Chasing Darkness (Rune Alexander Book 10) Read online

  Chasing Darkness

  By Laken Cane

  Copyright © 2017 Laken Cane

  All rights reserved.

  The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, association with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment. Ebook copies may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share with a friend, please buy an extra copy, and thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  For more information about the author, you can find her online at

  www.lakencane.com,

  www.facebook.com/laken.cane.3,

  www.twitter.com/lakencane,

  www.amazon.com/author/lakencane

  Dedications

  I dedicate this book to the addicted, and to the transformed.

  Note from the author:

  Hi guys! Do you remember the Shiv Crew Christmas short story, Shadows Past? There are some things referred to in Chasing Darkness that come from that book. If you haven’t yet read it, you can find it on Amazon or by clicking THIS LINK.

  Happy reading!

  Table of Contents

  Note from the author:

  Part One

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Part Two

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Part Three

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  Secondary Character List

  About Laken Cane

  A preview of UNBREAKABLE

  A preview of WE, THE FORSAKEN

  Part One

  TWISTED

  Chapter One

  “Will,” she cried, but didn’t take her horrified stare off the child.

  Oh, that child.

  Will hadn’t been lying. He really could walk any path.

  And he’d saved her berserker and the berserker’s terrible, breathtaking gift.

  “Will,” she whispered.

  She didn’t move. Couldn’t.

  “If a gift comes from the edge of hell, you should destroy it.”

  The baby, Gunnar?

  Or the assassin?

  Or my fucking berserker?

  “I told you I’d find her,” Strad said, gently.

  Oh God.

  He thought it was a good thing. He thought…

  “There is one here who is destined to kill you and yours, Rune.

  “You call her the little black-haired baby.”

  God.

  How long had it been since the voice of Damascus had echoed inside her mind? So long.

  But there her memory was, vivid and loud.

  Laughing.

  Rune swallowed her tears, her doubts, and her fears, and she gently accepted the child.

  The little black-haired baby.

  The very child that was destined to one day destroy her. To destroy Kader.

  She didn’t know what she would do. But right then, it was the end to a long, long search.

  The child wasn’t a chubby, bouncing cherub of a three-year-old. She was pale and silent and blank.

  Bruises, cuts, blood, and dirt covered her. Her black hair was matted and filthy, and her skin was ice cold.

  She was small.

  Skeletal.

  “God,” Rune whispered. The child was unable to hold up her head, and her cheek lay heavily against Rune’s collarbone. “What did they do to you, honey?”

  “She’s unresponsive,” Will said. “She doesn’t speak. There’s nothing behind those eyes.”

  “Assassin,” Rune said. “I—”

  “No.” He shook his head. “It was necessary.”

  Strad stayed where he was, but his presence was strong. She could feel him there, pressing against her.

  “What will you do with her?” Will asked.

  Send her back.

  Shut up.

  “I’ll take her to Eugene. He can…fix her. Feed her. Help her.” She was unable to resist kissing the child’s cool forehead. “God knows I can’t.”

  She didn’t even know what the kid was. Not really.

  A monster?

  Yeah.

  That was a given.

  Created from her. From the twins. From whatever the hell else the Shop had stirred into the huge pot of blood and magic stew.

  The berserker was staring at her. “What’s wrong?”

  She shrugged. “Nothing.”

  He walked to her, then looked down at her, his eyes dark. “You didn’t want her.”

  “I’ve been searching for her since the moment I saw her,” she said, but she couldn’t look at him.

  “I can return her.” Will seemed to think she might actually consider having him toss the child back through the portal.

  “Like she’s a broken toy you can take back for a refund,” she said, her lip curled.

  He waited, emotionless and unreadable with the mask covering his face.

  “Fuck you.” Rune tightened her grip on the baby and looked at Strad. “Berserker…”

  He watched her.

  Her fingers ached to touch him. “You broke the addiction."

  His stare devoured her face. "One of them," he answered.

  Her stomach hurt with its tightness and her heart beat a little faster. She nodded. “Let’s go home.”

  “Home.” He rolled the word around on his tongue like it was the best thing he’d ever tasted.

  “Will, wake Roma,” she said.

  Then she strode back the way she’d come, the little girl in her arms, the two men at her back, Roma at her side.

  And the world felt right.

  Mostly.

  Jack was waiting for them. He leaned against the car, his stare going from Rune to the child to Strad, where it lingered.

  “Where is everybody?” she asked him.

  “They headed back to River County. Your car will be waiting for you at the Annex. I had an op drive it back.”

  The berserker stood in front of Jack, and neither of them said a word, just watched each other. Rune walked to the front passenger side and got in with the baby, her stomach tight. There was some shit they’d have to figure out, and it wasn’t something she could—or would—interfere with.

  They’d work it out, or they wouldn’t.

