Shiv Crew (22 page)

Rune shut the door before the
reporters could get her on film. There was too much of her on film already. She’d
been the opposite of careful but had learned a valuable lesson.

Fuck you, Jeremy.

She phoned Z. “I miss you,” she
said when he answered. “How did it go last night?”

He yawned. “We got home three hours
ago, sweet thing.”

“Dammit. Sorry, Z.”

“Come cuddle with me.”

She snorted. “Go back to sleep. Call
me when you wake up.”

“What are you doing?”

She sighed. “I’m going to get some
sleep as well. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

Unless the video aired.

Yeah. She needed to hide, just for
a little while.

It was only ten o’clock at night,
but she crawled under her soft sheets. With a mind exhausted from trauma, she fell
into a sleep almost deep enough to be death.

She forced her eyes open and looked
at the clock, shocked when she saw it was almost noon. Groggy from too much
sleep, she stumbled into her shower, standing for ten minutes under a stinging
spray of icy water.

Sometime during the night Strad had
returned her car and pushed the keys through the mail slot. They’d fallen to
the floor, leaving her undisturbed despite the racket they must have made.

Two hot cups of coffee later she
was ready to face the world. She buckled on nearly every blade she had, shoved
a gun in a holster, then called Mitch.

“I’m going in to give my statement
to Rice. Do you have anything for me?”

He hesitated. “Rune, you were shot.
Stay home. Rest.”

She frowned. “It was a tiny graze,
and I’m fine.” She realized she was biting her nail and forced her fingers away
from her mouth. “So what’s going to happen, Mitch? With the whole Jeremy
shooting me thing?”

He laughed, but more from disbelief
than anything. “Rune, you were
shot
.”

“Yes.”

He sighed. “Jeremy said you
attacked him, and it was an accident that the gun went off. Two witnesses inside
the office agreed with him. Jeremy was eager to drop the matter, and Rice is
willing to sweep it all under the rug.”

“But?”

“But Strad Matheson is not. He’s
gone after Jeremy, but no one has any idea where Jeremy is.”

“He’s hiding from the berserker, is
where he is. The bastard.” Worry shot through her, and it took her a second to
understand what it was. She was worried for the berserker? Really?

“If you’re truly up for it, come
in. Give your statement to Rice. And Rune…”

“Yeah?”

“What are you keeping from us?”

“I’ll tell you when I get there,
Mitch. It’s about Jeremy, of course. It’s why I confronted him.”

“He was raping and beating Others.”

She gasped. “How’d you find out?”

“Some of the wolves came in once
Beldane was out of the picture. They were terrified, though.”

“When?”

“This morning.”

“Good for them. Mitch…”

“Yes?”

“The video?”

“Pardon?”

She almost cried, right then and
there. Jeremy hadn’t made the video public. She hoped like hell Strad found him
before he had a chance to hand it over to the media.

“Never mind. I’ll be there in a few
minutes to talk to Rice. Afterward, I want you to send me out.”

“Most people would be in a
hospital, not begging for work.”

“Come on, Mitch. I can’t sit here.
It’ll kill me.”

He cleared his throat. “Go see Bill,
then stop by the office. I have a little something.”

She grinned. “Thanks, Mitch.” Sure,
he wouldn’t be sending her on anything major, but she didn’t care. Downtime and
Rune Alexander were uneasy acquaintances, and she for damn sure didn’t want it
to turn into a deeper relationship.

For a second, she wished she’d
taken more of the blood Ellis had hung for her. After feeding Lex, fighting
Beldane, and taking a bullet from Jeremy, she was in dire need. Her monster
wasn’t even bugging her. And that wasn’t really a good thing.

Later. She’d deal with it later.

After all, she was accustomed to
starving her monster.

But a long, sharp icicle slid down
her spine. Something wasn’t right. It hummed through her body, a low-level
anxiety she’d tried ignoring since she woke up.

She forgot the feeling of urgency
when she stepped out onto her porch and was immediately besieged by reporters,
flashing cameras, and hate.

She batted them out of her way like
flies, ignoring their questions and the eager hatred they spewed with greedy
zeal.

They’d gotten the video after
all?

But no. It wasn’t the video that
had them all stirred up—it was a rumor.

“One of our sources tells us you’re
actually an Other, Ms. Alexander. Is that true?”

Fuck me.

