Catch, Curse, Release (Immortal Warriors #1) ✅ Completed

Chapter Twenty-One: Dinner and a Show

Lori stepped inside the dining hall and immediately noticed the changes Eric's staff had worked furiously to arrange in preparation for an evening with the Fenrir. Besides the addition of items and rearranging of furniture, there was the stark removal of something in particular that readily caught Lori's eye. Pausing for a second, she brought Des to a sudden halt as she didn't bother to loosen her grip on his arm any.

As she scanned the area, what was readily apparent was the complete lack of females inside the dining hall. On the previous nights there were plenty of women inside the hall, most who accompanied their husbands and were as much a part of Wolfgard as the soldiers. For Eric, the entire clan was his family and each was treated as such, including the women. It wasn't anything Des or anyone else had ever told her, she could tell right from the start.

Now, besides herself, Lori saw only one other woman in the room: Bertie. The head cook was bustling around the hall, ordering several nervous looking young clansmen and working furiously to whip them into a proper serving team. Lori was betting most of them would've rathered run drills till their limbs fell off than be under the scrutiny of Bertie's hawk-eye. Among the servers, she noted several of the soldiers she'd greeted earlier that morning in the courtyard. What she didn't see were any of the usual maids or serving girls anywhere in sight.

Besides the missing estrogen in the room, the next big change was the set-up of the tables. They'd all been moved and pushed together, forming long rows set end to end. It reminded Lori a little of her old high school cafeteria, only with a much wilder looking crowd seated around them. She was pretty sure even the staff at Seward Park High School would have been hard pressed to control this assembled lot.

"They've moved everything in honor of the wolves," Des explained, urging her forward once more.

Lori followed his lead, a little slower this time as she took it all in. "Yeah, including all the women." The fact that she was going to be the only female in a den of wolves and warriors alike ratcheted her nervousness to DEFCON 2 - not quite imminent nuclear warfare but definitely arming the troops for possible deployment. As it was, her nerves were already shot to pieces - this was just the final bullet.

Des gave her a sardonic grin as he inclined his head forward as he spoke, "Aye, them too. Eric is no fool, he knows it's better not to tempt the Fenrir if he can help it." Then his face turned serious again, "Remember Lori, be extra careful tonight. These wolves are a pretty high-strung bunch. I'm not going to let anything happen to you but we don't want to accidentally cause another thousand year blood feud if we can help it."

"A thousand years? Do wolves live that long too?" she asked unable to keep the shock out of her voice.

"No, but wolves don't need a real reason to fight for a long time. Half their wars started over two or three thousand years ago. Hell, not a one of them can even tell you what started most of them, only that they're not planning on ending any in the near future."

"That's comforting," she muttered, feeling her stomach ditch her again. One day she was going to really have to work on keeping both her spine and guts locked in tight.

As they made their way to the end of the dining hall towards the high table, Lori categorized the rest of the changes in the room like she was putting together a practice brief. Around the hall, banners hung with what could only be the colors and standard of the Wolfgard clan. It was the first time she'd ever really taken the time to notice the rising sun and setting moon over a sword and shield that was the seal of Eric's clan. Deep gold and purple colored flags alternated around the hall, their golden threads catching the light of the brightly glowing lanterns. The effect was impressive to say the least.