by Laken Cane
“Rune!”
“I’m kidding.” Not that she hadn’t been tempted. One of them had asked her why she was going into SCRU. “You were fired, of course?” he’d asked.
Ellis didn’t look convinced. “They have people out there from all over the state.”
“I saw.”
He patted her back. “You know how it is when they discover an Other has been fooling them.”
“Yeah. They go ape shit for a while, then something more interesting comes along to distract them.”
“It’ll be okay, sweetness.”
“It’s not as bad as it could be.” The video…the video would make it as bad as it could be. “I’d always thought if anyone even suspected I’d lie down and die from the shame.”
“When you accept yourself it’s not going to matter at all what they think.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” But she smiled at him. “So. Mitch reluctantly agreed to send me out.”
He grinned. “We got a call a couple hours ago about an abduction. The mother claimed her teenager was taken by wolves. False alarm.”
“Dammit.”
“Don’t be too disappointed. Half an hour ago Mitch told me we got another call. It may be a false alarm as well, but we can go check it out.”
“What was it? And what we?”
“Caller said someone hung a wolf from a tree on Hawthorne Ridge.”
“Shit,” she muttered. “Okay, I’ll call you when I’m—”
“I’m going with you. That’s what I meant by we.”
“No, Ellie. You don’t belong in the field.”
“Hush your mouth, girl. I’m going. Even Mitch thought it was a good idea.”
That surprised her. “Why the fuck would he think that?”
He shrugged. “You need some company right now, honey.”
She knew he wasn’t crazy about her facing the world alone while those in it were determined to hound her.
Humans catching and hanging Others wasn’t as rare as one would think. Terrible for the Others, but it wasn’t likely that any danger or excitement waited for her and Ellis in Hawthorne. So she would let him go with her.
Mitch stuck his head out his office door and waved her inside. “I need…”
She frowned, confused by his obvious awkwardness. “What is it?”
He couldn’t look at her. “I need to take the guns, Rune.”
Ellis put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You’ll get them back.”
“Of course,” Mitch agreed. “Of course you will.”
Rice had been as awkward when he’d asked for her badge. Now she had to give up her guns.
She wasn’t worried. They weren’t getting rid of her. It was just a matter of lying low for a little while. She could do that. Maybe.
She shrugged and put both her guns on his desk. “You’re not getting my blades.”
He held up a hand. “Don’t want them. Not at all. I’m sorry about this. If Rice finds out I’m letting you check out Hawthorne he’ll have my job.”
“I’ll be sure not to tattle,” she told him, only a little peeved but a lot sarcastic. She didn’t want to mention that he was taking away most of her protection—forcing her to hand over her guns while letting her go out. Still, she’d asked to go, and if she argued he’d force her to go home. “Thanks, Mitch.”
Ellis urged her from the room.
“Terribly sorry,” Mitch called after them.
She and Ellis headed toward the ridge. Too bad Z and the others were asleep. If someone really had hung a wolf on Hawthorne Ridge, she’d need to discuss with the crew. Sooner rather than later.
Hell, if there was a hanging wolf on the ridge, she’d call the crew in anyway. It wasn’t like they weren’t used to missing a little sleep.
If she knew Raze, he wouldn’t have slept more than a couple of hours anyway.
She stopped only to grab a coffee from a fast-food restaurant before driving on, happy to be heading out of the city.
It was pretty that time of year, decorated to within an inch of its life for the holidays, but it was still the city. At times the bustle, ugly buildings, and concrete drained her. She craved the woods and the soothing quietness of the more rural parts of River County.
Hawthorne Ridge was beautiful. “Maybe I’ll buy a place out there,” she told Ellis, “and give up my ugly house in the city.”
“Get a big one and we can be roomies.”
“Really?”
“Sure, why not?”
“I’d like that.”
“Maybe we can buy up the old Wilson place and move all the crew in.” He grinned, but she had a feeling he was completely serious. Ellis did not seek solitude. For him, solitude was locking your bedroom door for an hour or so.
“Hmmm,” was all she said, but she was not against moving to Hawthorne. And having those she loved near her? Hmmm. She’d been introduced into foster care once her adoptive parents had died. The idea of a steady, happy family was very appealing.
It was less than a half hour from the office if she drove slowly—and she was not a slow driver.
Maybe a new beginning.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” Ellis asked her.
“Oh, stuff. Starting over, shit like that.” She avoided looking at him as her cheeks heated. “The crew living together…”
He reached over to pat her hand. “Awwww.”
“Shut up.”
He giggled, then hid his mouth behind his fingers when she glared at him. “Sorry.”
She glanced in her rearview mirror. “We’re being followed.”
“Reporter?”
“Yup. He seems to have taken a liking to me.” She was only half joking.
“Stop the car. I’ll go back and tell him to get lost.”
She laughed.
“What?” He stuck out his bottom lip. “Do you think I wouldn’t?”
“Sing us the rest of the way to Hawthorne, love.”
He did, his soft, melodious voice filling the car, soothing her even as it somehow saddened her. That probably had a lot to do with the fact that he was singing a haunting old bluegrass song.
