Page 30 of Loki

THIRTY-ONE

Did Loki seriously expect her to sleep while he went off to seduce Nik into somehow revealing his guilt? It'd been a bad plan when she suggested it, and something told her it would be even worse with Loki involved, so as soon as the sound of his footsteps had faded, she got dressed in her fuck-it's-cold-but-I-need-to-go-outside-anyway gear, and headed out after him.

Nik's tent was cold, dark and empty – where were they?

She headed up to the ridgeline that sheltered the camp from the worst of the wind. Karl liked to point out the day's survey sites from here, because in daylight, you could see clear down to the lake.

In the moonlight, she could see the shimmering surface of the lake, but everything in between was in shadow. Except for something pale, moving down near the water...

Jorunn squinted, but she couldn't quite make it out.

"I thought you'd appreciate the rutting reindeer. They're quite a sight, aren't they?" Loki asked. He was perched on top of a rock cairn, swinging his legs as he watched whatever was going on down by the lake.

"Where's Nik?" she blurted out.

Loki's teeth flashed white in the moonlight as he grinned. "Under that reindeer. Oh, wait, no, it's finished with him. Now another one's having a go."

Jorunn stared at him. "You mean he's being trampled by a herd of reindeer? We can't just leave him there – they'll crush him and kill him! We have to save him!"

"What happened to touch me and die? I distinctly remember promising..."

"Loki! You can't just kill people!"

"Oh, I think he'll survive. He might wish he was dead, after the whole herd's had him..."

"Loki! You have to help him! I know he's an arsehole, but we need to find out where he's been stashing the stolen stuff."

Loki was still laughing, until he let out a long-suffering sigh. "Do you truly want me to save him from the randy reindeer?"

Reindeer had antlers for a reason – and they were vicious during mating season. Jorunn might not have seen many of them, but she did know that.

"Yes! They could do some serious damage. The antlers, those hooves..."

"Mm, those, too. I suppose I could chase the reindeer away, but they'll only come back. Well, unless I do something to really frighten them..."

Loki jumped down from the cairn. "Right, my lovely scholar. Tell me if you know what this animal is..."

He dropped to a crouch, then transformed into something that looked like a small bear.

"A bear?"

He shook his head.

"A badger?"

Another headshake.

Jorunn racked her brain for what other species she'd seen listed for the national park. She knew the deer best, and she'd been warned about all the bigger predators. Bears, wolves, lynxes and...

"Wait – is that a wolverine?"

A nod, before he bounded off down the slope.

Faintly, Jorunn heard the sound of running water, followed by an unearthly scream. Then another.

Loki came bounding back up the slope, shifting from beast to man mid-stride. "You are as wise as you are beautiful, Jorunn. You actually made me think of something worse than being raped to death by randy reindeer."

"What?" Jorunn wasn't sure she wanted to know. He couldn't have just said that, could he?

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