Sun's Tear (The Valkyrie's Passion Book 2): A Valkyrie/Shifter Romance (3 page)

I never had a woman do that before. It was...nice.

“Shower,” Raven moaned. “I need to scrub you clean. You are such a dirty wolf right now.”

I let out a howl. The wolf lurked inside me. It was there, growling and urging me to protect Raven all the time. I was her guardian, her berserker werewolf ready to throw myself at any enemy and rip them apart to protect my Valkyrie.

Raven wiggled out of her jeans and panties, bending over to scoop up our clothes off the floor. I reached out and squeezed her ass again. I couldn't get enough of this woman. She was like a drug. I wanted her in my life.

I wanted her to move in. But she had resisted asking. Why?

I pushed those thoughts from my mind. It was too early to move in together. We barely knew anything about each other. She was an innocent, shy girl in many ways. I could be patient with her. I would be patient with her. This woman was worth so much.

She was one in seven billion.

I flicked the shower on. Water hissed. Memories of our shower in Utgard flashed through my mind. I had teased her with the loofah until she begged me to rub her pussy. Her embarrassment and lust had warred together, a cute combination that forced me to keep teasing her until she was ready to explode.

Raven stepped in first, ducking her black hair beneath the spray. It matted around her slim shoulders and round breasts. She was young and firm, beautiful in every way. The water trailed down her flat stomach to the inviting patch of dark hair between her thighs. She was a natural beauty, not shaved bare like the barflies that swarmed the Cursed Stump.

“I can't wash you by staring at that gorgeous body,” Raven purred, her eyes roaming my muscular form. She grabbed the bar of white soap off the little tray, rubbing it between her hands. “Get in here.”

I stepped and pulled the curtain shut. It was tight in the shower. Cozy. Her body pressed against me, hot and lithe. She turned me, pressing her wet breasts against my back as her lips kissed my shoulders. I leaned against the wall and let her hands wash my back.

Her touch was exciting as she worked across my broad back starting at my shoulders. Her fingers massaged me as she washed. My cock grew harder and harder as she kept her body pressed tight against mine. She bent down as she washed lower, letting her breasts and her face slide down my body. She reached my butt, her cheek rubbing against me before she dug her fingers into the meat of my ass.

“Do you know how cute your butt is, Magnus?” she asked as her fingers soaped me.

“I've never thought of it as cute before,” I groaned.

“Well, it is,” she purred. “I could just take a bite out of it.”

She did. Her teeth nipped my butt-cheek as her hands slid down the backs of my thighs. She purred as she washed me, sliding the bar of soap along my calves. It was sensuous. Intimate. Dying was worth it to have this woman.

Her hands wrapped around the front of my legs. She stroked up my thighs. My cock throbbed harder as her fingers worked higher. She rose, sliding her body up my back. Her nipples were hard points caressing my skin as she washed my groin, working her fingers into my thick pubic hair around my cock.

The tip of my dick ached.

Her lips nipped my ear. “I bet you want me to wash your cock?”

“That would be nice,” I smiled as her hands soaped my balls. She played with them, sliding my nuts between her fingers. The tingles ran straight to the tip of my cock.

Her hands moved higher, soaping up my stomach. I groaned as I throbbed. My dick was almost painfully hard. She let out a mischievous giggle as her hands worked higher and higher up my body. She soaped my pecs, hugging me hard from behind.

“Mmm, I have to wash your cock last,” she purred. “After you've washed me. We don't want to run out of hot water.”

~   ~   ~

Raven

Magnus carried me out of the bathroom naked and wet. We hadn't even dried off. My body was on fire from his strong hands teasing me as he washed my body. It brought back memories of the shower in Utgard. This time, he completely ignored my pussy while his eyes burned with the same lusts that consumed me.

I had to have my man. There wasn't time to dry off.

Magnus threw me down on his bed, wet and naked. I gasped and giggled as his hands seized my legs and pulled me to the edge of the bed. He knelt before my spread thighs and pressed his face into the depths of my pussy. His rough whiskers rasped against the soft folds of my pussy as his tongue dove into my flesh.

“Oh, yes, Magnus,” I gasped. “Mmm, that's it. I need it so bad. You kept teasing me through practice. You owe me a nice, hard orgasm.”

Magnus raised his lips from my pussy. “How cruel of me. Next time, I'll tease you so much, you'll rip off my clothes and take me right on the mats.”

“And let all of Maple Valley see how beautiful I am?” Raven asked. “And how gorgeous you are?”

“It would be quite the show,” he grinned.

