Page 80 of Valkyrie Unknown

“Being attacked in my own home? No. Who deals with that on a regular basis?”

I pursed my lips and met his stare blankly.Me. I’ve dealt with it my entire life.

“Oh, fuck me.” Understanding spread across his face. “What makes you so special?” His question was hesitation and teasing.

I puffed out a breath of air. “Aside from three ancient beings who made me part of their bedtime stories? I wish I knew.” I needed to get as far away from Zeke as possible.

“Then you need backup. You can’t do this alone.” He made it sound like the only logical conclusion. “It’s a good thing we made that blood oath.”

That didn’t encompass as much as Zeke was implying. It?—

“You made a blood oath?” Davyn’s angry roar interrupted.

Wait.Davyn?

My elation vanished when he sprinted across the room—he was fast, especially for such a large man—and gripped Zeke by the throat, pinning him to the nearest wall.

Was this what Zeke saw when I met Finn?

The oddly detached thought kicked me into gear. “He’s not the enemy,” I said.

“Did you convince her of that before or after you fucked her?” Davyn’s growl was primal.

Fuck fuck fuck. I needed to stop him.

Twenty-Two

Davyn

I satin our ruined apartment. Where else was I going to go without answers?

I glanced at my phone again, the did a double take. The fractured icons indicated one missed call that didn’t ring through, and one message. There were things about modern technology I’d never surrender and others I’d gladly do without.

I played the voicemail.

“Hey. Um, I’m still on vacation.” Azzie’s voice sated my bear, but not nearly enough. “Did you ever call the bookstore back? Hope you’re all right. See you soon.”

She sounded fine, but the message was nonsense. Why was she on vacation? What bookst?—

I was already pulling up Enid’s number and dealing. Why didn’t I call her sooner, regardless of prompting? Azzie spent a lot of time insisting they weren’t friends, but Enid was the only other person to whom I’d seen Azzie give any trust.

“Hello.” Enid’s greeting was pleasant, but not overly friendly.

“This is Davyn. Azzie’s friend.” I didn’t want to deal with formalities.

“Oh, Gods. Davyn.” With the simple phrase, her entire tone shifted. “I’m so glad you called. Are you all right? Where are you?”

My concern cranked to maximum. “I’m fine. I’m home. Where’s Azzie?”

“She’s okay, too. She keeps calling to ask if I’ve heard from you. With what happened there…”

For the first time in more than twenty-four hours, a trickle of relief flowed through me. “Whatdidhappen here?”

“I don’t know any more than the news is saying, but she was there when it went down. We decided it was safest for her to not stay. She didn’t want to write anything down, in case someone was looking for either of you, and her knife broke, so she’s been staying with someone who can repair it.”

The second half of that statement didn’t make sense. Azzie’s blades should be unbreakable. “Was she in a fight? You mean staying near the knife person, correct?”

“Not as far as I know. She said it broke, and she said she was staying with him.”

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