Valkyrie's Revenge

Chapter 11

        Thorin is at Valkyrie’s door within fifteen minutes of her brother hanging up the call, only taking time to stop and find his Beta, who was whispering in his mother’s room. He did not know what his mother and his Beta had going on, but he knew he needed to figure it out, they were hiding something from him, and he was not going to stand for it. However, the first thing he needed to do was get to his mate and find out what had happened. He did not wait for someone to answer the door, opting instead to burst through and find his way on his own. As he entered, he was amazed by the homes old age feel, even though it had only been rebuilt quite recently. The home had clearly been rebuilt to look and feel as much like the original as possible.

               Taking a moment to stop and get a sense of where there were bodies in the house, he could smell the dinner they ate, the flowers around the house, but something else as well. It was heavy and metallic, that is when he realized the house was filled with the smell of blood. When Roman made it to his side, they took off running up the stairs, chasing down the scent of death that was quickly becoming stronger. As they ran up it did not escape Thorin that the walls were filled with photos of Valkyrie and her family from years before. He recognized the twins; they had always looked as cocky as they do now and was almost stopped in his tracks at a photo of his father and three others looking happier than he had ever seen his father look. Two of the people in the photo looked like what he understood Valkyrie’s parents to look like, but the mystery woman he did not understand. She had a gentle smile on her face, golden hair and a necklace that looked like something he had seen in his fathers’ study once. As his mind swirled with questions he was pushed away from the photo by Roman at his back, urging him forward; both men looked up as they heard footsteps coming toward them.

               “You must be Thoren, come this way.” The tall dark-haired man said, Thoren guessed this is Valkyrie’s brother, as they had yet to officially meet, but he had many similar features. The men all moved as quickly as their feet would take them both toward the sound of voices but also to the thick smell of blood, which was now mixed with the unmistakable smell of death. At the end of a long hallway he saw his mate, sitting on the floor looking nothing like herself. The strong and mysterious woman looked like a broken little girl, afraid to look up from the floor, afraid to move at all. The sound of their footsteps shook her from her thoughts, and she looked into his eyes, ripping a piece of his heart from his chest at the sight of her tear-streaked face. Without a word he reached to her and picked her up, then looking to the others to see where he could take her. Raven directed him to a room down the hall, focused on removing her from the situation as quickly as possible. Behind him he could hear the three Beta’s talking, the twins taking Roman into the room they had been guarding. As Thoren sat down on the bed he heard a loud growl from Roman and knew whatever had happened was something awful.

               The moments seemed to slip by as nothing was said between the two Alpha’s, just the sound of their breathing. Valkyrie had her head resting on Thorin’s chest, curled into him to try and forget the world around her. This was not only the closest the two had ever been, but it was also a moment that was bonding their souls together. Before too long the door opened to reveal Raven, with the other three standing in the hall talking amongst themselves. It was clear no one wanted to act before they had direction from the Alpha’s, and it seems Raven had drawn the short straw in coming to get them from their hideaway. Hearing the door Valkyrie lifted her head but only enough to see who had entered and shifted her arms to hug Thorin just a little bit tighter.

               “Thorin, I wish we could meet officially under different circumstances, but now we need you both. Val, you can do this. What do you want to do?” Raven asked, looking at the two wolves in front of him. He could tell they were already so connected, more so than many matches he had seen over the years, and he yearned for such a connection with his own mate. “Has she said anything yet?” He asked as he sat down in a chair opposite them sitting on the bed. Thorin shook his head, which made Raven sigh, he had seen this before when they were kids, when their parents died, and he did not want to see her do this to herself again.

               Just then she raised her head, strained her back and looked first to Raven, then to her mate. Her tears had long since dried, her eyes no longer looked puffy and tired from the emotion like he had seen. She rubbed he hands over her face then looked between the two again, then to the door. She knew they needed to deal with what had happened, first properly deal with the body, and have an autopsy performed to understand what happened, then find out who did this. Before all else they needed to make sure that Oliver was properly honoured for all he had done reuniting so many with their homes.

               “Thank you,” she started quietly. “I did not know Raven had called you, but I am thankful that you are here. Do you know why we decided to come back here?” She asked, still looking at the closed door. Thorin knew he did not know the answer to her query, they had yet to discuss much of anything. “We came back so we could ensure that our family’s legacy here would not be death; but now I wonder if that was always to be my fate. Do you know what a Valkyrie is? In Norse mythology they lead warriors to the other side, bringing them to Valhalla. With a name like that how could I not have been meant for death?”

