by Laken Cane
“Mama,” Kader yelled. “Ellie! Let me in!”
Before the baby could no longer be contained and ran into the room and climbed into bed with them, Rune took his face in her hands.
“I am my monster,” she murmured.
He smiled, and it was as genuine as any smile he’d ever given her. “My monster is me,” he said.
And he was going to rock it.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Belladonna went home for good, Raze told Rune. Then he didn’t mention her again, and neither did she.
He healed, almost abnormally fast. The Annex patched him up but they couldn’t touch the hit he’d taken from the bones’ magic. He didn’t need them to, though. He’d either absorbed the magic or sloughed it off—either way, he’d healed.
And if that magic left something inside him that didn’t really belong there, it didn’t seem to hurt him.
Rune stood inside Wormwood with Strad, her long, fancy black dress trailing across the ground, Kader playing at their feet, and beneath the full moon, she married the berserker.
Ellis stood between Levi and Nikolai, sobbing quietly into a hanky, and across from them stood Jack, Denim, Raze, Roma, Will, and Owen.
Owen wore the cowboy hat she’d bought him, his straight hair once again shiny and perfect, and when she glanced at him, he sent her a slow smile full of heat, promise, and love.
Once he’d gotten stronger, he and Will had disappeared for two days. Before they’d gone, Rune had pulled them both into her embrace. “I know you have to have your moment. But if one of you kills the other, you’ll need to stay the fuck away from me—forever. Do you hear what I'm saying?”
And they’d both returned, alive and surprisingly unmarred, and she’d been able to breathe again.
Most of the city stood or sat on the chairs and benches Ellie had brought in, and every Other in River County joined them.
Gunnar, dressed in a faded, fancy suit that looked about a hundred years old, stood a few yards away with his girlfriend Dawn. She’d apparently set up housekeeping in their own tiny private garden graveyard somewhere in one world or another.
He’d walked Rune down the aisle, his chin up, his eyes watering, and handed her off to the waiting berserker.
Then she was caught by Strad’s fierce stare, and for a little while, there hadn’t been anyone else in the world but him.
Bill married them.
And when he told them to have their first kiss as a married couple, and Strad pressed his lips to hers…
That was the moment it really sank in.
She’d changed her mind about not taking his name. She kept hers and added his. She was Rune Alexander Matheson.
She thought it sounded sort of perfect. Really perfect.
Her heart overflowed and she wondered how she’d gotten so lucky.
Afterward, Wormwood shook with music and laughter, and all she could do was sit and gaze into Strad’s eyes like a besotted human teenager.
Her crew gathered around her and Strad, and Ellie flitted from group to group, completely in his element. Kader fell sleep atop Grim, her thumb in her mouth.
“I can’t believe it,” Jack said. “You’re actually married.”
Rune grinned. “I’ve only just started believing it myself.”
Strad pulled her onto his lap and nuzzled her neck. “Wife,” he said. “My wife.”
“Remember back in the day when you two hated each other?” Raze asked.
“I never hated her.” Strad’s voice was a soft murmur.
“You know,” Levi said, grabbing Ellie’s arm as he rushed by. “We’re all married, in a way, aren’t we?”
“Well I don’t know if I’d call it married, exactly,” Denim said, smiling. “But I know what you mean.”
“Family,” Ellis said. “We’re family.” He beamed at all of them. “And I am so happy.”
“Are you, Ellie?” Rune asked, unintentionally. But she wanted him to be happy more than she wanted anything, and he would not lie to her.
He hesitated, squinted as he thought about it, then nodded. “I am happy. I am happy.” Maybe he finally realized it himself, because something cleared deep in his eyes. He leaned forward to kiss Rune’s cheek. “I’m happy because you’re happy. I’m happy because I found the love of my life. I’m happy because I have the sweetest goddaughter in the universe. I’m happy because I’m alive.”
Levi pulled him back against his chest and wrapped his arms around him. “Ellie.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s get married.”
Ellie’s shriek was loud enough to hurt Rune’s ears. “Yes! Yes, oh my God, yes!”
“Well, hell,” Roma said. She took Jack’s hand. “Jack…”
“No, Roma,” Jack said.
They all laughed—even Roma.
Bill, who’d been dancing with a lovely woman—a human woman—named Emma, walked over to join them. “I love you all,” he said. Then he turned around and went back to his dancing partner.
“He’s drunk,” Will said.
“Bill can’t get drunk,” Rune told him. “He’s just…”
“Full of joy,” Ellie said, smiling. “As we all are tonight.”
