Page 7 of Berserker Devotion

Bolt interrupted her thoughts. “So, here’s what we found. Ulf Stenrik is who he says he is. But you are also right about your suspicions.”

“About him being more than a regular human?”

“Actually, we shouldn’t discuss that on a channel as open as this. I’m heading your way to give you more details. But you can release Ulf and ask him to tell you who he is and what he is. Tell him that King Leif and Queen Naya authorized it.”

“Whoop, the king and the queen give permission.” Nora laughed. “The king and queen of what?” She laughed again but then quieted down when Bolt didn’t reciprocate. “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” Bolt answered. “But I have a hard time bending my mind around this, so I understand if this is going to be weird for you.” He cleared his throat. “But you’ll understand that it isn’t a joke when I tell you that you also have authorization from Arek to explain what we are. You can even talk about the coalitions.”

Nora gasped. What in Freya’s name was going on? Her alpha basically gave her permission to share the equivalence of state secrets with a complete stranger. “Okay, she drawled. Anything else?”

“Your uncle is alive.”

“Thank the goddess. Where is he? Is he hurt?”

“Again, I can’t tell you on this communication device. He’s okay, but the predicament he’s in is probably a result of someone tapping the Pack House’s conversations. Like this one.”

What did that mean? She wanted to reach through the phone line and shake the answers out of Bolt. As if he could read her mind, he said, “I know this is a lot, but trust me. I will give you all the answers I have when I get there. I should be there by tomorrow. Meanwhile, let Ulf go pee and then have a conversation with him.”

They hung up, and Nora went inside.

She sat back down on the side of the bed and leaned over to undo the ropes imprisoning Ulf’s hands. He kept shaking his arms, making it impossible to keep her grip.

“Could you stop moving around?” she growled.

“Could you work faster?” he shot back, but held still long enough for her to undo the ropes holding both his hands and legs.

When she’d finished, he shot her a look and then ran to the outhouse with such a speed that it was obvious he hadn’t lied about the full bladder.

Ulf returned almost as fast as he left. He hadn’t bothered putting his boots on before trekking to the outhouse. Watching him hop barefoot in the cold snow as he returned to the cabin entertained her more than it should. She made sure she’d wiped her grin off before he came back inside.

They sat down at the small table, and Nora repeated what Bolt had told her about the king and the queen giving him permission to share his background and personal details.

The sky-blue of his eyes deepened, and he sat up straighter in the chair. “What do you know of my king and queen?”

“Nothing,” she replied. “I thought my packmate was joking when he talked about a royal couple, but I guess he isn’t?”

“Packmate?” Ulf looked out the window by the kitchen table. He worked his jaw for a moment and then looked back at her. The intensity of his eyes shook her a little. “Tell me what you are, and maybe I will return the favor.”

It was Nora’s turn to think things over, but since Bolt had told her Arek gave her the clear, she didn’t actually have much choice. “I am part of a pack of ulfhednar, wolf shifters who serve as Odin's and Freya’s elite warriors.”

His gaze traced the scar that bifurcated her face. Her skin heated under the scrutiny, and she could feel a flush creep up her neck. “You and your wolf share a battle mark.” He said as if he admired her scar.

She looked away as she tried to control the blush that had now reached her face. “A witch gave it to me while I was in wolf form. Usually, our injuries heal when we shift, but not when they’re done by magic.”

His jaw clenched again. “I will help you find her, and together we will defeat her.”

“It was a male witch, and that is a story for another time. Tell me what you are. I know you are not fully human, but I’ve never smelled your scent before.”

“I am part of a band of immortal einherjar. Vikings and Valkyries who died in battle and then trained with Odin and Freya in Asgard. When we are ready, the gods send us back to Midgard to protect the mortals from Loki and his evil creatures.”

“Loki has returned to Midgard?” Tales of the mayhem that the evil trickster god had caused among mortals and the gods filled the Icelandic Sagas, the records of the Norse deities’ and other mythological creatures’ adventures. But as far as the wolves knew, none of the gods or goddesses could walk the mortal realm. Or at least they hadn’t done so for millennia.

“He’s still contained in Asgard. But he’s figured out how to create hybrid monsters who battle for him in this realm.” Ulf continued talking for a long time, spinning an unbelievable tale. She had to stop him several times and ask him to repeat details. The Norse warriors of his tribe had been alive thousands of years ago and now walked the human realm again because Loki had found a loophole in the law that forbade the gods and goddesses to take their infighting to the human realm.

“So, how old are you?” Nora asked when he paused for a while.

“I died at the age of twenty-five. I don’t know how many years I spent in Valhalla with Odin, but I have walked the human realm again for eighty years.” Ulf smiled that cheeky grin he’d aimed at her when he’d been tied to the bed. Even then, when she thought he’d had something to do with her uncle’s disappearance, she’d had trouble resisting smiling back. Now that she knew him better, him flashing his teeth caused heat to rise inside her. He was too handsome for his own good.

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