Howl for Me by Dana Marie Bell

throat, stabbed him in the back, severed his spinal cord and cut his femoral artery, any of which should have been fatal.”
    Fen stilled. Vali was the Avenger, the one who had killed Hodr for the murder of Baldur and would kill Fen after Fen killed Grimm. He was born for the sole purpose of avenging Baldur’s death, or so they’d all been taught.
    Grimm somehow survived the Avenger’s wrath? “How is that possible?”
    “We don’t know.” Jeff’s fingers tangled in his hair. If he’d been a cat he would have purred. “It might be because Baldur hasn’t really died.”
    “This is confusing to me. Everything I’ve ever believed has been tossed into the air to fall where it may.” He closed his eyes, weary beyond belief. He hated it when Jeff was angry with him.
    “Welcome to my world.” They sat there quietly, each lost in his own thoughts, but the simmering rage had dimmed within his mate, tamed for now by the quiet. Fen felt at peace, the hand in his hair lulling him almost to sleep.
    Jeff tugged at one of his curls, waking him from his light doze. “Want to go back for pancakes, sleepyhead?”
    He stared up at his mate and saw the peace offering for what it was. “I would like that very much.”
    Jeff smiled, and nothing had ever looked so beautiful.
     
    “So. How was your trip to Helheim?” Jeff grinned at Logan, hoping the man would get it. God, you still needed a bazooka to cut through the tension in the room.
    Fen was very careful to keep on Travis’s right side at all times. He might pretend that he believed Jeff, but every time Jeff got too close to Travis the wolf’s eyes would track him, ready to spring to his defense at a second’s notice.
    It would have been cute if it didn’t make Jeff feel like a wimp.
    “Eh. You know. Dark, depressing. Very emo.” Logan shrugged. “The espresso was good, though.”
    Kir laughed. Jeff had never met anyone who found joy in everything the way Kir did. Damn them for noticing Jordan first. Jeff would have loved to be the meat in their sandwich.
    He didn’t realize Fen had started growling until Logan sat up, all the humor gone from his face. “Fen?”
    Jeff rolled his eyes. “Down, boy.”
    “I told you, I am not a dog.”
    Jeff frowned at him. “Then what are you growling about now?”
    “What’s going on?” Jordan’s sharp eyes were watching them, seeing far more than Jeff was comfortable with.
    “My mate wishes to have sex with your mates.”
    The entire table went quiet.
    Jeff stood. He knew he’d gone beet red, but whether it was from embarrassment or anger he wasn’t sure. “Well. That was humiliating. Someone fill Fido here in on a little thing called discretion, hmm? I’m outtie.” He shook off the hands that grabbed for him, too angry to sit and listen to another word. “For the record, yeah. Logan and Kir are hot. But I’d never hurt my sister like that, even if they waved their cocks at me covered in chocolate sauce. Asshole.” He slammed the door shut behind him with a bang and almost headed back for the condo.
    Shit. He didn’t want to go there. Fen would head there within seconds. Jeff sprinted for the elevator, hoping it would arrive before Fen did. He had to get out of there for a little bit, get to somewhere where his head wasn’t quite so fucked up. Too much had happened way too fast and he was rapidly going into overload.
    He needed to go home.
    Jeff made it into the elevator just as Logan’s door shot open. He glared into Fen’s startled face and gave him the finger as the elevator doors shut.
    Jeff leaned back against the wall and sighed. He couldn’t be gone too long. He knew how dangerous it was to be on his own. He wasn’t a god, or even a demi-god. He was just Jeff, a human with a brain that seemed to have turned to mush and a libido that was sniffing after a man who didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. There was only one person besides Jamie he felt he could talk to about any of this, and that was