26 Chapter 26:

"My Leo!" Valrun screams as I spun around and slashed through a vampire, catching sight of her standing in the middle of the battlefield. Her eyes wide and a large grin on her face with ushed tears collecting in her eyes.

"Proximo! Rogan! Some help!" I bark, flinging myself in the way of her and taking a vampire down. She didn't react at all, staring blindly ahead with a clouded gaze. Proximo joined me in a flash, throwing another vampire down onto the ground.

"What's happening?" He questions, gazing at Valrun's emotional expression.

Rogan came up quickly, staring at her with a conflicted look before snapping his attention to me. His light hazel eyes searching mine for an answer while more vampires came at us.

"My beloved... He's here..." She whispered with utter despair and relief, dropping her blade and holding her hands close to her chest. I gritted my teeth, hating I had done this so many times before.

"He's dead, Valrun," I tell her, getting in her view as she shoved me and took a step forward.

"He's right there, Hrudra. He's calling to me..." She reached out to an incoming vampire but Proximo sliced him down and began to defend us. Rogan was frozen in place, his worry quickly shifting into misery.

"Valrun." I grabbed her shoulders, giving her a hard shake and forcing her to look at me. Her silver eyes dying down into the light lilac purple Valkyries had. "He died saving you. He is not here." I tell her in a painful voice as her face twisted from happiness into anger.

"What are you talking about?! He's r-" I slammed my fist into her gut making her gasp and slowly slump against me. Rogan snarled, collecting her from me and checking where I had hit her.

"She hasn't had a flashback in so long..." I admit, kneeling down and picking her blade up. "I thought that they disappeared after a long time. This is the first flashback in nearly three decades." I told him, laying her blade across her chest and nodding to him. "Take her. She'll need to recover." He nodded not pleased that I struck her but she would have been kissing on vampires if I hadn't.

I shook my head, sheathing her blade in my holster and catching Proximo's eyes on mine. I knew he felt my emotions, but that wouldn't stop either of us from fighting the vampires around us.

I stretched my arms and nodded to Rogan and Valrun. He seemed to understand what I was saying before chasing after them and slicing down another vampire with a childlike grin.

"Don't forget about our deal!" He yells back making me distress turn into eagerness. I sent him a devious look before throwing my blade to a vampire that darted towards Rogan and Valrun.

"We'll see about that, Demon!" I shout back, hearing his loud laugh ring through the battlefield.

〰〰〰

"Is that all of them?" I ask, running my dirty hand through my tightly braided hair and caught Agalana cutting the last vampire down. The Valkyries and wolves stood around, still alert and ready to fight when I watched the leader of the wolves come towards me.

"I believe so." The woman tells me, shifting from her wolf and working out the bruises on her shoulders. "Sorry, you had to get involved with those filthy things. We would have been here faster to protect you if your Valkyrie, known as Valrun, didn't have a freakout. It took a little while to calm her down and the smoke demon removed her from the house. Only then I got the message for your soulmate." The woman tells me, my worry growing more for my friend that is going through so much.

Is Valrun stable? I wasn't aware she already had a flashback today, her attacks were getting worse and worse ever since she met Rogan. Not saying it was his fault, but maybe he was her trigger...

"It is alright. As long as everyone is okay." I tell her when running my gaze over my allies and nodded thankfully. We were missing many of our people, but I knew that they were all safe at the pack house with the others.

Proximo would make sure they were all safe.

"We should leave then. We have much to discuss and it is not safe here." She tells me, looking over at another wolf that radiated with power. I knew they spoke mentally to one another before Agalana and Getha joined beside me, both of them seemed pleased to have fought.

"Are you sure we can trust them? It took them-"

"We can. Valrun had a flashback before we saw her earlier." I told the ladies both of them looking at me shocked at the news.

"Holy shit. Those kill her mentality. How did we not notice this earlier?" Agalana questions when I shrugged and balanced my blade on the tip of my boot.

"I don't want to admit it, but it could possibly be because of Rogan," I comment as Getha nodded in agreement.

"You're right. I may have the reputation that I cause mischief, but talking normally. I believe that Rogan could be bringing back memories of her beloved. Do you know anything about Valrun and her beloved?" She asks, both of them looking at me for answers when I rose my hands.

"Not my place to say. If she wishes to open up about that, then she can. I don't want to tell everyone about her business." I tell them and spied the woman looking back at us with a displeased look.

"Were you aware that the elders were looking for you?" She asks me when the Valkyries around me grew tense. I sighed, smiling at her with a hopeless expression.

