The Valkyrie Read online

  "Let’s go to that new country music club ... you know...," Melanie said, eyeing Missy, "the one that has the line dancing. Maybe we could find some hot guys there tonight?"

  Peren sighed. She was committed for the rest of the night to them--their prisoner until dawn. She’d agreed to be a willing captive and they’d agreed to leave her alone about dating other men. Most of their blind date choices had been disasters. The first two were your typical college guys. They had one thing on their mind and that was to get into her pants. Melanie was upset that Peren didn’t give in to their advances. Sure, they were hot, and she could have used a good fuck, but she wanted something more.

  The third guy they’d fixed her up with, Ben, had been decent enough. His short black hair and light blue eyes had been a fantastic combination, and his conversational skills were far better than any of the men she’d been out with before. That wasn’t the best thing about him, though. The best thing had been his smell. As silly as it sounded, he smelled like musk and fresh morning dew. Kyle had had that very same natural scent. It drove her wild with lust.

  Missy had been most surprised to find out that she’d gone on multiple dates with Ben. She really had enjoyed his company, but felt guilty about betraying Kyle and cut it off. The nameless, faceless other dates meant so little to her that she’d lost count of them.

  * * * *

  "Do you smell that?" Lukian Vlakhusha asked his longtime friend, Roi.

  "Smells like teen spirit all right," Roi said, his tongue ran across his lips.

  Lukian ignored the comment because he’d known Roi long enough to know what his tastes in women were, and teenage girls weren’t one of them. He turned and looked at a gaggle of young women as they walked into the nightclub. Nope, these weren’t the ones they were shadowing. These girls didn’t look legal. The ones they were after were a bit riper. Not old, no, just a little more mature.

  "Tell me again why we’re here?"

  "Because we have to be," Roi said dryly.

  The answer wasn’t the one he wanted to hear, but it was the truth. They did have to be here. Lukian knew what their mission was, probably better then Roi. He was after all, first in command. Search and destroy, that was the mission. The target was what he had a problem with. It’d been a long time since he’d been forced to take a woman’s life. He didn’t look forward to it now.

  He glanced down at the photo of the auburn-haired girl he’d been carrying in his back pocket. Her large green eyes had haunted him since he’d first been given the assignment. He knew the rules: don’t get attached, don’t put a face to the name. He’d broken them both. He’d been fixated on Peren’s picture since he’d received it. He silently hoped that he wouldn’t have to be the one to deliver the killing shot. He’d been doing this kind of work for too long, and was too good at it to let this one get to him.

  "Showtime," Roi said. He watched the tiny turquoise car containing their target pull in.