Considering he couldn’t see past the woman’s breasts, he gave it over happily and got a date out of the bargain.” Skuld smiled. “Tricky little wench.”
Yeah, that sounded like Didi.
“You are running out of time, Denise. Do you accept this challenge?”
Neecy shrugged as Yager wrapped his arm around her waist. “Yeah. Sure. Why not?”
Skuld no longer looked at them as she diligently watered the tree. “I need a direct and clear ‘yes’ on this, Denise. Just like when you took my hand the first time.”
“Okay…yes. I accept.”
Didi picked up her white knight and was about to move it—and demolish Tye in the process—when she glanced up to find a naked Yager standing in the middle of the living room.
“Yo, Yager man.” Mike stated from the couch. “Put on some clothes.”
Yager ignored him as he spun in circles. Didi didn’t know Yager as well as Neecy now did, but she could sense the panic coming off the man.
“Where is she?”
Didi stood up as the other Crows and Ravens came into the living room. They’d been dressed and ready for battle for hours. She got the feeling Yager didn’t realize he and Neecy had been gone since the day before. That’s how Didi knew they’d gone to Asgaard to prepare for Neecy’s Trial.
Suddenly serious, Mike pushed off the couch. “Where’s who?”
Cold rage spread across Yager’s face. Through gritted teeth, “Neecy. Where the fuck is Neecy?”
Neecy landed hard in a crouching position. One knee slamming down first, one palm flat against cold stone, the other still gripping the weapon Skuld gave her.
She looked like a runner at the starting line.
She gave herself a moment to breathe and then she looked up. The Hunters all surrounded a blood-‐covered altar. An altar she was on.
Aw, shit.
Chapter Twenty
Waldgrave stared at the woman he thought long dead. Dressed only in an enormous tank top, she looked as stunned as he about her sudden appearance during their religious rites of power. They’d been invoking the goddess in preparation of their final Hunt of the Crows. They hadn’t even gotten to the final sacrifice yet.
He found the Crow surprisingly attractive for such a butch female. He preferred his women pliable and fearful. This woman looked like she feared nothing, and that’s how she looked when he scouted her out in that store. He wanted to see the woman his goddess wanted dead so badly, and one look at that cold face and powerful body, and he knew she had to go. She’d do anything to protect her fellow warriors. Anything to keep his goddess from getting what She wanted.
And now he knew he’d been right about her. This would be no easy kill. He knew it as soon as she jumped to her big feet on the altar and took up a classic battle-‐ready pose.
The enormous but plain ax she held firmly in both hands, appeared unused. No nicks or marks marred its surface. Waldgrave would bet money she’d never fought with it before.
Smiling, he hefted his own ax. An ax awarded to him by his goddess. With a powerful move of his arms, he swung the ax over his head and brought it down on the solid stone altar.
An explosion of sound filled the room as half the altar crumbled in his ax’s wake.
“Fuck!” she snapped as the bit of altar she stood on fell away at her feet. She hit the ground in a cloud of dust.
Not willing to give her time to recover, Waldgrave swung his ax again, aiming for where he’d guess the female’s head would be. It came down in a perfect arc, and already he felt her defeat in his heart. But the clang of metal and an agonizing pain tearing up his arms showed him she still had no intention of being an easy kill.
The dust from the altar cleared and he saw the female had put up her own ax, blocking his. It should have crumbled like the altar. But now that she’d used it, he could see the glowing runes along both sides of the blade and on the black handle.
The bitch’s protector goddess had given her a weapon of great power, which annoyed him. This insignificant female was not his prize. She was simply in the way of his prize. He needed her gone so that the full-‐on assault on the rest of those women could begin. Without her, they would be lost. Without her, they’d never be able to protect the one he wanted.
With a vicious snarl, she pushed forward throwing Waldgrave away from her.
She sprang to her feet and swung her ax, once, twice. One acolyte lost his head, the second she split from one hip to the other.
The other Hunters backed away from her, circling her and Waldgrave. Her eyes strayed to the big picture windows of the ballroom. Then to the doors.
“Going to run, little girl?”
She acted like she didn’t hear him, her body turning away from him to see all the exits. Then he heard her muttered reply.
“Crows don’t run.”
He barely brought his ax up in time as the crazy bitch spun and swung her weapon, aiming for his head.
Bobby Anders hefted his M-‐16 in his arms and sighed. Goddammit, he was cold.
Exactly how long was he supposed to stand here anyway? Ever since his fellow brothers took out that one Crow, Waldgrave made sure to have sentries on duty at all times. At first, Bobby was all for it. It made complete sense. But a week later and nothing. Nothing but nearly frostbitten fingers and toes and a good old-‐fashioned cold.
Yet something was going on. A battle cry from within the house caused half of the sentries to charge back inside. Bobby wouldn’t leave his post, though. He was there to ensure no one attacked from the outside and that’s exactly what he would do.
But, he realized, no matter how ready he thought he was or how fast with his weapon he might be, he would have never seen this one coming.
Enormous didn’t really do the man justice. And for someone his size, especially with those wings stretching big, black, and ominous from his back, he shouldn’t be able to move so fast. But the man moved like lightning. One second Bobby stood all alone and the next the big man easily snatched the weapon from his grip.
Still, the hands attached to the chain wrapping around his neck…those were female.
So was the voice in his ear. “Say goodnight, sunshine.”
Tye grinned as Janelle released the chain and allowed the Hunter to drop to her feet like a sack of garbage. She’d snapped his neck the way some people break a candy bar in half. And she made Tye so hard he physically hurt.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to focus on his little lust muffin. The rest of the Crows and Ravens were silently dropping from the sky, taking out the sentries quickly and quietly. Like the birds themselves, Crows and Ravens were crafty. Why go in screaming and announcing their presence, when they could sneak in and kill everyone efficiently? It wasn’t logical.
And Tye was all about logic.
The little one landed behind Janelle, nearly falling on her ass as her feet touched solid ground. Tye cringed. Man, what a clumsy little thing. But he found her entertaining because she hated Mike so much. It was like watching big-‐league wrestling. Personally, he put his money on the runt.
Yager landed beside Tye. There were a lot of things in this universe Tye didn’t much like. And the look on Yager’s face at the moment was absolutely at the top of his list.
Following behind his leader, he shook his head. Anything not Raven or Crow would not be getting out of here alive tonight.
How any goddess in her right mind could think putting these psychopaths on her ass was a fair Trial, she’d never know. And now that Neecy knew who was truly behind this—who truly wanted her dead—that made this whole thing much more disturbing. She saw the rune on the altar. She knew who these Hunters belonged to. And Skuld was right. A war was coming—a war among gods. And their warriors were merely pawns.