A rose thorn pricked her finger, jarring her thoughts off the depressing path they’d been heading down. She sucked her finger and looked up to find Scott standing in front of her, a crooked smile on his face. Freya’s fury, either he had ninja stealth like Sten, or she’d been so wrapped up in her own head that she’d actually allowed him to sneak up on her. That hadn’t happened in centuries.
Damn the själsfrände bond and damn Luke.
One or both would be the death of her.
“You take these flowers seriously,” Scott said. “I had to say your name twice before you looked up.”
She grimaced. “Sorry, I have a lot on my mind.” If the rose hadn’t pricked her finger, he may still be standing there hollering at her.
“I can tell.” He looked at her hand, where the lines outlining the serpent’s tail were contrasting more and more against her skin.
She frowned. Did Scott know about the bond? Naya must have told him when she explained her relationship with Leif. Astrid lowered her hand and pulled her sleeve down to cover the markings. “What can I do for you?” She liked the queen’s brother. Their time together in the car had been pleasant. Scott explained he had passed his time in the clinic catching up on pop culture, so they’d chatted about movies and TV shows. He’d also had a lot of questions about Naya and how she fit in with the Vikings and Valkyries. Compared to that lively conversation, he seemed more subdued and maybe a little sad today.
“I’m trying to find something to do.” He smiled that crooked smile again. “I’m not very useful around here. It’s taking a toll on my ego.”
Astrid laughed. “I imagine most of the men in the house feel that way right now. There doesn’t seem to be much need for brawn now that we’ve finished the woodpile for the bonfire.” She looked him over. He had Naya’s coloring, that midnight black hair and eyes so dark they were almost violet. But he was much taller than his sister, at least six foot two, and his hair was a mess of curls while Naya’s fell straight as a cascading waterfall. With broad shoulders and sinewy muscles, his body didn’t show any of the sickness that had kept him bedridden for years.
Something sad passed in Scott’s eyes. “It’s more than that. I truly don’t belong here.”
“Of course you do. You’re Naya’s brother. You’re the queen’s blood. How could you not belong?”
“But that doesn’t describe me, just my function. How do you truly know what kind of man I am? You only know the circumstances of my birth. How do you know you can trust me?”
Astrid knew better than most that the role into which you were born didn’t dictate who you chose to be. “It’s more than that,” she hedged, not finding the exact words to describe why he was automatically accepted. “You mean everything to Naya and she means everything to us, so you are one of us automatically.”
Scott picked up one of the roses and fingered its petals. “Maybe my sister doesn’t know me as well as she thinks.” He flung the rose on the floor. “I don’t know who I am. I’ve never lived outside an institution. I don’t know what real life is.”
Astrid looked down at the flower and then up at Scott. “If you’re going to mangle the decorations, at least you can do so by helping me attach the little suckers to these garlands.” She smiled to soften her words. Scott was having some sort of existential crisis, but she wasn’t great at giving advice or comfort.
“Sorry.” He gave her a sheepish grin, collected another flower from one of the buckets, and added it to the garland in just a few seconds.
“How did you do that so quickly?”
Scott gave her a puzzled look. “I just used the little fasteners.” He pointed to some plastic clips hanging off the twine.
Astrid muttered a few choice swear words under her breath. The section she’d started on didn’t have fasteners. She moved some over to her part of the twine and started to add flowers. Now that she didn’t have to bend the stems into figure eights, the job went much quicker.
They worked in silence for a few moments. “I understand what you’re dealing with,” Astrid said.
Scott looked up. “How so?”
She avoided looking at him. “I grew up in a very controlled environment.” She stopped, searching for words. “I couldn’t decide my own schedule. Someone else was in charge of when I ate, when I trained, when I slept.” She shot him a look.
Scott nodded. “You felt powerless, like you weren’t your own person, just a function of someone else’s life.”
“Exactly.” It had been much worse than that. She’d also felt worthless, as if she deserved the degrading treatment. For a while, she’d believed her low status gave the others the right to treat her like shit. But she wasn’t going to share that with Scott. She didn’t share that with anyone.
“How did you reclaim your life? How did you figure out who you truly are?”
“I didn’t.” Astrid shrugged. “I was so messed up there wasn’t a chance in Valhalla I’d be able to do that.”
Scott’s eyes widened. “This is not helping. Please tell me you figured out how to deal with that situation without having to spend years in therapy.”
She laughed. “I didn’t see a shrink, but after some time I figured out who I wanted to be. Once that was clear, I set out to become that person.” A succinct summary that skipped over years of self-destructive behavior and bad choices, but Scott didn’t need to know that. He had Naya to help him through. Hopefully, his journey would not include the truly fucked-up episodes that had been on Astrid’s path to self-awareness.
Scott smiled and moved as if to answer, but then focused on something behind her. His face displayed such naked yearning that Astrid’s breath caught. She turned and saw Irja walking toward them. Well, wasn’t that an interesting development. Scott and Irja.
“The garlands look great,” the dark-haired Valkyrie said when she caught up with them.
