Valkyrie Reborn Read online

  Brit handed Kirby a triangle of cake, then settled back onto the bed across from her. “Dig in,” Brit said.

  The pastry was small enough to take bites from without needing a fork. The flavors melted across Kirby’s tongue. It was really good. It was also gone quickly. She licked the extra ganache from the napkin.

  Brit laughed.

  Kirby fixed her with a playful glare. “I’m not wasting good chocolate.”

  “And I’m not blaming you. But you have chocolate on your nose.”

  Kirby scrubbed the side of her hand over her nose, but when she pulled away, her skin was clean. “No I don’t.”

  Brit dipped her finger in her icing and dabbed the results on Kirby’s nose. “Now you do.”

  “You bitch.” Kirby flung the retort out without malice.

  “Let me,” Brit said, grabbing Kirby’s wrist before she could wipe the mess away. She leaned in and licked off the chocolate.

  Kirby’s pulse screamed in her ears. She knotted her fingers in Brit’s hair and kissed her. Chocolate and strawberry and repressed desire flitted across Kirby’s tongue. She groaned against Brit’s mouth and crushed in harder.

  Brit raked her nails up Kirby’s back and back down. This was incredible. If this was how good the kisses were, what would it be like to feel more? Skin on skin? Naked flesh pressed together? Then again, Kirby was okay with making out for hours, as long as she got to keep touching Brit.

  Kirby lost track of time, as their hands roamed each other’s bodies and their mouths explored lips and necks and ears. The movie credits were scrolling on the TV.

  Brit pulled back with a gasp. “I’m warm. Are you hot?” She trailed her gaze over Kirby. “Dumb question. You’re definitely hot.”

  She was now. Heat raced across Kirby’s cheeks, mingling with the fire and electricity that flooded the rest of her. “I have the perfect solution.” She tugged up the hem of Brit’s shirt.

  “So smart.” Brit yanked off her top, then helped Kirby with hers.

  Kirby couldn’t help but stare. She was a bit jealous of the practical, plain, white satin that barely restrained Brit’s breasts. Her partner was almost spilling out of the large cups. “Gorgeous.” Kirby palmed the fleshy mounds and traced her thumbs over Brit’s nipples through the fabric.

  “You’ve seen me naked a billion times, and you’re impressed with this?” Brit’s laughter was punctuated with stuttered gasps.

  Kirby kissed along the top of the bra. “This is different. You’re different.” This was sating the pulse between her thighs and the years of fantasy, and there was no risk here of someone catching them. Telling them this was against the rules.

  They continued to explore one another, removing more clothes until the only thing either of them wore was panties.

  Brit grabbed Kirby’s wrists and pinned her to the bed, straddling her hips. She lowered her head and flicked her tongue over Kirby’s nipple. A new jolt raced through Kirby, tugging from her breast to throb in her aching core. Brit wrapped her lips around the swollen nub and sucked, kneading Kirby’s other breast at the same time.

  Kirby thrust her hips in time to the attention, rubbing her mons against Brit’s. The cool air kissed the damp fabric of her panties. Did she want to remove that last barrier to feeling everything? Go all the way? Or was she content to keep teasing and being teased?

  Anticipation could be delicious. She wanted Brit to enjoy herself, though. She gripped Brit’s hips and rolled them both so she was on top. Brit’s delighted giggle was a new kind of alluring.

  Kirby kissed a lazy path down Brit’s body, to scrape her teeth over the crotch of Brit’s panties.

  Brit squirmed to get closer, and Kirby pulled away. She hooked her fingers on the elastic and dragged the underwear down Brit’s legs. She drew her mouth back up the inside of Brit’s thighs, delighting in the warm body squirming under her attention.

  When Kirby licked her slit, Brit knotted her fingers in Kirby’s hair and bucked her hips into the touch. Kirby’s fingers slipped easily along Brit’s skin, and she wrapped one on either side of Brit’s clit.

  Kirby dove into the taste, the sounds, and the warmth pressing into her face. She licked across Brit’s clit. Using the moans that greeted her to increase her pace or change her angle.

