Free Love's Choice by Renee Jordan

shook, trying to toss Magnus. My werewolf boyfriend held on tight. His legs swung back and forth. Only his powerful grip around the monster's neck held him in place.
    Golden eyes met mine. A flash of communication sprang between us. It wasn't anything psychic, but instinctive. Primal. I knew what Magnus needed me to do. I rose. My flaming sword gripped in my hand. I lunged forward and thrust.
    My flaming sword stabbed into the monster's belly. For a moment, the hide resisted. And then the point popped in and I sank the blade to the hilt. Blood poured out. Smoke rose thick and greasy. The monster howled in agony. Smoke belched from his mouth.
    I was burning him from the inside.
    “You will die in Utgard, Valkyrie!” howled the monster as he crashed to the snow. His limbs thrashed, kicking up a spray of white.
    My sword was ripped out of my grasp. It wavered and vanished in a puff of flames. I could feel it inside me. I could summon it out of the fires that raged inside me. I marched to the monster's maw. Fire licked at his tongue.
    “What is Utgard?”
    He laughed. “Here. My brethren rule this land. And more than frost trolls stalk Utgard. There is only death here, Valkyrie. You should fit right in. How long until you get your Einherjer killed again?” He laughed again, his body convulsing. “You will die.”
    “How do I get back?”
    He cackled as the fire consumed him. The flames burst through his flesh, consuming him from the inside. And still he laughed. The smoke rose thicker. Falling snow mixed with rising ash. The fires burned hot, cutting off his laugh. Flames engulfed his entire body.
    “Raven,” Magnus said.
    I pulled my gaze away from the burning monster.
    Magnus was human again. His clothes seemed to have reformed about him. His leather vest snapped in the wind, exposing most of his muscular torso and the tattoo of a woman clutched by a black dragon on his chest.
    Magnus's arms swept around me, pulling me to his chest. His heart thudded through my wet clothes. The wind howled fiercer around us. Our hair whipped about our heads. White seemed to engulf us, pressing in and swallowing up everything.
    “It's a blizzard!” he shouted, his words ripped away by the raging wind. “We need to find cover.”
    “How about a house?”
    I gasped in shock as Magnus lifted me into his arms. I almost objected to being carried, but it was nice to be cradled. I put on arm around his neck, squirming in his strong grip. In the driving blizzard, snow freezing in his dirty-blond hair, he resembled a fierce Viking warrior. It was like we had stepped through time into a world long lost.
    Magnus plowed through the whiteout to carry me to safety.

Chapter Nine
    Raven
    A snowy house appeared out of the blizzard. It was tall and narrow. On either side, I could just make out similar houses, their brick facades hazy in the driving blizzard. This Utgard was a reflection of Seattle buried in winter. Were the houses occupied? What else lived in this horrid place besides the monster?
    Magnus marched up buried stairs to the house's entrance. The snow lessened towards the door, revealing the concrete porch. There was a roof leaning out to shield the porch. A welcome mat, the gray, fuzzy fibers matted with ice, lay before the white door.
    Magnus tried the door. It was locked. With a single kick, he shattered open the door.
    “Magnus?” I gasped. “This is someone's house.”
    “Is it?” he asked as we strode in.
    Snow swirled in with us, landing on a beige carpet. The house felt...empty. Furniture decorated the living room, a large TV hanging on a wall opposite a matching couch and recliner. Little knickknacks adorned shelves and pictures hung on the walls of a smiling, African-American family. This house belonged to someone and yet...it felt like we were the first people to enter here. The air was stale.
    “It's only a reflection,” I whispered as Magnus moved to the stairs. He flipped a switch and lights hummed on, maybe for the