by Laken Cane
Llodra had given her yet another present. He’d attempted to turn Ellis.
He’d fed from Ellis, and if he’d forced Ellie to drink his blood, the chances were good that Ellis would turn.
Unless he was very, very lucky, Ellis would turn.
He would become a child of Llodra’s.
A vampire.
Jack stopped her before she reached the mad master. “You can’t kill him, sweetheart.”
She wrapped her fingers around his wrists. “Did you see what he did, Jack? Did you see?”
He pulled her against his chest and for once she didn’t stiffen or try to pull away. She was devastated. If Ellie turned…
If only she hadn’t forced him to go with her, carrying the fucking blood.
But she had, and regret wasn’t going to change a damn thing.
Jack took her shoulders and shook her lightly. “He’s alive, Rune.”
“Is he, Jack?”
“The vampires are dead—every last fucking one of them,” Raze called.
Rune took little pleasure in Llodra’s moan. “My children,” he cried.
She pulled out of Jack’s arms, wiped her eyes, and straightened her spine. “Let’s get Llodra to RISC and Ellis to the hospital.” She looked around for Strad, saw him standing silently against the far wall.
“There was no sign of Matthew,” Jack murmured.
Rune strode to Ellis and gently took his hand. “Did you hear or see anything of Matthew, baby?”
Ellis shook his head, then grimaced. “I’m sorry. He was not here.”
“What about…” she hesitated. “Blood and Fire, the two animals.”
“No.”
Levi tightened his arms around Ellis. “No more questions.”
Rune nodded. “Strad, carry Ellie up.” She pointed at Llodra. “I’ll call RISC to transport this fucking piece of trash out of here. Z, call the paramedics for Ellis.”
The likelihood of Llodra giving them Matthew’s location was slim, but RISC would give it everything they had.
She watched Strad as he lifted Ellis from Levi’s arms. The berserker would be in on the questioning. Llodra was going to suffer.
But the master was familiar with suffering. He would not talk if he didn’t want to talk.
Simple as that.
She left Jack to babysit Llodra until he could be transported out. RISC would bring a lightweight but sun-proof coffin-like container. They’d lock Llodra into it, still silvered, and then would wrap the entire vessel with silver.
Levi sat in her SUV with Ellis, waiting for the paramedics. A couple of neighbors had gathered together and stood watching the scene.
“It never ends, does it?” called one of them when she caught sight of Rune. “Even with your house burned down, you still bring the monsters.”
Rune ignored the humans and looked around for Strad. He walked around her house, staring at the ground, and she realized he was searching for freshly turned earth. For a grave.
Her heart broke for him. She walked toward him. “Strad.”
He glanced up. “Where the fuck is he, Rune?” He went back to searching, not expecting an answer.
She grabbed his forearm. “Strad.”
He sighed and stared down at her for a long moment, then finally leaned toward her and kissed her forehead. “Go to the hospital with Ellis.”
There was nothing she could do.
She turned to leave, and before the thought had fully formed in her mind she turned back, pulled his face down to hers and kissed him on the mouth, hard. “Berserker, I know there’s a lot going on right now.” All she wanted to do was kiss him again but she stepped back. If she didn’t say what was on her mind right then, she never would. “The two of us…we have to work this out. I…” She darted her gaze away from him and could feel heat climbing her face. “I feel something for you.” Great Rune. Smooth.
She took a deep breath and tried again. “What I mean is, I think the two of us should give whatever is between us a chance.” Dammit.
And as uncomfortable as she had ever been in her life, she turned and walked quickly away. She’d just let him know she was willing to be with him, and the thought scared her.
An image of Tina’s face swam in her mind but she pushed it away. She’d feel like shit tomorrow. Right now she was a little occupied with guilt over Ellie. Tina would have to wait.
The paramedics arrived and just as they lifted Ellis inside, the RISC van rolled down the street.
It had been a productive morning.
