Valkyrie

Chapter 7

Light was filtering in through my closed eyelids making them glow with dark red. I groaned and rolled away from the brightness and fell right off of the bed. An "oof" of sound gusted out of me when I hit the carpet with a thud. I lay there for a minute or two feeling aching muscles and joints and trying to get my sleep addled brain to think in a cohesive manner.

"What the fuck?" I whispered. What was I doing on the floor and why did I feel like I'd run a marathon the day before? And why the hell was I lying there naked? And when had I made coffee? The scent of it filled the trailer, making my mouth water. I rubbed my palms over my face and took a deep breath. The faint scent of clean pine snapped my eyes open as everything came rushing back.

Skin on skin and teeth and lips and the best sex I'd ever had and I'd been with one of the divine. Falling asleep with Trey wrapped around me and holding me close. Feeling safe. Feeling like I was home. What I'd practically begged him to do! Shit. I groaned out loud as my heart thudded hard once or twice before it settled down again.

Fuck. Me.

I mean, that's what he'd done. And very, very well judging by the faintest of aches between my legs and in my hips but still. What the hell had I been thinking? What had I done? I pressed my hand over the place he'd bitten me and it tingled before going still. I could feel the imprint of his teeth and fangs still in my skin. He'd sunk his teeth past skin and muscle and all the way to the bone like any good shifter would do. Had I been human, I'd be needing medical attention. Thankfully, I wasn't because how would I explain that to some unsuspecting hospital person.

Oh, that? I got carried away and asked a werewolf to bite me while he was fucking my brains out and it may or may not have linked us together for life. No biggie. Just stitch it up and I'll be on my way.

The gods damn me but I was a fucking idiot.

I crawled back up on the bed and sat on the edge of it. I looked out the bedroom opening and down the length of the trailer but there was no sign of Trey. His clothes were gone and mine were neatly folded on the arm of the couch, my shredded panties lying right on top of the stack, boots lined up side by side. At some point, he'd gotten out of bed and tidied up before he made coffee, got dressed, and left. How I slept through all of that, I had no idea. I am usually a pretty light sleeper unless I'm doing one of my hard resets. I must have really needed the sleep even after the fourteen hours the day before or... I didn't want to think about the "or" no matter how much the shifter part of my brain was screaming at me to.

A small stab of something that felt suspiciously like disappointment poked me in the chest like a stiff finger before I banished it back to wherever it came from and slammed the door behind it. I was not going to sit there and let myself feel sad that he hadn't at least waited until I'd woken up before he left. That would have been awkward for both of us. Judging by the position of the light coming through the windows it was well into the day and he probably had to work or something. Whatever. I had things to do, too. I was sure I did. I'd think of them once I got some coffee.

I carefully stood and stretched out my stiff muscles, my spine and knees popping loudly in the silence of the trailer. Old injuries ached in protest. I was getting too damned old. I gathered some energy and shuffled to the bathroom. My reflection in the small mirror showed me smeared eye makeup, mussed hair, and a fading bruise and a few small scabs where Trey's teeth had latched onto my neck. It had already turned shades of sickly green and puke yellow and would be healed by the end of the day, any visible trace of it having been there gone. Shifters heal most wounds fairly quickly but I had always taken it to another level due to my mixed DNA. Broken bones healed slower but still faster than a human or shifter. Wounds made by silver healed fast but scarred big time. I had a long, thick, jagged one that ran from my sternum to my belly button like it had been tattooed in my skin with white ink by a drunk monkey. There were lots of others but that one was the worst of them. It was the one I hadn't wanted Trey to see. Call me vain.