The Blood Moon Ragnarok (The Viking Werewolves)

Astrid's POV

The Dragon Riding Alpha

It had only been a few weeks since my escape, yet Rolo Irk and I had already changed our hiding place more than ten times. We fled from town to town, managing to secure suppressors to mask my omega scent and the scent of Ragnar's mark. These suppressors were meant to confuse the acute senses of the alpha prince, making it more difficult for him to find us and hiding the fact that I had been marked.

But hiding wasn't our only problem. Ragnar's mark felt like a curse, slowly killing me. Being an omega, the mark brought me so much more pain than it would any other wolf class. And with my alpha far from me, the mark burned even harder.

Once an alpha marks an omega, they cannot be apart for too long. It was different for an alpha paired with a delta, like Ragnar and Freydis Bloodaxe, who could be apart for months without suffering. But for me, I shouldn't even dare to stay away for a week.

Omegas are always on the receiving end, and I hated what was happening to me at the moment.

"Princess, you're burning with fever," Rolo said, holding a wet towel he'd been using to cool my forehead.

"It will pass, it will pass, I know it will pass," I said, clinging to the illusion that the discomfort would end.

"We have to flee tonight," he said, his face a testament to how much he hated giving me bad news. "People around here said they spotted Caraxes near the coast, and with that, you know the great alpha wolf is somewhere in the hills," Rolo said, and I sobbed. It was indeed bad news.

"Flee without me, Rolo. I will flee alone," I said, knowing that it would be almost impossible to escape this time. If Caraxes, Ragnar's dragon, was already nearby, there was no way we could make it out. If we were caught, Rolo would be in grave danger. But he shook his head in disagreement.

"And tell the queen I left her friend to die a coward? No, thanks, I'll never fail her trust," he said firmly.

Rolo lifted my hair to look at the mark that was getting worse. It was red and seemed infected, contaminating my blood. I knew it was not improving.

He cleaned the wound with herbal water, trying to relieve some of the pain and reduce the fever, but we both knew that only the alpha's saliva could truly clean and heal his omega's wound. Rolo believed the right thing to do was to return; I could even die while fleeing. But I feared returning even more than I feared death. I held out hope of finding some priestess to help remove the mark.

That night, we decided to flee along the coast. The saltwater of the sea would confuse the strong sense of smell of the alpha wolf. We would look for the ship we had already paid for and sail to a place far from here. We had managed to flee from Ragnar once; this time would be no different.

That night, the wound from the mark only worsened. My bones ached from the fever, though medicinal herbs prevented me from feeling clumsy.

"Princess, let me carry you. You can't run like this," Rolo said, but I shook my head.

"We need to run in our original forms. Carrying me means we'll remain in our human forms. We'll be too slow if we do that," I said, and Rolo cursed. I was right, but I could barely stand.

We quickly shifted into our wolf forms. Rolo's wolf form was just a little bigger than mine; he was a brown wolf with yellow eyes. It wasn't easy for me to transform due to my weakened state.

We ran as fast as we could, trying to reach the riverside where we'd find the ferry that would sail us to safety. But as we approached the coast, we felt the whip of Caraxes. He was already there, almost as if he had known of our plans, and soon, we heard the howl of the alpha wolf from the place where we had stayed. He was somewhere around the cabin, and we weren't far from there.

We ran toward the coast, but Rolo noticed how weak I was. With my alpha nearby, the mark burned even more. He knew it; that's how the marks worked. With this, Rolo couldn't run far. He tried to keep up with my slow pace.

We ran, trying to reach the ship that awaited us. But before we could arrive, Caraxes emerged from the heavens, descending with fire on the empty ship the merchants had left for us.

Rolo stopped. When he ceased running, perhaps out of fear of seeing the gigantic dragon Caraxes, I couldn't continue either. I shifted back into my human form. What was the point in running? There was no way we could escape now—our only lifeline had been destroyed. Seeing how weak I was, Rolo approached me, nudging me gently as I trembled on the ground, barely able to remain sitting.

His wolf licked my face, trying to urge me to get up and continue running, but when he moved my hair with his snout, he saw the mark was now bleeding, and he knew it was indeed severe.

The growl of the alpha wolf was heard again, and Rolo saw him right in front of us. Raising my head to see him, I should have tilted my head before the enraged alpha as a sign of fear and respect, or even surrender, yet I remained defiant, even though there was nothing but pain in my eyes.

Rolo knew he didn't have the strength or ability to face an alpha wolf, but somehow, he felt that he had to try. He would die anyway—that would be his thought. He ran and stood in front of me, trying to protect me from Ragnar. Ragnar, in his original wolf form, growled at his pathetic adversary. The much smaller beta growled back, challenging him.

"Please, Rolo, run away," I pleaded, but Rolo wouldn't flee. He was too proud to die a coward.

Both wolves engaged in a fight that lasted only seconds. The alpha wolf bit and tore the skin of the beta wolf, howling as he dragged the defeated wolf to where I was.

I hated that I couldn't take my original wolf form due to my exhaustion. I would have faced my alpha even if it meant dying. I would have tried to protect Rolo, whose only crime was protecting me.

Rolo took his human form again, and I held him in my arms. He was too injured—I feared he might die from the wounds.

"Please, Rolo, Freydis Bloodaxe will miss you so much," I cried, and he smiled weakly.

"Tell her that I love her," he whispered, just for me to hear. "Tell her that in another life, we will find each other, and we will be together," he said, and I sobbed.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," I cried, knowing that he would die and it was because he chose to help me.