Page 2 of Berserker Devotion

The king muttered a bit more, but seemed placated by Ulf's assurances. They hung up.

Now, if only he could somehow assure himself that he'd make it to this cabin in the middle of nowhere before nightfall. Why had this woodcarver chosen such a remote home? Living "off-the-grid," as modern-time mortals called it, seemed bonkers. Ulf remembered a time when electricity, refrigeration, and indoor plumbing had not yet invented, and he had no desire to recreate how he’d lived back then.

He dug out a pair of dry socks from his bag in the back of the SUV and exchanged them for the wet ones on his feet. The granola bars and trail mix he'd brought, he stuffed in his pants and jacket pockets. The cell phone map showed the switchbacks the road took to the cabin, but on foot, he'd be able to travel a more direct route, provided he didn’t fall into a deep hole covered with snow. He glared at the greeting-card perfect glittering snow, again. In this landscape, you never knew.

Since he didn't know for how long he'd have a signal, he took a screenshot of the map. To be extra prepared, he then dug out a pen and some paper and sketched a rough outline of the map and what seemed like the best route to his destination.

Finally, there was no other reason to procrastinate the trek. He pulled his hat further down on his head and straightened his sunglasses.

After two steps, snow filled his boots again.

"Jävlar, helvetes, skit.

Nobody but the birds heard him, and those little fuckers just kept on singing their merry tunes. Why did he volunteer to make this bonkers trip without properly researching how remote the cabin was? Now he had no choice but to keep putting one wet and cold foot in front of the othe, equally wet and cold foot until he got to the woodcarver’s home.

Returning without the carved bear was not an option.

Ulf had never failed his king before and something as trivial as a Norse wooden bear would not best him.

CHAPTER 2

The man came out of nowhere.

Well, he came from somewhere, obviously, but Nora Bretagne hadn't expected, or even noticed him.

One minute she ran in her wolf form in the forest, listening to the birds' happy trilling while she broke trail in the deep snow. She’d let her beast reign their body and relished the harmony between her wild self and nature as she tried to track her uncle, despite the newly fallen snow that had most likely covered his scent.

The next minute, a man stepped out from between the trees and startled her.

If worrying about her uncle hadn’t distracted her so much, the guy would never have been able to sneak up on her.

And if the birds' loud singing hadn’t covered his footsteps, she would have heard him coming.

And if she'd been more observant, she could have avoided this confrontation and hid until she could follow him to see why he'd ventured this far into the mountains.

On foot.

Without snowshoes or skis.

Didn’t he know how snow worked?

Dark sunglasses obscured his eyes, so she couldn't gauge from his eye movement what he might do next. Instead, she kept her gaze on his hands, waiting for him to reach for a weapon.

The fur on the back of her neck stood, and her lips curled back into a snarl. The reaction as much defensive as it was a response to the frustration she felt for messing up and allowing him surprise her.

The guy reared back, stumbled on something buried in the snow, and fell flat on his back. A crack sounded and his head bounced. He did not get up again.

Gingerly, she approached his prone form, ready to jump back if he made any sudden moves. Someone playing dead had fooled her before. She had the scar across her face to remind her why she'd never let that happen again.

The man didn't move.

Not even when she nudged him with her nose. He smelled...different.

She sniffed him again, trying to discern what made his scent unusual. Regular humans lacked the spicy undertones that shifters' fragrances carried. And wolves had a particular scent signature that reminded her of deep woods and mulch. This man smelled of fire and hot metal, like a forge.

He definitely wasn't a regular human but also didn't have the earthiness and spice of magic. So, he wasn't a witch.

And yet, finding a supernatural being this far into the woods seemed a weird coincidence. Did he have something to do with her uncle's disappearance?

---