“Thanks, I had some help.” Astrid snuck a quick peek at Scott, but his facial expression had gone completely blank.
“I didn’t do much,” he offered. “Mostly chatted her ear off.”
Irja turned to Scott. “I’ve come to steal you away for physical therapy.”
Scott dropped the flowers he was holding back into their bucket with more force than necessary. “Of course you have. I’m the invalid whose body doesn’t work right.”
Irja took a step back. “Your doctor said to continue the physical therapy you’d started in the clinic. I didn’t mean to—”
“I know. You mean well and are just helping.” Scott stomped off in the direction of the fortress. “Everybody is just helping and wants what’s best for me.”
Irja turned to Astrid. Hurt flickered in her eyes. “What was that about?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Astrid squeezed her shoulder. “His Y chromosome is making him feel inadequate because he’s not out marauding.” She watched Scott as he walked away from them. “The guy has more in common with our Norse men than he thinks.”
“What?” Irja shook her head. “Never mind, I don’t think I want to know.” She looked around the tent. “This is going to be beautiful.”
“Sure.” Astrid shrugged.
Irja smiled. “I forgot that you’re not into flowers.” She turned serious again. “Your Holden sent an email, recommending a safe house for the women we rescued.”
“He’s not mine.”
Irja quirked an eyebrow and looked pointedly at Astrid’s left hand. “I would argue he is.”
Astrid sighed but decided not to get into it. “Fine. What safe house? Why is he emailing you?” That last question came out more petulant than she’d intended, but Irja just smiled.
“He sent it to all three of us—you, me, and Naya. He knows of an organization that works with refugees who have experienced trauma. I called them, and they said they have space for all five of our guests.”
&nb
sp; Astrid hesitated. She recognized that the women couldn’t stay at the fortress, but after what they’d been through, she didn’t want to move them so soon, didn’t want them to feel abandoned. They needed to be seen as people, not victims or property. The assholes who had abducted them had microchipped them. As if they were pets. Astrid had helped Irja remove the trackers from under their skin. She swallowed the anger rising in her chest. “What do we know about this organization?”
“Naya checked them out, and they do good work. They can offer counseling and other services we’re not qualified to give and do not have experience with.” If the queen had screened them, that meant she’d done an extensive review through official and not-so-official channels.
“At least let me say good-bye to them.” Astrid had spent a lot of time with Camila. Although the young woman still wouldn’t—probably couldn’t—share the details of what had happened during her captivity, they’d talked about other things. Camila was older than she looked. She’d been a senior in college, studying prelaw. She’d been abducted one night as she walked across campus from the library to her dorm.
“You’ll definitely have that chance. Naya wants you to drive them there. She’s busy with wedding stuff, and I’m supposed to work with Scott.” She looked toward the fortress, a frown marring her forehead. “Unless he’s decided to skip today’s session.”
Astrid would much rather drive the women into town than deal with whatever complicated situation Scott and Irja had landed themselves in. Although Irja seemed clueless, so maybe Scott was the only one who had to come to terms with his feelings. Whatever. As long as she didn’t have to deal with it, she was happy.
Driving. Women. Clear and uncomplicated, just the way Astrid preferred her life to be.
“Oh,” Irja said. “Leif doesn’t want any of us out on our own, so you’re to take Ulf with you.”
Mother of Valkyries. That threw uncomplicated way out the window.
* * *
Astrid was impressed. Ulf had managed not to utter a single sarcastic or nasty word to her during their entire outbound trip. That was mostly because he hadn’t actually said anything while he drove the black Escalade through the streets of Pine Rapids. Not that Astrid blamed him.
He’d already been in the driver’s seat when the women entered the car. In an attempt to lessen their anxiety, he’d said a few words in Spanish and given them a gentle smile. They’d shrunk back in terror. After that he’d kept his silence, his jaw clenching tighter and tighter as he drove. He’d stayed in the car while Astrid escorted the women to their rooms and spoke with the organization’s personnel. She’d given each of the women a prepaid cell phone with hers, Irja’s, and Naya’s numbers preprogrammed. Camila especially had promised to stay in touch.
Now that Astrid and Ulf were on their way back, she braced herself for the eruption of anger that was bound to happen in five, four, three…
“I’m glad we killed those fucking monsters at the farm, but I want to get the fuckers in charge.” Ulf turned to her briefly before focusing on the road again. “They don’t deserve to live after treating women like that.”
She murmured her agreement. It didn’t matter what she said. Ulf was on a rant, so he wasn’t really looking for input.
His hand hit the steering wheel. “They treated them like cattle. Like they were worth nothing.”
She swallowed the lump forming in her throat. Ulf’s words hit a little bit too close to home. As if he knew she’d become emotional, he quieted down for a moment. “Nobody deserves that,” he said in a lower voice. He didn’t look at her, and they continued their car ride in silence.
The silence grew denser and more loaded as Astrid slowly realized that Ulf wasn’t looking at her because he knew this was personal for her. But that was impossible. She hadn’t even told Naya or Irja. “How did you find out and what do you know?”
