by Laken Cane
When it was off he simply looked at her and waited for her to take it in. He’d revealed an evil-looking red scar that began at the outer corner of his eye, twisted over his cheekbone, and ended at his chin. “I’m Denim.”
Shit. She fought to keep her face expressionless. “I’m sorry. You can cover it back up if you want.”
He shrugged. “It’s fine. I’m used to it.”
“Did you get that fighting the monsters?”
“No. My stepfather gave me this when I was eleven. He was in a bad mood.”
Both twins’ faces remained blank and cool, waiting for her pity, perhaps, or her judgment.
She simply nodded. “Have either of you fought an Other?”
They both smiled, their eyes a little too unreadable for her peace of mind. “Oh yes, we’ve fought Others. We used to belong to COS. You’ve heard of them.” It wasn’t a question.
She shivered—an involuntary reaction she hoped the twins hadn’t noticed.
The Church of Slayers…
Yeah, she’d heard of them. They’d been disbanded over five years ago, but rumors persisted that they’d only gone underground and were still operational. Regrouping.
They were cold-blooded killers. They didn’t just catch and kill Others, they tortured them. And if a human happened to have a soft spot for Others, COS considered him or her worse than an Other.
Their leader, Karin Love, had been living on death row for the last five years. She’d gotten into some trouble for torturing Others, but that wouldn’t have gotten her executed. She was on death row because she’d killed humans who were allies of Others. She’d be executed eventually, but Rune wasn’t sure the doomed woman wasn’t still making plans and running things from her prison cell.
She looked at the two young men. “Yeah. And I’m not sure I could ever trust an ex-COS.”
They said nothing.
She picked at the old glitter polish on her thumbnail. If either of them realized she was part Other, they’d think nothing of ripping her head off and tossing it into the garbage.
She folded her hands. “Nothing to say to that?”
“Trust will come if you’ll let it. We hunt Others. You hunt Others. It’s all good.” This was from Levi, who seemed a little softer than his brother.
She sighed. God, she was tired. “You can’t hunt indiscriminately. You can’t torture them. You can’t kill without provocation. That’s just murder, and you’ll end up sitting on death row with your former boss. Shiv Crew doesn’t need that kind of trouble. I don’t need that kind of trouble.” God, no.
She let that sink in before continuing. “We’re slowly building trust, boys, and that’s because we’re a…mostly law-abiding organization. We protect humans. It’s what we do. We don’t chase down the monsters with the sole intention of burning out their eyes, selling them for lab experiments, or simply killing them. We don’t do that.” Unlike COS.
She tapped her fingers on her desk, letting them mull over her words. These were dangerous men with a past she didn’t want to delve into too deeply. She was a little crazy for even considering them.
Finally Levi spoke, his words simple, and they rang completely true. “We want to be the good guys, Rune.”
Something haunted and dark flashed across Denim’s face. “We were involved in COS from the time we were children and our mother met our stepfather. It wasn’t…encouraged for a COS member to leave the church. We got out as soon as we could.”
But not before they’d been damaged in ways she could only imagine. She felt something for them—some sort of empathy and connection she wasn’t sure she understood—but it was there and it was strong.
“You trained with blades?”
“Yes. We trained with many weapons, but our specialty is blades.” Levi met her eyes. “Shivs.”
She took a drink of her coffee, then set the mug gently on the desk, giving herself time to think. “You understand we are not without limitations. We’re under too many thumbs. We get left out of things, we’re used for dirty jobs, and there is little appreciation for Shiv Crew.”
“Not for long,” Denim said. “We’ve been hearing things. SCRU and Shiv Crew are becoming well-known and important. I’ve seen it happen for lesser groups, and it’ll happen for us. Shiv Crew is going to be something big.”
He spoke as though he and his brother already belonged—with pride and confidence. It made her smile.
And as tired as she was, she wasn’t about to wait until the next day to try them out. She stood, scooped up her car keys, and gulped down half a cup of lukewarm coffee.
“Then let’s see what you’ve got.”
They followed her from the room, standing slightly behind her when she stopped in the reception area to speak with Ellis.
“Call the crew and have them meet us in the Sandbox.”
“This late?”
“Yup. And tell one of them—”
“Bring you coffee.”
“What would I do without you, Ellie?”
“I don’t know, probably die.” Though he said it lightly, the look he gave her was anything but. His eyes were serious—too sad for her to look into for more than a second.
So she ignored him. It wasn’t like she could suddenly stop doing the bad things. Wasn’t even sure she would if she could.
Her chuckle was hollow. “Without you, I probably would.”
As the twins filed past him Ellis stood and tapped his chest, right over his heart, twice. He then raised his right hand, his index and middle fingers crossed, and stared at the twins.
“What are you doing?” Levi asked.
Ellis kept his hand raised. “This is our promise of protection symbol.” He grinned and lowered his hand. “It has come to mean acceptance as well, and my hope is that someday the Others can show it to us.” He glanced at Rune. “And that we can show it to them.”
