by Laken Cane
Darkness.
Darkness that tried unsuccessfully to hide beneath the niceness, the normalcy, the familiar. Tried to let itself be crushed by the fucking hope.
Rune pushed a fist against her stomach, then turned when Denim slipped into the kitchen. He watched as quietly as the rest of them, unsure.
Kader tangled her fist in the berserker’s hair, stuck her thumb into her mouth, and went promptly to sleep.
She trusted him.
She was a kid, though. What did she know?
Grim was a different matter.
The big animal poured from the corner like silent, black water and slunk to Strad. The berserker watched him come, but there was no fear in his eyes as Sorrow’s son stretched out his neck to inhale the man’s scent.
The dog circled Strad, and when he once more crouched in front of him, he pushed out his tongue to taste the berserker’s bare forearm. He yipped and jumped away so violently he skidded across the floor. His long limbs flailed, his nails clicking on the tile as he attempted to right himself.
Jack got to his feet, caressing the hilt of the blade on his hip. He said nothing.
“It will take a while,” the berserker said, unperturbed. “I’m putting this one to bed. Where’s her room?”
“Welcome home, Berserker,” Roma said. “Raze, how about cooking up some lunch?”
And their laughter, though strained, was genuine.
“I’m not a stranger,” the berserker told her, as he lowered Kader into her bed.
Rune covered the still sleeping child with her favorite blanket, then smoothed her palm over the baby’s hair. “No,” she agreed. Even if it feels like you are.
Strad walked to the framed photo of Z, and there was no emotion in his eyes as he studied it. “Our baby will have two fathers, if you wish it.” He turned away and faced her. “But she will know I’m one of them.”
She took a deep breath, then blew it out slowly. He could go to the Annex and have a paternity test done. He could.
But she didn’t want him to.
If Z wasn’t Kader’s father, she didn’t want to know. But someday, Kader would.
“Shit,” she whispered. “You’ll have to be tested.”
He took a step toward her and her entire body tightened with expectation.
Someone tapped gently on the bedroom door, and it was with a strange relief that Rune went to open it. She needed a moment to deal with the berserker’s intensity. “Denim. You okay?”
“Yes. I wanted to ask Strad something.”
She nodded. He’d want to know everything the berserker could tell him about Lex. And then, maybe he and Levi would be able to let her go.
Forever.
“Rune,” Strad called, as she started to slip from the room.
“Yeah?”
“I’ll be back tonight.”
Her mouth went dry and her heart pounded so hard she was pretty sure he could hear it. She met his stare. “Tonight.”
He smiled.
Berserker.
She closed the door behind her, then leaned against the wall in the hallway. “Berserker.” Her whisper was full of the same thing that was in Strad’s eyes.
Hope, surrounded with uncertainty.
She grabbed clean clothes and headed to her bathroom, but as the too-hot water beat against her skin, she expected—hoped—the berserker would step into the stall and slide his arms around her.
She didn’t want to want someone that much, but there it was.
Before she was finished, though, she felt his absence and she knew he’d left the house. It didn’t matter.
He’d be back.
And she would be ready for him.
She hoped he’d be ready for her.
She pulled on a pair of old, soft jeans and a t-shirt, then stretched out across her bed. A couple of hours. That’s all she’d need.
But when her cell rang an hour later, she still hadn’t fallen to sleep. She grabbed her phone from the nightstand, not even a little bit disappointed. She didn’t recognize the number, but she answered anyway. Whoever it was, she hoped to God they had something powerful for her to lose herself in. She was exhausted, but that didn’t matter. She was a monster. Her body could take the abuse of too much physical labor. Her mind didn’t want to deal with thoughts of Strad, Z, and a baby one of them desperately wanted and the other would never know. “This is Rune.”
“Hello, Rune. It’s been a long time.”
She stood, then rubbed her tired eyes. “Who’s this?”
The caller laughed. “I’m a man who had the misfortune to meet you years ago, when I was a boy. You could say you changed my life.” His voice deepened. “Not for the better.”
