by Mina Carter
He shook his head. “Sorry, darling, you’re not pretty enough for me. I prefer a real woman…” He inclined his head toward Tove, meeting her gaze for a moment and smiling at her stunned expression. She’d recovered consciousness. Couldn’t keep his woman down. She’d make a wonderful lady for his court.
His expression dropped dangerously and he tightened his hand around Herja’s neck, ready to snap it. “Now, how about we finish up this little dance?”
Pretty. He’d called me pretty.
For a moment I didn’t move, blinking my eyes as I waited for the fog in my brain to recede and for the scene in front of me to change. Because it couldn’t be what I was seeing—Zane, alive, with his claws in Herja’s throat, calling me pretty.
Well, I could believe the first part. Zane wasn’t a vampire, that much I was sure of, so the fact he’d managed to get the better of Herja didn’t surprise me one bit. It was the second part, where he’d called me pretty… I was definitely dreaming that part.
“Wait…what?” Despite her precarious position, Herja snorted in derision. “Pretty? You actually prefer her? Oh, don’t tell me, you fucked in the dark, didn’t you?”
She laughed at Zane’s set expression—a high, delighted and above all cruel sound I was used to hearing. “Fuck me, you did, didn’t you? There’s no way she’d let a hottie like you see what she actually looks like.”
Crap. We had. I’d been very careful not to let him see the damaged part of my face. I didn’t want pity, never had, but I’d gotten fed up with seeing pity on people’s faces. I didn’t want to see it on his. It would break my heart.
“Would you like to repeat that?” Zane asked, the look in his eyes lethal. Herja whimpered as his claws cut deeper, and blood ran in rivulets down the side of her neck. “Louder, so the whole class can hear?”
“Zane…” I stepped forward, my voice as level as I could make it. He’d surprised Herja, which gave us a chance. Just one. But if he killed her… all bets were off and it would be a blood bath in here.
He looked up, his gaze meeting mine. Rage burned there, ice-hot and deadly. It was familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“You have to let her go. We can’t win this.”
“Too right. You can’t,” the Valkyrie in his grip hissed, trying to dislodge his claws. “I’ll fucking gut the pair of you.”
And she could. Normally a Valkyrie couldn’t raise a hand to a member of their blood-family, but the only way we were related was because we were both the Allfather’s children.
“Herja, you’re not helping,” I hissed, not taking my eyes off the man in front of me. He stood motionless, gaze riveted to mine. “How about it, big boy… ease up on the grip there and we can all walk away from this alive.”
“Can’t we, Herja?” I threw at the council leader. Why she was baiting him, I had no clue. She’d obviously lost it, but there were enough witnesses… the council would hear about it for sure.
“Walk away? Sure. You’ll be banished for your crimes, but I’ll let you both walk away.”
Her easy compliance didn’t sit right with me, but I had bigger fish to fry. The instant Zane tore out her throat, the squad of Valkyrie in here would slaughter us.
“Banished?” I repeated, feeling like my heart had been ripped out through my chest. There hadn’t been a sister banished in living memory. To never hunt… never collect souls again…
But to lose Zane would be even worse.
“Deal. As long as you leave us and ours alone.”
Herja shrugged, a fresh wave of blood trickling down her neck and onto her armor. “Deal. We’ll leave the filthy bloodsuckers alone.”
“Witness,” I demanded, looking around the women in the room around us. My heart ached as I did. They were my sisters and after tonight, I’d never see them again.
“We witness.” A tall woman stepped forward with a nod. Kara, one of my mother’s kin, whose word was as good as her bond.
“Thank you.” I managed a small smile in return and turned back to Zane. “You can let her go now.”
“No!” Herja cut in. “Let him see first. Show him your face and see if he still wants you.”
Crunch time.
Lifting my hands, I pulled the concealing hair back from my face to the nape of my neck. Most of my sisters looked away. Whether in discomfort at my disfigurement, or to spare my blushes, I have no clue.
Zane just smiled. “Really? That’s what she’s been beating you up about?”
His gaze lingered on my cheek, followed the three puckered lines of scarring across the skin, claw marks courtesy of the changeling demon. Let me tell you, those demon claws burned like a bitch.
