Beast of Burden Read Online Free Page A

little too much, rumor had it.
    She smirked, amused at the apparent weakness in men. Gods, giants, human, or other, men the worlds over were often led by their dicks it seemed.
    Not all men.
    Her smile faded. Hall and Avarr didn’t seem to be led by much of anything, only duty.
    “And what’s wrong with duty?” she asked herself as she stripped down to nothing and plunged into the cold water of the lake.
    Swimming and letting the soothing water surround her, she concentrated on why that particular pair of battle-cats bothered her so much. They’d never been offensive. Far from it. She’d never seen them fight, so she wouldn’t call them terrifying. For some reason, everyone seemed to respect their supposed prowess. Battle-cats by nature were an aggressive species. Yet Hall and Avarr never acted like anything but gentlemen.
    She wrinkled her nose and continued to float. Bah. Gentlemen. That was her problem. She wanted berserkers, battle-hungry monsters, death dealers. She couldn’t help it. A valkyrie could only be satisfied with strength. Not just the appearance of it, but an actual show of fortitude. For all that Hall and Avarr held prominence in Freya’s court, they had yet to show Eira that they deserved it.
    If Freya knew Eira had doubts about her pets, she’d throw a hissy. Eira sighed and tamped down her frustration. It wasn’t the goddess’s fault Eira wondered about them. Hel’s bones, Eira questioned everything. She blamed it on Odin’s intelligence and Freya’s stubbornness—both gifts attributed to her, courtesy of her otherworldly parents.
    In an attempt to find peace, she pushed all the negative thoughts from her and floated, taking respite from her nerves and letting her mind wander. Inevitably, fantasies of bloody battles turned into images of Hall and Avarr naked and grappling. With each other then with her.
    She sighed and would have immersed herself in another fantasy of a rip-roaring three-way when her senses told her she was no longer alone. Calmly pushing herself to the edge of the lake, she rose from the water and picked up her spear, not at all concerned with her nudity.
    Then she saw them. Three pushy centaurs and two randy fauns.
    “Ah, look, Hero. A snack.” One of the centaurs laughed.
    “I bet she tastes good. I’m hungry.” Another reared back, showing an impossibly large phallus that was getting nowhere near her.
    “I hear the lightning makes them crackle when they come,” one of the fauns mused. Horny bastard. “Let’s find out.”
    She smiled, more than ready to take care of these morons. Then two minotaurs arrived. Odd, because she hadn’t realized Athena and Mercury had brought any with them. They made decent enough opponents, she supposed. With the head of a bull and the body of a man, the minotaur frightened most with its size and strength. But nothing scared Eira. She thrilled at the chance to fight against overwhelming odds.
    The battle would be anything but easy. The Greeks and Romans had apparently allied themselves together, for whatever reason. No matter. She readied to handle them.
    Until a handful of mummies and wadjets—giant venomous snakes—arrived behind their priest, who smiled widely. The Egyptians, too? What the Frigg? Since when did other pantheons invade her goddess’s lands and attack her people without permission?
    Uneasy as to what this might mean for Freya, Eira gripped her spear tight. Then all thought left as one of the minotaurs launched himself at her, and the fight was on.
     
     

Chapter Three
     
     
    Granted, valkyries kicked serious ass, but even Eira admitted she was tiring. A four-on-one fight might be fair in Asgard, especially since her power tripled near her goddess. In its own right, her power could normally crush lesser beings. But against three centaurs, two fauns, two minotaurs, four mummies, and two wadjets, not to mention the cheerleading priest, she wasn’t faring well.
    They came at her in pairs when one minotaur was