Warrior Mate

by L. J. Red

  Chapter 33

  It took hours, the night fading into day as Rune stayed behind to oversee. He even helped with loading the boxes, causing some wide eyes—that a vampire would stoop to fetching and carrying with the grunts. Rune ignored them; he had done far worse jobs in his time than some heavy lifting.

  Eventually everything was packed up and Rune wanted to get to the precinct and Brigit. He needed to see her.

  “You’re heading back?” he asked the human male on the team, Novak. He was lingering by the last consignment of the powder canisters.

  “What?” Novak spun, almost looking guilty. “Oh, yeah,” he said.

  “I’ll ride with you, then,” Rune said. He could use the shadows to flit quickly across the ground, but they were miles out from the city and he was exhausted. The dawn was already pressing down on the clouds. It would be faster to take a car. He had come with Lucian and the others, but those cars had already been volunteered to transport the wounded vampires.

  “Huh? Oh, yeah.” A spark entered Novak’s eyes. “Yeah, you can come with me. That’s a great idea.” He glanced to either side, but apart from a handful of officers guarding the doors, they were the last ones there. “Come on then,” he said, jerking his head toward his car.

  Rune frowned. He was acting strangely, but then he always seemed to act strange. He was a small, skittish man, and Rune hadn’t paid much attention to him over the past few weeks. Perhaps this was merely his nature.

  Setting aside his unease, Rune followed Novak out of the factory into the approaching dawn.

  Rune settled into the passenger seat beside Novak and let his eyes fall shut, shielding them from the pale sun and wishing he’d thought to bring dark glasses.

  “Oh yeah, the sunlight must hurt, huh?” Novak said, and strangely there was a note of satisfaction in his voice. “Don’t worry, the drive won’t take long,” Novak said as the car pulled out.

  Rune thought it had taken a few hours to get here but perhaps it was faster on the way back; he didn’t know if they’d taken a longer route so as to try to avoid tipping off HUNT. Not that it had worked. No matter. He needed to think about what he was going to say when he found Brigit. He needed to get it right this time. He’d been an idiot to assume she would want to accept his claim at once. Of course she needed more time to get used to the idea, and to insult her by suggesting vampires were better than humans… Look at what Roman had done to these innocents, just to turn them over to HUNT to get tortured. Hell, look at what Kai had done to the city. No, he knew better than anyone the depravity vampires could inflict on humans and on each other. He was going to apologize to her for his bullheadedness. For once he would get the words right in his head before seeing her. She scattered his thoughts, took his breath away, made him impulsive, foolish. He wouldn’t let himself become overwhelmed by her this time. He would hold on to his purpose.

  He understood that Brigit wanted to remain human. It wouldn’t be fair to take her humanity away like it had been stripped from the captured vampires; it should be a choice and she should be free to refuse.

  He would tell her the only thing that mattered was the fact they were soulmates. Human or vampire didn’t matter. Whether she took his claim or not… he forced the flare in the bond away. He would not be ruled by his instincts. If she never wanted to complete the bond, so be it. But he would be honest with her about what he wanted, no standing silently in the shadows as her protector. Gods, how arrogant he had been. No, he would tell her how he felt, how he saw her as a true warrior, how he had been mistaken for so long, how he—

  His eyes flashed open as the sound of tires on rough gravel echoed through the car. Shouldn’t they be on the freeway by now? Rune leaned forward. Trees? A dirt track? They weren’t back in the city. They’d gone in the other direction. The car skidded and Rune realized how fast they were going. “What the hell?” He turned to Novak. “Where are we?” he growled. “The fuck are you doing?”

  Novak’s eyes went wide and his hands left the wheel as he turned to Rune, dropping down to his waist. The car veered and at the speed they were going a crash would mean serious injury, even for a vampire. Rune leaped for the wheel, his hands occupied, his attention distracted by the trees outside as Novak pulled out a canister. The canister from the HUNT factory. He must have slipped one into his pocket instead of putting it in the box with the rest. Then the cap was off and the drugs exploded directly in Rune’s face.

