by Laken Cane
It was a strange time—but she could see it happening. The Others were becoming more accepted every day.
COS—the Church of Slayers—was surely screaming in rage with each tiny Other step forward. At the thought of COS, she glanced at Lex.
Z took a miniature turtle from his pocket and while he was busy showing it to Lex, Rune pulled Ellis into the hallway.
“Tell me what’s going on with Lexi.”
“I really don’t know. She was like that the entire time you were gone. If I didn’t know her I’d have said she was withdrawing from drugs.”
Rune pursed her lips, thinking. “We know that’s not it. I’ll talk to the twins.”
“She seems better now. Now that you’re back.”
“You think she’s become dependent on me?”
He shrugged, rubbing absentmindedly at his right arm. He’d had some breaks in that arm during the Hawthorne battle, and the cast had just come off. “Her anxiety levels went through the roof a few days after you left. If something else happened, she didn’t tell me.”
Rune studied him. Ellie had changed after the battle. They all had. She wasn’t sure quite how to take the newly mature, less naive Ellis. Maybe he just needed more time to get back his joy. His…zest. “I love you, Ellie.”
He winked, but his eyes remained sad. “I know.”
“What’s wrong?”
He hesitated. “I fell in love.”
“Ellie! But that’s great. Isn’t it?”
“It is if that love is returned.”
“Who could not love you?”
That brought out a hint of his old grin. “Fishing, are you?”
“Fuck yeah. Who is it?”
But he shook his head and refused to say.
Dammit. She’d been gone for a few short weeks and her crew had changed. Ellie was teetering on the edge of a broken heart, Raze was in fucking jail, and Strad was gone.
“Where did the berserker go?” she asked, even though she’d asked already…as if Ellis would suddenly have knowledge he didn’t have half an hour ago. She regretted the question as soon as she spoke it.
“Rune Marie Alexander. You’re—”
She put her fingers against his lips. Hard. “Do not say whatever it is you’re getting ready to say. Just…don’t.”
He smiled against her fingers, his eyes sparkling.
She glared. “Show me my office, then point me toward the new captain.”
“You’ll like her, Rune. She’s a little…different, but once you get used to her—”
Rune groaned. “Fuck me.”
“You’ll like her,” he said again, laughing, and laced his arm through hers. “I promise. You can trust her.”
“Yeah.” Like she believed that.
Her new office wasn’t any larger than her old office, but her old office had been pretty huge. Big enough to hold her desk, a couple of chairs, and all of Shiv Crew.
This one had a wall of windows, and someone—probably Ellis—had added a few personal touches. A couple of plants, a framed photo of Shiv Crew Mitch Percell had presented her with before the Hawthorne battle. One side wall was taken up with a huge corkboard on which someone—again, probably Ellis—had pinned a welcome home message.
She took a moment to close her eyes and pull in a deep breath. She was home—and life was looking up.
Ellis stood in the hall talking with one of RISC’s employees, and when Rune joined them the guy darted a look at her then away. Not everyone in River County would accept her. A lot more of them had than she’d expected, but not all of them.
Ellis noticed and put his hands on his hips. “Of course you know Rune Alexander, Shiv Crew captain?” he asked the guy.
Inwardly, she grinned. Ellie was protective of those he loved and no one was going to mess with Rune in his presence.
She kept her face blank and offered a hand to the guy. “Dale Royce, right?”
He paused, then took her hand. “Welcome back, Alexander.”
“Thanks. Let’s go meet the boss, Ellis.”
She hesitated outside Jeremy’s old office, pretending to read the sign on the door. Honestly, she just needed a minute.
Ellis touched her arm. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”
“Fucking Jeremy Cross,” she murmured.
Unwilling to let her think about recent pain, Ellis rapped on the door, then pushed it open. “Ms. Peel?”
A tall woman, around forty, arose from behind her gleaming, organized desk and motioned them inside. “Please. Come in.”