               Thorin listened to his mates self loathing speech and took in the words, trying to understand how she could think such things. ‘Here is a wolf that has survived attempts to murder her, intimidate her and run her away from her whole life and yet she is still breathing. Now she is going to allow herself to be taken down on the first day she experiences a set back since her return?’ He thought to himself. As he gathered his thoughts and strength Raven watched as the energy in the room shifted. Raven had seen how his parents could feed off of each others moods and energy, and now he was witnessing it again. He watched his sister stop crying and start to breath more heavily, though her head was still down. He could also see that although Thorin’s eyes were closed, his face was moulded in a look of anger. Quickly Raven pulled out his phone and messaged the twins, knowing they may need to act quickly if things turned for the worst here.

               “You are a Goddess, a Queen, a leader; and you are going to allow some filthy coward to bring you down?” Raven heard the deep voice bellow from beside him. When he looked in their direction they had moved to standing. Thorin had his hands on her face, and she was looking him deep in the eyes. Her eyes had changed from the beautiful mossy pools that reminded him of his mother to the black that he had feared all those years ago. “Yes, there will be death in this fight, and yes, you will have to be a part of it. You, however, are not the harbinger of death for those you love but for those that would dare to stand against you. If you ever challenge that belief again remember that those who follow you do so because of who you are, and the legacy you come from.”

               His words powered by the strength of the Alpha’s feeding off each other would have made lesser wolves whimper and cower to their power, but the Beta’s and Raven were in awe of the energy, if not concerned by what they were seeing. Roman had no idea why the others were so worried but he noticed that they were looking at each other, a whole conversation being spoken through eyes and the intensity in them.  They looked on, trying to maintain a look of composure but worry and fear dripped from them, creating a scent that made the primal beast in Valkyrie view the others as prey, something she could tear through for the joy of it.

               Emery quickly ran to grab a tranquilizer gun that had been stashed in his room, the others moved to pull Roman back, out of the line of her sight. As Emery prepared to shoot a thunderous sound filled their ears, shaking the walls and rocking the men to their core. As they regained their composure everyone looked to see Thorin standing with Valkyrie behind him, he was clearly protecting her from what he perceived to be a threat.

               “You don’t understand Thorin, she doesn’t shift because she was never taught to control it. She is the one who told us to do this if she ever lost control again.” Emery said, raising the gun a second time. The growl that came from Thorin made him question what he should do, but he had his orders from his own Alpha, and could not back down from that. “Of you could ask her right now you would know, but I can tell you that right now all she sees is prey, something to destroy in her rage and something blocking her from remaining free.”

               ” That was before me, mutt.” Thorin snapped back. He briefly looked over his shoulder to her, seeing the black from her eyes was seeping down her skin like tears of black. The more she attempted to control herself from shifting the harder she was losing the battle. “All of you get out of our way, I’m taking her out to get this out of her system. Roman, get our men here to clean this up and collect any clues. Also, run the numbers that have texted this phone. We need to know who is threatening us.” He finished throwing Valkyries phone to his Beta. As they walked past the men Thorin made a point of keeping Valkyrie’s eyes on him and not lashing out at the men she wanted to shred to pieces. Briefly losing her to the smell of blood coming from her room, but he brought her back with a tug on the arm.

               As they rushed down the stairs and into the back yard Raven was on their heels, Thorin assumed it was to try and stop them, being the protective big brother. “Raven, leave it alone, we are going.” He said leaving no opportunity for argument. When he did not hear any protest he paused to see what was happening behind him. Raven was standing at the edge of the deck, looking at his sister with love and admiration, there was no fear of what she could do.

               “Here,” he said giving him a map of the Grace pack lands. “This should give you an idea of the best places to run with Val that will keep everyone safe. When we were kids she and I made these plans, long before our parents died. They had no idea she shifted so early so she and I would shift and make plans for where would be safe if we ever wanted to get away.” Raven finished. It was clear there was a lot more to the siblings than anyone ever knew, and Thorin had great respect for the love Raven had for his sister. With a nod Thorin took the map and turned back to his mate, who was looking on Impatiently. As they turned to shift Raven walked back into the home, rubbing the back of his neck hoping everything would be ok.

               Just as he was about the head back upstairs to see the others, he heard a knock at the front door. Assuming it was the ‘men’ Thorin had sent for he opened the door without much worry to see a stunned but beautiful Mary standing there. He had never seen her out of the hospital, and he did not realize she had any idea where he lived. As much as he wanted to just give into the mate bond and sweep her up in his arms, he found himself immediately concerned that she had just suddenly arrived without ever speaking to him about their personal lives.

               “Hi Raven, we need to talk.”