“Bluegrass, Ellie? Seriously?”
He winked and kept on singing.
She drove onto the ridge and straight through the little village. The wolf had been spotted on the edge of the town in a huge abandoned pasture bordered on two sides by woods.
The reporter didn’t seem to care that she knew he was tailing her.
Fuck him. If he wanted to waste his time, that was his business. But if he interfered with hers, she would hurt him.
She parked at the edge of the field, shielding her eyes as she studied the trees. The day was cold but sunny, and the sun sent little needles of pain into her eyeballs.
For a moment she paused. Was it getting more uncomfortable for her, the sun?
“Stay here, Ellie. I’ll be back in a few.”
He snorted, reached behind her seat, and pulled out a sword. “No way, girlfriend.” And as though afraid she might really force him to stay behind, he jumped out of the SUV and trotted away from the car.
Afraid he’d accidentally cut his—or her—head off, she pulled one of her smaller shivs and traded him.
“If anything happens here, Ellie, promise me you’ll go back to the car.”
“I promise.”
She sighed, then concentrated on finding the wolf. They’d walked through the meadow and into the woods, but hadn’t sighted anything. There were occasional trees dotting the field, but no wolves were hanging from any of them.
Behind them the rise of the ridge rose in a gentle reminder of how far they’d gone.
“Rune,” Ellis said.
She glanced at him. His expression solemn, he pointed toward his right.
She spotted a dark shape, half hidden by other trees, dangling from the lower branches of a tall oak tree. “Damn, Ellie. You have some amazing eyes.”
The wolf was half shifted, as thoug
h he’d been hung as a human and was trying his hardest to call his shift so he could save himself. If he’d been strung up with silver, even a half shift would have been almost impossible—yet there he was.
She felt a chill of unease before she actually saw the second wolf, in his human form, hanging in a different tree behind the first.
And as they walked toward them, she saw the third, and the fourth.
“Fuck me,” she whispered.
Bad, bad things were about to happen.
And she was not even close to being ready.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Rune?” Ellis’s whisper was filled with terror and dread. “Are they all dead?”
Chills ran like lightning streaks down her spine. “What the fuck?” Suddenly she wished she hadn’t arrived without backup.
She dug into her jacket pocket for her cell. Her men weren’t far, and if they hurried they could be there in half an hour, forty-five minutes at the most.
“Behind you.” Ellis’s voice was full of panic.
She dropped the phone as she spun, pulling a wicked, nine-inch shiv with her left hand and bringing up the sword with her right.
“Run, Ellis.”
Her cell rang, and Ellis snatched it off the ground to answer.
On the hill behind her they waited, a huge band of Dark Others.
The way she figured it, she was dead.
She didn’t want Ellis to join her. God please no.
The Dark Others were spread across the hill with the sun above them, and she made a quick guess that they numbered around fifty. Her against fifty Others. She did not like those odds.
Was it coincidence and bad luck that she’d ended up facing them, and worse, facing them alone? She didn’t think so.
As if on cue, Ellis pulled at her sleeve. “That was Strad. He said don’t go near Hawthorne. Jeremy hired the shifters to destroy the Others. Mercenaries.” His voice came out in a squeaky, terrified whisper.
She could relate.
And it all made sense.
Jeremy would have known chances were good she’d come check out the hanging wolves. He’d set her up. He’d planned on destroying the Others, and she was one of them.
Did he have ties to COS?
Without a doubt.
“Don’t be naive, Rune. Not everyone wants a world full of fucking monsters.”
“Fuck me,” she whispered.
“Strad’s coming,” Ellis whispered. “The crew is coming.”
They’d better hurry the fuck up.
If she fell, so would the city.
And she was going to fall.
Abruptly a man separated himself from the line of supernaturals and stepped forward.
He pulled something from his pocket, and she realized he had a cell phone when he held it to his ear.
Her phone began to ring.
“Fuck you,” she muttered, and took her cell from Ellis.
“Hello, Rune,” Jeremy said. From his place on the ridge he sent her a mocking wave.
“You piece of garbage.” Her throat was so thick it was hard to push the words through. “Let Ellis go back to the car.”
She felt a touch on her sleeve. Ellis stood beside her, deathly pale, but his face was set in familiar lines.
“Ellis, go to the car. You promised.”
But he looked at her, his brown eyes too wide and too calm, and shook his head. “I won’t leave you.”
“Your little gay buddy is a monster lover, Rune. He’s going to share your fate. Sorry.”
“Why, Jeremy?” As if she didn’t know.
“I told you not everyone wants to live with monsters. They don’t belong here. You don’t belong here.”
He sounded so calm, so reasonable.
“Please let Ellis go.”
“I don’t think so.” He was enjoying himself.
“Backup is coming. You’re not getting away with this, Jeremy. Mitch will—”
His laughter rang loudly enough for her to have heard it without the phone. He turned and motioned to someone behind him. “Mitch will what?”
“No,” she said. “No.”
Jeremy handed him the phone. “Say hello.”
