“Gods-damn Skuld and her Crows!”

“Sorry?”

Gullveig glanced at the female next to her and quickly rearranged her plans.

“She’s mad, you know. Insane.”

“Betty?”

“Betty.” Gullveig leaned in a bit. “She needs to go away. To heal. From her mental illness. For a while.”

The female frowned. Then, slowly, she smirked.

“You’re absolutely right,” Carol said. “We can’t have Betty’s crazy here. How will that affect our clients?”

“Exactly. And our clients are the most important thing.”

Carol nodded. “I’ll take care of it. I assume you’ll be managing things for Betty while she’s gone . . . ?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t want to let her down, now would I?”

“No, you wouldn’t.” Carol walked off, heading to the door. “I’ll call an ambulance and get Dr. Rosen on the phone. He’ll be happy to help.”

“Excellent.”

Gullveig moved to the desk, pulling over the leather chair and sitting down in it.

She grinned as she put her feet up on the desk and placed the sparkly gold and diamond necklace beneath her torc. She didn’t even have to check to know the two looked absolutely stunning together.

Glancing around the office, Gullveig nodded. “Oh yes. This will do quite nicely.”

Laughing, Kera slapped her hands against the shower wall, trying to get her balance. Not easy when she had Vig behind her, buried deep inside her, and fucking her silly.

Really silly. She couldn’t stop laughing. Not because it wasn’t one of the best fucks she’d ever had. Because it was.

The issue was that this was supposed to be a shower only. It had felt like days since Kera had had one and she’d come in here just to get clean. Not to get laid. But try telling that to “But I’m a Viking!” Rundstöm. He wasn’t really good about the whole waiting thing and since Kera hadn’t really said “no” . . .

Vig leaned over her, blocking the water pouring from the showerhead.

“Stop laughing!”

“I can’t help it!”

“I’m a powerful Viking! You’re supposed to be in my thrall!”

Now they were both laughing.

“Vig! Stop it!”

“Why aren’t you thralling?”

“That’s not even a word!”

Vig stood straight, bringing Kera with him. He slid his hand around to cup her jaw and turned her face toward him and up. He kissed her, the water from the shower beating down on them. And his hand slid down her stomach and in between her legs.

Kera’s giggles turned to a gasp and she gripped his arm, her fingers digging into the skin.

His fingersstroked her clit while he took her from behind, his cock still buried inside her.

Vig’s finger began to make circles and Kera’s entire body tightened, legs shaking. She pulled out of their kiss so she could scream out, the orgasm rocketing through her.

When she could think straight, she realized that Vig had her bent over again and he was pounding into her, his breath coming out in hard pants until he came, his fingers holding her waist tight.

He bent over her, his lips kissing her neck, nibbling her ear, until he finally pulled out of her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, which was when Kera started giggling again. “Woman, you’re still not thralling!”

Vig pulled on his jeans and sat down on the bed. Brodie put her head in his lap and rolled over onto her back, a silent order for him to pet her chest and stomach.

“She’s training you well,” Kera teased as she pulled on a pair of wonderfully tiny, cut-off denim shorts.

“She was amazing in battle. And Odin always says you have to keep your best warriors happy.”

“Does this mean that Brodie will be heading to Valhalla one day?”

“Sure. They already have battle dogs. She’ll just be a battle Crow. Until then, though, she’ll be our dog.”

“Our dog?”

Vig froze, realizing his mistake. “Uh . . . I mean . . . uh . . . your dog. She’s your dog. Of course, she’s your dog.”

Kera sat down on the other side of Brodie. She let out a long sigh.

“Vig—”

“Please don’t . . . run. Or fly away.”

“Vig—”

“I know. I know. I jumped the gun. I’m not trying to crowd you.”

“Ludvig.”

“Just give me a chance!”

“Are you done?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Because all I was going to say was you may want to consider a doggy door because—”

“Brodie Hawaii! Walk time!” a Crow yelled from outside and Brodie scrambled off the bed, shot out the door, and two seconds later a window somewhere in the house broke as Brodie most likely went through it.

“Because I can’t keep buying you new windows,” Kera said with a shrug. “And I’ve fallen in love with you. But if you tell the Crows, especially Erin, that I said it first, I will tear your toenails out while you’re sleeping.”

“That’s not a problem because I actually said it first.”

“You did? When?”

“Yeah. About five months ago. You walked to my table, brought me a fresh cup of coffee and another bear claw, and then you smiled. It was a really pretty smile. When you walked away, I said, ‘I love you.’ ”