Magic and Bones Read online

  Magic and Bones

  By Laken Cane

  Copyright © 2019 Laken Cane

  All rights reserved.

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

  www.lakencane.com,

  www.facebook.com/authorlakencane,

  www.instagram.com/lakencane,

  www.amazon.com/author/lakencane

  www.bookbub.com/authors/laken-cane

  Dedications

  For everyone who stayed to the end.

  It wouldn’t have been the same without you.

  Playlist for Magic and Bones

  I LIKE IT HEAVY (Halestorm)

  DEAR DAUGHTER (Halestorm)

  ALREADY DEAD (The Pretty Reckless)

  WICKED ONES (Dorothy)

  BAD BUSINESS (Jocelyn and Chris Arndt)

  GUN IN MY HAND (Dorothy)

  HEATHENS (Halestorm)

  COLD BLOODED (The Pretty Reckless)

  THE GUN SHOW (In This Moment)

  CUT THE CORD (Jocelyn and Chris Arndt)

  LOW LIFE (feat Jamie N Commons- X Ambassadors)

  YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN (Billie Eilish)

  SHELTER (Dorothy)

  THE WOODS (The White Buffalo)

  THE LAST COWBOY (In This Moment)

  WORLD IN FLAMES (In This Moment)

  GET UP! (Korn feat. Skrillex)

  A STAR-CROSSED WASTELAND (In This Moment)

  BLACK WEDDING (In This Moment feat. Rob Halford)

  HOUSE ON A HILL (Pretty Reckless) End?

  AIN'T MY LAST DANCE (Five Finger Death Punch)

  Table of Contents

  Dedications

  Playlist for Magic and Bones

  Prologue

  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

  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

  Goodbye, Shiv Crew

  About Laken Cane

  Laken’s books:

  Prologue

  “Pay attention, Kader,” Kader’s trainer shouted. “Pay attention or you will get hurt!”

  Kader didn’t cry.

  She didn’t look at her mother or her Ellie, who stood against the far wall, watching.

  “I hate this,” Ellis told Rune. “I hate it. And if Jia yells at that baby one more time, I’m taking her out of here.”

  “Samuel and Jordan,” Jia yelled. “Both of you.”

  Ellis gasped and clutched Rune’s arm. “She’s sending two grown, trained adults to attack her? Rune, stop them.”

  Rune patted his hand. “You should be more worried about the adults than Kader.”

  She wouldn’t have admitted it but she wanted to stride across the huge, squeaky floor and rip off Jia Lee’s face. She wanted to pick up Jia’s partner, Kim Roth, and beat Jia to death with him.

  Kader was learning, true enough. But Rune was afraid she was learning that she couldn’t look to her mama for help when a scary motherfucker hurt her.

  Still, they’d taught her not to boom anything.

  Poor kid.

  “Ouch,” Ellis said, and Rune realized she was squeezing his hand a little too hard.

  But two of Jia and Kim’s trainers were slipping toward baby Kader, and if Kader didn’t stop them, they were going to hurt her.

  They converged upon her from either side, their hands empty of weapons, but Kader had only been training for three weeks. The weapons wouldn’t come out for another month, at least.

  Kader plopped down upon the floor, her mind on something more interesting than the grueling training sessions and the woman who always yelled at her.

  “Mama,” she called, her voice echoing throughout the vast gymnasium, “I’m hungry. Let’s do lunch.”

  Rune closed her eyes. “Dammit.” She’d sworn to Beau and Gannon she wouldn’t interfere if they’d take Kader on, but she had her limits.

  Kader poked at something on the floor, then looked up when Rune didn’t answer her. “Ellie,” she called, and held her arms up. “Get me.”

  “That’s it,” Ellis said. “I’m going in.”

  Rune grabbed his hand. “Wait.”

  Jia stood with her arms crossed, her lips pressed together in a thin, straight line of disapproval.

  She nodded at the two men sneaking toward Kader. “Show her why she needs to pay attention.”

  They didn’t let the fact that Kader was a baby stop them. To them, she wasn’t a baby who could barely walk without stumbling. She was a dangerous Other wrapped in a cute little package.

  Then Kader spotted them. “Hello,” she said.

  “Kader,” Jia shrieked. “Those bad men are coming to hurt you. What will you do?”

  “Stop them?” Kader guessed.

  “Yes,” Jia screamed.

  “Okay,” Kader said. “Yes.” Then she looked at them with a curious expression in her innocent blue eyes. “But no boom, Kader!”

  “No boom,” Rune whispered.

  The child finally climbed to her feet to face the advancing strangers.

  Jordan, a slim young man with straight hair and an easy smile, was the first to reach her. He grabbed her by her throat and yanked her into the air.

  Ellis screamed, tore himself from Rune’s restraining grip, and rushed toward the baby and her attackers.

  “Oops,” Kader said, and kicked Jordan in the face with her tiny pink sneaker. “Bye bye.”

  He hit the floor, either dead or very nearly.

  Kader hit the floor as well, but didn’t cry out. She was used to pain.

