Seer: Reckless Desires (Norseton Wolves Book 8) (15 page)

“That’s right. I need you to remember that, okay? And I need you to stay in this truck and come with us.”

“It’s just a ride to the airport.”

He gave his head a slow shake.

Joe had picked up enough speed now that even if she could get the door open, the chances of her rolling safely to the ground were nil. There was also the minor issue of getting run over by the vehicles behind them. She’d end up in the hospital with no insurance. She didn’t need more bills.

“If not the airport, then where?”

“We’re going to the airport. I haven’t lied to you.”

She flexed her bound wrists, clenched her hands into fists, and meditated on the sharp feel of her nails against her palms. That helped her concentrate and break things down into sensible nuggets. She’d never been the kind of girl who was good at jumping to conclusions. Her brain was bogged down by too much murk for her ideas to get off the ground, but one took flight.

“You’re flying me somewhere?” She whipped her head toward the men in the front seat. “Are they bail bondsmen or Marshalls or something?” She yanked her wrists, but Harvey wouldn’t let go.
Oh, God.
She may have had some outstanding charges in other states she didn’t know about. Hell, the probability was actually pretty good. She’d always done what she could to get by, and worried about the legalities later.

“Tess, look at me,” Harvey said.

She didn’t take the bait this time. She couldn’t get her hands free, but she still had her feet. She leaned back as far as she could and lifted her right foot, planning to smash his shin, but the sharp prick at the left side of her neck stopped her in her tracks. A burn seared her muscles, then spread up her neck and down her chest.

Her lips went numb, tongue heavy.

She turned her head in time to see the woman behind her draw back an empty syringe.

“What the fuck did you just do?”

The redhead capped the needle and dropped the spent syringe into a plastic bag without answering. She looked out the window once more.

Eyelids drooping and muddled mind fogging even more, Tess turned back to Harvey. “You said you wouldn’t let anything happen to me. You said…”

He caught her as the earth beneath her opened up and swirled, and held her head on his lap. He smoothed her hair back from her cheek and stroked her jaw. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I was outvoted. I said we should go slow, but they didn’t think you’d agree to come.”

“Who didn’t? What’s happening?” She tried to lift her head so she could nuzzle her cheek against his hand, but gave up when the oddness of the action struck her. She shouldn’t be cuddling with someone who’d just facilitated her abduction.

“You’re finally going home, Tess.”

“I don’t have a home.” She could hardly keep her eyes open.

He chuckled. “I always thought you were the queen of every-damn-thing, but now I know for certain that it’s true.”

“What the blazing hell are you talking about?”

He stroked her face some more, softly and lovingly, and she practically purred under his touch. So very odd. “You’re descended from royalty, Tess. Chieftains and queens. You’ve got the most revered of the Norsemen in your blood.”

“I don’t know about
revered
,” Joe said. “That may be too kind a word given the circumstances.”

There must have been some good shit in that syringe, because she was having a hard time comprehending simple English.

“Norse-
who
?” she muttered.

“Vikings, Tess. The real deal. We’ve been here longer than anyone else can prove. We’d like to keep it that way, because there’s a reason our ancestors left Denmark and then Iceland. We’re not like normal people.”

One of the men up front chuckled at that, and her head had gone so echoey she couldn’t even tell from which side. Probably Joe, though. Not that stoic motherfucker in the beanie hat. Who the fuck wore beanies in September?

“Wha…” Her tongue had gone so sluggish she could hardly push back spit to swallow. “Whas tha mean?”

“You’ll learn soon enough, doll. Trust me. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. Never again.”

“You keep saying that,” she said. Vaguely, she registered that she should try a bit harder to get away.

But she couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything, except black out.

Get
The Viking Queen’s Men
now.

Holley Trent writes contemporary and paranormal romances ranging from sensual to erotic that are usually set in her home state. Her humor is sometimes subtle, often ribald, and regularly inappropriate. If any of her stories seem overly serious at first glance–keep reading.

She’s a winner of the inaugural CIM-RWA Abalone Award (for
My Nora
) and a three-time Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence finalist (
My Nora
,
Calculated Exposure
, and
A Demon in Waiting
).
A Demon in Waiting
was a RomCon Readers’ Crown finalist in 2014. Her Den of Sin novella
Winterball
was a 2015 Passionate Plume award winner.

To see her full list of books, visit
holleytrent.com
.

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SEER

Copyright © 2016 by Holley Trent

Excerpt
The Viking’s Queen Men
© 2014 by Holley Trent

Cover art by Jacqueline Sweet

Copy edits by K. Stein, Missed Period Editing

All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part of this book in any format, except for reviewing purposes, is allowed only with prior consent of the author.

SEER
is a work of fiction. Names, places, entities, and scenarios in this book are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.