"What can I say? We don't see eye to eye." I admit to her as she stared at me for a long moment and nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry. They tried to steal my Alpha position so we will give you sanctuary. Come." She finally waves making the other wolf growl at her with disapproval. I watched the Alpha woman shift into her wolf and take lead towards her pack home.

Getha and Agalana looked at me with an amused expression making me pushed them away with both my hands. I walked forward, following the others and ignoring the girls picking on me about Freya and Odin trying to find me.

〰 Proximo 〰

"What do you think is causing these violent flashbacks?" Rogan asks me as Valrun laid in the cage, plush pillows and blankets making the cell less trapped making me sigh.

"I'm not sure. Hjala and Sevetha told us that this was her best option right now. I know that Hrudra would agree because Valrun almost let a vampire tear her throat out because she thought it was her beloved." I point out to him, watching a deeper frown settle on his face and regretting bringing up her past beloved.

Sevetha had assured both of us that this what Hrudra does after her violent flashbacks, but I can't help but feel like this was wrong. I couldn't bring myself to lock the cage since Valrun has helped me so much before.

Hjala and Sevetha made sure that the cell was reinforced while Rogan and I watched helpless to the situation. He told me that she was fine after her first flashback, she'd admitted to him that she was surprised that she didn't end up in a cage. Though Rogan had assumed that her post-traumatic stress was getting better with him around.

Hearing Hrudra's thoughts on the situation, I couldn't help but agree with her about the fact that he could be her trigger. Maybe the mate bond was forcing her to think back to her beloved.

I couldn't even imagine the pain Rogan was going through. How excited he'd been when he found her but the misery he had when he realized that her heart already belonged to someone long dead. I couldn't imagine what she was going through either.

I'm just thankful that my Hrudra was saved for only me.

'Cocky.' She mind links me making me smirk and tune back into the situation at hand.

"You have to give her time man. It took me a long time to tame my own Valkyrie and she wasn't nearly as complicated as yours is. I feel for you and Hrudra and I will help you any way we can." I assure my best friend, patting his shoulder when he continued staring at his unconscious mate.

"Easy for you to say when your mate has never loved another man before meeting her," Rogan growls in irritation while I sighed and pulled my hand away from him.

"Everyone has their own issues, Rogan. You can't expect the perfect mate and you can't expect everything is unicorns and sunshine. That's not this world and you need to be ready to learn patience if you ever want a chance with her." I admit to him as he deflated at my words. "Just because her heart belonged to another for so long doesn't mean you can't steal it back. You just got to show her the goods-"

"And here I thought you were giving him a sincere pep talk." Hrudra cuts in making both of us jump at the sound of her voice. She leaned against the door frame, staring at me with a lousy expression.

"Well- I mean I was until you barged in." I accused as she rolled her eyes and came towards us. Rogan stood up quickly, his horns straightening at the sight of her. I matched him, ready to fight for my mate since he challenged her so boldly.

"Stand down boys. Rogan, it was the only way to save her." Hrudra tells him, pushing both of us and opening Valrun's cage door. "You are only making things worse by challenging your mate's savior." She points out to him and pulled out a syringe, catching his attention.

"What is that?" He growls at her making me growl back. I was not enjoying the fact that he was daring her into a fight, knowing she would gladly take the invitation.

"It's a concoction from the Valkyries." Hrudra simply tells him, piercing Valrun's skin with the needle and injecting the substance. "Think of it like a sedative. Normally after these flashbacks, she grows hostile and attacks anything that knows about Leo- or her beloved." She explains to us when he nodded and calmed down.

"I remember. I had to remove her from the pack house to calm her anger earlier." He tells us making Hrudra nod and standing up.

"Sounds about right. The thing that worries me is that she had a back to back attack. That's-" She shook her head, concern clouding her eyes. "That's never happened before." She admits to us with a displeased expression.

"What can we do to make this all better for her?" I ask for Rogan when she glanced at me with a thoughtful look.

"I'll need some Yogi or peppermint tea. That will relieve the stress from me telling her what happened to Leo." Hrudra tells us and frowned. "I'll possibly need you as well Rogan." She admits making me cock an eyebrow at her.

"Of course. Anything." He nods quickly when she assured me with a gentle smile.

"Could you go find the tea I need Proximo?" She asks carefully while I nodded with a sigh.

"Yeah. I'll be back in a little while." I knew what she was doing yet I couldn't understand since she was convinced that Rogan was Valrun's trigger, but I knew that I should trust her judgment. I just hope that nothing bad will happen to them when I am gone.