Obsidian Wings (Rune Alexander) Read online

  Obsidian Wings

  By Laken Cane

  Copyright © 2014 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

  With each new book, I “meet” more amazing, supportive people. You make me eager to write that next book, eager to take you with me on the next adventure. This one is for you.

  Melody Aboaf

  Dawn Anderson

  Gwynnith Roberts-Baxter

  Dawn Frasier-Bradshaw

  Devaeriel

  Ami Dixon

  Dave Gallagher

  Jeannie Holbrook

  Tiffany Johnson

  Dawn Levy

  Danielle Longamore

  Mandi

  Shannon Martin

  Elaine Otworth Morris

  Jeanette Rutherford

  Roxie Worley Smith

  Michelle Dunson Trout

  Table of Contents

  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

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Part Two

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Part Three

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Epilogue

  About Laken Cane

  Part One

  Touchstone

  Chapter One

  “You got me a present?”

  Rune nudged the little envelope with a cautious finger. “The perfect present for you, baby.”

  “The perfect present would be the twins.” He paused, as though afraid to ask the question that came next. “You heard from them?”

  The hope in his voice made her close her eyes and curse silently. “No. I’m sorry.”

  He was quiet for a long moment. “What do you have for me?”

  “Something to keep the vampires away. I’ll explain when I see you.”

  “That would be a good present,” he agreed, trying to sound cheerful.

  But she knew him. “I’m so sorry, Ellie.”

  “It’s not your fault, Rune. And I know we’ll get them back. I just wish we would hurry, before…”

  Yeah.

  Before.

  “Get some rest, Rune. You have a lot of recovering to do.”

  She sighed. He always worried about her, even though he was going through his own hell. “I will.”

  She clicked off, glanced at the door, then at the bed. But pacing and worrying would achieve nothing.

  So she undressed and climbed under the sheets.

  Waiting.

  For something. For someone.

  She lay in the dark, her fingers touching the sharp, silver shiv she’d slid under the edge of the mattress. Not that she’d need a blade with the claws she possessed, but old habits died hard, and she found comfort in the routine.

  She waited.

  Her heart fluttered uncertainly, beating rapidly enough to hurt the recently healed stake wound scarring her chest.

  She heard the click when the lock was picked, a tiny click not as loud as the click her throat made when she swallowed.

  She closed her eyes.

  Kept them closed as he undressed, as he slid into the bed beside her.

  But she knew who he was. His scent was as intoxicating to her as the smell of blood, as familiar as the scent of the individual crew members.

  “Berserker,” she whispered.

  He pulled the sheet off her and skimmed his fingers over her belly, her chest, her face.

  “Yeah,” he murmured. “Berserker.”

  She opened her eyes, catching the white gleam of his teeth as he smiled down at her.

  She forced herself to breathe. “I…”

  “You were maybe expecting someone else?” His voice rumbled in the darkness, covering her with silk and a dark, dark promise.

  “No,” she said, gasping as he dipped his fingers between her thighs. “Not really.”

  Fingers still moving, slow and heavy, he leaned over and put his lips against her cheek. “Let me do what I’m supposed to do.”

  She couldn’t speak.

  She arched her back, her breath catching in her throat.

  “You don’t have to be afraid.” His breath was warm and moist in her ear. “I’ve got you.”

  He did.

  God, he did.

  She gazed into his glittering eyes, her desire building as he effortlessly awakened her need. Her need for blood. For him. For sex.

  And something more, something she had no name for.

  She put her palm against his bicep, barely breathing. His muscles bunched as he touched her, his fingers moving relentlessly.

  She cried out, her grip tightening on his arm, tightening enough to hurt him.

  His expression didn’t change—he watched her, awareness in his intense stare. He knew what he was doing to her.

  Right then, at that second, she was his.

  Just his.

  And he knew that, as well.

  She opened her mouth to reply, maybe, and he covered it with his. He moved his lips, caressing hers, then slipped his tongue into her mouth.

  He stroked her tongue with his, a whisper of a touch.

  Nothing hurried, nothing tense.

  And in her mind, there was only the berserker.

  He overpowered the twins, her father, and COS. He even forced away Z. He buried her worry for the blind Other who lay in the clinic, tortured thoughts once again breaking the silence she’d found.

  There was only the berserker.

  He took his mouth from hers when she shivered.<
br />
  “Rune.” His voice slid into the darkness the way his tongue had slid into her mouth.

  “Yeah?” The word left her in a breathless, strained rush.