Levi stood beside her, staring forlornly after the departing ambulance. He and Denim looked so much alike she’d had trouble telling them apart until she got to know them. Or maybe it was the fact that Denim’s face had been marked by his stepfather, and Levi’s had not. That made identification a little easier.
“You going to the hospital, baby?” she asked him.
“I am so fucked up,” he murmured, and she was pretty sure he hadn’t even heard her.
“Dude, I know the feeling.” She clapped him on the back. “I’ll see you there.”
She glanced back at the desolate berserker as she walked to her car. He stood with his back to her, his long spear shining in the weak sunlight of the cold morning.
He looked more alone than anyone she’d ever seen.
And he’s mine.
Maybe, just maybe, that would help her get through the days to come.
She drove to the hospital, Levi following her.
Ellis smiled weakly when she and Levi were finally allowed to see him. “Hi.”
Rune smoothed his hair off his forehead. “Hi, baby.”
Levi shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “You okay?”
“I’ll be fine.”
She didn’t want to ask him, but she had to know. “Ellie…did Llodra make you feed from him?”
He frowned. “No. I…I don’t think so. I don’t remember much. Why?”
“Ellie—”
His eyes widened and he slapped a hand to his neck where a bandage hid the fang marks. “Oh, no. You think…” He couldn’t even say it.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I don’t know.”
Ellis horrified gaze flew to the man standing beside her. “Levi?”
Rune muttered an excuse and backed away, giving the two men some privacy. Ellis was going to have a hard few days—they all were—while they waited to see if he would turn.
If he did, he would change. He wouldn’t be Ellie anymore, not really. Vampires lost a lot of what had made them human. Empathy, sympathy, respect for human life, morals…
It was too much for her to think about.
Ellis as a bloodthirsty, vicious monster?
No.
It couldn’t happen.
She waited for nearly an hour before checking on Ellis once more. Levi still stood at Ellie’s bedside and looked no less relaxed than he’d appeared earlier.
“Call me if you need anything,” she told Ellis, then glanced at Levi. “You too, Levi.”
She grabbed a coffee and cheeseburger from the cafeteria and after eating she left the hospital. First she would visit Tina and hope her guilt wouldn’t show in her eyes. After that, she was going to RISC.
They would question Llodra and she wanted to be there when they tore the vampire apart.
She parked along the street and sat for a moment, staring up at Strad’s apartment. Beneath the apartment was a two car garage, its doors hiding Tina’s car. Strad would have parked inside as well, had he been home, but he would be at RISC waiting for his chance with Llodra.
Unless RISC restrained the berserker, she didn’t believe Llodra would survive the questioning. Strad was full of desperation and agony. Add to that cocktail the rage always swirling inside him, and Strad was going to hurt someone.
The insidious fear she’d always had of him was fading, but she still carried a healthy respect for the dangerous man.
Now that fear was tempered by…softer feelings.<
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She sighed and climbed from her SUV. Tina was going to be devastated that Matthew hadn’t been found. Surely Strad had already informed her, so Rune wouldn’t have to do that, but the woman would need a shoulder. Strad and Tina didn’t seem to get along well enough to lean on each other.
She hadn’t been keeping an eye on the new COS church or Tim Emerson—and he was due for a visit. She added that to the long list of things she needed to do.
She knocked once before using her key to open the door. She hadn’t expected Tina, usually sedated and unable to drag herself from bed, to answer the knock.
She walked through the silent living room and into the kitchen, shaking her head at the overly loud television coming from upstairs. Tina probably hadn’t turned it off since Rune’s last visit. At least the noise was some sort of company for her.
After she’d brewed some coffee and made Tina a sandwich, she carried the tray up the stairs. When she reached the closed door she balanced the tray with one hand and began to turn the doorknob.
Her heartbeat picked up speed and for a second she felt dizzy. She grimaced as the knots in her stomach twisted viciously.
Fuck.
Inside that room, something was wrong.
