Anywhere.

But Eira couldn’t voice that thought. How could she tell him that she couldn’t just run off and leave him and never find out anything about him?

She traced patterns on her jeans, over and over. She’d never felt this way around a man before. Was it because he was a shifter? What about her attraction to him? That attraction. It was what drew her to ask him to take her with him.

What the hell’s happening to me?

She wasn’t an easily swayed by a handsome face type of woman. She let out an exasperated breath.

“Big sigh,” he said.

She glanced at him.

“I’m—we’re—I have to leave town.” There she said it.

“Why?”

“Those guys you decided to turn me over to—”

He raised his hand. “Hold on. Look. I—”

“I know, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay. I didn’t know what I was being asked to do. I mean I did, but I didn’t know why. I was under the impression that you had stuff that belonged to an ex-boyfriend. That he wanted his things back. The minute I found out it was a totally different scenario, I jumped in.” He shook his head apologetically.

She gave him a sad smile. “There was no way you could have known.”

“So why is it that you have to go?”

“Because they won’t give up until they have one of us.”

He frowned. “Are you going to tell me who you are? And why they want you?”

She exhaled, put the beer on the table, rose to her feet, and turned to face him. With her back to the moon, its rays illuminated his face, highlighting the incredible chiseled features.

She’d never revealed her kind to any mortal or any other type of supernatural. This was tough. It felt like she was betraying her own.

Her inner struggle must have shown on her face.

“You’d rather not, I guess?” he said.

“I never have. It’s no small thing. In fact, it’s punishable by death.”

“What is? How?”

“Revealing our existence, our very identity to outsiders carries a penalty of death. The tribunal won’t decide otherwise.”

“Whoa. That’s—shit. Not even shifters have those kinds of laws.” Curiosity showed on his face, though. “So, who were—are the guys hunting you?”

“Berserkers.”

“Berserkers are myth.”

“No.”

“Those guys we fought weren’t berserkers.”

“You’re right. Berserkers hire humans.”

“I’ve never met a berserker. Can’t say I know much about them.”

“It’s unlikely you’d know much of the truth. They were bear shifters, once, long, long ago. They were marauding, plundering, raping bastards. They attacked our tribe. Killed all the men and took the women captive. Lived in the village, taking the places of our dead men in all ways.”

She paced the small balcony, anger raising her adrenaline level. “The women prayed and prayed, and one day, Freyja answered those prayers.”

His frown grew deeper. “Freyja. The goddess? The one from Norse mythology.”

Eira nodded. “Yes, but you see, Freyja has been cast as a goddess now. She was not always viewed as that. Her myth grew, the lore changed. Freyja was the mother of one of the captive women. She was a powerful witch. She had been away, and when she returned, she learned of the wrongs that had been perpetrated.”

Eira picked her hair up off her nape. The heat was brutal. Sweat was pouring down her back.

Range leaned forward. “And what did Freyja the witch do?”

“She drove the bear shifters’ animals mad. They could no longer shift into their bears, and they would never be able to. Nor would they want to. Their inner animals were behaving like rabid beasts. Freyja banished them, and never reinstated their inner bears. They were fierce—berserk—in battle but could not shift into their animal.”

“Shit,” he hissed. “That sucks for them.”

Eira’s eyes glittered with an angry violet fire. “For what they did, they deserved death, even.”

“Agreed,” Range said. “So, I’m guessing you’re called Valkyrie.”

She nodded. “Good guess.”

“I’m not totally ignorant. And that one was a bit obvious, but I’d have never guessed about the origins.”

She turned to face the city, staring out at the lights.

See you in a few decades again, Houston.

She felt movement in the air. Sensed he’d risen from his chair, but she didn’t turn around.

Seconds later, his body was near hers. She could feel the warmth of his nearness.

Then his hand was on her back, rising, slowly to her nape, shifting her hair away from her neckline.

She felt his lips against the sensitive skin at her hairline.

“And now, your life’s in danger. You’ve risked everything by telling me this.”

She didn’t reply. She couldn’t have. At the very second his lips touched her flesh, her breathing had frozen, her pulse had slowed, sped up, then slowed again. She could feel her heartbeat in her brain. It seemed like a wind tunnel was drowning out the world.

His body was pressed against hers. His muscles were hard, as if crafted from stone, a contrast to the lips that fluttered across her skin, tracing the skin on her neck. She could feel his arousal, pressing on her, a very defined pressure along her derrière.

Releasing her hair, his hands dropped to her hips, and slowly turned her around.

She stared into his eyes. Those eyes of his, dark blue—she’d never noticed before—but now, she saw something else.

“Your eyes.”

He tilted his head. “What?”

“There’s this golden flame—that’s the only way I can think of describing it—in the middle of the blue color.”

“My wolf.”

Now she was confused. “Explain.”

He leaned forward, his lips almost touching hers.

“When my wolf is stronger—more at the forefront—it shows in my eyes.”

She studied them, keeping her gaze locked on his.

He smiled. “Now tell me why your eyes do what they do.”

“You mean during the fight?”

“Exactly, my amazing warrior woman.”

“All Valkyrie are born with two identifying marks. Violet eyes—”

“That turn black when you’re in the middle of conflict,” he finished for her.

“Yeah.”

“And the second?”

She raised her hand and showed him the inside of her wrist where there was a tattoo. It wasn’t much larger than a coin, probably a quarter.

“You’re born with that? The tattoo?”

“It’s a rune. It identifies my sect.”

It was two intersecting circles, one on top of the other. It looked like a figure eight, almost, except rings overlapped. Two vertical parallel lines bisected the circles.

“Sect. Define how that relates to you.”

“Range.”