Chapter One Loki

I t had been nearly two weeks since I'd walked away from the Hati pack and my brothers. No matter what way I tried to split it, I couldn't stand by Thor and watch him put all of us in further danger with his human mate. Being at war with another pack was bad enough, but bringing in a human, and the descendent of werewolf hunters no less, was too far. I didn't feel safe living under the same room as Flynn and his grandmother. Perhaps they'd sneak into our rooms one day and run us through with silver blades one by one. If Thor and Baldr wanted to risk their lives on the possibility, so be it. I, for one, wasn't going to become a statistic.

But I knew my own limits. I wasn't as strong as Thor, so taking over as Alpha wasn't going to be an option. I'd never defeat him in a fight for leadership and because of that, the rest of the pack would never listen to me, no matter how much of a fuss I caused. So, leaving was my only choice. However, that choice afforded me more freedom than I'd had in my entire life, as I was no longer beholden to the Alpha of the pack.

And I wanted vengeance.

Thor had permanently disfigured Tyr in their last encounter by biting off his hand. But it wasn't enough. I wanted him dead . And, if I could help it, I wanted to make sure it was a long and painful death that made him feel every last fucking ounce of my fury, grief, and pain he'd inflicted on me by taking my father away.

It still made me so angry to think of how both Thor and Baldr seemed to move on after our father died. One day we were all attending the funeral, and it seemed like the next, everything was back to normal. Business as usual for the Hati pack.

Meanwhile, I was expected to just pretend that everything was fine. My father was dead, his blood still staining my hands from when I'd helped carry him back home to the hot springs. Even now, when I looked down, my palms still seemed redder than I remembered. And my heart felt like there was a gaping hole in it. Losing my mother before I could even draw my first breath was hard enough. But losing father too… it was more than I could bear.

After that day, something inside me snapped. I lived in anger, every single day building upon my fury until I exploded. Most of the time I took it out on Thor, my brother, who had replaced father so easily. He ran the pack with timidity and fear. That wasn't the sort of life I wanted to live. And now this human … It just proved that Thor, while being the first-born son, was never fit to lead. My father trained us both to take over the pack one day. While Thor got the brawn and the softheartedness of our mother, or so I was told, I was the one that got the cunning from them both.

It should've been me leading the Hati pack. Not him.

And now they were all in danger, with werewolf hunters walking amongst them as friends .

It made me sick.

But now that I was free of them, I had a plan. Not only was I going to get my vengeance, but I would also turn the tide of the war between the Hati and Skoll packs. As soon as Tyr was dead, his pack would be mine .

That's why I'd been stalking the Skoll pack for several days and finally I found myself on a high ridge just outside their little village. It was incredible that the humans had never found it. Maybe it was because there were no roads or because the houses made it look like an old ghost town. Whatever the reason, it was smaller than I expected and much less populated. Apparently, things hadn't been going well for the Skoll pack for some time. Tyr made it sound like he had an army behind him. From what I saw, he had barely more than three dozen wolves.

To be honest, I'd hoped for more. Taking over the Skoll pack would be much easier with fewer wolves to challenge me. But there weren't enough of them to oppose Thor. Not that I wanted an all-out war. That wasn't my plan. I wanted unity between the two packs once more, like it had been before our grandfather's time. But Thor had to be removed from power before I could make that happen. And I needed werewolves at my side to do that. Lots of them.

And that's why I'd been stalking the Skoll pack for the past two weeks. It was easy to find them, but I'd yet to come up with a way to sneak inside their little village. I'd been hoping for a chance to get one of them alone and get a gauge for the kind of loyalty the others felt toward Tyr. However, that had proved to be all but impossible so far. From my vantage point, I could see that the pack rarely left their village. And those that did were almost always with Tyr.

There was only one that came and went with freedom, and that was Baldr. My brother had been in and out of Skoll territory many times in the past couple of weeks, his mother's promise intact after Tyr had nearly gotten himself blown up for attempting to harm him. I had a feeling he was trying to find me, and he nearly did a couple of times. But so far, I'd been able to avoid him. Although I couldn't figure out where he snuck off to sometimes.

More than once, I'd seen him step into Skoll territory, come into view for a moment, and then disappear into the mountain forest. Even when I attempted to track him, I lost his scent. It was like he disappeared completely. Then again, considering his mother was a witch of the highest degree and he had her blood running through his veins, maybe there was a more magical explanation for his disappearance. Neither Thor nor I ever knew the full extent of his powers. I knew he could see the future sometimes, but that was it. Now that I'd run off, I wouldn't get the chance to ask him.

A twig snapped in the woods behind me, yanking me away from my thoughts. I glanced back, knowing the cliff I crouched on was far too high for the Skoll pack to have caught my scent. I was upwind of the village, anyway. But that meant that whatever was behind me had gotten close without my nose picking it up.