Rune sighed. “Ellis loves the Others, boys. He wants them to be as accepted and free as the humans. He’s always been a bleeding heart and a dreamer.” She flashed a grin at them, though she knew her eyes would be completely devoid of humor. “But no matter, I love him anyway.” She stared at them for a long moment, making sure they got her meaning.
The twins said nothing, but their expressions were thoughtful. They needed to know right up front about Ellis, and they needed to know that she would kill to protect him. And not just because he’s the only person in the world who knows what I am and accepts me for it. Not because he’s saved my life too many times to count.
They looked at each other, and then as one, gently tapped their chests and raised their crossed fingers high.
The sun shone in Ellis’s eyes.
She left headquarters, the gorgeous twin ex-COS members at her heels.
It was turning out to be a very long night.
But she had a strong feeling Shiv Crew had just found two new additions to their group.
Chapter Three
The Sandbox was a gymnasium inside RISC headquarters and was used mainly for training and intense workouts. It was only a block away, but Rune didn’t want to waste time walking. She motioned the twins into her car, a black SUV built to hold big bodies and lots of weapons.
The boys climbed into the backseat after hesitating for a short moment, both of them looking toward a battered red Chevy truck with tinted windows.
“Don’t worry, boys. Your truck will still be here when you get back.” Yeah, it kind of looked like they were thinking about jumping in that truck and getting the hell out of there, but she ignored that part. It was natural that they might waver.
No one spoke during the ride, and that was fine with her. Time for talk was over. Now she just needed to see them fight.
She wanted the crew’s input on the twins as well. Especially Raze’s. He could judge people better than anyone she’d ever met. It was strange. He was like a big growly bear, but the man had a crazy sensitive streak a mile wide.
The RISC building was still busy for this ti
me of night—or morning, she realized, when she glanced at the dash clock. It was nearly two a.m. but the RISC building never completely shut down.
Darkness brought out most of the monsters.
Two on-duty cops grinned at her from their desks when she walked by, but quickly focused on the two strangers at her back. Not because the boys were hot, but because the men were cops.
She was a little uncomfortable letting the twins walk behind her but not uncomfortable enough to make them walk where she could see them. Aggravated by her acceptance of them, she finally chalked it up to that strange connection and forgot about it.
Because in her mind, they were already Shiv Crew.
The twins were composed—too detached—and it was difficult to imagine them waking up enough to become violent, bloodthirsty little crew members.
She shoved the heavy double doors open with a little more force than necessary. She didn’t like a lot of quiet, and the men behind her were eerily so. “Welcome to the Sandbox, boys. When the rest of the crew arrives, we’ll test you out with rubber blades. Don’t want anybody getting his head cut off at the first meeting.”
They glanced at each other, then shrugged. “We’d be careful not to hurt them with real blades if you’d rather test us on silver.”
She laughed. “I wasn’t worried about you hurting them. The blades can still cause some damage, but no one will be getting hurt tonight. My men are very good at what they do. We’ll save the damage for the monsters.” She folded her arms and stared up at the twins.
At five-four, she was often dwarfed by the men she dealt with. Denim and Levi were probably around five-ten so they didn’t make her feel overly small. Her men were going to make the twins look like delicate little kids.
Even Z, the most height challenged of the crew—next to her—was six-two.
Thinking of him must have conjured him, because he pushed the doors open and slipped into the room. He stopped beside Rune, staring at the twins.
They stared back, their gazes empty. Denim’s scar was a harsh rope of pain against his face, but it looked right on him.
Horrible thing to think, Rune.
But still.
“Z,” she said, “meet Denim and Levi Montrosa. They want to give Shiv Crew a shot. You up for a little play?”
He grinned and offered the twins his hand. “Always.”
As affable as he seemed, she knew him. His face was careful, his eyes guarded. He must have seen something in the twins too. Something that bothered him.
Jack and Raze arrived, their entrance as loud and hard as Z’s had been quiet. They brought energy with them. The air seemed to crackle with it.
Those two were her giants. They intimidated by size alone. Jack was smaller than Raze, but that wasn’t saying much. Jack’s muscles bunched as he stood with feet apart, arms akimbo, watching the twins.
He wore his dark hair short in a neat buzz cut, and like the other two men had quite an assortment of tattoos on his body. He wore his weapons like jewelry—belts draped across his massive chest, knives and guns in holsters and sheaths, silver blades gleaming from every available space.
Sex oozed from Jack’s pores, and she’d never known a woman who could resist him. Or who wanted to. Good thing she had some rules about fucking the men in her crew, or she’d never have gotten anything done.
Raze, on the other hand, scared the hell out of women. And men. And small animals. He was nearly six feet six inches tall and big as a tank. Long, messy, dark red hair made him look like a wild wolf, but Raze was completely human.
Even his eyes were scary and strange. They were light gray, surrounded by lashes thick and long enough to make her jealous. She’d known him for three years and had never seen him smile. Not once.
He was the one she watched as he gave the twins a once over. Raze would know if the twins had evil souls.
He always knew.
So when he looked at her, frowning and puzzled, she threw her hands up in disgust. “Of course,” she said. “Why not?”
The twins were locked up so well that not even Raze could read them. Fuck.
