Authors: Laken Cane
Blood and Bite
Blood and Bite
By Laken Cane
Copyright © 2013
Laken Cane
All rights reserved.
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acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of various products
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Dedication
To my readers
One
There would always be monsters.
Pretty monsters, sad monsters, bad
monsters.
And Rune.
She stayed in the exclusive shrink clinic for eight weeks.
They would have kept her forever if she’d have allowed it. She wouldn’t.
Shiv Crew needed her and she’d been well enough to get the
hell out of New York and back to Ohio. God, she’d missed River County.
As soon as she entered Spiritgrove she called her best
friend and assistant, Ellis. He’d want to know she was back.
“Hi baby,” she said, when he answered.
“Rune!
Why are you calling so
early?”
Ellis worried a lot—at least about her. “I’m in town.”
Silence.
“Ellie?”
“You left the clinic?”
“It was time.
No lectures, please.”
“Actually…”
“What?”
“Since you’re already in town…”
“Ellis, spit it the fuck out. What’s wrong?”
He sighed. “The crew is in trouble.”
She shifted the phone to her other ear, her heart beginning
to race. “Tell me.”
“They’re in the graveyard. Rock County wolves decided to
take them over—give them an official alpha. One of your wolves called for
help.”
Rock County was a backward, rough county run by a skewed
justice system, dirty cops, and a scary-ass mayor who had the Governor in his
pocket.
She slammed on her brakes,
then
made a U-turn that nearly put her SUV on its side. “I’m headed to Wormwood now.
Shiv Crew can’t handle a few trespassing wolves?”
“Raze is still in jail, Strad is in Pennsylvania, and Z is
in court. It’s just Jack and the twins and they could use the help.”
She grinned.
“Happy to be of service.”
Ecstatic.
“They’ll be glad to see you. As will I. Come to the office
as soon as you’ve kicked the wolves into shape, okay?”
“Where is Lex?”
He hesitated. “She’s here with me.”
“Ellis. What aren’t you telling me?”
“Later.
When you’re here.”
Fuck
. “Okay.
Where in Wormwood?”
“East entrance, third gate.”
“See you in a few, baby.” She tossed her cell into the passenger
seat and broke every speed limit posted to get to Wormwood. Her monster was
screaming for a fight. It’d been too long since she’d gotten to kick some ass.
Eagerness nipped at her heels like a dog, urging her along.
Fucking clinic was as tame as a kindergarten class.
Physically, anyway.
Mentally,
they’d worn her out.
She stopped outside the gates of the vast graveyard, almost
putting herself through the windshield with her abrupt halt. She grabbed her
gun and a shiv and was inside Wormwood ten seconds later.
She heard the fight before she saw it. Jack roared his fury
and she sprinted toward the sound.
Fucking Others.
The twins fought back to back, slashing any wolf stupid
enough to get near them, and obviously these were some stupid wolves. The
Others
showed no fear as they leaped and twisted and hurled
their huge furry bodies at her men.
An enormous black wolf flew at Jack, hitting him in the
chest and sending the big man reeling backward into a crumbly old tombstone.
Rune’s wolves fought as well, but there were only eleven of
them and not all of the eleven had shown up for the fight. They weren’t the
toughest wolves she’d ever met. Abused by their former alpha, they were, for
the most part, timid and afraid.
Some of them had already hit the ground, too injured
to continue fighting. They’d heal but it could take a while, depending on the
damage.
She saw everything in an instant—right before her monster
came and turned her into a bloodthirsty killer.
Dropping her fangs she threw herself into the fight, keeping
her claws inside. They got in the way when she was fighting with shivs and
guns.
She really didn’t want to shoot any of the bastards but when
a few dozen trespassing wolves came to steal her pack and attack three of her
men,
fair
went out the window.
She shot four of them before anyone realized she was there.
She didn’t shoot to kill, but with explosions of silver wreaking havoc on their
bodies, they’d wish she had.
Getting shot full of silver was fucking agony. She knew from
personal experience.
Levi and Denim—the twins—caught sight of her first.
“Rune!”
Levi yelled.
Jack whooped with joy and slung the black wolf halfway
across Wormwood.
Rune immediately recognized the alpha. The huge wolf had
been watching the fight, sitting on a large rock as though it were his throne.
When he saw Rune watching he stood, dropped his head low
between his massive shoulder blades, and roared.
She wasn’t afraid of a fucking alpha. She’d killed the last
one that had messed with River County wolves, and she’d kill this one just as
happily.
But the more logical part of her was cautious.
Do you
want to be responsible for
more
wolves?
Not so much.
After all, killing the last alpha was why she was now the
reluctant leader of the River County pack.
She tossed the gun to Jack and thumped her chest with the
hand that held the shiv. “Come on!” Her scream echoed through Wormwood, drawing
some new arrivals.
That was okay. She could fight in front of an audience.
The alpha, shaggy, brown, and huge, jumped off the rock.
With an almost lazy stride, he went for Rune.
Rune grinned and dropped her shiv, then sent her claws
bursting through the tips of her fingers. She had fucking
built-in
shivs. Not silver—which would mess with an
Other
in
ways her claws couldn’t—but she could take the alpha down without silver.