“Oh, you are so wicked,” I laughed and seized his flowing, blond hair. I pulled my Viking warrior back between my thighs. His lips pressed into my folds again. I arched my back and shuddered in delight.

His tongue was thick and strong as he slid it through my pussy. He always ate me with such hunger. My wolf. I humped my hips. His hands seized the cheeks of my ass, squeezing and pulling me tight on his mouth.

“Magnus,” I panted.

My fingers found my nipples. I pulled and twisted on them. The jolts of pleasure rushed down to my pussy, merging with the furious delight Magnus's hunger gave me. I let out a soft moan as my body trembled beneath his assault.

His fingers kneaded my ass, pulling my cheeks apart. Then they dipped in and my eyes widened. His finger pressed into my asshole. A hot, burning pleasure shot through me. My toes curled and my legs spasmed. They tightened about his neck and draped down his back. My heels drummed against him as my pleasure swelled.

“How do you always know how to play my body?” I groaned. “Oh, wow, Magnus. Keep working your magic. It's a different kind of poetry you're making. Pure, passionate. Love distilled.”

“You seemed to have found the words,” Magnus grinned.

“I guess I just need unbridled passion filling my body,” I panted as I played with my nipples. “Please, don't stop. I'm so close.”

My toes curled as his mouth dived back between my thighs. His tongue flicked through my folds. My heels drummed again on his back as the pleasure swelled through me. His finger pumped in and out of my ass.

What would his cock feel like back there? Haleigh had whispered about anal sex before. Could it possibly feel as good as she claimed? Magnus's finger churned exciting pleasure as he pumped in there, merging with the almost overwhelming bliss building in my pussy.

Magnus took long licks through my folds, ending at my clit. The assault sent shudders through my body. He nuzzled and devoured me. I arched my back and humped against his lips as the pleasure built inside of me. My ass clenched on his finger.

My body burst with pleasure.

“Magnus,” I groaned, “you wonderful stud. My pussy poet.”

I wanted to say more, but my words failed me as the rapture consumed my mind. My pussy spasmed and my thighs tightened about his face. I never wanted him to move. I wanted to keep him pinned against my sex until the end of time, just giving me so much pleasure.

But then I could never pleasure him if he was always eating me. Love wasn't about taking, it was all about giving. I needed to give my sexy Viking warrior loving. He deserved it after that amazing come.

“Magnus,” I purred, pushing up on my elbows. I relaxed my thighs as his lips nuzzled and took soft licks at my pussy. My body trembled with bliss. I wanted to fall back and sleep. But I wanted to please him more. “Get on your back.”

Magnus grinned at me. He rose and seized me. His lips met mine, covered in my tangy passion. He rolled us over onto his back, my breasts rubbing on his muscular chest. I could rub and cavort on his body every day of my life. It was wonderful.

I slid down him and nipped at his nipples as my hand found his cock. I stroked him and smiled as he groaned. I loved the way his face contorted with pleasure. My thumb stroked the crown as I kissed lower down his body.

“Raven,” he groaned as my mouth found his cock. I slid my tongue around the crown. He was salty and delicious. His shaft beat with his heart.

I took another lick before I sucked just the tip of his dick in my mouth. Part of me wanted to suck until he erupted. It was sexy drinking down his come. I felt so intimate and connected to him. But my pussy clenched. There was another place that needed his cock.

I just wanted to tease him with my mouth.

“Damn, Raven,” he groaned as his hips thrust. He always lost his poetic eloquence when I had a hold on his cock. All the blood rushed down to his little brain.

But his cock had its own way of speaking poetry.

I straddled his waist. I grasped the base of his cock and brought it to my pussy. I teased him, and me, rubbing his dick through the folds of my pussy. His hands reached out and seized my hips as I swabbed him through my hot flesh.

“Raven,” he growled and pulled me down his shaft.

“Yes,” I groaned as he filled me.

I sank down to the root of his pillar. My sheath clenched about his shaft. Pleasure electrified my body. My hips swiveled as I slid back up him. And then I came down his shaft. Magnus's blue eyes drank in my beauty. My wet, black hair spilled about my shoulders and jiggling breasts. His hand slid up and cupped my tit, squeezing as I slid back up his cock.

My hips had a mind of their own. They moved on him, grinding and twirling. He was so thick in me. There was something exciting about being atop my man and riding him. I was in control, my body giving him all the pleasure. I shifted my position, letting his cock caress different spots of my pussy.

My hips sped up their rhythm. Passion brewed inside of me. His hand squeezed my breast. The other rested on my hip and caressed my side. My hands found his hard muscles. My fingernails scratched down his chest, leaving behind red lines.

“Ride me, beauty of the night,” he groaned.