“Where’s my coffee?”
“Shit, Rune. I’m sorry. I was supposed to pick it up and forgot.” Jack looked at her with his limpid, sexy eyes, trying for apologetic. He failed.
“Dammit, Jack.”
Z pulled an apple from his jacket and tossed it to her. “Here you go. Better for you anyway.”
She polished the apple on her shirt and went to sit on the bleachers. “Don’t hurt them, but give them a good test. Let’s see what they’ve got.”
She had some hopes pinned on those boys. She wanted them to work out. If they could manage not to let the men run circles around them, they could be trained into Shiv Crew.
Any other time she might have tried them out herself, but she wanted to see how they were with her men. Guys who didn’t know her tended to pull their punches, and she didn’t want to waste time showing them just why they shouldn’t be doing that.
Jack and Raze circled the twins. Z grabbed sword-size rubber blades from the cabinet and threw both the new guys a weapon, then joined Jack and Raze.
The twins stood back-to-back, rubber-tipped blades touching the floor, and waited for Shiv Crew to make the first move.
Jack went for Denim, moving his blade in a quick slashing motion. Had the men been on the battlefield, that movement would have sliced his opponent from balls to throat.
Denim blocked the blade with his own.
Jack grinned. “Good, kid.”
Denim’s face remained blank—no return smile, no acknowledgment—but Rune was pretty sure she saw a spark of scorn in his eyes.
Z tried a similar move on Levi, and once again, it was blocked.
“Okay then,” he said, “we know they aren’t totally inept.”
“We know what we’re doing,” Levi said. “It’d save a lot of time if you’d just show us what you’ve got.”
“We’ll try not to kick your asses,” Denim said. “Let’s do this.”
Raze shrugged. “No sense in wasting time.”
“Raze,” Rune called, a little warning in her voice.
The twins, as one, looked at her. “If you’re not going to fight, and you want to see what we can do, please stay the fuck out of this.”
Denim was obviously the blunter of the two boys. “Well okay then.” She took a bite of her apple and motioned at them. “Carry on.”
The twins woke up.
They moved with a seamlessness that was impossible not to admire. Each movement by one man was perfectly mirrored by the other.
Still, her men were careful…for about two minutes.
That’s all the time it took to figure out the twins did indeed know what they were doing. They played off each other. While Jack was still lifting his sword for a painful slash across Denim’s chest, Denim flipped backward, kicked himself off his brother’s body, and ended up behind Jack with a sword to his throat. Had it not been a mock battle, Denim would have just cut Jack’s head off.
The twins woke up, and it was like a fucking dance.
“Son of a bitch.” Rune dropped the forgotten apple. She stood and watched the fight, her breath catching, her heart racing, her entire body covered with gooseflesh.
The twins were magic. Her men were as astounded as she, and perhaps their surprise made them slower. Or perhaps the twins were just that good.
When it was over and the twins had proven themselves, she was disappointed. She could have watched them all night.
Her men were breathing a little harder and had angry red marks across their faces and throats. She was sure the skin underneath their clothes was just as abused.
Z stretched out his kinks. Jack grimaced as he limped toward the bleachers, and Raze, the least marked of all of them, stared into space, frowning.
The twins had kicked ass. Sure, her men hadn’t had the desperation of a real fight behind them, but if it came down to it, she wasn’t sure who would com
e out on top.
The twins were incredible.
And they’re mine.
She couldn’t help but smirk at Jack as he sat down. He ignored her and began rubbing out a sore muscle in his leg.
The twins stood in the middle of the floor, talking quietly. Denim gestured angrily, and when he noticed her watching he looked away and held up his palm to Levi.
Be quiet. Or maybe later. Whatever, it was obvious he wanted his brother to hush.
She frowned. Secrets were allowed, but if those secrets could hurt the crew they were best dragged out of the dark and destroyed before they became a problem.
She’d deal with it if she took them on.
If. Right.
“What do you think?” She asked the question of both men. Their answers were going to be different, but they’d both basically agree on what she was really asking them. Should the twins stay, or were they too dangerous? Too risky?
“Where’d they come from?” Jack asked.
She dreaded telling them, but they had to know. Deserved to know. “COS.”
Z whipped his head around to stare at her. “What?”
“They claimed they were pretty much forced to stay in the church.”
“You believe them?” Jack asked. He was the most suspicious of her crew, but once you had his trust, you had it.
“Yeah. I do.”
He nodded and got up to pull two bottled waters from the cooler. He threw one to Z before drinking most of his in one gulp.
“Z?” she asked.
“They’re fucking amazing with a blade. They fight like they’re in each other’s heads.”
“Yes. Like they have one brain but it’s in two bodies.”
He nodded. “Amazing fighters, but taking on ex-COS is going to be risky. Can’t trust them.”
“We can trust them eventually,” she said. “That’s the way it is with every new person.”
He leveled a cool stare at her. “You think so, Rune?”
She shrugged and snatched his water from his hand, taking a long drink. “We give them a try.”
There were a hell of lot of secrets in COS. A lot of very strange rumors. But nothing stayed hidden forever.
