Her Alpha Viking

With: Sheryl Nantus

 

Valkyries. Just saying the name brings up images of winged warriors, weapons at the ready as they charge into battle either riding horses or under their own power.

 

Vikings. Oh, yeah. All of that and then some, right? But in the present, a warrior’s blood runs in many different veins – not all of them in uniform.

 

Add them together and what do you get?

 

A Valkyrie descends to a battlefield, doing her job of retrieving worthy warriors’ souls for Valhalla – a job she’s done hundreds, thousands of times before over the many centuries. But this time, something’s different…

 

He sees her.

He calls out to her.

And that changes everything.

 

HER ALPHA VIKING

Former soldier Erik Harrison is a dead man walking. The sole survivor of an ambush, the guilt of losing his friends is crushing. He questions his own sanity, remembering the vision he saw as he was dying –– a battle angel come to collect his friends’ souls. 

Valkyrie Brenna Lund doesn’t know why she failed in her duty to reap Erik’s soul on the battlefield. He deserves his place with the other mighty warriors in Valhalla, and if she wants to return home, she has to kill him. 

There are consequences for betraying the gods. But the closer Brenna and Erik become, the more they both want to risk everything for a future together. If only an immortal hunter weren’t sent to kill them both.

ENTANGLED PUBLISHING

Excerpt:

 

Freyja spied into your heart and knew you wouldn’t be

able to do it. She knew even before you did.

It should have been easy to take a tired, weary warrior.

Even one like Erik.

The question now was why? This was the second time

failing in her duty, and she was no closer to finding out why.

She rubbed her face with her palm.

Brenna got to her feet and walked toward the bathroom.

Maybe there was some sort of clue about him, something

she could pick up. Her only memory of him before tonight

had been almost a year ago and under very different

circumstances.

The door was ajar, the water running. She edged close

enough to look in.

The breath caught in her throat as she gazed at Erik

Harrison, his bare torso gleaming with sweat in the dim light.

The shredded remains of his shirt lay on the floor along with

his jeans and shoes, kicked to the side in a jumbled heap. He

wore only a pair of tight boxer briefs riding low on his hips.

It wasn’t like she didn’t know what a naked man looked

like. Berserkers donned a scrap of bear fur as armor as they

charged into battle, racing to a glorious death. Armored

knights rode, encased in metal charging onto the battlefield.

Soldiers from all times and places sat together in the Halls,

fought every day and celebrated all night. She’d seen them

all.

Including Erik, in the cage only a few hours ago, facing

his opponent and going down to defeat wearing much the

same as he had on now.

But this…this was different.

He wasn’t perfect, far from it. Erik’s chest was dotted

with white puckered scars, some the size of nickels and

others as short slashes. As he turned, she saw his back and

other, older marks showing previous battles. Yet it didn’t

seem to detract from the power coming off him in waves,

the silent strength evident with every move, every shift of

his body. The muscles were tight and well-defined, not an

inch of fat on his frame.

He winced as he pressed a damp cloth to the mottled

bruises over his left rib cage. Matty had focused in on that

during the fight, and it showed. The swollen cut over his eye

had stopped bleeding and was already going down, but it

still warranted a cleaning and a fresh bandage.

She couldn’t take her eyes off him. The toned muscles

seemed to be calling to her, urging her to soothe his distress

with her touch, offer to take the pain away somehow. Images

flashed through her mind of the couples she’d seen in the

shadows of the Great Halls, lovers stealing away for some

private time before the never-ending battles started at dawn.

Brenna clenched her fingers, digging her nails into the

skin to stay still. A flash of heat between her legs shocked

her, and she pressed her knees together, cursing in silence.

What is this madness?

He twisted to the right to study himself in the mirror,

lifting his arm up over his head.

His deep brown eyes caught her reflection, and she

froze.

Erik gave her a friendly grin. “Thought you got enough

of me in the ring.” He wagged a finger at her. “Remember,

no bolting. See you in a few minutes.”

He reached out and gently closed the door, cutting her

off.

Brenna retreated to the chair. She was completely lost

with no idea what to say or do. All her training and it was

like arriving in the Valkyrie barracks for the first time.

Lost and alone.

She glanced at the door before crossing her legs,

squirming as the flash of warmth slowly ebbed away.

Maybe not so alone.