Odins Ravens by Armstrong K L, Marr M A (z-lib.org).epub

Fen. “You are wulfenkind, Fenrir. There are rules. You can’t run from a fight
for dominance.”

Fen growled again, and then he attacked.
Although Skull stayed on two legs, he was still an able opponent. He
was, however, not as agile as a wolf. Fen’s shape—and his teeth—gave him
an advantage. It wasn’t an easy fight, but Fen felt like he was stronger than
usual, like reserves of power were his. The others had gained gifts from
their god ancestors. Was Fen finally gaining something because he was
doing what he was destined to do, even if it meant potentially joining the
side of the villains? Was that the way it worked? Gifts came when they
accepted their fate? Even as the thought occurred to him, Fen rejected it. If
he had to be on the wrong side to be stronger, he didn’t want it.
At the realization that by winning this fight he was losing everything,
Fen stopped. He just stopped. He shed his wolf form and told Skull, “No.
You’re not defeated, but I’m not staying here. I’ll break that rule. You can
declare me a rogue or whatever it is. The pack can hunt me if they have to,
but I won’t do this.”
Skull shook his head. “You can fight me, or I will beat you until you
can’t move. Then I’ll go after your sweet cousin.”
Fighting hadn’t worked, and accepting the beating hadn’t worked. Fen
needed help. He opened his mouth and let out a howl. It wasn’t entirely
wolflike, as he was in human form, but he hoped that one of the others
would hear and come to investigate. It was against every wulfenkind rule to
do as he just had, but somehow, following pack rules wasn’t quite as
important when the battle for the end of the world was coming.
He saw the raven then. It swooped down low enough that Fen could
almost touch it. “Get the others,” he called, feeling a little ridiculous talking
to a bird, even though it was probably Owen’s bird, but he was desperate
enough to try.
The raven made no sign that it was even the right raven, but Fen clung
to the hope that help was coming. Hope wasn’t enough, though, so he
resumed hitting Skull back. It was an odd sort of fight in which neither one
of them was trying to truly win. Fen was trying to buy time, and Skull was
trying to only put up enough resistance to make it a valid challenge for
domination.



The others didn’t come, and Fen was growing tired. They’d already had
a full-out battle that day. He’d started the fight tired. He howled again,
hoping that Thorsen or Baldwin or even Owen would come. He even said,
“Aunt Helen? I wish you were here.” No one came.

He kept trying to not win the fight but not get too injured, either.
Still, no one came. If the raven understood, it hadn’t brought help. Helen
hadn’t appeared. None of the others came to see where he was. He was
alone and tired, and Skull wasn’t going to stop until Fen beat him or was
too beaten to keep fighting. Then they’d do it all over again when he healed.
There was no rescue for him. Fen finally accepted that he had no other
choice: he had to beat Skull. He had to win this fight to keep Laurie safe.
Soon, Skull was on the ground in front of Fen. He stretched his neck out,
baring his throat to Fen, and said, “My pack is yours. I am yours.”
At that, Fen felt a series of connections to people settle onto him. He felt
his pack, his new wulfenkind family, lift their heads and muzzles as they felt
him, too, and he heard their howls as they gave voice to the desperation that
Fen felt.
He was well and truly trapped, bound to the enemy, compelled to look
out for their needs and their well-being… which was the exact opposite of
what he wanted to do. Now he’d have to put the good of the pack first, and
they wanted to bring about the end of the world.
“I can lead you home,” Skull said in a weirdly meek voice.
Now what do I do? Fen thought he’d been trapped by being Loki’s
representative in the final battle, was almost embarrassed when he found
out he wasn’t, and now was terrified that he again seemed to be the god’s
stand-in—but this time, for the wrong team. By winning the fight, he’d lost
so much more: now Fen would have to lead the monsters against his
friends.

For more great reads and free samplers, visit
LBYRDigitalDeals.com

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We want to thank:

Meghan Lewis, Breanna Lewis, and Dylan Marr, for coming up with
titles for the books;
our agents, Sarah Heller and Merrilee Heifetz, for believing in the
project (and us);
and our kids (Marcus, Alex, Julia, Dylan, and Asia) and our assistants
(Laura Kalnajs and Alison Armstrong), for feedback.

Contents

COVER
TITLE PAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION

CHAPTER ONE: MATT
CHAPTER TWO: FEN
CHAPTER THREE: OWEN
CHAPTER FOUR: MATT
CHAPTER FIVE: FEN
CHAPTER SIX: MATT
CHAPTER SEVEN: LAURIE
CHAPTER EIGHT: MATT
CHAPTER NINE: LAURIE
CHAPTER TEN: MATT
CHAPTER ELEVEN: FEN
CHAPTER TWELVE: MATT
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: MATT
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: FEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: LAURIE
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: MATT
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: OWEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: MATT

CHAPTER NINETEEN: FEN
CHAPTER TWENTY: MATT
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: LAURIE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: MATT
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: FEN

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
COPYRIGHT



Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are
the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is
coincidental.

Text copyright © 2014 by K.L.A. Fricke Inc. and Melissa Marr
Interior illustrations © 2014 by Vivienne To
Shield and logo by Eamon O’Donoghue based on the work of Lisseth Kay
Cover art © 2014 by Vivienne To
Cover design by Sasha Illingworth
Cover shield and logo by Eamon O’Donoghue based on the work of Lisseth
Kay
Cover © 2014 Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the
scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without
the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s
intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other
than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by
contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your
support of the author’s rights.

Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
lb-kids.com

Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group,
Inc.

The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not

owned by the publisher.
First ebook edition: May 2014
ISBN 978-0-316-25508-0
E3