  “I wanted to say your name,” he told her. “You know I—”

  She put her fingers over his lips. “Shhh.”

  His lips moved as he pulled one of her fingers into his mouth, and then, before she could say another word, he stopped being slow. Stopped being gentle.

  She gasped and suddenly didn’t care what he said. She wouldn’t have heard him over the blood rushing through her ears.

  Strad used his rough fingers to shove her over the edge, and just as she fell, he forced her mouth against his throat.

  He didn’t have to offer twice.

  She dropped her fangs and struck, the rush of blood making her orgasm harder, longer.

  More.

  She wrapped her arms and legs around him, clinging to his hard, muscled body as he thrust into her.

  And there in the darkness, cut off from the world and all its trouble, they fed each other.

  Much later, she lay wrapped in his arms and realized she’d never felt more at peace than when she was with the berserker.

  It was not a wholly comforting thought.

  Chapter Two

  “She can feel them, I think,” Dr. Haas said. She leaned over Lex and flashed her light into the Other’s eyes, as though that would tell her something.

  Rune figured it was habit. “If she can feel them, that might mean they’re nearby.” She squeezed Lex’s hand. “Can you hear me, Lex?”

  Raze leaned against the wall. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face was stubbled with the coming day’s hint of a beard. It’d been his turn to watch over Lex.

  And even when it wasn’t his turn, he stayed away long enough to grab a couple hours of sleep, and, when called upon, to work. Then he ran back to Lex.

  The strain of worrying about the twins along with Lex’s unrelenting descent into a darkness they couldn’t chase away was showing. On all of them.

  Abruptly, Lex was back. Kind of.

  She clutched at Rune’s hand, her grip desperate. “They’re in the Moor.”

  Raze strode to the bedside. “We checked the Moor.”

  “In the Moor,” she repeated.

  Her body quivered, but Rune couldn’t tell if she was shivering or trying to vibrate. “Can you see anything else, Lex?”

  But Lex was gone again.

  “She’s not getting better,” Rune murmured.

  “She’s worse,” Dr. Haas agreed. “You’ve fed her. I’ve done everything I can think to do but—”

  “She’ll get better once the twins are safe.” Raze’s voice was hoarse. He didn’t look at anyone but Lex. “She’s going there.” He gestured. “In her mind.”

  Rune nodded. He was right.

  “God knows where else she’s going,” the doctor said. “If Karin Love is released—”

  “Don’t say that name,” Rune told her.

  None of them knew what was happening to Lex. But something was, and it was something dark. Rune was terrified that eventually the girl wouldn’t be able to find her way back to them.

  “The Moor,” Rune said. “If Lex says the twins are in the Moor, they’re in the Moor.” She caught Raze’s stare with her own. “We’re going to have to look harder.”

  He nodded. “You go. I’ll—”

  Rune cut him off. “No. You’ll come with me. I’ll call Ellie to sit with Lex.”

  Raze needed to be out working or he was going to lose his mind right along with Lex. He knew that.

  His jaw knotted as he thought about it, and finally, he nodded. “I’ll call him.”

  The doctor followed Raze from the room. “I’ll check on her often,” she threw back over her shoulder. “I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

  Rune hadn’t asked the doctor about Lex’s injuries. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. “Please get better,” she whispered.

  “They’re in the Moor.”

  But where in the Moor? Raze had been right. They’d torn the Moor apart—had torn the county apart—searching for the twins.

  They’d simply disappeared. Right along with COS.

  But if they truly were in the Moor, someone there had to know. And she was going to question every motherfucking one of them.

  Lex began screaming, startling Rune so much she stumbled back, sending the tray table into the wall. “Fuck!”

  Raze ran into the room, his eyes wild, shivs in both hands. “What?”

  They strode to the bed where the blind Other continued to scream. She didn’t thrash, didn’t move, just opened her mouth and screamed.

  Not even the expression on her face changed.

  Rune shuddered and grabbed Lex’s shoulders. “Lex, wake up,” she yelled, but still, Lex screamed.

  She didn’t even take a breath.

  Dr. Haas ran into the room with a nurse, and pushed past Raze. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. She just started screaming.”

  “Lex,” the nurse said. “Alexis?”

  Rune couldn’t bear the agony. Lex was in hell, and there was nothing she could do about it. “Can you knock her out?” She wasn’t sure the doctor would hear her whispered plea, but somehow, she did.

  “I can try,” she replied, her voice grim.

