Page 15 of Berserker Devotion

“What?” he asked.

“I enjoy going to bed with you, but I’m not in a place where I can promise any kind of relationship.” She watched him carefully, as if gauging his reaction.

Her words pissed him off. Of course, they couldn’t have any kind of relationship, he’d only just finished having that discussion with himself, but did she have to state it so bluntly?

What was wrong with just enjoying the sex but still planning for the next occasion they’d get together? He turned around and kept walking toward the bathroom, pretending to be indifferent when inside he seethed with anger.

An anger he had no right to feel.

“We’ll keep it casual,” he threw over his shoulder. He closed the bathroom door behind him and leaned against the sink. Shit, there was nothing casual about what had happened between him and Nora in that bed.

Explosive, that was the word to use for what had happened between them.

His right hand tingled, and he looked down. A faint outline of a serpent’s tail decorated the skin on the top of his hand. He stared at the sign of an immortal Viking’s berserker having claimed its själsfrände, its true mate.

Fuck.

Usually, the tail of the tattoo appeared as soon as a Viking or Valkyrie had physical contact with their true mate, but before a couple had sex. The bedding was part of the ceremony to have the tattoo that started on a Norse warrior’s bicep swirl downward until the head and the body met the tail.

At least, that’s what had happened to Leif and Astrid. The two Norse warriors in his tribe who had bonded with soulmates from the mortal realm.

Casual was way out the window now.

His berserker chuckled. The fucker actually chuckled.

Ulf snarled in response.

He was so fucked.

CHAPTER 10

The next morning, Nora studied Ulf from beneath her eyelashes as they geared up to meet Inessa. He hadn’t said a thing since they woke up and seemed strangely agitated. And he kept tugging on his shirtsleeve.

“Are you okay?” she finally asked him.

“I’m fine,” he growled without looking at her. He tugged at his sleeve again and kept packing his bag with jerky motions.

“Is something bothering your hand?” She reached over and grabbed his arm so she could see why he kept fiddling with his shirt. An inked serpent tail started between two of his knuckles and elegantly curved up toward his wrist. “It’s beautiful,” she said, “when did you get this?” How had he snuck out to get a tattoo? They’d slept in each other’s arms all night. At least she thought they had. She’d had some amazing orgasms last night, but she was pretty sure she wouldn’t have slept through him leaving the room.

He snatched his hand out of her grasp. “It’s nothing,” he said. “Just something that sometimes shows up on our skin.”

She frowned. Somehow, she got the feeling that wasn’t the whole truth. Her wolf growled in her mind as if it too detected a lie. “Is it a thing that prepares you for a fight? Does this symbol show up when Vikings and Valkyries prepare for combat?”

His lips stretched in a mirthless grin. “Something like that.” He zipped up his bag and hoisted it over his shoulder as he strode out the door. “We should go.”

She had more questions, but he was obviously not in the mood for a discussion. And she wouldn’t want to interfere in how he prepared for a fight. Maybe he needed silence to prepare mentally. She followed him out the door and took the passenger seat in the SUV as they drove to the outskirts of Reno.

The address Inessa had given turned out to be in a warehouse district that appeared deserted. She’d only fought Inessa once before, but that too had been in an environment like this.

The beheading of the dark witch’s brother had taken place in a forest clearing. The witch had not been present and Nora wondered if Inessa had gone back there to retrieve Iakov’s body after she’d given the witch the head.

They parked the car and strode toward a door with the number that corresponded to the one the witch had given. It opened silently on well-oiled hinges and they stepped inside into what looked like an abandoned car mechanic shop. Hydraulic lifts lined one wall, all of them but one in the down position.

A cage rested on top of the elevated one. Inside, her uncle’s wolf slumped over.

She gasped, and Ulf followed her gaze. “Stay calm.” He held out an arm to stop her step forward.

Nora nodded that she’d understood. This could be an ambush.