Dark Gods (Dark Wolf Series Book 5) Read online

  John looked at Cadric for the first time since he’d come in the room, with regret in his eyes and Cadric’s heart picked up speed. John had not told him Eduard’s cause of death and he had no idea what he would say, but the look on his face didn’t bode well.

  “Eduard Rouben died from a gunshot wound to the heart. The bullet was made of silver, and as a were it would have killed him instantly.”

  “And was there anything distinguishing about the bullet?” Miach asked again, and a sour feeling curdled Cadric’s stomach as he remembered a missing silver bullet, a silver bullet he’d forgotten about in the wake of everything else, and he knew why John had a look of regret on his face.

  “The bullet that was retrieved was very distinct. We found remnants of some markings, the Order symbol intertwined with a C.”

  “And who does that bullet belong to,” Miach asked as he looked directly at Cadric.

  “Cadric Odinson.”

  * * *

  Nan remained silent in the car beside Baldr. She’d never been to anything like the tribunal before, but from what she’d seen today she could tell it was a disaster for her husband. After John had testified that a bullet belonging to her husband had been found in Eduard Rouben’s body, witness after witness had come forward telling the panel that Baldr himself had ordered the slaughter at the warehouse.

  “How can they get away with lying like that?” Nan asked, breaking the silence that enveloped the car. “I thought that their oath would prevent them from lying. Wasn’t that what that tattoo business was about?”

  Baldr remained silent, his eyes focused on the road.

  “Baldr,” Nan said quietly.

  “I’d rather not talk,” he growled as he glanced over at her.

  She closed her mouth and focused on the scenery passing them by. They arrived at his house a short while later and went in. Baldr paced back and forth in the living room, and Nan didn’t know what she could do to sooth him.

  “Why weren’t they there?” he blurted out.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Why weren’t any of my people there,” he said, and she could see that what bothered him the most wasn’t the accusations that had been levelled at him that day, it was that there had been no one other than her by his side today.

  “Oh Baldr,” Nan said as she went to him.

  She reached out and touched his arm. At first he held himself stiffly, then his shoulders sagged, and he pulled her to him. She held him tight, trying to offer him what comfort she could. As she held him against her and realized just how devastating this was for him made her knew how selfish she’d been when she’d freed Loki. She had to tell him.

  “Baldr, there is something I need to tell you.”

  He pulled back but instead of looking at her he looked toward the front of the house.

  “Do you hear that?” he asked as he stepped away from her.

  Nan stood still and listened. The sound of a car pulling into the driveway and the flash of headlights in the front window alerted them to visitors. He walked to the front window and pulled aside the curtain. The stiffness in his shoulders eased, and he dropped the curtain back into place.

  “Who is it?” Nan asked, unsure if she welcomed the reprieve. She’d been prepared to tell him everything, but now that they were about to be interrupted she didn’t know if she would have the nerve for another attempt.

  “It’s Nick and Hadria,” he said with surprise in his voice. He opened the door just as his guest walked up onto the porch. “Why are you here?”

  Baldr motioned them into the house and Nan stepped forward to take their coats. Her husband closed the door and didn’t spare Nan a glance as his gaze focused on the other couple with an intensity that Nan hadn’t seen before.

  “We wanted to know how the tribunal went,” Hadria said as she turned to him.

  “Why weren’t you there if you are so interested in how it went,” Baldr said, bitterness in his voice and Nan could see that he’d been particularly stung by Hadria’s absence.

  She remained standing by the door, stupidly holding the coats, completely ignored by her husband and his friends.

  “I’ll just put these away and give you some time to talk,” she said to no one in particular as she left the room.

  Chapter 17

  Cadric glanced toward Nan’s departing back, then promptly turned back to Hadria.

  “We didn’t come because we couldn’t,” Hadria said. “We’ve been fired.”

  Cadric reared back. Why on Earth would they have been fired?

  “You and Nick? Why the hell would they fire you?”

  Hadria walked over to the sofa and sat down. Nick joined her, and Cadric settled on the coffee table in front of them so he could look directly at them.

  “Not just Nick and I. Everyone working at headquarters has been fired. The reason we were given is that we could be tainted by your corrupt leadership and until the outcome of the tribunal has been decided we are all out of jobs. We are forbidden to come to Order property unless expressly bidden to do so,” Hadria said. “The god Miach has taken over and has brought in his own people until a decision can be made. I’m sorry Cadric.”

  Cadric stood and paced the length of the room. There was something very wrong about all this, and it wasn’t just the fact that they were questioning his leadership and had put him on trial. Firing all staff was unprecedented, and there was nothing in the articles that called for it.

  “There is something else, Cadric,” Hadria said quietly, and he stopped mid-stride and looked at her.

  “What is it?” he asked when she seemed hesitant to speak.

  “How well do you know Miach?”

  Cadric frowned at her since it was an odd thing to ask. “I’ve known him for centuries. Why do you ask?”

  “When you saw him at the tribunal was he acting like himself?”

  Cadric came back over to them and sat down in the armchair next to the couch. His mind cast back to the events earlier in the day and he remembered thinking that something about Miach’s behavior hadn’t seemed right.

