CHAPTER 11

FREYA

No one noticed I had been gone last night, and I could slip back in unnoticed. I don’t know, but I don’t feel the whipping so much anymore. I sneaked into the dark of Dad’s tent and fell asleep on the skins on the floor. But unlike most nights, I was dreaming, and they felt so real.

The black wolf was in my dreams, but its eyes were not red anymore; they were ash-grey, blueish, just like the man Jacob’s eyes. And then he appeared where the wolf had been, and he held me close, but not in a demanding way, no, like if he loved me. I dreamed about how he made love to me, soft, intense, passionate love, and then just held me close while we watched the sun go down.

I woke up with the strangest feeling in my body and a calm in my heart I had never felt. I looked around in the morning light and saw that Dad was still sleeping, and I relaxed.

I stood up took my bow and arrows, and went hunting. It did not take long before I could go back and start preparing the wild pig I had killed.

The