I smiled. I loved that name. It was from a poem Magnus left for me on a napkin, She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron. I had that napkin safely stored in my purse in a ziploc bag. Magnus had poured his heart out into it.

I would treasure the napkin forever.

Just like I treasured him.

“Do you like it when I'm on top?” I groaned. It was intimate and wild all at the same time. “Do you like my pussy sliding up and down on your cock?”

A wicked thrill shot through me as I said pussy to my lover.

“Yes,” he groaned. “Twist those hips. Faster. You are driving me wild. You are the moon rising above me and I have to howl at you.”

“Howl away, my wolf,” I grinned as I clenched my pussy around his cock as I rose on his shaft.

Magnus's hand tightened on my breast. His face twisted in pleasure. His thick shaft sliding in and out of my hot depths built the pleasure in me. I leaned over, gasping as my clit rubbed into his pubic bone for a moment. My pussy clenched again as I rose, my hips swiveling to swirl his cock through my hot folds.

“Are you going to come in me?” I moaned. Where were these words coming from? Riding Magnus gave me such wild freedom to be filthy with my lover. “Are you going to spill in me? I want it. I love it when you come in me.”

“I am,” he growled. His hips suddenly thrust up.

My eyes widened as I bounced up his cock. His dick hit my depths. I shuddered in surprise.

My orgasm erupted through me. My body thrashed on his shaft. He kept fucking up into my pussy. I didn't have to move. The bed creaked and his stomach flexed. Pleasure rippled across his face. His hands tightened on my body.

“Come in me,” I begged as I fell over, lying on his chest.

His hands slid around to grasp my ass. He worked me up and down on his cock as I lay on his chest. My lips nuzzled at his neck as my orgasm burned through me. My pussy spasmed about his cock. I kissed to his ear.

“Please,” I moaned.

“Raven,” he howled as his cock erupted into me.

I lay atop of him, almost in a stupor as he flooded me. I never wanted to move. His hands clenched mine as his body heaved beneath me. He growled as he spilled all his hot come into my depths. I mewled in delight.

Motorcycles roared outside. I didn't care.

That changed when the gunfire erupted.

Magnus

I gasped for breath as my orgasm hit its peak. I didn't care about the motorcycles outside. It was probably just a few members of the club swinging by to work on cars. It was Saturday, and the mechanic shop below was closed, so it was the perfect time for any club member to work on their own projects.

Then the guns erupted.

Glass shattered as the automatic fire raked the garage. Raven let out a scream of freight. I seized her and rolled us off the bed. Raven grunted as we landed on her back. I kept my body over hers as the bullets ripped through the walls. The air hissed around us. Metal pinged.

“What's happening?” Raven shouted. A flaming sword appeared in her hand. Then she was encased in armor, the silvery metal cool against my naked skin. A winged helm covered her head, leaving only her face exposed.

“Blood Eagles,” I snarled. What had changed? Why were they doing a drive-by on my garage?

The motorcycles roared. Gunshots echoed from below. A few of my club members were here, firing back at the Blood Eagles. I reached up to my nightstand and opened its drawer, shoving my hand in and pulling out the 9mm I kept in there. I flipped off the safety as I rushed in a crouch to the broken window.

I peered out at the fleeing bikers.

The wolf howled inside of me. I wanted to transform. They could have killed my Valkyrie. I could don the wolf's cloak, become a werewolf, and rip apart Griff, Talon, and the rest of the bastards. I aimed as they raced down the street, sighting on the large patch of an eagle with blood talons each member of their club had stitched to his cut—the vest bikers wore.

“Magnus,” shouted Raven, pressing against my side. “What are you doing?”

“They attacked us,” I snarled as I pulled the trigger. My gun barked.

None of my shots hit. The bikers were too far and moving too fast. They roared down the street and disappeared out of sight behind a stand of tall pine trees. My hand shook with rage. This was war. This was beyond any of the little skirmishes we've had with the bastards the last year.

The world grew darker.

“The sun,” whispered Raven. “Was there supposed to be an eclipse today?”

I glanced up. Something dark moved across the sun. It didn't look like the shadow of the moon, but more like the jaws of a great beast devouring the yellow disk. The world grew darker and darker as more and more of the sun was swallowed.

“What is going on?” I asked, my anger momentarily forgotten.

Just as the last bit of the sun was about to be swallowed, a golden tear fell away. The sun went dark. Not even a nimbus surrounded it. This wasn't an eclipse. The sun had been swallowed. The sun's tear fell like a falling star, streaking across the night.

The horizon lit up with golden light as it struck the ground somewhere beyond Maple Valley.

