Chapter 7

7

N icola tried not to gape like a fool at the large hall she found herself in. If she hadn't known she was in Inferno, she would have thought she had woken up in Scandinavia. The hall was made of wood with high, heavily carved beams and a roof that curved like she was in the upturned hull of a ship. A fire blazed at the center, with long benches and tables on either side of it.

Nicola swallowed her nerves and straightened up, fixing a bored expression on her face. She would not give her nerves away to anyone watching.

Thor sat on a carved throne, still dressed much like her in jeans and a T-shirt. His hair was down around his shoulders, and her fingers twitched to touch it.

The Blood Wolf was her mate. There was no trying to deny it when every part of her knew the truth. She had heard about true bonds her entire life but thought they were a myth. Bonds had to be forced and accepted by each other to bind. They weren't naturally occurring. Yet there it was…an invisible line tugging her toward the most feared Blood Lord in the city.

And he didn't look the least bit bothered or impressed by the three wolves that were standing in front of him.

Nicola recognized them instantly. There were two younger wolves, Matthew and Alex. They were Kaleb's bruisers who had gotten in on trying to beat information out of her. The third was an older wolf, Stephen, who had been one of her father's friends and had always acted as the pack emissary.

Nicola remembered him sneaking her sweets as a child when no one was looking. She pushed down the memory. She couldn't trust him any more than she could trust the other two.

"Ah, there she is. You see, gentleman, Nicola is well," Thor said, his voice calm. "In fact, she's in a much better state than when she arrived here."

Stephen frowned. "What does that mean?"

"You didn't know that your pack has imprisoned her for the past two months? That does seem like an oversight for an emissary," Thor said, and his words cut through the hall like a blade.

Stephen flinched. The other two did not.

"It is wolf business," Matthew stated. "Hand her over."

A huge man sitting on one of the benches let out a soft laugh. "You don't come into our territory and make any demands on my jarl , pup. That's how you get your tail ripped off."

Matthew snarled softly like the fool he was. "And you think you're one to do it? You kidnapped one of ours. We have a right to demand her back."

Thor ignored the dick measuring. He was looking Nicola over from her bare feet to her braided hair. Heat coiled in her belly in response, and he must have seen something on her face because his eyes flashed scarlet for a flicker of a second.

"Nicola, please tell these idiots the truth," Thor said, his voice a little huskier than what it had been.

"Lord Thor is right. I came here of my own free will and requested sanctuary with the Blood Pack," she told the wolves.

The answering curl in Alex's lip made her long for the ax that Astrid had offered her. "You have no free will, bitch. You are in the Pateras Pack, which means you belong to the Alpha."

Nicola tasted bile in the back of her throat. Thor was well within his rights to return her to them and save himself the fight that would come.

"Nicola is in my territory, which means if she belongs to anyone, it is me, wolf," Thor growled. He turned to her and smiled, showing his curving canines. Impossibly, seeing that smile made her nerves settle. He held out a hand, and heat flared in her belly again. Her wolf really liked the idea of belonging to Thor. "Isn't that right, little one?"

Nicola took his big, calloused hand before she could think too hard about it. Thor drew her to him and into his lap, but she didn't fight it. She didn't want to either. Her wolf was all but turning over and showing him her belly, wanting to be stroked. Her skin went hot as soon as her ass touched his thick thighs, but she tried to keep her face calm.

"That's right," she said, her mouth drying out as she settled against the heavily muscled chest. She wasn't a petite woman, but he was so big that he made her feel like one.

"What the fuck are you doing? Get off that abomination now," Matthew hissed, a flicker of command in his voice. As Kaleb's second, she should have done everything that he asked. He no longer had any power over her.

"Did you hear that? I'm an abomination. Are you scared?" Thor asked her, a teasing note in his voice.

Nicola smiled at him. If she looked at him, she wouldn't have to look at the two males who had brutalized her. "Not even a little bit."

Thor's arm slid around her waist. "Do you want to go back with them or stay here with me? The choice is yours."

"I want to stay here with you," she replied honestly.

"You can't," Stephen's voice cut through the snarls that the others were making. "They lack tact, but they are right. You must return to the pack to sort this out properly, Nicola. You know better than anyone that wolves govern wolves. You belong with us."

Nicola pressed back into Thor, hoping he wouldn't freak out on her. She turned back to the wolves, raised her chin, and declared, "I belong with my mate."

Behind her, Thor didn't even tense a muscle at the profound statement.

"Which is Kaleb!" Alex shouted.

