Chapter 14

14

N icola was given one of Astrid's coats and a pair of reindeer fur-lined boots to wear out. Astrid was a bit bigger than her, but Nicola was touched that she would let her borrow them at all.

"We will order more clothes for you today. A delivery will be a good distraction for any wolves that are watching the roads into the territory," Thor said and buttoned her coat. "Are you warm enough?"

"I'm fine, Thor. Don't worry. I'm not a fragile human," Nicola replied with a smile. Seeing the big man fussing was strange, but it showed he cared, making her feel warmer than any coat could.

"I know, but you've also been a prisoner for months, and I don't want you suffering for a moment that you are with me," Thor said and crossed his big arms. "You will tell me if you need anything, and I will make sure you have it."

Nicola reached up and kissed his cheek. "That is all I needed. Now, let's go and see Galen and get the information you need for the vampires."

Thor looked confused for a moment before lifting her up by the lapels of her jacket and kissing her properly. Nicola wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him back. Her tongue flicked against his lips, and he opened his mouth. She was drowning in his taste, his scent, the thick slabs of muscle she was pressed up against.

"You two need to cut that out, or you will be here all day," Astrid chided.

Nicola nipped Thor's bottom lip before pulling back. "She's right. Galen will be awake and at the club by now, and we are wasting time."

"Kissing my mate is never a waste of time," Thor said and reluctantly lowered her to her feet. "Is the tunnel exit clear?"

Astrid nodded. "I just checked the cameras, and there is no sign of any of the scouts."

"Tunnel?" Nicolas asked.

"Tunnel." Thor grinned and opened the heavy wood door of the hall. "We built it so that we could come and go from the territory with nobody noticing. We didn't trust the peace would last in Inferno and wanted an escape if we needed it. It's come in handy more often than I care to admit."

"Paranoia saves the day," Nicola said and took his hand. Again, he looked surprised by the contact, and she had to wonder if her big Viking was as touch-starved as she was.

They walked through the softly falling snow and through the trees. There were signs here and there of the fight the night before, broken and scratched trees and patches of bloody snow.

"Do you feel bad about what happened last night?" Thor asked, noticing everything.

"I do, in a way, because it was a waste. Kaleb's leadership is breaking up everything my father worked so hard to hold together." Nicola chewed the inside of her cheek. "They would have killed you and tried to drag me back to Kaleb. It's no secret in Inferno that the Blood Pack has vicious fighters and added vampire strength. They still chose to attack us, and they got what they deserved. I'd rather kill myself than be taken back to Kaleb."

Thor's fingers tightened around her hand. "That will never happen, Nicola. Not while there's any of the Blood Pack left. If they somehow managed to take you from me, I'd burn the whole wolf territory to the ground to find you."

It wasn't said with any kind of a boast. Thor spoke of it as pure fact, as if he were saying the sky was blue.

It should have scared her, but it didn't. It made her fall for him that little bit more. She didn't know if it was the nature of the mating bond or Thor himself that made her feel the way she did because she couldn't separate one from the other. It was both. It was everything. All the fairytales she had heard about the intensity of a true mating bond were true.

They walked through the snowy forest until they came to a ring of standing stones that had been carved with rune marks.

Thor moved anticlockwise around the stones, his fingers brushing different runes. There was a rumble deep within the earth, and the center area between the stones dropped away to reveal a tunnel.

"This is incredible," Nichola gasped.

"The mage I paid to get it done? What I paid him was incredible." Thor held out his hand and gently helped Nicola down into the tunnel entrance.

He came down after her and switched on a light. It was colder down there, and Nicola was suddenly grateful that he had pressed so hard about her wearing a jacket.

The small entranceway led to a steel door, and Thor tapped in a code on the keypad. Through the door was a tunnel large enough for a car to drive through.

Thor switched on another light and pointed to a white van. "That's our ride. Bjorn looked up what was the most common car used for transport in the city, and this was it. Hopefully, it will be completely invisible to anyone that may be watching."

Nicola opened the door to the passenger seat and climbed inside. "I'm trying really hard not to show you how impressed I am right now. No one suspects that any of this exists?"

"If they did, they are smart enough to keep their mouths shut about it. As I said, I paid the mage well, and he was smart enough to understand what would happen if he ever decided to talk about it. We have a reputation for good reason," Thor replied. He turned on the van. "Most of the time, the reputation is enough to make sure that nobody crosses us. Your old pack didn't seem to get the message. Maybe they will now."

Nicola leaned her head back against the chair with a sigh through her nose. "It shouldn't have come to this. I'm hoping that Astrid's message gets to the right people. I still have my doubts about what Kaleb is telling them. Hopefully, Stephen will be able to talk some sense into the people that Kaleb has been keeping in the dark."

"I know that they are your father's old pack, but try to remember that they are not your responsibility anymore. As far as I'm concerned, they gave up any claim to your loyalty the moment the alpha decided to lay hands on you," Thor said.

"The wolves most loyal to my father—they are old school. When Kaleb took over the pack, I had an opportunity to hold on to some of my power if I was to be his mate. In their eyes, I gave that up when I told him no, and so became one of the lowest in the pack hierarchy," Nicola replied. She toyed nervously with the end of her braid. The men she had seen as her uncles had all told her she was crazy not to take Kaleb up on his offer. Not one had supported her choice.

Thor made an angry sound at the back of his throat. "It is an alpha's job to look after those most vulnerable in his pack above all. Instead, Kaleb's fragile ego couldn't handle the rejection. He wanted to force your hand, and the fact that you had information to destroy him just would've given him an excuse to take you."

Thor pressed a button on a key chain, and a roller door opened at the end of the tunnel.

"Don't feel bad about what happens next, Nicola. You owe your old pack nothing. You owe your father's ghost less than nothing. We will get collateral so you can be free of them once and for all. It's time to have your own life, my little wolf. You only need to worry about what you want from now on. Not what you think your father would want you to do."

Nicola blinked away the sudden burning at the back of her eyes. She had been raised only to think of everyone else first and herself last.

If she'd had a choice, she would never have worked to become an accountant for a start. The pack needed one, so she filled the need. She always put them first.

She tried to remember what she had really wanted to do when she was a little girl, but all that was there was her father dictating what he needed from her.

In a small voice, she said, "I don't know what I want."

"No one is going to pressure you to figure that out. You can take as long as you need to," Thor replied with a shrug of his big shoulders.

They drove out of the roller doors and into a warehouse district. Thor waited until the door had shut again before driving out into the street. From the outside, it looked like just another storage rental.

"So are we out of your territory now?" Nicola asked, looking around.

"This is an area that sits between the mages and the fae districts. One of our companies rents the space. We aren't that far from Galen's club. The last time I saw him, I beat him at cards, so he might not be very happy to see me," Thor said with a sharp grin.

Nicola laughed. "Is Galen ever happy to see anyone?"