Raven clung to me in her armor, her body shaking. I didn't blame her. What had we just witnessed? The world seemed deathly quiet. My lungs burned. I hadn't even realized I was holding my breath. But I didn't want to breathe. What had happened to the sun?

Daylight burst across the sky. The sun blazed again, no longer swallowed by shadows.

“What is happening, Magnus?” Raven asked.

I shook my head.

~   ~   ~

Raven

The cops came and went through the motion of an investigation of the drive-by shooting. Magnus and his bikers gave the briefest statements. “No idea who shot up our shop. We're just simple mechanics.”

It was obvious the cops didn't believe their lies. My stomach twisted. I also lied. I had done nothing wrong in my life, then I went and told the cops I didn't see what happened. I was just lying on the floor, Magnus atop me, while the gunfire erupted.

I was afraid this would happen. Magnus lived a dangerous lifestyle. I guess I did, too, but mine wasn't criminal. I didn't have rival biker gangs shooting up my house. My stomach twisted as I stared at Magnus as he talked to Big Hoss, the vice president of their club. Big Hoss was a short man, but built like a tank. He had almost no neck and his russet hair was held back by a black bandanna. He was grizzled and dangerous.

All the Black Wolves were.

They paced, agitated, eager for the hunt, just waiting for the cops to leave so they could track down the Blood Eagles. Magnus stood at the heart of the club. They all looked to him, following his reaction. He wore his jeans and his cut, the Black Wolves Motorcycle Club patch centered on his back, a wolf howling at the moon. There were other patches proclaiming him a club founder, President of the Wolf Council, Hunter, and a 1%.

That patch scared me the most. Magnus was different than 99% of the people on earth. He wouldn't back down from anything. He would do what he wanted unless you were strong enough to stop him. And he wanted blood. One of his bikers, a young prospect named Dwayne, had taken a bullet through the thigh and was on his way to the hospital.

My own flesh crawled. What if Magnus had taken the bullet? It was bad enough I had to fear him dying fighting a monster, but what if he was killed because an asshole biker wanted to start a turf war? It was all so meaningless.

“You sure you should be here, Miss,” a female deputy said to me, her tan campaign hat covering her short, brown hair. She wore the same khaki shirt and dark-brown pants as the other King County Sheriff Deputies. “You're not one of the...regular girls.”

Should I be here? “I'm fine.”

She glanced at Magnus. “He's dangerous. If you were smart, you'd get out. These boys aren't as romantic as they appear. They're predators.”

I glanced at Magnus. “I know.”

She shook her head. “It's going to be a damn shame when I'm standing over your corpse.”

Flashes of Magnus's battered, dead body lying on the streets of Seattle shot through my mind. “I'll be fine, Deputy. I can take care of myself.” My eyes were locked on Magnus. I needed to protect him. “I already gave my statement. Okay, I didn't see anything. I was on the floor the whole time, Magnus covering me. I have no idea why they would attack a group of mechanics.”

“Okay,” she sighed with a shake of her head. Then she walked back to join her partner.

Magnus strode to me.

“I didn't say anything,” I told him.

“I know you didn't.” He sat down beside me. I leaned against him.

“What are you going to do?”

“Pack meeting,” he answered. “Down at the Cursed Stump. We need to take a vote and decide what we're doing.”

“A vote? You're the president. Don't you decide?”

“Everyone gets a say before a major decision,” he answered. “We're free men. They're not my slaves. I have to convince them of my way, or they'll convince me of theirs. Anything can be said at the meeting. I'll leave the keys to my truck. You should go back home to Seattle. It'll be dangerous here the next few days.”

“I don't want to go,” I answered. I shivered. Why was it so cold?

He smiled. “I didn't think you would. Either way, the truck keys are on the table.”

I nodded my head. “I don't know what I should do. We're not...” I looked at the other bikers. “We're not humans. We're...”

Anger flashed across Magnus's face. “What are you suggesting?”

“I mean...what was up with the sun? That seemed like something...we should be concerned about. What fell?”

Magnus stood. “My club was attacked. That takes precedence.”

“I guess.” I glanced to my right in the direction the sun's tear seemed to fall.

What had happened? What great beast had swallowed the sun for a moment? Something was changing in the world. In Utgard, we had witnessed this ugly, walrus-like thing called the Thief of something. I couldn't remember what he had stolen. It was a word I had never heard of. He killed the god Heimdall and sent Fenrir to attack Odin.

Was he behind this? None of the bikers saw the event. None of the cops had mentioned it. Had only Magnus and I witnessed it?

“I'll see you tonight,” Magnus said, “if you're still here.”

