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  The sun shone brightly. I squinted against it for a minute, trying to adjust.

  Dace kept going, striding forward with determination. When he reached the edge of the property, he settled us on the ground, cradling me like a baby in his lap. The skin beneath my bandages pulled tight, but for some reason, I still didn’t hurt. I ached, but mostly I was tired.

  “Call for Buka,” he instructed me.

  “She’s here?” I asked. Beebe had no hospital.

  “She’s bound to you,” Dace said as if that explained it. I guess maybe it did.

  “Buka,” I whispered, my eyes scanning the shadows around the trees, trying to pick her out. I felt her out there like the scent of something familiar tickling my nose. Buka’s scent.

  She shot out from behind a tree like a bullet, racing toward me as soon as her name left my lips. Fuki ran at her heels.

  “Buka,” I said happily as she slid to a stop in front of us, bringing her face right up to mine. Fuki stopped beside her, his tail twitching.

  Buka whined and butted me gently.

  “I missed you, too,” I said, my eyes misty. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  Fuki yapped.

  “You, too,” I said and smiled at him.

  He yapped again, dancing around in excitement.

  Buka leaned away, looking at me.

  “I know, but I’m okay now,” I said and glanced up at Dace. “He’s very protective.”

  Buka rolled her eyes.

  “I know,” I said, chuckling a little at her.

  Dace shifted, and Buka looked up at him before dropping back to sit on her haunches.

  He dipped his head toward me. “How do you know what she’s saying?” he asked, his eyes brighter than usual.

  “I—” I frowned. I wasn’t sure how I knew. I just … did. Like with his wolf. My eyes widened, flickering to Dace’s. “Oh.” My lips formed the word, but no sound came out. “How?” I whispered, amazed.

  “You died,” he whispered back, taking my hand in his once more. The words trembled on his lips. I had a feeling he would never be able to say them without pain. “Do you remember?”

  I wracked my brain and then nodded hesitantly. “I couldn’t feel you,” I said. “It scared me.”

  His eyes darkened with guilt, but he nodded anyway.

  “I felt something else too,” I whispered. “When I slept.” I frowned, trying to remember. His heart had been breaking, and something inside me responded. My wolf responded to his pain. I glanced up at him. “I shifted?”

  “Not quite,” he murmured as he raised my hand to his lips. “Your wolf didn’t come out completely, but she woke up.” He smiled, his eyes lightening again. “You’re healing fast, too.”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  “I can feel it in you, you know,” he said, “and so can the wolves. It’s stronger now.”

  A tear slipped down my cheek.

  “I can hear my wolf in your mind, too,” he whispered in awe. “It’s like an echo of his thoughts. He truly does love you.”

  I shuddered as a sob bubbled up.

  “Does that scare you?” Dace asked, instantly alarmed.

  I shook my head, crying openly again. It didn’t scare me at all. I wasn’t entirely broken. We weren’t entirely weakened. And Dace could finally hear the wolf. He could finally believe what I’d been trying to tell him. How could I ever be afraid of that?

  “You can hear him? You can really hear him?” I whispered, needing to hear him say the words again.

  “I can.” He looked down at me, his gaze holding mine captive as he stared at me with fire in his eyes. Slowly, the walls that had always kept me out of his mind shifted and then crumbled.

  Emotions, thoughts, memories, everything he was and everything he felt settled around me like a warm blanket. His mind was as ordered and controlled as it had been when I’d caught glimpses before, but there was a subtle wildness winding through it like ropes of gold now, too. Freedom.

  He’d truly let the wolf out of his cage.

  “I love you, Dace,” I cried against his lips.

  I love you, Arionna. The thought didn’t whisper in my mind alone this time. It whispered in his, fanned across mine, and echoed in the wolf’s. We weren’t whole yet, but we were closer than we’d ever come before, and it felt like nothing ever had.

  It felt like home. For both of us.

  Epilogue

  Dace?” I murmured. I’d been awake on and off since he’d carried me back to my bed hours ago, and I could barely hold my eyes open. I didn’t want to sleep though. I wanted to stay with him. I wanted to stay in his and his wolf’s mind.

  ”What is it, love?” He settled onto the bed beside me, careful not to jostle me. I still wasn’t feeling much pain, and I was healing fast like he’d said, but Sköll caused a lot of damage and my wolf hadn’t woken enough to heal it all.

  Dad said it was a miracle I’d come back. I didn’t tell him, but it wasn’t a miracle. It was fate. Dace needed me. Whichever god was in charge up there at the moment wouldn’t let him face our destiny coming without me.

  As things stood, he, Ronan and the wolves barely managed to fight Sköll and Hati back. Dad confessed that, had I not been in such danger, he wasn’t sure they would have been able to do it. Dace had been fighting for my life, and Ronan had been fighting for both of ours.