Her voice was quiet, her eyes peaceful. Her dark hair was pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck, but not a severe one. More to keep her hair out of her face while she worked, the same reason Rune usually pulled hers back into a ponytail.
Brown eyes stared at Rune from a subtly made-up face. Her suit was a simple but expensive skirt and jacket, and she wore only a single pair of gold hoop earrings.
She showed no curiosity—more of a patient knowledge that put Rune immediately at ease.
She didn’t look anything like the man whose place she’d taken, but everyone had the potential to be a killer.
“Ms. Peel,” Rune said, and extended her hand.
Her boss smiled. “Elizabeth, please. May I call you Rune?”
“Yeah.”
“Lovely name.” She glanced at Ellis. “Thank you, Ellis.”
He nodded and smiled. “I’ll leave you two to get acquainted.”
When he’d left the room and closed the door behind him, Elizabeth pointed to a chair. “Would you sit for a moment?”
Rune sat.
Elizabeth sat as well, then folded her hands on top of her desk. “I’ve heard nothing but good things about you. I’m aware of what you’ve recently gone through, and I know it will take time for trust to develop between us.” She paused, but continued when Rune remained silent.
“If you have problems, questions, or just need to talk, I encourage you to come to me. My door is always open.” She smiled a wry smile. “And I am almost always here.”
“You’ve heard I’m not exactly human,” Rune said. “If you have issues with that fact we need to discuss them now.”
Elizabeth smiled. “I have no issues with any group—human or Other. I don’t care what you are. If you treat me with respect, I will treat you with respect. I will trust you unless you prove I can’t.” She pointed to a plaque hanging on the wall behind Rune. “Those are words I live by.”
Rune turned in her chair to read the plaque. When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. “Maya Angelou.”
“Yes.”
Rune nodded slowly and stood. “I’ll start work officially tomorrow.”
“I heard you’ve already had a busy morning.”
“Yes, but I wasn’t on the clock. That was just for fun.” She grinned and headed for the door. Her new boss seemed peachy, but she’d been fooled before. Time. It always took time.
And Elizabeth Peel was probably thinking the same thing about her. “Rune…”
Rune stopped in the doorway. “Yes?”
“Strad Matheson.”
She stilled. “What about him?”
“I know he was Jeremy Cross’s…confidant, if you will. Do you trust him?”
Rune nodded slowly. “Yeah. I think I do.”
“Good. I’ve been waiting for him to make an appearance since he returned from Pennsylvania, but he has yet to come in.”
The knot inside Rune’s stomach tightened. It was almost always present, that knot, and depending on the circumstances it could be a huge, painful knot, or a smaller, less obvious one. And at the RISC captain’s words it grew and twisted inside her. She had to swallow hard before she could speak. “He’s back?”
A tiny line appeared between Elizabeth’s eyes. “For four days.”
Fucking berserker. She nodded and left the room, thinking hard. Why the fuck had Strad not contacted his crew? What was he hiding?
But at least
the new boss hadn’t sat there with dark, secret things sliding through her eyes. How refreshing that was.
She’d go to her ugly house and air out the place after one more stop. She was going to see Raze. She’d been informed that Raze had refused visitors the entire time he’d been incarcerated, but Rune wasn’t going to let that stand in her way.
As she neared Ellis’s office thoughts of Raze flew from her mind. The berserker’s voice rumbled from inside the room and despite her attempt at nonchalance, her heart went crazy.
Strad Matheson had always made her nervous. Freaked her right the fuck out. She wiped her palms on her jeans, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
And then wished with everything inside her that she hadn’t.
Chapter Three
Please don’t let them read anything in my fucking eyes. She nodded a hello to Strad, who stood beside a small blonde woman and an angelic looking boy of around eight years old. The kid had wispy blond hair and was so little a light wind could have carried him away.
Strad sported dark circles under his eyes and lines she hadn’t seen before had appeared on his face. He looked like he’d been through some rough shit in the last few weeks.
