Page 41 of Valkyrie Unknown

I needed to protect?—

Azzie dismembered one without hesitation, and it vanished into nothing.

I fell into a stance with my back to hers. If we were going to do this, we had to trust each other. As one shadow after another attacked, I beheaded, bifurcated, and dismembered them. The grunts behind me—the familiar sounds she made when she was focused on a fight—told me she was doing the same.

This was glorious. A real fight.

And it was over in less than a minute, with the shadows vanishing and the sky lighting up again.

You can’t escape destiny, an eerie voice floated in the air.

It couldn’t be over. That hadn’t been enough. I needed more. Tension coiled through me, and my bear roared to be let out. To hunt. Kill. Obliterate.

“Davyn.” Azzie’s tight voice provoked the beast.

Her. Want her.

No. I clenched my fists. I was in control. The gods didn’t tell me what to do, and neither did my other half.

Azzie moved into view, sword still drawn and stance guarded. “Davyn?” She radiated caution. The fear wasn’t tucked away, and neither was her adrenaline.

Her. Want.

I dragged a deep breath through my nostrils and cracked my neck. That kiss was a big fucking mistake. One I wasn’t making again. “They found us already.”

“That’s the point.” Her defensive stance didn’t change. “That’s what I wanted. It’s what you signed on for.”

True. Bringing destiny to our doorstep just became reality.

“Are you good?” she asked.

I nodded. “The fight…”

“Yeah. Your Berserker form. I figured.” She relaxed but didn’t sheath her weapon. “Why did they vanish so quickly?”

“They weren’t here to damage. They were meant to remind us that someone is watching and to see what we could do.”

“We did good.” She gave me a half-smile.

I nodded. “Yes.”

“If we stay here, will they be back?”

It depended on who sent them. Loki could summon shadows, but these didn’t come with the calling card she mentioned previously. Her mother—the one who was a god—could do that as well. We rarely spoke about the goddess of chaos who had impregnated Azzie’s mother. This couldn’t be her, could it? “It’s hard to say. If their master wants us to stay, probably not. If they’re trying to push us out, yes.”

“So let’s not give them the chance to decide on our behalf,” she said.

I agreed with that logic. “Are we going to hunt them down? We don’t know where to start.” I was happy to go looking, anyway.

“We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. It’s working.”

“Sitting and waiting?” I didn’t like that idea before, and I really wasn’t a fan now.

“Searching for answers while we bring the fight to us. Like an ambush.”

I liked the idea of prepping for a fight, but not of making ourselves vulnerable while we did so.

“Or I go without you.”

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