Chapter Five

“Great, the Berserkers are early.” I mumbled as I stood up and headed toward the noise.

I left the tree line, finding General Abtez and his men arguing with the pack guards.

One guard looked at me. “General Nerine, do you them?”

I nodded, “Yes, although I thought they were arriving tomorrow. This is the Berserker General Abtez and his team. They are here to interrogate the vampire.” I informed them.

“I already fucken told them that.” General Abtez snapped as he looked at me, then noticing my arm frowned and walked towards me.

“Are you okay?” he asked as I looked at his men smirking behind him, probably knowing what had happened between us.

“I am fine.” I retorted, backing up.

“Why is your arm in a cast then?” he inquired angrily, his dark brown eyes shifting to a vibrant ice blue.

“Price of the job.” I shrugged as he towered over me his broad muscled frame reminded me of a bear, he intimidated me, but I refused to show it, he was bald with raven tattoos covered his neck and head, and small fangs which lengthened when he was in a Berserker rage poked out of his mouth slightly. He wore his usual attire black leather pants, and a bear fur was draped over his shoulders its head rested on top of his bad one, he had a tattoo of a bear had that covered this one of his pecks and a series of lines and symbols travelled from the bears head to his shoulder and down his arm.

“I told you to be careful.” He whispered under his breath, ignoring the whispers of his men.

“And I told you that I have a job to do, and you have no right saying anything to me, you almost had my immortality taken from me.” I hissed in response.

“I did not intend for that to happen. I told you that.”

“Yet they found out. There are no consequences for you, it’s expected, but you could have ruined everything for me.”

“We would have figured something out.”

“I am not talking to you about this here or ever. The order is my life and I will not sacrifice everything I have worked so hard for.”

Angry, he turned away from me. “Where do we set up camp?” General Abtez asked the guards. “My men are tired and hungry.”

“It’s okay.” I told the guards, “They can set up camp in the woods as well.” The guards nodded and left.

“Come on.” I told him as General Abtez followed me, his men grabbed their gear and followed as we headed into the woods. I led them to a space that was as far away as possible from my camp. “Here you go, you’re home away from home.”

“Really, why so far away from your camp?” General Abtez frowned.

I turned on him, “because I want you and your berserkers to stay away from my squad, I don’t want what happened to me to happen to them.” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Why should I take orders from you, Valkyrie?”

“Because if I catch your men around my camp, I will castrate them.”

“Fine, my men will stay away from your camp.” He replied, annoyed.

“You should also introduce yourself to the pack’s Alpha in the morning, it was disrespectful of you to come so late in the night. Why didn’t you let us know?”

“The information they gave us for traveling was incorrect. I will speak with the Alpha in the morning, and you will come with me.”

“Good, this mission seems important to the higher ups, so be careful not to piss anyone off. Why must I go with you?”

“You have been here and know them, you can introduce us.”

“Very well, also tell your men if they don’t want to ruin their welcome to stay away from the packs women, their customs and beliefs are not the same as yours.”

“I will let them know. Anything else, boss?” He chuckled, teasing me, his flickering between dark brown and ice blue, warningly. Berserkers hated to be bossed around, especially by Valkyries, my theory was that it hurts their ego, but I figure he’s a general and so am I and he can suck it the fuck up.

“Nope, that’s it.” I laughed, “it’s a debrief of information, not me bossing you around. Also, good luck with this vampire. He is incredibly stubborn.” I warned.

“We got it, don’t worry.”

I nodded and backed up, “Night, then.”

“Hey, you will not help us set up camp?” Kalona asked with a grin.

Kalona was Abtez’s second in command, he had the same broad muscular build most berserkers had. His long blonde hair was braided into multiple braids which were then pulled into a ponytail, and his beard was braided as well, he was an older guy with yellow eyes. He wore the same type of clothes all Berserkers wore, dark pants and an animal skin draped over their shoulders, usually a bear, but some had wolves as well. Luckily, General Abtez’s team all wore bear skins. I had a feeling the Alpha Rawlins may have an issue with a team showing up wearing wolf skins. If I were an Alpha, I would take that as a declaration of war.

“Go fuck yourself, Kalona.” I retorted, as I turned and headed back to my camp.

“Damn man, what do you see in her?” I overheard him ask General Abtez. “Can’t believe you let her talk to you like that.”

“Like I’d tell you. I have enough of a challenge as it is. Don’t need to be fighting you for her, too.” he paused, “She can talk to me however she wants as long as she talks to me.”

“He can try as much as he wants, I will not sacrifice myself or my goals for a man.” I told myself, ignoring the ache that I felt in my chest.

Heading into camp, I checked to see if the others had come back from town, but their tents were still empty. I’ll have to talk to them tomorrow. I yawned and headed to my tent.

Thana walked up to me, “Let me guess, the Berserker team is early.”

“Yeah, a heads up would have been nice, the packs guards were not pleased.”

“Yeah, hopefully they don’t cause problems here, they don’t see things the way the Berserkers do, all they want is battles, sex and booze.”

I nodded, “they know their orders and they would never betray Odin. I don’t think we have to worry about it.”

“I’ll wait up for the others to return. You need the rest more than me.” Thana pointed out, looking at my arm.

“Thanks, Thana.” I yawned. “Hopefully, I can get rid of this cast tomorrow.”

“No problem.” She smiled.

I headed into my tent, stripped to my bra and panties, and got into my sleeping bag. Falling asleep was harder than I had expected. I kept going over everything from the nightclub and the vampire’s image kept popping up in my head.

“Bride? I know you can hear me, and I know you are thinking of me, all good, I hope.” Prince Dagon spoke in my head with a laugh.

I ignored it, I would have to pick up the herbs tomorrow to keep him from controlling me, he was stronger than I thought. I didn’t think he would contact me so soon, or that merely thinking of him would give him an opening in my mind.

“I know you can hear me, why not just answer?”

If I ignored his voice the sooner, it would fade. He only drank from me once, so at least this wasn’t permanent. It would last a week at most, or at least that was my hope.

I could hear loud music and laughter in the distance. I guess the Berserkers got their camp set up, hopefully it didn’t get any louder.

“Fine, you won’t answer me now, but you will. Especially after tomorrow.” He stated, “Goodnight, small one.”

I bit my tongue, wanting to curse him out, luckily; he stopped talking.

“Asshole.” I grumbled, rolling over in my sleeping bag and finally falling asleep.