“Mhm. You ever tell anyone that about Kirby? She’s just my ward.”
More times than he cared to admit. This wouldn’t be a repeat of the conversation in the bookstore, where Brit had gotten under his skin. “This is a very different situation.”
“Right. There are really two of you still left alive? Do I need to worry about him smelling me or anything?”
“You don’t smell the way you used to.” Starkad didn’t have a hypersensitive sense of smell, but it was heightened, especially when he shifted. Enough to tell people apart by their scent.
Brit sniffed her hand. Under her arms. “I don’t smell like rotting flesh, do I? Is it getting worse?”
Gwydion sniffed her. “You smell fine to me.”
“You don’t stink; you just don’t smell the way you used to. Are you interested in joining me or not?”
Brit hopped to her feet. “I’m in.”
“We’re leaving as soon as you’re ready.” Starkad wanted time to survey the area, and Brit would as well. A yes about ten minutes earlier would have been nice. It was a good thing Davyn didn’t ask to meet immediately.
Brit didn’t take long to change. Starkad handed her a gun. He hoped it wouldn’t be necessary, but that it would matter if it was needed.
She looked surprised, but secured the weapon without commentary.
Gwydion dropped them off a few blocks from the meeting location, and Starkad and Brit began a sweep of the area.
The ground rumbled under their feet, and rattled all the windows on the street. An earthquake? Here and now?
A familiar growl sounded behind them. Shit.
“You.” Davyn’s voice was barely human. “You lied to me.”
Starkad stepped between Brit and a snarling Davyn, as they all faced each other.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kirby didn’t know how much she could trust of what Loki said, beyond his desire to keep an entire personal army at his beck and call. Her shadow was gone, but large portions of the campus had cameras. She felt less safe the day after talking to Loki than she had since she arrived. She skipped range practice and jogging, partly to not have to face so many unknown variables, and partly to see if the change in schedule drew anyone’s attention.
Someone knocked.
There it was.
She answered, and was surprised to find Ice Queen and Venus, dressed in camouflage. Hooray.
Not.
“What’s with the BDUs?” Kirby asked.
Venus smirked. “It’s a surprise. You’ll like it. You know, the longer you stay in your room, the more people believe Erek’s refusal to talk about last night is proof the two of you hooked up.”
“That’s what they’re talking about?” Kirby shouldn’t be surprised. “No one cares I was manhandled and dragged to Loki’s office in the middle of the night?”
“You did fuck the one person he thinks you’re conspiring with, didn’t you?” Ice Queen asked. “You poked Loki’s ego. What did you expect him to do?”
“He doesn’t realize you’re conspiring with us instead. Get changed. Let’s go.” Venus pointed Kirby toward her bedroom.
Changed presumably meant into the same thing Ice Queen and Venus were wearing.
Kirby left the door open while she shed her jeans and yanked on the camo pants. She grew up sharing a dorm room with these women. They’d all seen each other already. “Give me a hint about what we’re doing?” she called.
“Testing a theory,” Ice Queen said.
Kirby shrugged a long-sleeved top on over her T-shirt, buttoned up, and grabbed her cap. “What kind of theory requires this?” The uniforms were usually reserved for semi-formal gatherings.
“The ceremonial kind,” Venus replied.
The ceremonial kind of theory? That didn’t make sense. Kirby rejoined them. “You’ve got me curious.”
Ice Queen grabbed her hand and tugged her out of the room. “Good.”
Kirby expected them to head for Ice Queen’s Jeep in the parking lot, but instead they walked toward the trees surrounding the campus perimeter.
“Did you really break your hookup fast with a grunt? That grunt?” Venus handed her a pistol in a hip holster.
Even if last night’s sex had only been that, the disdain in Venus’s voice today would have made the escapade worth it. Kirby clipped the holster in place, and unsnapped the strap holding the weapon in. She withdrew the Desert Eagle .40. The magazine was full, and a round was chambered. “Is that what Erek’s telling people?”