  Brit’s gasps became more punctuated. She let out the most delicious cry when she came, grinding into Kirby, holding her in place until she jerked away from the touch.

  Need and smugness flowed through Kirby. Her own panties were soaked through with desire. She climbed back up Brit, to crush their mouths together.

  “Holy fuck, where did you learn that?” Brit asked breathlessly between desperate kisses.

  The question snagged on something in Kirby’s mind that she couldn’t grasp, and she shoved the thought aside. “I don’t know. It just popped into my head.”

  “I love it when you’re inspired.” Brit glided her hand down Kirby’s stomach and shoved her underwear aside.

  At the first brush of fingers along her wet pussy, Kirby arched her back, pressing into Brit’s touch.

  Brit nudged her back, to suck on one of Kirby’s nipples, and teased her hand along Kirby’s folds. When she brushed Kirby’s clit, a sharp jolt raced through her. Kirby was so close to the edge, it almost sent her tumbling over.

  The tiny circles that Brit traced became short strokes.

  Kirby humped her hand, focusing on every sensation at the same time, and losing herself in all of it. Orgasm spilled through her, stealing her thoughts and erasing the last of her tension.

  Brit eased up as Kirby pulled away, until they both lay on their backs, gasping to catch their breath.

  “I didn’t think you’d let me do that.” Brit spooned against her back.

  Kirby would let her do pretty much anything at this point. “Why not?”

  “You’re Kirby. The unattainable—well—super soldier, who doesn’t do anything wrong.”

  Kirby pressed back into her. “There’s nothing wrong about this. Everything is so very right.”

  “I didn’t mean... I thought you weren’t interested.”

  “I was terrified.” The confession slipped out without Kirby’s permission.

  “Of me?”

  “Of losing you.” She shouldn’t admit it, but Brit was her world. This felt like a now or never kind of moment. “Of finding out you didn’t see me that way. Of telling you I love you, and you not saying it back.”

  “Yeah?”

  Kirby glanced over her shoulder, one eyebrow raised.

  Brit kissed her bare shoulder. “I love you too. So much.”

  “After everything I did, when we fought...” The wrong insecurities were slipping out. Kirby needed to stop.

  “It doesn’t matter. The past is gone, and we have each other now.”

  Kirby smiled and pulled Brit’s arm tighter around her. “We do. And we make a perfect team.”

  The rest of the mission went as smoothly as Kirby figured recon ever could.

  Back home, everything changed, and at the same time, it all stayed the same. Field agents had their own apartments on campus, separate from the students and instructors. Brit spent a lot of nights in Kirby’s.

  They were careful. Not as much as they could have been, but Kirby didn’t think anyone cared. Sure, there was a no-fraternization rule, but the worst anyone had suffered—according to rumors—was a slap on the wrist. Kirby wasn’t sure if that was literal. Who knew, in this place?

  It was still early enough Brit hadn’t snuck back to her room. She’d been tense last night, and Kirby was worried about her, so they spent most of the night cuddling and sharing silly stories.

  Someone pounded on Kirby’s apartment door. “Lance Corporal Kirby, open up, please.”

  Chapter Nine

  6 Years Ago - Kirby

  A glance at the clock told Kirby it was barely five in the morning.

  Brit was already sitting.

  Kirby gave her a quick kiss and whisp
ered, “Stay here. Be right back.”

  She yanked on pants and a top as quickly as she would have a robe, raked her fingers through her hair, and padded to answer the door.

  She recognized the officers on the other side but didn’t know their names. They were a few years older than her. Their black shirts and jeans marked them as Campus Security. No one said it to their faces, but everyone knew CS was there because they couldn’t cut field work. She raised an eyebrow and waited.

  “Both of you, come with us now,” they guy in front said.

  “Private apartments. I’m the only one here.” Kirby glanced over her shoulder. “Do you need your eyes checked?”

  The two men in back dropped their hands to holstered stun-guns. The one in front glared. “Someone is at Lance Corporal Brit’s place now. When they find it empty, they’ll call me.”