One of Jeremy’s employees hadn’t
been able to keep his mouth shut. She shouldn’t have been surprised.

But they didn’t have the video. She
could handle anything else with ease.

“I’m the same as I’ve always been,
lady. Now get out of my way.”

Some of her neighbors stood in
little knots, and when they saw her held up quickly drawn signs sporting such
catchy little phrases such as GO LIVE IN WORMWOOD WITH THE OTHER MONSTERS and NO
OTHERS ALLOWED.

She might have laughed if it hadn’t
cut just a little too deeply.

A reporter stuck a microphone in
her face. “Ms. Alexander, could you really have hidden your status from the
city all this time?
Are
you one of the monsters? What are your first
words to us as an Other?”

“
Fuck
you.”

Mitch would be appalled but not
surprised. Rune was not the most diplomatic of people. She took shit from no
one.

And she had a temper.

“So you don’t deny you’re an
Other?”

“What type of Other are you, Ms.
Alexander?”

“Tell us,
are
you an Other?”

The reporters stumbled back as she
pulled two shivs. “Get the fuck off my porch and out of my yard before I take
your fucking heads.”

She caught a glimpse of the same reporter
who’d been following her for days, standing at his favorite spot across the
street. Quiet, watchful.

At least he wasn’t shouting
questions at her.

One of the neighbors, a robust
woman around fifty with whom Rune had only a nodding acquaintance, stepped
closer and lifted her bible. “My church will pray for you.”

Rune glared. “Tell the church not
to waste its time, lady.”

“The neighborhood can’t accept you
if it’s true,” another neighbor called. He was too afraid of Rune’s wrath to
come closer. “You will have to move, or you may find your house burned to the
ground.”

They looked at her like she was a
monster. Pretty much the way she’d looked at herself since…since forever.

She drove away with tires
squealing, half amazed she’d generated so much attention because of a simple
rumor. They probably didn’t even believe it, but people were eager for drama.

God help her if she had to come out
of the monster closet. If they got Jeremy’s video, it was over.

The best thing she could do was go
to work. The interest would fade. They would accept her once again.

And if they didn’t, if the people
of River County refused to let her do her job…she’d move. Start over.

She’d take Shiv Crew with her. They
had no families. They would go with her. Except for Ellis, maybe. He did have
family here. His mother and father, some aunts and uncles.

But she couldn’t go without Ellie.

Suddenly she missed her crew with a
painful intensity. She missed working with them, laughing with them. Hurting
with them.

Shiv Crew was her family.

Don’t take them from me.

Her meeting with Rice and a couple
of his men took a little over an hour, but he was kind. While she was there she
learned something about Rice—something she would take to the grave with her.

He was an Other.

He didn’t tell her, but he didn’t
have to. She saw his Other lurking behind his light blue eyes.

She understood then why he was so
gentle with her. He would have scented or sensed something different about her,
would have suspected all along.

And somehow she felt less alone and
a little less gloomy, despite the fact that Rice asked for her badge.
“Temporary
.
Just until we get to the bottom of the attack on Jeremy and straighten out
this mess with the media.”

She’d shrugged and handed over her
badge. What else could she do?

Ellis jumped up when she walked
into SCRU and pulled her to him for one of his exasperating hugs. “The news—”

She smiled and winked. “I know,
baby. But soon everything will go back to normal.”

“Did you see the reporters out
front?”

“
See
them? I had to shoot a
couple of them.”

“Rune!”

“I’m kidding.” Not that she hadn’t
been tempted. One of them had asked her why she was going into SCRU. “
You
were
fired, of course?”

Ellis didn’t look convinced. “They
have people out there from all over the state.”

“I saw.”

He patted her back. “You know how
it is when they discover an Other has been fooling them.”

“Yeah. They go ape shit for a
while, then something more interesting comes along to distract them.”

“It’ll be okay, sweetness.”

“It’s not as bad as it could be.”
If
they get that video…
“I’d always thought if anyone even suspected I’d just
lie down and die from the shame.”

“When you accept yourself it’s not
going to matter at all what they think.”

I wouldn’t go that far.
“So.
Mitch reluctantly agreed to send me out.”

He grinned. “We got a call a couple
hours ago about an abduction. Mother claimed her teenager was taken by wolves.
False alarm.”

“Dammit.”

“Don’t be too disappointed. Half an
hour ago Mitch told me we got another call. It may be a false alarm as well,
but we can go check it out.”

