Magic and Bones Read online

  Rune couldn’t have said why. None of them could have.

  But it was enough that she did.

  There were likely things none of them would ever know. Things that happened, things that Owen would not speak of, that Reign could not speak of.

  They would never know, and they didn’t want to.

  “How is she still so small?” he asked, not taking his stare from the child. “She’s barely grown at all.”

  But that was something they didn’t know, either.

  “She’ll grow now,” Jack said, finally.

  Owen only nodded.

  Jack’s cell phone buzzed and he took it from his pocket, then glared at the screen, silenced it, and put it away.

  “Belladonna?” Rune asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll take Owen home,” she said, “then you and I need to go to Flynn City and drag Silas Jones out of there.”

  “She’s nuts, Rune, but she’s dangerous.”

  “Yeah,” Rune said. “And she’s obsessing over you. I don’t think she’s going to give up, but we can try. Maybe Briderbeck can control her before I have to put her down.”

  He shook his head. “You can’t kill her. She’s Raze’s sister. And Bill doesn’t want to fuck things up with the Next.”

  “The Next is atrocious,” she said. “That group deserves to be fucked with. I’m sorry Bill won’t get his peace, but it doesn’t matter what we do, and I think he knows that. Julian Briderbeck is always just one excuse away from turning into Lee Crane.”

  He rubbed his face. “Yeah, I know.”

  “Also,” she told him, “Raze is in real danger. I don’t know what went on in his past, but if Belladonna finds out he’s here, she will kill him.”

  “Don’t worry about Raze,” Roma said. “I’ve got his back. Go drag Jones out of Flynn City. I’ll attach myself to Raze’s ass so hard he’ll think he grew a boil.”

  They couldn’t help but laugh.

  But they knew if Belladonna went after Raze, Roma would absolutely destroy the woman—whether Raze wanted her to or not.

  Roma was missing some fingers and her shifter was a bunny rabbit, but there wasn’t a meaner woman on the planet. She could handle a Next op.

  “As long as she’s here, she’ll be half a second away from death,” Rune said. “And she has no idea.”

  “She’ll find out soon enough,” Roma said, her grimness matched by her eagerness.

  “Women are brutal creatures,” Jack murmured.

  “You’re just now figuring that out?” Roma grinned, but her attempt at a savage expression was ruined by her heart peeking through her eyes.

  God help Belladonna if she hurt Jack. Roma would make her scream before she killed her.

  Owen wanted to go with them to Flynn City. He’d sit in the car, he said. But by the time he got into Rune’s car, he was dripping sweat, weak, nauseated, and ready to go back to his sofa.

  Something was wrong inside the Cowboy’s body. Bill had told her the path had torn him up inside.

  “But he’ll heal,” Rune had said. “Won’t he?”

  “I believe so.” But that was all he could give her.

  Looking at him as he practically fell into her car, Rune wasn’t sure if he’d make it or not. Jack climbed into the back seat, and Roma went to find Raze.

  Jack called Flynn while Rune helped Owen walk to her house, and when she returned to the car, he was under the steering wheel. “I know where to go,” he told her. “And I’ll need to let the old man see me driving in or we might both get our heads shot off.”

  She got into the passenger side. “What’d he say when you told him we were coming in for a man?”

  “I asked him if we could come in and drag a man out. He said no.”

  She lifted her eyebrow. “We’re going anyway?”

  “No. He changed his mind when I told him who the guy was. Flynn doesn’t care for assholes who kill Others.” He hesitated. “His people may crucify the guy before we can get him out.”

  “Briderbeck wants him alive, but if all we get is a body, that’ll have to be good enough.”

  “Still, Flynn isn’t too happy. Messing with Belladonna one time was fun for him. Now he’s just afraid we’ll bring trouble to him and his people.”

  “You’re like a god to them. They won’t hurt you.”

  He laughed. “They like me, true enough, but if they think I’m fucking with them, they will do more than hurt me.”

