Contains reference to a Bible story.

Chapter 4

(Eret's POV)

I bolt up, breathing heavily. It's our first night on Wolfsbane as a family, and I have just woken up from the most horrific nightmare. I'll spare you the details.

"Eret? Honey, you okay?" Becky asks, sleep clouding her voice.

"I'm alright, love. Just a nightmare."

As quick as a flash of lightning, Loki appears in our bedroom.

"I'm afraid it wasn't just a nightmare, Eret. It was a premonition."

"A premonition?" Becky asks.

"That means something bad is going to happen."

"I know what a premonition is, Dad. You were saying?"

"Right, right." My father-in-law sighs shakily.

"That nightmare that you had, Eret...if things don't go smoothly during the chieftain ceremony later today...I'm afraid your nightmare will come true."

"What? No...did – did Heimdall...?"

"I'm afraid that Heimdall saw the future. Drago Bludvist is alive, as is your sister Amalie. When, in your nightmare, my eldest granddaughter wished for Amalie to return...Drago did, too...Ruby may have wished for your sister after Drago had appeared, but that's the funny thing about nightmares: they have a way of creeping into reality. And, Eret, all that you learned about Drago fathering another child is true."

"So, what can we do, Loki?"

"There isn't much that we can do, more than be on our guard for the time being. I will do what I can to protect the remaining members of the Nordisk family."

"Thank you, Loki."

Loki nods solemnly before leaving the room without another word, presumably to check on our sweet jewel Ruby.

Heimdall must have told Loki about Ruby's miscarriage, or he found out through grandfather's intuition.

~.~

Hours later, our chieftain ceremony starts smoothly and ends just the same.

But the small Nordisk family knows that something rough looms in the distance.

I can only hope I can protect both my family and my village.

The festivities begin, and we're all joined in the Great Hall, which reminds us of the one on New Berk...and it makes us miss our friends and our family.

But I have a job to do here now; there's not much I can change about going back to New Berk.

Once the festivities are underway, a shout rings out from the crowd. One nod from my wife, and she and I both know that Ruby can take care of Dustin and Eira while the two of us go investigate.

"Ruby, look after your brother and sister. We'll be right back." I tell my eldest. She nods confidently, and that's enough to get Becky's and my legs moving towards the hubbub.

"What is going on here?" I ask.

"Chief, Chieftess, it's the one who broke the treaty."

"Keep him restrained. Love, go back to the children."

"Eret, I'll be fine."

"But I won't be if he hurts you again!"

Tears brimming in her eyes, Becky nods and leaves without another word. I regret having shouted at my wife, especially since it's one of her triggers; I lost my temper with her, and I shouldn't have. She doesn't deserve my temper after having been through what she went through with Drago.

I step up to this man, this traitor, this monster. I face him head on, not knowing what his next move will be, but I do know this much: it won't be a good move for my family or for my people.

Before I can even utter a word to this monster, Loki steps up to me in disguise. In the back of my mind, I recall Loki as Anthony, the one who had helped Becky give birth to her first child – our late son.

"Anthony, I can deal with this."

"Sir...it's your wife and eldest daughter...they've been attacked."

I turn back to Drago, not knowing who could have attacked my wife and eldest...unless...no...my nightmare.

It's come true.

Leaving Drago restrained by a group of men, I run as fast as I can with Loki on my heels to my family.

Dustin and Eira are both in tears.

"Anthony, stay with Dustin and Eira. I'll deal with whoever attacked my wife and eldest child."

Loki nods at me and I rush outside with a group of men of my own to help.

"Ah, son of Eret. Thought we recognized this pretty little wife of yours."

"Get away from her, you bastard!"

"Oh, but we're just getting started. Brennan?"

Brennan, the little piece of dragon dung, throws my eldest daughter to the ground in front of me, battered and bloodied and bruised.

"Daddy..."

"I'm here, my little love. I promise."

"What? You're not going to cast her out? She's an unwed mother-to-be, I've made sure of that."

Inwardly groaning and inwardly also rolling my eyes at what I'm thinking, I think back to a story Aunt Grace had recently told me about...about this man...this special man who was faced with a woman who had cheated on her husband, and told the group of people who had cast that woman out that if they haven't done bad things, then they can throw the first stone at the woman who had committed adultery. But all of the people in that story had done bad things, so the woman was forgiven for the bad things she had done. Aunt Grace had also mentioned to "turn the other cheek", but...this wasn't the first time that my wife and eldest daughter have been attacked by these monsters. I make my decision.

"Go. If you ever darken my doorway again, I'll make sure you and your adoptive father and uncle pay for what you've done here tonight."

"Sir, you're just going to let them go? After what they did to your wife and eldest child?" My right-hand man asks me.

"Go...go and capture them. Make sure they're locked up tight." I say, seething with rage. How could I have let them go in the first place? Forget forgiveness, especially after everything they'd done.

Loki and I kneel in front of Ruby and Becky, and I tend to Ruby's wounds while Loki tends to Becky's.

And, this time, I don't wake up.

Because it's not a nightmare.

It's reality.

It's going to be a long night.