Page 27 of Valkyrie Unknown

I pointed at him. “You don’t speak for me.” I looked at Ulf again. “But no.”

“Why not?” That was definitely Ulf taunting me. “It’s not as if I can kill you.”

Right. Exactly. And that wasn’t doubt worming its way into my thoughts. “Thanks for nothing.” I turned and walked out, and Davyn stayed by my side.

Nine

Davyn

What wasit about this woman? She had an admirable strength and was skilled despite her lack of experience. I also appreciated her quick wit.

None of that was enough of a reason for me to follow her out of Ulf’s warehouse like a lost cub.

When I’d seen her pinned to the ground with a knife though, I was ready to tear anyone apart to save her. If she hadn’t decided on her own to walk away from Ulf, I would have had to carry her out of there.

What was it about her?

“What now?” Azzie seemed to be asking herself as much as me.

Damn you, Aya, for leaving me here. At the same time, I’d rather be here than on the construction site. The manual labor gave me a way to stay active, and that was good.

Traveling with Azzie would be a challenge, which I liked. She’d be a god eventually—not ideal given I was tired of serving them—but I could leave before then.

My bear roared inside, protesting that last thought.

“I’ll train you,” I said. It took me a moment to realize she’d stopped. I turned back to look at her.

She stood in the middle of the packed dirt, staring at me. “A bear says what?”

“What?”

She snorted. “You’ll train me? You’re serious.”

“If you’re not interested, you can go your own way.”

She strode quickly to catch up to me. “I am interested. Please. Yes.Fuck, yes.”

We resumed the stroll toward town. “Great. Let’s not do it here.” I didn’t mean the empty desert between Ulf’s and town; I meant Elko.

“Fine with me. Where’s home base?”

It was difficult for me to believe we were having this conversation casually. We weren’t talking like two people who’d known each other less than a day, under anything but normal circumstances, but as if we’d known each other for months. Years.

Traveling with her felt right, though. Discussingwhere nextwas natural. “I have some of my things in Potlatch, Idaho, but it’s more of a rest stop. I don’t have a home base, as such.” I had a home on the other side of the ocean, but it had been decades since I stayed there.

“Rest stop on the way to…?” she asked.

“I have not decided yet. How about you?”

She hefted her bag, adjusting it on her shoulder. “This is home base.”

The backpack?“Gods, that makes me look positively established.”

“Fuck you, hobo,” she said playfully, and I chuckled. “I have some things in Salt Lake,” she said. “Not a base so much as… I don’t know. Not a real address, though.”

Was that sadness in her voice?

She shook her head hard, and her furrowed brows vanished behind a blank mask. “If we’re not staying here, can you call a god friend or something to blink us to another place? Maybe one with real coffee?”

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