  “Now that you mention it, there was something off about him. Not anything over the top, but little subtle things that nagged at me. Why?”

  “What if Miach isn’t Miach?” Hadria asked as she leaned forward. “It would explain everything that has been going on. The murder of Dany Cavanaugh and Eduard Rouben, the slaughter at the warehouse where agents claim you gave the orders, you being railroaded into this tribunal and us all being fired.”

  “If it isn’t Miach, who is he?” Cadric asked, as his mind whirled.

  “Think about it. Who has the power to shape shift, who has a special bond with werewolves and who has a grudge against you?”

  A fully formed picture clicked into Cadric’s mind, but he dismissed it as impossible. There was someone who held a grudge against him and could do all those things, but he was locked away in Asgard.

  “You aren’t suggesting that Loki is behind this,” he asked, as the more he thought about it the more the idea had merit. “He’s locked away.”

  “I met Miach when he fired us, and I got a weird vibe off him, as if he knew me and took pleasure in firing me. I got the same feeling from him that I got when I was cursed by Loki centuries ago. I really think that it’s Loki.”

  Cadric closed his eyes for a moment. It all made perfect sense. Everything that had happened, it could have easily been accomplished by someone with the power to shape shift, and Loki had a very powerful motivation to want to extract revenge. And what a fitting revenge it was, to frame Cadric for something he hadn’t done and rip everything away from him. It was exactly what he’d helped do to Loki all those years ago. How could he have been so blind as to not see it before?

  “We need to prove it’s him. The tribunal will never believe it if I stand up and accuse Miach of being Loki unless I have something concrete to show them,” Cadric said as he opened his eyes. “He must have gotten sloppy somehow. Hadria I need you to
get all the files that we had when we were conducting our own investigation. There must be something in there that we overlooked because we didn’t know it was him.”

  Hadria’s face paled, and she looked at him, her shoulders sagging.

  “I always knew that the Order was everything to you, but I didn’t know the lengths that you would go to and who you would sacrifice to keep your place there.”

  “What are you talking about?” Cadric said as his brows drew together.

  Nick cleared his throat and Cadric looked over at him. He hadn’t spoken the entire time he’d been there, but by the hard look in his face, it looked like he was about to.

  “What’s she’s trying to say, if you’d take your head out of your ass for a minute, is that your pal Loki is running the show in his guise of Miach. He has his own people in there, all of them werewolves. You saw what they did to your wife. What do you think they’d do to Hadria if she set foot on the property? You need to ask yourself how important your place at the Order is? Does it mean more to you than Hadria, who’s loyalty you’ve had for centuries? Is it more important than all of us? How many more agents need to die before you say enough is enough?” Nick’s voice had grown louder with every word, and each sentence he delivered was a gut punch to Cadric.

  “Nick,” Hadria said quietly as she put her hand on her lover's arm.

  “No, he needs to hear this,” Nick said as he looked briefly at her before turning his eyes back to Cadric. “I’ve always had the utmost respect for you. I’m saying this because of that respect. The Order isn’t a building, it isn’t a nebulous thing, it’s the people who work for you. The people who make a vow to follow you, who are prepared to sacrifice everything to keep humanity safe. You need to realize that, because it seems to be all too easy for you to sacrifice those very people in the name of the Order, in the name of the greater good. I will not let Hadria be your next sacrifice. If you want to prove that Loki is behind this, you’re going to have to do it on your own.”

  The weight of Nick’s words pushed down on him and he couldn’t move or speak. The truth of Nick’s words hit him like a sledgehammer and for a second he couldn’t breathe. He’d always thought he was a good leader, ready to do what needed to be done. Very much like his father. To his regret, he realized he was more like his father then he’d ever wanted to be. He was saddened by how he’d been prepared to shove Hadria into a meat grinder for his own selfish purposes, just like his father had done to him.

  “Cadric are you okay?” Hadria asked as she looked at him, sympathy clear in her eyes. He looked away.

  “I think you should go now,” he said quietly. “You’ve given me a lot of food for thought, and I’d like time alone.”

  “Cadric,” Nick said hesitantly, his face pale.

  Cadric looked at him and gave him a ghost of a smile.

  “It’s okay Nick,” he said. “You have said nothing that I didn’t need to hear.”

  Both Nick and Hadria stood and looked down at him, concerned looks on their faces. He couldn’t blame them for being unsettled if he looked as defeated on the outside as he felt on the inside. He waved them away, and they left the room in search of their coats. They came back a few moments later, and walked to the door, with Nan following them. She came over to stand beside him, and he reached up to take her hand.

  “Are you sure you want us to leave, Cadric?” Hadria asked as she stood beside Nick at the front door.

  “You can go,” Nan said for him. “We’ll be fine.”

  Hadria swallowed and nodded. She and Nick walked out of the house, and as soon as the front door shut behind them, Cadric let go of Nan. He leaned forward and buried his face in his hands. Everything Nick had said was true, and everything that had happened and was happening was his fault. His blindness to what was right in front of him had caused the death and injury of his people, and he’d been prepared to sacrifice Hadria in his obsession to maintain his place as head of the Order. It was a place he didn’t deserve, he could see that now.

