The Valkyrie's Guardian Read Online Free

military lingo she didn’t understand, like “SITREP” and “SNAFU” and “MO” and strings of numbers she assumed were coordinates.
    Jack hung up and cursed, dragging a hand through his already wild hair.
    â€œWhat gives?”
    His nostrils flared again. “Our vacation just came to an end, darlin’.”
    â€œWha — Why? Jack, that’s — ”
    â€œI just saw a ghost, Cass.”
    That stumped her. She waited for him to explain. He didn’t.
    â€œA ghost, as in … someone you thought was dead, but isn’t after all?”
    â€œSmart lass.”
    â€œOkay … Not Merodach, right? I mean, we’re all sure he’s — ”
    â€œMerodach is oh-so-dead.”
    Cassie sighed in relief. It was one thing for their vacation to turn into a Network operation, but facing Kyros’ arch-nemesis with one berserker and a half-rate healer? Suicide.
    Jack swerved around a mile-marker buoy, missing it by inches. “Besides, if that was Merodach, you would’ve felt his presence a mile away. It usually made me retch.”
    â€œAnd did you feel nauseated just now?”
    â€œOnly colossally pissed. You felt it too.”
    â€œTell me, Jack.”
    â€œNo. I have to run some patrols, and then we’re going home.”
    â€œIt has something to do with those crazy boaters, right? What was wrong with them? You can tr — ”
    â€œNo, Cassie.” He said it as a stern parent would, or the owner of a naughty dog.
    Irritation reared like an itch, magnifying years’ worth of frustration in Jack’s refusal — a reminder that the Network’s inner circle would always keep her on the outskirts. “I’m not asking for classified information, I’d just — ”
    â€œNo!”His vehemence startled her. Tension knotted the muscles in his arms and his gaze darted across the horizon, restless.Weird. She didn’t like seeing Jack spooked.
    â€œWhich one is it, Barney or Eyeballs?”
    â€œEyeballs.”
    â€œHe was a creep.”
    â€œYou have no idea.”
    Minutes later she added, “You’ll probably get a raise, Jack, for uncovering the latest evil plot. Or at least a real vacation?”She knew the situation was serious, because he didn’t even crack a smile.

Chapter 3
    â€œExcuse me? Uh — sorry.
    You’re just so gorgeous you made me forget my pick-up line.”
    â€”Jack MacGunn, King of the Bad Pick-Up Line
    Jack quit fiddling with the stereo knobs and scanned the twilit highway. He wasn’t going to fidget. He would not wag his knee back and forth or drum on the steering wheel. Flexing his glutes didn’t count, because without a distraction the top of his head would blow off.
    What was he supposed to do, with Cassie’s head cradled in his lap and her hands twined around his thigh? Did she think he was her personal teddy bear? He tried not to think about her pouty lips resting over what was not a pillow …
    What he hadn’t told Kyros over the phone: he was losing control. And the cause of his insanity: Cassiopeia Noyon. That boat driver trying to wreck into her — bad enough. But a gun aimed at her head? Three decades of careful discipline had come undone in one panicked moment. He’d nearly gone berserk — lucky he’d ripped apart beer cans instead of spinal cords. It had been close, had hung in the balance, until her voice cut through the red haze in his fevered brain.
    It railed against every instinct to turn tail and run away when a resurrected psychopathic terrorist patrolled Lake Powell disguised as a park ranger. And what about the brainwashed drunken boaters and their half-assed assassination attempts? What was the point? With Kyros as the mastermind and Jack only the sidekick, when ordered to stand down, he did. True, the prime objective was guard duty. Check. He had to quit worrying about it or go out of his mind.
    A