Valhalla Virus by Nick Harrow (best management books of all time TXT) 📕

his scrawny neck and shake him until the rest of the truth fell out. But he could already feel the dream fading around him and knew time was short.

“Last chance,” he told the old man. “Anything else I need to do?”

“Just one: Wake up!” Odin shouted at him and dug his fingers into Gunnar’s eye. He raised his bloodstained hand to the sky, and the eyeball he’d plucked out of the bodyguard’s head transformed into a blazing spear. The old man hurled the gory weapon down the Vegas Strip. “Óðinn á yðr alla!”

The echoes of the words rebounded from the faces of the Strip’s casinos, and Gunnar heard the translation ringing in his thoughts.

Odin owns you all!

Chapter 5

A ROARING CRASH OF thunder and an icy blast of wind jolted Gunnar awake. He sat straight up in bed and flung the covers off his legs before he heard a surprised squawk and realized he wasn’t alone in the bedroom. He ripped open the nightstand drawer, looking for the pistol he knew should be there. It wasn’t, and his pulse raced as he tried to put together the pieces of the puzzle. It was hard to think past the ache in his right eye. It felt like someone had poured a cup of hot coffee right into the socket.

“Easy, tiger,” Ray said from beneath the blanket he’d tossed over her head. She clawed her way out of the bedclothes and sat up next to him. “Good afternoon, sunshine. Sleep well?”

Gunnar blinked to brush the sleep away and pressed the balls of his hands into his eyes until he saw stars. He’d expected to feel like hammered shit when he woke up, but the aches and pains had abandoned his arms and legs, and he didn’t have any trouble breathing. His eye still hurt, but even that pain had faded from blinding agony to annoying ache. “Shit,” he said, “it’s already afternoon?”

“Afraid so.” Ray drew a line down the center of his naked chest with one manicured nail. “Mimi freaked out when you wouldn’t wake up, even after she buzzed an alarm that shook Bridget and me out of bed. We both felt okay, and Mimi didn’t see us freaking out on the cameras, so she unlocked our doors.”

“She was supposed to wake me up first,” Gunnar said.

“Why?” Ray asked. “Because you’re the only one who gets to make decisions about what we do?”

Gunnar propped himself up on his elbows. “If something happened during the night—”

“Like if Bridget or I got sick?” Ray crossed her arms and scowled at Gunnar. “I know more about this virus than you do. I could—”

“Okay, okay,” the bodyguard groaned. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”

The anger in Ray’s eyes didn’t completely die, but Gunnar was relieved to see it had at least dimmed. They’d need a serious talk about their shared past before she’d bury the hatchet for good.

Maybe they’d have that chat after they returned to civilization.

“You better be sorry,” Ray said with a faint smile. “And she did try to drag your sorry butt out of bed, but you wouldn’t budge. Not even when she sounded the alarm. That’s why she sent me in.”

“Great,” Gunnar groaned. “What time is it?”

Ray pointed at the old-school alarm clock on the nightstand next to Gunnar. “That thing says it’s two o’clock. We missed lunch, and I’m so hungry I could eat you. And there have been a few changes.”

Gunnar didn’t like the sound of that. He propped himself up on one elbow and took a long look into Ray’s eyes.

There was a black dot in the middle of her forehead.

No, not a dot.

A hole.

Ray brushed her fingertips across the new addition to her features and shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt. Didn’t even know it was there until Bridget pointed it out.”

“What is that?” Gunnar asked.

“Magic,” Ray said. “I had a really messed-up dream last night.”

She grinned and slipped the tip of her index finger into her forehead. It vanished up to the first knuckle before she pulled it back out.

“Gross,” the bodyguard groaned. “Please don’t do that again.”

“What’s wrong?” Ray asked, feigning innocence. “You don’t like it when I put things in my hole?”

“Do it if it feels good, I guess. Maybe I’ll take a stab at it later.” Gunnar grinned and rested his hand on her hip. His smile faltered a bit as the implications sank in. “I had a dream, too. Which I guess wasn’t really a dream at all.”

“You’ve got that right,” she said, her voice soft. “Bridget and Mimi and I were all visited by the same hot blond chick. She made us pick whether we wanted to bat for the home team or the invaders. We all made the same decision. Now we’ve got völva superpowers.”

“I always thought your vulva was pretty super,” Gunnar said, his hand sliding toward the inside of her hip.

“No, völva.” Ray sat up straight and threw her shoulders back. “It means I’m a special Viking witch.”

“Did the hole in your head tell you that?” Gunnar asked.

“Google it,” she said. “Maybe you’ll learn something.”

“Hard pass,” Gunnar said. “I’d never hear the end of it if Mimi caught me using her swanky underground wi-fi to google ‘völva.’

“Funny guy,” Ray said, her voice smoky. “Better watch it, or I’ll turn you into a toad. The good news is that I think the worst of the Valhalla Virus should be over.”

Gunnar scooped Ray up in one arm and rolled her over onto his chest. He went in for a kiss, then froze with their lips an inch apart. “Are we still contagious?”

“I don’t think so,” Ray said. The last angry sparks in her eyes were replaced by the smoldering fires of lust. “Whatever was gonna happen already happened. According to the research I stole, if you’re still alive when the fever breaks, then you’re out of the woods. Let me check your temperature.”

Her hand slid down Gunnar’s stomach, then lower. She cradled his balls, her fingers lightly squeezing. She kissed him, her mouth