I looked around the room frantically, panic coursing through my body. It was not a coincidence that I received that phone call right as I watched the news.  

Someone had to have been watching. 

“Where the fuck are you!?” I shouted as I scrambled around the living room looking for what I assumed had to have been a hidden camera. Freyja was on me in seconds, shielding me with her body on high alert. She let out a hissing sound as she scanned the room, and when she could see nothing, she asked what was going on. I gestured over to the TV and she watched the building burning on the screen. 

“That was Astrid’s bar,” I explained and she sighed sadly.

“Truly a pity, I feel terrible that this occurred to someone who may soon join our Bond. Fear not, Dean, I will help her rebuild as a token of my upcoming friendship with her.” She smiled and rubbed my back but stopped when she recognized my panicked expression. I looked around the room again before turning off her TV. 

“Frey, that’s awesome of you, and I appreciate it but we gotta get the fuck outta here.”  

“What’s wrong, Dean?” She said as she took stock of the other rooms with her eyes.  

“I got a call from...who the hell knows when I was watching the news. They told me the fire was a warning. I think we’re being watched, we got to go, now!” Upon hearing this, Freyja snarled and mutated into her muscled-up form. She then snatched me up and bolted out of her apartment but was sure to lock up on the way out.  

Couldn’t be too careful. 

I couldn’t see where we were going thanks to having my head nuzzled into her chest but judging by the sound of the wind, we were hauling ass. God help anyone around who saw Freyja sprint at full speed across campus, must’ve been a terrifying thing to see. 

A few minutes later, we arrived at the college apartments just off the main campus. Freyja set me down on the sidewalk in front of one such apartment that was nearly double the size of those around it.  

“Where are we?” I asked as she put me down. She ignored my question and went right up to the door and knocked. When no one answered after a moment, she looked at the side of the apartment in an appraising manner before slamming her fist into the apartment a couple of times. From inside, I could hear a woman yelling at us to desist before the door swung open. 

“Who dares to-” I stared at an equally confused Hilda dressed in an oversized bathrobe. 

“My elder, we require your assistance. Please.” Freyja bowed her head reverently. Hilda put a pair of hands on her hips and turned to look at me with an accusing glare. 

“What trouble do you bring upon my student?” Hilda’s eyes narrowed. 

“We can talk about my knack for attracting problems later, a Bevusian Club, owned by one of my, er, friends, is burning down right now! I-” Hilda held up a hand to stop my rambling. She turned and moved aside while pointing into her apartment. 

“Inside. Now.” Angrily, she whispered in Bevusian with Freyja as we went inside, the door slamming behind us. I walked towards the only room with the light on, the living room. Like Freyja's, it was rather bare and only had the necessities. I sat down on the oversized couch next to Freyja while Hilda sat in a lounge chair in the corner to the right of us. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she gathered herself, probably trying not to lose her shit on us. She then took a moment to look between the two of us, a deep frown painted across her face. I dared not to say anything for fear of her snapping at me. The pressure she exuded was insane, I began to physically feel ill from the terrifying aura she was putting out.

Finally, her face softened and the oppressive feeling vanished. 

“I am positive I will receive a report on this matter in the morning, therefore, please do not waste my valuable free time by bringing it to my attention now. I am sorry for your friend, but what is done is done.” Like a child, I raised my hand to speak.  

“There’s more to it than that, Ma’am.” Freyja looked over at her and nodded grimly, finally taking us seriously she told me to explain. I went over the details, focusing heavily on the idea that Freyja and I were most likely being spied on due to that phone call I received.  

“I see now, you did well in bringing this to my attention then. I apologize for my behavior; you caught me at a bad time. In any case, I will have the both of you stay the night here until we can conduct sweeps of your residences. Of course, we will have to increase campus security as well.” Neither Freyja nor I protested, who knows what might happen. I’m sure Freyja could protect the both of us, but we had no idea what was going on. “You,” the older Bevusian woman suddenly stated as she pointed a finger at me, “Will sleep in my room upstairs. The princess will sleep on the couch.” 

“What about you? I’d feel bad taking your room.” Hilda shook her head, 

“Think nothing of it, it is the natural course of action. I’m sure the princess will not argue about being separated for a single night?” Freyja did look like she was going to speak up but was shut down by a hard stare from Hilda. “I will also stand guard through the night, so that the two of you may rest easy.” 

“Don’t you need to sleep?” She responded immediately with a resounding no. Frankly, I was inclined to believe her. She turned her head suddenly and sniffed the air before smirking. 

“Perhaps if the young princess was less...enthralled with exploring your body, she may have noticed that something was amiss.” Freyja blustered and told her mentor to mind her own business, I chuckled. I was thankful that the tension was broken and asked which room was Hilda’s.  

After telling me, Freyja gave me a bear hug and practically begged Hilda to let her sleep with me as we were saying goodnight.  

“Do not test my patience.” And with that said, I was released readily by a frightened Freyja and scampered up the steps to Hilda’s room. I almost laughed when I saw the interior, white and gold sheets, pillows, and blankets.  

The color scheme gets me every time. 

I closed the door, made my way to the Alaskan King-sized bed, and let my body sink into it with a silent groan. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself before texting Astrid as I feared the worst. Taking my phone out of my pocket, I checked and saw that I didn’t have any notifications from her. I sent her a message asking if she was okay and that I saw what happened on the news. I neglected to tell her about my problems as I didn’t want to stress her out more than she likely already was. 

Sighing with relief, my phone vibrated a few moments later with a text from her. 

I’m fine, fucking pissed as hell but I’m okay. I’ve gotta deal with the authorities, but I’ll text you tomorrow.... thanks for worrying about me. See ya. 

Okay good, that’s good. She’s safe, she’s fine. All is okay.  

My phone buzzed again, it was a message from Freyja.

I know it’s still early in the night but Hilda is insisting we both go to sleep to prepare for a long day tomorrow. I’m sorry for bringing this trouble upon us, but fret not, I shall stick close to you from now on.  

Well, there goes my independence.  

I asked her what she meant, and what she said boiled down to how we would be attached at the hip moving forward, and that she was going to ‘mark’ me to let everyone know who I belonged to. If I was being candid, I was upset that this was her response to the situation. On the one hand, I get that something horrible was going on, attempted murder, arson, and spying were no joke. But I was my own man, and I refused to be coddled and seen as someone who needed to be protected. The last thing I wanted to be was some damsel in their eyes who couldn’t take care of himself. Hmm, maybe I'd ask Erik for some ideas on how to cope with things like that. He'd no doubt have a lifetime of coping with them.

Not wanting to argue about it now, I told her that we could discuss that in the morning and that we should rest. I watched as three dots bubbled up on my screen as she texted for quite a while before she sent a simple ‘okay’. I wanted to text something to make her feel better after tonight, but the words didn’t come. Just when things were finally getting better, shit just had to hit the fan. 

Tomorrow is going to be rough.