Page 3 of Wolf Pack

Inge shook her head. “He wouldna fight his da next. He would side with him, and he wouldna try to help us. If he did, his da would kill him. Loyalty above all else is important to him.”

“Vigge will come after you.”

Inge knew Bodolf was right. Ever since she had turned fourteen, Vigge had told her he wanted her. Of course, her da and mother had said no, infuriating both Funi and Vigge. The reason was that Vigge wasn’t a wolf, but they couldn’t share that with them, and they couldn’t turn Vigge either.

Which had always made her wonder if Funi had anything to do with her parents’ deaths. No one had watched their backs during that fight with another clan that ended their lives.

Mostly because as soon as they had died, Vigge had told her he wanted to marry her. It didn’t matter that she didn’t love him. She didn’t even think he loved her. It didn’t matter that she had been grieving her parents’ loss at the time, either.

She felt nothing for him like he thought he felt for her. But Funi and Vigge believed they should have felt honored that Vigge wanted her for his wife.

Once her mother and da had died, she knew Vigge thought he could convince her to marry him then, but her uncle always stood in his way.

Bodolf considered the crevices and shelves in the cave. “All right. We can hide our swords, daggers, shields, fur, food, and clothing here. Whatever we might need for the journey.”

Inge pointed to the slick rocks and explained, "When the tide rises, water fills up this cave, but only up to that line there." She gestured towards a visible waterline marked by a layer of seaweed and debris clinging to the rocks. "We can store our belongings on the shelf above it."

“Where will we go when we leave here?” Bodolf asked.

“Scotia.”

Bodolf frowned at her. “Nay. The journey and the people there are dangerous.”

“Ja. It’s the only way. We’ll make this work. We have to. We canna stay in Iceland. Funi has a lot of enemies. If anyone learned we had been with him, they would kill us.”

“We’ll have to steal a ship.” Bodolf compressed his lips, his expression showing how unsettled he was.

She didn’t blame him. “Ja.”

“How can we cross the sea with Libby and Drummond when they are only six summers old?”

“We’ll take Elene with us. She can help us to row.” Ever since the chief had traded a slave for her, Inge had wanted to free the she-wolf.

“The chieftain will be angry that we stole her away.”

“He will be just as angry that he wasna able to kill us. She is a wolf like us. Because she is a Scot and we are going to Scotia, we must return her home. And she can rejoin her people. We canna leave her behind.” Inge would not do that to a fellow wolf. Elene would never have another chance of escape.

“We canna tell my brother or sister. They might let it slip that we will have plans to escape.”

“Hopefully, we willna have to resort to this. If we do, we must be prepared to flee.” Inge had nightmares about her uncle’s plans ever since she’d overheard him secretly talking about them with others in the clan.

“How will we get a ship to take us there? We canna pay for passage on someone’s ship. Funi will learn about it.”

That’s what she loved about Bodolf. He thought things through as much as she did.

“We take Bodil’s karvi. He drinks too much and rarely fishes any longer. His longship is the smallest there is, with six rowing seats. It will be perfect for us. We’ll gather all the coins we can that my mother and da saved and those of your mother. I’mafraid if it comes to that and your da dies, we willna have time to grab his coins as well.”

Bodolf frowned at her. “I should be there to help my da fight.”

“He hasna told you his plans, has he?” Since her uncle’s plans would affect all of them, he should have told her and Bodolf what he was planning to do.

Bodolf shook his head.

“He doesna want you involved, maybe afraid you would die in the confrontation, no’ thinking that if he fails, we all will die.” Bodolf’s da had always been a hard man.

As much as she and Bodulf were good at thinking things out, her uncle didn’t. or he didn’t care what would become of his children or his niece if he should fail.

Though he was arrogant enough that he might believe he was invincible. At least she would feel better about paying for it.

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