The Winter

Chapter 20

A/N

Mo chreach, guys, I didn't realise how many reads these chapters were getting! Keep up the good work, and keep commenting and sharing!

Pronouciation/Glossary

Seiðr - magic (say-der)
Ceart, a ghraidh - right/okay, darling/love (cersht a ghrye)

When it rains, it pours. . .

Chapter 20

Hoping to return home to a peaceful castle was wishful thinking.

Caldar wasn't waiting for us alone in Hati's study when we arrived. Ingrid clung to his arm, and when her shocked face swung towards us, I saw puffy red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

She watched with parted lips as the air whipped around the cramped room and the first rainbow of the Bifröst disappeared behind us. As the wind settled around us, I caught a whiff of an overly sweet scent. Vali and Hati sniffed the air too. Ingrid was close to her heat. No wonder Caldar was leaning back from her, his head turned away and face growing red as if he was holding his breath.

Instincts swept away what I'd noticed about her appearance. A low growl rumbled from my chest as I placed myself between my mate and a fertile female. Bonded to me or not, each sniff he took of the pheromone laced scent filling the room sent a flicker of jealousy through my gut.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hati asked, his voice husky and low, one arm raised in front of Vali as if his uncle was the only one who'd taken a step towards the shivering female staring with wide, misty emerald eyes.

"They've arrested my father," she choked, stumbling forward to throw herself at me.

I blinked as her head went to my shoulder, her arms curling around me, heaving sobs wracking the taller females form. Every inch of her trembled. The growl caught in my throat, freeing itself in a gentle purr of comfort as my arms came up around her. "How? Why would they do that?"

Caldar answered for the sobbing female, "A group of scouts found him in the forest after curfew. He was burning parchment."

"A clever way to send messages with seiðr," Hati finished, his posture growing defensive as he eyed Ingrid still clinging to me as if he wished to rip her away.

She did so herself, shaking her head so unbound Auburn hair swung wildly around her. One hand gripped my arm much as I'd found her with Caldar, her gaze whipping between us all before settling on me. Apparently she believed I would be swayed more easily than the male she'd known far longer, a male she had feelings for.

"You have to believe me, Eabha. We are friends now are we not? You have spent time with me and with my father, so you must know as I do that he would not do this," she pleaded. Wiping the tears from her face, she stood taller, a sheen of silver in her eyes as she insisted more fiercely, "He would not betray Hati. He would not betray me. He would not betray the God we follow for Sköll. You know this." Turning to Hati, her hands clasped together in front of her chest. "You know this pack means everything to him. He is stern, unkind sometimes yes, but not cruel. He would never go to Sköll. He's a good Christian man, he just wouldn't."

She was right. Gerlac would not betray the pack when he now had as high a position as could be granted without being Alpha of his own pack. He loved Ingrid, he cared for Hati and the wider pack - even myself though he would never admit it.