Valkyries en-masse were way more powerful than Zane had expected. They’d dropped into his bedroom without so much as a by your leave, hit him with some kind of freeze spell and yanked them both from the bed.

Slumped between two of the she-bitches, he had no control over his body but he could hear everything. Everything.

Including Tove pleading with some delusional bitch about laws he didn’t understand. To be fair though, he didn’t care about their crazy ass rules. All he cared about was getting free of this gods-damned spell, handing them their leather-clad asses on a plate, and then saving his woman.

The spell held him motionless but his snort was loud and clear in his head. Him, acting the hero, the full on white knight rescuing the damsel in distress routine. Only he was no goody-two-shoes hero and he was fairly sure if he described Tove as a damsel in distress she’d gut him.

But still, she was his… His to protect and love.

Love.

The word took him by surprise for a second but just as instantly, he accepted it. Vampires didn’t have soul mates, but he wasn’t just any vampire. He wasn’t just a vampire. So why shouldn’t he have a soul mate. One he needed to protect from this nest of vipers.

Being surrounded by them was odd. In his capacity as earl of the city’s vampires, he’d been around pretty much every type of paranormal there was. From shifters, through pixies, right the way up to Sidhe from the Unseelie court (once, and it had scared the ever-loving crap out of him), he’d seen them all, but none of them had given him the same weird, shivery feeling over his skin that the Valkyries did.

No, not weird. It wasn’t an odd or uncomfortable feeling. Instead, it was a familiar one and, as they spoke, there was an echo to their words. Crap, they must have hit him hard if his ears were ringing like that. He tried to shake his head to clear it, but whatever spell they’d used still held him fast.

“This isn’t right, Herja, and you know it. End this madness,” Tove pleaded. Her voice was low, but he could hear the fear in it. How, he didn’t know. He shouldn’t have been able to tell… not after the less than twelve hours they’d known each other, but he did. “Whoever you think he is, he isn’t… whatever this is about, don’t let the past dictate your future.”

There was silence, and he cursed his confinement. Dangerous tension built in the room. A tension that spoke of bloody and brutal violence, one that said he and Tove were going to die tonight.

He swore in his head, railing against the fact he couldn’t do anything but hang there, useless, as his woman pleaded for his worthless life. If he could have spoken, he’d have told her not to bother. He was happy to give up his life provided she could escape.

Pop-pop-pop.

The rapid fire sounds and the pressure in his ears was the same that had roused him from sleep a second before he’d been hit with magic. More of them had arrived. He heard Tove turn and gasp and then the meaty smack of skin on skin and a thud as though a body had hit the ground.

“Thank Odin for that,” the one Tove had called Herja snapped, obviously released from whatever spell Tove had hit her with. “I thought she’d never stop talking. Stupid bitch has no idea what’s good for her.”

“What should we do with her, council leader?” a new voice asked, one so laden with obedience, he had no doubt that if asked later she’d have seen nothing without checking with her leader.

“Shackle her up and transport her down to the second level.”

He felt more than heard the horror emanating from the women around him. The one holding his left arm murmured, “But council leader… the second level is for hardened crimina—”

“SILENCE!” Herja bellowed, her voice high and almost hysterical. “I will not be questioned, by her or anyone. Do I make myself clear? Or would you like to join Tove down on the second level?”

She chuckled cruelly. “Perhaps the masters down there will take note of what that changeling demon did to her face and make sure both sides match. Then not even filth like this will look at her without being sick.”

Rage hit Zane hard and fast. The fact that the woman could stand there and laugh about another’s misfortune sickened him to his stomach. Vampires were cruel, but as beautiful as their dead forms were, they never laughed about disfigurement. Yes, they might use torture…they might rip their victims’ throats out…but disfigurement was something they wouldn’t entertain.

Pressing his eyes shut, he formed the rage within him, shaping and channeling it in the same way an explosives expert shaped a charge. He built and fed it, a process that took a matter of seconds.

White-hot and incandescent, he’d always held his anger in check. Especially after three incidents in his childhood had left vampires of his father’s court worse than dead. His rage had twisted their bodies with pain, locking them inside frozen forms as they screamed. They’d tried staking, burning, decapitation… anything and everything that would kill a vampire… nothing worked. They just kept screaming. Always screaming.

With the sound of those screams in his head, he released his temper. It burst from him like a reactor core going critical, blazing through him to burn the spell they’d used from his body.

“What should we do with him?” The question came from one of the Valkyrie farther back in the room. Most hadn’t spoken but it made no difference to him. He wasn’t an earl for nothing. Every breath they took, every beat of their hearts was like a billboard announcement, and not one of them would escape his wrath.

Not. One.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Herja’s heels tapped on the wooden floor as she approached. “I’ll deal with him.”

The air moved, the surge of blood telling him she’d drawn her arm back to deliver the killing blow. With a snarl, he exploded into movement, shaking his two captors off like a dog would water from its coat, and surging forward.

