The second he disappears from sight, Cadoc slams the door. “Gather your things. We need to perform the ritual now.”
Twenty minutes later, I’m standing in the center of a salt ring surrounded by white candles. My shift trails along the ground. I wait patiently for the concoction Kirk has in the anointing oil.
I clear my mind of thoughts as heat and steam form a haze in the spa. In inhale deeply, my muscles relaxing.
The flames on the candles jump high. Potent energy enters the room. A cool wind sweeps in coming from all directions.
I clutch my dress as pressure pushes against the barrier. The door bangs open. My clan calls for me.
“Ylva,” Fell’s voice cuts through the worry clouding my mind.
“I’m here. Something’s trying to get into the circle.”
“Bring the anointment oil now,” Fell commands.
I kneel to make myself a smaller target. Wrapping my arms around my waist. Dark apparitions approach me. They ram against the circle’s barrier. I scream.
“We’re under attack,” Fell yells.
I sing an old Norse song to ward away evil spirits. Someone sent these here to us. The forms flicker and return.
Long nails claw at the wall between us trying to gain entrance. The door bursts open. Bo runs in swinging an iron fire poker.
It slices through the figures. Fell swings heavy cast iron skillets, and Cadoc wields an ash shovel like an axe.
They lend their voices to the song as the shadowy beings shriek and dissipate. Kirk stumbles through the door holding up a bottle of blessed oil.
“Douse me.” Rushing over, Kirk cuts a path into the circle with an athame, closing it back quickly.
The warm oil pours over my head as he pulls out a piece of paper from his pocket. His hands shake as he recites the words carefully. White fog rolls into the room, obscuring my feet. My body tingles.
Kirk pauses. “Keep going. I’m fine.” The reading begins and I fall to my knees as my body gives. Pain rips through my body as bones crack. Fur forces itself out of my skin as the shift is perverted. My she-wolf battles against the unexpected shift before we both surrender. It only hurts if you resist. Kirk’s brown eyes are round and spellbound. He remains still as a statue, until I yip.
Kirk kneels before me. “I can feel your power, Ylva.” I wag my tail.
He runs his hands through the fur on my back, and I rub against him. I bark playfully.
“You were marked.” He lifts my paw. A white valknut is etched into my fur.
I lick his hand.
He laughs. “I get it. I’ll finish now.” Releasing my paw, he stands.
I sit on my haunches listening while he carefully recites a chant. Sleep forces my eyes shut and I lay on my belly resting my snout on my paws.
Fighting the exhaustion, I and watch the men transform. Spent, I succumb to the encroaching darkness.
Coming to, I find myself back on Lyngvi Island. The strange plane of existence where Fenrir resides is growing on me.
The rest of my pack surrounds me. Silver cords join us. Energy flows between us, running in a continuous loop.
A lonely howl rings out. The metallic connections glows, pulsing brightly. I avert my gaze to avoid its intensity. The cords snap. Electricity spills over into each of us, issuing smalls shocks.
Every muscle in my body aches. I open my eyes and find the boys laid out around the spa room.
“What happened?” Kirk slowly rolls onto his side.
“I’m not sure,” I whisper.
“Power backlash.” Cadoc groans. “I have felt nothing like that since I transformed with the enforcers for the first time.”
Bo grunts. “Seems unfair to have a hangover when I didn’t drink a drop.”
“Fell.” My voice shakes.
“Here, I think.” His gruff voice echoes in the air.
“When we peel ourselves off the floor, we’ll have to talk about what happened,” Cadoc’s voice rumbles.
“You had a mark.” Kirk moistens his lips with his tongue and crawls over to lift my sleeve.
“I got that before.” I bite my lower lip. “When I first received a vision.”
“And you didn’t think to share that, Brat?” Cadoc snaps.
“A lot was going on.”
“That’s not the same one in the dream.” Kirk scans my body.