“I will be,” I answered him. I took his hand and kissed his palm. “Just be careful, okay.”

Magnus nodded.

Behind him, Big Hoss had his ropy, tattooed arms folded across his chest, his eyes hard as they stared at me. My back straightened, and I fixed him with an equally hard look. Did he disapprove of our relationship?

“Let's ride,” Magnus called out as he straddled his bike.

Motorcycle engines roared to life. All their bikes were different, customized to the individual taste of each man. Most were Harleys, and there were a few Indians mixed in, but absolutely no Hondas or other Asian bikes. Many bikes sported wolves or a wolf's head painted on the gas tanks or worked into the chrome exhausts. Magnus took the lead, Big Hoss right behind him, as the bikers roared out of the yard and headed left down the road to Maple Valley.

The sun sunk lower as I sat on the crate. The sun seemed perfectly fine now, a yellow disk untouched by whatever calamity had befallen it. Why had no one else noticed? It had to be supernatural, something to do with the Valkyrie world.

My world.

Was it like Fenrir and the frost troll? Magnus and I saw monsters rampaging through Seattle, but all the eyewitnesses and even the footage taken by security cameras and cell phones only showed tornadoes. To the world, a freak, yet all-too-natural, pair of storms had swept through downtown, killing three people and injuring dozens more.

The sunlight on my skin didn't feel as warm as it should. It was late spring. The Summer Solstice was drawing fast. So why were there goosebumps on my arms? I huddled against myself and shivered. When I was trapped in Utgard, a mirror world to our own only covered in winter, I hadn't felt the cold. I was a Valkyrie. I had fires burning inside myself that manifested my sword and armor.

Why was I cold now?

A raven cawed.

“Hello, Muninn,” I said. “Keeping a watch on me for
him?
”

My anger boiled at Odin. Loki's words ate at the affection I had felt for the old man. Odin had let my parents die because they weren't needed any longer. Only I was. They had brought me into the world and Odin discarded them. He threw me into Utgard because he needed me ready and trained to fulfill a prophecy the one-eyed god wouldn't even tell me about.

And, worst of all, he bound Magnus to his service. My wolf had been free before I chose him. I was a Valkyrie, a chooser of those killed. Magnus died because I loved him. My kiss had brought him back to life and chained him to Odin's service, just like my ancestor's oath had chained me.

I hated the old man. He didn't warn me that by choosing Magnus, I would get him killed. Part of me wanted to tell Magnus the truth. Together, maybe we could kill Odin and be free of him.

I studied Muninn. He was a raven, bigger than the local crows, cloaked in midnight feathers. A second raven landed beside him. “And you're Huninn?”

The second raven nodded and cawed. They could speak. I had talked to Muninn once before.

“What do you do, Huninn?” I wondered aloud. “Muninn is memory. He watches and records. What do you do?”

“Think,” Huninn answered. “You might want to try it, Valkyrie.”

I let out a hiss. “That's all I've been doing. Sitting here and thinking.”

Huninn cawed, “You have been pouting. Like a little girl crying in her tea. I can read your thoughts.”

My heart tightened. Did he know I thought about killing Odin or that I had met Loki?

“You worry for your Einherjer. You think this attack is a distraction that will get him killed. You worry and wring your fingers instead of striking out. You are Valkyrie. If you worry for your love's safety, then think of a way to protect him. Do not drown in maudlin thoughts.”

He doesn't know what I was thinking. Not all of it. He must be guessing. He sees my body language and extrapolates what the cause must be. I decided to play along. “And what thoughts should I be thinking? Should I go to the Blood Eagles and ask politely that they stop?”

Huninn ruffled his feathers. “You should think about killing them, Valkyrie. Your sword wasn't given to you to grow dusty with disuse.”

My face paled. “What? You want me to go and kill them? They're not monsters.”

“So?” The raven's head cocked. “You are like us. A raven. All Valkyrie are. You feast on the dead. So go and make your banquet. We shall join you.” A hungry gleam appeared in his round, black eyes. His dark beak opened wide. It was sharp, for piercing and tearing dead flesh.

My stomach knotted. “Is that all I am? A creature that kills?”

“Yes.”

I wanted to throw up.

“You and your Einherjer. He is even more of a killer. He wears the wolf's cloak. The pair of you could descend on these Blood Eagles and be done with them in heartbeats. Flesh is weak. Fire and claw are strong.”

I grabbed a rock half the size of my palm off the ground, rose, and hurtled it at the raven. Huninn calmly side-stepped it. “Do my thoughts disturb you? Do you disagree with my counsel? These Blood Eagles attacked first. Why should you hesitate to kill them?”