Chapter 1
MAZE
When the Roanoke County Sheriff called me to consult on a murder, I didn’t expect the victim to be one of my top agents.
Jessica Valen had gone radio silent over two weeks ago while working a few leads about a missing witch in upstate New York.
She was working with the local coven to find the witch and who had taken her.
My sisters and I searched for Jessica when she missed her check-in time, but whoever captured her was powerful enough not only to get the jump on a Valkyrie but to block her connection to me and the rest of our sisters.
A tightness formed in my chest as I stared down at Jessica’s lifeless body.
Flashes of the day I found our mother dead in her chambers appeared in my mind.
The ache in my chest grew, and tears filled my eyes.
I blinked a few times, then wiped the unwanted tears away.
Tears didn’t bring her back or find her killer.
Neither did emotions. They sure as fuck didn’t stop my mother, the Valkyrie Prime Matron, from losing her life to a man who had supposedly loved her.
Taking a few deep breaths, I pushed the grief aside and slipped into my warrior mask, as my sisters called it.
Jessica wasn’t murdered by a human. I didn’t need the stench of dark, ritual magic still clinging to her body to tell me that.
The scent was faint, but my otherworldly senses picked it up.
There was also a soft green glow just under her skin.
The only clothing she wore was her black boy shorts underwear and a black tank top.
There were ligature marks on her wrists and ankles.
The Sheriff hadn’t been here when I arrived.
He said on the phone he might be a little behind me since he was dealing with a crash two towns over.
I didn’t have to worry about him sending a random officer to the scene.
There were only a couple of deputies and one detective who knew about the witches and shifters who lived in their county.
A local witch had called Sheriff Gardner directly because she felt heavy magic around the scene.
The Sheriff and I have worked together on cases before.
My Valkyrie sisters and I own and run a private security and intelligence company.
It helped us fit into this world. The human world. Midgard, as my sisters and I called it.
The scent of shifter magic hovered around the crime scene, which wasn’t unusual for this area. The Steele Clan shifters lived in the town bordering the forest I currently stood in, waiting for the Sheriff and Winter, my sister and the Valen Protection Agency’s tech and logistics lead.
Winter made sure everything on the back end of the agency ran smoothly. She was also an IT genius and hadn’t found a cybersecurity system she couldn’t hack.
I scanned the area, unsure of what to look for. Valkyries were hard to kill. Another reason I was certain Jess hadn’t been killed by a human.
The Briarwood Forest borders several towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.
Glen River ran along the southeast side of those towns.
It was a perfect place to settle and stay relatively hidden.
Although my sisters and I had been hiding in plain sight for a couple of decades now.
We learned how to blend in and survive since we left Vanaheim after the Prime was murdered.
My sisters and I had searched the nine worlds for the traitor Balder Eldridge.
He seemed to be ten steps ahead of us, using the magic he’d stolen from the Prime when he killed her to hide his whereabouts.
We’d saved Midguard for last, because it was where the shifters and the rest of our Valkyrie clan lived.
Once we arrived in this world, I felt my mother’s magic.
It was slight, but it was out there, which meant Balder was there too.
No matter how much we tried, we couldn’t track the magic. He was doing something to keep us from finding him.
The one thing I hadn’t done yet was face Talon, the Alpha of the Steele Clan. It’d been just shy of two centuries since I last saw him. That was a long time for a shifter to be without his mate. Although we never started the soulbond ritual.
Turning at the sound of footsteps on the hiking trail a few feet behind me, I met Winter’s grief-filled gaze.
She wore a pair of black designer jeans, paired with a lavender button-down and a pair of chunky-heeled boots that were both fashionable and comfortable enough for hiking in the woods.
Her dark blonde hair was twisted in a neat bun at the base of her neck.
I wasn’t the best at offering comfort, but when she reached me, I opened my arms. Winter instantly stepped into my embrace. We stood there for several seconds, hugging, while the sounds of the forest enveloped us.
Winter was close to all our agents, but she and Jess shared a special bond since they were the youngest of all of us.
After another moment, Winter stepped back and wiped the tears from her cheeks as she pushed her emotions to the far corners of her mind. Conjuring her tablet, she scanned the area and got to work accessing the scene. “Where’s the Sheriff?”
“He was working a car crash when he got the call and said he’d meet me here.” I came earlier than planned because I wanted to get a sense of the area before Mitch, the Sheriff, arrived.
Winter typed on her tablet and walked around the body. There were signs that more than one person was in the area. Whether that was before or after Jess’s murder, I wasn’t sure. It might have been the witch who found Jess.
“Who found her?” Winter asked.
“Local witch called Mitch directly.”
When Mitch called me, I was in my office at the Valen Protection Agency HQ in Pepper Glen, which is the twin town of Briar Glen right beside it, so it didn’t take me long to get here.
“There’s ritual magic all over her.”
The fury I’d had a tight lid on since arriving on the scene flared. “I know. I also scented a shifter.”
“More than one,” Winter added and typed on her tablet. Then, she started taking pictures of the scene.
I knew that too, so I didn’t comment. Most of the time, when Winter talked out loud as she processed a scene, it was more for her benefit and didn’t need a reply. She also dictated a lot of her notes.
