My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 386

Fenris

I took my seat at the long head table, and my party filled the benches behind me as the hall erupted into clinking cups and raucous talk.

Fires snapped in the hearth and along the walls, built up high against the mountain chill. Halvard's people moved among the benches with trays of ale and mead, pressing cups into hands before they'd even sat. I took my cup by reflex and set it down, the cool glass rattling against the scarred wood of the table.

The open space at the center of the hall filled with women in sheer lace, their hair loose and trailing down their backs like honey. The fabric clung to their skin as they moved, and the men behind me whistled and hollered.

Ossian slammed his fist on the table, yelling, "Fuck yes!" The women heard it and moved faster, spinning, hands running over their own skin. Lace pooled around their ankles. The crowd grew louder. I kept my attention on Halvard, seated across the hall, watching me rather than the dancers.

"Are you sure that's what you want, girl?" Fenn called to one, who grinned and blew him a kiss.

Halvard's display was possibly a test as much as a welcome. He'd see what he wanted: no reaction at all. My face was cold and impassive, no flush rising to my cheeks.

I took a sip of mead and set the cup down, waiting for him to grow tired of his own spectacle.

I did not know why we were here, and I did not care. If he wanted to talk to me, he should have done it an hour ago, not waste my time and his own on a dance that was going to end with his warriors laid out drunk and naked on his hall floor.

I felt the weight of Halvard's eyes on my skin, and when I looked up again, he was standing, crossing to me, a cup in his hand. I stood as he reached me and he held it out to me, his hand large and calloused like mine.

"More?" he asked, his voice a low rasp. I shook my head.

"I have what I need."

He laughed, the sound like a bear's growl, and leaned down close. I smelled the sweat and mead on him as he said in my ear, "Will you walk with me?"

I nodded, and he stepped back, gesturing to the doorway. I followed him out of the hall, the noise and firelight falling away behind us.

* * *

I followed Halvard up the path and into his longhouse, dim inside, thick with the scent of roasting meat and hot wood. The fire was large, and the room smelled like a feast. Halvard sank into a chair by the fire and gestured at the one across from him. "Sit, Alpha."

I took the chair, stretched my legs toward the fire, didn't look at him. "Where are the eastern packs?" I asked. "What happened?"

Halvard was silent a long time, watching the fire, before he spoke. "We are here."

I turned my head, stared at him. "Where are the others? Where is Redhand? Where is Thornwood?"

Halvard said nothing. A man brought in a trencher and mug, set it down, looked at me, went out. "East," Halvard said finally. "Gone east."

My gut twisted, but I kept my face still. "How?" I demanded. "What killed them?"

Silence again. Halvard drank.

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