balance herself, her breasts hanging dangerously close to my mouth.

Perfect, she was fucking perfect.

My cock flexed and I growled again, then swept my hands up over her thighs to grab her ass. I could easily palm each cheek, squeezing them, digging into the soft flesh. I ran my fingers up and down the line of her ass, exploring every curve.

Fucking hell, I dragged her closer to me, as if I could truly join us just by sheer unyielding force.

She grabbed the edges of my shirt and ripped it open, her hands finding their way across my chest, tracing scars.

I could barely breathe with the sensations, with the overwhelming need to keep her with me. To keep her at my side. Not because she held the sun, not because I needed to protect her.

Only to keep her here, with me.

Where she belonged.

Pain slashed through me, as I realized what Havoc's memories were showing me. This couldn't be happening.

To find out he'd cared for me from the beginning, only to have him hunting me now.

It was like I was being cut apart from the inside out and I couldn't stop it, there was no wound I could see yet the pain was there. How do you heal something unseen?

You don't.

I screamed and thrashed in my dreams, calling to him, trying to get him to stay. But when I jerked awake, Bebe was sound asleep on my hip, her nose pressed between her front paws as if I hadn't moved an inch.

I drew a shuddering breath and wiped the sweat from my brow, my heart aching.

"Havoc," I whispered his name and pressed my fingers to the corners of my eyes to stop the tears that threatened. I couldn't let this change my trajectory, I had to keep going.

Survival. I was good at it, and I had to keep being good at it and that meant not thinking about the fact that Havoc…had been struggling with the same kind of emotions I had been.

The light above us had shifted, and by the fading of the stars, it was probably four in the morning. Maybe a little later. I sighed and did my best to put thoughts of Havoc aside.

I had to figure out how to get us in and out of a troll camp.

Could we sneak in? Did they have a good sense of smell, or sight or hearing? Were they militant and prepped for war with scouts and guards or were they lazy and comfortable in their placement in the world being at the top of the food chain?

I tried to remember what little I'd read about trolls. Not a lot was known about them, and likely what Jor had told me was more than most books could reveal. Obviously, they liked to torture their victims, so that put them in a serial killer category—but were they the smart serial killers, or just mean as fuck and a little bit stupid?

Smart would be harder to get by. Stupid might be the only thing that would give us an edge.

I dropped my hand across Bebe's back, and she let out a tiny squeak in her sleep, her eyes staying closed.

The best thing might be to try and sneak through. Bebe was small enough they'd never see her. And I could shift to my golden form, it was smaller than my wolf and more suited to the water if I fell in. If I rolled in mud, I'd blend in better, and it would hide my scent at the same time.

Decision made, I closed my eyes to try and get another hour or so of sleep.

I took a deep breath and got a whiff of…what in all that was holy was that foul stench? A gag caught me so off guard I struggled to breathe at all for fear I'd throw up. The wind brought me another wave of whatever it was, a scent of rot and shit, and something sickeningly sweet that lingered at the back of my throat, sitting there like it was meant to stick forever.

The bog of eternal stench came to mind.

I clenched my teeth together and breathed shallowly. It was the best I could do without throwing up. Even in her sleep, Bebe's nose wrinkled, and her ears pinned to her head, a low hiss escaping her.

Heavy footsteps crashed through the swamp below us—footsteps that were definitely not human from the boom of them. I grabbed Bebe, and rolled so that we were curled in a tighter ball. She didn't struggle, but her nose wrinkled up again as her eyes opened, and she gagged like she had a hair ball working its way up her throat. I tucked her in tighter to my chest.

"Shh."

She bobbed her head in understanding as her body shook with dry heaves.

Those footsteps were huge…and they were coming closer, bringing the acrid, rotting scent with them .

The gravel in the voice of the first made his words a struggle to understand and I had to focus hard. "Boss said find a couple more. We got more back home. Big dinner tonight."

"Yah. More is more," a second, lighter voice said. "And more is good. More. More. More!" The last word echoed up through the trees and a bunch of birds took flight.

"Grab some scaley-dillys, then. We take a handful each, that's enough."

"I'm tired of scaley-dillys. Canna we get some…bally snakzies?"

