Free Viking Warrior Rebel by Asa Maria Bradley Page B

“Can we keep this conversation serious?”
    His grin widened, but he nodded. “Alright, let’s just say that I have an interest in this since you’re a friend of Daisy’s.” Naya had worked with Holden before she met the king. Had there been something more than just a professional relationship between the two humans? The thought disturbed Astrid more than it should.
    The berserker suddenly woke fully from its slumber.
    Mine , it growled. An intense burst of anger flooded Astrid’s senses. Images of her fighting the queen invaded her mind. She struggled to keep her face from betraying the horrific thoughts flittering through her mind and the rage spreading through her body.
    She must not have been successful, because Holden frowned and took a step toward her. She held up her hand to stop him.
    A knocked sounded on the door. Saved by room service.
    As Holden turned, Astrid bolted out of the bed and slipped into the bathroom. She locked the door behind her and leaned her forehead against its cool wooden surface. What the fuck was going on?

Chapter 6
    Luke checked the tray of food. Everything was exactly what they’d ordered, so he tipped the room-service guy and sent him on his way. Astrid was still in the bathroom, and he debated knocking on the door to see if she was okay.
    He replayed their conversation in his head to figure out what had upset her. He’d teased her about how close they actually were, at least physically. That’s when Astrid’s eyes had widened and all the color had drained out of her face. Did she feel sick all of a sudden? Hopefully it was the cranberry juice that didn’t agree with her. He’d hate to think the memory of them in bed made her physically ill.
    They’d also talked about Daisy Driscoll—Naya—but was that before or after Astrid’s strange reaction? If they were close friends, talking about the other woman shouldn’t upset her.
    He sighed. He’d probably never figure this out.
    Astrid kept so much information hidden from him that he didn’t even know how to start unraveling her secrets. If he wanted her to share, first he had to gain her trust, and Astrid didn’t seem to trust anybody. Maybe if their night together had ended better, they’d have a chance. As it was, that little fuckup would cost him. Instead of starting at zero and building from there, he was now setting off from a position of negative infinity.
    The shower turned on in the bathroom. He considered waiting for Astrid before eating, but he had no idea how long she’d be in there and his scrambled eggs would taste awful cold. He put Astrid’s burger plate on the dresser and took the tray and his two cell phones with him out onto the balcony. There were no new messages on his work phone, so he slipped that into his jeans’ pocket and tucked into his breakfast while scrolling through the emails on his alter ego’s phone.
    He’d been undercover so long that he felt like the two personas were starting to merge. It didn’t help that he’d kept his real first name, but that had been a conscious decision since he’d just come out of a different assumed identity. He’d react authentically to someone using his real first name in much less time than having to absorb a new persona with a new first name.
    He scrolled through the list of emails on Holden’s phone. None seemed urgent. Rex, the head of security at his club and his occasional bodyguard, had some problems with one of the liquor deliveries, but it had been taken care of and now everything was fine. Not that Luke had ever doubted it would be. Rex was responsible and efficient. In a different situation, the two of them would have been great friends. Rex probably thought they were, but he was friends with Luke Holden, not Luke Hager.
    Luke put the phone down and doused his eggs with more hot sauce. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the bathroom door