Sun's Tear (The Valkyrie's Passion Book 2): A Valkyrie/Shifter Romance (7 page)

Magnus

My insides were twisted. I didn't want to believe Raven had done anything with Loki while I was out scouting in Utgard, but my mind kept drifting there. I wanted to believe her when she claimed Loki kissed her. She had broken away from Loki when I stepped out of the bar, but was that out of guilt and shock at being caught or had I just stepped out at the wrong moment?

Either way, Loki was not to be trusted. He was playing a game. My fist clenched. After the fight, I would track Raven down and figure out this tangled mess. But I couldn't concentrate on it right now.

Battle approached.

My men needed leadership right now. They didn't need me worrying about Raven.

But she was under my skin. My tall, fierce, warrior-woman. My Boudica. I closed my eyes and pictured Raven in her full regalia, clad in silver armor, racing forward into battle with her flaming sword held high. Her black hair streamed out beneath her silver, winged helmet. Strong, beautiful, passionate, and more.

I knew she loved me. I heard her words when I lay dead and my spirit floated above her.

I had to clutch to that. She wouldn't cheat on me. She wouldn't kiss Loki. The trickster had to be the one to seize her. He was trying to seduce her away from me. My fist clenched, the leather of my glove creaking.

I wanted to find the trickster god and wring his neck.

I grabbed my phone. I would call her. Talk to her. Try to figure out the truth of Loki's lies.

My hand froze. Silly club. Why did she say that? There was nothing silly about the brotherhood I had with the Black Wolves. We were free men. We blazed our own trail. She didn't understand. She was from the city with all their stupid, silly rules.

“Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty,” I muttered.

“What was that?” Big Hoss asked.

“Just something Thomas Jefferson said.”

The man nodded. “Deep words. How do you remember them all?”

I shrugged.

“Thinking of Raven?”

“Trying not to,” I answered. “What we're about to do needs my complete attention.”

Big Hoss smiled. “She's under your skin. That's good. Means she's important to you.”

“She was trying to tell me something important,” I sighed. “And it is important. Maybe more important than this.” That was hard to admit. I was torn between my love for my club and my desire to protect Raven.

“Deep thoughts,” he nodded with a grin. “Your thoughts have always run so deep. It's why you created this. But sometimes, I wonder if us simple men are enough for you.”

“No man is simple,” I responded. “We are all complex beings. We're only told we are simple. If we accept it, we are shackled to the expectations others have of us.”

“See. Deep thoughts.” His grin faded. “What's going on? If you think there's something more important than hitting back the Blood Eagles, spit it out.”

“You wouldn't believe me.” I cracked my knuckles. “If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't believe me.”

“You mentioned something was coming yesterday when I saw you at the hospital. And you said the same thing that I wouldn't believe you. You're my brother. I'd believe you.” He rubbed thick neck. “Does it have to do with your injuries?”

“Yeah.” I studied Hoss. He had pulled me out of the shit once. We had built the Black Wolves together.

“How did you get them?”

“The tornado. Only, that wasn't a tornado that swept through Seattle.”

“I saw the footage. What would you call funnels of air?”

“See. You wouldn't believe me.” I shook my head. “Forget it. Looks like Thomas is back with the guns. We need to get ready.”

Big Hoss seized my wrist. “You can tell me.”

Could I? I could show him. I could summon the prismatic ax that used to belong to the god Heimdall before the Thief killed him. Or I could transform into a werewolf. But what would that do besides scare him?

“We need our focus tonight. The raid's important.”

“After?” Big Hoss's eyes were hard, boring.

“I have to talk to Raven afterward. Try and patch things up and figure out what to do about Loki.”

“That guy who kissed her?” Big Hoss asked. “You going to break his legs?”

“Something like that.”

“Then we'll talk after that.” A grin split his lips. “Been a while since I broke a man's legs who was wearing a suit that nice.”

I froze. “You saw him?”

“Yeah. Pretentious bastard. And the car he drove.” Big Hoss shook his head. “A Lamborghini that nice costs serious dough. Real shame to damage the beauty.”

Loki had made Big Hoss see something different than what Raven and I saw. To me, Loki had just vanished. It was like Fenrir's rampage or the frost troll chase. Everyone saw a tornado except Raven and me. A chill ran down my spine. How powerful was Loki?

Thomas hopped out of his pickup truck, the bed covered in a blue tarp. He yanked it back to reveal crates containing H&K UMP .45 submachine guns. The tall, solid-metal gates of the club's mechanic shop—our legit front—were closed; out of sight, the Black Wolves unloaded, opened, and assembled the matte-black weapons.

Everyone wore gloves, even when loading the .45 ACP rounds into the magazines. Fingerprints could be left on a casing. The sun sank lower and lower as everyone worked. Most submachine guns used 9mm rounds, but I wanted the increased stopping power of the .45 round. Each weapon had a folding stock, allowing them to be stowed in packs as we rode through town.

I itched to call Raven.

I broke away and pulled out my cell phone. I had to talk to her. I flipped open my phone and froze. What should I say to her? I didn't know. I would wing it. I would let my heart guide my words. I hit call.

The phone rang and rang. “Hi, this is Raven, please leave your message and I'll get back to you. Thanks.”

The phone beeped. “Hi, Raven. We need to talk. To figure out this Loki mess. I believe you when you say Loki kissed you.” Did I? I had to believe it. The alternative left a vast, yawning gulf in my stomach. “And we need to talk about the club. I love you, Raven. I do. But...what we're doing tonight has to be done.”