  Sköll and Hati were still out there somewhere though, and we still didn’t know who they were. We couldn’t sense them, and until we killed them, they’d keep coming back for Chelle and Beth, for Ronan, for Dace, and for me, too. They wouldn’t give up. They couldn’t. Just as Dace, Ronan, and I had been sent to stop them, they’d been sent to see this through. It was their destiny, and eventually, they would fulfill it.

  I prayed we were able to beat them back one more time though. I’d already lost too much. I wasn’t ready to let the end of the world take Dace away from me, not when I’d just found him. Not when I’d already left him once. Unfortunately, I didn’t think destiny cared much for what I wanted.

  That was a terrifying thought to consider.

  ”You still don’t trust Ronan, do you?” I said around a yawn.

  Dace didn’t say anything.

  “Why not?”

  Ronan still made me uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure that would ever change, but he belonged with us. He was as necessary and vital to all of this as we were. He’d been sent by Odin to fight at our backs like he had for millennia. I couldn’t quite imagine that. I figured I was allowed to be a little overwhelmed though. I had died, after all.

  “He hurt you,” Dace growled after a minute. The wolf grumbled his agreement. The anger and fierce protectiveness they felt echoed like song in my head. My boys were not at all happy with Ronan Lacrosse.

  “You’ll have to forgive him someday,” I said, cuddling against Dace as best I could. Nothing seemed to move as it should. I had a feeling recovery would be a long process even with my increased healing ability.

  “Don’t count on it,” he vowed softly, his lips at my ear. “He’s still alive because he risked his life so you could get away. If it weren’t for that—”

  “No!” I tried to roll to look at him and was frustrated when I couldn’t do it without his help. “You can’t hurt him, Dace. We need him. The world needs him.”

  He scowled.

  “I’m serious,” I told him, my hand squeezing his weakly. “He’s the only one who remembers any of this, and you two are the only ones who can still shift. You are absolutely forbidden from harming him, no matter what he does. I can’t lose you. I won’t.”

  “You aren’t going to lose me,” he said softly, his expression softening beneath my panic. “I’m not going anywhere, love.”

  “Promise me you won’t hurt him,” I demanded, refusing to be placated. I knew he wouldn’t go anywhere voluntarily. That wasn’t the point. He might not have a choice in the matter.

  He stared down at me, and I allowed my thoughts to whisper what
neither of us wanted to say aloud: Ragnarök was coming. We couldn’t pretend that wasn’t happening. I couldn’t pretend that wasn’t happening. I’d seen Fenrir. I knew what awaited us if we failed. If Ronan could help us stop that and keep Dace safe, he would help even if I had to bind him to me to make it happen.

  Dace stroked my cheek as his wolf curled his mind around mine, both of them trying to soothe the fear coursing through me. A few moments later, he sighed. “I won’t hurt him.”

  For you, he whispered in our minds. Only for you, Arionna.

  I closed my eyes, relieved by the depth of his promise. I’d expected reluctance, and he’d given me the biggest concession he could. Dace and his wolf would do whatever they could to protect me, just as they’d protected me in every life we’d ever lived. We might have been fading, but our bond was not.

  I had every intention of ensuring what we felt for one another was enough to save the world one more time. Ragnarök might have been coming, but it wouldn’t get here.

  Somehow, I’d make sure of that.

  Thank You For Reading.

  © 2012 A.K. Morgen

  http://akmorgen.com

  Curiosity Quills Press

  http://curiosityquills.com

  Please visit http://curiosityquills.com/reader-survey/ to share your reading experience with the author of this book!

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

  A.K. Morgen lives in Little Rock, Arkansas with her real life hero, their daughter, two dogs, and her demonic cat. She has a graduate degree in Criminal Justice and Law, and grand plans to save the world someday.

  A.K. wrote her first story at the age of seven, and published her first book locally at the age of twelve. She’s written in a variety of genres since, and has published numerous poems and research articles. Her boss loves to put her writing skills to use by having her write procedure and operations manuals for her day job.

  When not writing, she spends time teaching her niece and nephews things their mothers’ wish they didn’t know, conspiring with her sister and daughter on new and inventive ways to drive her husband mad, dancing in the grocery store, building a spork army, and fundraising for nonprofits close to her heart. She’s a volunteer coordinator for one of her favorite charities, and loves to spend her free time getting into mischief with her favorite partners-in-crime..

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  © 2012 A.K. Morgen

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  ISBN: 978-1-62007-084-0 (ebook)

  ISBN: 978-1-62007-085-7 (paperback)

  ISBN: 978-1-62007-086-4 (hardcover)

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  Table of Contents

  Appetizer:

  Book Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Main Course:

  Veluspa, Stanza 40

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Dessert:

  Closing

  About the Author

  Copyright & Publisher

  More from Curiosity Quills Press

  Table of Contents

  Start Reading

  About the Author

  Copy
right

  More Books

  Full Table of Contents

  Book Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Veluspa, Stanza 40

  Prologue

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Closing