“And it’s my house!” Granddad stomps over to the pile of guns on the floor. “I told you to put these damn things away. Now I got to confiscate them and shit, like we rivals.”
Still grumbling, Granddad picks up all the guns.
I use the opportunity to push my voice into FJ’s mind, now that we’re well within range.
“Okay,” I say to him. “They’re disarmed. No more guns. You and Olafr can get out of here.”
No answer. Nothing. And I wonder if he can even hear me.
“Granddaughter, what the hell you think you doing? You even know how to use that sawed-off?” Granddad asks, interrupting before I can try to get through to FJ again.
My grimace must be answer enough, because he harrumphs and snatches it out of my hand, like I’m a baby who somehow got hold of a steak knife.
Then he goes over to Yancey and Olafr and kicks at them. “Stop that shit now, boys! You hear me? Right now!”
To my surprise, the wrestling match comes to an immediate stop. Yancey, who’s probably getting a little old for hand-to-hand combat, comes to his feet with a grunt. Olafr also stands. And they both wear the guilty looks of chastised school boys, as we all watch Granddad leave out the room with the gathered guns.
“I see you too chicken shit to come here without a beta,” Dad says to FJ, as soon as Granddad’s out of ear shot.
“He is not my beta,” FJ answers.
Nonetheless, Olafr abruptly comes to stand in front of me, beside FJ. That’s when I realize, with a pang, that FJ and Olafr are still in communication. FJ must be purposely keeping our mate bond closed.
And now my view of the room is double blocked, so it feels like I’m listening to one of those old timey radio shows as Dad and FJ continue their tense conversation beyond the wall o’ Vikings.
“Who is he then?” I hear my dad ask FJ.
“My brother,” FJ answers.
“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock,” my dad says. “I got that. But I figured most wolves ain’t going to drag their brother through a time gate unless he’s some kind of soft-ass king who needs a beta to do all his dirty work for him.”
A long beat of silence. Then FJ says, “My brother is called Olafr. He is the second son of Fenris the Serious. I am called Fenrisson and I am the first son of Fenris the Serious. If you wish, you may call me FJ. We have come to your land in search of weapons to vanquish our serpent enemy. And we come also for your princess, who is our fated mate.”
“Say what now?” my grandfather asks, coming back into the room empty-handed.
He frowns at me, like an older mirror of my father. “Is he trying to say you got heated with both of them?”
“Granddad, let me explain,” I start to say, though I really, really, really don’t want to spell any of this out to my family. Nonetheless, I open my mouth—
Only to get cut off by FJ. “Female, we have already explained,” he says, back still turned to me.#p#分页标题#e#
My eyes narrow. Okay, did he just call me female?
And then, because I guess saying it to my father wasn’t enough, he says to my grandfather. “Honored Fenrir Past, both my brother and I have claimed your granddaughter as our own.”
For once, my grandfather looks like he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on.
“But I thought me and Tikaani was negotiating a marriage for you,” he says to FJ. “You didn’t say nothing about your brother.”
“Pop,” my father says on the other side of my Viking wall, his voice low with threat. “What do you mean you was negotiating a marriage?” He sounds about ready to make Granddad’s retirement super permanent.
But my grandfather just shrugs. “This guy came out the woods talking about he was Tiara’s fated mate and he was here to negotiate for her hand. So I was like, ‘Okay, let’s talk.’”
Past alphas—especially past alphas who were also MC presidents—are owed a certain amount of respect. You are never, ever to raise your voice to them, much less question them in front of strangers. Those are among our state’s most sacred pack rules.
Still, I can hear Dad’s barely contained outrage as he says, “I’m Tiara’s father! I do all the negotiating. And she’s already engaged.”
“Yeah, I done heard about that business,” Granddad says, his lips setting into a disapproving line. “You going to have to call that off. Cuz, she with this light-skinned brother now.”
36
FJ watches the Detroit fenrir closely. His face reminds him much of their mate in this moment. The way his eyes slit, his mouth opening and closing in outrage. He can see well where she learned this expression.