  Samuel hesitated, then leaned down to grab her leg.

  The men were told to pull no punches with the child. To attack her with only one rule—they were not to kill her.

  But they could absolutely do everything they could to hurt her.

  “Let go of her,” Ellis shrieked, running full out across the floor.

  Unfortunately, he distracted Kader.

  She looked at Ellis just as Samuel yanked her off the floor by her leg. And then, he swung her through the air with the intention of smashing her head off the floor.

  It wouldn’t have killed her, true. But that didn’t matter. It would hurt her.

  “Kader, escape the hold!” Jia yelled.

  Rune raced by Ellis, her mind on one thing—reaching Kader before her head encountered the hard, polished floor.

  Something whizzed by her face—an inch closer and she’d have lost some skin—and she reached Kader just as a spear plunged into Samuel’s head.

  He fell like a stone and sprawled next to his friend, and the berserker strode from the shadows where he’d hidden himself as he’d watched Kader’s session.

  His new spear couldn’t compete with the old one, but it would do.

  “No more,” he said, taking Kader from Rune and striding back the way he’d come. “We will train her, or she won’t be trained.”

  “Damn right,” Ellis said, and he stuck his nose into the air and followed the berserker. “Get his spear, Run
e.”

  “That’s it,” Jia said, standing over her fallen men. “You’re banned. That kid is banned. She’s too dangerous. You all are.”

  Kim, usually silent, left the bleachers. “That child doesn’t need to be trained. She needs to be secured in a place from which she can’t escape.”

  “She’s a danger to the world, Alexander,” Jia agreed. “I say confine her.”

  Rune smiled. “What you should do right now is run the fuck away from me before I decide to add your bodies to the pile of assholes on the floor.”

  They were by no means helpless, or cowards, or untrained. But they knew who she was, and they were not stupid.

  With one last glare at her, they turned and jogged from the room.

  Rune followed her berserker, her baby, and her Ellie, and despite her worry over Kader’s growing power, she knew Strad was right.

  They would train Kader, or she wouldn’t get trained.

  Two days later, Ellie disappeared. The short period of peace Shiv Crew had managed since defeating the demon on Spikemoss Mountain went with him.

  And Rune wasn’t surprised to see either of them go.

  Chapter One

  I am my monster.

  Rune lifted her fingers to her battle-scarred face then let them drift to the simple black dress she wore—black for mourning, for marrying.

  She was marrying her berserker.

  She was mourning her Ellie.

  She’d agreed to a simple ceremony in Wormwood, with only Gunnar and her crew in attendance. But it didn’t feel right.

  Not without Ellie.

  Still, the berserker was unsettled and grim, and he didn’t want to put it off any longer. As though he were afraid if he didn’t marry her soon, he would never get the chance.

  Something was coming, he’d told her.

  She wasn’t the only one with gut feelings. She’d agreed to get married right then, because she believed him.

  Something was coming.

  Something that might want to tear her and her berserker apart.

  She shivered.

  Someone must die.

  She hadn’t forgotten. Death wouldn’t forget, either.

  “Mama,” Kader said.

  “Yeah, kid?”

  Kader slid off Grim’s back, crept out of the corner, and then put her hand in her mother’s. “I hurt.”

  Rune knelt beside Kader, her eyes narrow, her heart thumping. “Where?”

  Kader frowned, then touched her chest, over her heart. “Anywhere.”

  “Shit.” Rune scooped the little girl up and rushed from her bedroom, more afraid when it came to the baby than she’d ever been during a battle.

  She could no longer get help from Eugene. He was gone.

  She didn’t want to admit she missed him.

  And Ellie…

  Ellis had sneaked out in the dead of the night, leaving only a short, cryptic note bearing tearstains and smudged words he’d likely labored over for hours.

  I’m sorry. I love you. I’ll be back as soon as I can get here.

  Bill Rice had put trackers on him, but so far, they hadn’t found so much as a trace. Ellis had been with her and the crew long enough to know how to disappear if he needed to, and apparently he believed he needed to.

  He’d hinted at “taking a vacation” for weeks, and he’d been subdued since they’d defeated the demon on Spikemoss. Rune had assumed it was because she’d used Kader in her risky bid to save Roma.

  Levi said nothing.

  “Jack,” she bellowed. “Roma!”

  Jack strode toward her, Skyllian shotgun in hand, his eye patch firmly in place. “What is it?”

  “Kader’s sick.”

  He looped the shotgun strap over his shoulder and looked from Rune to the child. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “Don’t know. Where’s Roma?”

  “Here. I’m here,” Roma said, and there was only a little quaver in her voice as she hurried around the corner. She’d been through some rough shit, not just in Skyll, but there, in River County. And she wouldn’t ever get over it. Not completely.

  “Kader’s sick,” Jack told her.

  Roma backed up a step. “Should I call Strad?”

  “Yeah,” Rune said. “He’s heading to Wormwood.” And I need fucking Ellie.

  “Call Bill first,” Jack told Roma.

  Rune nodded. “We’ll take her to the Annex.”

