Dreams of a Dark Warrior (15 page)

Christ, I can
feel
her gaze boring into my back.

Awareness of the Valkyrie made him … restless. He had difficulty concentrating on anything Dixon was

saying.

Just to add to his frustration, the fey and the Valkyrie had begun speaking that language, the one he’d

failed to get translated. Yet he knew they were talking about him.

When he and the doctor moved on, the Valkyrie cal ed out in English, “Yo, Dekko, who do I gotta blow

around here to get a shower?”

His shoulders stiffened, and he almost answered, “Fegley,” but somehow he stifled the retort and

continued on—another victory for his iron wil .

But once clear of the Valkyrie’s cel , Declan found himself stil preoccupied. With a feigned glance at

his watch, he told the doctor, “We’l review the rest of the prisoners later. Your appointment begins soon.”

“They stil need to transfer and prep the patient. Besides, we haven’t even gotten to the berserker yet.”

“Berserker?” She’d piqued his curiosity. The Valkyrie and her sister had spoken of one that first night.

The Order had little intel on the berserkers, because they were exceedingly rare and most were mortal.

“Apparently, he was captured in the presence of other miscreats. He’s as strong as any of the prime

males in the Lore, and he tests out as deathless.”

“An immortal? Then he’s an anomaly. Let’s see him.”

As they approached another crowded cel , one inmate caught his attention, a big bastard who stood

apart from the others.

When he met Declan’s gaze, his jaw slackened and his green irises flickered, as though a flashlight

shone behind them.

Why does he look at me like he knows me?
The second prisoner to do so.

And more, this male seemed familiar
to him
.

No, no, Declan would never forget one of these beings. His heart began to pound—that wasn’t entirely

true. Had this one been there the night Declan had been tortured? Come into his parents’ living room

when he’d been unconscious?

Dixon frowned at the tension between them. “This is the berserker, Brandr.”

“You don’t recognize me, do you?” the male asked. “Good. That means we stil have time.” His

phrasings were modern, but his accent had an odd resonance.

“What are you talking about?”

“If you’ve captured a Valkyrie named Regin, you must stay away from her.” His eyes flickered even

more. This was obviously very important to him.

So Brandr and the Valkyrie knew each other? Since berserkers were so rare, he might be the very one

that Regin and Nïx had spoken of.

The berserker Regin had longed for. Declan clenched his fists. “You think to order
me
?”

“Heed my warning, Aidan.”

Declan tensed at that name. “What did you cal me?”

“Your name, brother.”

Declan turned to the wide-eyed doctor. “Put him in the schedule, Dixon. He’s a level-four candidate.”

She gave him a surprised look. That meant a round of their harshest experiments, including vivisection.

Brandr noticed the look. “What the hel are you doing, Aidan?”

“Schedule it
now.
” When she scurried away, Declan approached the glass. “I’ve encountered many of your kind, and one thing remains the same, no matter what species or faction or breed. Deceit. You live

and breathe trickery. I don’t know your aim—”

“My aim is to escape this place with you and that glowing Valkyrie in tow.”

“You think to take me as your hostage?”

Shoulders back, the male said, “I think to take you as my kinsman.”

“What the hel are you talking about—”

“Fight!”
someone down the ward yel ed. Other inmates joined in,
“Fight, fight!”

ELEVEN

O
ne minute, Regin had been bathing at the sink; the next, she’d been abetting an escape attempt.

She’d glanced up to see two guards dragging Uil eam MacRieve past their cel . The werewolf was

supposed to be drugged, but he didn’t seem completely subdued. His head lol ed, but not with each step.

Her ears had twitched, and she’d known something was up.

Straightaway, she’d cal ed to the guards, “Oh, boys?” She’d sauntered to the glass in only her black

lace bra and panties. “I need some assistance.” When they slowed, agog, she’d purred, “Can one of you

help me find my orgasm?” Then she’d pivoted, presenting her admittedly mind-blowing ass. “Oh, look,

clumsy me, I dropped something.” She bent over from the waist.

With the guards distracted, MacRieve had shoved them away, hopping his cuffs to bring his bound

hands in front of his body. Claws and fangs bared, he’d attacked.

“Fight! Fight!”
the inmates began yel ing.

Prisoners al along the ward banged on the glass wal s, their shouts echoing down the corridor.

“Zing! Kick their mortal asses, Scot!” Regin cried along with the rest of them. “Fuck ’em up!”

Behind her, the kid banged his head faster, faster. Natalya leapt up to hold him stil .

With a howl, MacRieve slashed one guard’s jugular, then bit at the throat of the second one, blood

dripping from his fangs.

Suddenly, Chase stormed into the fray, bel owing as he tackled MacRieve. They wrestled over the

floor, trading vicious blows.

Normal y the werewolf would thrash him—the Lykae were among the most powerful of al the sentient

creatures—but MacRieve had been weakened by his torque.

Stil , Chase shouldn’t be winning
that
handily. He wasn’t merely subduing the wolf, he was beating the living hel out of him.

Fighting like a
berserker
. A lean bear in winter.

The way he moved …

Right before her eyes, his muscles began to tighten and expand, his body growing larger, stretching his

layers of black clothing taut. His massive gloved fists cracked bone each time they connected.

When more guards arrived, they had to peel a bludgeoned MacRieve away from the magister’s

assault.

Once they’d taken the Lykae away, Chase rose, his big chest heaving. His normal y pale face was

flushed, making his gray irises more vivid. His hair was final y shoved out of his eyes to better reveal

those chiseled features.