  Rune roared in pain, losing control of the car and rearing back. Through the haze of pain, he heard Novak laugh. “I thought I’d fucked up when those bitches found the documents I’d been hiding but this is so much better. Cleaver is going to reward me above all the rest when I bring him an actual Shadow to experiment on.”

  Cleaver? Reward? Rune’s thoughts smeared like paint across his mind as the drug ran screaming into his lungs, his blood, and dragged him down. His last thought was for Brigit. He would never have a chance to find her, never make things right.

  But at least he could kill this man, stop HUNT from taking him and using him to refine their weapons. Better to kill them both in a fiery wreck. With the last of his strength, Rune flailed for the wheel, grabbing it blindly and spinning it. He couldn’t see, he could barely hold on. The car spun, flew forward, and crashed into a tree. Metal screamed around him and the world turned on its head then smashed him in the face.

  Chapter 34

  Brigit paced the Sanctuary hall impatiently. Where was he? She’d thought she made it pretty damn clear that she wanted to talk to Rune. She had a lot to get off her chest and apologies had never come easy for her. But you know what helped? When the person you were apologizing to showed up!

  “Hey, what are you doing here?” Dana came out of one of the hallways leading down to the medical rooms. “I thought you were gonna get some sleep—”

  “I know,” Brigit talked over her impatiently. “I was. I wanted to speak to Rune first, but apparently…”

  “He hasn’t shown up?” Dana asked, coming closer.

  “Nope.”

  Dana frowned. “But the site’s cleared out. They’ve finished packing up; even the forensics have gone home. I got the call from Captain Davis.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “Yeah,” Dana said. “You’ve been waiting here the whole time?”

  “Yeah.”

  Her phone rang and she dug it out quickly, recognizing the number. “Franklin?”

  “Hey, something weird is going on.”

  “What?” Brigit asked, her stomach sinking.

  “I was going through some of the stuff we took from the factory. Morrell’s big on dotting i’s and crossing t’s.” She yawned down the phone. “S’cuse me, sorry. Something’s gone missing from inventory.”

  “Missing?” Brigit caught Dana’s eye and gestured for her to come closer.

  “Yeah, there were at least three crates of those powder canisters that Novak was supposed to bring back, only he hasn’t shown and he’s not answering his phone and… I’m going through his desk and there’s all sorts of stuff he was keeping in here.” She paused, then continued in a voice full of tension. “I know I should be telling Morrell this first but I finally got him to go lie down in the break room an hour ago and I need to tell someone… I think it’s information tying HUNT to the kidnappings, and to the black market. I think… I think Novak was part of it. I think he was a mole; I think he was the reason HUNT was alerted before we arrived. He’s a traitor.”

  A gaping wave of horror and pain washed over Brigit and she stumbled back. Rune, she thought in a rush of fear, knowing somehow exactly who the pain was coming from. It had to be. It wasn’t her. She struggled to stay upright.

  “Hello? Brigit, are you ok?”

  Dana leaped forward and held her up, grabbing the phone as it fell from Brigit’s nerveless fingers. “Franklin? This is Dana, yeah, I heard you. Can you track him down? I think he’s got Rune; I think he’s attacking him right now… How do I know?” She glance
d at Brigit. “Uh, it’s a vampire thing. Look, call me if you find anything.” She hung up and led Brigit over to a couch.

  “Is it Rune? Is it the bond?”

  “I think so,” Brigit gasped. She pressed her hand against her chest. She felt cold. She looked up at Dana. “It’s like it’s gone dark. A light I never knew was there, it’s been glowing this whole time and”—she choked—“it’s gone out.” She hadn’t recognized the connection she was feeling from Rune until it went. She felt fragile, jittery, full of adrenaline and fear. She needed to do something. She stood abruptly and braced against the pain in her ribs. “He’s gone. He’s gone; I’m sure of it.”

  “Gone, dead?” Dana said, her voice hollow with shock.

  “Dead? No.” Brigit gasped in a breath. He couldn’t be. No, she wouldn’t let that be true. He had to still be there. She strained desperately down the bond she had been pushing away for so long… Yes! There. He was still at the other end. Faint, but there. She gripped the tattered threads of the bond.