He had a brief glimpse of a classically beautiful face, eyes wide with surprise, before his clawed hand wrapped around her throat.

“Deal with me?” he snarled. “Pray tell me, how do you plan on doing that?”

A rush of blood to one side made him snap his head up. He met the gaze of a Valkyrie trying to sneak up on him.

“Don’t,” he warned softly, his tone low and dangerous. No glamour in it, he didn’t need it, just the implicit threat that he would tear their leader’s throat out there and then. Which he would. His claws itched to rip through the skin, and his fangs ached where they were hidden in his gums. He transferred his attention back to Herja.

“Now… I wonder what would happen if I killed a Valkyrie,” he mused, his voice so low and soft it would have had half his court running for cover.

Tilting his head, he studied her expression, which was stuck somewhere between anger and frustration. “Would one of these lovely ladies here collect your soul and take it to Valhalla? Or don’t you guys go there?”

Her sudden paleness and the terror that flared in her eyes gave him his answer. “Oh my, you wouldn’t, would you?”

Yanking her forward, he brought her nose to nose with him and looked deeply into her eyes. He pushed at her mental barriers with abilities not precisely vampire but not anything else either—something somewhere between the two.

“You’ve broken all the rules, haven’t you, Herja? You don’t deserve heaven or Valhalla or whatever you call it, and you know it. Don’t you?”

“Filthy creature!” She got it together enough to spit, right in his face.

With a sigh, he reached up and wiped the spittle from his face. “Now, that’s just not nice, and as your host, I feel I must insist on courtesy.”

“Fuck you!” Her face had gone purple, destroying any illusion of cool beauty. An appearance that was a mask, hiding the twisted ugliness of her heart and soul.

He shook his head. “Sorry, darling, you’re not pretty enough for me. I prefer a real woman…” He inclined his head toward Tove, meeting her gaze for a moment and smiling at her stunned expression. She’d recovered consciousness. Couldn’t keep his woman down. She’d make a wonderful lady for his court.

His expression dropped dangerously and he tightened his hand around Herja’s neck, ready to snap it. “Now, how about we finish up this little dance?”

* * *

Pretty. He’d called me pretty.

For a moment I didn’t move, blinking my eyes as I waited for the fog in my brain to recede and for the scene in front of me to change. Because it couldn’t be what I was seeing—Zane, alive, with his claws in Herja’s throat, calling me pretty.

Well, I could believe the first part. Zane wasn’t a vampire, that much I was sure of, so the fact he’d managed to get the better of Herja didn’t surprise me one bit. It was the second part, where he’d called me pretty… I was definitely dreaming that part.

“Wait…what?” Despite her precarious position, Herja snorted in derision. “Pretty? You actually prefer her? Oh, don’t tell me, you fucked in the dark, didn’t you?”

She laughed at Zane’s set expression—a high, delighted and above all cruel sound I was used to hearing. “Fuck me, you did, didn’t you? There’s no way she’d let a hottie like you see what she actually looks like.”

Crap. We had. I’d been very careful not to let him see the damaged part of my face. I didn’t want pity, never had, but I’d gotten fed up with seeing pity on people’s faces. I didn’t want to see it on his. It would break my heart.

“Would you like to repeat that?” Zane asked, the look in his eyes lethal. Herja whimpered as his claws cut deeper, and blood ran in rivulets down the side of her neck. “Louder, so the whole class can hear?”

“Zane…” I stepped forward, my voice as level as I could make it. He’d surprised Herja, which gave us a chance. Just one. But if he killed her… all bets were off and it would be a blood bath in here.

He looked up, his gaze meeting mine. Rage burned there, ice-hot and deadly. It was familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

“You have to let her go. We can’t win this.”

“Too right. You can’t,” the Valkyrie in his grip hissed, trying to dislodge his claws. “I’ll fucking gut the pair of you.”

And she could. Normally a Valkyrie couldn’t raise a hand to a member of their blood-family, but the only way we were related was because we were both the Allfather’s children.

“Herja, you’re not helping,” I hissed, not taking my eyes off the man in front of me. He stood motionless, gaze riveted to mine. “How about it, big boy… ease up on the grip there and we can all walk away from this alive.”

“Can’t we, Herja?” I threw at the council leader. Why she was baiting him, I had no clue. She’d obviously lost it, but there were enough witnesses… the council would hear about it for sure.

“Walk away? Sure. You’ll be banished for your crimes, but I’ll let you both walk away.”

Her easy compliance didn’t sit right with me, but I had bigger fish to fry. The instant Zane tore out her throat, the squad of Valkyrie in here would slaughter us.

“Banished?” I repeated, feeling like my heart had been ripped out through my chest. There hadn’t been a sister banished in living memory. To never hunt… never collect souls again…

But to lose Zane would be even worse.