“He’s not telling anyone anything. He’s one of those guys who brags about every conquest, real or not, and he’s refusing to talk about what happened after he left his ride home last night,” Ice Queen said.
Min wasn’t in it for the conquest. Erek knew keeping quiet would look a lot more real than bragging, plus not saying anything meant deniability if anyone asked why he was spreading rumors.
“Like you said, what better way to poke Loki’s ego than by openly proving I don’t care what he thinks?” Kirby holstered her gun again but kept the strap unsnapped. It was comforting to be carrying again. “Besides arming me, of course.”
Venus flashed her a grin. “Thought you’d like that. It’s yours. Happy belated birthday. How was he?”
No one would ever be able to compare notes on sex with Erek again, so it didn’t matter what she said. “I’m not admitting anything, but if I were, really fucking incredible for a guy who has to brag about how good he is.”
Ice Queen snorted a laugh. “No shit? Did you tell him that?”
They crossed the forest line, and the trees grew dense quickly as they continued. A gorgeous assortment of evergreens. “Not in so many words. The Oh God, yeses might have given me away.”
“No wonder he’s not talking. No one would believe he was capable of that.” Venus led the way through a winding, barely-there path through the underbrush. The occasional snapped twig was the only indicator someone else had been through here recently.
They were a few hundred meters in, far enough that only trees were visible in any direction, when they reached a small clearing.
The soldier in full gear—including combat vest, cap, and firearms—who was tied to a tree made Kirby’s gut lurch. Her reaction never showed. “Kinky. Which one of you is into sharing?” Besides her. If only the situation felt group-sex harmless.
“Ice Queen and I have a theory.” Melon-head was here, as well as Cyclops. It was like a twisted version of Nancy Drew meets the Hardy Boys, if they solved mysteries by picking people off at three-hundred meters. “We’re too focused on the details of a plan that, by Hel’s own words, is supposed to be nearly foolproof.”
“We think the death is more important than the details,” Ice Queen said.
Melon-head jerked a thumb at the soldier. “This upstanding member of our infantry has volunteered to be our test sacrifice.”
They were serious. Even the guy tied to the tree looked solemn, rather than afraid. Holy fuck, Kirby’d stepped into an honest-to-goddess cult.
Except she’d known that for years. Looking reality in the eye like this brought on a whole new level of awareness. Kirby couldn’t let them just kill this guy. A year ago, Brit wouldn’t have stopped them, but even she’d changed enough that fear no longer held her back. “You’re just going to execute him?”
Cyclops frowned at her. “He’s okay with it.”
“All in her name.” The soldier actually puffed out his chest when he said it.
Kirby didn’t know his name; he was enough younger she’d never trained with him. Probably not even twenty-one. Old enough to die for Mistress Hel, but not to buy his own beer.
“Don’t be all cliché squeamish about this,” Venus said. “We’re literally trained killers. You’ve executed how many random strangers on the streets, and this bothers you?”
As Kirby, she’d even looked Nobles in the eye and pulled the trigger. But Brit hated killing potentials as much as Kirby did, and neither of them had
to do it anymore. “This is different.”
“How?” Melon-head asked.
Everyone was staring at her with a combination of disbelief and irritation. Standing up for what she believed in was one thing, but being shot, and exposed as an imposter before she could solve the bigger issue, was stupid.
Brit was an incredible improviser, though, and an answer rushed to the tip of her tongue before Kirby had a chance to panic “Hel didn’t train an entire army so we could bind our own to a tree, like a helpless fucking animal, when it came time to honor her name. This is lazy. Cowardly.”
Ice Queen’s frown deepened. Please don’t let this backfire. “It’s a fair point.”
“Though you’ve got to wonder if some of her ex-partner’s sadism rubbed off on her.” Cyclops unsheathed his dagger and cut the soldier’s bindings.
Something wasn’t right. “How do you figure?” Kirby asked.