  “Then we’ll have to be careful,” she said. Then, “Life was always dangerous for my crew. So why does it feel so much worse now?”

  “I’ve heard becoming a mother turns a warrior into a worrier.”

  She snorted. “Shut the fuck up. If anything, it makes us tougher. You’re a father now. Does that make you softer?”

  He thought about it, then nodded. “Yeah. Because now I have this little kid who depends on me. Who will love her enough if something happens to me, Rune? Who else will make her the center of their universe?”

  Who else will keep her from sliding into darkness?

  She said nothing.

  “No one,” he said, answering his own question. “I know you and the crew are holding back just a little. I know you care, that you’ll love her. I know if something happened to me you’d make sure she was taken care of. But not like I will. So yeah, being a father has made me softer. I have a baby now. And I have to be careful for her.”

  “You may have become a worrier,” she said finally, “but you’re still a warrior.”

  “Back at you, Mama.”

  Rune shook her head. “We’re like a couple of little old ladies.”

  He adjusted his eyepatch. “Badass little old ladies, though.”

  “So, Jack. About Belladonna.”

  He held up a hand. “Rune, swear to God, I took the woman for coffee. I didn’t take her to bed. I didn’t fuck with her like that. She’s anti-Other, for fuck’s sake. You know me better than that.”

  Rune nodded. “She’s got some issues.”

  “No shit.”

  “Can’t blame her for stalking you, though.”

  “Raze told me how you described me.” He shot her a look, grinning.

  “Word for word?”

  “Word for word, in falsetto, with his hand over his heart and a dramatic flourish every now and again.”

  “That little shit.”

  He laughed, then sobered and reached across to pat her knee. “Don’t worry about me, Rune.”

  She only shrugged. “Good talk. Now let’s go grab that Next asshole and run Belladonna out of River County before she puts a knife in your back or catches sight of her long lost brother.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Do you hear that?” Rune asked, as they crept down the abandoned street of Flynn City. They walked slowly, carefully, their hands empty of weapons but ready to change that situation should the need arise.

  They were there to retrieve a man, and Flynn had told Jack to come in easy. They didn’t want to appear threatening to those hiding in the shadows, but it was hard for Rune not to shoot out her claws.

  A spot between her shoulder blades itched, and she could feel the guns trained on her—and worse, on Jack. He wore his vest, and Flynn City held him in high esteem, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t catch a bullet in his brain and die.

  Her fangs dropped at the thought, and in the response to the feeling of danger that crawled over her body like a million ants. Flynn City was not a good place to be if you didn’t belong there.

  Likely not even if you did.

  “Yeah,” Jack replied, his voice rumbling. “Sounds like a crowd.”

  She glanced at him. “They’ve captured our man.”

  “Yup.”

  Neither one of them was surprised. They walked a little faster, hoping to reach the fugitive before Flynn’s people killed him.

  They didn’t care for traitors, and having an excuse to gut one was probably the highlight of their day.
/>   Her cell vibrated, but she ignored it. Reaching into her pocket was a risk she couldn’t take. She’d called Ellie before they headed into Flynn, and Bill knew—and approved—their attempt to bring out Silas Jones. The crew knew, as well, and would not call her unless they had absolutely no other choice.

  So more than likely, it was Gavin Delaney.

  And if he was calling her, it meant the bones were coming.

  “Fuck me,” she whispered, and walked a little faster. “Fucking Next.”

  In two minutes, they found the source of the cheering, jeering crowd.

  They’d gathered behind a burnt out warehouse in a clearing containing a row of thick, short wooden posts holding rusty metal rings, a crude platform, and a cage.

  Rune forced herself to tamp down the immediate black rage that rose inside her. Not since being held prisoner in the birds’ nest on Spikemoss had she been able to tolerate the sight of cages.

  She shook her head hard to fling out the images that slammed into her mind.

  “You okay, honey?” Jack asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  But they both knew she really wasn’t.

  Fucking cages.

  There was nothing to do but soldier on.

  The cage was apparently Flynn’s version of a jail. They’d gathered at the front of the bars like an angry mob, tormenting the man inside.