“Look, dude—”
“Ah,” he said. Gently, with no emotion. Still, she could hear the hatred. “To be called dude by the great Rune Alexander. Call me baby as well, and my life will be complete.”
“I don’t have time to listen to your bullshit, baby. Fuck off.” She started to hang up, but his voice stopped her.
“I am going to trap and capture you like the animal you are.” His voice was dark, low, and sure. “But first, I’m going to make you suffer.”
She laughed. “Like that’s the first time I’ve heard that little promise.”
“Enjoy this moment. The next time you feel any peace will be when you’re dead, and I’m not going to kill you for a long time.” Almost silent laughter wheezed from his lungs. “Get ready. Darkness is coming for you, Rune Alexander.”
“Yeah? Have it call ahead. I’ll take a pound cake out of the freezer.” And she clicked off.
Crazies were everywhere, and most of them, it seemed, wanted a big, bloody piece of Rune Alexander.
Chapter Five
Before she could call the Annex, she got another call that showed unknown on the display. “What?” she snarled.
“Rune Alexander,” a woman said.
“Yeah?”
“This is Sylvia Crane. I’ve come for my mother. Your boss refuses to give her to me.”
“The fuck are you calling me for? I don’t run the Annex. If I did, I’d have already killed the bitch.”
“If not for you, my mother wouldn’t be caught in Eugene Parish’s greedy little hands. I hold you as responsible as I do him. You caused this. You will fix it.”
Sylvia didn’t need to know Eugene hadn’t told Rune shit. Mentally, she shrugged off her anger. He likely hadn’t had time. “We’re not giving her up. At least not until she’s dead.”
“This is a day for strangers calling you, isn’t it?” Sylvia asked, lightly.
Rune narrowed her eyes and stared unseeingly out her bedroom window. “I don’t like games, so I don’t play them.” She clicked off.
But her stomach tossed and her heart beat a little too rapidly.
When her cell rang again, she was almost relieved. “No more games,” she answered.
“That’s fine.” It was the same man who’d called her earlier. “My partner said you hung up on her. That’s rude.”
“I’m about to hang up on you, buddy. What the fuck do you assholes want?”
“Sylvia, as you know, wants her mother. I just want you. Or,” he corrected, “more specifically, I want to hurt you. The thought makes me hard.”
Rune said nothing, just waited impatiently for him to get to the point.
“Fine,” he said. “So listen up. Convince Eugene Parish. He’s not willing to cooperate with us.”
“Tell me who you are.”
“I’m the person who wants you more than anyone else has ever wanted you. Does that flatter you, to know that?”
“Not so much,” she told him. “What did I do to you?”
He hesitated, and when he spoke again, his voice was strangely halting. Pain curled around each word. “You knew I wasn’t evil. You shoved me into that room and gave me to the bad guys.”
She frowned and pushed her fist into her abdomen. “I don’t hurt kids.”
; “Oh, but you do. I’m proof of that.”
She swallowed. “Dude…”
A whisper of a laugh floated into her ear. “I can taste your fear. It’s delicious.”
And that time, he hung up first.
“That’s not fear,” she murmured. “It’s regret.”
She punched in Eugene’s number, then began to make coffee as she waited for him to answer.
“Rune,” he said. “You should sleep while you can.”
“No shit.”
“What is it?”
“I hear you got a call from Sylvia Crane. When were you going to share that information with me?”
He sighed. “When I felt it prudent to do so, Rune.”
“I got a call too. And my caller claimed to be Sylvia Crane’s partner.”
“Rune—”
“Are these assholes in River County, Eugene? If we’re going to battle the fucking Next, I’d like a heads up.”
“I did get a call—several calls, actually—from Lee’s daughter. She—”
Rune heard a crash, like a metal pan falling to a tiled floor, and Eugene’s muffled curse. “What is going on there, Eugene?”