Melon-head winked. “Hunting him makes it seem like sport.”
Oh fuck. “I wasn’t—“
“Run, grunt,” Cyclops growled in the soldier’s ear.
Instead of sprinting into the forest, the soldier drew his gun.
Five weapons, including Kirby’s new pistol, were trained on him in a heartbeat, but he didn’t aim at the Nobles.
“I was promised glory for Hel. For death.” The soldier stuck the barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
The abruptness of the gunshot and the resulting gore curdled everything inside Kirby, but Brit never let it show. What the fuck?
As his blood hit the dirt, the ground shook underneath their feet. It was a light tremor but enough to make them sway.
Melon-head and Ice Queen whooped, and Kirby’s heart slammed against her ribs.
“It worked.” Melon-head surveyed the carnage. “We’re on the right path.”
“So, we have to have everyone execute themselves?” Cyclops sounded skeptical.
Ice Queen toed the body. “More practical than the four of us trying to tie up every single one of them and shoot them.” Her expression and tone embodied her name.
“What about those who refuse to participate?” Venus asked. “Valkyrie’s not the only non-believer to come out of this place. The rest are just smarter about hiding it.”
Smarter. Would Kirby have become like this, if Brit hadn’t betrayed her? She’d like to think no, but she’d never considered an alternative before that day, in front of her judges.
Cyclops shrugged. “Kill your unwilling neighbor, then kill yourself.”
The conversation, as cool and casual as if they were making dinner plans, sliced through Kirby. “You know that’s a unique kind of psychology, right? That’s not just pulling the trigger; it’s turning on the people they were raised with. Turning a gun on themselves.”
“Are you backing out on us, Kitten?” The way Venus studied her made Kirby uneasy. “Hel gave you yours, and now you don’t want to share the glory? I’d hoped maybe you left the holier than thou attitude in your grave.”
Melon-head screwed up his face and shook his head. “No, she’s right. It is a mindset, and it’s one even some believers will struggle with, especially if a friend is begging them not to pull the trigger.”
“Because people are weak.” Kirby wanted to vomit at the words. At how they tasted. How easy it was to fill her voice with disdain. Everyone on campus needing to die for Hel’s resurrection just became far too tangible, and these people were willing to do anything to make it happen.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Min crept through the forest, his attention focused on the environment, while cross chatter from his teammates echoed in his ear. Erek was a good soldier and a better strategist, and their plan was his.
“I bet she’s insatiably domineering.”
“No way. The control is all a show. She probably caved the minute he whipped his cock out.”
“Bullshit. She never let him near her. He’s going to be tied to the flagpole by tonight, for not denying everything.”
Everyone wanted to talk about whether or not he’d fucked the campus’s top sniper last night. His refusal to confirm or deny added fuel to the rumors, which was perfect for his purposes.
The game was Capture the Flag, and the winners got bragging rights. Around here, that was everything.
Wind whistled through the trees, rattling branches and adding a twisted sort of applause to the talk. Min wanted them talking about him. To him. He wanted it to look like they were more fascinated with gossiping about where his dick had been, than with hunting a flag.
While they talked, he would circle the perimeter pick off the other team one by one, take their flag, and rub their noses in the careless loss. The plan wouldn’t work with everyone. That was the genius of it. Amy believed that Erek believed the world revolved around him, and she was the opposing team leader.
He came up behind the first soldier and hit him squarely between the shoulder blades with a paintball. The stealth kill meant the solder wasn’t allowed to make a sound or indicate he’d died. He had to sit down and wait until the game was up.
“She reminds me of that Abenaki girl I hooked up with a few times, and I’m telling you, she’s all rawr until you get her pants off. Then she’s purring and begging.”
Min moved on. Adrenaline raced through his veins. An intoxicating blend of tension and confidence. It choked his lungs and clouded his thoughts. The feeling was normal for Erek, but it was one of the sensations Min was most eager to be rid of.
