Valkyrie

Chapter 22

The skies around us rang with the sounds of battle. Metal clanging on metal punctuated with screams and shouts and the meaty, wet thunk of weapons finding flesh. The air of Jotunheim was cold, my breath puffing out in little, white clouds before it dissipated. Sweat slicked my skin under the leathers I had on under the armor despite the frigid air. Tendrils of steam rose from me like little, white ghosts that quickly drifted away into nothingness. Snow crunched under my feet as I shifted them and swung my sword, hacking at the Achilles tendons of the giant I was running past. He roared with pain and outrage as he fell with a huge boom of sound, narrowly missing Alexi as the vampire jumped out of the way.

"Do try not to get me smashed, Hannah," the vampire called as he dusted the snow off that had come billowing up when the giant had fallen right next to him. It peppered him like small flakes of confetti. "I do have plans tonight." The vampire looked right at home in his armor, the steel of it dented and scratched and dark with age. His blonde hair was pulled into a tight club on the back of his head, his beloved sword clasped in a pale hand. Blood spattered his face, bright red against the parchment white of his skin. He was going to need blood soon. He was too pale, even for him. He'd taken a few blows when we'd first arrived and had used blood to heal them without stopping for a drink to replace what he'd used.

"We wouldn't want to mess with your precious plans," I called back as I kept running. The sound of his laugh followed me and I couldn't stop the small smile that lifted the corners of my lips as I left him behind. When we'd come through into this realm, we'd dropped right in the middle of a battle of giants against giants. Not that I'd expected anything else. This was Jotunheim, after all, and fighting is a giant's favorite activity. That and eating. We won't talk about what they like to eat. I'd been here many times and had hoped to never be back but the note that Sterling had left floating in the puddle of Trey's blood in my kitchen had said to meet him here or my mate would die so there I was, hacking at giants while trying to find my mate and not become a tasty, crunchy snack for some overgrown asshole that didn't have the good sense to stay out of my way.

The very earth shook underneath me when another giant crashed down, doing its best to buck me off and send me sprawling on my ass. I spread my wings for balance, whirling around and using them to slice through the shins of another giant, and kept running, not even looking back to make sure he would stay down. Blood and other things dripped from my black armor, leaving a trail of gore in the snow behind me. I could have been up in the air above the fighting but I couldn't follow the trail the insane werewolf that had stolen my mate left as he wound through the dense trees that marched down the side of the mountain, dragging an injured and bleeding Trey behind him.

I skid to a stop, wings flared out beside me to slow my descent as I came to a clearing in the woods. I could smell Trey's blood, sharp and metallic and thick with the scent of pine trees. Everything inside of me wanted nothing more than to charge into the clearing, kill everything, and grab my mate but that would only get us both killed. A hand came down on my shoulder and I glanced back at Alexi. I hadn't realized he'd followed me. I'd been hyper-focused on the trail and he was quiet even in the armor. He shook his head at me and I gave him a sharp nod. I wasn't going to go rushing in. I'd be smart about this.

"It's a trap," my mother breathed as she moved up beside me.

"I know." My voice came out as a growl, the sound harsh and cold in my ears. The rune on my face burned and crawled, the dark magic responding to the rage simmering inside of me. I felt my form trying to expand inside of the armor, muscles growing and bulging, wings shifting behind me but I forced it all back down. For now. A huge gray wolf bumped against my left side before he hunkered down beside me, belly to the snow and amber eyes that looked exactly like mine even in his wolf form trained on the clearing. A low growl rolled from him and I couldn't agree more. The battle on the mountain top continued to rage, the ground shaking every time one of the giants fell or was cut down by the Valkyrie that my mother had brought with her or by another giant. A rare, high scream would tear through the air and each time my mother would wince. I would, too. It was my fault they were there.