Chapter 4

4

N icola woke on a pile of soft furs with a dragon snarling above her. She blinked at the carving and let her eyes focus. It was of stunning Scandinavian design, and its serpentine body curved protectively around a wolf. She rubbed at her face and then realized that her hands didn't hurt. Nothing hurt.

"What the..." she whispered, and her stomach growled. Okay, so one thing hurt.

"Go easy, little wolf. You have been out for the whole day," a deep voice grumbled from the shadows in the corner of the room.

Nicola swallowed the dry feeling in her mouth before reaching for the water beside the bed. She had a mouthful and then drained the glass. She should be scared of waking up in a stranger's bed, with that stranger looking at her from the shadows. But she wasn't in pain for the first time in... She didn't know how long she’d been in that basement.

There was a soft tap at the door, and Nicola covered herself up with the blanket, curling her body tightly in self-defense.

"Fuck," the stranger grumbled. "No one is going to harm you, little wolf. I promise. Come in, Astrid."

A powerfully built blonde woman with an undercut came in carrying a heavy-looking tray. "Good. It lives. Have something to eat, wolf, for all our sakes."

The stranger in the shadows growled, but Astrid ignored him and put the tray on the bed. "I assumed you would want it bloody."

"Thank you?" Nicola replied, her voice cracking. She didn't look the woman in the eye. She smelled strange—like a wolf but not like any shifter Nicola had encountered. Astrid shut the door softly behind her.

"Eat," the voice grumbled.

Nicola lifted the silver lid over the tray, which was piled high with venison. She didn't wait long enough to reach for a knife and fork; she grabbed hunks of meat in her hands and started shoving them into her mouth.

"How long has it been since you ate?"

Nicola's mouth was too full to answer, so she shrugged and kept eating. The wolf was in charge of her now, even if her form was human. The pain in her stomach eased, and she managed to slow her stuffing.

"Where am I?" she asked between mouthfuls.

"You don't remember?" The question was gentle but not surprised.

Nicola ate more of the meat, and her mind started to piece together what she could of the night. Her hand and back throbbed in memory of wounds that were now healed. She could hear the echo of howls as the wolves hunted her, wolves that she had once considered friends.

She had let her own wolf guide their path because her human fear would have made her freeze instead of flee. Neither one of them had the strength to fight.

The feeling of safety and warm alpha power curled around her like a blanket. She had only felt that power once before, at the party the night she had been taken by Kaleb. She couldn't believe her wolf had known enough about the man she had never seen in order to find him again. She looked at the Viking decor, and a chill swept up her spine. It couldn't possibly be…

The stranger leaned forward in his chair, the bulk of his shoulders and scarred, tattooed forearms coming into the light. His silver-white hair hung in a braid, leaving nothing to soften the face of slashing cheekbones and pale blue eyes. He was wearing battered black jeans and a gray T-shirt, and yet there was no mistaking he was a king.

Thorfinn Halfdansson was like looking at some kind of ancient winter god, complete with blue Runic and Viking tattoos. Gods, he was gorgeous. Nicola knew she shouldn't stare at an alpha, but she couldn't help it.

Nicola fought to swallow down the piece of meat stuck in her throat. "You're the Blood Wolf."

"I have many names. You can call me Thor," he said. His head tilted slightly, looking her over. Wolves didn't really care too much about nudity, but Nicola felt like he could see straight through the blanket to her bare skin. Bare .

"Did you take my clothes?" she asked.

"They weren't fit to be called clothes anymore. Astrid and I had to clean you to tend to your wounds."

"My wounds… How are they healed?"

Thor didn't hesitate. "I gave you some of my blood."

"Oh, gods." Nicola covered her face with her hands. "The wolves are going to kill me if they find out."

"It looks like they were trying to kill you anyway. Their ridiculous blood taboo seems to be the least of your troubles, little wolf."

