Tracked: A Valkyrie Saga Book 2

Chapter 23 - Home

I was sitting in my old childhood room within the Americas West Palace, thinking of all of the things that had not gone to plan this week. I pulled out my phone and flipped through the photos that Carlson had forwarded to me a couple of days ago. Image after image of the Oakland Clan's enforcer totally brutalizing the young female Valkyrie that everyone was talking about flashed before my eyes and I struggled to understand. This had happened the day before Regina's ball, yet Deila Ray Olsen had radiated nothing but power and confidence that night. So much so, that I spent the entire event literally itching to tear her down a notch and put her in her place.

She was supposed to be ruined right now. Vulnerable and ripe for the taking. Instead, she was chopping the head off of the most hated Valkyrie in the world, thus staking a claim of power and respect that none of us knew how to contend with.

Deila Ray Olsen was proving to be much more of a problem than I had originally planned for. I am going to have to step up my game. She will be a valuable piece on my chessboard as I take over my sister's beloved Kingdom.

-- Eli Norwood, King of the Americas South Kingdom

I looked up from Blake's embrace and saw that Elijah, Derik, and Mathis had followed me out to the front room. As I scanned their faces I realized that I couldn't even contemplate the idea of leaving them. Yes, I still felt that I was unworthy of all of their love and compassion but I wasn't hiding that fact. I was being completely honest with them and had showcased every dark and violent part of my soul to these men.

They had witnessed one of my darkest moments and they were still here.

That was huge, and I wasn't enough of an egotist to believe that I knew what was best for them. The Oakland Clan and my grandfather knew better than I did what continuing to associate with me was going to cost them. And even after being Compelled and kidnapped, they had repeatedly told me that they weren't leaving my side. They were no longer telling me that I was meant for a more important clan. Right here, at this moment, they were declaring that they wanted to continue forward into the unknown as a team.

I would be a fool to refuse to be a part of that. To be a part of this. 

So I was going to fully embrace them back. They were my clan. My family. My own set of people that would do everything in their power to have my back. And I would do the same for them. Everyone kept telling me that I was inconceivably powerful, and my power level was only growing. I was going to use every ounce of that power to protect my new clan.

With my new resolve burning in my belly, I knew that it was time to face what I had done the day before. I am sure that Mathis or Elijah might have some inkling about what was going to happen to us next, but I still needed a breather from the intense conversations. I decided to instead focus on gathering information. While we were here in the void, we could listen in to any conversation that we wanted to and no one would ever be the wiser.

And the best part was, that we didn't even have to go anywhere. There were a half dozen important Valkyries sitting outside of the rent house right now. I intertwined my hands with Blake's and then pulled him out of the duplex so that we could do some snooping. And I didn't feel bad about it at all because they were staking out my house.

I glanced back over my shoulder to see that everyone was following my lead, meaning that we had plenty of people to listen in to every conversation. I searched the street and saw Ransom and Noland from the Blade Clan were standing outside of their black SUV. Noland was looking at the house while Ransom had his attention trained on a car that was just now pulling up. I followed his gaze to see a sleek town car pull up to the curb on the opposite side of the street. I looked a little closer and saw that Darron Deveroe, the eldest prince of the Americas Northeast, was in the driver's seat.