Morgan's Fate

Chapter One

Morgan Grimm knocked on the Tate-Saeters’ door, weary to the bone. It had been a long-ass trip, and all they had to show for it was sore feet and bad news. The Norn of the Future, Skuld, was missing, and her sisters couldn’t find her.

“Are you sure they didn’t know where Skuld was?”

Morgan gritted his teeth. “For the sixth and final time, yes.” Magnus hadn’t dropped it since they got off the Bifrost Bridge and headed home to Center City, Philadelphia. The moment he’d seen that statue of William Penn on top of City Hall he’d wanted to collapse in relief.

Philly really had become home, in ways he never would have thought possible.

“And if they were lying to us?”

Morgan shrugged. “We spank their asses until they scream.”

Magnus chuckled. “The redhead was kind of cute.”

“If you could get past the thees and thous. I prefer more modern screams myself.” Not that he’d be crazy enough to try and get it on with a Norn of Fate.

Or at least not those Norns. Now, if he could find Skuld, it would be a whole different story. Her, he’d happily tie to his bed for the rest of eternity. Maybe even beyond.

A familiar, blood-curdling scream sounded right as Morgan opened the door to Logan, Kir and Jordan’s condo.

Magnus tapped him on the shoulder. “Will those do?”

Morgan rolled his eyes and stepped into the Tate-Saeters’ condo. He did his best to ignore the mayhem as Jeff, his half brother, chased his twin sister Jamie around Kir’s living room. The two of them were yelling so loudly Morgan was surprised Hel didn’t come to ask them to keep it down because they were waking the dead.

Magnus, however, never could ignore a good fight. “Get him, Jamie! Run, Jeff, run!”

The two paused, and Morgan blinked. Jeff, whose curls had been short when he left, now had… “What is up with your hair?”

Jeff growled, pulling a waist-length mass of red curls over his shoulder. “Jamie stole my rubber band.”

“It was my rubber band. You stole it to begin with.”

“I need it! Fenris won’t let me cut my hair.”

Magnus started to laugh, but Morgan was watching them both closely. Something was wrong. The two of them were crazy, but they were never manic. Today, their playing had a whiff of…desperation? Sadness? Whatever it was, the pair looked far too unhappy to be joking the way they were. “What do you mean, he won’t let you?” No one stopped Jeff from doing what he wanted. No one. Not even their father.

“Did he say Fenris won’t let him?” Morgan was stunned. He remembered Fenrisulfr. The wolf was fierce, but Morgan doubted he would ever harm Jeff. He tugged absently at the magical earring Logan had given him just before they’d departed for the bridge. It hid them from Odin’s scrying, allowing them to get to Yggdrasil without having to confront him openly. They’d left just before Jeff, Travis and Jamie departed for Norway to save Fenris.

Rumor on the bridge had it that the Old Man was hiding in Valhalla after his defeat at the hands of Fenris, but Morgan knew better. If the man was in Valhalla instead of on Earth, it was because he was up to something.

There had been other rumors, dark ones, but they hadn’t dared linger. Skuld was most likely on Midgard instead of under the World Tree, and that meant she was in danger. That Magnus had agreed with him and hustled them both home only caused his anxiety to grow.

The Wonder Twins ignored him. Jamie held out the hair band and shook it in Jeff’s face, dancing back when he tried to snatch it. “It’s mine, dickhead.”

Jeff growled and chased Jamie around the sofa again.

“You know, I’m sure Kir has a nice, quiet quest he can send us on.” Magnus was watching his brother and sister act like idiots with an amused expression.

Morgan flinched as the rubber band smacked Jeff right between the eyes, Jamie crowing in triumph over her “kill shot”. “I hear Barbados is lovely this time of year.”

The two started backing toward the door when the Wonder Twins suddenly froze. “Oh my god.” Jamie stared at them out of huge, tear-filled green eyes, as if just realizing they were there. “Jeff. Magnus and Morgan are here.”

“Welcome home.” Jeff bound his hair with shaking hands, but now that Morgan looked closer he didn’t seem to be any better than Jamie. What the fuck is going on?

The twins exchanged a look that had Morgan’s heart pounding in fear. He was right. All the horsing around suddenly made sense—the Wonder Twins were trying too hard to get back to normal.

Something bad had happened while they were gone.

“I’ll go get Kir and Logan. You go get Jordan.” Jamie nodded and took off.

Instead of heading off to fetch Logan and Kir, Jeff approached Morgan and Magnus.

Something in the way his brother moved told Morgan everything he needed to know. Fenris, Logan’s son, had claimed Jeff as his mate. His brother had always been nimble, but now he moved with a preternatural grace that hadn’t been present before. In his gaze a fierce predator lurked.

He’d deal with that, and Fenris, later. The wolf would take care of Morgan’s brother, but still. Jeff was his little brother, and Morgan would let it be known that Fenris was not the only one watching out for him. “What happened?”

“I didn’t want to say it in front of Jamie. She’s cried enough for both of us. But, Morgan, Magnus…” Jeff sighed, grief tightening his features. “Dad’s dead.”

Morgan blinked. He hadn’t heard what he thought he’d heard. He couldn’t have. Thor was…

Thor. Invincible.

Jeff nodded, as if he sensed Morgan’s disbelief. “Grimm killed him.”

No. Morgan shook his head, unwilling to believe that…

That…

Magnus gripped his arm as he swayed, steadying him.

“The bastard nearly killed you as well, elskede.” Fenris came out of the kitchen and wrapped his arm around Jeff’s waist. His gaze was hard as he stared at the brothers, as if he thought Morgan and Magnus were somehow a threat to his beloved. “He killed Thor to get to me, but took Jeff by accident. As Jeff had changed for the first time, he assumed the wolf was me.” He grabbed Jeff’s wrist and lifted Jeff’s arm, much to Jeff’s obvious aggravation. “He still bears the scars of the Old Man’s cruelty.”

Morgan recognized the line of scars running down his brother’s arm and felt rage threaten to blow the top of his head off. While he’d been merrily tripping along the Bifrost Bridge, Grimm had nearly killed his brother. “He tried to skin you?”

Jeff flinched. “Yeah.”

Morgan took a deep breath, desperately trying to calm himself even as Magnus punched a hole in the wall. Their grandfather, in his insane bid to retake the Vanir and Aesir, had once again gone too far. While they’d been gone on their useless, stupid errand, Jeff had nearly died, and Thor…

Dear gods. Thor.

How could it be? His father had become an ass thanks to Grimm and his manipulations, but he’d finally been throwing off the effects of the mind-altering apples Grimm had been feeding them all for centuries. He’d been coming around, trying to reconcile with his children, and no matter how angry Modi and Magni had been with him they’d loved him dearly.

He was their dad. The man who tossed them in the air, who fought Frigg and Odin when they would have banished them. The man who’d known that while Magnus loved horses and swordplay, Morgan loved puzzles and reading. But as time wore on, that loving man had become cold and harsh