  “And I can’t help you with that.” Kirby’s gut was twisting in on itself. Thank Freya, for her training. “I’ll accompany you, though. Do you need directions to the cafeteria?”

  “Both of you. Now.” He shoved a piece of paper at her.

  As she unfolded it, the words Summons and Disciplinary Action glared back at her.

  “We’re both ready.” Brit’s voice came from behind.

  Kirby swallowed a groan. Without looking, she could picture Brit standing in her bedroom doorway, dressed and at ease. Fuck.

  Both women followed their escort through the halls. Kirby wanted to lean in and whisper she had this. She’d make everything all right. Unfortunately, there was no option for her to do anything but march with the pack.

  They stopped in front of one of the larger meeting rooms, and Kirby’s tension cranked higher. This was where the disciplinary board met.

  A long table sat at the front of the room, and rows of chairs stretched back toward the door. Hel, Loki, and a few of the instructors were at the table, including Starkad. One chair was singled out directly in front of them, with another to their side.

  Hel stood. “Kirby. Approach.”

  Not Brit? That was a relief. So why did Kirby’s gut still feel like it was trapped in a paint shaker? She walked to the front of the room, back straight and expression blank.

  “You’re accused of assault and coercion of two fellow soldiers, as well as fraternization. How do you answer the charges?”

  Guilty on the last one. Shock flooded her over the others. “I absolutely have not engaged in any of those things. And I have the right to face my accuser.” A whisper of fear expected Brit to step forward.

  When Campus Security opened a side door instead, her relief lasted the half a second it took for Mark to walk into the room.

  “Sit, Kirby.” Loki gestured to the chair in front of them.

  Like some sort of trained dog. Sounds about right. She shook the thought aside and did as ordered.

  “Lance Corporal Mark, this is Kirby’s chance to answer your accusations,” Hel said.

  Mark took the other free seat and began. His tale started with her first day in school, when she’d attacked him. Except in his version, she was the aggressor. She’d bitten him. Threatened him. Gone to the teachers and blamed him—

  “No.” Kirby couldn’t listen anymore. “Hel was there that first day, and agreed I was right to defend myself. He did those other things to me. When I reported him, I was told to deal with the problem. So I did.”

  “I never hurt you.” Mark looked her in the eye when he told the blatant lie. “And you even went so far as to interrupt one of the classes where I was a student teacher, humiliate me, and injure me.”

  Kirby clenched her fists. “You threatened me. You groped me. You used sparring time as an excuse to molest and bruise me. And you did it all because you see me as a toy.”

  “Bruises are a part of training.” Hel’s voice was hard.

  Kirby didn’t like the slant of this hearing. It was as if every one of her responses landed in the dead air between her and the front of the room. Was there anything she could say? Should she say nothing? “Not this kind of bruise. Not without intent. And one thing you’ve most certainly taught us is how to mean the pain we inflict.”

  Loki’s smirk was disconcerting. “Don’t blame your shortcomings on others. Why was Lance Corporal Brit in your room this morning?”

  “We were discussing strategy.” It was getting harder for Kirby to maintain her composure. “We’re still learning from our field experiences, and want to take advantage of that knowledge. After hours is when we have time. We’re comfortable falling asleep studying.”

  She was over explaining. She needed to shut up. “I’m good at what I do. I’m the best. Does that mean I should take the blame for Mark’s insecurities?”

  Loki shook his head. “Being good at what you do doesn’t mean you have separate rules, and you’re not that great, if you can’t accept your own faults.”

  “I’m not—”

  “You don’t have the floor,” Hel said. “Lance Corporal Brit, approach and take a seat.”

  Kirby was desperate to look behind her. To watch Brit cross the room. To make some sort of eye contact and get an assurance they were on the same page. She didn’t dare.

  Brit took Mark’s spot, while he moved to the edge of Kirby’s vision.

  Hel turned to her side. “Brit, what were you doing in Kirby’s room this morning?”

  “The same thing I’ve done any other time I’ve been in her room in the last six months.” She met Kirby’s gaze. “We fuck.”

  Kirby was pretty sure her stomach had dropped so far at this point, it had left her body and was in the sub-basement.

