Wild Hunt, by Lori Devoti
Third in Ms Devoti’s Unbound series by Nocturne, it was my introduction to her writing.
Here’s the blurb—which has nothing to do with the actual plot. Not that anyone is surprised anymore, right?
Natural Enemies—Hellhound and Valkyrie—their alliance made them more powerful than anyone could anticipate.
Alongside his hellhound brethren, Venge Leidolf was summoned to start the Wild Hunt anew. But in this dreaded pursuit of souls, Venge sought to free himself from his infernal bondage—by claiming the heart of a fierce Valkyrie…
Geysa never questioned the alluring gifts that set her apart from the other Valkyries, or her hatred of hellhounds—until Venge fell under her spell. Drawing the alpha hellhound so close made Geysa doubt her every instinct. To stop the Hunt, the two blood-born enemies would need to cast aside old vows and allegiances. Only then could no one question the strength of their union…
Unbound: Unleashed by passion… saved by love.
Well, okay, if you want to get technical about it, I lied: the blurb has some facts from the book. Her name is Geysa and she is part Valkyrie, and his name is Venge Leidolf and he is a hellhound. Everything else is… well, not in the book I read.
Basically, there’s this magical horn used by the ErlKing to summon the hellhounds to join the Wild Hunt, whose goal is to take and destroy the souls of its prey. For a while prior to the beginning of the book, the Valkyries have held the horn, thus thwarting the ErlKing. But now, this magical artifact is missing, and the wild hunt—and its attendant destruction of souls—could begin anew.
The Valkyries, who are charged with taking the souls of worthy warriors to Valhalla, have obvious reasons to want to find the horn. Venge has different reasons—namely personal revenge—and later we find out that there are a couple other entities after the horn, also for their own reasons. (more…)