  Roma glanced at Rune’s dress. “Rune…”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Rune said briskly. “Call Bill, then Strad.”

  She refused to acknowledge the sneaky little thrill of relief.

  She didn’t want to get married in Wormwood to the berserker.

  Not without Ellis.

  And when she saw him again, she was kicking his ass.

  Roma was already on the phone. “How should I know?” she bellowed. “She’s just sick, is all. Send transport.” She listened for a second, then growled and looked at Rune. “He wants to know where she’s sick.”

  “Anywhere,” Rune whispered, and held Kader a little tighter.

  “Um,” Roma told Bill, “all over, I think.”

  “Never mind about transport,” Rune said. “I’m taking her in. Tell him to have a team ready. And call fucking Strad,” she yelled, as she ran for the front door, Jack at her heels. “Tell him to meet us at the Annex.”

  “Mama,” Kader said, as Rune stuffed her into her car seat, “wait for Grim.”

  “Grim can’t come,” Rune told her. “He won’t fit in the car.”

  “I want Ellie,” Kader said.

  “We all want Ellie, kiddo.” She rushed around to get into the car, and was halfway down the block before Jack, who’d jumped into the back seat with Kader, managed to shut his door.

  “See if you can find out what’s wrong with her,” Rune said.

  Jack cleared his throat. “You sick?” he asked the child.

  She nodded.

  “Show me where.”

  She put her palm to her chest.

  “Says her chest hurts,” Jack told Rune. “Why would her chest hurt? Kids can’t have heart attacks, can they?”

  “It’s not a heart attack,” Rune said. “But she’s Kader. She does crazy shit.”

  “Crazy,” Kader agreed. Then, “Ouch.”

  “She doesn’t look good, Rune,” Jack murmured.

  “Fuck,” Rune said. “Hang on, baby. We’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

  Kader began to cry.

  “Son of a bitch, Rune,” Jack said. “Drive faster.”

  She darted in and out of traffic, her heart in her throat. When Kader got sick, she really got sick. None of that human shit like a sore throat or a tummy ache. No. She got…

  “Rune,” Jack bellowed.

  Rune slammed the brakes on, jumped out, ripped open Kader’s door, and yanked the child into her arms.

  “Bring the car,” she told Jack, and then, she ran.

  She could feel Kader’s heat. The kid was burning up.

  Bill Rice and a team of doctors were waiting when she burst through the Annex doors, and all she could do was hand Kader over to them and then lean against the wall, overcome with terror.

  Sometimes being a mother sucked.

  “I’m not cut out for this,” she told Bill.

  He gave her a sympathetic look. “They’ll take care of her, dear. They always do. She’s a very strong little girl.” But a thread of worry underlined his words.

  She pushed away from the wall and with Bill at her side, walked to the bank of elevators that would take them to medical. She would pace and wait for word.

  She hated waiting.

  He eyed her dress. “Where’s Strad?”

  “He was going to wait for me in Wormwood. Roma is letting him know what happened.”

  “I would have been there. I do want to see Rune Alexander marry her berserker.” He smiled, and patted her on the back. “We all want to see that.”

  The elevator seem
ed to be climbing more slowly than usual. “Just because I’m officially tying myself to a man doesn’t mean it has to become a fucking circus. I just want to get the deed done.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “What a romantic you are.”

  She glared. “People always want to make a big deal out of everything.”

  “Because it is a big deal.” He grinned. “And we want to be part of it. We’re your family and friends.” He paused. “You don’t want to marry him?”

  She sighed. “Not without Ellis.”

  “Ah. Then wait for his return, Rune. Strad will certainly understand.”

  But he didn’t know about the berserker’s worry.

  The elevator doors finally slid open and she rushed into the hallway. “See if you can find out anything,” she told Bill, as they hurried to the reception desk.

  “Rune, they only just took her back. Give them five minutes.”

  A few minutes later, there was still no word. The people working the front desk peered out at them, watching with interest as the waiting area began filling up with men.

  First Jack arrived, and on his heels came Raze and the twins—Levi and Denim—then Strad Matheson strode in, his face slightly pale.

  “What happened?” He took Rune’s arms and leaned forward to kiss her, the expression in his eyes changing from worry to appreciation as he flicked his stare over her dress. He put his lips to her ear. “You look beautiful.”

  She couldn’t help the zing of joy and relief that shot through her. Not because of his words, but because of his presence.

  Her berserker. Her heart.

  Dammit.

  “She was hurting,” Rune told him, simply.

  “Doctor hasn’t come out yet?”

  “No. No word.”

  “Well, they need to tell us something,” Raze said, his voice rough. He stomped to the desk. “Get one of those doctors out here. We’ve been waiting long enough.”

  “It’s been twenty minutes, sir,” the receptionist said, her eyes a little wide as she regarded the large red-haired man. “The doctor will come talk to you when—”

  “Get a fucking doctor out here now, or I’m going back there to get one myself.”

  She pushed her chair back and shot a look at those working the desk with her. “I’ll see what I can do. Please have a seat, sir.”