At that moment, he was handsome, powerful, and so much like Aidan that she gasped. Just as with

Aidan, she was uncontrol ably attracted to him.

An invisible force. Like two magnets.

He swung his head around at her. Instead of looking surprised by her lack of clothing, his gaze raked

over her heatedly, taking in every part of her.

A look both scorching and possessive.

A look that made her pulse race.

His irises flickered. The color of storm clouds lit by lightning. As if unaware of what he was doing, he

took two steps closer to her.

She mirrored his action, then raised her hands to the glass. Her claws curled against the barrier

between them, her breaths gone shal ow.

Al else was forgotten. Declan Chase was forgotten. Al she could see was Aidan.

Want to be near him.

But when she realized he would soon leave her behind, an old habit rose to the fore. In ancient Norse,

the words tumbled out:
“Take me with you, warrior.”

Take her with him?

At that instant, Declan was tempted to do just that.

Christ almighty, her
body.

He exhaled a shaky breath at the sight of her dressed only in tight black lingerie. Her bra and panties

were mere scraps of lace, displaying taut legs, a narrow waist, and curvy hips. High, plump breasts spil ed out from the cups.

Her glowing skin was damp and smooth.

When she shivered and her nipples stiffened, he was rapt.

Then he remembered what she was.
Abomination. Enemy.

Casting her a look of scorn, he abruptly turned away. He strode to his quarters with his fists bal ed and

his mind in turmoil.

Because he was hard.

God preserve me. For
her.

Not possible. The medicine prevented him from getting aroused. Hadn’t he done two doses last night?

And the night before that?

Yet there was no denying the effect she’d had on him.

Inside his room, he paced, fighting the urge to watch her on the screen.
Abomination, enemy,
his mind repeated over and over.

He inhaled deeply—only to release a hoarse breath as the fabric of his pants rubbed his aching shaft.

With a bitter curse he sat at his console and pul ed up her cel . She was stil staring at the glass, giving him a view of her from the back.

Tight black lace against damp golden skin. Her pert arse was too generous to be covered by her smal

panties.

He heard a groan, was shocked to realize the sound had come from him. His cock was now
throbbing
.

It’d been so long since he’d been hard, longer stil since he’d come.
Enjoy it this once.

While he might not miss sex, he damn sure missed the feel of spending hot seed from his body.

Stroke himself off to a detrus?

Declan was at risk of beguilement. Knew it. There’d been operatives who’d fal en for immortals—he’d

always thought them stupid beyond measure. No miscreat was worth the consequences.

Cast out.

Never.

He shot to his feet, pacing once more.
Get control of yourself.
He could beat this.
No man possesses
a stronger will than you, Dekko.

He had work to do. His duty. There’d just been an escape attempt—with casualties—and he was due

to interrogate Lothaire shortly.

Once he’d broken the vampire, Declan would go for an extended run over the sizable island. He knew

every part of it—the forests, the mountain caves, the rocky shores, knew where each incendiary bomb

was located.

Because I planted them all myself.
Declan secretly considered it his own territory. Now he envisioned the miles he’d cover, the way he’d push his body to exhaustion. …

Minutes ticked by. In time, he exhaled, confident that he’d regained control. The Valkyrie had sent him

reeling, but he’d found his footing once more.

Go break the vampire.

But first Declan needed to erase the security feed of his unexpected reaction to the Valkyrie. He never

knew who was monitoring those videos. He pul ed it up, scrutinizing their interaction, struggling to

understand what power she had over him.

He was about to delete the scene when he realized something that couldn’t be right.

At the end, she hadn’t spoken to him in English—nor in that unknown language she spoke with the fey.

This was something new. Yet he’d
understood
her.

“I’m not going to lay off until you tel me,” Natalya said to Regin in the old language.

For the last two hours she’d demanded to know why Chase’s eyes had changed, why
he’d
changed, in

reaction to Regin. Unfortunately, the fey had witnessed the entire exchange as she’d tended the kid.

Regin answered in the same tongue, “Just don’t tel anyone in the grapevine what you saw.”

“Only if you let me in on what happened. Other-wise …”

Regin glared. “Fine. After you vow to the Lore never to repeat what I’m about to tel you.”

Once Natalya did, Regin outlined her and Aidan’s history, his past embodiments, his deaths. She

finished with, “And now he’s reincarnated once more. This time … as Declan Chase.”

Natalya gasped. “Then al you have to do is make Chase remember his past? Just get him alone so he

can kiss you?”

“Yeah. That’s al it ever takes.” For some reason, her kiss did a rewind on each reincarnation’s mind,

sending him back to that one particular moment in Aidan’s life, just before he’d claimed her the first time.

“No one keeps me from you,”
he’d growl.

And then
nothing
could.

He would claim her in a berserkrage and die shortly after from some freak accident or assassination.

Over these thousand years, that pattern had repeated itself again and again.

Now, if she was with him when it happened, Regin could use his print to remove her torque and

escape, leading others back here to free their al ies.

Natalya rose, pacing. “What is your hesitation?”

“I told you what he meant to me!” And earlier, al of her old feelings for him had resurfaced.

“Chase wil interrogate you soon. And then you’l be vivisected. More important, then
I
wil soon be vivisected!”

“I know this!” Regin was murderously pissed at Chase. But actively plotting to kil Aidan? She recal ed