  And still Lex screamed.

  It took ten minutes to get the girl drugged enough to stop screaming. To Rune, it took an eternity.

  When Lex was silent and still at last, limp beneath the sheets, Rune grabbed Raze’s arm and they walked from the room. Neither one of them could have stayed a second longer.

  They waited in the hall for Ellis and before Rune had time to stop trembling, he arrived. He took one look at her and pulled her into his arms. “What happened?”

  “Lex had an episode,” Raze said. “She…screamed.”

  Ellis drew back but held onto Rune’s hand. “Why?”

  But they had no answer for him.

  Rune cleared her throat. “We’re going back to the Moor. Lex said the twins were in the Moor.”

  Ellis’s eyes widened. “They are?” He squeezed Rune’s fingers, his voice heavy with hope. “They are?”

  “She said so, baby.” But she hadn’t, really. She’d said they were in the Moor. Whoever they were. Maybe the twins. Maybe fictional nightmare creatures in her mind.

  Ellie put a hand to his chest. “Then go get them.”

  “We’re going to try,” she said. “If anything happens, call my cell.”

  “Yes, yes.” He shooed them away. “Go find our boys.”

  She called Strad once she was in her SUV, speeding down the highway. “Lex says we should check the Moor. For the twins, I think. Or maybe COS. I’m going there right now.”

  “Alone?”

  She sighed. “Raze is right behind me.”

  “I’ll meet you there.” He hung up.

  She woke Jack up. “We’re headed for the Moor. Lex is sure that’s where we need to be.”

  “Then we do.”

  “I think so, too. Maybe the twins are in the Moor. But where?”

  “That’s the question.”

  “Call Owen for me.”

  “You got it. See you there.”

  She realized she’d forgotten to give Ellis the fang. The deadly, hideous fang. For him, it would be a lifesaver.

  Llodra was dead, but Ellie wasn’t safe. Any vampire could bite—and turn—him.

  The fang Amy had given her, though, that would protect him when Rune couldn’t. The little bite junkie had done much more for the crew than they’d ever done for her.

  Her cell rang, the display showing RISC. “Bill?”

  “Rune, I need you to check out something in the Moor.”

  “Then you’re in luck, because I’m almost there. What do you have?”

  “We got a report of a dead female Other. I need you to check the scene for me.”

  “What’
s different about this death?”

  “Obvious murder. She was tortured and nailed to the side of the old abandoned slaughterhouse on Timber Road.”

  She closed her eyes in a long, slow blink. “Who’s on the scene?”

  “Homicide detectives have come and gone. I was called once they discovered the victim was Other.”

  “Doer might be human.”

  “Yes,” he agreed. “And if we find that to be true, River County humans can take the case.”

  “There won’t be much to take if I find the son of a bitch first.”

  “You know the rules, Rune.”

  She knew. Didn’t mean she followed them. “I’ll call you when I have something.”

  She clicked off, then called Raze. “We’ll have to split up. Rice wants me to check out an Other murder on Timber Road.”

  “That’s in the Moor,” he replied.

  “Yes. I’ll catch up with you after I’m finished. Let me know if you find anything.”

  “I will. Who do you want to take?”

  “I’ll call Jack. You and the others concentrate on the twins.”

  If it was an Other against Other crime, she wouldn’t be looked at too hard if the killer was put down during his capture. The Other prisons were overflowing. But if she took out a human who’d killed Others, she could find herself in very hot water.

  If, of course, she was caught.

  Chapter Three

  Daylight was appearing when she pulled up to the crime scene. Yellow tape cordoned off the area, and three cars were parked neatly at the side of the road.

  She got out of her SUV and jumped the ditch separating the road from the slaughterhouse. One of the people guarding the place walked to meet her. He was one of RISC’s, a young guy with red hair and a tendency to blush at the slightest provocation.

  “Eric,” she greeted. “Any trouble?”

  “Nope, but it’s early. The people of the Moor like to cause trouble. I’m sure they’ll be showing up soon.”

  She smiled back at him, but when she caught a glimpse of the body hanging from the side of the building, she lost her affability. “Rice said she’d been tortured.”

  He dropped into place beside her as she strode to the corpse, his voice grim. “Yes. The assholes worked her over pretty good.”

  “You think there was more than one killer?”

  He shrugged. “RISC is sending transport to take her in, so we won’t know much until she’s examined. But I don’t see how one person could have gotten her nailed up there like that. She’s a big woman.”