Mitch walked up to stand beside Jeremy. She couldn’t see his eyes but could tell he was staring at the ground. How the fuck did you fool me, Mitch?
But she knew. He’d fooled her because he wasn’t really an evil man. In his mind, he was doing what was right. Best for mankind.
He cleared his throat. “Rune. I’m really sorry about this, but Jeremy is right. The monsters don’t belong in our world. Sacrifices have to be made. I’m so sorry.”
Thing was, he sounded sorry.
“No way,” Ellis murmured. “No way.”
One of the hanging wolves howled. The wolves. Obviously some of them were still alive. If she could cut them down, they’d help her. She hoped.
She turned and ran for the wolves.
With screams, howls, and voices filled with bloodlust, the Dark Others went for her. She could feel their rotten breath on her neck. Her skin crawled and her flesh shrank away as they reached for her. She could feel them right there.
She glanced over her shoulder. The Others had not moved.
She raised her sword and brought it down on the rope dangling a wolf from the tree. When he fell she sliced through the silver around his neck and in seconds, he had shifted.
He rose unsteadily and with a quick look toward the Dark Others, he ran the fuck out of there.
“Wait!” But her cries went unheeded. The wolf was terrified and he wasn’t going to stick around for certain death.
From the ridge behind her came laughter, boisterous and wicked. They’d known the hanging wolves would be too traumatized to help her.
The second wolf she cut down was dead, and the third ran after the first.
“Fuck,” she yelled. “Fucking wolves.”
“They’re moving, Rune,” Ellis called.
There was no more time to seek help from the wolves. She stood beside Ellis, her blades ready. He shook with fear, but his face was determined. He wasn’t going anywhere. Even if he finally decided to run for the car, it was too late.
The Dark Others came down the hill slowly, inexorably, deliberately. Her only hope was that they’d ignore Ellis and go after her. But she knew better.
They’d destroy Ellis and her, and then they’d go after the city.
And finally, in her desperation, her monster came.
Ellis stumbled backward and hit the ground hard, his eyes wide and filled with terrified disbelief as he stared up at her.
“Ellis?” she frowned. “It’s me.”
“God. Rune?”
As though it wasn’t really her at all.
Shit.
Her heart broke. “Ellie?”
Shame clouded his eyes as he climbed to his feet. “I didn’t mean it.” His gaze went to the killers behind her.
His face was pale, full of a resignation she’d never before seen in him. Ellis was the ultimate optimist.
But he believed they were going to die, and he’d accepted it.
He held his little blade out before him.
The image of him resolute before the oncoming Dark Others with his blade out, that image would never leave her.
She would protect him.
Her monster would protect them both.
Rage covered her brain, spreading to her very soul, and she turned away from Ellis eagerly. To fight. To kill. That was the Other in her.
He’d been suppressed for such a very, very long time.
She smiled. Not he. Referring to her monster as “he” had only been another subconscious attempt to distance herself from it, to separate the girl Rune from the monster Rune.
Her.
I am my monster and my monster is me.
She turned to face the Dark Others and didn’t wait for them to reach her—she ran to meet them.
She was bursting out of her skin with energy a
nd eagerness. One of her fangs ripped into her bottom lip, and she licked the blood away, unable to stop the smile of…
The smile of death.
Hello, monster.
Delight filled her as the Dark Others slowed, bloodlust changing to hesitation, to fear. They were afraid of her.
They fucking should have been.
“This is my city,” she screamed, and with a speed she’d only ever seen in vampires, she ran.
In the midst of a few dozen Dark Others, she fought the way she’d been born to fight.
Flesh and bone gave beneath the lethal strength of her claws, teeth, and fists, and she realized vaguely that her shivs were gone. That was okay. She didn’t need them.
She had claws.
And she was not afraid.
Each kick didn’t just send an Other flying—her kick exploded the Other as it connected. She was strong, she was incredible, she was invincible.
She wasn’t a regular Other. She was some sort of powerful, modified Other.
She was her monster, and she could save everyone.
And she wanted Jeremy. He was hers to kill.
Pain registered, but she was too deep into the fight to care. They outnumbered her. There was going to be some damage.
Sounds intruded from above, and she glanced up, her eyes unblinking against the harshness of the sun. There was a monster in the sky.
Not a monster.
A helicopter.
Then there was nothing else. No sound, no pain, no thought. Just the slashing and cutting and the scent of blood in the air.
“You get the silence through violence and sex, Rune…”
She fought like she’d never fought, with speed and skill and pure unadulterated enjoyment. But she was still laughably outnumbered.
They fell beneath her power. She ducked and twirled and leaped, devouring the softness of Dark Other flesh.
She may have laughed. Someone did. It must have been her, for surely no one else could have held so much elation.
The world was crimson and stank of supernatural blood. She was coated with it. The heavy stickiness covered her face, sank into her pores, lingered bitterly on the back of her tongue.
It is not Other blood I want.
That thought was enough to cause her, for one millisecond, to stumble.
To pause. To doubt.
And that was all they needed.
She fought on, but they overwhelmed her with sheer crushing numbers.
