Calder held Halvar at arms’ length, his hands on his brother’s shoulders, and he took stock of the man he’d thought dead, and hadn’t seen in so long—since that day, that fateful day.

Tears streamed down Halvar’s cheeks, leaving light streaks on his grimy skin.

Calder was speechless. In all the years, he’d never seen his brother cry. Never seen a sign of weakness. He’d not always agreed with Halvar’s ways or decisions, and definitely didn’t share his ethics in certain areas, but he loved his brother and respected his military acumen.

Seeing Halvar cry touched a part of Calder he didn’t know he had.

He pulled Halvar in close, hugging him fiercely. “Where have you been, brother?”

Halvar coughed, cleared his throat and pulled away, swiping his cheeks with pawlike hands, leaving horizontal stripes across the vertical steaks, making a crisscross pattern on his face.

“I escaped the hell that witch rained down on our men. She killed our bears. Or at least, she may as well have. None of us could shift. My bear has fallen silent, imprisoned as if he’s encased in a box of ice.”

Calder nodded glumly. He knew all about that. He’d still not been able to free his bear. This failure tore at him daily, hearing his bear’s mournful call for release, but being powerless to free him, powerless to shift into his bear.

Halvar studied his face. “And your bear?”

Calder shook his head. “The same as yours.”

“It was that cursed witch, she cursed us. All of us. And she—” Halvar pointed at Brenna, “she is one of them. She is behind this as well. Just as guilty as the witch.”

Calder shook Halvar’s shoulders lightly. “She is not, brother. She saved my life.”

Halvar scoffed and appraised Brenna through narrowed eyes where she stood at the cabin’s entrance, Gunnar peeking from between her legs.

Calder pulled Halvar’s attention back to him with another shake. “Listen to me. She is my woman. The mother of my sons. She saved me. She can come to no harm.”

Halvar frowned. “Gunnar, the boy she called to… that is your son?”

“As is the infant. Torsten. The next one would be named Halvar.”

A grim smile curved Halvar’s lips upward, slightly, as though hesitant to give much emotion away. “And you say she’s a good woman? She saved you?”

“Indeed.”

“Maybe I should reconsider my opinion of her.”

Calder didn’t tell his brother that for his own sake, it would be best if he did. Harboring ill will toward Brenna would not bode well in Calder’s home. He’d not be able to harbor his brother and give him a place to stay if he warred with Brenna, for Calder’s allegiance was firmly with his woman. “That would be good,” he told his brother. “How did you manage to escape?”

“I don’t know. I was not in the village. I’d got to the woods, and suddenly, was just leaving the cover of the trees when the pain struck me.” Halvar grabbed his head, as though reliving the pain.

Calder remembered that agony only too well.

Halvar continued, “I collapsed. I lost consciousness. When I awoke, the men were dead, they were being burned, and my bear was lost to me forever. I thought I was the only survivor.”

“Brenna pulled me out before they could kill me. Those women—”

Halvar grunted. “Valkyrie, they called themselves.” He cursed under his breath. “One day, we shall be avenged. In the name of bear shifters, in the name of our tribe, one day…”

“Valkyrie.” Calder didn’t tell his brother he knew that name. Didn’t tell him that, though he never discussed it with Brenna, he daily cursed the Valkyrie and prayed to the gods that vengeance would belong to his people. “Brenna took me from the foray, hid me in a cave, helped me heal. We have been together since.”

“You have feelings for her?” Halvar raised a brow. “Or are you with her because you are beholden to her for your life?”

“She’s my mate. Fated to be mine. There’s never been a doubt in my mind, and there was no doubt in my bear’s mind when he was not—when he was himself.”

“So, you had feelings for her when she was our captive.”

“Aye, brother. I did.”

Halvar nodded as though this admission explained a lot to him. Maybe it did, Calder figured, studying the fire that would need to have more wood put in it. Maybe now Halvar would understand some of Calder’s protectiveness of her.

“And her husband?” Halvar asked.

Calder snapped his head back to his brother’s face. “Her husband is not an issue. He never has been.”

Halvar’s brow flew upward. “Until he finds out she exists?”

Calder shrugged the question off. He didn’t tell Halvar how close they were to her father’s lands. How this could happen if she went into a town. If she were to be amongst others.

“Why have you not taken her north? To our people? To our father?”

Calder grimaced. “She does not have good memories of encounters with our people.”

“Ah, pity that. Our people have a long and proud heritage.” Halvar gave his own shrug. “She is your woman. You tell her what to do. You make the decisions.”

“That is not my way.”

“That is the way of our people. She is merely a woman.”

“I have to do what is right for both of us.” Not to mention Calder didn’t want to remind his brother that women were not to be underestimated. He’d witnessed that firsthand. So had Halvar. But there was no reason to rub salt into that wound.

“Perhaps I should get to know this woman better. I may have underestimated her. I’d like to get to know my nephews as well.”

Calder glanced back at the cabin’s open doorway where Brenna still watched them, her face expressionless. He beckoned her forward. She pushed Gunnar toward the inside of the cabin and closed the door behind her, then approached Calder and his brother, a half-smile on her face.

By now, Calder knew that was her look of uncertainty. He didn’t fault her for that.