Page 4 of Valkyrie Renewed
I laughed. I knew she was doing it on purpose to rile him up; she’d said so in her text.
The two of us finished making breakfast and fell into casual conversion while we ate in the breakfast nook. Around the time we finished, Angel was bouncing around the windows by the front door, begging for someone to play with her. Diego had a session this morning with Carrie, so Angel would only get one of us as a playmate.
“Good luck,” I said. “And you know to call out if you need me to step in.”
I was Carrie’s main therapist, but for the last year, Diego had been sitting in on her sessions to help with her healing. Today would be her first session with just him.
Diego nodded. “She’s been doing amazing lately. I think she can handle this.”
Angel barked, and I rolled my eyes. “Impatient.”
Diego laughed and went off to dress for his session while I snagged one of Angel’s many balls she had around the house. The moment I stepped outside with her ball, Angel barked and spun in circles. I laughed and tossed her toy.
We played fetch until the sound of an approaching truck distracted us. I turned to face the winding driveway that disappeared into the mountain forest and soon enough, the front end of a blue pickup truck appeared.This must be the guy Rory mentioned.
Angel, on full alert and ball still in her mouth, huffed at the approaching vehicle. I commanded her to heel and Angel tucked up to my left side. Whomever this was, I couldn’t be sure they were comfortable with dogs. We’d never had anyone come here with cynophobia—my particular fear was the worst we’d had to work with—but I made sure I trained Angel appropriately to ensure all introductions to new people were as positive as possible.
I walked up to the porch, watching the truck park in the expansive driveway, facing the house. Commanding Angel to sit and stay where she was, I approached the edge of the porch.
The driver-side truck door flung open and a broad-shouldered, heavily muscled man climbed out. He was impressively tall, at least six-five, and appeared to be in his mid-to-late thirties, making him maybe five or so years older than me. His chestnut brown hair was styled in an undercut hairstyle, swept to one side where it hung at chin level, and he sported a well-kept beard. Scars littered his tan skin, and he had a few Norse-inspired tattoos.
He leaned against his open door and looked up at me with unreadable blue eyes.Hot damn, this guy is hot.
Not only did this guy check off a hell of a lot of sex-appeal boxes, the strangest sensation of familiarity washed over me. Yet, I’d never met this man before, I was sure of it.
“Hey there. Name’s Astrid Erikson. Welcome to Valkyrie’s Reach.”
Chapter Two
Tyr
Long,steady breaths filled the truck cab. I leaned my head against the steering wheel, wrestling with frustration, hopelessness, and a whole other host of negative emotions that just left me weary.
The murmurs of voices flitted past my ears—the remnants of mortals and immortals who still valued my name and power after these long centuries. A few, I acknowledged on instinct, pushing power toward them. Most, though, were left unanswered, my heart not in it to properly listen to them.
I lifted my head and gazed at the set of old, worn gold rings hanging on a chain from my rear-view mirror. They glinted in the early morning sun peeking through the thick tree canopy sheltering this worn mountain road I parked on the side of. I reached out and touched them with the healed-over stub where I’d lost my hand in an attack by my former close friend, now mortal enemy, Fenrir.
Millenia had passed since that fateful day, the day he took my Valkyrie from me. I’d searched endlessly, trying to find her after I forced Freya into a binding oath to bring her back to life. The resulting spell reincarnated her, sending me on this search.
I gazed at the rings, longing aching in my chest.I’m not giving up, Astrid. I promised I’d never rest until I found you.
Technically, I had in the past—a few times, in fact. But I was… too late, each time.
Just like that fateful day, we found her mangled, bloody body. Each time a different age, but never older than a child. The only reason we knew it was her was because Freya detected her magic around the girl—and her unmistakable, flaming-red hair.
And then my binding oath on the goddess forced her to try the process all over again. Why Astrid continued to die, and what had killed her, was a mystery even to this day. But I was determined to have my Astrid back.
Maybe it was wrong of me to do this. Maybe I should let Astrid rest finally and release Freya from her oath. But a part of me wasn’t ready for that yet. I was selfish enough to want to try, just one more time.
My gaze flicked to the rearview mirror when a car door slammed shut. A police car parked behind me, its lights flashing.Shit.I probably wasn’t supposed to park here.
An older man in what I guessed was his mid-fifties, with rich brown skin and dressed in a blue uniform, approached the driver’s side of my truck. I rolled my window down.
“Morning, Officer,” I greeted. I’d play nice to ensure this ended quickly, so I could get on my way.
“Morning,” he said in a gruff, low voice. “You broken down?”
I shook my head. “No. I was taking a break. I’ve been driving for a while. I thought this was the safest place on this road to pull over.”