She frowned at his use of her name, studying his face.

"We've met before," Cade said, but she was in no way calmed—lightning continued to strike in constant streams. Lightning gave Valkyrie strength, but it also mirrored their emotions.

When he began unbuttoning his shirt to cover her, she gave a cry, and bloody claws swiped out at him. Then she stared in horror at her fingertips.

Just hours ago, she'd been living as a normal human—or near normal with some eccentricities. Now she had become something he never could have predicted. A Valkyrie. Or half one. He hadn't known she'd possessed this latent potential. The shock of the ritual must have triggered the transformation.

If not for this power, she would have been brutalized, her womb offered to the dark god this order of demons worshipped.

When he removed his shirt, she bared her small fangs and hissed, then looked aghast at her reaction.

"There, now, a good hiss never hurt anyone." He crouched beside her, fighting the urge to clasp her to his chest. "I'm going to put this on you. Easy…"

She gazed up at him with eyes wavering between silver and the intense violet he recognized. "Wh-what's happening to me?"

"You know all those creatures you thought were myths?" When she shakily nodded, he said, "Well, they're not. And you're changing from a human to an immortal."

Which meant it had become possible for Cade to claim her for his own.

And you've just become my target—the Vessel. The means to pay for a sword to kill our enemy.

She equaled the crown he'd worked for nine hundred years to reclaim—the unyielding pursuit that had given him a reason to go on living.

Never had it been so close….

All he had to do was use and betray the woman he'd waited just as long to possess.

3

Holly turned and hunched to button the shirt, peering over her shoulder to keep this Cadeon in sight.