Fall (The Ragnarok Prophesies) (8 page)

I ached to reach through the phone and wrap my arms around him.

Ronan cleared his throat.

Crap. I’d forgotten about him.

I covered the receiver and filled him in. “Dace thinks he was coming to help.”

“It’s happened before.”

“It has?”

Ronan nodded.

“Ronan says it’s happened before.”

“Put me on speaker,” Dace said.

“Dace….”

“Arionna….”

I hesitated, certain I’d live to regret putting him on speaker phone, but I did it anyway. Reluctantly.

“You’re on,” I told him, shooting Ronan an apologetic smile.

“What do you mean
it’s happened before
?” Dace asked immediately.

“Do you really think you and Ari simply go out and enlist an army of wolves to help fight Sköll and Hati when they appear?” Ronan asked, his voice level, but somehow full of scorn. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

I cringed.

“No,” Dace snapped. “I assumed we sent you since you’re completely useless otherwise.”

“Are you pissed because I remember or because you don’t?” Ronan asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t look mad, exactly. But, then again, he rarely looked angry when he and Dace fought. That made his earlier threat even more real to me.

If Ronan thought killing Dace would save Beth and Chelle, Ronan would kill him.

“You―”

“I swear to God I’ll hang up,” I warned before Dace could insult Ronan again, sick and tired of hearing them snipe at each other over everything. If I lived another thousand lifetimes, I didn’t think I’d ever really understand why they hated each other as much as they did. Well, I knew why Dace hated Ronan, but I didn’t understand why they couldn’t let their animosity go. They’d agreed to work together already. Why they hell couldn’t they knock off the alpha-male bullshit and cooperate for once? They didn’t have to be besties, but they could at least try to deal with the situation we were in instead of making it harder.

Please let it go,
I said to Dace.

Fine.

I sighed, relieved. “How did he die?” I asked when Ronan retreated to the far side of the room.

“Same way Chiran died.” Regret and sorrow for the slain wolf whispered through Dace and Geri.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, I know.”

His response stung. I couldn’t remember the last time he let me comfort him.

I twisted my hands in my bedspread. “You’re sure it wasn’t a hunter?”

Geri pushed an image into my mind of the dead wolf. Just like Chiran, the unknown wolf had been ripped apart. He lay lifeless on the hard ground, his dark gray fur matted with blood and other fluids. Deep gashes ran up and down his side in a familiar, sickening way.

My own matching wounds throbbed in memory.

Geri let the image fade.

I swallowed around the painful lump in my throat and whispered, “I guess they really are back, aren’t they?”

“I guess so.” Dace laughed harshly, then swore. “Let’s hope the pack finds them.”

My eyes widened, shock rippling through me. “You’re sending the pack after them?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re mine to command,” he said, almost dismissively.

“Since when?”

“Since Sköll and Hati appeared. Since Dani died. Take your pick.”

“They’re already in danger because of us, Dace,” I said, speaking as calmly as I could. I wanted to shake him. He knew they wouldn’t find Sköll and Hati out there, but the hunters could find them. Since when did he risk their lives so recklessly? So carelessly?

“And you almost died because of Sköll and Hati. I want them dead.”

“At the expense of Kalei and Buka? Of Fuki?” I demanded, stunned.

“If that’s what it takes.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Don’t I?” He paused. “I didn’t ask for this war, Arionna. Sköll and Hati did. I’m doing what needs to be done to keep you safe. Don’t ask me for more than that.”

“Then don’t ask me to watch our friends die so I can live.”

“I’m not asking you,” he said. “I’m telling you: I’m not letting them get near you again, no matter what it takes.”

“And I’m telling you, I won’t let you risk our friends for me,” I snapped back, infuriated he could even think that was an option. It wasn’t, not by a long shot.

“That’s their choice. Not yours.”

“You can’t do this, Dace. Dammit.”

“I’ll do whatever I have to do, love. And so will Geri.”

“Then I’ll do whatever I have to do to stop both of you,” I warned him.

He didn’t say anything for a long moment and then, “Fine.”

“Fine.”

The line went dead.

I stared down at the phone, ignoring the weight of Ronan’s gaze on my back. I felt sick to my stomach, defeated. Dace was losing it.

“He’s getting worse,” I said.

“I noticed.”

“He needs a break.”

“So do you.”

Yeah, I did. But I didn’t see that happening any time soon.

“Do you really think me leaving would help him deal with this?” I turned to look at Ronan.

He hesitated, looking at me with a thoughtful frown on his face. “I think you need to go,” he said then, almost apologetically. “As long as you’re here….”

“He’ll never get over this,” I finished when Ronan didn’t continue. He was right. I knew he was, but accepting that meant leaving Dace for god only knew how long. Weeks. Months, maybe. I didn’t want to think about that.

“Dace is the strongest of us,” Ronan pointed out.

“Meaning you need him more than you need me.”

Ronan gave me an odd, assessing look.

