Valkyrie's Kiss by Kristi Jones Read Free Book Online Page A

One."
    "I'm
so sorry."
    "After
I got out of high school, I don't know … it just seemed like the right thing to do. I knew it couldn't bring him back,
but I had to do something, you know?"
    I thought back
to when I finished my training. I was so optimistic, so certain in the nobility
of my calling. I imagined myself as some sort of fatal Florence Nightingale,
swooping down and choosing from among hundreds of brave warriors. Finding that one special man who deserved Valhalla.
    "I
thought if I could fight terrorism where it starts, that I could protect
people. I thought I could stop innocent people from getting killed, ” Jess said. He traced the lines in my palm as he spoke. “ But I don ’ t know anymore. There hasn ’ t
been another 9/11, but I see innocent people die every day. You probably think
I ’ m pretty stupid, huh?"
    "No,"
I said, pulling myself back to the present. Those days of foolish innocent
pride were long gone for me. "Of course not. It's
never wrong to fight for the innocent."
    "The
innocent," he said, as if mulling over the meaning of the word. "I'm
not sure innocence exists anymore, not even among children."
    "Perhaps
you're right." I could see he was thinking about the girl with the AK-47.
"Perhaps innocence is overrated. I'll admit I've had my fill of war, but
you fight for a valiant cause. You chose to fight for the safety of your
homeland. And perhaps for the innocence that might still reside there."
    He laughed.
    "What?"
    "It's
the way you talk," he said, shaking his head, "valiant cause."
    His words
stung. "Are you not fighting to protect others? To stop those who would
commit violence against the innocents? If that is not valiant, then what
is?"
    "I'm
sorry," he said, "I wasn't making fun of you. I guess when you're
doing it, fighting for any reason doesn't seem so valiant."
    "Yes,
I suppose that's true. But there have always been wars, and there always will
be. It's in your nature."
    "But
not in yours?"
    I retracted
my wings and moved closer to him. "I was made to withstand battles, not
fight them."
    "What
are we doing tomorrow, Sabrina?"
    "Securing
your life."
    "And
battling Death to do it?"
    His face
was inches from mine. I kissed his cheek. Jess reached for my breast, then pulled back. "What exactly are we going to do? I
don't like going into a mission blind."
    "We're
going to ask Skuld for a protection spell," I
said, running my hand across his chest. "Something that
will give me enough time to get you safely back to your unit." I
reached for his erection, and he buried his face in my hair. "Something
that will throw Death off your scent."
    “ What
if it doesn ’ t work, Sabrina? ”
    “ It
will. It has to. ”
    “ What
if we can ’ t get it? ”
    "Let
me worry about that," I said, kissing my way down his chest. "The
important thing is to get Death off your scent and get you out of here.
Safe."
    "What
about your safety?" Jess said, lifting my chin. I stared into his green
eyes, losing myself for a moment.
    "I'll
be fine, Jess. Death can't hurt me if I can get you out of here. It will have
no proof."
    "What
would happen to you? If this Odin turned up?"
    "I
don't know. Odin rarely takes an interest in our affairs these days." I
returned to the business of kissing my way down to his waiting erection.
"Do you really want to talk about this now, Jess?" I said, in between
kisses.
    A low
guttural moan was my only answer.
    ****
    The fire
was long dead, and I felt a shiver run through Jesse's naked body. I wondered
what would happen if we just stayed at The Nest. We could spend our days and
nights making love, eating, drinking each other in. Forever.
    But someone
would come. Mother might decide to have another child — or
any one of the dozen or so Brunhilde descendants who
shared ownership of the castle. No, I couldn't keep Jess locked away forever.
Even if I could keep him for a decade or so, even if he agreed to isolate
himself from the world he knew, I wouldn't be able to live with the