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By the time Dan got to Jem’s apartment there was screaming echoing down the stairs. Dan was exhausted, beyond exhausted in fact. His coat was slick with sweat, yet he found the energy to bound up the stairs and into the room. His one and only thought was to protect Jem. He knew he’d have to explain all this to her now and he had no idea how he was going to do that, but he’d try. He had to. As soon he got into the room he knocked Gerard, who was massive in his black wolf form, to the floor, only to come face to face with not only Jem but a large male member of the Aesir. Jem hid behind the incredibly tall man her small frame shaking like a leaf.
Dan shifted to his human form in an instant. “Jem get away from him! He’s dangerous!” he announced frantically.
Gerard moaned on the floor in his wolf form. Jem’s eyes shot wide open in shock as she took in the two of them.
“You’re a. You..” She stuttered her eyes darting between the three men in her lounge.
Tears welled up in her eyes. “He told me, but I didn’t believe him. I didn’t want to believe him, but I can’t exactly deny it when you change right in front of my eyes. I wondered why a guy that looks like you would ever be interested in a girl like me. It was just a way for you to capture me so I couldn’t join the Norse gods to fight against you. You never even liked me at all!” She said, her tears spilling over.
Dan watched as the tears overflowed and ran down her face. He thought his heart might break right there in his chest.
“No little dove. It’s not like that.” He pleaded with her.
“So you didn’t come to Ivaldi to capture me?” She asked, disbelief written all over her face.
Dan was so focused on Jem he didn’t notice what the Aesir was doing. “Initially yes, but then I met you. I would never hurt you.” He said.
“Then what is he doing here?!” she screamed, pointing at Gerard.
Dan prepared to answer. Tried to explain, but the next thing he knew burning red threads had been wrapped around his wrists, ankles and neck, and he was writhing on the floor. The Aesir had managed to bind the burning threads on both him and Gerard while Dan had been focused on Jem. The Aesir must have been one of Freya’s. Or had borrowed a spell from her, because in an instant he managed to transport himself, Jem and both Dan and Gerard to what had to be Folkvang, Freya’s hall, in Asgard. Dan felt as though his stomach had been turned inside out, though he wasn’t sure if that was from the travel to Asgard, the bright red threads that bound him, the feeling of complete and utter failure that was overwhelming him, or simply because he was forced to watch as Ali led Jem away without giving him the chance to explain.
He stared down the wood-lined hallway for what felt like an eternity, the masterfully carved panelling unable to distract his attention from the pain that left him crippled on the floor for more than a few moments. Before long two burley Einherjar arrived, picking up the writhing forms of both Dan and Gerard, half carrying, half dragging them into the bowels of Freya’s hall. Even in his pain-ridden semi-conscious state, Dan knew this was not a good place. This was a place people came to die. Guilt ate at him as they were chained to the dungeon wall. Thanks to Dan he and his best friend would likely spend the rest of their lives in this dark, dank, death shrouded place. Honestly, what more could go wrong today? His mate thought he’d betrayed her and was nowhere to be found, and the screaming agony of the red threads was so bad he had started retching. It was actually a relief when sweet nothingness finally took over and he blacked out.
“Dan. Dan! Daniel!” Gerard’s voice reached Dan through the fog of unconsciousness.
Turning his aching head he saw his friend chained up on a wall. The red threads had been removed from his neck and ankles, and he hung naked in human form by his wrists, one of which was still bound by the painful thread.
Given the ache in his own shoulders, Dan surmised he was bound much the same way and had been suspended like this for quite some time.
“Man, are you okay?” Gerard asked, his voice sounded raw.
Dan looked over at him cringing at the purple and yellow bruises that coloured Gerard’s side. Dan had rammed him hard when he had crashed into him in Jem’s apartment.
He nodded. “I’m alive. You?”
“Great. And now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, do you want to explain to me what the hell is going on?” He asked, “Why did you take me out back there? Why didn’t you just grab the girl when your Dad told you to?”
Gerard looked pissed, though truthfully that was actually a pretty common look for Gerard, at least when he was on a mission. When he was on a job he was all business. They both were.
“She’s my mate.” Dan sighed.
Gerard’s eyes bugged out. “But she’s Valkyrie!” He exclaimed.
“You think I don’t know that!” Dan said in frustration.