Something was terribly wrong.
Chapter Twenty-One
Hands shaking, she managed to hold the tray while shoving the door open, hard and fast.
“Tina,” she called, hearing the breathless panic in her own voice, expecting to find the woman dead of an overdose on the bed.
But that wasn’t what she found.
Tina squealed and grabbed for the sheets, which had ended up twisted and in a heap at the foot of the bed.
She yanked the sheets to her nude body.
Rune began backing from the room. “Oh shit, Tina, I’m sor—”
But then Tina, her cheeks a little less pale than they’d been the last time Rune had seen her, rolled off the man she’d been fucking.
Strad swung his bare legs off the bed and stood, unconcerned with his own nudity. He started toward her, his hand out. “Rune, it’s not—”
Numb, she dropped the tray. Its clatter jerked her from her frozen surprise and she yanked one of her shivs from a sheath. “You need to stay where you are, Berserker, because if you come one step closer I will cut you.”
Her fangs dropped and her claws fought to break free, but with her entire body shaking from the effort, she forced herself not to attack him.
She’d been such a fucking idiot.
“Rune, you have to listen.”
She smiled. “You’re wrong about that. All I have to do is leave.” She nodded at Tina, who stared at both of them with slowly dawning realization, and left the room.
She didn’t remember getting in her car, didn’t remember driving away, but somehow she made it to the RISC building.
And suddenly every little bit of joy she’d felt when thinking of Strad was gone. She was empty.
The brutal images of him standing before her naked and pleading began to hit her brain, unrelenting in their cruel intensity.
His eyes, as blue as hers but dark with agony and regret. His long, black hair, covering massive shoulders. His erection, hard and glistening, that he’d just pulled from his wife.
She’d been an idiot.
Fucking berserker.
Stiff with determination and pain she left her car, pushing Strad deep into a dark corner of her mind. She abandoned him there and strode into RISC.
Jeremy, I need you, you fucking bastard.
Stop it. Stop it.
There was work to do.
Lex was sitting in Rune’s office, staring listlessly at nothing, when Rune walked in. Z was there as well, talking in a low voice to Raze.
“Hi guys,” she said.
They turned to greet her, faces somber.
“How is Ellis?” Raze asked.
“Don’t know, yet. It could be days before…” She gestured. “Or if.”
Lex frowned and stood, walking unerringly toward Rune. “Something else has happened. You’re hurt.”
Raze crossed his arms and glared. “Whose ass do I need to kick?”
Lex grabbed Rune’s hand.
“Lex, fucking stop that.” Rune snatched her fingers out of Lex’s grip.
But Lex had gotten enough from that brief touch. “The fucking berserker,” she said, surely mimicking what she’d picked up inside Rune’s head. She turned to Z and Raze. “The fucking berserker has betrayed her.”
“God,” Rune said, and burst into tears. Helpless to stop, she stood there and bawled as her crew looked on in open-mouthed shock.
She was sure she couldn’t have possibly been more humiliated than she was at that moment.
She was wrong.
Owen stepped into the room, followed by Denim. The only ones missing were Levi, who was with Ellis, and Jack. And she was sure he’d be along any minute. Even as she thought it, he walked in.
Fuck me.
And then, it got worse again.
Strad pushed his way through her men and stood in front of her. “Rune. Don’t.”
“What the fuck did you do to her?” Raze asked, his voice low and gritty.
Lex, as though unable to resist, reached out and touched the berserker’s arm. She immediately gave a short yelp and snatched her hand back, holding it to her chest. Then she began crying as well.
“Well, fuck,” said Jack. “What…”
Rune, disgusted with herself, scrubbed the bloody tears from her cheeks and took a deep breath. “Lex. Lex, what is it?”
Lex’s lips quivered as she tried to force back her own tears. “I…” She looked toward Strad. “What’s that inside you?”
“I can answer that,” Rune said. “It’s rage inside him. Isn’t it, Berserker?”