“You know it’s true,” I said. Denying the truth wouldn’t change anything. I couldn’t help them fight Sköll or Hati this time, and we all knew it even if no one wanted to admit it.

“Maybe,” Ronan conceded with a slight nod, “but Dace needs you.”

No, Dace needed me out of his way. But…. “He’ll never let me go,” I said, feeling numb and cold in turns.

“I don’t blame him.” For a minute, Ronan looked haunted, and I knew his thoughts were with Dani again, with how he hadn’t been there to protect her when she needed him. She died completely alone. I think that hurt Ronan more than he’d ever admit.

He and Dace had a lot more in common than they liked to think.

paced slowly around my room, focused on placing one foot in the front of the other. Little by little, my strength was returning, but my legs still wobbled beneath me, threatening to send me toppling to the ground if I moved too quickly. I refused to give up and crawl back into the bed though.

In the two weeks since Sköll and Hati killed that poor wolf, Dace had become an overbearing dictator. Everything set him off, and watching me stumble and fall wasn’t helping him. I needed to regain my strength, sooner rather than later. Call me crazy, but I kind of doubted Sköll and Hati would call a time-out on Ragnarök until I felt better.

Ugh. I was over the apocalypse. So beyond over it.

Unfortunately, that didn’t change anything. The Weather Channel called for snow by the end of the day. It wasn’t supposed to snow in Arkansas in the spring. Arkansas wasn’t supposed to be the chosen field for the freaking apocalypse, either.

“Maybe that’s why we’re here.”

I glanced up to find Dace leaning against the door jamb, watching me. He looked exhausted, but calm.

“Perhaps we sent the Michaelsons’ ancestors here to hide in our last life because the state is so unlikely. Arkansas,” he said the name in such a simple, matter-of-fact way, the entire state sounded perfectly ordinary and boring. “It’s the last place in the world anyone would expect to find a situation like this.”

“Possibly.” Maybe we did pick a random, middle-of-nothing spot on a map and tell Mani’s human children to hide there, or to keep running. So much of our past lives were lost to us. That sucked. I felt like we were only getting torn pages when we needed an illustrative guide. An instruction manual would have been nice.
Ragnarök for Dummies
, perhaps.

“You still mad at me?” Dace asked.

“I’m not mad at you.” I shuffled over to the bed and sat carefully on the edge, eying him. “I’m worried about you.”

“I know.” He pushed away from the door, striding toward me. Energy danced along his sun-kissed skin like the crackle of electricity. He stopped at the foot of my bed and looked down at me, his shoulders hunched. “I’m sorry. I….” He shook his head, blowing out a long breath. “I don’t know. The thought of you being hurt again terrifies me.”

“It does me too,” I admitted, tilting my head back to look up at him. Beams of sunlight trickling through my bedroom window danced around his head like a halo, highlighting the golden strands of his hair. He was so beautiful, inside and out. How could he think he was cursed? “But we can’t wish the situation away. We have to deal with it, Dace.
You
have to deal with it.”

He blew out a breath.

“Come here,” I said, holding my hand out to him.

He took it carefully, lacing his fingers through mine. When we were palm-to-palm, electricity humming where we touched, some of the tension in his shoulders faded away.

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?” I asked, tugging on his arm so he’d sit with me. No matter how frustrated he made me, I still wanted him as close to me as possible. I craved the closeness and the way my entire body vibrated when his body was next to mine. Sometimes, I thought every inch of me remembered him.

He took the hint, settling down beside me.

“Make everything sound so easy,” he said. He tilted his head from side to side, his eyes locked on my face as if he could find the answer written there. He wouldn’t though, because I had no more answers than he did.

“Because I know you can do it.”

“You have so much faith in me,” he whispered. “I don’t want to fail you.”

“Then stop fighting so hard.” I squeezed his hand in mine, silently pleading with him to listen to me. “Don’t torment yourself like this. None of this is your fault. You have to believe that. You have to let go.”

He frowned, tension thrumming through him and into me. “I can’t do that.”

“You have to,” I said.

Why couldn’t he understand that? He couldn’t chain himself to my side, not when everyone else needed him, too.

You can’t ask me to put anyone else first when you’re all I think about.

“That’s not fair.”

His expression firmed, hardening the frown lines around his mouth until he appeared as intractable and stubborn as ever. “Doesn’t matter, love. That’s how I feel. They aren’t you, and I’m not going to put you at risk to save someone else. I didn’t ask for that responsibility.”

“And you think I did?” I pulled my hand from his, scowling at him. Why did he have to be so frustrating? “I didn’t ask for any of this, Dace. I don’t want this for either of us, but we can’t make the freaking apocalypse go away just because we don’t want to deal with it.”

He sighed. “Can we please not fight right now?”

“Will you stop being so crazy?”

“No.”

“I really want to yell at you.” I narrowed my eyes, glaring at him.

He reached out and cupped my cheek in his hand, smiling at me. “I know you do. But, for now, would you settle for letting me hold you? Please?”