“Why didn’t you just tell me? I wouldn’t have taken the mission.” Gerard sighed.
“I would have if Drew hadn’t gone behind my back and sent you out! I’ve been looking for you since I got back to the den.” Dan exclaimed in frustration.
Gerard’s face shadowed. “Drew! What is it with that guy? Considering he’s your brother he can be a real dick.”
Dan sighed. “He thought it was some kind of spell or something. He was trying to protect me.”
Even as he said it, he knew it was true. Drew could be a jerk, but he loved his family. He had honestly thought he was protecting Dan. That sending Gerard out would help. That it was the right thing to do, and the most efficient way to get things done. Otherwise Dan knew he wouldn’t have done it. Like Dan, Drew had never reacted to any of the females that had reached their heat. It was actually a bit of a running joke amongst his brothers. None of them had ever understood why the males around them acted like such idiots when the females came into heat. Heck, he’d felt the same way before he met Jem. But as soon as he met her it was like something shifted inside of him. From a logical perspective, he should have been fine with Gerard collecting Jemima and bringing her home to the den. But he hadn’t been. He didn’t want anybody, any male, to put their hands on her at all, and he hadn’t wanted her to be just snatched up from her home. He hadn’t wanted to scare her. He’d wanted to give her a chance to get to know him, to choose him. To give him a chance to share who he was with her. He’d wanted a chance to court her. But if he had just done what his Dad and brothers had wanted him to do in the first place and grabbed her, then she wouldn’t have been home when the Aesir came to get her. If he’d done what he’d been told, he and Gerard wouldn’t be in this mess and yet another Valkyrie wouldn’t be in the hands of the Aesir. This whole situation was his fault, and now he didn’t know what he could do to fix any of it.
Dan had spent his entire life in and out of caves. All Fenrir dens were made in caves, it was just the norm for his people, but the place he and Gerard were being kept was nothing like their well-maintained home. The dungeon was dark, dank, and despite the damp smell of mould it also somehow managed to be dry and dusty. The thing that worried Dan was that even though it was obvious there were no Fenrir in the dungeon with him and Gerard, the scents in the room were a clear sign that at some stage there had been. They weren’t the first, nor were they likely be the last Fenrir to be held in this place, and going by the smell of sweat, blood, and other unpleasant odours, torture was definitely on the tables.
Dan had absolutely no idea how long the two of them hung from the rough stone walls of the Aesir dungeon, but it wasn’t long before he realised that he would have happily hung there even with the physical exhaustion and the burning pain of the thin red band than answer to the Aesir.
The first sign they were coming was the smell. Dan had never met an Aesir up close. At least not before coming face to face with the one in Jem’s apartment, and that Aesir had smelt reasonably pleasant, like the pages of books, sunlight, and rain on hot soil. The smell that came in with the Aesir who entered the dungeon was definitely not good. Perhaps it had been once, but now it was like something off, like sickly sweet apples, vinegar, and iron. He smelt dangerous, and that didn’t bode well for either Dan or Gerard.
“Greetings gentlemen.” A refined voice said from the doorway. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Out of the darkness stepped a man with a grim smile and hair a startling blood red. He stood with confidence and grace. Simply put, the man was beautiful. Not handsome, but beautiful, in a severely menacing way.
“I can’t say the same about you.” Gerard coughed.
“Well now, that’s not very polite.” The man said, his grin ever-widening, exposing straight white teeth. “But not to worry. I’m sure we’ll be sharing our innermost thoughts and feelings in no time. Now my name is Freyr.” He said.
Dan’s stomach dropped as he shot a look at Gerard for confirmation. Freyr was the goddess Freya’s brother, and between the two of them, they ruled over the entire Aesir race. Usually with Freyr assisting his sister in whatever task she wanted done. Most of her tasks seemed to relate to tracking down and killing the Fenrir.
“What are your names?” Freyr asked.
Neither of them answered.
“I see.” He tutted. “I guess I’ll need to break the dominant first then. That seems to have been the most successful route in the past.”
He looked back and forth between them.
“I can’t imagine either of you will enjoy this.” He said, stripping off his high necked, long-sleeved, knee-length black jacket with gold embroidery.
He was wearing a pair of white slacks and a white shirt underneath. Perhaps to make a point. Dan had no doubt that his white clothes wouldn’t stay that colour for long.