Getting close to the ground, I willed my breath to still, my sense of hearing sharpening to a point. In the distance, I could make out regular footfalls, like boots through the leaves. At first, I hoped it was just a couple of tourists out on a hike or some hill folk looking for wild ginseng to keep their family in food for the winter. However, the longer I listened, the more I realized whatever or whoever it was, they were headed right for me.

I wanted to shift, to dart out of there in wolf form and leave whoever it was behind in a flash. But with jeans and laced up boots on, I'd get too tangled in my clothing before I could get away. And there was no chance I'd strip them off without being found.

As the footsteps neared, I had a sobering thought. Flynn's family were werewolf hunters, and they knew I was alone in the woods.

Suddenly, going off on my own seemed like a terrible idea. At least at the resort, I kept my enemies close, and I had the support of my pack. But out here in the wilderness, I had nobody and nothing to lean on. With a rush of embarrassment, I realized how much of a fool I'd been to run off.

But it was too late for regrets as a thin, ropey figure appeared some ten yards off amongst the trees. Silver hair caught the sunlight and gold eyes turned my way. My heart leapt in my chest, but not out of fear. I knew this man almost as well as I knew myself.

"You are not hard to find, brother," Baldr called, heading my way with a knowing smile on his face.

"It took you two weeks to find me," I scoffed, letting my hackles down. "Seems like I'm doing just fine, brother ."

"I was giving you time to think, nothing more," he said, dismissing my pride with a wave. "I've seen you watching me, tracking my movements from your perch like a raven waiting to feast."

"Enough of your poetry," I growled. "What the hell do you want?"

He didn't flinch. "Have you sulked long enough?"

"I'm not sulking!"

"Then come home. We miss you."

"We?"

"Thor and I."

I grunted in disgust.

"It's true," Baldr continued. "We both miss you. The pack misses you. And there is new family at home that would like to get to know you."

"I don't want to get to know those humans." I glared at Baldr, a threatening finger pointed his way. "How can you stand to live under the same roof as werewolf hunters? To let them walk among us as trusted equals?!"

"Flynn is no hunter. He was never trained or even made aware until recently. He's well past the age of initiation. There's no threat from him."

"What about his grandmother?!" I spat. "She is a hunter."

Baldr lifted an eyebrow. "She's nearly eighty-five years old, Loki. Are you telling me you're afraid of an old woman?"

"I don't care what you say! She's a hunter and that boy has werewolf hunter blood in his veins!"

"That boy is the reason Tyr didn't kill our brother."

I scoffed again, crossing my arms over my chest. "Thor took Tyr's hand off. That's what saved them."

"Thor bit Tyr's hand, that's true," Baldr nodded. "But it was Flynn's silver sword that severed it. And the only reason that Tyr hasn't attacked again. With a wound like that, he'll be maimed for some time. The healing powers of our race are negated by silver."

"I know how it fucking works, Baldr. I'm not an idiot."

"Could have fooled me."

I ground my molars, the muscles in my jaw quivering under the tension. "If anything, the fact that Flynn knew to use that sword makes him even more dangerous. And I refuse to share a roof with a werewolf hunter and my traitor of a brother."

Baldr stepped closer, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Then I'm afraid I have news for you."

"News?" I pulled away from him. "What news? Has our brother outcast me for good now in favor of his new bitch ?!"

"No," Baldr said simply. "I came here tonight to try to talk you into coming home because I've had a vision. One that will come to pass if I can't get you back to the hot springs before tomorrow night."

"I don't care about your visions . Father never should've bedded a witch in the first place. Their union is an abomination to our race."

I saw the hurt in his eyes, and for a moment, I regretted my words. It only occurred to me after I said it that I'd just called my brother an abomination. And even though I fought with Thor my entire life, Baldr had always been my confidant and friend. He was my little brother, the one that I always protected from the other wolves when we were growing up. He'd always been smaller and weaker than the others with his half blood, but that had never bothered me before.

But now, before I could take back the words I didn't mean, his eyes flashed brightly as he took a step back. The wind picked up, swirling dead leaves around him as if he stood in the center of a whirlwind. The woods darkened and I watched as crackles of magic filled the air, the electric taste of it burning my tongue.

"This path of hate you're on will only lead to darkness, Loki. The mountain will open up and swallow you whole if you don't turn away from anger. There are secrets on both sides that precious few understand. Ones that you ought not meddle in. And should you still pursue your aspirations despite all of this, something precious to you will die. Beyond that, my vision ends."

I reached out, calling out for him to come back. But before my words could penetrate the wind and magic filling the trees, there was a loud crack, and everything suddenly went quiet. I looked up, thousands of dry leaves floating lazily back to the forest floor. Where Baldr had stood a moment before was now empty. The only thing left was a small bare patch of earth with a strange golden symbol carved into it. No sooner had I laid eyes on it than it faded and was covered once more with leaves.

My brother, it seemed, was far more powerful than I could have ever imagined.