Not that Erin blamed them.

CHAPTER TEN

Katja stared at the pit bull sitting on her brother’s porch. The dog, although sitting and not growling, seemed to be in protective mode. It wouldn’t let Kat by.

But why was it being protective? Was Vig hurt? Not in the mood to get mauled, Kat told the dog, “I’m Vig’s sister.”

The dog coldly studied her for a moment before it stood and took a step back.

Shocked, but not willing to think too much on it, she walked into her brother’s house but stopped short when she saw some woman stretched out on his couch, an ice pack pressed to her crotch.

Why was an ice pack pressed to her crotch? What exactly had her brother been up to?

“Hi?” Kat prompted when the woman didn’t bother to look at her.

Another ice pack pressed to her face was moved and the woman lifted her head to look at Kat through the one eye that wasn’t swollen shut.

“Oh. Hi.” She replaced the ice pack and dropped her head to the pillow.

“Is Ludvig around?”

“Who?”

“The guy who owns this place.”

“Oh. You mean Vig. He went to the store to get stuff to make dinner and pick me up some Tylenol. Not that Tylenol will help. Death might, though.”

Kat smiled a little. “How bad is the pain?” she asked, closing the door behind her.

“Bad.”

“On a scale of one to ten.”

“Forty-five.”

“That is bad.”

“Told you.”

Kat walked over to the woman and lifted the ice pack. She gently felt around her nose and between her eyes. It all seemed in place.

“How did this happen?” Kat asked as she worked.

“I got into a ridiculous and stupid fight. I know better.”

“Sometimes people push us too far.”

“I still know better.”

“I’m Katja by the way,” Kat said, carefully returning the ice pack to the woman’s face.

“I’m Kera. Kera Watson.”

So this was the Kera Watson. Vig’s Kera Watson.

Not exactly what Kat had expected, but she hadn’t expected anything too specific. Her brother had always had eclectic taste.

Still, Kat knew Odin would not like this. Rundstöm Ravens and Valkyries dated back centuries, but if Vig made a permanent bond with this woman and had Rundstöm babies, they’d be the first who wouldn’t be Ravens or Valkyries. And they could only be Crows if they were female . . . and died. So that wasn’t a pleasant thought.

“I can give you something to help with your aches and pains.”

“I don’t know who you are.”

“I’m Katja.”

“Yes. I’m aware of your name. But thatdoesn’t mean I know who you are. And I don’t let veritable strangers give me something to help with my aches and pains. What if you give me meth? Or a meth-heroin combo? And then I go from a former Marine to a living-under-a-bridge drug addict with a police record.”

Kat stared at Kera for several moments before asking, “Did Vig give you something already?”

“No,” she said adamantly. “But he did tell me to make myself at home and when I wanted to start screaming from the pain, I tore his bathroom apart until I found some pain pills that were pretty delicious when taken with a couple of shots of tequila.”

“And when did you do that?”

“Ten hours ago!” she stated way too loudly.

Kat guessed that “ten hours” was probably more like ten minutes, which meant one thing . . .

Stieg was walking toward Vig’s house when he saw Vig’s sister dragging that girl Vig liked out of the door while a big pit bull barked and ran circles around the pair.

Stieg looked over his shoulder and whistled.

Rolf and Siggy caught up to him and together the three of them watched Kat Rundstöm struggle to get the fighting Crow out of her brother’s house.

“Huh,” Siggy noted. “I didn’t think Kat would have such a problem with her brother dating a Crow.”

“He’s not exactly dating her yet. I’d still call it a stalking at this point.”

“Maybe we’ve been wrong about Kat all this time. All her love of nature and animals and rescuing horses . . . maybe she’s really just a pure-Aryan-race-loving Nazi.” Siggy stepped forward. “Kat, are you a Nazi?”

“What? Oh, forget it!” She had the new girl around the waist and was holding her over some bushes, which was where the new girl commenced to throwing up. Excessively.

Panting, Kat started to drag the new girl back into Vig’s house. “No more painkillers and tequila!” she ordered.

“That was disgusting,” Rolf complained as they continued on to the house. “I hate watching cute chicks vomit. It totally kills their cute.”

“So you never plan to be with anyone who might have normal, human bodily functions?” Stieg asked.

“That’s my plan. Or at least I’ll find one considerate enough to hide all her womanly functions from me. That’s what good girlfriends do.”

Kera didn’t know how long she’d been asleep, but she felt much better when she woke up.

She was still on Vig’s couch but now she was trapped between two really large men. Although she was beginning to wonder if the Ravens had any size other than “really large.”

“Feeling better?” Stieg asked her.