All Chapters of Berserker: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

The driving wind and rain coming off the ocean for days had the training grounds flooded. Magnus had finally relented and called off training until the weather died down. Brand had found himself with nothing to do but think. And suffer. Reliving the extraordinary events of the night. His mate was a witch. By Freya, how had that happened? He could no longer deny the fact that they were fated, though. Since he had touched her, thoughts of her were all-consuming.An entirely new appreciation for how his brother must feel about his own mate came over him. An uncomfortable feeling twisted in his gut at the thought and had him agonizing over his past actions. Could he have been so wrong about everything? He hadn't even completed the bond yet, and he was agonized over not being able to see her, touch her, scent her. If he felt even a fraction of what Brodi felt for Liv, he knew the punishment he had been given was justified. He would have not been so merciful to anyone threatening his shield

Ulfhild stood in the shelter of a lean-to on the edge of the village and almost forgot to breathe as she watched her mother making her way slowly down the muddy lane, hunched over, clutching her gnarly hickory stick tightly in a knobby hand. Ulfhild had wanted to be the one to deliver the missive to Brandur, if only so she could be near him again for a moment, but her magick was not nearly as strong as her mother's. She was not able to glamour herself. For once, she regretted not taking her lessons more seriously.Though she was watching intently, she almost missed her mother flinging the leather envelope with the prophecy under the door of Brandur's hut, she was so stealthy about it. Ulfhild smiled to herself as the young warrior, returning to his post with a loaf in his grimy hand, passed her mother without a glance. Astrid truly should have been a spy. She had a talent for doing things unseen and gathering information that was supposed to be of a secret nature. Thank Freya! Ulfhil

Removing her cloak and laying it beside her, Ulfhild leaned back against the boulder at the edge of the meadow, sighing as she ran her hand across the soft grass under her. She had come to the enchanted woods to escape the stormy skies and the sucking mud that had been reeking havoc on the village. People were starting to murmur about unhappy gods and curses as the skies continued to dump buckets of rain on them. Her father had even called off training for his warriors, and that had never happened. Ulfhild missed the exercise. Without it to distract her, she'd had nothing but time to think on the prophecy and the strange warrior. Her mate. She should learn to say it. There was no doubt any longer that it was true, but it was still difficult to wrap her mind around it. A shifter. From the future. The Spirit was truly a fickle and unpredictable thing.A barely perceptible rustle in the bushes had her freezing in place and reaching a hand into the pocket of her dress where she secreted

Brand loped along the beach toward the sea caves feeling like he was swimming instead of running. The rain had returned with a vengeance while he had been sheltered in the magickal grove with his mate. He blinked the steady stream of droplets from his eyes and chuffed water out of his nose as he ran. He shifted at the mouth of the cave and a shiver went down his spine. Without his fur, he was freezing cold. His teeth chattered as he tried to slick water off his body with his hands."Cousin!" Thorstein's voice boomed from the dim light of the cave. "Come in from the cold and wet before you catch your death."Shifters, in his experience, rarely got sick, but maybe it was different for these poor Skölls here. After all, they had lost much of their ability to shift. Who knows what else might have changed. Either way, Brand would gladly take some blankets to dry off and get warm. A few minutes later, Brand was dry, dressed in a borrowed tunic and pants, and was sitting before a fire with

Bracing himself, Brand watched Erik and Birger enter the hut. The three large men barely fit in the small space. Brand's eyes narrowed when Erik pulled the door shut behind them causing the room to darken even further. "We had heard a rumor that you had escaped, Brandur, but here you are." Birger looked at him, his brow raised in question.Brand decided to try to brazen it out. He responded in as light of a tone as he could manage, though his heart was spasming in his chest. He was strong, but these were two of Magnus' best warriors. He wasn't sure he could take on both of them and win. "As you can see, here I am." He perched on the edge of his bunk, wishing desperately he had even a small eating knife as a weapon."So you are," Erik agreed. "Apparently, young Vidar was mistaken when he could not find you here a few minutes ago."The men were fishing, but Brand wasn't sure for what. "The boy is rather excitable…when he's not sleeping."Both warriors chuckled briefly. Brand sat, waiti