Lex immediately left her chair and grabbed Rune’s hand. That almost made Rune more nervous than the look of total dismay in Ellis’s eyes.
What the fuck?
But somehow, she knew. Just knew. Bad news, that’s what the fuck.
Strad pinned her with his fierce blue gaze but after a glance at him she had to look away. She couldn’t stare at him. Couldn’t do it and nothing short of a bullet could have made her.
The blonde left Strad’s side, her smile guileless, hand outstretched. “You’re Rune, aren’t you? I’ve seen you on TV, of course. I’ve heard so much about you, I feel like I already know you.” She stopped in front of Rune and Lex. “I’m Tina, Strad’s wife, and this is our son Matthew.”
Rune had to pry Lex’s grip from her hand before she could trade handshakes with the blonde. She muttered something, she must have.
She hoped it wasn’t fuck me, because that’s all that was running through her head. Not only because she was dazed, but because she’d figured during her time away that repeating nonsense might keep Lex from reading her.
Fuck me.
Lex snatched Rune’s hand from the stranger, her body vibrating wildly. “Go away,” she said, as though she were a scared child.
“Lex,” Rune said, startled. Lex wasn’t usually rude unless the situation warranted it.
And it wasn’t the fucking blonde’s fault Strad was a son of a bitch.
She hadn’t fed for eight weeks. Dreams and thoughts of the berserker’s blood had kept her going in the clinic. It was the treat at the end of a long, hard time away.
And he was married.
With a kid.
Fuck me.
Tina withdrew, paling at Lex’s venom. Or maybe it was because she’d gotten an up close and personal look at the Other’s crazy, dancing eyes. “I’m…” she put a hand to her chest and went back to Strad.
Compartmentalize, Rune.
She cleared her throat. “Nice to meet you.” Then she nodded at the boy. “Hey, kid.” She didn’t really have a clue how to act with kids so she generally talked to them like she would an adult and hoped for the best.
So far, none of them had bitten her or kicked her shins or anything. She must have been doing something right.
The little boy jerked his stare from Lex to Rune. “I saw my dad give you blood. It’s on YouTube. He has a scar on his wrist.”
He has a scar on his fucking neck, too.
“Matthew,” Tina cautioned. “I asked you not to—”
“Yeah, your dad saved my life,” Rune interrupted. “He’s a real hero.” Maybe he heard the coldness in her voice or maybe he just knew her. Whatever, her words made Strad flinch.
She smiled down at the kid. Wasn’t his fault, either, that his father had hidden an entire family away in Pennsylvania and hadn’t bothered to tell any-fucking-one.
The silence came then, awkward and heavy.
Ellis broke it. “Strad’s…family is in trouble, Rune. He was just explaining.”
Nice. “Tell me.”
Strad spoke for the first time since she’d entered the room. “My son is a…” He lifted his big hands helplessly, words eluding him.
“A clairvoyant,” Tina finished for him. “Since birth.” She leveled a long look at Strad. “A birth defect, according to some people.”
Trouble in paradise.
Of course, there must have been trouble long before then. Why else would Strad be living in Ohio while his wife and kid lived in Pennsylvania?
“It’s dangerous and only hurts him,” Strad said. “I attempted to keep his gift secret, but somehow…” he threw the look right back at Mrs. Matheson. An unfriendly look. “It escaped.”
“Nothing stays hidden forever,” Rune murmured.
Ellis hurried over to Matthew. “Let’s go find you a candy bar, Matthew.” He led the boy from the room after a quick glance of disapproval at the adults.
Before Strad could continue his story, the office door opened and Jack and Z entered, followed by the twins.
Jack slapped Strad on the back—next to Raze, Jack had been the biggest of the Shiv Crew members, until Strad had joined them.
Her giants.
“Guys,” Rune said, “This is Tina Matheson. Tina, this is Jack, Z, Denim, and Levi. Shiv Crew.”
