Chapter 2
TALON
We’ve got a problem. Where are you?
The sharp edge of my brother and second in command’s voice in my head fueled the sense of dread I woke up with that morning.
Something was coming. The air was charged with energy that felt wrong.
I couldn’t tell exactly why the leyline magic that ran underneath Briar Glen and the surrounding small towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains had changed.
It was almost as if someone had tampered with them, using them for something unnatural.
Not in my town.
The shift in the magic had my wolf pacing and snarling inside me.
The beast wanted to go out to investigate the situation.
I couldn’t let him out until I knew for sure what was going on.
Especially now that our mate had returned to us.
The damned animal would go straight to her.
I wasn’t sure what he’d do when he got to her.
The wolf was as hurt and pissed at her as the man was.
Even though she had her reasons for leaving us over two centuries ago.
I understood those reasons, honored them because she was the Prime heir. When her mother was killed, Maze became duty-bound to track the killer and avenge the Prime’s murder. As the new Valkyrie leader, Maze would vow to eliminate the threat to all of us. Including the humans we lived with.
My brothers, enforcers, and I had been searching for the bastard who killed the Prime since Freya sent us here about fifty years ago.
We discovered our worst nightmare had come true.
Balder Eldridge was in fact here on Midgard, and he was creating an army.
We weren’t sure how he was doing it or what his endgame was, but I was set on shutting his whole operation down.
After pulling into the parking lot behind my high-end nightclub and restaurant, The Steele Claw, I parked my truck in my usual spot next to the back door.
Jenson stared at me from where he stood in the open doorway.
His brows were drawn, causing angry lines to form on his forehead.
There was no telling what pissed my brother off.
The Steele Claw was my brainchild. I needed a long-term project to focus on, otherwise, I’d go insane thinking about the mate who left me. Yes, I knew she had her reasons.
My brothers had gone in with me to build the nightclub into the hottest spot in Virginia.
While I oversaw all major business operations, Jenson was head of security and handled the logistics of the business.
Our younger brother, Larc, was more of a silent partner because he didn’t deal well with large groups of people for more than a handful of minutes.
Two of my enforcers also work for me. Shaw Grizz worked security under Jenson, and Quil Leonard worked the bar four nights a week.
I got out of my truck and nodded to Jenson. He was dressed in his usual black slacks and button-down with the top three buttons undone and his sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms. His shoulder-length black hair hung loose, framing his face.
“What’s up?” I stopped in front of him, watching him scan the area before locking gazes with me.
“We’ll talk in your office.” He slipped through the back door, and I followed.
Stepping into the club, I was hit with the scents of lust, booze, and whatever herbal mixture Jenson created to pump into the A.C. vents. It helped in keeping the peace with all the different magical beings being in one place. We had a strict no-violence rule inside the club.
When we first came to the human world, we didn’t know what other types of beings or creatures lived in this world.
It didn’t take long before the witches started taking an interest in us.
My clan were shifters infused with magic.
Our powers rival that of a coven of witches.
So, of course, they needed to know we weren’t a threat to them or their families.
It was through the witches that we learned there were several groups of magical beings that included the witches and a few others like the fae.
A few decades ago, a dragon clan had come to this world.
Jenson had put them on a watch list for the first few years, but the dragons stayed to themselves and settled down in northeast Florida where they opened a security agency.
So, we left them alone, and they did the same.
There were other darker, meaner creatures that walked among us. Those were the ones that threatened the balance between the magical beings and the humans.
Larc had called the creature eitrborn after we killed one and discovered its blood had traces of a poison called eitr. The black venom had properties to create life, but the poisonous properties corrupted that life, turning the creatures into evil shapeshifting monsters with too much power.
I followed Jenson down the hall to my office.
After stepping inside, I shut the door and moved to my desk, which sat in the center of the back wall.
The office was big enough my inner circle could fit inside comfortably.
Two sofas sat facing each other in the area between the door and the desk.
A few oversized chairs sat between the ends of the sofas to form a circle.
On the left side of the room was another door that led into the basement where we kept our home base for tracking the monsters.
The large underground room was an open space that held magical relics my clan and I had collected from the creatures Balder created.
It also housed a portal that led anywhere we wanted.
Jenson dropped onto one of the sofas. “A Valkyrie was found dead in the forest this afternoon.”
Okay, that definitely got my attention. Like shifters, Valkyries were immortal and hard to kill. “One of ours?”
When Maze and her sisters left Vanaheim to track down Balder, a dozen or so other Valkyries stayed behind to help Freya—the goddess of beauty, magic, and war—and the shifters rebuild the palace and figure out our next steps. After a century, Freya sent us here, to the human world—Midgard.
Jenson shook his head. “One of the seven Maze took with her. A sentry found the body and reported it to Freya.”
“Why are you just now telling me about this?”
Jenson worked his jaw. No doubt he was clenching his teeth. “Because Freya just told me. She called the fucking sheriff when Kai found the body.”
My brother’s annoyance usually amused me, but this situation wasn’t funny. A dead Valkyrie meant we were dealing with more than a monster army.
“I think it’s time we paid Maze and her sisters a visit.”
I locked my gaze with Jenson’s. He was right, of course, but that didn’t mean I was ready to face my mate just yet. “Maze must know about this. The Sheriff would have called her.”
Freya hadn’t gone to Maze or any of the Valen sisters, even though the goddess knew they’d been living in the next town over for weeks. When I asked, Freya said Maze wasn’t ready yet. The goddess never explained her actions. She said that all things fall into place when they are supposed to.
I wasn’t a patient man, and neither was my wolf.
Jenson stood and headed to the door. “Sheriff works with Valen Protection Agency on all things magical, so I’m sure you’re right that Maze knows.
She would have also sensed that our clan was close by.
Our scents are all that forest.” With a hand on the doorknob, Jenson paused before adding, “I’ll gather a small team to head out, and we’ll meet you here in an hour. ”
I nodded, pushing away the uneasy feeling in my gut. Dread made my magic and my wolf stir within me. Not in a good way. My magic wanted to protect me while my wolf wanted to claim Maze, so we’d never have to guess where she was anymore.
But the man didn’t want to bond with Maze.
Not like I wanted to two hundred years ago.
Then, it was a duty to bond with the Prime Heir to kick off the soulbond for my clan and the Valkyries.
Truthfully, I still wanted to bond with Maze, for the good of my people, but we wouldn’t be mating out of duty.
I refuse to be tied to someone who didn’t love me.
My new challenge was making Mazelina Valen fall in love with me.