They sounded like…kids? Giant, thumping kids tromping through the swamp. I dared to look through the cracks of our tree nest to catch a glimpse of them.

The trolls looked about fourteen feet tall, their skin a deep green, streaked with brown lines like the stripes of a tiger. As they walked, they faded into the swamp around us, the camouflage so good it was spooky. They literally disappeared as they walked, then reappeared a few feet closer, even as I stared right at them. Muscles were fucking layered on the trolls, and there wasn't an ounce of fat on them that I could see. And I could see a lot since they each only wore one piece of clothing.

Daisy dukes. Short shorts that rode up their thick thighs and thicker asses. More like a loin cloth than shorts, but the cloth had been painted or stained the same color as their skin so that they added to the camouflage.

"Oh! Scaley-dilly!" The one on the left had the higher pitched voice, and as he shot forward, I was able to see more of his body. He stood with a crocodile (or maybe it was an alligator, I didn't know) in his hand, the 8-foot-long beast thrashing its tail and trying desperately to snap at its captor.

"Bindy hindy!" The second troll said, as it wrapped the croc's snout with a thick piece of rope, then ran the rope over the body a few times to pin the legs tight to the body. With that, he threw the croc over his shoulder and let it dangle, tail first. Like it wasn't normally a top predator in the swamp.

The fact that the troll seemed unconcerned with how close the croc's mouth was to his own head was a testament to just how dangerous they—the trolls—were. Dangerous and maybe I was hoping—stupid.

The two beasts hunted around below us until they had four more crocs trussed up and tossed over their shoulders.

"More!"

"Nah, that's enough scaley-dillys. Big brown wolf meat is going to be a treat!"

My guts clenched and I couldn't help but squeeze Bebe a little tighter. She might have squeaked, I don't know.

But I knew that the only big brown wolf that still had a tie to me was Richard. I looked at Bebe and mouthed his name.

Her mouth opened and closed as she shook her head. I nodded. It had to be him.

Havoc had cut off his bond to me, more effectively than I ever had been able to. Han could find me but had no reason to—he'd said it himself, there was no spell on him. He'd sought me out…well, he hadn't said why.

That left my brothers and only one of them was a brown wolf. Richard. I'd barely gotten him back in my life. I reached carefully for the bond to him and felt nothing but relief.

He was far, far away.

Whoever the trolls had, it wasn't my brother. But who the hell did the trolls have then?

"And the man too!" The first troll said, high pitch giddy. "Man and wolf! Yummy like scaley-dillys for pancakers! Morning dinner is going to be the bests!"

If I hadn't had the bond to my brothers, I would have said they'd come for me. But as it was, I knew they were safe back in Alaska.

It took everything I had to stay where we were, to not leap down and follow the trolls as soon as they were out of sight.

Bebe broke the silence first, but she kept her voice low. "They can't…they'll eat him!"

I shook my head and let her go. "No, it isn't Richard, Bebe. Use the connection to him, he's safe. A bit pissed, but far away safe."

She closed her eyes and then slowly her body relaxed. "But then, who do they have? Is someone else looking for the Norns? What if it's someone who knows what's going on? Could it be your other brother?"

My heart ticked a little faster. That wouldn't be great. Not that I was going to try and save Kieran if he was with the trolls—I wasn't that nice anymore. He'd made his choice.

Bebe's eyes were filled with worry, and I couldn't say anything that would alleviate it. We were operating on very little information.

"It's a doorway, or a cave…or something that will lead us toward the Norns. That's what we need to hang onto. If we can help whoever is trapped by the trolls—and it isn't someone against us, then we'll do it. But not at the cost of our own selves. There's too much at stake."

"Agreed," she said. "Let's go then."

We slid down the tree and I shifted just before I hit the ground, my golden retriever coming forward happily. I should have realized…

Before I could stop myself, I rolled in the thick mud, my tail wagging like it had a fucking life of its own. Over and over, I dunked myself before I got control and stood up, tongue hanging out, thick coat heavy with moisture and muck.

Bebe stared at me, horror in her eyes, "That's disgusting. Dogs are gross."

I shrugged, tongue still lolling. "Is my fur all covered?"

"You looked like you were playing! This is not a time for playing!" she whisper yelled.

