5. Reaper
5
Reaper
“ T hink he knows?”
Grinning, I shake my head. The entirety of Valhalla Rising MC is gathered around the cages in the fighting arena. There are many brothers, but we keep the circle of officers small and tight… until today.
“There’s no way Jacob is gonna see this coming.”
“How can you be sure?” Demo asks.
“Bro, we’ve both been here long enough to know how this works,” I remind him. “No one, not even the Valkyries, knows how members are patched into the club. How would he have found out that he’s getting his?”
“Did you ever think he’d make it this far?” Acid asks.
“Fuck no,” I bark with a laugh. “If I were a bettin’ man, I’d have put him in the Fire Pits for sure.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re not a betting man,” Viking comments. He sticks his fingers in his mouth and lets out a piercing whistle to get everyone’s attention. “Welcome!”
The largest cage in the center of the arena lights up with flames, and Inferno can be seen in the middle of it all with his arms stretched wide, fire coming from his hands. And Jacob is standing just in front of him, the startled look on his face worth all the fanfare.
Cheers erupt as Viking moves from his position on the officer’s viewing podium to the cages. As he gets closer, Inferno allows the flames to die down, and the only thing remaining of them by the time Viking is in the center ring with them is smoke.
“As you all know, becoming a Valhalla Rising MC brother is not for the faint of heart. It’s?—”
“We don’t have hearts!” a brother calls from the crowd.
“We might not have hearts in the sense that they are beating and pumping with blood, but make no mistake about it… We have heart. We have loyalty. We have drive and fight. And we have soul… dead as they may be.” Viking chuckles. “But most importantly, we have each other and now, that includes Jacob.”
Jacob’s eyes widen. “What’s going on?”
Inferno grips his shoulders to spin him around. “What’s going on, brother, is you’ve earned your patch.”
“Not only that,” Viking adds. “But the officers have voted unanimously to make you one of us.” He leans down to pick up the box that was sitting at their feet, the one that went unnoticed until now. “Open it,” he orders as he thrusts the box at Jacob.
The former prospect tears into the box like a kid on Christmas morning and pulls out his VRMC cut.
“Jacob, AKA Grump is now the treasurer of the VRMC,” Inferno announces proudly.
“I… I don’t know what to say,” Grump says.
“Figuring that out is going to have to wait.”
All eyes shift to the doors of the arena to see Odin standing there like the god he is.
“All due respect, Odin, but you know these ceremonies are private,” Viking says, his shoulders squared and his body tense.
“And I rule Valhalla, or have you forgotten?”
Inferno takes a step forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Pres. “Was there something you needed?”
“Party’s over!” Odin shouts before focusing his attention on me. “Reaper, I need to see you in my office. Now!”
“What the fuck?” I mutter after he disappears.
“Oh, shit,” Demo says with a chuckle.
I whip my head to the left and glare at him. “What?”
“Well, every time one of us has been called to his office, Valhalla gains another Valkyrie.”
Vigorously, I shake my head. “Nope. Not gonna happen.”
“Aw, c’mon,” Acid says. “Makayla and Emmy are great.”
“Yeah, they are. But I’ve been there, done that.”
“Better go, Reaper,” Viking states when he joins us on the podium.
“I haven’t been privy to what brought the women here,” Grump comments. “But didn’t really seem like Odin was messing around.”
I narrow my eyes at our newest brother. “Just because you’re one of us now, doesn’t me?—”
“Go,” Viking snaps.
Grumbling, I do as I’m told. Rebelling against Odin is one thing, but I can’t ignore a direct order from my Pres. Shit, I shouldn’t ignore one from Odin either, but the god pisses me off.
“What are you doing here?” I ask when I spot Skuld waiting outside Odin’s office.
She smiles. “Figured you could use a friendly face.”
“That bad?”
“Depends on how you look at it.”
Heaving a sigh, I put one foot in front of the other and enter Odin’s office. “Let’s just get this over with.”
The next hour passes in a blur. I try to convince Odin that I’m not the right Warrior for the job, but he’s a stubborn old goat and doesn’t budge an inch. Apparently, he knows what’s best .
When I’m dismissed, rage builds in my system. I don’t want to return to the human world, and I certainly don’t want to play hero to some chick who’s as bitter as I am.
I have every intention of telling all of this to Viking when I return to the fighting arena, but I don’t get the chance because I’m transported out of Valhalla faster than I can say ‘fuck Odin’.
“Welcome back.”
I sit up on the mattress and take in my surroundings. The first thing I notice is Ms. Steinbeck, the Valkyrie in charge of the transition house in the human world.
“What the Fire Pits?” I mumble.
Inferno walks into the room and stands next to the woman. “Must’ve been some meeting with Odin.”
Viking, Demo, Acid, and Grump are sitting on the edge of the bed against the opposite wall.
“Can someone please tell me why I feel like I’m gonna puke up anything I’ve ever eaten since the second I came out of my mama?” Grump complains, his face looking a little green.
“You’ll get used to it,” Acid says dryly.
“I’m more interested in what the assignment is,” Inferno adds.
“And I’ll fill you all in over a meal,” Ms. Steinbeck says as she whirls on her heel and walks out of the room.
“I want nothing to do with this,” I snap. “I told him that.”
“And you thought he’d listen?” Demo shakes his head. “He never listens.”
“Let’s just go get our marching orders,” Viking barks. “The sooner we get moving on this, the sooner I can get back to Makayla.”
The five of them traipse out of the room, leaving me alone to process my thoughts. Odin’s last words to me play on a loop in my mind.
Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you have to stop living.