  “I can feel him, but it’s like he’s at the bottom of a black lake. I can’t reach him, I can’t—”

  “The powder!” Dana exclaimed. “That’s what Dr. Patil said they would do, like a knockout drug. The moment it entered a vampire’s blood stream.”

  “Yeah,” Brigit said grimly, “along with extreme pain.” That’s what the explosion of pain across her nerves had been, an echo of what Rune must have felt. Her heart went out to him. More than that, rage rose within her. Novak would pay for this. “How do we find him?” she asked, turning to Dana.

  “Through you,” Dana said, gripping Brigit’s hands. “It’s the surest, fastest way to find him. The soulmate bond will lead you to him like it led me to Lucian when he was in danger.” Her brows shot up. “Fuck,” she said. “That’s where those HUNT bastards got the starting drug from, the shit Kai drugged everyone with. It’s Roman again; Roman fucking things up.”

  “I don’t give a shit about that,” Brigit shouted, tugging Dana’s attention back. “Who cares who’s behind it if Rune dies!”

  “Shit, I’m sorry,” Dana said. “I’m sorry. You’re right, we have to find him. Focus on him, call his presence to yourself. Close your eyes, breathe.”

  Listening to Dana’s whispered instructions, Brigit tried to center herself, to delve deep and find him within herself. Closer and closer, like she was swimming toward him through the icy black, closer until she was right above him. And then she dived. Down, down, deep black all around her, then there, a tiny shred of light, glowing, closer and closer until she saw him before her, watery and pale but so close, almost close enough to touch. Her eyes snapped open. “There,” she said, pointing, turning her face toward Rune’s fading presence. “He’s that way. Far out. So faint I don’t think he ever made it back to the city.

  “Let’s go,” Dana said.

  They took one of the sports cars from the Sanctuary. The streets were practically empty at this hour of the morning, which was a good thing because both of them were running on fumes. Brigit’s sense of Rune led them all the way back toward the factory. For a moment Brigit thought he was still there, but no, they passed it, then peeled away, onto a hiking path, bumpy and unused. Where the fuck was Novak taking Rune?

  The road twisted, and Dana slammed on the brakes as they drove into a scene of carnage. Novak’s car was wrapped around a tree trunk, the windshield buckled and cracked, metal twisted around the tree. The car was crumpled, one of the doors lying a foot away, and Novak face down next to it, lying still, blood marring the side of his face. Rune was lying half out of the car. He wasn’t moving.

  Brigit launched herself from the car barely moments after Dana stopped and ran to him. She pressed her fingers to his neck, searching for a pulse. There! Weak and thready, but there. “He has a pulse,” she shouted to Dana. “We have to get him back to the Sanctuary; this shit fucked up Aaron, sent him into the coma.”

  “Hurry,” Dana said grimly, looking up at the road. “I can hear the sound of cars. Whoever Novak was meeting, they’ve tracked him down.”

  Together they lifted Rune’s body out of the car. It was like he was made of bricks. He was so heavy even Dana was puffing. Was the man all solid muscle? Finally, they got him into their car and Dana reversed in a scatter of gravel and sped away, just as a truck appeared over the rise.

  “Wait!” Brigit said, shooting out her hand.

  “What?” Dana slammed on the brakes.

  “The drugs Novak stole. We can’t let HUNT have them.”

  “Fuck.” Dana slammed the wheel.

  “Cover me,” Brigit said, kicking open the door and climbing out of the car. The truck that had appeared skidded to a stop and hunters crowded out, aiming their weapons at them. Before they could fire, Dana laid down a hail of gunshots and Brigit took aim and fired once, twice, BOOM. She hit the gas tank and Novak’s car, along with all the drugs, exploded in a massive ball of fire, clouds of smoke billowing out around them.

  “Fucking go!” Brigit screamed, diving back in. Dana launched the car forward, her arm over her mouth and nose as they sped away.

  “You ok?” Brigit shouted over the sound of the engine.

  “Yeah,” Dana panted, dropping her arm. “We were far enough away; I didn’t breathe any of it.”

  “Thank fuck. I don’t need you fainting on me too.”

