“Okay. Want me to tell the others?”

“Give them a heads-up. The Ravens, too. But I don’t want anyone freaking out about this until we know for sure. I’m not in the mood to hear it.” Chloe frowned. “Do you think the Mara are also the ones who’ve been stealing everyone’s shit?”

“Maybe.”

Chloe cringed. “But why?”

“Oh Clo . . . I don’t think we want to know.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Vig was dreaming, and in his dream someone was calling out his name. Over and over again. That’s when he realized it wasn’t a dream.

Opening his eyes, Vig looked around. Kera was asleep against his chest with his arms around her. He was so comfortable, the last thing he wanted to do was move. Ever. Even with the other Crows and Ravens passed out around him, he didn’t mind just lying here with her. Comfortable. Cozy. It was perfect.

But then he heard it again. Someone calling out his name.

Then it hit him. The sun would be coming up any minute . . . and they were still in Asgard.

“Kera, get up,” he ordered. “Now.”

Kera bolted upright, eyes wide and alert. “What? What is it?”

“We have to go.”

Kera looked around, panic growing in her eyes when she saw all the Crows and Ravens they’d fallen asleep with during their ridiculous bout of drinking.

“Good God, what have we done?”

“Nothing,” Vig said hurriedly, pulling on his boots, and lacing them up. “I promise. But we have to go. Now.”

Kera pulled on her own socks and boots before grabbing her knives.

Vig heard a flutter of wings and looked up to see a Raven that wasn’t one of his ancestors perched on a large boulder overlooking the small lake.

“Are you planning on staying here forever, boy?”

“No. No.” Vig scrambled to his feet. “I lost track of time.”

“I can see why,” the Raven growled, blue eyes absorbing every detail of Kera.

Vig moved in front of her. “No.”

“I’m a Brother Raven. You wouldn’t consider sharing your little—”

“No.”

Laughing, the Raven yelled out, “Found them!”

By the time Vig led Kera away from the lake, Katja rode up to them. She was covered in blood and bruises from whatever battle she’d just come from.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

“I’m sorry.”

Kat turned her horse around. “Hurry up. We’ve only got, like, a minute here.”

Vig grabbed Kera, holding her tight against him, making sure she was secure. He was reaching for the horse’s tail when the Crows who’d joined them at the lake suddenly surrounded them.

Kat reached for her sword but the Crows weren’tinterested in the Valkyrie.

“We have to go,” Vig told Kera’s Elder sisters.

“We know. We know.” Aditi handed Kera the rune-covered hammer Freyja had given her the evening before. “Don’t forget this.”

“Thank you.”

Aditi kissed Kera on the forehead. “You will do well, sister. Just remember to be strong and let your rage be your guide.”

Kera held the weapon against her chest and grabbed hold of Vig around the waist.

Aditi stepped back. “Good-bye, sister-Crow.”

“Good-bye, Aditi.”

Vig pulled Kera closer, and grabbed hold of the horse’s mane with his free hand.

“Go!” Vig yelled at his sister and she urged her horse into a gallop. They took to the skies moments before the sun began to rise in the distance. Within seconds, they were back in their own world and Vig allowed himself to breathe again.

His sister stopped outside his house, and he finally released Kera.

“We’re not doing that again,” Katja informed him as he helped her dismount from her horse. “It’s too dangerous.”

“You always say that, but—”

His sister sort of hissed at him. “Never again.”

“Thank you for this.”

She glanced at Kera. “I heard from my sister Valkyries that she did well. But Odin’s still going to be pissed about you two.”

“I’m aware,” Vig replied.

She gave a short wave and, with her horse in tow, headed to the stables. “See you guys!”

Vig turned to Kera but before he could say anything, music began to play, and Kera frowned, her gaze searching. She walked up the porch stairs and into Vig’s house. A moment later, she came back outside with her phone.

“Yeah?” she answered and Kera frowned again. She glanced at Vig and mouthed, “What time is it?”

Vig looked up at the sky since he never wore a watch. “It’s evening.”

“But it was just morning—”

“Time runs differently in Asgard. We probably lost a couple of days there.”

Eyes wide, Kera replied to whomever was on the phone, “All right. I’ve got it.”

She ended the phone call and slipped the device into the back of her jeans. “They found the guy I let go on my last job. My team’s already heading over there. I’m going to go meet them. Finish what I started.”

“Hold on.” Vig ran into his house and opened a wooden trunk he kept behind his couch. He searched through some of his best weapons and armor, which he kept for fellow Ravens or Valkyries. He found what he was looking for and returned to Kera outside. He wrapped the leather strip around her, buckling it around her waist and at her shoulders.