Valkyrie

Chapter 18

I came to in a dark room lying on something much softer than the ground I'd assumedly crashed into. Wherever I was, it wasn't my trailer. It was incredibly quiet. No traffic noises. No TV. No radio. Nothing but the sound of my own pulse in my ears and the inhalation and exhalation of my breath. The scent of Trey surrounded me, so thick it was difficult to smell anything else but I didn't sense him nearby. I couldn't even feel him in my head. I seemed to have my shields firmly back in place, thank goodness. Or maybe he was shielding. Or we both were. Either way, I was thankful.

My head was foggy with sleep, my thoughts hard to catch and put into any kind of cohesive order. I was lying on my side, my wings out behind me, a sheet covering me and a pillow under my head. Goose down by the scent. My left wing gave a dull twinge when I shifted. That liquid silver had royally messed up my healing ability. I really needed to get my hands on some. I pulled the sheet closer. It felt like satin or something equally luxurious. It felt expensive whatever it was. Much nicer than my cheap cotton blend sheets. It was soft and cool against my bare skin. Which was all of me because I wasn't wearing any clothes. Where the hell were my clothes? I pushed my unbound hair out of my face with a quiet groan. The creak of a chair sounded behind me as someone shifted. Vanilla and sandalwood filled my nose.

"Touch me and I'll cut your fucking fingers off one by one," I rasped as I opened my eyes, blinking a few times to clear my vision. A dark wall met my bleary gaze, the outline of a closed door visible. An alarm clock on a night table said it was 9:30pm. Jesus. How long had I been asleep? How many days? Or had it been weeks? I had no idea. My throat was incredibly dry. My stomach rumbled with hunger. I felt hollowed out inside, stiff and a little sore from lying in the bed for so long. I better not have bedsores. Where the hell was I? Was I at Trey's? The room was thick with his scent which would mean he'd spent a lot of time in it so probably. But how had I gotten there?

"Such violence," Loki chuckled from behind me. I rubbed my eyes with slightly shaky hands. I needed some food. "I've saved your life twice now, bird girl. A little appreciation would be nice."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I slowly pushed myself up to a sit, clutching the sheet to my body and tucking it around my back side so I wouldn't flash anything at him. "And don't fucking call me that." The annoying divine had seen me in my birthday suit more times than I cared to think about but that didn't mean I wanted him to see me now. That had been a very long time and fewer scars ago. "I only know about one time." I shoved the heavy weight of my hair back over my shoulders. It smelled like some kind of herbal shampoo. Clean and fresh. So did my skin. Someone had taken my clothes and bathed me? I must have been really out of it if I didn't notice all of that happening.

"Two," he said as I turned toward him. "Why do you think you're not a greasy stain on the desert floor right now?" He was sitting in a plush looking chair near a window, leather clad legs crossed, dark-colored shirt half unbuttoned, hair loose and hanging over his shoulders. His arms were crossed over his chest, one booted foot tapping the air.

"The fall wouldn't have killed me," I grumbled as I turned back around and let my head hang. It would have fucking hurt and I probably would have made a spectacular boom and nice sized crater in the ground but I wouldn't have died. Lots of broken bones and internal bleeding, sure. But as long as my head was still attached to my body, I would have eventually recovered. Probably. I'm pretty sure. I rolled my head around on my neck and the bones popped. It sounded like popcorn.

"Incorrect. You had reached terminal velocity." I jerked. I hadn't realized I'd been high enough for that but I had been running from Trey and hadn't been in my right mind at the time. "If your mate hadn't been howling for help, you would be dead."