Damage ( SF worlds #45 ) - Elle Thorne Page 0,1

as it was called when he was still in, way back when. Way back when being during the time he and his brothers were involved. Back then, when he was normal.

He scowled then scoffed. He no longer knew what normal was.

Of course, big brother Range didn’t know about Asa’s condition. Maybe brothers Jason and Davin suspected, but they never spoke to Asa about it. Even if they had tried, he’d never have told them what was going on with him. How could he even begin to explain a situation like this to another shifter?

Asa would have called Mae, who was the closest thing he had to a mother, but again, how to discuss this?

It all started with that damned study. He’d been so gung-ho to join. So eager to help his country and further relations between shifters and humans, particularly when it came to working together in the military.

“Come be a part,” they’d said. “Come help your country. Help your kind. Help humanity and shifterhood.”

Stupid fucker, he cursed himself, for having ever thought they weren’t going to do the shit they did. Stupid, stupid fucker. He blamed himself more than his brothers. He felt he’d pushed them to agree. And all of that against Mae’s recommendations. She’d warned them not to go through with it. Warned all four brothers not to partake in the study.

But they did.

All of them.

And now this.

Chapter Two

Anchorage, Alaska

Emme Winter was in disguise. One never knew when the enemy might be around. When they might notice her, see her, identify her, take her captive. Who knew what they’d put her through when they found her?

Large, mirrored sunglasses hid half her features. The scarf she wore, under the guise of protecting her face from the cool air, served to keep her identity secret. She wore a slouchy cable knit beanie with a visor to keep hidden her telltale hair color.

A large bulky coat concealed her weapons as well as her figure. Figure be damned. She wasn’t in Alaska to find male companionship. She’d do that when she arrived in Chicago. She could yield to her lust among the eligible hunks there.

But here? In Alaska? No. She wasn’t here to get laid. She was here to find someone special.

And though Emme didn’t have the skip tracing skills her big sister Eira had, she was no slouch when it came to hunting someone down. And searched she had.

Emme was on a mission to find her sister Eira Winter. She had to find her while Eira was still alive.

Hopefully, she’s still alive.

She’d found Eira’s last location, then Emme had promptly erased any sign of her findings, for Emme had no intent to help the Fist of the Valkyrie Tribunal find Eira. She knew what it meant when the Fist was sent forth.

When Eira had bounced out of the Valkyrie sisterhood and vanished from the face of the earth, she’d left behind a very pissed off the Valkyrie governance. Those same leaders had called the Tribunal, which, in turn, pronounced sentence on Eira. She’d violated the laws of the Valkyrie, a set of covenants that had been in place for eons, since the very first Valkyrie had been created by the goddess Freyja who’d been a witch. Freyja had given rise to the Valkyrie as a means to avenge the death of her village. That same sorcery responsible for producing Valkyrie had also conceived the berserkers, a group of bear shifter warriors who were cursed to never be able to shift, their bears prisoners deep within their souls.

This was the ilk that had determined Eira’s punishment for violating their covenants was death. And they’d sent the Fist after her. The Fist was a legendary entity charged with meting out the sentence delivered by the Tribunal. No one knew who the Fist was. Or if the Fist was more than one individual.

Emme glanced at the time on her phone.

Late. He was late.

Sitting outside a café in Anchorage, Alaska, she was waiting for the individual who was hired to take her to a place called Red Devil, somewhere to the west. Once there, the guy from the company had said she would be provided a driver and a vehicle to navigate rough roads and snow. She hadn’t cared for the idea of having a driver. She preferred to work alone, but that had been one of the conditions. And it wasn’t like there was a car rental location in Red Devil, Alaska. Nor was she interested in renting a vehicle here in Anchorage