Free Obsidian Wings by Laken Cane Page A

mountain with the birds.
    He might trust them, but she didn’t.
    Not even a little bit.
    When she arrived home his truck was sitting dark and silent
in front of her house, and he was waiting for her.
    “Just point me to the spare room and take care of your man,”
Lex said, climbing from the car. “I won’t make a peep.”
    Rune led her up the walk to the front door, glancing at
Strad’s truck as he slammed his door and leaned against the hood. She could
feel his stare, heavy and dark, on her body.
    “Come in,” she told him. “I need to help Lex get settled.”
    He didn’t move. “I’ll wait for you.”
    But fifteen minutes later when she came out, he was gone,
and Sam Cruikshank was on her porch.
     
     

Chapter
Sixteen
    She pulled her cell from her pocket and read the text Strad
had sent her.
    Got emergency call. Be back soon.
    Dammit.
    She stared at Cruikshank. “Why are you here?”
    “You know why, Rune.”
    “Do you understand the danger you’re in? Are you really as
stupid as you seem to be?”
    He only smiled, his teeth gleaming in the dimness of the
porch light. “I’m not afraid of you.”
    “Then you are stupid. Because you should be very
afraid of me.”
    He took a step closer. “You’re afraid of you.”
    It wasn’t good that she’d been hurt too much in the recent
days. It wasn’t good that she’d managed some sort of control over her monster
and had held him in an unbreakable chokehold. Her monster wanted loose, and
that wasn’t good.
    Not for Sam Cruikshank, anyway.
    She dropped her fangs.
    At that moment, Lex opened the door and stuck her head out.
“Rune?”
    “I’m here, Lex.”
    “That’s not the berserker, is it?”
    “Nope. This is Cruikshank. He was just leaving.”
    Lex nodded. “Is Strad coming back?”
    “Yes.”
    “Come say goodnight when he does. I want to see that you’re
okay.”
    “We will.”
    Lex shot a frowning glance at the reporter and withdrew,
shutting the door softly.
    “Leave,” Rune told him, “while you’re still able to leave.”
    He studied her solemnly. “You want what I can give you.”
    She shrugged. “Maybe some part of me does. But I’m not
taking it. So get the fuck out of here before I rip your arms off.”
    Finally, a glimmer of fear showed in his face. He took a
step back. “You need some time. I expected that. But I will be back.”
    If she hadn’t known him, she would have thought him
harmless. His blue dress shirt was tucked neatly into his belted trousers,
everything pressed to within an inch of its life. His hair was perfectly
styled, deliberate in its casual messiness. He looked like he wrote for
a newspaper.
    He did not look like he should be naked, passionate, and
handing out pain.
    “You don’t want to die, Cruikshank. Please.” She softened
her voice, knowing he heard the threat of menace running through it. “Leave me
alone.”
    “No, Rune. I won’t.” He smiled ruefully. “I can’t.”
    And he walked away.
    “What the fuck?” she murmured.
    She never heard a car start up, and had no idea where he’d
parked. Maybe he lived with the rest of the freaks in the Moor. She was going
to have to make it her business to find out more about Sam Cruikshank.
    Soon as she got time.
    She leaned against the wall, listening to the boisterous
sounds of the drunk and disorderly coming from nearby bars. A few houses down a
woman cursed her man. The sudden, sharp tinkle of breaking glass and the
barking of a dog followed.
    “Oh, the sweet music of the Moor,” she muttered, and turned
to go back inside to wait for the berserker.
    Then she paused, sniffing as her nose caught the subtle
scent of bird shifters. Her body reacted before her mind did, and she shot out
her claws and dropped her fangs as she spun around to face the threat.
    “Whoa,” Cree Stark said, holding up her hands. “I just want
to talk.”
    Rune straightened from her crouch but left her fangs and
claws out. “Somehow I doubt that.”
    Cree crossed her