“What was it? And what we?”

“Caller said someone hung a wolf
from a tree on Hawthorne Ridge.”

“Shit,” she muttered. “Okay, I’ll
call you when I’m—”

“I’m going with you. That’s what I
meant by we.”

“No, Ellie. You don’t belong in the
field.”

“Hush your mouth, girl. I’m going.
Even Mitch thought it was a good idea.”

That surprised her. “Why the fuck
would he think that?”

He shrugged. “You’d need some
company right now, honey.”

She knew he wasn’t crazy about her
facing the world alone while those in it were determined to hound her, so she
let him be.

Humans catching and hanging Others
wasn’t as rare as one would think. Terrible for the Others but it wasn’t likely
any danger or excitement waited for her and Ellis in Hawthorne.

Mitch stuck his head out his office
door and waved her inside. “I just…”

She frowned, confused by his
obvious awkwardness. “What is it?”

He couldn’t look at her. “I have to
take the guns, Rune.”

Ellis put a comforting hand on her
shoulder. “You’ll get them back.”

“Of course,” Mitch agreed. “Of
course you will.”

Rice had been as awkward when he’d
asked for her badge. Now she had to give up her guns.

She wasn’t worried. They weren’t
getting rid of her. It was just a matter of lying low for a little while. She
could do that. Maybe.

She shrugged and put both her guns
on his desk. “You’re not getting my shivs.”

He held up a hand. “Don’t want
them. Not at all. I’m sorry about this. If Rice finds out I’m letting you check
out Hawthorne he’ll have
my
job.”

“I’ll be sure not to tattle,” she
told him, only a little peeved but a lot sarcastic. She didn’t want to mention
that he was taking away a lot of her protection—forcing her to hand over her
guns while letting her go out. Still, she’d asked to go, and if she argued he’d
force her to go home. “Thanks, Mitch.”

Ellis urged her from the room.

“Terribly sorry,” Mitch called
after them.

She and Ellis headed toward the
ridge. Too bad Z and the others were asleep. If someone really had hung a wolf
on Hawthorne Ridge, she’d need to discuss with the crew. Sooner rather than
later.

Hell, if there was a hanging wolf
on the ridge, she’d call the crew in anyway. It wasn’t like they weren’t used
to missing a little sleep.

If she knew Raze, he wouldn’t have
slept more than a couple of hours anyway.

She stopped only to grab a coffee
from a fast-food restaurant before driving on, happy to be heading out of the
city.

It was pretty this time of year,
decorated to within an inch of its life for the holidays, but it was still the
city. At times the ugly buildings, bustle, and concrete of the city drained
her. She craved the woods and the soothing quietness of the more rural parts of
River County.

Hawthorne Ridge was beautiful.
“Maybe I’ll buy a house out there,” she told Ellis, “and give up my ugly house
in the city.”

“Get a big one and we can be
roomies.”

“Really?”

“Sure, why not?”

“I’d like that.”

“Maybe we can buy up the old Wilson
place and move all the crew in.” He grinned, but she had a feeling he was
completely serious. Ellis did not seek solitude. For him, solitude was locking
your bedroom door for an hour or so.

“Hmmm,” was all she said, but she
was not against moving to Hawthorne. And having those she loved near her?
Hmmm.
She’d been shifted from home to home after she’d been introduced into
foster care. The idea of a steady, happy family was very appealing.

It was less than a half hour from
the office if she drove slowly—and she was not a slow driver.

Maybe a new beginning.

“What are you thinking so hard
about?” Ellis asked her.

“Oh, stuff. Starting over, shit
like that.” She avoided looking at him as her cheeks heated. “The crew living
together…”

He reached over to pat her hand.
“Awwww.”

“Shut up.”

He giggled, then hid his mouth
behind his fingers when she glared at him. “Sorry.”

She glanced in her rearview mirror.
“We’re being followed.”

“Reporter?”

“Yup. He seems to have taken a
liking to me.” She was only half joking.

“Stop the car. I’ll go back and
tell him to get lost.”

She laughed.

“What?” He stuck his bottom lip
out. “Do you think I wouldn’t?”

“Sing us the rest of the way to
Hawthorne, love.”

He did, his soft, melodious voice
filling the car, soothing her even as it somehow saddened her. That probably
had a lot to do with the fact that he was singing a haunting old bluegrass
song.