Brenna couldn’t take her gaze from the man before her. Calder was nothing like the others he traveled with. What was he doing with them? Why did he seem so different?

She studied him.

Was it true he could turn into a bear?

“You have enough for your wreath?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you for letting me collect them.”

“The moon is rising.” He pointed toward the horizon.

“It’s a blood moon.” A shiver crossed over her spine.

“Cold?” He raised a brow, took a fur off his shoulders and wrapped it around her.

“Thank you.” Brenna didn’t want to tell him that the blood moon was a harbinger of bad. Her worry was that it did not bode well. She knew they’d sent the warriors to find her husband and claim her ransom. She’d noticed her hair had been cut close to her scalp at the nape of her neck. She’d also noticed her missing ring.

After Astrid told her they’d taken proof of her abduction, Brenna quickly put together the pieces. She’d not made a fuss, not wanting to attract any more attention from Halvar. She’d kept her presence quiet around Calder’s older and more temperamental brother.

“You look worried.” Calder tied the fur beneath her chin.

“I am fine.”

“Let’s get you back. I will apply the tea tree oil, then you can get to your wreath-making.”

“Calder?” She touched his shoulder where a tattoo of a large bird met with this chest.

“Hmmm?” He turned to face her, his eyes glowing in the red moon’s rays.

“Is it true that you can become a bear?”

He frowned.

“They told me you could.”

“Me?” He put a finger on a chest that was broad, muscular, tattooed and scarred. The expression on his face was fearsome.

Brenna swallowed a gulp at the scowl he presented her with.

“I do not know if they said you personally, but you, your group—your men.”

Calder nodded. “That’s what your village women told you. Do you believe in such foolishness? That men can become beasts? That witches exist?”

She frowned. “Witches do exist. They do. Helga’s mother is a powerful witch.”

He smirked. “If that be so, then why did your witch not save you? Not save any of you? Not save the men?”

“Freyja is not here. She is out of the village.”

“I see.”

“Calder!” A voice called from the other side of the brush.

Brenna recognized Halvar’s growling, gravelly voice. She flinched and lowered herself closer to the bushes, hiding behind Calder.

Calder gave her a look and slipped the leather strap from his wrist. “Do not go anywhere.” He raised a brow then turned toward the sound of Halvar’s voice.

“Here, Halvar. Can a man not take a piss without being followed?”

Raucous laughter sounded as Calder headed away from Brenna.

She looked around at the brush, the forest.

Dare she?

The farther away Calder’s footsteps sounded, the more her certainty wavered.

It was now or never.

She clutched the wreath’s makings close to her chest and ran toward the trees.

She ran and ran, unsure how long she’d run, until she was in such a dense thickness of forest that she could no longer see the moon, nor use its light to guide her.

Winded, with a stitch in her side that was relentless, she leaned against a tree.

“Pssst.” A small whistling sound caught her attention.

She looked around the area. Who would be doing that?

Surely it wasn’t one of the marauders. They’d have certainly recaptured her, rather than use subtle means to get her attention.

“Who is it?” she whispered into the darkness.

“Is my daughter still safe? I haven’t seen her in a day.”

“Who are you?”

“Freyja.”

“You’re back from your trip.”

“Keep your voice down, child.”

“Sorry. Yes, she is fine. She fell and twisted her ankle. Astrid said she’s staying in the cooking hut, keeping the fire going.”

“Good. Tell her that in three days, vengeance will be ours. The women are to pick up any weapon they can and attack.”

“How will they know when?”

“They’ll know.”

“Wait, no. I can’t go back. I can’t. They will kill me when they find out that Eerika—”

A growling, snuffling sound came from nearby.

Brenna gasped. Was that a wolf? A boar? She clung to the tree and gauged the distance to the lowest branch. Could she climb it before the animal attacked her?

She never had a chance to find out.

A hand encircled her wrist.

“I told you to stay put,” Calder’s voice held admonition. “You could get yourself killed out here. You could have gotten me in trouble.” His fingers found purchase on the leather strap and pulled on it.

Brenna was speechless, her mind a flurry of activity, first from Freyja’s announcement, then the growling in the trees, and now being recaptured by Calder.

She jerked on the strap. “You don’t understand.” She hoped Freyja was listening in and could see that one of the enemy was so close.

Enemy? Was he her enemy? Yes, she reminded herself. He was her enemy as well as the enemy of her people.

Then why didn’t she feel fear with him?

“What don’t I understand? That you tried to run away?”

“Your men will kill me when they return from their sojourn.”

“And why would that be?”

Tears threatened and then started a treacherous trip down her cheeks.

“They will.”

“We’ll talk about this after I get you back to your cell. I can’t have them noticing that you’re missing.”

Brenna looked back toward the direction of Freyja but saw nothing. Had Calder not seen or heard them?

He took a step forward, then looked back at her and tugged on the strap.