I didn't know what else to say. My words were failing me. Maybe I should have texted her. Silence hung for a moment, and then the automated message played, asking me if I was satisfied with the message. I hit 1 and hung up.

Why hadn't she answered?

I looked at my club, my brothers. They were ready to go, the guns stowed into their saddlebags or backpacks. I took a deep breath. They were all looking at me. I had to say something. We had never gone into true battle like we would tonight.

Shakespeare's St. Crispin's Day speech popped into my head.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered-

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now-a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Shakespeare probably wouldn't inspire my brothers, but I could paraphrase. I looked at them. I was about to answer when my cell phone chirped. I pulled it out. Only one person texted me. Raven had answered.

Her text read: “Leave me alone.”

Anger seized me. My speech went out of my head. “Let's go fuck those pigeons up,” I snarled. The wolf howled inside of me. There was no room for niceties, for bombastic speeches. “We'll teach them not to shit in our territory.”

My brothers howled in rage. Bikes were mounted, and the pack rode off on our hunt.

~   ~   ~

Raven

I pulled the truck onto the side of the road. I was close to the Sun's Tear. The headlights turned off, plunging the world before me into darkness. I climbed out of the cab. The wind blew through the pine trees.

I wish I had my phone. I wanted to call Magnus to ride up on his bike and join me.

I climbed out of the cab and shivered, even with the Tear's warmth painting my skin. I was surprised the forest wasn't lit up with its golden glow. That was how close I felt to it. My heart thudded in my chest as I peered into the dark woods.

“I'm strong. I'm a Valkyrie. I can do this.”

I summoned my sword. Fire whirled, and the blade appeared in my hands. The dancing fire lit up the undergrowth before me. The ground was carpeted in brown pine needles and fallen branches. Thick ferns, with feathery fronds, crowded around the rising trees.

I stepped through the fronds and pushed into the woods, holding my flaming sword aloft. I had never been in the woods alone in the dark. My heart thudded in my chest as I took another step. Everything seemed...strange. The trees loomed over me, their branches reaching at me like the clawed hands of monsters.

“You fought monsters,” I whispered at myself as I pushed forward. “Stop being so scared.”

The light from my sword flickered, making the shadows stretching away from me dance. My head kept snapping around as I caught those writhing shadows in the corners of my eyes.

“This is so stupid,” I muttered to myself as I walked faster. “There is nothing out here that is going to hurt you.”

Unless there were other things after the Sun's Tear. I swallowed. What if a frost troll, a disgusting mix of wolf and ape the size of a small house, stalked through the woods after me? Or maybe one of those flaming skeletons that exploded when they died?

And there were other monsters in mythology. I could be walking into anything.

I wished Magnus was here. I wanted to go back to the truck, drive back to the garage, and wait for him to come home from his...whatever his club planned on doing against the Blood Eagles tonight. I wasn't sure I wanted to know. It was probably illegal.

Magnus made his own rules, lived life his own way. That was what made him so attractive and so dangerous.

I threw a look over my shoulder. I couldn't see the truck. The brush had swallowed up the road behind me. I clutched my free hand to my chest as indecision gripped me. I looked around at the woods.

Frogs croaked and crickets chirped. That had to be a good sign. Animals always grew silent when dangerous creatures stumbled near. If there were any monsters around, they wouldn't be making all this racket.

I could do this. I was strong. I was the daughter of Sigrid and Ragnar. My mother was fierce and my father powerful. I had inherited their strength. I wouldn't let a dark woods scare me. Even Magnus believed I was strong.

“I'm his Boudica,” I whispered to myself. “She faced down the Roman legions. I can face the woods.”

I strode forward, my fear diminishing.

I pushed through the fern's feathery fronds and ducked beneath the low branches of the pine and fir trees. The air was rich with the scent of evergreen needles and dirt. The air was damp, and the ground grew soggy. The songs of frogs grew louder.

I came across a marsh or bog, the brackish water almost completely still, only rippled by the writhing tadpoles teaming in the water and snatching up the mosquitoes that landed on the surface. They gathered around my sword, humming through the air. Larger crane flies joined them.

“Go away,” I groaned as a mosquito hummed past my ear. I smacked one that landed on my arm.

They would eat me alive if I wasn't careful.

I kept waving my hand and the sword as I skirted the edge of the little bog, driving back the disgusting mosquitoes. The Sun's Tear was closer. My skin warmed by its caress like I faced a bank of hot lights, the kind used in terrariums to keep lizards and snakes warm—one of my foster parents had dozens of them.

I hated having to feed the scaly things crickets.

Beyond the marsh, the ground rose towards the top of the hill. I frowned. It seemed brighter along the top. There was something lighting up the other side of the rise. My heart beat faster. I was almost there.

I shiver ran through me. What would I choose when I reached it? Could I kill Odin? I hated him, but he was also Owen.

No. Magnus was more important. The choice was between the man I loved and a cruel god; it hardly seemed like a choice at all.

I scrambled up the steep hill. The underbrush was covered in wet, dead leaves and my shoes slipped. I gasped and grabbed a thin birch tree as I scrambled to keep my purchase. I didn't know why the forest had switched to birch trees around the marsh. The papery bark rubbed at my hand as I held it.

“I can do this,” I groaned as I pulled myself up the slope. I was stronger than a regular woman. Being a Valkyrie had its advantages.

I had to dismiss my sword so I could grab the next tree and pull myself along. My feet slipped from beneath me. I gasped and fell on my belly. My clothes soaked through and wet leaves clung to me.