Chapter Four Heimdall

A strange sensation coursed through my body as I made contact with Loki. For half a second, I hesitated. Then, assuming it was just the feeling of our bodies striking hard stone, I went back to trying to kill him. That's what my father wanted. What he'd ordered me to do. This man was an outsider and one of the Hati leaders as well. He was my sworn enemy.

And he needed to die.

Claws lashed out, tearing at my belly as Loki tried to get out from under me. But I pinned him down with my weight. I was much bulkier and heavier than he was. Straddling his waist made it easy to hold him down. No matter what he tried to do with his claws, I batted them away with my own, taking the seconds between to strike out at him.

He cried out as I raked my claws across his chest, tearing his shirt open and slicing through the soft skin. Deep red covered his pale skin quickly, the scent of blood filling the air. And yet, the moment I found flesh and should have been celebrating, I felt a sudden pang of… guilt . What the hell was that all about?

The moment of weakness cost me though as Loki took his chance to retaliate. He jabbed his claws forward, driving them deep into my hip. They sliced through the skin, not stopping until they struck bone. I howled in pain, glaring down at him with all the venom I could muster. But the moment my eyes caught his, I saw the same hesitation.

What the fuck was going on?

"Kill him!" my father barked, noticing the two of us pausing for a moment.

Before I could react, Loki wiggled out from under me, scrambling a few feet away before getting back to his feet. I ran full tilt at him, knowing he would dodge the moment I got close. Unfortunately, I incorrectly guessed which way he'd feint, and I ended up tumbling through the leaves across hard stone. I rolled ass over tea cart for a moment before my back slammed against a massive boulder. This part of the woods was especially rocky with small cliffs and caves all over the place. It was rather treacherous actually and most wolves sought to go around like we did on patrols. But I didn't have time to choose a better fighting arena. In fact, if I was smart, I could use the terrain to my benefit.

That's why, when Loki came hurtling toward me, I didn't try to dodge him straight away. In fact, with the boulder at my back, I threw my arms wide, knowing he would hit me full force and I would be unmovable.

But that's not what happened.

Loki struck me going as fast as he could. The giant boulder behind me, which easily weighed a couple thousand pounds, shifted. There was a loud crack as we collided and suddenly the earth under my feet began to tremble and quake. Loki and I looked at one another, the fear plain on our faces as the boulder slid backward, the ground below us giving way.

Suddenly I was in freefall. Loki fell out of my grasp immediately as I tried to claw for anything I could find. My hands struck stone, tearing flesh and claws alike as I desperately attempted to stop myself from plummeting into the darkness. But no matter how much I flailed, my fingers never found purchase for more than a split second.

I fell and fell into the dark, time slowing seemingly slowing down as I stared up at the moonlight above growing smaller and smaller. A fleeting thought about caverns and old mine shafts raced through my mind. But it was gone a moment later as my body struck hard stone, and white-hot pain filled my senses. There was more than one crunch in my body as everything went silent.

I couldn't breathe, I couldn't hear, I couldn't smell, and my vision was still a bright white flare. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, but it did nothing to quell the pain. Slowly my eyes came back into focus and for a moment, I thought I'd gone blind, only a small circle of light in the center of my vision. It took me a moment to realize that it was the hole that had opened up and consumed me. Everything else was pitch darkness, the kind that not even my wolf eyes could see through.

A figure leaned over the edge of the hole, some forty feet above where my body lay crumpled in the darkness. It took me a moment to recognize the face of my father, the pain radiating from every inch of me, filling my mind with a loud buzz that I couldn't shake. At least three of my bones were broken from the fall. Of that I was certain. And I couldn't feel my left arm at all. Already my vision was darkening at the edges quickly. I knew I wouldn't be conscious for much longer.

I stared up at my father, watching him and knowing he would save me. But he didn't move toward me or look for a way down. Instead, he merely shook his head and clicked his tongue, not an ounce of loss or any emotion crossing his face.

Then, with a careless shrug, he pulled away from the hole and out of sight, leaving me staring at nothing but dark trees and golden leaves illuminated by moonlight far above.

"Fa…Father…" I croaked.

But there was no answer. I opened my mouth to try to speak again, but the pain was too much. My vision faded away and I slipped into darkness not knowing if I'd ever wake up again.

◆◆◆

I gasped as I came to, sitting bolt upright. The moment I moved, I screwed my eyes shut as the pain once more attempted to overwhelm me. My head swam and I felt dizzy, but I wasn't going to let it take me again. Not this time. I was going to stay awake goddammit!

Forcing myself to breathe, I quickly realized that at least one of my ribs was broken. But that didn't matter. I needed air and I needed to calm down. My wolf healing would kick in soon enough and mend my broken body. I wasn't worried about recovery. But I did want the pain to go away.

For several minutes I sat there on the hard, cold stone, breathing as best I could without aggravating my injuries further. I cradled my left arm to my chest, the feeling slowly beginning to come back to it. Of course, all I could feel was pain, but that was a much better sensation than nothing. A dead arm was more of a hindrance than losing it completely and I was glad that neither would be my fate.

