A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

So, a new day arrived in Frostvik.

After everyone got dressed, they left the bedroom, with Elora on Erik's shoulder.

When they entered the living room, they found Emily talking with Astrid. The two of them quickly fell silent, which made their topic of discussion clear.

Yet, neither Erik nor Elora was bothered.

Emily shortly glared at Elora and then simply went to sit on a sofa to continue her Arcanist path. She considered going to help Emma prepare breakfast, but she still felt far too awkward for that.

"Good morning, Astrid," Erik greeted the strawberry-blond vampire with a knowing smile.

Astrid blushed furiously and glared at him angrily when she saw Erik and noticed that smile. Setting aside that she now knew what he looked like naked, and had rubbed one out to the intimate scene between Erik and Emma, there was one more reason: the smell.

Emily and Emma may not have noticed, since it had been multiple hours since then, but she knew that what little remained from the scent of her ejaculations would not pass by the nose of a powerful werewolf like Erik.

'I guess that answers the question of whether or not she actually used that sigil,' Erik chuckled to himself, unbothered by the knowledge his childhood friend had been watching him last night. 'And the fact she enjoyed herself is a good sign.'

"Don't you dare bring it up!" she said, with arms crossed, crimson cheeks and a challenging glare. She still wasn't sure whether or not Erik actually knew of the sigil stone Elora had given her, but if he did, then she prayed to all her lucky stars he at least wouldn't mention it.

"Enjoyed yourself last night?" Erik asked, completely ignoring her request, while a lopsided grin tugged on the corners of his mouth, and mischief sparkled in his eyes. The only thing missing where wiggling eyebrows to make it really obvious what he was talking about.

In response, Astrid blushed even harder and cursed inwardly. 'Damn that idiot!' Unable to think of a proper response, she instead jumped to the best method she had of coping with her feelings: violence.

She jumped up and charged Erik with a roar, "Shut up!" Her face was red and twisted in frustration. Erik chuckled and quickly caught her fist before it reached his stomach. He slid back a few meters but was otherwise unharmed and had now caught Astrid's arm.

Yet, despite his relatively easy catch, he could feel the increased power in her punch. 'She's recovering faster than expected,' he thought to himself. 'That's good, we'll be able to leave earlier.'

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"Let me go!" she said while glaring at him.

"Why don't you make me?" Erik challenged, with his mouth curled up into a playful grin, and his eyes twinkling with fighting intent.

"Before this goes any further," the amused voice of a certain fairy sounded from the side, her wings fluttering with suppressed laughter, "Can I suggest you take this outside?" She giggled, "We already have one hole in the house after all…"

Erik chuckled and looked at the frustrated Astrid, "Well? Can you contain your frustration until after breakfast?"

Astrid glared at him and tried to pull her arm back, which Erik allowed by letting go. She grumbled a little, "Fine." Then her face turned a little in embarrassment, "But no more mentioning… you know what!"

"It's forgotten about," Erik chuckled.

Seeing there would be no more walls destroyed today, Elora flew up from Erik's shoulder and put Astrid's bed back in her storage jewel.

Seeing the vampire woman's questioning gaze, Elora chuckled and reassured her, "Don't worry, you'll get it back by night. It's just a little in the way right now."

After Astrid accepted Elora's explanation, they then went on to eat the breakfast prepared by Emma, and everyone got started on their various tasks for the day.

For Emma and Emily, that simply meant continuing their paths as Arcanists. Elora had prepared various methods to help them along as quickly as possible without putting them in danger of corruption.

For Elora, that meant continuing to teach sigil craft to Nora, while also extracting as much information about Frostfang and the Silver Enclave as was available in the enslaved werewolf's head.

As for Astrid and Erik, they continued their training and sparring from last night. Only this time, Erik actually spent a little more time on his uncle's group as well, to the great excitement of Björn.

It quickly became apparent that Erik and Björn had a lot in common. They were both pragmatic and generally calm, yet they loved fighting and training with a passion. In addition, they would both do anything for the people they love.

Over the next few days in Frostvik, things continued peacefully, and without any upsets.

Björn and Erik quickly found common ground, their budding friendship anchored by shared stories and common interests. Among these stories, Erik was particularly drawn to the tale of Björn's human wife, a victim of the hunters' many attacks on the day of the awakening.

Whenever Björn spoke of her, a distant look of resolve clouded his eyes—a look Erik interpreted as a shared longing for justice against their common enemies. Particularly, against the hunters, rather than humans as a whole, an idea that most of these other shapeshifters seemed to subscribe to.

The concept of Björn's interracial marriage intrigued Erik because it resembled what he once thought his future with Edda would be like, despite the rarity of such unions.

These marriages were shrouded in myths and debates over the feasibility of offspring, who were themselves enveloped in legend, not for their power but for their scarcity.

This was also why some people in Frostvik didn't approve of Erik's infatuation with Edda, back in the day. But, of course, with Erik's parents being the village leaders, what anyone else thought was inconsequential.

Regardless, Erik now understood the relatively moderate stance on humans that Björn took. Björn's anger was mostly focused on the specific group of humans who called themselves the hunters.

As for Olaf and Anne, Erik didn't really get any closer to them, but that was to be expected. They had the most hatred towards humans, and they saw Erik as a human sympathizer.

He also spent a lot of time with his Uncle Viljar during these days. They talked more about everything that happened in the last seven years, while also reminiscing about the good times before that.

They managed to make a start at truly rekindling their relationship as uncle and nephew. Naturally, Viljar was particularly happy at Erik's intentions towards Sigurd, with Erik now understanding why Viljar was so sure Erik would find himself involved in this war.

The same went for Astrid and Erik, who grew exponentially closer to the way they used to be, with Astrid a little more sure about Erik's character every day.

Nora didn't go ignored either, as Erik made sure to continue ingraining her with obedience and reminding her of the kind of rewards she could get for doing a good job. Not that she had a choice, of course, but having an enthusiastic slave was always better than a reluctant one.

Unfortunately... all peaceful times would eventually come to an end.

*crunch* *crunch*

On the morning of the fifth day since Erik's arrival in Frostvik, the sound of two people walking through the Norwegian snow sounded just before the ridge overlooking Frostvik.

Two men appeared on the edge.

The left one, was relatively short, with brown hair, blue eyes, and an excited, greedy smile on his face. He was dressed in a uniform very familiar to Erik's group. It carried the European Council's symbol.

This man was Victor Bianchi, a second-rank shapeshifter.

The man next to him was tall, with black hair, brown eyes, and a powerful presence that was difficult to ignore.

His name was Jonas Müller, a German immigrant to Norway. Although, most people now referred to him as Frostfang…