Page 8 of Valkyrie Unknown

Davyn

I’d beenin Elko once before, in 1987. There was a gas station, a motel, and a school bus parked in a field at the edge of town. There were more buildings now, but the place still smelled like booze, sex, and isolation.

There was also an underlying cloud of Berserker wolves, as inmore than one. Not that this was some sort of supernatural movie, where I had a feud with them. However, there weren’t nearly as many of us as in the past. Packs were dotted around the world, but in a place this devoid of magic and life, I wouldn’t expect to find any making the space their home.

Sure, I’d set up a temporary place for myself in a similar environment, but I didn’t plan on staying long, and this scent wove into everything, as if the Berserkers had been here for a long time. Decades rather than months.

It didn’t matter. I wasn’t here to pick any fights, as much as I liked the sound of that. Instead, I’d found myself in a place called the B&B Grill, and I was working my way through my third medium-rare burger.

A new scent wafted through the air—another person walking in. That had been happening for the several hours I’d been here, Since people had been coming in since I arrived, and her lightly perfumed soap didn’t saythreatto me, I didn’t look up from my meal.

The Berserker who strolled in a few minutes later, though, who stank of sweat and musky lust… He was my cue to leave. Especially if he was here with her.

Instead of going, I found myself paying more attention to the conversation coming from that side of the bar. The conversation was banal. Possibly flirting, but more like he was interested and she wasn’t.

“I’m harmless.” Her words caught my attention, because the edge in her voice didn’t back them up.

“Oh, I hope not. Because I’m looking for a fighter.” The growl from the wolf was enough to call to my bear. To roarI’ll fight you.

I needed to leave. I wasn’t getting involved.

Ill is it to leave the right undone.The Berserker prayer from my distant past echoed in my mind, mocking me.

“Magic roofie? What the fuck?” She was slurring her words.

Freya damn it.

I stepped from my stool at the bar and walked toward the pair.

They weren’t paying attention to me, though hehadto know I was here.

She was wobbling in her seat,her red braid falling in front of and behind her shoulder with each twist of her head.

“Walk away, bear.” The wolf never looked at me.

“You walk away,” I said.

The woman forced her eyes open. They were bright green, and she looked like she was trying to focus on me.

She couldn’t be Azzie. Even in a town like this—especially in a town like this—there were a lot of green-eyed redheads.

Aya sent me here for Azzie, though.

“She strolled into my town, carrying magical weapons and flaunting what she knows. That means she’s here for the fights.” The wolf kicked back from his seat, sending the chair tumbling, and the woman jerked upright, eyes wide.

I was familiar with the fighting arena that called to so many immortals who craved combat, but he had to mean something else. What I knew didn’t include mortals or drugging a combatant beforehand.

He lunged at me, and I landed the flat of my palm against his windpipe, sending him stumbling back. I reached him in a few short strides, before he could find his balance. He wasn’t an original Berserker. He must be one of those born later. A young wolf.

I didn’t care. I pressed a hand to his throat and squeezed. “She’s mine. Back the fuck off.” My voice was as much growl as words.

The wolf flexed his fingers, and they shifted into more wolf-like claws as he pawed at me. “She doesn’t smell like you. And you don’t get to say if she fights.”

“Neither do you, and she’s not conscious, so she can’t say for herself. Last time I’ll say it. Back. The fuck. Off.”

He worked his jaw and scratched my arm, then went limp despite still being awake. “I’m done.”

I dropped him the six inches it took for his dangling feet to hit the ground, but I was fully prepared to kill him if he attacked.

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