It wasn't until I heard shifting a few feet away that I remembered I hadn't been the only one to fall into the cave. My enemy had gone down with me. And from the sounds of it, he was still alive.

I shifted to the side, putting my back against stone. In my injured state, I couldn't force myself to shift even enough to grow claws. Besides, my fingers were bloody and torn from the fall and I'd need all the energy I had to heal myself. However, I could still make myself ready just in case he decided to attack.

But from the groans I was hearing, Loki was just as injured as I was. It took me a moment to find him in the dim light filtering down from above. Rock dust coated his skin and hair, giving him an altogether gray look. I could see that one of his legs was bent at an unnatural angle. Even werewolf healing couldn't fix that. The bone would have to be set before it could heal.

And that was to my advantage. If he couldn't walk, then he couldn't come after me. I sat there at the edge of the light, just watching him without saying a word. The longer that he didn't notice me, the closer I got to being back to my old self. Although, judging by the amount of pain I was still in, it could take four or five days, maybe even a week before I was close to normal once again. I looked up at the light far above.

How the hell was I going to get out of here?

"Fuck…" Loki groaned in the dark as I glanced down and saw him staring at me. "You survived."

"Yeah, fuck you too," I growled back, baring my teeth. His tone of disappointment didn't surprise me, but it pissed me off, nonetheless. "Just stay the fuck over there if you know what's good for you."

Loki huffed at me before attempting to push himself up. He cried out in pain as his leg shifted, collapsing back onto the rocky floor. His chest heaved from the exertion even though he'd barely moved. It seemed he was in just as bad of shape as I was. Slowly he pulled himself across the floor, finding a boulder like I had and turned himself over to lean against it. I heard him hiss through his teeth as his leg shifted again.

"Fuck…" Loki growled again, staring down at his leg that was still bent at an odd angle.

"It needs to be set," I said aloud.

I wasn't sure why I said it. Maybe the darkness was too overwhelming, or it was too quiet. Or maybe it was because I knew the pair of us were royally fucked if we didn't find a way out of here. Then again, it wasn't like we were going to help one another escape. My father had ordered me to kill him. It was obvious I wasn't Loki's intended target, but if he had to kill me to get to my father, I had no doubt he would do it.

"I don't see a fucking hospital down here," he snapped, glaring at me as his eyes flashed their Alpha gold. "And you're not gonna touch me."

"I wasn't offering," I replied, looking away from him.

"Didn't think so." He sat there for a moment, catching his breath. "I'll set it myself."

I didn't try to hide my amusement. If this little Alpha thought he was gonna scare me with his big talk, he had another thing coming. I wasn't scared of him, and he didn't have the balls to reset his own broken bone. Nobody could do that. Not even me.

Still, I watched him from the far side of the cave as he worked himself over to the fallen stones. Hissing and groaning in pain, he worked his leg into a crevasse between two rocks, getting it good and wedged in tight. I couldn't help but chuckle. When he inevitably failed, he'd still be hurt and extra stuck as well. The man's pride was going to make sure he died down here in this cave. I wouldn't even have to kill him myself.

Loki positioned himself just right and leaned back with his arms over his head. He paused for just a moment to remove his leather belt and tuck the strap between his teeth. Reaching back, he curled his fingers around a boulder behind him. Then, with one last deep breath, he attempted to yank himself backward using his arms. He cried out in pain, his teeth clamped tight around the leather. I stared in awe as this little Alpha's muscles strained, his leg still stuck firmly between the two boulders in front of him.

Then, with a sudden crack, I heard his bones snap back into place. All the tension in his body let go at once as he slumped to the floor, his head rolling to the side. The moonlight still shone down on him, and it was plain to see he'd passed out. But, from the looks of his leg, he'd managed to get all the bones back into the right place. Now his body would finally start to heal.

He was a tough little fucker, I'd give him that. Since he was unconscious, I didn't have to hide how impressed I was by his determination. And yet, there was more to my stares than just that. Something about him made it impossible to take my eyes off him. I couldn't tell what it was. But ever since we'd collided with one another, I felt something strange that I didn't understand. I was drawn to him.

I shook my head, brushing the feeling away. It was because my father had ordered me to kill him. That was all. We were connected by a thread of duty was all. Once Loki was dead and the Haiti pack put in their rightful place, everything would go back to normal.

It was a shame though. Someone as tough as Loki could be useful in the Skoll pack. Too bad he was the enemy. Just like everyone else that opposed my father's vision for the future.

I looked up toward the hole in the ceiling some forty feet above. Judging by the moonlight, we'd been down there for at least a couple of hours. Plenty long enough for my father to get help and come back to get me out. Then again, maybe I was reading the light wrong. Perhaps it had only been a handful of minutes. He'd need time to find the others and gather the supplies to rescue me.

He was coming back. Of that, I was sure. Just because I thought I saw him walk away without care didn't mean it was the truth. I was his son and the next in line to lead the pack. He wouldn't abandon me. Besides, I was faithful to him. I always had been. Even when it came down to choosing between him and my mother, I'd always chosen him.

He'd come back for me.

I settled against the cold bolder, staring up at the hole in the ceiling. Any moment now my father would show his face and toss down a rope.

I just had to be patient.