  “Let me do the talking,” Jack said.

  She nodded. She was too full of rage to bow and scrape and pretend to be grateful that Jones had been captured and flung into a cage. If she opened her mouth, she’d call Albert Flynn out as a fucking sadistic Neanderthal, and things would go downhill from there.

  So yeah, she’d let Jack do the talking.

  Albert Flynn was a small man with short, salt and peper hair and a tidy mustache. His eyes were bright and quick, and he dressed in a tattered suit a little too big for him.

  He walked toward them, then held his hand up to quieten the small crowd.

  “Jack,” he said, smiling. He gave Rune a nod. “Ms. Alexander. We’ve captured your man for you, as you can see.”

  He paused and waited expectantly.

  “We appreciate that, Albert,” Jack said. “We’ll be happy to take him off your hands.” He raised his voice. “Thanks, Flynn City. You’ve saved us an awful lot of time.”

  They gave a few raggedy cheers, and Jack, with a grip on Rune’s elbow, closed the short distance between them and Albert. He pulled a roll of cash from his pocket and held it out to the boss of Flynn City. “For your trouble,” he said.

  Albert took the roll of cash with a smile and a nod. “No trouble at all.”

  A path opened through the crowd as Albert led them toward the cage. “Here you are,” he said. “Silas Jones. We’ll be sorry to lose our doctor, but we’ll find us another one. He’s yours, Jack.”

  He gave a nod and a man rushed forward to fit the key into the huge padlock. When he pulled open the cage door, several people hurried to drag out their prisoner.

  He was battered and bloody, but quiet and calm. He kept his head down until those holding his arms forced him to his knees at their feet.

  Then he looked up, and met Rune’s tormented stare.

  If she’d been less experienced, she would have gasped or stepped back in shock. But she kept her face expressionless and her mouth closed as she looked down into a pair of familiar, hauntingly beautiful eyes.

  Silas, the doctor from Killing Land, knelt on the ground before her.

  Son of a bitch.

  She’d wondered what had become of him. She’d had no idea he was affiliated with the Next, and figured he’d either died in the battle during which they’d captured Lee Crane or had simply gotten out before the fight started.

  Apparently, he’d gotten out.

  “Jones,” Jack said, grabbing the doctor’s upper arm and hauling him to his feet. “Let’s go. Your friends at the Next headquarters are waiting eagerly for you to join them.”

  He recognized Silas as well—Rune heard it in his voice.

  Albert Flynn laughed. “It’s been fun, Jack. But don’t come back for a while, hmmm?”

  Jack gave him a nod. “I owe you, Albert. You need me, you know where to find me.”

  “I do. Now take that piece of shit out of here before I change my mind and keep him.”

  The mob followed them all the way out of Flynn City, and Rune’s stomach was so tight it hurt. She expected the crowd to turn on them, to grab Silas away, or someone to shoot Jack from the shadows. She expected something.

  But nothing happened.

  Once the crowd saw them out of Flynn City, they simply dissipated and Rune stood with Jack and Silas in the sudden empty silence, a little dazed.

  “Rune,” Jack said. “Unlock the doors and let’s get him out of here while things are going so well.”

  She wasn’t the only one surprised by the ease of the operation. Easy almost never happened—not for them.

  After Jack put Silas into the car and shut the door, he pulled Rune into his arms. He said nothing, just held her. He knew what was in her head.

  “Well that explains it, then,” Belladonna said. “That explains it.”

  Jack had his gun in his hand before the words were out of her mouth, and Rune finally, and with a great deal of pleasure, released her claws.

  But Belladonna simply stood there, her hands empty, smiling. “That explains it,” she said again, and in her eyes was pure relief.

  Rune and Jack looked at each other, frowning, then back at the bounty hunter.

  “What are you talking about?” Rune asked.

  “I couldn’t figure out why Jack turned away from me,” she answered, like her words were completely logical, despite the fact that she barely knew Jack. In her mind, everything made sense. “But now I understand.” She looked at Jack. “You should’ve told me you and Alexander had a thing.”

