The Valkyrie Returns and Slays (Raven)

Chapter 3

In a flash, a teenage girl, eighteen or so, stormed into view, decked out in sleek

black

gear.

The second the doctors laid eyes on her, their hearts skipped a beat.

She looked sharp, even lethal-way scarier than Dane Grayson ever dreamed of being.

Those icy eyes of hers pinned them in place, like their blood might freeze solid just from her stare.

The head doctor snapped out of it first, his face darkening.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he roared. "Get out of-"

"Crack!" He didn't finish.

A scream tore out of him as he went flying, slammed into the wall by a brutal kick.

The nurse drawing Zach's blood gaped, wide-eyed.

One second the girl was at the door; now she was right there, looming over her.

the nearly full

a small, steely hand clamped her wrist and twisted-gentle, but

she yelped, pain shooting up

scream echoed through the room, shrill

She yanked the needle free from Zach's

care.

the blood-processing machine nearby, sliding the

had a fresh transfusion line ready, slipping the needle back into Zach's vein with a surgeon's

and the fog in Zach's vision started

him, and the fog in Zach's vision started to clear. He

you?" he mumbled, his soft voice even

didn't look exactly like it-older, harder-but something in his gut said it was her. The sister

the syringe,

a frozen tundra-cracked open, a ray

she murmured, voice soft.

her hand brushing

of Raven's

they knew it was a mask, a con. This? This warmth? They'd never seen

gawked, a pack of burly bodyguards in black

Dane Grayson stepped through, with this don't-mess-with-me look all

and sneered, "Well, isn't this cute.

been too quiet, he figured. People had forgotten what happened when you crossed

head toward his