“When I come back in the morning, I expect that portal to be open,” he said.
“Am I supposed to spend the night in the tower?”
When his silence spoke the answer, Freya turned alarmed.
“But I´ll freeze,” she began. “I´m not used to this kind of climate.”
“Don´t care,” Wolf bit out. “As long as you do what you´re here to do.” The door slammed behind him.
“Argh,” Freya screamed in frustration, pulling her hair before she fell to the ground and started sobbing. How could she have been so stupid? Why had she been so careless that she had said Philip´s name. Because of her stupidity, she had ruined her own plan and it made her cry even harder.
I´m so sorry, Philip, she thought. She stretched her body down over the cold floor. Freya dried her tears, wondering what she had gotten herself into. Now, Wolf who should be called Wolf the Furious would never fall in love with her. She´d blown a perfectly fine opportunity, just because she hadn´t been able to hold her tongue.
Tired, she curled into ball.
It wasn´t until she was just about to fall asleep when Freya noticed the frost coming in. It slipped through the cracks of the walls, doing the same with the broken window until it muted the sound of the winter wind.
Chapter Eight
When Wolf opened the door to the tower the next morning, he found Freya sulking in the window frame.
“What happened with the portal?” he said brusquely and Freya shot him a hurt look.
“Nothing, as you very well can see.” She tried doing her best to ignore him.
Wolf took three long strides and pulled her down. His eyes were lighting furiously below his drawn eyebrows and his sculpted mouth pulled in a snarl.
“I ordered you to sing. I told you I wanted the portal open.”
“And I am less inclined to care about what you want, when you lock me in some dusty tower.”
“This is not just about me,” Wolf said in a dangerous voice. “It is about the First Realm…
“Well, maybe I just don´t care as much as you do,” Freya interrupted him. “And besides, I have a plan B, if you´ve ever heard of those?”
He looked at her in confusion and Freya sighed.
Of course he hadn´t. So typical of powerful immortals to only have a plan A.
“All I mean,” she began to clarify. “Is that if all goes down, then I´ll just stay below the surface…”
Wolf was about to say something when fear shot through his eyes.
“Stay below the surface?” he asked between gritted teeth. “Elaborate.”
“Elaborate what? It’s exactly what it sounds like. It means hiding, staying below the river surface, so to speak.” She jerked her chin. “Nobody would be able to find me.”
“You can do that? Hide from everyone?” Hide from me? When he spoke again his voice was hoarse. “That can never happen. I will never allow it.”
“There´s no need for me to go into hiding unless I feel like I have to. But I might entertain the thought if you keep locking me in the tower.”
“I wouldn´t have done it, had you sang like I told you to.”
Freya tried pushing him away but it was useless and she sighed in annoyance.
“My voice doesn´t sound good when I´m in a bad mood and since you locked me in, I guess you´re the one to blame.”
Wolf peered down at her, his eyes just a few inches away from hers.
“Do you think this is a game?” he asked in a low voice. “If Wryfell gets a hold of this realm…” The grip around her arm hardened. “You and your god sisters won´t be killing mortal men anymore but Wryfell will use your…powers”, he spat the word, “to kill young immortals who yet can´t control their minds. Is that what you want?”
“No,” Freya said shakily. “Of course not.”
“Then start singing,” he snarled and pulled away from her. “And know that you will stay in this tower until the portal opens…”
“But it´s not my fault,” Freya protested. “What if the wall just doesn´t like my singing?”
“You have the loveliest voice I´ve heard,” Wolf said carelessly, but Freya secretly enjoyed the compliment. “It´s not possible.”
“Maybe I´m just not the right one for the job,” Freya said. “Maybe you should have chosen another god, like Cass for example…” She trailed off when she thought of Cass being here with Wolf. Would he kiss Cass the way that he had kissed her?
“I don´t want any other god here.” He sounded as if the thought alone was absurd. “I only want you.”
A thrill shot through her and if he hadn´t glowered like that, Freya might have rewarded him.
“Will I be forced to spend yet another night here if I don´t open the portal? It was rather uncomfortable,” she eyes him a little more closely, “but I guess I´m thankful that you made it warmer with your frost.”
“I didn´t do it for your comfort,” Wolf snarled. “I did it so that you wouldn´t get a cold and grow hoarse.”
“You´re such a gentle male,” Freya mused sarcastically. “I´m so lucky to be here with you.”
“Agreed,” he said and sounded confident. “You´re better off here with me then you ever would have been with that mortal lover of yours.” He clenched his fists and Freya shrugged.
“Philip, you mean?” Freya said, unable to stop herself from rubbing salt in his wounds.
“Don´t you ever say his name again.”
“Yet, another rule,” Freya said fleetingly and then shot him a curious look. “But I don´t know why you´re so jealous.”
“Because you belong to me now.”
Belonged to Wolf? That´s what he thinks. And the fact that Wolf thought of her as a possession was not good. Freya thought that one could never truly love what was only a belonging. She needed Wolf to see her as a female, she needed him to trust
