Page 19 of Berserker Devotion
The further he got from Nora, the heavier the ache in his chest felt.
EPILOGUE
Two weeks later.
He drove the Silver Porsche Boxter up the Pack House’s driveway. Queen Naya had slapped the king upside his head when he hesitated to lend Ulf his favorite car. She probably hadn’t needed to, considering Leif didn’t deny his själsfrände most of the things she wanted. A lesser true mate would probably take advantage of that, but Naya only used it when her husband was unusually hard-headed and unreasonable. Yeah, she used it pretty often.
According to the queen, this was a trait shared among most of the Vikings, but especially her husband and Ulf. She’d had a long talk with Ulf about what he’d done wrong in Reno. Actually, not so much a talk as a monologue that involved phrases like “stubborn ass” and “why do I have to explain everything to men all the time?”
And that voice who spoke to him when he’d climaxed? Yeah, apparently that was Odin, telling him he’d met his själsfrände. Something else he was supposed to know.
Not knowing had earned him two head slaps from Naya.
And that was before Nora’s uncle showed up. He had a similar but much rougher way of explaining things to Ulf than the queen. Not that he’d needed to, by the time Karl showed up to give the king the special carving of a Norse bear family, Ulf had already packed up the Boxter and was about to head to San Francisco.
Karl hadn’t let that stop his persuasive powers. The guy had a mean right hook.
Ulf walked up the paved path to the front door and rang the bell.
A few moments later, Bolt opened the door.
Ulf sighed inwardly. Why did it have to be this wolf who greeted him?
The dark-haired man’s hazel eyes studied Ulf’s bruised eye for a moment. “Did Nora give you that?” he asked.
“Her uncle did. I haven’t seen Nora yet, but I have one uninjured left, if she needs it.” He pointed to the unswollen eye out of which his vision wasn’t blurred.
Bolt nodded. “She probably will. She’s down on the beach.” He nodded vaguely toward the back of the house and then closed the door in Ulf’s face.
He didn’t take offense. At least the guy had talked to him. And he hadn’t even punctuated his sentences using fists.
Ulf started walking in the direction Bolt had showed.
* * *
Nora ran in human form along the shoreline. Saltwater splashed against her trainers, probably ruining the leather, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t muster up much emotion about anything these days.
A strong wind blew in from the water, cold enough to almost distract her from thinking about the Viking she needed to stop thinking about.
So, yeah, that didn’t work.
She gritted her teeth and ran faster.
Maybe if she could reach exhaustion, she’d tame the restlessness that had plagued her ever since Ulf had left her in Reno. Maybe she’d finally be able to sleep for a few hours.
Nora already knew that wouldn’t work either.
She’d been running and working out like crazy, ever since she got back to the Bay Area.
Nothing calmed her down. Nothing made her sleep.
The rest of the pack refused to spar with her because they complained she’d become too vicious.
Wusses.
She’d explained that even in mock combat, if you didn’t get a few bruises, you didn’t train hard enough.
The rest of the wolves disagreed.