Free Blood and Bite by Laken Cane Page B

well.”
    She sighed and patted his arm, ignoring his flinch of
surprise. “We can take care of ourselves.” There were always bad people
in Wormwood, but she didn’t have time to discuss them. “I need to know where
Llodra is, baby. If he’s in Wormwood, you will know where he’s sleeping.”
    He hesitated. “Then he must not be sleeping here. I am not
aware of the master’s location.” He refused to meet her stare.
    “What are you keeping from me, Gunnar?”
    “He’s terrified,” Lex said, speaking for the first time. “We
should go now.”
    “Yes, yes,” he said. “That one is right. You should go.”
    Lex’s vibrations, at times barely noticeable, became
stronger, faster. “Rune…”
    Dammit. Even she was starting to pick up a sense of
desperation. “Fine,” she snapped, and threw Gunnar his candy bar.
    He snatched it out of the air and almost before it was in
his hand, he was gone.
    “What a fucking waste of time,” Rune muttered, but she kept
a careful eye out for ambushers as she and Lex got out of the graveyard.
    Something was wrong. She hoped when things calmed down and
the danger had passed, Gunnar would enlighten her.
    They’d no sooner shut the gates behind them when her cell
rang. “Hey, Z,” she answered. “Any luck?”
    “Rune. I’ve been trying to call
you.”
    “Yeah, I’m just getting out of Wormwood. What’s up?”
    He didn’t mince words. “Someone decided to burn your house
down. The Fire department is trying to contain it.”
    Stunned, she couldn’t speak. Her house? Her ugly house? “Is it…are you there?”
    “I’m here with Denim. It’s pretty much gone, Rune.”
    “I’m on my way,” she said.
    “What is it? What’s wrong?” Lex buckled herself in, then
grabbed Rune’s wrist.
    Rune shook her off. She didn’t want to say who she
suspected—not to Lex—and she didn’t want the girl reading her and finding out
for herself.  “My house, they’ve burned my house.”
    Fucking COS.

Chapter
Ten
    She had to feed.
    Had to.
    Her monster wasn’t giving her a choice.
    An image flashed through her mind, there
and gone in an instant. An image of her beneath the
sadistic Jeremy as he abused her restrained body. It took her breath.
    God, the craving…
    Yeah, she had to feed. Reverting to bad habits was not good.
    She and her crew, silent and tired, stood staring at the
smoldering ashes of what once had been her home.
    An empty gas can had been found where the porch had been—the
people who’d burned her house hadn’t even tried to cover up the fact that it
was deliberate.
    “It’s a warning,” Z had said, and she agreed.
    A warning from COS—from Tim Emerson. But she was sure they’d find no slimy trails leading to him.
    A couple of months ago her own neighbors had threatened to
burn her out. Half the population of River County secretly—and some not so
secretly—hated her for being Other .
    Did she have enemies? Were there people who wanted to hurt
her?
    Oh hell yeah.
    She sighed when Strad’s huge truck rolled to a stop in front
of her destroyed house. His face was grim as he strode toward her, and an old
feeling of uncertainness caused her to briefly caress one of her holstered
shivs.
    The berserker had that effect on people.
    But she’d tasted his blood. Had drunk from
his veins.
    Had lain in his arms and let him kiss her…
    God, that kiss .
    He’d saved her life, not once, but twice. Still, he had the
power to scare the fuck out of her.
    “Damn you, Rune,” he said, clenching his fists. He shook
with his famous rage and no matter how he controlled it, she could still see
it. She could feel it.
    Her fear and caution didn’t stem from worry over physical
pain, either. It was something else. The berserker scared her and she had no
idea why.
    She grinned, trying to disperse the tension—beside her Z and
Jack had stiffened, ready for anything.
    But he wouldn’t hurt her. They all knew that. It was just
something about him that made people