“Dude,” Jack said. He shook hands with Tina, who stared a moment too long at his eye patch before transferring her wide-eyed stare to the scar twisting its way down Denim’s face. Jack grinned at Strad. “You have a sister?”
“No.” Rune smiled, and it stretched across her face in an almost painful way. “He has a wife.”
She made the mistake of looking at Strad as she said it. He caught her stare in the snare of his own and refused to let go.
Fuck you, Berserker.
Tina looked from one to the other, frowning. “It’s obvious you two have some issues with one another, but please, put them aside for now. Matthew is in danger.”
Rune nodded and managed to drag her stare away from the huge berserker. “You’re right.” Major issues.
Strad caught the new arrivals up quickly and then picked up where he’d left off. “Someone attempted to abduct my son a few weeks ago.”
“No leads at all?” Rune folded her arms, wishing she’d thought to grab a cup of coffee from the break room.
“Not really. Three men broke into my…into Tina’s home and attacked her. They wanted Matthew. He was sleeping at his grandparents’ that night—that’s what saved him. Because his gift is not so secret now, everyone wants to see if he can find their missing people.”
No one asked the question on everyone’s mind, so Strad continued. His expression was cold—he knew they were judging him. “I’ve decided the best thing for him is to bring him here so I can protect him.”
“And you guys,” Tina said. She twisted her hands together and looked with beseeching eyes at Shiv Crew. “You’ll help protect him, won’t you?”
“Yeah,” Rune said, looking at no one. “We’ll do everything we can.”
Tina buried her face in her hands and started sobbing, and Z patted her on the shoulder. Z’s weakness was women—he couldn’t bear to see one mistreated or unhappy.
She finally regained control and tossed a smile at Z.
“You okay?” Strad asked her.
She nodded, but didn’t offer him a smile.
Strad went on. “We’re in the dark. We’ve questioned every group from wolves to the local Church of Slayers.”
Lex moaned and hid her face behind her hands.
“Fuck,” Rune said.
Levi and Denim immediately put their arms around Lex and led her from the room.
“I’m sorry,” Strad said. He rubbed his eyes. “Fucking mess.”
Tina frowned. “Strad.”
She blushed when the crew looked at her but straightened her shoulders and changed the subject. “What’s wrong with Lex?”
“Her mother is Karin Love,” Rune explained. “Founder of the Church of Slayers.”
“What? I thought Lex was an…”
“An Other? She is. Her mother was raped by Others. She made sure Lex paid for that fact until finally Karin went to prison and the twins got Lex out of the church. Even the mention of COS sends Lex back into that nightmare world.”
COS had disbanded when Karin Love and half the members had been sent to prison—but all over the country, small branches continued to pop up. They all claimed the same thing—they had separated themselves from Karin Love and they did not harm Others. But they strongly believed in a world free of monsters—and no one pretended to believe COS wasn’t still doing terrible, illegal things.
When unlawful activity was proven, the branch in question would be taken down. Almost immediately another took its place.
“There’s a branch in…” Rune gestured at Tina. She had no idea where in Pennsylvania Strad’s wife had lived.
“Yeah. Philadelphia. Every inch of the church has been searched. Those who belong to PCOS have had their properties searched, been questioned…threatened. Nothing turned up.” He rubbed his face. “The attempt could have been made by anyone.”
Rune sighed. “You’ll need someone to babysit them when you can’t be there.”
“I hired a couple of men.”
“You hired werewolves,” Tina said, shuddering. “I can’t relax with them in the apartment, watching my every move.”
Rune stared at her for a long moment, then glanced at Strad. “If you need someone else, a floater Shiv Crew uses is a badass. Her name is Sherry.” She threw a look at Tina. “She’s human.”
“And a woman,” Tina said, eagerly. She pulled a pen and paper from her purse. “May I get her number?”
“We’re still keeping the wolves, Tina.”
She narrowed her eyes at Strad. “Fine, they can be there sometimes. But I’d rather have a woman in the house, thank you. Especially when I’m sleeping.”