Mutant vampire against wolf alpha.
It was a good day.
The alpha’s pack continued occupying Jack and the twins, but
she knew her men would toss worried glances her way when they could. She’d been
out of commission for a while—they were bound to wonder if she was up to speed.
She and the alpha ran at each other. Thanks to the
Other
within her, Rune had speeds to rival those of a master
vampire. The alpha wolf’s expression suddenly changed—and Rune had a
millisecond to enjoy the dawning realization in his eyes.
Yeah bitch, I’m
that
Other
.
She sidestepped at the last second, dragging her claws
across the alpha’s chest then spinning around to kick him in the back before he
could so much as blink.
She’d fought a lot worse than a
pissy
alpha and had come out on top. The wolf didn’t have a chance.
Enjoying herself a little too much, Rune darted away from
the enraged wolf, laughing. Since the Hawthorne Ridge battle, she’d grown in
power.
Sometimes she thought she could do anything. She was
invincible.
But in the next second she found herself flat out on the
ground, staring up at the angry wolf. Someone had ambushed her—had dealt
her a
solid blow to the back of her head while she’d been
playing with the alpha.
Okay, so maybe not
invincible
.
Still, she might have been down but she was most definitely
not out.
The alpha took over, shoving the bushwhacker out of the way
and opening his mouth as he went for her throat.
She heard Jack yell as she rolled out of the way and jumped
with wobbly determination to her feet. She could take a little spanking, but
now she was mad. And she was done playing.
The alpha hesitated.
Rune smiled.
She went for the wolf
who’d
attacked her from behind first, driving her claws into his chest and dropping
him where he stood.
The alpha could have run, but he didn’t. He stood his ground
and prepared to fight to the death.
His
death.
She could see it in his eyes, and that was the only thing
that stopped her from ripping him to pieces. She respected courage.
Panting, she stared at him. “Call off your fucking wolves
and end this now, dude. I’ll let you walk away.”
He did nothing for a long moment, but finally slid into a
shift as seamless and quick as any she’d seen.
He was a smart wolf.
She fought to keep her stare off his body. When she caught a
gleam of mockery deep inside his brown eyes, she lifted an eyebrow and let her
interested gaze take a leisurely trip over his bare skin.
The man was hot. Pretty much perfect, if one liked long,
lean lines, defined abs, and muscled chests.
He crossed his arms, ignoring the deep slashes left by her
claws. “Pack, over here.
Behind me.”
The fight had slowed down considerably. The ground was
littered with dead and injured wolves. The ones who belonged to him wasted no
time in doing as he’d commanded.
“What’s your name?” she asked him.
“I’m Darius Elliot.”
“I am—”
“I know who you are.”
At a touch on her shoulder she turned her head, giving a quick
smile of hello to Jack and the twins. “That was a nice welcome home, boys.”
Jack grinned, adjusting his black eye patch. He’d lost his
eye in the Hawthorne fight, and though a quick thought of guilt and regret
streaked through her it was just that—a quick thought which she acknowledged
and then released.
It wasn’t something for which she should blame herself.
The shrinks really
had
helped.
Was she cured? No. But she was a lot less likely to pick up
strange men and have them back to her house for a little slash and tickle.
Of course, she hadn’t been tested yet. Time would tell how
well she really was.
The beautiful twins looked a little different, somehow.
More…adult.
She winked at them and then turned her attention
back to the strange wolves.
“Why the
fuck are
you in our
territory?” she asked. She nodded at the River County wolves—
her
wolves—who’d spread in a semi-circle around Rune and the men. “These wolves
aren’t up for grabs.”
The alpha stared down his nose. “Any pack with no leader is
weak. I will take them.” But despite his arrogance, there was a spark of
something a little more desperate inside his eyes.
“Dude.
They have an alpha.”
He frowned, and glanced at his pack. “I was told otherwise.”
“You were misinformed.”
He stared at the River County wolves. “I see no alpha.”
“Look at me,” she told him.
“Dude.
Look at
me
.”
He stopped his study of the River County wolves and put his
sharp stare back on her. “I’m looking at you.
Now what?”
“Now, you see an alpha.”
“You don’t mean—”
“Yeah.
I do mean.”
And finally, he understood. “They need a wolf to lead them,
not a…” he gestured at her. “
Whatever you are.”
“I agree, but until one of them fights his or her way to the
top or I find someone suitable, I’m it.”
He scoffed. “Raggedy bunch of weak pups, they’re not
dominant enough to fight for alpha. I made an offer for them. Give them to me.”
“No. They belong here, not in Rock County.
You planning
on moving here?”
He actually hesitated, as though thinking it over.
Then, “No.
Rock County needs me.”
“Then what you’re doing right now is wasting my time.” She
glanced around at the wolves on the ground. “And you wasted a lot of lives.
Pick up your dead and injured and get the fuck out of my city.”
He inclined his head.
“As you wish.”
She turned away from him and faced her wolves and her men.
It was going to take half the morning to get everything sorted.
Fucking Others.
It was good to be home.
