"We can't run forever. I have to face anyone who'd chal enge me."

"Just hear me out. While you were napping, I was busy chatting up our all ies. Didn't you know-your woman's a golden-tongued ambassador! My sisters always said I graduated from the shock-and-awe school of diplomacy, but joke 'em if they can't take a f**k, right?"

Chase nodded gravely. "Joke 'em."

"So anyway, we've got some wicked strong all ies lined up. These tossers here just missed the memo.

The Valkyrie are all on board; a slight against you is a slight against them. all 's forgiven with the witches.

In fact, Malkom Slaine even feels bad for fileting you! He and Carrow literal y shuddered to think what their lives would have been like if you hadn't dispatched Carrow to hel . There was talk of sending you a card at Beltane! So the Valks are down, and the witches are down. Oh, and I talked to Brandr. Get this-"

"The berserkers are down?"

"Way to steal my thunder, Chase."

"Regin, I can't depend on you or any others to fight my battles. I made my own mistakes. That means I must also make sacrifices."

Nix gave a delicate cough from the porch swing. "No one's sacrificing anything." She cal ed out to any creature who still remained within earshot, "Declan the Fierce is under my aegis. If you kil him, you risk my displeasure." Lightning bolts scored the sunny sky like bomb blasts, sending beings scattering. Nix cal ed after them, "But by all means, smack him around!"

Sunny day? Sunny- "What are you doing?" Regin shrieked to Chase. "Why aren't you burning? Where are your fangs?"

He rubbed his tongue over his teeth. "Do no' have any."

"So how'd you heal?"

When Nix rose to enter the house, Regin grabbed Chase's hand and hurried after her. "Whoa, there, soothsayer. How can he go out in the sun?"

Nix blinked. "Where'd everyone go? What were we talking about?" Her eyes went wide. "I remember! Chase is an immortal now." She gazed at Brandr, Lucia, Natalya, and Thad. "We'l all have an ice-cream cake to celebrate! Except for we don't have a freezer!"

"Nix, why didn't he turn into a vampire?"

"I suppose because he never died."

Regin turned to him. "I get to keep you? You're immortal!"

"Aye, though I don't understand how."

"I believe I do," Brandr said. "While you were unconscious, I looked at your dog tags. The charm on the back of one is the mark of Woden. You've carried it on a standard, a naval flag, a cavalry crest, and tattooed upon your chest. Your battle with the Pravus might just have been your two hundredth."

Declan's heart started hammering. If this could be true ...

"I believe you earned ohal a, brother," Brandr said. "The battle count must have been cumulative, the number fol owing the soul, not the body."

"But Woden wouldn't gift me with it. Not after my deeds in the past."

Regin quickly said, "Let's don't ask too many-or real y any-questions. You're an immortal, and you're a berserker. That's all we need to know." Thank you, Woden, thank you, thank you ... Chase murmured, "An immortal berserker."

Brandr punched him in the arm. Hard. "Took you long enough."

Regin asked Nix, "Why didn't he turn into Aidan?"

"Chase is too strong. Always will be. And he wants you too badly to ever slink into the background."

Chase frowned at Nix. "Why did you ... why would you vouch for me?"

"I've been looking out for you since you were a boy." Imitating an Oirish accent, she said, "Want yer fortune told, me boy? A medal ion for luck?"

"You gave the charm to me."

"Yes. And before you ask me why I would let everything else happen to you, know this. That misery hardened you, made you grow strong. Without it, your life would've faded to a whisper in Aidan's mind. And Declan Chase suits my sister better." She patted Regin on the head. "Regin doesn't do perfect."

Chase was quiet for long moments, then his lips curled into a breathtaking smile that made Regin's heart flutter. "Then I'm her man."

***

Mourne Mountains

One month later

A crackling fire cast light over the cabin's rough-hewn interior. A tray of oyster shel s and an empty can of Guinness sat on the table.

Declan and Regin lazed in a big tub before the fireplace, her back to his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around her.

As promised, he'd made love to her more times than she could count. And as she'd told him, they'd been through too much together to ever hold back from one another.

Her tone utterly relaxed, she asked, "So what mayhem are we going to get up to today?"

"Lady's choice. I'm game for anything. But after the mayhem, we should start markin' things off our list. Get married, house-hunt, shop for the new swords I'm keen to buy you. ..."

Content merely to celebrate a future together, they'd accomplished little. Though before leaving for Ireland, they had gotten Thad and his family settled in New Orleans-into the newly established Lore Relocation Program.

Regin and Nix had decided the boy should be moved close by so that the Valkyrie could keep him and his family safe from the Order, and to guide him into immortality.

Turned out that young Thad was half vampire, half phantom-one of the rarest Lore mixes ever to live.

He'd grow to be a powerful hybrid, with untold abilities. Definitely a key player to have on Team Vertas.