"I know, I couldn't…I couldn't stop myself." The retriever I shifted into was sometimes harder to control than my wolf. Which was wild when you thought about it. My wolf was super obedient. The retriever literally had a mind of her own.

"Yeah." She looked me over. "You're not glowing, you are covered in mud, and you'll blend in with the swamp. Now let's go before we lose our troll guides."

With that we took off, bounding across the mangrove roots, following the distant sound of the clomping trolls. The good thing about following in their wake…all the ‘scaley-dillys' were scattered, swimming for cover.

There were no predators bigger or scarier than the trolls in this swamp and all the reptiles knew it.

Overhead the sky continued to shift toward daylight. Toward the breakfast the trolls wanted to take part in.

As fast as we ran, the trolls stayed always just ahead of us. They covered distance easily with their long legs, unbothered by anything, because nothing would challenge them. We followed mostly based on the sound of the crashing as we could barely pick them out as they moved.

We'd been running for twenty minutes before things changed.

A gong, like someone hitting a dinner bell, echoed through the swamp, the tone reverberating in my bones.

Ahead of us, the trolls yelped and began running if the increased rumble of their feet hitting the muck was any indication.

"Faster!" I said, leaping and dodging, caring less about my footing than I should have. I tumbled into the water, landed on top of a submerged croc-a-gator and felt it scoot away from me. Maybe it thought I was a troll.

I launched myself away from the pool of water, yelped as I stuck my foot through a tangle of roots and wrenched myself free, twisting my leg in order to do it. Ignoring the pain, I fought to keep the speed up.

Bebe was a streak of gray beside me, bounding and dancing across the water as if she were Jesus himself…only she was using the backs of the crocs to cross the water.

That one had balls of steel. Lady balls of course.

I wasn't small enough to follow her lead, which meant that she got to the troll camp ahead of me .

Sliding to a stop at the edge of the camp, I rolled into the mud, re-coating myself with muck, covering my scent and my highly visible golden coat.

I lay in the mud and crept forward, the troll camp in full view. I don't know what I was expecting, but what I was seeing was…weird.

Boats of all sizes and shapes sat deep in the mud, some on their sides, some on the hull, others on the bow or stern. They created covers that could have been called huts, I suppose, though there wasn't a great deal of protection from the elements.

From each boat were strung vines and boards and more mud. On top of each of the boats were small mangrove trees. The odd style of cover created a canopy that from above, you'd never know as anything but more mangroves.

I lifted my nose and forced myself to breathe in the scents.

The overwhelming stench of troll was still there, stronger now, but I'd become more numb to it and I didn't gag. Under that stench was the faint whiff of a wolf.

Faint. So faint as if whoever it was, was covered in mud too. Made sense with the muck across the camp.

Bebe lay beside me, as flat to the ground as she could get, a glob of mud on the top of her head. "You see them? "

I shook my head and crept forward. I had to get closer.

The gong sounded again, and a troop of trolls hurried out from under their boat houses, their bodies blending and disappearing into their surroundings between steps.

I struggled to hold still. Part of me wanted to run—the golden part.

Steady, we had to stay steady.

With the overwhelming scent of troll shit, it was hard to tell when the trolls were close.

Which meant they could be right on top of us, and I'd never know it until they were plucking us out of the mud like the scaley-dilly's they'd snagged earlier.

The stress made me pant, my tongue touched the ground—mistake number one.

I heaved, sucking my tongue back in my mouth which didn't help in the least, deep throating the foulness of the troll camp. It was like my body took over and no matter how my mind screamed, I couldn't stop the thrashing as I fought to get the taste out of my mouth.

Terrible, this was beyond terrible. I was going to be found out.

I was going to get us all killed, because the golden in me couldn't hold still all because she didn't like the foul taste of troll shit and mud .

I spun sideways, flipping and flopping like a fish out of water.

Unseeing, I slammed into something hard as steel and a set of hands settled on me. The hands held me still as I gagged and finally heaved the worst of the taste from my mouth, my mouth frothing and foaming, dripping bubbles from my lips.

I looked up at the person holding me. Blue eyes stared down, his cruel mouth curving in a mocking smile.

"Well, Princess, funny to meet you here."