“What is the plan Saturday?” he asked.
“We’re going to bring you to the family meal,” Devorah said. “We’ll introduce you to our parents and we’ll have your back.”
“That’s it?” he asked.
Sirena kicked back and grinned, her hands behind her head. “Well, Dad will probably challenge you to a fight, but I figure you’re a vampire and you’ll heal up pretty quick, right?”
Rune blinked. “Challenge me to a fight?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah. It’s tradition.”
Rune glanced at Devorah, trying to see if he was being had, but the other woman nodded.
“It is tradition,” she repeated.
“Stop trying to scare him,” Claudia said, appearing in the dining room behind him.
Rune jumped. How on earth had this woman snuck up on him? She was a demigoddess, but according to Astra, it was her great-great-grandfather that had been the god, so she was mostly human.
Claudia laid a hand on his shoulder. “He challenged me to a drinking contest. I had the worst hangover of my life for the next two days, but I still drank his ass under the table.”
Devorah’s serious expression cracked into a wide smile. “Don’t worry, he was feeling some pain as well.”
“So, challenges are part of courtship and mating for Valkyries?” he asked.
“Yep,” Devorah answered. “And don’t let Claudia make you think you’ll get off easy. She did because Dad doesn’t hit women unless they’re coming at him in battle. You…well, he’s gonna want to make you hurt. He will deny it with his dying breath, but Astra is his favorite and you’re trying to take her away. He’s going to need a pound of flesh to make up for it.”
Rune had never been one to shy away from a fight, but he wasn’t a Viking warrior either. He had enhanced strength, speed, and healing, but he had never been through war.
Rune swallowed hard. “If that’s the price, I’m willing to pay it.”
Sirena stared at him with sharp green eyes and then she smiled. “Devorah and Sylvie were right,” she said. “You’re perfect for her.”
He only hoped that Astra agreed.
He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. “Tell me more about your parents. Especially your mother.”
“Planning to charm her?” Devorah asked.
“Whatever it takes,” he said.
Both sisters laughed.
“Oh, you’re gonna fit right in,” Sirena said.
* * *
The rest of the week seemed to drag by. Every day, he picked up his phone with the urge to call Astra, and every day, he didn’t call. He thought about texting her, but something held him back.
She hadn’t reached out to him either.
Maybe she didn’t want to talk to him.
He was tempted to call Devorah and tell her that he wouldn’t come on Saturday, but he didn’t.
He felt like he was in limbo, waiting for…something.
Rune tried to work on his current work in progress, but he was stuck. Completely blocked. He ended up starting a short story that was completely different than his usual genre, but it served as a distraction.