All around them the merriment went on, with people dancing and drinking and happy enough for an excuse to do both. Shiv Crew drew closer together and allowed themselves that moment of complete and utter peace and contentment.
“Do you remember,” Jack said, “when Bill thought that old lady was a vampire and shoved a piece of silver against her forehead?”
Raze guffawed. “She nearly beat him to death with her purse.”
“She had fifteen rolls of quarters in that purse,” Rune remembered, laughing. “I still don’t know how she lifted that thing.”
“The path is gone,” Owen said, suddenly. He took Rune’s hand when she held it out to him.
“It’s gone,” she said.
“Because of you,” Strad told her.
And with each word, each story, each moment, they left the unkind path a little further behind.
They all had a new path to walk, and they would walk it together.
All of them.
They were Shiv Crew.
And that was what they did.
Then Bill jogged toward them, his cell to his ear. “The Annex is under attack. That backstabbing bastard Julian Briderbeck has sent the Next into River County.”
Annex ops began running from Wormwood, sobering quickly, minds immediately and firmly on the battle ahead.
Rune jumped to her feet. “Nikolai, get Ellie and Kader home. Shiv Crew, let’s go paint the streets with blood and show the Next why they shouldn’t fuck with our city.”
And she couldn’t help but smile.
I am my monster.
My monster is me.
Goodbye, Shiv Crew
I love my fan mail. I’ve gotten so many uplifting, sweet, inspirational, and beautiful messages over the years, and I can’t tell you how much it means to me. The girl who wrote the following email agreed to let me put it at the end of this book, because it’s a perfect and fitting goodbye to a series that so many are sad to see end.
As am I.
Thank you guys for keeping me company these last few years.
<3
Oh my damn this is bittersweet. You are one of the few authors that make me bawl like a baby. I have read this series since I think 2013 I may be off a bit on the date and I regret that I was going through my fear of posting reviews at that time but you can guarantee that will be rectified.
The fact that you were able to write Kader and Reign into this series of killing so seamlessly speaks to the brilliant author you are. Ellis will be forever loved and you showed his strength as a shiv crew member and his unending love for Rune and Kader.
As soon as the berserker showed up a feeling of ok he's got this came over me. When he sees Rune and tells her she is beautiful it is perfectly sexy and appropriate, not a gratuitous scene.
The line where the crew spilled from the house blades out made me legit feel like I was rollin with shiv crew, their fierceness, loyalty, and basic badassery.
The title is perfect. The first scene of the book was a perfect beginning. Will knocking Owen to Trin and her sending him home was a great twist and crossover. It also gave me a second with Trin and Jin reminiscing over that scene in Silverlight.
You describe the path so well I felt it. Rune's description of Jack is priceless rotflmfao!!!!! Raze's reaction was even better and then Jack describing to Rune about Raze telling him...icing on the cake!!
I love it when you talk about the berserkers truck. After 19 years with my husband I still get butterflies when I hear his truck pull up. The wedding scene was beautiful and perfect. Bill was adorbs at the end.
You ended it the only way Shiv Crew could be ended with the exact right words. Like I have said in my reviews....every book...every time without fail Laken Cane does not disappoint and truly the only thing that will placate me when one of her series ends is that I can count on her next series to be just as epic.
You never waste words, you let our imagination run without giving us pages of un necessary description, the flow of the story is always on point, no gratuitous bs or fillers, perfect playlists, characters with depth that you fall in love with and have to remind yourself it is a book.
Thank you for Rune remembering Z and getting a sweet thing line in the final book. Thank you for Rune and Shiv Crew. I know there is more I want to say but seriously need to soak it in more and I am a bit emotional over this last book. I am def one of your more weird fans lol
Ciao,
Kat
If you loved this final book in the Rune Alexander series, would you consider leaving a review?
Thank you!
Laken
About Laken Cane
Paranormal/urban fantasy author Laken Cane went the indie route with Shiv Crew in 2013. Since then, she has published several books and series in various genres, including urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and paranormal post-apocalyptic.
Laken shares her Ohio home with three spoiled dogs and a tenacious African Violet, drinks too much coffee, and continues to explore all the worlds that live inside her mind.
You can connect with Laken through her website at www.lakencane.com or her Facebook author page at www.facebook.com/authorlakencane.
Laken’s books:
The Rune Alexander series
Rune Alexander short story
The Rune Alexander series boxsets
Series Firsts boxset
The Silverlight series
The Waifwater Chronicles
We, the Forsaken
Harbinger Bend
Watch for a new a new series coming soon!