Spotlight: Valkyrie by Kitty Thomas
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Publication date: October 24th 2022
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
ODIN:
On the day I met the witch, she prophesied my death.
She said it was fate and couldn’t be changed.
I’ve gathered my warriors. I’ve laid my traps. I’ve moved my pieces across the board.
She is the piece that unlocks everything, I know she is.
And she’s wrong. Everything can be changed.
FREYJA:
A powerful god seeks to destroy my people unless I go live with him.
“You don’t have to marry him. You don’t even have to sleep with him. He just needs a witch.”
I’ve been told this multiple times, but I don’t trust this man.
He’s keeping something very important from me… and he’s such a charmer.
I may allow him into my bed, but I can never let him into my heart.
Note: This is a standalone.
Excerpt
Which again brings up the question… why does he need me? What does he think I can do for him that he can’t do for himself?
“Until such time as I’ve achieved my purposes, yes. You will remain in Asgard.”
“Why can’t you just tell me anything straight? I’m willing to help you.”
He looks at me and shakes his head sadly. “No. You aren’t.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just know.”
If he thinks I won’t help him, then why make me sign that contract? It was explicit that I wouldn’t be forced to perform any magic against my own conscience. Does he think he’ll wear me down with the promise of freedom? Maybe we should have remained at war.
We stare each other down for several moments. Finally, I break the silence. “I know you say you have control of the berserker, but it took so little for him to almost come out tonight. Surely you have to see that. He freaked out over nothing.”
“It wasn’t nothing. You were upset. He thought… I thought… I thought someone had hurt you. You don’t strike me as a woman who cries easily, and berserkers always protect their mates.”
If he knew how easily I cry… how would he use that against me? Though maybe his berserker wouldn’t let him. Maybe the berserker protects me from Odin. That’s an angle I hadn’t considered.
“I’m not your berserker’s mate.”
“Your opinion, my opinion, and the berserker’s opinion aren’t aligned. The mark will fade, and I’ll keep him under wraps until it does.”
He takes another step closer to me and begins to pull the gold and pearl pins out of my hair.
“W-what are you doing?” I try not to let this fluster me, but I feel the warmth spreading through my body at this simple almost-touch.
But he doesn’t answer, he just continues until my hair is completely undone, flowing around my shoulders and down my back.
He begins to run his fingers through my hair, and I let out a long breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“Odin…”
“Shhhh. I need to touch you.”
I need the same thing, but I don’t tell him that. I felt this pull to him well before the mark. From the moment he was standing in my room pretending to be one of his own warriors I wanted to mount him and ride him into oblivion.
I try to tell myself it’s because I haven’t been with anyone in so long. With the war and the flurry of changes since, when was I going to have time for that? Maybe there was an opportunity with his brothers in the woods this afternoon but I foolishly didn’t take it.
And I know why… because the stupid young girl in me didn’t want to do anything that could mess this up—this thing I keep claiming I don’t want but which my body begs me for every time Odin and I are in the same room together.
“What are you building the berserker army for?” I ask partly to distract him from his single-minded mission, but also because I want to know. And do his plans for me entwine with his plans for his army?
“Come to bed with me,” he whispers as his mouth covers mine.
I let him steal that one kiss, then pull away. “What are you building the army for? Tell me, and maybe I’ll come to bed with you.”
“It doesn’t matter. Come to my bed, and I’ll give you half of the fallen slain.”
I raise a brow, intrigued. I’ve never had a man promise me half his warriors before just in exchange for a good fuck. My reputation really must be getting around the realms.
“Whatever would I do with half the fallen slain?” I ask, pretending boredom.
“I don’t care what you do with them. You can have them. You can have first pick, even.” He trails soft kisses down the side of my throat, and over my decolletage. I have to fight the moan because no way in hell am I letting him know he’s having this kind of effect on me, though I’m sure the animal in him can smell my desire.
I’m obviously flattered by this offer, and I know it must be the trap he’s laying for me: play upon my vanity to get me into bed. But the truth still remains that he’s building a special army, and nobody knows why. Whatever the secret, it must be pretty big, and he’d really just give me half of his fighting force when he seems to be working around the clock scouring all the worlds for them?
“I don’t know Odin… we just met… I’m not that kind of girl.”
“We both know you’re that kind of girl,” he growls against my mouth.
I mean, he’s not wrong, but still. He thinks he can buy me with rugged hot, battle-tested warriors… I mean what would I do with them? Watch them train all day? Play with them? I can’t think. I can’t decide. So many delicious possibilities stretch out before me.
“What if I decided to build a harem with them? For my own… exceedingly large lusts?” I taunt.
Odin chuckles. “You’d be bored and come crawling back to me soon enough.”
“Oh, that’s the confidence I like.”
“You need brains, not just beauty,” he says.
“Kind of like you?”
“Indeed, now get your ass into my bed.”
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About the Author
KITTY THOMAS writes dark stories that play with power and have unconventional HEAs. She began publishing in early 2010 with her bestselling COMFORT FOOD and is considered one of the original authors of the dark romance subgenre.
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