“Sweetheart, they just make you look sexy. Seriously dangerous and as sexy as fuck.”
As he spoke, he disengaged his claws, letting his captive go. She staggered a little, gasping as she rubbed at her neck. I ignored her, taking a step toward Zane.
He enfolded me in his arms, his touch easing the pain in my heart as his fingertips stroked over the marks on my cheek.
“They… you are beautiful,” he said softly. “Never doubt that. Ever.”
I smiled a little. “I’ll try, but I might need you to keep telling me.” (What? Every girl likes her guy to keep telling her he thinks she’s beautiful. So sue me.)
His fingers tucked under my chin, lifting it for his kiss and my eyelids began to flutter closed.
If I’d been thinking right, the attack was as predictable as hell. Despite her promise, Herja screamed and launched herself at us, her blade raised overhead to deliver the killing blow.
Zane moved faster than anything I’d ever seen. With a roar of fury, he turned, shielding me with his larger body, arm lifted over his head to block. I caught my breath, watching in horrified fascination. The blade would sever his arm and then bury itself deeply in his chest. A Valkyrie blade, designed to sever souls… the effect would be devastating.
As the blade touched his skin though, there was a blinding flash and power exploded through the room, charging the very air around us. I blinked the dancing lights away from my eyes…
“Fuck me.”
I don’t know who spoke, but yeah, fuck me was the only way to describe it.
Zane stood in the middle of the room, but not as the vampire he had been before. Instead, silver armor was molded to his impressive physique, taloned gauntlets on his hands. His lips quirked as Herja looked at him in utter shock.
“Woah…”
“Shit, he’s Valk-born?”
“How… I thought he was vampire?”
He ignored them, watching Herja carefully. I closed my eyes, knowing what was coming. There was only one reason she wouldn’t have been able to kill him.
“Hello, Mother.”
“So, you’re a Valkyrie as well?”
I’d spent the last hour leaning against the wall, concealed by the shadows as all hell had broken loose. Faced with her own child, a half-vampire child at that, the last thread of Herja’s sanity had snapped. Wailing uncontrollably, she’d attacked Zane again and again, until she’d been restrained and transported away. After that, Kara had taken over, her manner polite and courteous as the rest of the council members were pulled in to deal with this new development.
I’d wandered off at that point. I didn’t do politics well, and a male Valkyrie not controlled by the council? That was a shit-ton of politics I didn’t need to be involved with. Besides, until someone lifted it, I was banished.
Zane smiled as he walked toward me. His armor had vanished, hidden away until he needed it again. “Apparently so. I’d always had my suspicions, but apparently true hybrids are rare.”
“As rocking horse shit.” I nodded as he reached me, sliding a hand onto my waist to pull me up against him. His body was warmer now, as though the guise of the vampire had been discarded, burned away when he’d called on the power of Valhalla. “So what happens now?”
He reached up, brushing my hair back from my face to tuck it behind
my ear. I didn’t stop him, even though the scars were fully on display. I was done hiding. I didn’t need to anymore. Not with the love shining in his eyes.
“Well, I was thinking about throwing all these people out and picking up where we started,” he breathed, leaning down to brush his lips over mine. My heartrate kicked up three notches, desire sizzling through my veins as I parted my lips for his kiss.
A polite cough stopped us mid-kiss. I rolled my eyes to the side to see Kara standing next to us, politely studying the ceiling.
With a sigh I disengaged. “Can I help you? Or are you just into watching?”
The flush on her cheeks was hot enough to cook eggs. Interesting, she must be one of the true virgins amongst us. “The council have decided to lift the banishment placed on you, Tove.”
I met her eyes levelly but didn’t reply.
She shuffled her feet as though discomforted. “Well, we wondered if you were…coming home?”
I looked up into Zane’s eyes and smiled.
“I am home.”
The End
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Also by Mina Carter
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Grab Hunted by the Dragon Duke HERE
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About the Author
Mina Carter is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of romance in many genres. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and a bossy cat.
Connect with Mina online at:
mina-carter.com