Sun's Tear (The Valkyrie's Passion Book 2): A Valkyrie/Shifter Romance by Renee Jordan

you doing in here?” snarled Thomas. He rose. “This is a private meeting.”
    “I just need to talk to Magnus,” Raven said without flinching. She folded her arms beneath her breasts and gave Thomas a defiant stare. “So sit your butt back down and don't glower at me.”
    I groaned.
    “Raven,” I said, moving to her. “We'll talk later.”
    “No, this is important.” Her face was hard and beautiful. “Real important, okay.”
    “Get your ol' lady packing,” Thomas said.
    “You have to leave, Raven,” I told her, my voice firm.
    “No. This is important. I spoke to...Owen.”
    Odin. “That doesn't matter right now. I have club business to deal with. I'll talk to you when we're through.”
    “You'll talk to me right now,” she snapped. “This is more important than your silly club.”
    The room went silent. Chairs scraped as the entire club stood.
    “Silly?” I demanded as I seized her arm. How could she think that? Didn't she understand who I was? What the club meant to me? They were my brothers? We were attacked today. How could she not understand that? My hand tightened on her arm. “You were there. You could have been killed. This is anything but silly, Raven.”
    “Let go of me, Magnus,” she hissed.
    I pushed her out the open door. “We will talk later,” I snarled before slamming the door shut.
    Raven kicked the door.
    Anger seethed in me. All my brothers fixed hard eyes on me. “You better have words with your bitch—”
    I cut the rest of Vince's words off when my fist smashed into his face. He crashed back into Thomas. “I will have words with Raven later, but if any of you want to insult my woman, then I will make you bleed.”
    “Sorry, Magnus,” groaned Vince as he rubbed at his cheek.
    “She's not part of the lifestyle. She doesn't understand.” I sat back down at the head of the table. “Let's finish planning this.”
    I glanced at the door. What did Odin say to Raven? Did it involve whatever happened to the sun this afternoon? My fists were clenched.
    Silly club.
    Those words echoed in my head. I had fought and bled for her. I died for her, and she called this silly? What was wrong with her? I ground my teeth as Thomas assigned spots on the ambush with input from Jim. The pair were both vets. They had fought and bled.
    Damn Raven. I couldn't focus on the plan. My thoughts were all twisted up with her. Her silly club comment was wrapped around the question of what Odin told her. Why did that god have to show up today of all days?
    Our plan was too important for me to be distracted by Odin and the strange eclipse. My club had been attacked. Odin's mission could wait. We were hitting the Blood Eagles back hard tonight. It was time to wipe out their damn club. Then I could worry about Odin and the sun.
    “You okay,” Big Hoss whispered as the rest of the club listened to Jim and Thomas.
    “Fine,” I growled.
    A smile crossed his lips. “She's got fire.”
    “Yes, she does,” I agreed.
    “She's going to burn you.”
    “She already has.” I smiled, the anger vanished for a moment. My Valkyrie. She would have taken on the whole club if I hadn't shoved her out the door. What a woman.
    Just, why did she have to be so strong right now? I couldn't be weak in front of the club. Not in a crisis. If they lost their confidence in me, Thomas could end up President. I wasn't about to lose all I had worked for for the last few years.
    ~   ~   ~
    Raven
    The door slammed in front of me.
    I kicked the damned door. What was wrong with Magnus? Didn't he understand how important this was? Odin showed up. We were his slaves. I hated that word, but it was the truth. He had given us a mission, and we needed to do it.
    Or there would be consequences.
    And he was too busy with his silly war. The Blood Eagles didn't matter. His club didn't matter.
    I let out a frustrated screech and whirled around. All the barflies and ol' ladies fixed smirks on me, nodding their heads in gleeful delight at my