  Rune gripped Brigit’s hand. She started in shock, then stared down; he was awake. “Oh thank God.” She hugged him. “You’re alive.”

  “Novak didn’t get enough in me before I crashed us both,” he choked out. “You dealt with it?” he asked her.

  “Yeah,” Brigit said firmly. “I dealt with it.”

  “Good,” Rune said, and his grip went slack as he slipped back, this time into a healing sleep. He trusted her. He really trusted her, and she gripped his hand tightly as they sped back toward their city.

  Chapter 35

  “Should you even be out of bed?” Brigit asked, staring up at Rune. She’d come into the medical room to check on him, only to find him standing, hospital smock in a pile on the floor. Luckily, he’d already put on his pants, but unluckily for her ability to focus, he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Abs, such rock-hard abs. Fuck, focus. She dragged her eyes up to meet his.

  “I’m done being an invalid,” he said. Brigit sighed. She couldn’t blame him; she was shit at being sick too. “But you almost died, Rune. Aaron is still in a coma.”

  “Aaron had the drug in his bloodstream directly. I barely breathed any in. I’m fine.” He rested his hand on her arm.

  She hadn’t meant to come so close. She’d needed to see him, just to check, just to touch. She snatched her hand back, Focus, B, focus. The bond thrummed between them, yearning, wanting. Fuck, she’d had enough of this. She needed to tell him—

  “I should never have told you to stay at the Sanctuary,” Rune said. “I should never have tried to order you to do… anything. I insulted you, as a warrior, as a human. Vampire is not better; vampirism is not always a gift.” He looked down, away from her. “I made a terrible mistake. I insulted you, your abilities, your human nature. It was ill done of me, and I… I’m sorry, Brigit.” He looked back, catching her eyes, and his own were cloudy with remorse. Brigit’s breath caught. “I was a fool. I don’t know if you can ever forgive me, and I understand if you want nothing to do with me.”

  Brigit didn’t know what to say. She’d thought she’d have to convince him, to balance her desire for him with the struggle to do her job. She hadn’t expected this. “You really mean it? You understand?”

  “You’re like Dana,” he said. “You’re a fighter, I see that now. Hell, I saw it from the start. I just… I was so attached to the idea that I needed to protect you, that I needed to prove I was worthy of you.”

  She stepped close to him. “Maybe it’s not about being worthy for each other. Rune, God, I don’t know how any of this is going to work but…” She swallowed nervously. “Dana told me I can stay human, that t
he claim isn’t the same as turning.”

  “Of course not,” Rune said.

  Brigit laughed. “Well it might be obvious to you, but this is all new to me, you know. I thought it was the same thing.”

  Rune winced. “I was an idiot to offer to turn you. I thought we had to be the same as the others but we don’t. We are ourselves and you don’t have to be a vampire to be my soulmate, Brigit. You are my soulmate already; nothing will change that. You don’t need to change. I thought you had to be a vampire because that was all I knew. But, Brigit, I don’t want that. I don’t want to force you like Sparrow and the other vampires were. What Roman did to them…” He shook his head. “I should have realized sooner. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re a vampire or not. It’s you I want. Just you.”

  Brigit looked up at him. “Me? All human and messy and weak?”

  “You’re not weak,” he said. “Never weak. I was a fucking idiot to imply that. You had every right to hate me.”

  “I never hated you. I sure wanted to, but I just couldn’t. I wanted you too badly.”

  Rune caught the light in her eyes and his own darkened with lust. “I want you, Brigit.”

  “Now?”

  “Always.”

  Brigit glanced to the side. “There’s a bed right there. You were the one who climbed out of it—whoa!” He lifted her up and threw her onto the bed so the mattress bounced, before climbing up on top of her. “I’m not sure how strong these hospital beds are.”

  “Don’t worry,” Rune laughed, and Brigit realized it was the first time she’d heard him laugh. She wanted to hear it again. It was delicious, like velvet rubbed over her entire body. “They’re made to contain vampires.”

  Brigit stared up at him. She’d been afraid coming here, worried they would argue, that she would lose her nerve, but now, staring up at him, his arms enclosed on either side of her, she knew what needed to happen. “Claim me,” she said.