Page 11 of Berserker Devotion

Bolt explained about the psychotic dark witch married to Nick Novikov, alpha of the Eastern Pack Coalition and regular megalomaniac who wanted to take over the world. Or, at least expand his territory as far as he could across the US.

“But how does kidnapping your uncle further the Novikov couple’s territory?” Ulf asked Nora.

“It doesn’t,” Bolt interjected. “That part might be Inessa working on her own revenge scheme.” He paced across the small cabin.

Ulf turned toward Nora. She shrugged. “I kind of killed her brother.”

Bolt barked out a laughter. “No ‘kind of’ about it. You beheaded him and gave Inessa his head.”

“She started it,” Nora said, pointing at her face. “This scar is because she dared another witch into tricking me to help him and then he cut me.” Forgotten anger grew to rage and heated her gut. “I tried to do something good, but they played a sadistic game that scarred me for life.”

Ulf’s blue eyes glittered with mirth. “And you retaliated by killing her brother? That’s fucking awesome.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed. “You’ve definitely earned that beautiful warrior’s mark.” His gaze swept along the path of her scar. It weirdly heated under his admiration.

Bolt cleared his throat. “That’s one way to put it.”

“I wouldn’t have done anything to her brother if he wasn’t trying to kill my Alpha’s true mate at the time.” She gestured toward Bolt. “Plus, she had Arek and his two lieutenants trapped in some magical bullshit prison cell.”

“And let me guess,” Ulf threw Bolt an amused look, “you rescued them as well?”

“Yeah, but Laney helped.” Her packmate cleared his throat. “And the other wolves went in for the kill once they became free,” Nora finished.

“I can’t wait for you to meet my queen and some Valkyries I know,” Ulf said. Nora’s thoughts stuttered. He wanted her to meet his tribe? She hadn’t really thought about their relationship further than Bolt arriving. Actually, she hadn’t thought about them having a relationship at all. Is that what she wanted? It felt right, but also scary. Very scary.

Also, what Valkyries? Like, ex-girlfriends? The thought bothered her.

“Right,” Bolt said, loudly. “So, Inessa has you uncle and she’ll only release him if you meet her alone. If you don’t, she’ll kill him.” He looked at Nora.

She forced her mind from whatever the relationship she and Ulf had was and back to focus on the danger her uncle was in. “This is what her message said?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Bolt answered. “Fucking witches.”

“You mean, ‘fucking dark witches’,” she corrected. “Arek’s wife is a witch, but a good one.”

“There are no good witches,” Bolt shot back.

She disagreed, but again, with his background it made sense that he felt that way. “Tell me exactly what the message said.”

Her packmate shot her a frustrated look. “I’ve already told you.”

“I want the precise wording,” she demanded.

That earned her a smile. “That’s the lawyer in you.”

That might be true, but she also felt so frustrated by the lack of control over the situation. Having exact details calmed her mind. Maybe that was her lawyer brain, but whatever. “Tell me.”

Bolt sighed. “Okay, the message said, ‘No other wolves but Ms. Bretagne can come. And only in human form. If I see any wolves, I will kill her uncle.’”

Ulf spoke up. “I’m not a wolf,” he said calmly.

Bolt stopped his pacing, a slow smile spreading across his face. “No, you are not.”

Nora clapped her hands. Finally, he got why she needed the minute details. Lawyer brain or not, it gave her tremendous satisfaction to skirt Inessa’s rules. The witch had herself several times bent the rules of The Pack Directives, the legal documents that were drawn when the wolf coalitions formed. The directives clearly stated that any wolf of an outside pack must ask permission of a territory’s Commanding Alpha before entering any geographical region not within their own pack.

Nick Novikov, the Commanding Alpha of the Eastern Coalition, constantly worked around that rule by sending his witch wife to do his dirty work in other packs’ territories. And as her pack’s lawyer, that irritated Nora on so many levels. She couldn’t wait to beat the Novikov’s at their own game.

Before long, she and Ulf were on the snowmobile, racing toward the truck that Bolt had left at the point where the road was no longer passable. He’d follow on foot in wolf form, dig out Ulf’s rented SUV, and then meet them in Reno later.

They had only this night to prepare before Inessa required their presence and Nora didn’t dare risk her uncle’s life by not showing up.