Dreams of a Dark Warrior

waking at last?
    Yes, her eyes were darting behind her lids, her brows drawn. He leaned closer, hands clenching behind his back again. He would fix this with her. She’d never known a man with a will like his.
I’ll
make
her want me back—
    She opened her eyes. Narrowed them on him.
    Then she hissed.
    Regin shot upright, locking gazes with Chase. He’d been looming over her while she was defenseless?
    She wasn’t now.
    Launching herself at his throat, she shrieked, “I’ll kill you!” She dug her claws in around his Adam’s apple, but he wouldn’t fight back.
    Brandr lunged forward, prying her from Chase’s throat. “You can’t, Valkyrie!” He looped an arm around her waist, pulling her away.
    “Watch me!” She lashed out at Brandr, knocking her head back against his face.
    Chase simply stood there, tense as a board, his neck bleeding.
    Brandr muttered, “I can’t let you do that, Regin.”
    “Why not?”
    “He knows a way off the island, a boat just a few days from here. He’s going to lead us to it.” At her ear, he said, “You know I can’t let you kill him anyway.”
    “Did you not see what he had done to me?” she cried. “They cut me open by his order!”
    Chase’s eyes blazed. “I didn’t order it, didn’t know about it!”
    Brandr released her, standing between her and Chase.
    “And I’m supposed to believe that? How could you not have known?” Natalya had told her she’d thrown off electricity like a reactor. “Were you gone?”
    Even after everything, part of her wished he’d been gone, wished he’d had absolutely no part in it.
    “I swear that I didn’t know,” he answered, his tone evasive. “And that I would’ve stopped it if I had.”
    Lying about something.
She was too drained to think, too injured. She gazed around with growing disbelief. Saws, scalpels, exam tables, and cages surrounded her.“Ah, gods, where are we?” She rubbed her chest, reeling on her feet. It was like a warehouse of old torture tools.
    Then she spied
Lothaire
atop one of the cages, relaxing with his hands folded behind his head as if he’d just been napping. “
Him?”
She reached to her back—for swords that weren’t there. “Do you know what he’s done to the Valkyrie? What the hell is wrong with you people?” Her breaths grew shallow, wheezing. “I can’t be around them … I can’t.” She coughed, a rattling sound. “And I-I can’t stay in this place—”
    Regin’s legs gave out. Her knees met the hard floor as blood bubbled from her lips.

THIRTY-NINE

    D eclan shot forward to help her, ignoring the bloody hand she raised to ward him away.
    Brandr shoved him back. “She doesn’t want you to touch her!” He knelt beside Regin. “Listen to me, Valkyrie. The wire holding your rib cage together doesn’t come out on its own. Nor the staples. I’m going to have to cut them out of you.” Regin’s silvery eyes grew stark.
    Oh, bloody hell, no.
“She’ll heal on her own. She’ll regenerate.”
They always do
.
    Brandr cast him a black look. “You had this done to me too, remember? And I know that I was ripping those staples out of my chest over an entire day. I had to dig for the wire, unknot it, and pull it free—in between the times I blacked out. At least she’ll have someone to help her.”
    Regin was still coughing, blood dripping from her lips, her staples straining.
    Declan’s gut churned as realization sank in. He knew this had to be done.
    “Is there some kind of remover here?” Brandr asked. “For the staples. Maybe some kind of anesthetic?”
    “They would have used sutures back then. And any chemicals were removed from the bunker.”
    “I’ll need a blade.” Brandr lifted her into his arms.
    “Take your pick.” Lothaire smirked. “We’re surrounded by them.”
    Natalya found a scalpel, gravely handed it to Brandr.
    Brandr jerked his chin toward a pair of clippers. “Fey, can you grab those bolt cutters as well?”
    They weren’t used to cut bolts.
Declan stepped for-ward. “I’ll see to her.”
    Regin cried, “He’s … not touching… me!”
    From his vantage on the cage, Lothaire exhaled loudly. “Whatever you do, be quick about it. If the storm abates, her lightning will be like a beacon to the Pravus. And I for one need rest before I face yet another army of immortals.”
    “I’m doing this, Chase,” Brandr said simply.
    On some level he must trust the berserker, Declan realized, because he allowed Brandr to carry her into