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Like Meer catssensing prey, all nine girls suddenly straightened and looked at Kaleb and Shawwith beaming wide smiles. Whoa, even though they were only baby teeth, that wasa lot of sparkling white canines on display.
Kaleb grabbedShaw’s arm, slowly backing them towards the door. She was in complete accordwith his actions and caution, you never turned your back on ravenous predators.Close to the door Kaleb waved. “So lovely to meet you all. We’re lookingforward to seeing you perform. And remember, with-”
“…Smile-Rite,you’ll always Smile-Bright.” Chorused the girls in eerie, smiling unison.
Oh, yes, theywould have made kickass Valkyries.
***
“Whose suite isthis?”
“Not important.”Kaleb declared, as he began unbuttoning his shirt, dropping it to the floorbefore disappearing into the bathroom.
Seconds later Shawheard the steady thrum of falling water as he turned on the shower. Hmmm, sheeyed the enormous king-sized bed, all but buried by an astonishing number ofdecorative cushions. Where there weren’t cushions, strangely, there were rosepetals. Not real ones she found out, silk ones. Why would anyone leave such amess? Oh, having taken three steps back she could see it now, the petals werelaid out in a large heart shape.
For the love ofFreyja. The expensive suite. The bed. The enormous vases of real white roses onevery flat surface. “This is the honeymoon suite.”
“Say what?”Kaleb’s reply was muffled by the thunderous fall of water emanating from amultitude of different shower heads he’d turned on full blast.
Shaw was about tostorm the bathroom and demand some answers when a knock sounded at the door,freezing her in place. Shit.
“Could you getthat?”
Oh, so that heheard clearly. Sneaky Demon.
Shaw recognisedone of the sales assistants from yesterday. Abject disappointment settling onthe woman’s face at the sight of Shaw. A large black garment bag clutched inher hand. “Um… is he here?” The blonde going up on tiptoes, trying to see overShaw’s shoulder.
“He’s busy. I’lltake that.” Grabbing for the garment bag. For a moment there was a tug of warbefore Shaw’s superior strength won the day.
“Oh. Then pleasetell him the cufflinks he requested are in the jacket poc-” The door slammed inthe sales assistant’s face, cutting her off mid-sentence.
Bad enough Shawwas fetching and carrying for the Demon like a… flunky, but no way was shepassing on any flirtatious messages. Stomping across the room she flung thegarment bag down on to the dining room table. Just catching herself in time onthe back of the overstuffed nearest armchair as her Freyja damned knee gaveout.
Stupid, trickyknee. Collapsing out from underneath her with no warning. Slowly Shaw paced theroom, testing it for deterioration. There was no accompanying pain. Yes, therewere some sore spots that made her see red if you pressed down on them, andsome twinges came and went occasionally if she overused the joint, or did anycomplicated movements. However right now, once again, it seemed perfectly fine,normal even.
But Shaw was awareof how deceptive that concept was. It could give out again at any moment. Sherefrained from rubbing it, babying it. It was beyond a mystery why the bloodything hadn’t healed. Shying away from considering that perhaps the faultsomehow lay with her. That she was in some way… defective. Or that her Goddesswas in some perverse way testing Shaw… punishing her.
That last thoughtonly reinforced as Kaleb chose that moment to exit the bathroom, a towelwrapped around his waist. Why did he have to be so built? So pretty? Soannoying, as he immediately began yapping. “Your turn. Hurry up, or we’ll belate.”
“Late? And my turnto do what?” Watching him unzip the garment bag and survey the contents, satisfactiongleaming in those sinfully pale blue eyes.
“I scheduled us anearly lunch with the Darvyn girls. It will be our only opportunity to chat withthem before they get ultra busy putting out fires. Not to be ungallant, butfresh breath will probably go a long way to convincing them to attend the babyshower. I left you a new toothbrush by the sink. Come on, chop, chop. We havelunch with seven prickly Demonesses scheduled and then some Gods to woo. It’sgoing to be a busy day. Don’t give me that glare, Valkyrie, I’d be just ashappy holing up in a bar for the next nine days. You’re the one with theprecious to-do list you keep harping on about.”
Damnit, he wasright. Phew, and now that he’d mentioned it, Shaw really did need to brush herteeth and a quick shower wouldn’t hurt. “I’m watching you, Demon. I find thissudden enthusiasm of yours to help tick off the items on my list more than alittle suspicious.” Shaw turned at the bathroom door to gift Kaleb an amped upglare. The one that often made her enemies wet themselves and run away. AllKaleb did was dimple her way, his smile broad and easy going. “What, not goingto deny you have an agenda of your own here?”
“Not at all. Ijust realised that the sooner we get a few of your items ticked off, then we canstart addressing some of mine.”
Shaw opened hermouth, intending to insist he explain what he meant by that statement but got alittle distracted when Kaleb turned, presenting his back to her, and a lotmore, as he dropped the towel. Shaw had seen some stellar male butts in hertime. Jabbed her halberds into a fair number of them. But none had ever madeher mouth water at the idea of taking a bite out of them before.
Fucking hell, whatwas wrong with her? The mysterious throbbing head this morning, the lurchingstomach and now this weird anomalous thought. Perhaps Olrun had infected Shawwith some exotic disease, given all her maladies.
Crap. Shaw was abattle bitch Valkyrie. Life was simple. You turned up. Killed whoever got inyour face. Sat by the fire nightly swapping stories with your sister Valkyries,scoffing ale, eating steak, and then woke the next day and did it all again.
It wasn’t acomplicated existence. Well, it hadn’t been. Until just over a year ago. Untilthe incident that had changed Shaw’s life and set her on a trajectory with onesneaky, conniving Conflict Demon. If Freyja were truly punishing her, then itwas a fucked up convoluted plan to make her life hellish. Which was just aridiculous idea, her Goddess was all about the maiming, the drinking, and theneven more maiming. Besides, Shaw had done nothing to earn Freyja’s animosity,had she?
Ugh, all thisobsessive overthinking. It stopped now. Huffing out an exasperated breath,Shaw’s nose wrinkled in horror, heavens, where was that toothbrush?
***