"I accepted no bond with Kaleb no matter how much he tried to force one," Nicola hissed, her temper flaring. It had always gotten her into trouble, but she had thrown all caution into the wind. "My wolf helped me escape from that basement you've been keeping me in and brought me to where I belong. To my true mate."

Thor's grip on her tightened, but he didn't object. If anything, he was keeping her grounded to him. His fingers moved in a reassuring caress against her hip.

"You can't be serious," Stephen said. His face had turned gray, and he looked older than she had ever seen him.

" Serious were the wounds my mate was suffering from when she collapsed at my feet," Thor growled, the base of his voice sending a vibration through Nicola's back. Her heart was beating so fast that there would be no way to hide it from him or the shifters in the hall. " Serious is what I could bring down on the Pateras Pack if you don't leave me and mine in peace. Get it through your thick heads—Nicola is mine ."

Thor's alpha power whipped out, and all three of the wolves winced and stepped back. Nicola's hands gripped the arms of the chair to hold herself steady.

Thor's anger seared every word. "Since you are so keen to spout Pack Law, please don't forget that mate bonds will always trump pack ones. If not Pack Law, take into consideration I am a Blood Lord, and you have caused harm to one of mine. I would be within my rights to tear those responsible apart with my fangs, and no one would stop me. Now get the fuck out of my sight and out of Blood Pack territory before I send you back to your Alpha in pieces. If he has an issue, tell him to take it up with the dragons."

Nicola watched the three of them leave, escorted by the large man who had been sitting at the table. Stephen shot her a confused look but wasn't foolish enough to try and stay when he had been dismissed.

The breath whooshed out of her as soon as the heavy wooden doors of the hall shut behind them. She covered her face with her trembling hands as she tried to get her anger and lingering terror of the wolves under control. "Oh, gods."

"I could smell your fear when you came into the hall. Which one of them hurt you?" Thor asked, his voice was soft but no less deadly.

Nicola dropped her hands from her face. Thor's eyes were scarlet, and she knew there was no point in lying to him. "Both Matthew and Alex had turns in beating me."

Thor's nostrils flared. "And the old one? He didn't seem to know that the alpha had locked you up."

"I doubt Kaleb would have told him. Stephen was a friend of my father," she replied. She opened her mouth to explain the mating bond. If he really was her mate, she had to protect him from Kaleb. "You should probably give me back to them. Save yourself the hassle with both the wolves and the vampires."

"No." Absolute finality.

Nicola couldn't look him in the eye, so she stared at her still shaking hands in her lap. "You don't understand. I'm a disgraced dead alpha's daughter. Lowest of the low. You don't deserve the fight over me that's about to come to your door."

Warm fingers brushed against her chin and forced her to look at him. His eyes were back to their pale blue. "I will decide what is worth fighting for. If you were the lowest of the low, they wouldn't be trying to get you back so badly."

"It's because I know what they are planning," Nicola replied, trying to hold his gaze. "It won't matter that Kaleb wanted to mate me anymore. As soon as I leave your territory, I will be dead."

Thor leaned down so they were almost nose to nose. "Do I look like the kind of male that is going to let his mate go now that he has found her?"

"Y-You knew?" she whispered, heat burning her cheeks.

"I knew as soon as I got a good hit of your scent. I'm glad you know it too. It saves me from having to explain to you why if those wolves that hurt you come back here, I'm going to blood eagle them," he replied.

Nicola didn't know what to do with that information. It probably shouldn't have made her smile, and it still did. "You don't seem too upset that some half-crazed woman who threw herself at your feet is your mate. And that mate is a wolf."

"Do I seem sane to you, little wolf? You are only half-crazed. That means you are half sane, which is more than the rest of my people."

Nicola choked on her surprised laughter. "That is one way to look at it. You really don't seem bothered by any of this. You are a vampire, too, and a Blood Lord, no less. Us being mates should be impossible. It's certainly forbidden by all of our peoples."

That only made Thor smile wider. "I'd love any of them to try and stop me from claiming you. Believe me, I have had much more fearsome enemies than Kaleb and the current Blood Lords, Nicola." He stroked her cheek with his thumb. "As for the mate issue? We will figure out that between us. I've never forced myself on a woman, and I'm not going to force myself on you either. You can rest easy there."

The big man returned and interrupted them. "They are gone, but they aren't going to stay that way."

"Prepare a watch, Bjorn, and bring us some food and mead. My mate needs to eat," Thor said before carrying her over and sitting her down at one of the large tables before the fire. "And then she's going to tell me everything I want to know."