Thor said it so easily. Blood taboo . Like it was nothing. The wolves hated vampires because of centuries-old vendettas. To fuck them was bad enough to get exiled from your pack. To share blood with them meant you were dead to the wolves forever. Some pack leaders would go so far as to kill the wolf involved.

Nicola could hear her father howling from the Afterlife. She wanted to howl back in fury at him that he had died and put her in the position of being subjected to Kaleb's leadership.

"Your wounds were numerous, and I would like the names of every single person who inflicted them on you," Thor said, his blue eyes going even colder. Nicola pulled herself back from the spiral that threatened to drag her under. "And why did they do this to you?"

"That's complicated." Nicola rubbed the back of her neck, wondering if he would believe her story or just think she was full of shit. He had every right to hand her back over to the wolves.

If Thor had been planning on doing that, he could have done it already. She was clean, full, and free of pain for the first time in months. Her wolf had taken her to the place she felt the safest. Why the fuck her wolf had decided it was the Blood Wolf, the scariest motherfucker in Inferno, was beyond her.

Biggest alpha , the wolf said inside of her. Nicola knew there was probably more to it than that because the biggest alphas in the city were the dragons.

Thor crossed his arms, and Nicola couldn't help but notice how big they were. Everything about him was massive. He scared the shit out of both vampires and wolves and with good reason.

The night of the party, she had only seen glimpses of him, but she knew he was one of the people that Kaleb wanted to bring down. She was going to try and talk to him or his second when Kaleb's cronies grabbed her.

"Before you collapsed at my feet, you said someone was going to try and destroy me. Is that true?" Thor was being patient, a lot more patient than other wolves she had met.

But he wasn't a wolf, was he? He was a warg. They had been transformed by magic. An abomination made worse because then a vampire had changed him. That's what the stories said, anyway. And that was only one of the many they whispered about Thor and his pack.

Thor decided to try something different. "What's your name?"

"Nicola Markides," she replied.

Thor's eyes widened. "The old alpha's daughter?"

"Yes."

"Why the fuck has your pack done this to you? You're like a princess to them," Thor demanded.

Nicola let out a bitter laugh. "I didn't mean shit to them once my father died. The new pack leader wanted me as a mate. I refused his hand. Amongst other things."

"He did this to you? The wounds on your back? What else ?" Thor's eyes turned red.

"The wounds on my back and my broken hand were from my escape attempt. Everything else was them. Kaleb Pateras and his cronies in the Pateras Pack."

Thor's eyes didn't change back. If anything, he looked angrier. "Do you need a doctor for…ladies' things? Did he…"

"He didn't rape me, if that is what you are asking. They just felt me up and threatened it a lot. Kaleb wanted me as a mate too badly, and he doesn't share. He wanted me to submit ." The words tasted bitter in her mouth. She wanted to cut all their dicks off regardless.

Once, she had thought them her friends, her brothers. That had all changed when Kaleb had taken leadership.

Nicola tried and failed to stop the tears filling her eyes. She hadn't shed a tear when she had been imprisoned, even after all the beatings and threats. Yet, faced with this giant Viking, she finally wanted to cry her eyes out.

Thor uncrossed his arms and gripped the wooden arms of his chair. Claws had sprung free from his fingertips. "Please don't cry. You are safe here. You asked for help, and I will give it to you."

"Why?" she asked and swiped at her cheeks. "You don't know me."

"I know that you have information about enemies moving against me. You are…an ally." Thor clenched his fists, and the claws retracted. "You asked for help. Consider your sanctuary with the Blood Pack granted for the time being. Do you need more food?"

Nicola looked down at the empty platter. "Yes?"

"Then it will be done. Eat. Rest. We will talk later." Thor got up and hurried from the room, his eyes still shining scarlet. He looked ready to kill something, and Nicola hoped it wasn't going to be her for bringing trouble to his door. Because when Kaleb found out where she was, he would declare war to get her back.