Did Kirby live like this every day? From the things she’d told him when they were in London and she was struggling to make him understand her, she did. He hadn’t gotten it at the time, regardless of how much he wanted to. Living as Erek, he didn’t know how Kirby could see the world any other way.
“She was nuts, though. Wasn’t she?”
“Oh yeah. Full on worshiped a goddess of fucking destruction. Swore she was coming back one day.”
Min hit his next target in the side of the neck. The solder cringed—that had to sting—but didn’t make a sound. Incredible discipline.
“How’s that different from what the Nobles are up to?”
Min’s thoughts froze for a heartbeat. He needed to let the chatter flow over him and get this done. He found the next target and landed another kill shot.
“You’re serious? We’ve actually met Hel. Seen what she’s capable of.”
They really had no idea.
“No one’s even seen this woman. She’s been locked away for centuries. If she’s even real.”
They were believers, all right. My god exists but yours is imaginary was an ancient tale.
“And what if the bullshit about Hel coming back isn’t real either?”
“The Nobles are proving it today.”
What? Min picked off his next target. Only two left—Amy and the soldier guarding the flag—and Amy would find Min soon. He swallowed the urge to ask his team more about what they meant.
“Proving it how? Are we going to get back to the dorms and she’ll be there?”
“You know Dustin? He volunteered to be their blood sacrifice.”
That couldn’t be good.
A gun pressed into his temple. “I’m firmly in the she didn’t let you touch her court,” Amy said softly.
Min smirked through the pain when she shot him in the side of the head. She wasn’t supposed to do that at point-blank range, and it hurt like hell, but he never made a sound, though he had the right to cry out, since she’d made her presence known.
Another soft shot pinged behind him, and Amy dropped to the forest floor next to him without a sound, a dark scowl on her face.
Jakob stepped past both of them and exchanged thumbs up with Min, before continuing toward the enemy flag.
A moment later, his loud whoop rang through the forest.
“Got it.” His voice came over coms. He’d be on both channels now. Not that anyone from the other team was around to stop him.
“I can’t believe y
ou sacrificed your own glory for victory.” Amy sounded both irritated and impressed.
Min stood and offered her a hand up. “It’s always about the team, isn’t it?” he asked.
She eyed him skeptically. “Yeah, but not to you.”
A gunshot sounded in the distance. Not unusual around here, but this hadn’t come from the direction of the shooting range. Min’s memory stumbled back to L.A. in 1992. The riots. The last time Kirby died.
He didn’t want to shove the memory aside. He needed to get to her, fuck the consequences.
The ground rolled beneath him in a strong enough quake to challenge his balance.
“That wasn’t right.” Amy shared his sentiment.
The magic in the shake was worse than she knew. It wasn’t Hel; Min had never tasted this flavor of energy before. It was rotten earth, mixed with blood and destruction—the antithesis of everything Min represented.
Their commander called for everyone to fall in. The chatter continued as the company headed back to turn in their gear, but everyone else had moved on to other things. Min itched to investigate the gunshot. To know Kirby was safe.
The odds she’d been anywhere near the event were low, but so were the odds of a random carjacker choosing Min’s car, and shooting the one person in it who could die from a gunshot.
With their guns, headsets, and everything else returned, the group moved toward the dorms. Some drifted off in the direction of the cafeteria or the library. They had free time now.
“Private Erek.” Brit’s voice stopped him in his tracks.
A symphony of oohs and whistles sang out around him.
What was Kirby doing here? He was grateful she was alive, but to approach him on campus, in front of his entire company, was pushing a lot more boundaries than what they’d done last night.
He turned to face her, and saluted, as did everyone else. “Sergeant.”
“With me. Now,” she barked.
The constant background noise of tension that kept him moving cranked to full blast. “Yes, sir.”
The whistles and cheers didn’t start again until they were several meters away.
Valkyrie Concealed Page 17