  In Belladonna’s world, you didn’t hug or touch or love someone if it wasn’t about sex. And Jack’s rejection wasn’t about her. It was simply because he and Rune “had a thing.”

  And she could accept that.

  It was…sad.

  It was just a little fucking sad.

  Rune nodded and retracted her claws. “We don’t want people to know.”

  “Oh, I won’t tell a soul,” Belladonna said, smiling. “But you should’ve just told me.” She gestured with her chin at Silas. “I parked a street over. Drive me to my car and I’ll take possession of my fugitive.”

  Rune ignored her sudden reluctance. Silas wasn’t her problem. He’d either free himself from Julian Briderbeck or he wouldn’t. She was going to hand him over and be thankful that they’d caught a break.

  “Happy to,” she said. “Climb in.”

  Belladonna surprised her by offering her hand. “Thanks, Rune.”

  Bill would be thrilled.

  Rune didn’t look at Silas again. It would have been too easy to be affected by the sorrow in his stare, to ask for his side of the story, to fuck everything up by refusing to give him up.

  So she kept her eyes off his face, and when Belladonna shoved him into the back of her car and drove away, she felt only relief.

  Jack and Raze were safe, there would be peace—no matter how temporary—with the new Next, and she could go concentrate on the bones.

  It had been a good day.

  Things were going well.

  Maybe a little too well.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Her assumptions had been correct. The call in Flynn City had come from Gavin. After she’d reported to Bill, she called Gavin back, but got his voicemail.

  “Call me, dude,” she said, then called Raze.

  “How’d it go?” he asked.

  “Surprisingly…great. I keep waiting for something awful to happen.”

  “Bella?”

  “We handed Silas over to her and she took off. She saw Jack hugging me and immediately assumed we were together.”

  “A
nd that made her happy.”

  “Yeah. It gave her an acceptable reason for Jack’s rejection.”

  He sighed. “Do you think she’s gone?”

  “Yeah. But…”

  “Fuck,” he said. “I had a feeling there was going to be a but.”

  “It’s probably nothing, but I want you to be careful just in case we haven’t seen the last of her.”

  “Always am.”

  “Jack and I are headed to the Annex. You and Roma come on in. Bill wants a meeting. Call the twins for me?”

  “Aight.”

  Rune ended the call and immediately called Strad.

  “I haven’t seen Will,” he said. “I can be at the Annex in forty-five minutes.”

  Jack pulled into a fast food drive-thru, and ordered some food and coffee, then he and Rune sat in the Annex parking lot eating while waiting for the others to arrive.

  “Hey,” Roma said, when Rune stepped out of her car smelling of burgers and coffee, “Raze wouldn’t stop so I could eat.”

  “You ate an hour ago,” he growled.

  Rune laughed and tossed Roma a leftover burger.

  Strad still hadn’t arrived by the time they walked into the building, and neither had Will.

  “I’m going to run up to check on Reign,” Jack said.

  “Me, too,” Roma said, hurrying after him.

  Rune, Raze, and the twins continued on to see Bill, but the elevator doors had barely slid shut when Gavin returned Rune’s call.

  “The corpse is coming. If you don’t stop her, she will soon bring her army, walk through those gates, and start killing every human in River County.”

  “Where are you?” she asked, her voice sharp. She put the phone on speaker so the others could hear.

  “I’m in Wormwood watching the ground shake. She’s coming, Alexander. You need to hurry.”

  “Gavin, if you would just—”

  But he was gone.

  “Asshole,” she said. Then, “I really need to find that key.”

  “I don’t think anyone can find it,” Levi said. “We need to convince Gage or Gavin to hand it over.”

  “We might have a better chance convincing Gage,” Denim said, “but we’d have to separate him from Gavin to question him.”

  “Let’s go see if we can talk to Lady Bones,” Rune said. “If she escapes the graveyard and starts killing humans, I’ll have to kill her.”