“Deal. As long as you leave us and ours alone.”

Herja shrugged, a fresh wave of blood trickling down her neck and onto her armor. “Deal. We’ll leave the filthy bloodsuckers alone.”

“Witness,” I demanded, looking around the women in the room around us. My heart ached as I did. They were my sisters and after tonight, I’d never see them again.

“We witness.” A tall woman stepped forward with a nod. Kara, one of my mother’s kin, whose word was as good as her bond.

“Thank you.” I managed a small smile in return and turned back to Zane. “You can let her go now.”

“No!” Herja cut in. “Let him see first. Show him your face and see if he still wants you.”

Crunch time.

Lifting my hands, I pulled the concealing hair back from my face to the nape of my neck. Most of my sisters looked away. Whether in discomfort at my disfigurement, or to spare my blushes, I have no clue.

Zane just smiled. “Really? That’s what she’s been beating you up about?”

His gaze lingered on my cheek, followed the three puckered lines of scarring across the skin, claw marks courtesy of the changeling demon. Let me tell you, those demon claws burned like a bitch.

“Sweetheart, they just make you look sexy. Seriously dangerous and as sexy as fuck.”

As he spoke, he disengaged his claws, letting his captive go. She staggered a little, gasping as she rubbed at her neck. I ignored her, taking a step toward Zane.

He enfolded me in his arms, his touch easing the pain in my heart as his fingertips stroked over the marks on my cheek.

“They… you are beautiful,” he said softly. “Never doubt that. Ever.”

I smiled a little. “I’ll try, but I might need you to keep telling me.” (What? Every girl likes her guy to keep telling her he thinks she’s beautiful. So sue me.)

His fingers tucked under my chin, lifting it for his kiss and my eyelids began to flutter closed.

If I’d been thinking right, the attack was as predictable as hell. Despite her promise, Herja screamed and launched herself at us, her blade raised overhead to deliver the killing blow.

Zane moved faster than anything I’d ever seen. With a roar of fury, he turned, shielding me with his larger body, arm lifted over his head to block. I caught my breath, watching in horrified fascination. The blade would sever his arm and then bury itself deeply in his chest. A Valkyrie blade, designed to sever souls… the effect would be devastating.

As the blade touched his skin though, there was a blinding flash and power exploded through the room, charging the very air around us. I blinked the dancing lights away from my eyes…

“Fuck me.”

I don’t know who spoke, but yeah, fuck me was the only way to describe it.

Zane stood in the middle of the room, but not as the vampire he had been before. Instead, silver armor was molded to his impressive physique, taloned gauntlets on his hands. His lips quirked as Herja looked at him in utter shock.

“Woah…”

“Shit, he’s Valk-born?”

“How… I thought he was vampire?”

He ignored them, watching Herja carefully. I closed my eyes, knowing what was coming. There was only one reason she wouldn’t have been able to kill him.

“Hello, Mother.”

* * *

“So, you’re a Valkyrie as well?”

I’d spent the last hour leaning against the wall, concealed by the shadows as all hell had broken loose. Faced with her own child, a half-vampire child at that, the last thread of Herja’s sanity had snapped. Wailing uncontrollably, she’d attacked Zane again and again, until she’d been restrained and transported away. After that, Kara had taken over, her manner polite and courteous as the rest of the council members were pulled in to deal with this new development.

I’d wandered off at that point. I didn’t do politics well, and a male Valkyrie not controlled by the council? That was a shit-ton of politics I didn’t need to be involved with. Besides, until someone lifted it, I was banished.

Zane smiled as he walked toward me. His armor had vanished, hidden away until he needed it again. “Apparently so. I’d always had my suspicions, but apparently true hybrids are rare.”

“As rocking horse shit.” I nodded as he reached me, sliding a hand onto my waist to pull me up against him. His body was warmer now, as though the guise of the vampire had been discarded, burned away when he’d called on the power of Valhalla. “So what happens now?”

He reached up, brushing my hair back from my face to tuck it behind my ear. I didn’t stop him, even though the scars were fully on display. I was done hiding. I didn’t need to anymore. Not with the love shining in his eyes.

“Well, I was thinking about throwing all these people out and picking up where we started,” he breathed, leaning down to brush his lips over mine. My heartrate kicked up three notches, desire sizzling through my veins as I parted my lips for his kiss.

A polite cough stopped us mid-kiss. I rolled my eyes to the side to see Kara standing next to us, politely studying the ceiling.

With a sigh I disengaged. “Can I help you? Or are you just into watching?”

The flush on her cheeks was hot enough to cook eggs. Interesting, she must be one of the true virgins amongst us. “The council have decided to lift the banishment placed on you, Tove.”

I met her eyes levelly but didn’t reply.

She shuffled her feet as though discomforted. “Well, we wondered if you were…coming home?”

I looked up into Zane’s eyes and smiled.

“I am home.”