  Roma walked to Jack and stood beside him, and Will stayed a few yards away, behind the berserker. He didn’t look away from any of them.

  If Strad and Jack decided to fight, neither Roma nor the assassin would interfere. They knew better.

  Rune saw Jack’s lips move, but he kept his voice too low for her to hear through the glass. Roma lifted her chin and crossed her arms.

  The berserker glanced at Rune before putting his cold stare back on Jack. He gave the other man a terse nod, and then, he held out his hand. />
  Jack hesitated, but finally, he shook Strad’s hand.

  And the anxiety growing inside her eased. She leaned over and tapped the horn. “Get in or I’m leaving without you,” she yelled.

  But she was smiling.

  She tightened her arms around the black-haired baby. “You’re safe, honey.”

  The child didn’t move. She barely breathed.

  Somehow, she’d survived everything that had happened to her. Even the path. The kid deserved a chance, and Rune was going to see that she got one. No matter what sort of dire predictions the witch had spouted. No matter.

  The car dipped when Jack climbed in, and he sat staring out the windshield while he waited for the others to get in. He didn’t look at Rune until she reached over and squeezed his battered hand.

  He, in turn, squeezed the steering wheel.

  “Jack,” she murmured.

  Roma got into the backseat, but the berserker and Will didn’t move. Both of them watched her.

  She watched them back, and her stomach tightened.

  “They’re…” Jack took his hand from the steering wheel and started the car.

  “Dark,” Rune finished.

  He nodded.

  “It’ll be okay,” she said. It had to be. At least, as okay as it’d ever been.

  “The berserker said he’ll see you in River County,” Roma told her. “He has some things he needs to do.”

  Rune nodded, but still didn’t take her stare from Strad’s.

  Jack started the car and drove her away from the nightmare called Killing Land.

  She’d go back. Someday.

  She felt the berserker’s absence immediately, but even when she could no longer see his eyes, she could still feel the heaviness of his stare.

  Chapter Two

  “Hi, baby. How’s Levi?”

  She heard him bite back a sob. “He’s going to be just fine, Rune. Thank God.”

  “Where’s Kader?”

  “She’s with Aly. I just called to check on her.”

  “Okay,” Rune said. Aly was Rune’s favorite nurse nanny from the Annex, and Kader loved her.

  “The berserker?” Ellis asked.

  “He’s…”

  “Rune?”

  “I don’t know. He’s alive. He’s here.”

  Ellie took a deep breath. “That’s what matters.”

  “I’ll be there soon.”

  “Rune.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Does Strad know about Kader?”

  “Not yet.”

  She hung up, then squeezed the little black-haired baby. She leaned forward to kiss the top of the child’s head. Her stomach never once lost its knots.

  Jack nodded at the baby. “You didn’t tell him about this kid.”

  “Not a conversation I want to have on the phone.”

  “What are you going to do with her?”

  “Hand her over to Eugene. If anyone can help her, he can.”

  “I wouldn’t trust the Annex with this baby,” Roma piped up, scooting up in her seat.

  “What do you propose I do with her,” Rune asked, her voice tight. “I can’t…I can’t fix this mess of a baby. She’s going to need doctors. Professionals. I can’t help her.”

  She knew they understood her defensiveness. She didn’t want to hand the child over to the Annex.

  “Babies needed hugs and love and laughter,” Roma said. “That’s what Ellie says.”

  “Regular babies might,” Jack agreed. “But our kind of babies, they need blood, moonlight, and monsters.”

  Rune gaped at him, and even Roma seemed at a loss for words.

  Jack scratched at one of the dirty bandages the Annex medics had plastered onto his body and ignored both of them.

  The child never moved.

  “You should name her, at least,” Roma said. “If you don’t, Eugene will end up calling her Thirteen or A6 or something equally terrible.”

  Rune stared at her. “Thirteen? Why’d you say that?”

  Roma shrugged. “Seems like something the Annex would do. Give numbers to…test subjects and abandoned babies.”

  “You don’t even like kids, Roma,” Jack said. “Why are you being so protective of this one?”

  Roma sat back into her seat. “She came from Skyll.”

  “The girl who gave birth to this baby,” Rune said, “was named Thirteen. This baby isn’t from Skyll. She’s from a tortured human, and she’s from me and the twins.”

  Roma scooted back up, her eyes wide. “What? She’s yours?”

  Rune sighed. “Sort of. Parts of me went into creating her.”

  “The twins,” Jack said.

  Rune blew out a hard breath. “Shit.”

  He nodded.

  The twins—especially Levi—had just started dealing with their nightmare darkness. The baby was going to bring it all back. Again.

  “Don’t tell them.” Jack looked at her, his one eye gleaming. “Just don’t tell them.”

  “You know I have to.”

