Sneak Peek at The Monster Chained

Is Val-hall truly the sanctuary Óðinn promises? Or is it a beautiful trap?

You’ll find out this month!

The Monster Chained, book four in the five-book Fenris series, comes out May 28.

I’m *this close* to finishing my edits, and I’m hoping to send this one out to my amazing ARC team by next week. (Want to join the fun? Click here!)

But how about taking a little peek right now..?

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Sneak Peek at The Monster Chained

“Fenris!” Thor boomed, making me jump. “I said I’d show you something truly impressive, did I not?”

Before anyone could respond, Thor stepped past us and climbed onto the table. There, with his bare chest and rippling muscles illuminated by the torchlight, Thor put his hands on his hips and laughed. Beside me, Fenris hiccuped again. Thor turned to look down at us. He seemed impossibly huge.

“You aren’t such a terrible fighter, little Fenris,” Thor said. He was talking to us, but his voice carried through every corner of the hall. “And you’re even learning how to hold your mead. But you want to see real strength?”

Cheers again. Now it seemed like the entire feast hall was following the action.

“Bring me a chain!” Thor screamed.

The crowd started yelling, and a ripple moved through the warriors pressed on either side of the table. A moment later, two burly, grunting men shuffled forward dragging a length of thick, oily chain.

I stared in horrified fascination as the two men climbed on the table, pulling the chain with them. Thor, grinning and laughing, crossed his arms over his chest. The two men looped the chain around Thor’s bare torso and pulled tight. Two bands of dark metal crossed over his arms, each link as thick as one of Thor’s fingers. In the torchlight, the chain looked greasy and malevolent. Fenris hiccuped as the men stepped back, each holding their end of the chain taut.

Thor’s expression shifted from joviality to a dark seriousness. “This is true strength, little Fenris,” Thor boomed.

Thor took a deep breath, grunted, and began to flex his arms. The dark metal loops of the chain dug into Thor’s biceps as his arms strained and his face turned red. I gulped. He was Thor Óðinnsen, of course, but there was no damn way he could get out of this. He was going to look like a fool in front of all the warriors of Val-hall.

Thor grunted and strained, tilting his head toward the ceiling. Veins throbbed in his neck. The men on either side of him pulled hard, leaning away from Thor, the chains fast in their hands. The bare skin of Thor’s arms flushed red against the dark metal.

Something screeched, like the metallic shriek of a rusted hinge. Thor panted and heaved forward, causing the men holding the chains to scramble for footing against the table. That horrible screeching sound came again, only louder this time. Now it looked like the chains were sinking into Thor’s skin.

There was a dry, cracking snap, and a dark snake of metal reared into the air. The man who’d been holding the chain crashed backward, falling into the crowd. Thor screamed in triumph; thunder boomed just above the roof of Val-hall, shaking the very rafters. The chain fell in front of me with a clatter, crashing against plates and shattering a flagon of mead.

The crowd exploded with cheers, screaming Thor’s name in near-orgasmic ecstasy. Thor’s chest heaved as he caught his breath. Sweat dripped from his body, but it didn’t wash away the dark lines of the chains. I could almost see violet bruises blooming along his biceps, and I fought the sudden urge to touch him.

Now, I realized. Now is the time to go.

I grabbed Fenris’s hand and tugged. He met my eyes, swayed forward, hiccuped, and nodded.

“Fenris!” Thor said, spreading his arms as if he were invoking the entire crowd.

Shit! Not now! I tugged harder on Fenris’s hand, but he ignored me. All his drunken attention had settled on Thor.

Thor wiped his brow with one bruised forearm and gave Fenris a smile that seemed almost predatory. “Val-hall hasn’t seen your magic yet. You think you could do something that impressive, little cur?”

Fenris pushed himself to his feet. His palms spread flat on the table as if he were bracing himself on the furniture, but he looked up to meet Thor’s gaze. The feast hall grew silent.

“I could do that,” Fenris said. Slowly. Deliberately. “But… Don’t you have a bigger chain?”

[image error]Yes, Fenris makes bad choices
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