So the Declan Chase Restitution Fund had purchased a quaint little mansion in the Garden District for the Brayden family. Regin hadn't quite gotten around to informing Declan that he'd bought it before Thad had loped up to him and wal oped him on the back. "DC, I'm real y glad you pulled through. And thanks big-time for moving Mom and Gram to New Orleans."

Declan had raised his brows at Regin. "Did I move Mom and Gram to New Orleans?"

Regin had nodded up at him. "The Brayden women about fel out when they saw pics of the place.

We're tell ing them you're a long-lost uncle from the Emerald Isle. ..."

Unfortunately, some beings couldn't be bought off by the restitution fund. Like Uil eam MacRieve, who'd been out for blood-and nothing less would do.

Anticipating Lucia's interference, the werewolf had come a'cal ing at Val Hal , but Nix had taken care of him. As she'd informed Regin, "I simply told Uil eam that one of your offspring was a mate to one of his.

He'd never deprive one of his offspring of a mate!"

Regin had been dubious. "Is that even true?"

"Surely? It sounds reasonable. And I didn't specify how many generations."

Stil , Lucia's upcoming royal wedding was gonna be tense. And Regin and Nix's bridesmaids' dresses? Hid-e-ous.

When Natalya saw Regin in it, the fey would never let her live it down. Nat and Brandr were both attending. Not together, though. They'd given it one more shot between them, but both zigged again or something, so now they were just friends.

Declan began tracing the backs of his fingers up and down her arm. "What did you and Nix talk about today?"

"I again tried to get her to explain Lothaire's 'unbreakable ties' comment. But she gave me nothing."

Regin hadn't paid much attention to the vamp when he'd warned her of a connection between him and Declan. Now, she was jonesing to know the fine print.

And both she and Declan wondered what Lothaire's open-ended vow would entail.

"I don't feel tied to him," he said. "If I did I might be able to find him-then I could kil him, just to ease your mind. ..."

The vampire remained a specter in the background, bent on getting that ring, which meant he'd be hunting Commander Webb next. With Declan's memories, the vampire could locate Webb's home, could circumvent every security measure. Though Declan had said nothing, Regin had sensed conflict in him.

She'd suggested he cal the man and give him a heads-up, and then they'd be even for Webb saving his life.

The conversation had been rife with tension, but in the end Webb had said, "I told the Order that you died on the island. And I'll stick to that, but only if you stand down against our mission."

Declan had replied, "You told me I was either on your side or theirs. You were right. Harm any among my all ies, and I'll retaliate."

With that, she'd known he'd shaken away the last of the brainwashing and had come back into the fold, her born-again Lorean.

Things weren't perfect. But damn, they were getting close. ...

"Did your sister have any update on who stole my bloody boat?"

"None. Nix just kept cal ing it the Love Boat. Today she sang that it 'promises something for everyone.' Hey, we didn't need it anyway."

"But they took my boat," he grumbled.

Regin gave a laugh. "You are such a ... a berserker." When she turned over on her front to rest her chin on her hands, his shaft pulsed beneath her. "Already?" she murmured with delight.

He grinned down at her, treating her to that breathtaking smile. Over the last month, he'd even begun laughing with her, her own personal captive audience to entertain.

"It's your own fault for being irresistible. And I am a berserker through and through, possessive of everything that's mine." His hands trailed down to cup her ass. "Admit it, you've got to be relieved I'm no' a vampire."

She shook her head. "I would've taken you any way I could get you, boyo."

"And if you'd given me leave to, lass, I'd have come back for you a thousand times."

"Luckily"-she leaned up, brushing her lips against his-"the fifth time's a charm. ..."

Epilogue

Hark! Here closes this tale, the legend of Declan the Fierce and Reginleit the Radiant One, a pair of lovers bound and blessed by fate.

It ends, as many legends do, with a destined marriage-this one between a Valkyrie whose long wait was rewarded and a warrior whose yearning was at last fulfilled.

Theirs is a tale of joy and bounty. Be of ease and listen on. ...

With a consuming love for his lady guiding him heart and soul and Woden's mark tattooed upon his chest, Declan became a friend to the Lore, a champion of the gods ... and eventually a doting father.

Filled with hope and a secret certainty that she was Woden's favorite, Regin became one of the most powerful Valkyrie ever to live, a mistress of her own fate who laughed in the face of adversity ...and eventually a mother who plagued her children with pranks.

Cherishing Regin endlessly, Declan never left her side again, her immortal match. Perhaps his hubris was forgiven, the Reaper's dark scythe stilled forever.

All he knows is that his Valkyrie's kiss is sweet, their children's laughter a balm to his soul.

Whatever may be the case, to this day, Reginleit runs into his arms.

To this day, Declan clasps her close to his chest, gazing at the sky. In thanks. ...