  “How did this happen?” Roma asked.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “We won’t be in River County for a while.”

  Rune shivered.

  “Drop it, Roma,” Jack said, immediately.

  “I’m sorry,” Roma said. “But I should know my princess.”

  Despite herself, Rune smiled. “I’m not anybody’s princess. You need to get that dumb shit out of your head.”

  “Sometimes it helps to talk about the bad things,” Roma said.

  “You’re not one to give up, are you?” Jack asked. “She said—”

  “Spikemoss Mountain,” Rune interrupted. “It…” But she swallowed her words, finding it almost impossible to get them out.

  “It sounds beautiful,” Roma said.

  Rune shook her head. “It’s a grim place.”

  “This mountain had something to do with the baby.”

  “I was taken,” Rune said, after a moment. “Staked and held in a cage there. The twins were, as well. All of us were…tortured. The Shop used our blood and…” She took a deep breath. “They used parts of us to create…”

  “Monsters,” Roma said, suddenly understanding. “Like the child you hold.”

  Rune stared out her window. “Drive faster, Jack,” she whispered. “I need to see Ellie.”

  He reached for her fingers. He didn’t speak again until her hand was in his. “Ellis is all things good, Rune, but I love you just as much as he does. And I’m here.”

  “Me too,” Roma said.

  Rune inhaled, pulling their scents deep into her mind, her heart. And the darkness was shoved back a little further.

  She smiled and squeezed his fingers. “Thanks.”

  No one spoke for a while as they made the trip back to the Annex, but it wasn’t a harsh silence. Just one of exhaustion.

  Rune was thinking of baby names.

  Roma was right. She couldn’t give Eugene the baby without first giving her a name. And they’d visit. Bring toys and hugs. Lots of hugs.

  She wouldn’t be alone.

  “She does need a name,” Rune said, into the silence.

  Roma perked up. “Do you need help thinking of one?”

  “Yup. What do you have?”

  “Nothing. I’m not good at names.”

  Rune sighed. “Jack?”

  “Reign,” he said, at once. “We can name her Reign.” He hesitated, then spelled the name out for them.

  “That’s beautiful,” Rune told him, surprised.

  Roma tilted her head. “Who is Reign?”

  “She was my sister,” he murmured. He blew out a hard breath. “This little kid needs a badass name to help make up for the challenges she’s going to face.”

  “And has faced,” Rune said.

  He swallowed hard, then nodded.

  A giant fist twisted Rune’s heart. “That’s perfect, Jack,” she whispered. “Reign. Little Reign.” Again, she kissed the top of the listless ba
by’s head. “Hello, Reign.”

  She’d never again be thought of as the little black-haired baby.

  From that moment on, she belonged to them. All of them.

  Especially, maybe, to Jack, who didn’t have to tell Rune that he would always see Reign as the sister he’d lost. His do-over.

  “Shiv Crew baby,” Roma said.

  After Jack parked in the back Annex lot, he hurried around to open Rune’s door. When she started to climb out, baby against her chest, he held out his arms. “You’re tired. I can…” He cleared his throat and wouldn’t look at her.

  Wordlessly, she handed the baby over to him. When they entered the Annex, people stopped to gawk at the battle-scarred one-eyed man, weapons crisscrossing his body, tenderly cradling a small child against his bloodstained chest.

  It was an image Rune would never lose from her memories.

  Roma saw them to the elevators. “I’m going to the basement to shower.” Her eyes were ringed with red and she didn’t look at Jack. Rune knew how she felt.

  The second before the doors whispered shut, though, the girl looked up and into Jack’s face, and her heart was there in her eyes.

  The next time the doors slid open, Eugene and Bill stood in the hallway, waiting for them. “I saw you come in,” Eugene said, his stare on the child. “This is…?”

  “Reign,” Jack said.

  Bill eyed the baby. “Rain as in water or Reign as in rule?”

  “Rule.”

  “Jack named her after his sister,” Rune told them.

  Bill blinked. “Of course.”

  “This is the child you’ve been searching for,” Eugene said, rubbing his hands together.

  “Thirteen’s baby,” Bill said.

  “Thirteen’s implant,” Eugene corrected. “She’s no one’s baby.”

  Jack stiffened. “She’s ours. Don’t say shit like that where she can hear you.”

  Eugene studied him, curiosity in his eyes. “All right.” He leaned forward and peered into Reign’s face. “But she can’t hear us. I don’t imagine she’s aware of anything at all.”

  “Can you help her?” Rune asked.

  “I will absolutely do everything I can,” he promised.

  “Help her,” Jack growled. “Don’t study her. Don’t experiment on her. Don’t fucking…don’t hurt her.”

  Eugene softened his voice. “Her life from this moment on will be paradise compared to her life before. No matter what is done to her. I can promise you that.”