Ulf ran his hand across his close-cropped hair. “I don’t know details. When we drove him home, Holden said the abducted women hit you hard because you’d been in a similar situation in the past.” He turned to her, his eyes kind. “Knowing you’d been a shield maiden, Leif and I put two and two together. We figured you’d been a thrall and earned your freedom by fighting.”
Great, now the king knew about her screwed-up beginnings too. She swallowed. “I’d appreciate it if you kept this to yourself.”
Ulf frowned. “There’s no shame in who you were, and even less in who you became. I’ve fought with plenty of warriors who started out as property and became freemen by fighting for their master.”
She could only nod. The lump in her throat blocked any words from passing her lips.
He hit the steering wheel again. “But none of them had to put up with the abuse the women we rescued did. You have to be a sick fucker to do that to another person. Why would anyone do that?”
Astrid cleared her throat. “There is a lot of money to be made in human trafficking. And if the scum get caught, the law punishes them less than if they were running drugs or guns.”
“That blows. We need to—” Ulf stomped on the brake and threw the car in reverse.
“What the hell are you doing?” Astrid held on to the dashboard with both hands.
“There are wolverines in that alley.” He threw her a manic grin. “Feel like kicking some ass?”
“Hell yeah.” After the journey down memory lane and seeing once again the emotional scars the Mexican women were struggling with, Astrid had all kinds of aggression she’d like to work out. And what better way than to unleash some of that anger on Loki’s minions?
Ulf slowly steered the SUV down the alley with the headlights turned off. “This is a dead end. If we park, we can corral them on foot.”
They closed the car doors soundlessly and headed down the alley. The lights on the buildings surrounding them were placed too high to light the ground properly. Astrid concentrated on avoiding stumbling on cracks in the asphalt. She tapped into the connection with her berserker, asking the beast to look for the Asgard glow that always surrounded the wolverines. There was more than one presence up ahead.
Past a large brick building, the alley expanded into a parking lot. Ulf and Astrid crouched by the alley wall, surveying the open space. Two wolverines hoisted a large box onto a loading dock. A nondescript sedan with an open trunk was parked close by.
Astrid tapped Ulf’s shoulder and put a finger up to her mouth. They both had guns, but the noise might attract people or cops. Plus, shooting the bastards wouldn’t let her work out her issues. She palmed two knives from the special sheaths underneath her coat. Ulf picked up a piece of rebar from the ground and whistled.
The two wolverines turned around, and their eerie black eyes caught the weak light filtering down from an overhead lamp. Astrid shuddered. No matter how many times she saw their dead eyes, they still freaked her out.
“Come here, little wolvies,” she said.
The wolverines hissed, and their claws popped out. They looked at each other for a brief moment and then nodded.
Astrid balanced on the balls of her feet, ready for their attack. She didn’t have to wait long. The creatures rushed them, and she released her daggers. But instead of coming straight at them as she had anticipated, the monsters split up and ran up half the height of the walls. Her blades missed, and the creatures ran past her and Ulf before they continued down the alley at an inhuman speed.
“Come on,” Ulf shouted and ran after them, gripping the rebar in his left hand.
“Wait,” Astrid said. “Something isn’t right about this. They want us to chase them.”
Ulf stopped and jogged back toward her. “You’re right. Let’s check out what’s in the building.”
They crossed the parking lot and made their way up the stairs. It didn’t take them long to disable the lock on the metal door at the end of the loading dock. Astrid fell into the familia
r pattern of backing up Ulf as he entered ahead of her. On the other side was a long, narrow hallway. Nighttime low lighting cast ghostly green shadows as they moved down the corridor. Both of them drew their guns.
The building had an abandoned feeling, but Astrid still scanned for more of Loki’s creatures by again tapping into the connection with her berserker. The beast stirred, but didn’t go into battle alert the way it would if any of the monsters had been around.
Safe, it whispered and Astrid shuddered. She still wasn’t used to that part of her speaking. “You detect any Asgard essence?” she asked Ulf.
“No,” he answered in a low voice. “But there could be human unfriendlies. We have no idea who the wolverines are working with.”
Astrid nodded and then realized he probably couldn’t see her well in the low light. “True.”
The hallway ended at two double doors. Ulf slowly twisted one handle and found it unlocked. The door swung open on quiet hinges, revealing a cavernous darkness. A low electrical humming reached Astrid’s ears. She looked closer and could make out large darker shapes.
“What the hell is this place?” Ulf asked.
“I have no idea.” Astrid felt along the wall. Her fingers found a light switch, and she flipped it. Bright overhead spotlights illuminated a big warehouse. A group of large cages were clustered in the middle, and weird-looking refrigerators lined one of the walls. Hospital gurneys waited outside the cages, and further into the room, curtains divided sections into what looked like ER examination areas. Astrid walked up to one of them and pulled apart the curtains. She found a gynecological examination chair, complete with stirrups. She turned to Ulf. “I have a really bad feeling about this.”
“No kidding.” He looked at the cage and then the chair. “Let’s take some pictures and then get the hell out of here. Irja will know what all this stuff is for.”
Viking Warrior Rebel Page 20