He simply stared at her, frustration in every line of his body.
“I apologize for my little meltdown,” Rune said. If she didn’t diffuse the situation her men were going to end up in a battle she did not want to see.
“Rune,” Z said, “What—”
“Nothing, Z. Guys, go home and get some sleep. Llodra is in custody and that’s something to be happy about. Take the rest of the day off and in the morning we’ll get an early start on the search for Matthew. I’ll keep you updated on Ellie.” Her voice caught when she said his name, but she paused for a second and continued. “I also want to visit SCOS, see what they’re up to. And…” she looked at Strad. “Let me know how it goes with Llodra. I don’t think I’ll sit in after all.”
God, she was tired. Her mind was exhausted as well as her body, and if she didn’t get some sleep she was going to collapse.
Strad clenched his fists, never once taking his stare off her.
She headed for the door, needing to get away from him. She was too close to breaking down again. Food, coffee, and bed. That was all she’d allow herself to think about for the next few hours.
“Rune,” Lex called, a desperation in her voice Rune hadn’t heard before.
She stopped at the doorway. “Yes?”
Lex walked closer, reaching her hand out, then retracting it. “Can I stay with you?”
Rune looked at Denim, surprised. He shrugged, as clueless as she was. “Lexi, of course you can stay with me.”
Lex shuddered, then whispered a quick thanks.
Something had been off with her since Rune had left for the clinic, according to Ellis, and Rune hadn’t had time to talk to her about it. That night, she would get to the bottom of what was bothering Lex.
Ignoring Strad’s fierce, hungry stare, she took Lex’s arm and walked from the building. Time to recharge. She was drained.
Owen followed her out, but waited until Lex had shut her door before he spoke. He leaned against the car, his battered hat firmly in place. He wore the same long, thin coat she’d first seen him in. “Rune.”
She put her hand on her door handle but didn’t open it. “What do you need?”
“You’r
e busy tonight,” he said, pointing his chin toward Lex, “but tomorrow night I want to cook you dinner.”
She stared. “You want to cook me dinner,” she parroted.
He gave a crooked half smile and nodded. “Yup.”
“Dude, I don’t need your kind of trouble. And you for damn sure don’t need mine.”
He crossed his arms and stared her down, then gave her his address. “Eight o’clock. If you can’t make it, call me.” And without another word he walked away.
She got in the car and turned to Lex, shaking her head. “That cowboy is…”
“Weird,” Lex said, smiling.
“A little bit, yeah.” She started the car and drove out of the parking lot, her thoughts on Owen. She was interested but mostly because she was nosy as hell. He had a story she wanted to hear.
She would need someone new to feed from.
And she wanted sex.
She sighed.
“Sometimes I wish I had a guy,” Lex said.
“Anyone in particular?”
Lex’s eyes jerked crazily, her body vibrating the tiniest bit. “Who do you have in mind? And don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. You’ve been hiding something for a while now.”
Rune bit her lip. Dammit Raze, you need to take care of business. “Oh, you know. One of the crew, maybe.”
Lex snorted. “No one wants me.”
“You’re wrong about that. You’re beautiful, smart, and one of the best fighters I’ve ever known. Anyone would want you. But that’s not the point. You have to find someone worthy of you.”
“You’re biased.”
“Yeah. So? It’s still the truth.”
Lex was silent for so long Rune thought the conversation was ended. “When my mother had control of me, she…”
God. No more pain. Don’t tell me. “What?”
“She sold me by the hour,” Lex answered, her voice a monotone. “I’m not sure I could be with a man now.”
“Fuck, Lex.” Rune hit the steering wheel. “Fuck.”
Lex nodded. “Yeah.”
Karin Love was human, but the worst monster Rune had ever heard of. She wanted to break the woman out of prison just so she could kill her.
“I’m sorry you were ever hurt, baby. I hate that fucking bitch.” She hesitated. “Is that what’s been on your mind lately?”