  “You know that’s against the rules.” Hel didn’t sound surprised.

  Brit never looked away. “Kirby does a lot of things that are against the rules.”

  No.

  “The incident with Mark, a few years back. You were in the classroom?”

  “I was.”

  Kirby had tumbled past keeping a stony face and was just praying to not lose her shit and either scream or cry in the middle of the hearing room. What was happening? Brit would tell the truth about Mark, though. She had to.

  Kirby didn’t like the doubt that said not likely.

  “The night before the incident, Kirby found me crying in the bathroom.” Brit ducked her head. But it was a rehearsed shame, not a genuine response. “I hadn’t learned yet that the only way to grow here was to be strong. She tried to take that from me.”

  What? Was this about the sparring thing, in Starkad’s class? They’d moved past that. “That’s not what—”

  “You’re out of line.” Loki barked the words. “We’ll have you watch remotely if you can’t stay silent. Continue, Brit.”

  “Kirby pursued Mark with the intent of making his life miserable. She sheltered me. She refused to teach, or move aside so I could learn from someone else.” Brit’s shuddering sigh was too perfectly scripted. “Two years after we met, I wasn’t even good enough to spar with her. I’d earned my way into the advanced hand-to-hand classes in spite of her interference, and she told me in front of the entire class that I wasn’t worth her time.”

  This was like some sort of Bizarro universe. Kirby’s mind sped to follow the logic and landed on do they have a point? No. Kirby had always tried to walk that line between what was best and what kept Brit safe, but she hadn’t done any of these things because of jealousy or to keep someone else down.

  “She repeatedly humiliated me.” Brit wasn’t done. Wonderful. “Implied I was second best. Made it her mission to keep me from excelling, so she wouldn’t have competition.”

  “But you have excelled,” Hel said.

  “And you’ve been sleeping with her,” Loki added.

  Brit’s laugh was bitter. “Of course I have. When the golden child on campus says, do this or life gets worse, you don’t tell her no.”

  Oh gods. Kirby’s heart fractured and crumbled. None of what they shared was real. “I was protecting you. I was helping you. I love you.”

/>   “You took advantage of me.” Brit’s hard voice wasn’t an act.

  Kirby’s mind twirled and tumbled and unraveled.

  “You used your position. Your power. I’ve never had a choice but to tell you yes.”

  How had Kirby seen the last few years so differently? Had she pushed Brit into this? Was Kirby so delusional she never realized what she was doing?

  “I don’t love you.” Brit turned to Hel. “She’s a fucking monster. Worse than those we hunt. I’m terrified every time I’m alone with her.”

  “Enough.” Hel slammed her palms onto the table. “Standing strong is one thing. Manipulation is not our realm.”

  Kirby wanted to argue it was Loki’s, but mostly because his wrath would be easier to face than what Brit said.

  “Kirby’s never exhibited any of these behaviors anywhere else,” Starkad said “She’s treated like the best because she is the best.”

  She would have sobbed with relief that someone came to her defense, if her insides hadn’t already shattered.

  Hel regarded Starkad for a moment, then said, “You know as well as all of us that how an individual acts in public is not a reflection of who they are. You recognized the issue, or you wouldn’t have taken corrective action in your class the way you did.”

  Starkad winced.

  Hel continued. “I’ve heard enough. Kirby, we’re demoting you back to Cadet. You’re no longer a field agent, and you’re on probation. You’ll be given an administrative assignment. When you leave your room, you’ll do so with Campus Security. You’ll stay away from Brit and Mark. Your position will be re-evaluated in six months.”

  As the words rolled off Hel’s tongue, they encased Kirby’s disbelief in stone. There was no point in feeling or reacting. This outcome was decided before she arrived. Her hearing was all for show.

  Kirby nodded and thanked the hearing committee, because what else could she do? She fell into step with her Campus Security escorts back to her room, and listened as they locked her inside.

  She sat on her bed and stared at the wall and tried to forget that a few short hours ago, she’d lain under those sheets with Brit, thinking they both felt the same kind of love for each other.