Free Wormwood Echoes by Laken Cane Page A

motherfucking mouth. ”
    Ellis shuddered, then covered his face and started sobbing.
    “Fuck me,” Rune said, and went back to staring out into the cold.
    “Dammit, Levi,” Denim muttered. “Help him.”
    Because Rune couldn’t.
    Owen took Ellis by the shoulders and walked him to Levi, then went back to stand beside her. “You need to find your guts,” he said, quietly. “Let your anger out or your fear is going to control you.”
    He was right. She wasn’t angry—at least not angry enough. She was afraid, yes. But what held her in a soul-crushing grip wasn’t the fear, it was the bleakness. The desolation.
    The uncertainty.
    “I need to reboot,” she murmured. And she had no idea how to do that.
    “Get out of your own head,” he said. “That’s how you do it.”
    She looked at him. He stood slumped against the doorframe, as unaffected by the cold as she was. His hair streamed over his shoulders, and his face was emotionless. Gun belts, holstered weapons, and silver blades decorated his lean body.
    “Owen,” she said.
    “Yes?”
    “Who are you?”
    He took a drink of his coffee. “I’m your friend, Rune.”
    She smiled. “Yeah.”
    He straightened and placed his cup on the table. “Come with me.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “We’re going to hunt for some traffickers to kill. I just got a lead. Then we’re going to find and purge the vampires while they’re still asleep. No sense in wasting any more time.”
    Eugene had assigned other teams to the normal happenings of the county. Shiv Crew was to search out and destroy all vampires.
    That was all. And that was everything.
    She put it off. She didn’t really want to go after Simon.
    But she’d decided to wait for night because that’s when the assholes would come out to feed. It’d be easier than the almost impossible task of finding the underground nests into which they’d gone to sleep.
    She nodded and gave him a lingering look. “Okay. Ellie, forget the food. Call Jack and Raze for me. They’ll be here by the time I weapon up, and we’ll get started.” She strode from the kitchen, throwing back over her shoulder, “Wear your vests.”
    She heard Owen begin to bark commands as she left the room.
    “Levi, make sure the kill kits are stocked in the cars. Ellis, pack some sandwiches and a couple thermoses of coffee. Denim…”
    His voice faded away as she made her way to her bedroom, but the feeling of hope in her chest grew stronger.
    They’d been through bad shit too many times to count. For them, it was a way of life. It was even a comfort.
    The hesitation and doubt were what killed her spirit.
    Kill vampires? Rot into a useless puddle?
    Lose the berserker?
    She let it go. What came would come, and she was going to do her best to kick its ass when it got there.
    She found her guts.
     
     
     

Chapter Sixteen
    “If it’s hostile or sick,” she said, “kill it.”
    The corners of the cowboy’s eyes crinkled as he grinned down at her. “Welcome back.”
    “Thanks for helping me out of the black,” she replied, but she didn’t return his smile.
    “I didn’t do anything.”
    “You reminded me. Now shut the fuck up. We don’t have time for a powwow.”
    He nodded, but his smile lingered. “I’ll protect every part of you, Rune. I’ll always have your back.” Then he shrugged. “For as long as it’s possible.”
    “That comes with being on this team,” Levi said. “We’ll all protect her.”
    “And each other,” Lex added.
    “Hugs and kisses and goddamn happy faces,” Jack growled. “Can we just get a move on?” He yanked a silver blade the size of his forearm from its sheath. “Those heads aren’t going to decapitate themselves.”
    Raze almost smiled. “Let’s move.”
    Soon it would be dark. They’d already slain so many hostiles they were wearing blood like a layer of skin, and they hadn’t even made it into Wormwood.
    The cemetery was full of sick Others, and word had reached her that traffickers