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

even if it wasn’t quite what he wanted. He let himself give in at last and exploded into her hand, the hot, sticky spurts spraying across her stomach only to be washed away by the shower. She held onto him, pumping the last of his seed through her fingers, until there was nothing left for Gunnar to give.

Bridget drew herself up with an arm around his neck and looked down at Gunnar. A healthy flush had returned to her face, leaving her cheeks the pale pink of cherry blossoms. Violet light poured from her forehead, bathing them both in its strange warmth. “Thank you,” she said. “I think we both needed that.”

“You can say that again,” Gunnar agreed. “Now I need to sleep for a few days.”

She shook her head, the long rope of her wet ponytail slapping against her shoulders. “There’s something else we have to do first.” She hesitated, and the white glow returned to her eyes. “I’ve seen what has to happen now. I can help you. If you trust me.”

Gunnar couldn’t look away from Bridget. There was something ethereal about her, an otherworldly beauty that entranced him and grew more powerful by the moment. The bond they shared was so powerful it took his breath away. It was hard to believe that he could feel so strongly for anyone he’d practically just met, but there was nothing rushed or false about his feelings. He cared for Bridget nearly as much as he did for Ray and knew she felt the same. “I trust you,” he said.

“Okay.” Bridget took in a deep breath as she untangled her limbs from his and lowered herself to the shower’s floor. “Leave the water on, this part is messy. And painful. But when it’s all over, you’ll be good as new. Better, even. But you have to tell me you’re willing to make the sacrifice.”

The bodyguard didn’t need any more pain in his day, but he leaned back against the wall of the shower and let his arms fall to his side. Bridget’s words were powerful. They spoke to a truth he’d glimpsed on that rooftop with Odin. She would guide him to the next step on their journey. “I’m willing to make a sacrifice,” he said. “Do it.”

Bridget’s hand darted to Gunnar’s face. An icy blast of pain speared through his right eye as the daggers of her nails plunged into the socket. Gunnar felt their sharp tips scrape against the bone behind his eye. He groaned as the bones of the shattered socket shifted around Bridget’s fingers and something gave way inside his head with a wet snap.

“Ugh, that was grosser than I thought it would be,” Bridget said, her lips twisted into a frown. “Almost done.”

Gunnar’s good left eye stared at the gory mess in the woman’s right hand. She held his eyeball, stringy bits of nerve fiber and muscle tissue dangling from its back side. “What. The. Fuck.” Each word burst from his lips, a pained gasp.

Bridget threw open the shower’s door, kicked the toilet lid up, and dropped Gunnar’s eye into the bowl. While he bellowed a protest behind her, she leaned out and grabbed the gold necklace off the soap dish above the sink. With a quick tug, she yanked the Valknut free of the jewelry and turned back to Gunnar with the stone held between her index finger and thumb. “It’s okay,” she said. “Almost done.”

“You took my fucking eye,” Gunnar groaned.

“No, you sacrificed it,” Bridget replied, an enigmatic smile playing over her lips. “And now our new lives can truly begin.”

Bridget pushed Gunnar’s head back against the wall with one hand, pinning him to the cold tiles with her body. Her other hand pressed against the ruined hole where his right eye had been moments before. She uttered a string of nonsense syllables, her breath soothingly cold against his ruined eye socket.

Pain, as pure and blinding as a bolt of lightning, shot through Gunnar’s head. His muscles went stiff and his teeth clicked together as the stone settled into its new home inside his skull with a sound like grinding boulders.

“There is one test remaining,” Bridget whispered. “But I know you’ll pass with flying colors. Remember us, Gunnar. We’ll help you.”

Gunnar’s world disintegrated, its seams tearing apart to reveal a dark and twisted landscape. Something dangerous moved through the shadows out of his sight, a creature that smelled of smoke and blood and roasted meat.

“Hello there, lover,” it said. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Hyrrokkin. We have so much to discuss.”

Chapter 11

GUNNAR’S HANDS AND jaw clenched as the jötunn who’d spoken to him emerged from the shadows. She was taller than he was, and the rack of twisted antlers that rose from her head like a crown added another two feet to her height. Green flames burst from the ground with every step she took, illuminating her path. The uncertain light revealed her stark and unyielding beauty and statuesque body. Her proportions were flawless, her face so perfect it was difficult to look at. Despite her attractive form, though, she repulsed Gunnar. It wasn’t the smoldering patches that shifted across her skin or the luminous vertical pupils that split her eyes.

No, what Gunnar hated was the cruel twist of her lips, the chaotic malice he sensed brewing in the witch’s cauldron of her heart. Even if he hadn’t accepted Odin’s quest, this creature would have been Gunnar’s enemy.

She was the burning woman he’d seen outside Corso’s villa. The one the jötunn had wanted to give him to in exchange for power.

“Cat got your tongue?” the jötunn asked. “I thought you’d be happy to see me.”

Puffs of smoke gusted from her mouth with every syllable she spoke, hiding slices of her face behind little black clouds.

Gunnar’s knuckles popped, and his stomach tightened into a ball of rage. He wanted to storm across the ashy plain and strike Hyrrokkin down. But his head still throbbed, and his muscles felt weak and clumsy. The