The Valkyrie's Guardian Read Free Page A

room?”
    â€”Jack MacGunn, King of the Bad Pick-Up Line
    Hard-core, reckless Jack never got caught, never got pulled over — until now. Cassie should have warned him the rangers at Lake Powell were à la Barney Fife. If Jack’s temper hadn’t still been in precarious balance, Cassie would have teased him without mercy.
    She bit back a smile as Jack acted respectful to a shrimpy officer half his size, who seemed near orgasmic for catching a hot rod boat going “excess speeds which compromise the safety of boaters.” Jack had been doing seventy-seven miles per hour, but there was no enforceable speed limit at Lake Powell. Only two other boats occupied the water, one being the ranger tug and the other a yacht-style cruiser on the opposite side of the channel. Obviously the ranger was hard-up for excitement.
    Jack rubbed the side of his nose and shifted his feet. “Uh, speed limit, mate? I don’ think I can break a speed limit that doesn’t exist.” His tone of voice was just barely on this side of polite and his brogue grew heavier; he’d already been riled by the encounter with the drunken zombie-like boaters.
    And then they debated over the decibel output of his custom-built engine and if it met regulations, if his boat registered in California passed Arizona inspection for zebra mussels, and whether he had a working fire extinguisher on board and as many life vests as passengers. The latter was plain stupid, as Barney Fife had to have noticed the pair of ski vests on the back bench. The man wanted to nail Jack for somethingand grew desperate. Cassie hoped Jack didn’t fold the man into a shape that would fit inside the glove box.
    A deputy climbed out of the cabin onto the deck. Cassie took one look at the man and freaked out. A breathtaking infusion of rage and power arrested her entire being. She couldn’t explain it — she trembled with unholy desire to rip the man’s throat out. Dark, electric heat coursed through her veins, churning an internal storm. Without reason she grew even stronger — bones hardening, muscles tensing, instincts sharpening.
    It came with an attitude to match. She wanted nothing more than to decimate the man standing silently on the deck, arms crossed over his beefy chest. She wanted to rip his ribs apart one by one and crush them before his eyes. She would stand over his carcass and laugh herself insane as she conjured lightning to immolate the unworthy remains.
    Her breath heaved, her vision narrowed to a focused tunnel where she perceived in painstaking detail. A predator evaluating its prey, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Her spine twitched with anticipation, her fingers clenched, aching for the moment she would crush his throat —
    Cassie. Jack stroked her mind, the sensation like the gentle rasp of his fingertips.
    Her brain short-circuited, then rebooted. What?
    Stay cool, lass. He purred low and soothing, but she sensed his worry.
    I want to kill that man, Jack. What’s happening to me?
    Dunno, Cass, but you’re scaring me. Sit down. Let me handle this. And do not eliminate the ranger.
    His mind sealed shut and she saw him behaving minimally, every movement and word calculated and controlled. He was in soldier mode. It meant the situation verged on chaos and he was reacting with that false calm. She sat and forced herself to do the same.
    What just happened? I admit I’m grouchy, but not murderous. Not usually.
    Jack didn’t answer, his soldier façade strictly in place. Something was definitely wrong.
    But not a clue from Jack.
    Two minutes of deliberate breathing, and she nearly doused the urge to do bodily harm. Cassie wished she or Jack had the ability to mindwipe Twitchy Barney and his creepy sidekick and send them on their way with blank stares. “Jedi mindtricks,” as Jack dubbed them, would be handy right now. Barney was seriously annoying, and the deputy — the one she