Vikings from Mars

“You doubt my abilities?”

“Never.” Thorsen laughed at his confidence then grew serious. “How may I assist you further?”

“A nejim would be useful.”

“I will send for several immediately. You may take Ulf, Bjorn, Njal, and Arne in your search.”

“Thank you, Chieftain. I will repay your kindness. I will give you first choice of those spoils I find on my own.”

Thorsen snorted. “If there is any left. We need to find someone capable of repairing our computer before leaving Earth. Thanes’ passing to Valhalla has left us vulnerable. I won’t jeopardize the men by leaving Earth until I am assured the computer is fixed.”

“How are you going to convince one of the humans to help us?” Skars questioned.

“Easily.” Thorsen shrugged. “Their lives will be hung in the balance, as well as ours. The humans have proven to be cowards; they will fix the computer rather than dying.”

Skars didn’t disagree. If the humans had been afraid of the other species and run, the Vikings would terrify them. Most of the alien species preferred dragging their victims back to their camps to torture and kill out of sight, while the Vikings didn’t want their victims to suffer and killed those who stood in their way immediately. Their Vikings’ cousins were even more cold-blooded than them.

“I will find someone to fix our computer as I search for Xioarius, while you retrieve your wife.” Thorsen continued, “If you need more warriors, contact me.”

“Four men is more than I will need.” Skars rolled his eyes at his brother. “How much trouble could finding her be?”

Thorsen gave him a warning glance.

“Careful, the gods will hear you. Erik is already claiming our bad luck is due to the gods’ interference.”

“I will make a sacrifice before I begin my search for my wife. Send Erik with the nejim.”

Thorsen gave him a wry look. “You’ll have to think of someone else to sacrifice. Erik is mine.”

Chapter 5

Raine

Raine looked around the corner carefully. What she was attempting to do was crazy. No, take that back. It was deranged.

Determined to make it back to where she had left the unconscious man more than two weeks ago, she had snuck out of the vault while everyone was sleeping. Without a doubt, the poor guy was certainly long gone or dead.

Her stomach lurched in dread when she saw the shelled building. When she had tried to return with Emma and Tayla, whom she had met up with during their search of him, there had been a spaceship hovering nearby. Frightened, Emma and Tayla had made her return to the vault without getting closer to the building.

Each day, she had tried to venture out, but Lucas had stopped her. Becoming weaker by the day, he had warned them from going out when each attempt they made resulted in them nearly getting caught. Aliens were swarming the areas close by and were coming closer to where they were hiding. The days she had to sit in the vault, she imagined the worst for the stranger whom she had left helpless, while watching their food supply dwindle until there was only a day’s portion remaining. Seeing her resolve, Piper and Tayla had followed after her when they saw her sneaking out while the others were sleeping.

“I shouldn’t have let you come with me.” Disgusted with herself, Raine couldn’t help but think this was just one big clusterfuck waiting to happen. If something could go wrong, it always did with her.

The first week she had worked at the bank, she had somehow managed to shut down all the terminals when she would log on to her station. A jinx was one of the nicer terms she’d been called behind her back.

The area around the shelled building and the other one where she had found the food was empty, yet it held an eerie silence, which she didn’t trust.

“Quit feeling guilty. We weren’t going to let you go out alone. Besides, it’s not like we gave you a choice,” Piper whispered next to her, poking her own head around the side of the building they were hiding behind. “You might be searching for a hunk of burning love, but all Tayla and I have on our minds is one thing—food.”

“I wasn’t sneaking out for a man. I was going for the food,” Raine denied.

“Yeah, right.” Tayla snorted. “We’ve had to listen for the last two weeks about how good looking he was. He might have been unconscious, but he made a hell of an impression on you.”

“I feel terrible that I left him defenseless.”

“I would, too, if he was as good looking as you said he was.” Tayla squished closer to look over her head. “Coast is clear. Are we going to do this or hide here all day?”

“Which building should we go in first?” Piper asked, leaving the decision-making to them.