Page 88 of Blood Red Rage
I nodded.
Draugr continued, “We're assembling now.”
“I'm coming.” I say before I disconnected. For several seconds neither of us spoke. Then Bryn's hand went instinctively to her stomach. That single movement nearly brought the berserker roaring to the surface. Ceasar. The man we'd hunted for far too fucking long. The man who had betrayed his own blood and disappeared into the shadows whenever we got close. The man who'd ordered someone to put a bullet into my mate.
I could still remember Bryn's blood on my hands. Still remember her body going limp. Still remember the sound that had torn from my throat when I thought she might die. I'd become a berserker that night. Because of that motherfucker.
Now Bryn carried my child. Ceasar would never get the chance to learn that. “Viking.” My eyes found hers.
“Don't go like this.”
“Like what?”
“Like you're already killing him in your head.” I stared at her. “I've killed him a thousand times in my head.”
“That isn't reassuring.”
“It wasn't supposed to be.”
She exhaled as I pulled her against me, burying my face briefly against her hair. “I'll come back as soon as I can.”
“You can't promise that.”
“Yes, I can.”
“How?”
I drew back and took her face between my hands. “Because you are here.” My palm dropped to her stomach. “And my child is here.” Her eyes shimmered.
“Nothing in this world is keeping me from coming home to you.” I kissed her. Then I pulled out my phone. “Kosta.” He answered instantly.
“Yes?”
“Garden. Now.”
He arrived within minutes, emerging from the darkness dressed in black, expression already alert. His eyes moved from me to Bryn.
“Problem?”
“We found Ceasar.”
Everything about him changed. “Confirmed?”
“Yes.”
His jaw hardened. “You're going.”
“We all are.” I looked toward Bryn. “Except Roman. He stays here.”
Then I looked back at Kosta. “And you stay with Bryn.”
“Understood.”
“Luka too.”
Bryn made a noise of protest, but I ignored it. “Viking, I'm going for a walk, not invading a country.”
“You're going inside.”