“You’re the dominant then.” Freyr said looking at Dan.
“I’m the dominant.” Gerard growled.
Freyr laughed. “Further confirmation then.” He said looking at Dan. “Your man not only defends you, he looks to you as though waiting for direction. That’s a well-trained soldier you have there. But when I’m done with you, he’ll wonder why he ever followed you.” Freyr smiled.
Freyr pulled out what looked like a whip, only instead of thongs of leather, it had five long strips of the red ribbon that was burning its way into Dan’s wrist.
“It doesn’t look like much I know. But I think you’ll be surprised at its effectiveness.” Freyr said stretching his arm back and whipping the light ribbons forward.
It would have been comical, perhaps even a beautiful gesture. Like someone dancing with ribbons. But the sheer pain that lashed through Dan when the ribbons made contact with his flesh, and the way his skin split with each strike, carving out deep gouges before his Fenrir healing could take care of the wounds was monstrous.
He wanted to cry out, but he kept his teeth firmly clenched and his lips tightly together. He wouldn’t give Freyr the satisfaction of hearing him scream, grunt, or make any kind of noise, instead he glared over at Freyr.
Freyr’s grin widened as blood ran down from his face onto his clothes. “This always was my favourite part.” He said, his arm extending to strike another blow.
Gerard growled, and Dan continued to stare straight at Freyr.
Freyr laid lash upon lash on Dan’s bare skin. Meanwhile, Gerard’s wrists were coated in drying blood from where he fought against the restraints in an attempt to get to Dan. By the time Freyr stopped lashing Dan his face and clothes were completely red with blood, sweat plastered his body, and his smile had faltered only slightly.
“Well my friends.” Freyr said cheerily, as though they had just sat down for a leisurely cup of tea rather than endured a half-hour whipping session, “We shall take this up again in the morning. For now, sleep well.”
He snapped his fingers as he left and the chains around their wrists snapped open. Dan tumbled to the floor, unable to stand in his own strength. His wounds were oozing blood. At this point his accelerated Fenrir healing was completely useless. His body had been valiantly repairing itself for the last thirty minutes, and now he was so exhausted he’d be lucky if he didn’t bleed out.
Gerard roared towards the closing door. But it closed before he could get there, so he turned and ran to Dan’s side “Da...” Gerard started.
“No names.” Dan said, his voice cracking.
Gerard nodded seriously. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve felt better.” Dan laughed. “What’s bothering me now is that except for our names he hasn’t asked us anything. Which means either he’s going to start with the questions tomorrow, or he doesn’t actually care to ask us anything and is just getting pleasure from beating the tar out of me.”
“We just need to take these things off and then we’ll have no problems getting out of here.” Gerard said.
Gerard took Dan’s wrist in his hand and attempted to pull the thin red ribbon off. The moment he pulled on the cord agonising pain shot through Dan’s entire body. Gerard released Dan’s band as though it were on fire. Clearly trying to pull the band off had not only hurt Dan, but had shocked Gerard as well.
“I’m going to go with there being a spell to prevent us from removing these.” Dan said on a painful exhale.
He pushed himself up into a sitting position and leaned against the wall, cringing when his raw back made contact with the jagged stone. Gerard stood up and spent a few moments shaking the door before collapsing down next to him.
“So what do we do now?” Gerard sighed.
“There’s not much we can do as far as I can tell. We just have to wait it out.” Dan said.
“How much of this can you take?” Gerard asked, indicating Dan’s back.
“I’ll take as much as I have to.” Dan said, “In the meantime you keep strong. At this rate, you may need to carry me out.” He laughed.
“I don’t know how you managed not to cry out, just yanking that ribbon made me want to scream or shift. Wait. Shift.” Gerard said.
“No. Don’t.” Dan said.
It was too late. Gerard was already in the middle of attempting a shift. He got partway through, dropped to the ground in agony and started retching before laying down on his back to take a few deep breaths.
“I tried to warn you.” Dan said coughing, “I tried to shift when he was whipping me.”
“You couldn’t have warned me sooner?” Gerard asked.
Dan laughed. “Would you have listened?”
“Probably not.” Gerard acknowledged with a laugh of his own. “I can’t believe a tiny piece of ribbon managed all that.”
“Me either. But it does.” Dan said.