“Making my own lunch,” he said. “Come in, Rune. We’ll discuss it when you’re here.”
“Now?” She really didn’t want to wake her crew. They could sleep, even if she couldn’t.
“No, no. Give me two hours.”
She hung up, frowning, then shrugged. But she couldn’t shrug away her uneasiness. Something was off. And as she leaned against the counter, coffee mug in hand, she imagined she felt something shift.
“Darkness is coming…”
She had a feeling it was already there.
Two hours later, Rune walked into the Annex with Roma and Denim. Jack and Raze were waiting inside, and Jack was laughing at something Raze had said.
“I’m going to see Levi before we meet up with Eugene,” Denim told them, and jogged away.
Jack laughed again and clapped Raze on the back.
“I like to hear him laugh,” Roma said, as they walked toward the two men. “His laugh is magical.”
Rune rolled her eyes. “He could sound like a hyena and you’d think it was magical.” But she was pretty sure Roma didn’t even hear her. She was too lost in Jack’s magical laugh—which was actually rusty from disuse and rough from too much whiskey.
But the man himself…
Rune smiled.
The man was magical.
He grinned at them as they approached, and though Jack was like a brother to her, her heart stuttered. “He’s just too fucking hot,” she muttered.
“Oh yeah,” Roma agreed. “When he was shirtless and all bloody and hurt…and his eye patch, and muscles, and carrying that baby…” She shuddered. “Ow, Mother Bunny, I thought I’d have a heart attack.”
Rune was still laughing when they reached the two men.
“What’s the joke?” Raze asked.
“It’s private,” Roma answered, quickly, with a sidelong look at Jack.
Raze lifted an eyebrow. “What does Eugene want?” he asked Rune.
“Sylvia Crane is either in town or on her way in. She’s putting pressure on him to release Lee. And I got a couple of calls. Come. I’ll tell you as we walk.”
She told them about the calls as they rode the elevator up to meet Eugene.
“Watch your back,” Jack said. “We wiped out a lot of Next ops, but that doesn’t mean we got all the bastards.”
“Who is this man with a grudge?” Roma asked. She caressed her slingshot. “He won’t get near you as long as I’m here.”
Raze snorted. “They’d grab your slingshot and you’d be hiding in a tree. Unless,” he continued, as the elevator doors slid open, “you shifted and became your…your…”
Roma strode from the elevator. “Mind your business,” she growled.
Jack and Rune followed the bickering pair down the wide, white hallway. “Any idea who this man is?” Jack asked.
“No, but I’m going to talk to Gunnar when we’re finished here. I can’t find his weakness if I don’t know who he is.”
“You’re his weakness,” Roma said. “Perhaps thoughts of you kept him going when had nothing else.”
“His hatred of me.” Rune pushed open the conference room door. “Let’s see what Eugene has.”
Eugene, Bill, and Logan Rees sat at the long table, drinking coffee and talking quietly.
“Have some coffee and take a seat,” Eugene said. “Let’s talk about this thing.”
Rune sat down, coffee in hand. “The Next. That’s the thing.”
But Eugene shook his head. “No.”
Before he could continue, Strad walked into the room.
She froze with the coffee cup halfway to her mouth. When the berserker entered the room, all thought fled. The air thickened. Energy preceded him, wrapped around her body, made it nearly impossible for her to be still, but at the same time, refused to let her move. And it wasn’t just her.
An escaping whisper of breath would have been loud in that silence, that stillness. Finally, Raze cleared his throat and slapped the table, and they broke free from whatever had held them, for that one second, completely captivated by the berserker.
And then, there was just the berserker. Intimidating, huge, dark, silent.
He walked around the table, then sat in the chair next to Rune. He stared straight ahead, motionless. Expressionless.
She was tempted to hit him, just to see if he’d show some emotion. He was locked down completely. She was accustomed to his infamous rage swirling around him like gritty particles in a dust storm—but at that moment, even his rage was hidden.
He was closed down more than he’d been even a few hours earlier.