Letting her work, I moved toward the trail just as the Sheriff and a deputy I’ve never met before rounded a curve in the pathway.
Mitch was a tall and fit man in his mid-fifties.
He was what the local humans called a silver fox.
He was also married, with three teenagers, who kept him just as busy as his job as Sheriff did.
Mitch gave me a single nod in greeting, then introduced me to the deputy. “Mazelina Valen, this is Deputy Brian Harris.”
I held out my hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Brian looked like he could be in his late twenties. His brown hair was cut in military style, and his light brown eyes told me he’s seen more than a human his age should.
The deputy shook my hand. His touch was firm, friendly, and contained a tiny bolt of magic. That was interesting. “Wish it was under better circumstances.”
I gave him a tight smile, then spoke to Mitch. “Winter and I will take Jessica with us.”
Mitch sighed as he met Brian’s concerned gaze. “Go see if Winter has questions.”
Brian nodded and walked over to where Winter stood, talking on her phone. He stopped in front of her, and she frowned at him and held up her finger for him to wait a minute. Winter was probably talking to Candra and Nicky, who were the only two at the office.
Mitch watched me for a moment. “You know what killed her?”
“No, but it wasn’t human.”
“One of the men from the Steele Clan called me right after Freya did. They come up here to let their animals run wild.” The sheriff looked at Jessica, then at Winter, and then at Brian. The deputy stared at Winter with a dreamy expression, while Winter continued to frown.
I should save the deputy from heartache.
Like the rest of the Valkyries, Winter had a mate out there somewhere.
She wasn’t interested in any kind of relationship until we repaired ours with the shifters.
Which meant I’d have to grovel to my mate and convince him to complete our bond.
Once Talon and I were mated and our magics merged, the rest of our people could find their fated mates.
It was time to complete the soulmate ritual that the Prime Matron had started over two hundred years ago. Right before her consort murdered her.
I wasn’t looking forward to facing Talon.
But that was exactly what I had to do if I wanted to solve Jess’s murder.
When we merge our souls and magics, both our clans will be stronger than ever.
It was one reason my mother wanted to do it.
That and the soulbonds would help stabilize the shifters’ animal and magical halves.
Turning to the Sheriff, I asked, “Why did you bring the deputy out here, knowing we wouldn’t let your team investigate?”
“Brian’s new, and I thought it would be good for him to meet you.”
I smirked. “We’ll be sure to break the rookie in for you.”
Mitch chuckled and shook his head. “He also knows about magic and all the other nonhuman creatures. His grandmother is a witch.”
So that was why I felt magic in his handshake. It made things easier for Winter and me. “After Winter is done processing the scene, we’ll take Jess home.”
We would open a portal. It would be easier than carrying her down to the trailhead where I parked my car. Since I had to go into Briar Glen to confront my mate for the first time in centuries, I would portal back to the trailhead.
“Let me know if you need anything.” When I nodded, he called out to Brian that it was time to go.
After the Sheriff and his deputy left, I walked over to Winter. “Are you ready?”
She nodded once, and I lifted Jessica’s body in my arms. Winter created a portal to HQ. One of us would come back for my car after we got Jessica home.
Candra and Nicky were waiting for us at the medical center in the basement of the Valen Protection Agency building when we stepped out of the portal.
The main area was much like the waiting room of a hospital but much more comfortable, with oversized chairs and a couple of couches.
On the right was a hallway that led to patient rooms. On the left were two operating rooms, which was where I carried Jess.
Winter would have to examine the body and determine the cause of death.
I laid her on the bed in the center of the room, and my sisters gathered around.
“She’s been drained of her magic and blood, and she smells like shifters.” Candra jerked her gaze to mine with her lips pressed together in a thin line. Tears rimmed her eyes, and her fury filled the room. “They did this to her.”
“We don’t know that.”
The ‘they’ Candra was talking about were the shifters. I didn’t believe that Talon’s clan would do anything to harm us. Even though they may be pissed at us for staying away for too long. However, it was possible that one or more of Talon’s clanmates had gone feral.
Candra growled, fisting her hands. “We won’t know for sure until we confront them.”
“We will, but we won’t go in swords drawn.” I put power into that statement. Candra could be a hothead when her emotions were high, like they were at the moment. But she was a fair warrior. She also had the ability to detect when others were lying.
“Shifters didn’t kill her. Someone more powerful than a shifter did this.” Winter’s usual softness changed instantly into the warrior she was. “There is another magical signature on her. It’s familiar, but I can’t place it.”
Winter wouldn’t rest until she figured out who or what the magical signature belonged to.
“Can you tell if she saved information for us?” Valkyries could store information in the form of memories in a magically hidden place within our minds. If Jessica saved what she learned while in captivity, we’d be able to retrace her steps and find out who killed her and why they took her magic.
Closing her eyes, Winter placed a hand on Jessica’s forehead. After a few seconds, Winter opened her eyes and met mine. “She did. The extraction of the memories could take a while because she buried them deep.”
I gave her a sharp nod. “Let me know when you have them extracted.”
Glancing at Jessica’s body on the examining table, I made a silent vow to my fallen sister. We will avenge you, Sister.