  “Baldr,” Nan said quietly, and Cadric felt her hand come to rest on the top of his head. “What is it?”

  “It’s over Nan,” he said as he sat up and looked at her. “It’s all over.”

  ***

  “What do you mean it’s all over? Why are you giving up?” Nan asked as she caressed his hair and came to sit down beside him. “Did Hadria say something? Has there been more news about the tribunal?”

  Baldr shook his head and grasped her hand.

  “There’s been no more news, and it wouldn’t matter at this point. The only way to save all my people is to give in to what Loki wants.”

  “Loki,” Nan exclaimed as she stared at him. He’d finally figured out who was behind it all, and instead of using the information to prove his innocence he was giving up.

  “Hadria figured out who’s behind all this. It has to be Loki although we have no proof. I should have known that it was him. After what I did to him I’m surprised he hadn’t come after me sooner,” he said.

  If he was sitting here so calmly beside her, then he must not suspect her involvement. And she was not surprised that it was Hadria who had figured it out since she’d had her own dealings with Loki many years ago. Nan had heard that one of Odin’s valkyrie had been cursed by the mischievous god, and Hadria would not have forgotten him. She was surprised Baldr had not seen through Loki’s disguise this afternoon, but then he’d been distracted, and would see what he expected to see.

  “If you know it’s Loki, then surely you can fight this. The others on the panel will know it’s a farce,” she said.

  “I have no proof Nan, and there is no way I can make Loki reveal himself. Like I said it’s over,” he said sadly as he pulled her against him on the couch.

  A sour feeling of disappointment settled in Nan’s stomach. Her husband had always been so strong and ready to fight, and now because of her actions, he was giving up what meant so much to him, his place at the Order.

  “But Baldr,” she said as she lifted his hand and placed her lips on the back. “The Order means everything to you. Surely you will fight back.”

  “It’s been pointed out to me that the Order isn’t an entity independent of everyone, it’s the people who work there, who have been loyal to me for so long that matter. The best thing I can do for them is step down.”

  “What will you do?” she asked, unable to comprehend that her husband would actually leave the Order.

  “I was thinking I could talk to my father, see if he will allow me to return home. We can be together in Asgard, and I can get to know our son if he’ll let me.”

  Bitterness crept into Nan’s mouth as she absorbed what he was saying. What she’d wanted was finally coming to pass, and she realized that she didn’t want it, not this way. It was plain to her that she was her husband’s second choice, and now that he’d decided he couldn’t have the Order any more, he was willing to make a life with her. She pulled away from him and stood.

  “Nan,” he said, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

  “I need to tell you something, Baldr. I should have told you days ago, but I was afraid,” she said. The rest of the words froze in her throat, and she didn’t know if she could utter them. She knew she had to. She couldn’t live the lie anymore, and if she wanted her husband in her life, she had to tell him everything. She looked over at him, her regret over what she’d done burning inside her.

  “Nan,” he said warily as he stood. “What do you need to tell me?”

  “I’m the reason that all this has happened, it’s my fault that you are losing everything,” she said as her mouth trembled. She braced herself for the hurt and scorn she would surely see on her husband's face. “I was so angry when I found out that you were still alive, and I acted without thinking.”

  “Nan, what did you do?” he said as his face paled and he took a step away from her.

  “I set Loki free,” she said and a weight she hadn’t known she’d been carrying felt like it w
as lifted. She was certain that she’d lost her husband, that he would never forgive her for what she’d done, but at least it was out in the open. At least they had no more secrets.

  Chapter 18

  Cadric’s blood ran cold at Nan’s words. Of all the things he thought she would tell him, this was not it. He took another step away from her and ignored the look of hurt she gave him. She had no right to be hurt by anything he said or did after doing this to him. She wasn’t the sweet wife he remembered. She may look like her, smell like her and feel like her, but the woman who’d come to him only a few weeks ago was not the woman he’d married. His Nan would never have done something like this to him.

  “You must really hate me to play this kind of game with me. Was this your plan all along? Take everything from me, break me and then deal the death blow by showing me that you were behind everything? Did you and Loki cook this up together?”

  “Baldr,” she said, her eyes swimming as she took a step toward him and put her hand out to touch him. He looked at her extended hand as if it was a snake prepared to strike and she withdrew it. She sure was an amazing fucking actress because if he didn’t know better he’d believe the tears in her eyes were genuine.

  “You must really hate me,” he said, his voice husky as he looked at her as if she was a stranger standing in front of him. And in a way she was a stranger to him after this revelation. She wasn’t the same woman he remembered. Did he even know her? They’d been separated for a thousand years, and God knew he’d changed, perhaps she’d changed.

  “I don’t hate you, Baldr.”

  “Don’t call me Baldr. I haven’t been Baldr for over a thousand years,” he said.

  Her insistence on calling him by his own name had been endearing to him, but now he didn’t want her using it. He wasn’t the same man he’d been, and it was time she learned that. She needed to let go of the past and stripping his old name from her vocabulary was her first step to accepting that he had moved on.