Maybe he had to be, or he’d lose control and all that energy she’d felt when he’d walked into the room would explode and destroy them all.
He turned his head, slowly, to meet her stare. And she had to look away.
She took a gulp of her coffee and looked at Eugene. “You said Lee Crane’s daughter called you, and she for damn sure called me. So…”
“Here’s what I know.” He took a sip of his coffee before continuing. “The Next isn’t interested in Lee Crane. Sylvia is alone.”
“She’s not alone,” Rune said. “The man who called me—”
“Yes, yes,” Eugene interrupted. “By alone I mean that the Next is not backing her. And that is very good news.”
“What happened?” Jack asked.
“I got a phone call from the new leader of the Next.” Eugene shrugged. “He calls himself their president.”
Rune frowned. “I thought Sylvia would have taken over in Lee’s place.”
He nodded. “So did I.”
“But?”
“The man who contacted me told me a story. Days before Lee Crane entered Killing Land, she was forced to step down from her position as leader of the Next, and this man—Julian Briderbeck—took over.” He paused and looked around, beaming.
“Apparently,” he continued, when no one made a sound, “Lee’s mental health was deteriorating rapidly. It’d gotten to the point where the organization was in jeopardy and its people were fighting amongst themselves. Lee had executed three Next managers—all in one day.”
“The Next broke up with the Cranes,” Rune murmured.
“Exactly,” Eugene said. “Still, Lee had a loyal following—and those were the ops who followed her into Killing Land. Mr. Briderbeck wanted me to know that as soon as the Next changed hands, they updated their mission statement, expelled the rest of those he suspected as being loyal to the Cranes, and they are now…” He pursed his lips. “He actually used the term law abiding, but from what I’ve discovered about Julian Briderbeck, I very much doubt the veracity of that statement. But.”
“But?” Rune asked.
“They are still anti-Other. Others were responsible, from what I could understand, for wiping out half of Briderbeck’s family. He
despises them, and will never accept them as equals. His mission—the Next’s mission—is still to keep Others from obtaining equality. They have a department devoted to training hunters. And I’m afraid they’ve gained the support from not only their local government but their state, as well. New laws are going to be created, and they are going to be brutal for Others.” He didn’t look at Rune. “There are just so few Others left to fight whatever is thrown at them.”
She stood. “We will fight for them.” It was only after the word them left her mouth that she realized she’d said it.
Them. Not us.
Finally, Eugene looked at her. “Julian Briderbeck is aware of you.”
“So what?” she asked. “He’s coming after me because I’m Other?”
He shrugged. “He may. But for now, he simply asked me to relay a message to you.”
Strad got smoothly to his feet and stood at her side. His ever-present rage began to swirl around him. “Yeah?” he said, his stare on Eugene.
On the other side of her, Jack rose, as well. “What’s the fucking message?”
Eugene spread his hands. “Thank you. Just…thank you.”
“The fuck is he thanking me for?” But then she realized why he was thanking her, and for a second, desolation squeezed her heart. He was thanking her for the rotting disease. Thanking her for killing the Others.
“Asshole,” she whispered, clenching her fists. I didn’t do it.
But she didn’t say the words aloud. Briderbeck would believe whatever he wanted to believe.
Eugene took a deep breath. “So,” he said, his voice a little too loud, “the Next is changed. They’re just as dangerous. They’re still the enemy of the Annex, and of the Others. But they are not going to gather their soldiers and converge upon River County.”
“He knew Sylvia would come here, and he wanted to make sure we knew he had nothing to do with it,” Rune said. “Why?”
He avoided her gaze. “In return for his help I’ve agreed to watch for and detain one of his people, who may be headed this way.” He waved his hand. “But that’s not important right now.”
“You’re working with him,” Rune said, flatly. “You’re trading favors with the fucking Other-hunting Next.”
“I do what I need to do, Rune. I’m hardly betraying the Annex or the Others by making a trade.”
