10. Rune

Chapter 10

Rune

" A re you going to shift back?" Sammy snapped, glaring down at him with madness flickering in those golden eyes.

Rune shifted easily, running a finger along the silver chains he wore. "You hate her."

"I don't," their alpha tried to argue.

No, he didn't, but Sammy didn't know that yet.

Just running through the forest with her made all those dark voices in his head disappear. He didn't know what she'd done to him, but it felt like he might not need the collar or the cage tonight.

That was nothing compared to what she'd done to Sammy.

After the brutal slaughter they'd seen, Rune really hadn't expected the alpha to let her touch him.

But he had – he'd even reached for her…

Sammy was ignoring how dangerous she was, just like the rest of them. They didn't have the luxury of being picky and what was waiting for them if this didn't work was a thousand times worse than death.

It might actually be a mercy if she killed them.

And sweet darkness, she was fast .

He'd never seen anything like it. Even Sammy could barely stay ahead of her, and he was the fastest shifter on this continent.

Or so the alpha assumed, but smaller shifters avoided the larger ones. Rune knew better than anyone just how gifted those who didn't fall under the category of apex predator were.

Like ravens.

Morgan's raven, Valentina, coasted toward them, and Rune couldn't stop thinking about how his mate had looked into an assassin's red eyes without fear, even going so far as to challenge her. Must have been quite the shock if the look on Valentina's face was any indication.

"Well, I like her," Rune muttered.

Even if she was a psychotic angel killer.

The raven tried to stomp past them after shifting back to human and Rune jogged up the stairs at exactly the same moment, making sure to get in Valentina's way as he did. The grin that split his face got him another look from Sammy, but it was worth it just to irritate the raven he hadn't been told was going to be here despite being the goddamn enforcer of their pride.

Hitting the alpha's shoulder with his as he passed was an invitation and he felt his grin sharpen when Sammy grabbed him. Rune had to be careful though, and his tiger whispered the same warning. If he pushed too much after what they'd seen, that monster inside Sammy would break free and then they'd really be fucked.

"This is…"

The jittery excitement coursing through Rune's body died down when he saw the flicker of fear in the alpha's eyes.

"This is unprecedented."

"A feral shifter isn't uncommon," Rune reminded him.

But that was what his human eyes and brain told him. Their mate wasn't exactly feral. She was something else entirely, and Rune hadn't seen anything like it despite how many rare creatures he'd come across.

Working for the Collector for most of his life in a menagerie where people could come and collect what they couldn't find on their own, enslaved by a silver collar just like the one he wore when—Rune didn't let himself finish that thought.

He'd seen a variety of species and races that most in the paranormal world didn't know even existed.

"She's not just a shifter," Sammy reminded him with a tired sigh. "She's also a witch."

And they had no idea what flavor of either.

Excitement coursed through him again as he wondered if she'd let him take her apart so he could find out how she worked. There were secrets under her skin, and he wanted—no, needed to figure out how that strange magic could burn through an angel, but not her.

Claws dug into his shoulder and Rune licked his lips, a small smile creeping in. "Right. No torturing our mate."

"She might like it," Mylo muttered as he leaned against the doorframe, eyes glowing gold, and the scent of suspicion, irritation, and secrecy washed over him along with that familiar citrus tang. "Her body is covered in scars, just like that Kavanagh witch."

Rune froze as he tried to process what the fuck that could mean, but Sammy was already prowling toward the door like he was going to run up there and demand answers now so he knew exactly who to slaughter.

"She did it to herself." Mylo smirked when their alpha froze. There was nothing but shock in Sammy's scent, as if he couldn't figure out what he should be feeling about this. "Even the one on her back that looks like someone ripped her shoulder blade out of her body and then put it back in…"

Well, Mylo would know better than anyone what that would look like.

Anyone but Rune.

He couldn't help but wonder if she'd been taken by someone like the Collector, or if she'd been in an experimental facility like Mylo.

"Vix did that to herself too," Mylo told Sammy, his golden eyes scorching. "The only thing she didn't seem to be responsible for was the bullet to her heart."

Someone had tried to kill their mate?

"Oh, and evidently, she's a raven."

That didn't seem…right.

"She has golden eyes, Mylo, that's impossible," Sammy argued, just as confused as Rune.

At least he wasn't the only one feeling lost with this sudden influx of information.

"Don't ask me, ask Valentina." Mylo turned back inside the house. "Our little mate said she lived in an eyrie and the bullet to her heart happened before that."

A raven with golden eyes.

Oh, man, he wanted to pluck out those eyes to study how they worked. Rune would give them right back. She was a shifter after all, it would heal as soon as he put her back together.

Maybe if he asked real nice?

"Sammy…"

"Absolutely not," his alpha snarled, shoving him inside the house. "She'd pluck out yours first or gouge them out if you're unlucky, considering how much she doesn't like green eyes."

There was that.

"Come on, Alpha." Rune grinned when Sammy dragged him through the foyer and into his office so as not to wake the sleeping witch .

Sammy's cub was off limits, but Rune knew the taste of Nyx's dark gift better than most, even other witches. Morgan wasn't a shadow witch though, and he wanted to know how she still possessed that glittering darkness?—

"I'll get her permission first," Rune promised when Sammy released him. He ruffled his long red hair and pulled the hair-tie from his wrist. "I know you're curious, and she's so good at tearing people apart."

As someone who was also very experienced with tearing things apart, he had to admit that an angel had never been on that list…

His psychotic, feral mate.

An angel killer.

He found her alluring in a way that made no fucking sense considering she smelled like rotten blood and dead wolf fur.

Nothing else.

Mylo watched Sammy closely as he pulled his enchanted glasses out of his blazer pocket. "I'm a bit surprised you let her in here considering Morgan is visiting, and without a collar or a cage. I'd say I'm impressed, but we both know this oversight is dangerous."

Oh, the second was going to challenge the alpha? Mylo actually could too, which was why these arguments were always so entertaining.

"You're the one who left her up there in the bathroom alone," Sammy growled, his eyes flashing gold. "What makes you think she won't come down here to kill us all?"

"Because she's desperate to have you wash her hair." Mylo actually rolled his eyes and crossed the study to sit at his desk. "She asked me if she did something wrong when I snarled at her. I highly doubt she's going to do anything that might make you angry, Samuel. At least not intentionally."

Something had happened between the second and their mate. Rune could sense it no matter how tightly Mylo tried to lock it down tight. His scent was almost sterile again and Rune fucking hated when he did that, even if it was handy.

He wished he could do that.

"I don't think she will either," Sammy muttered, flopping down in one of the armchairs scattered across the room to give them a nice view of the forest all around them.

Three walls of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and the fourth was nothing but glass, which gave them enough soft, winter light to see by without turning on any of the lamps.

Rune watched the trees, twirling his hair-tie like she had that feather and wondered what their little mate was up to…

The sound of water splashing made him lick his lips as he wondered what she looked like under those tight, white clothes.

Clothes that told him she wasn't as feral as his human brain wanted him to believe.

"It was like her personality did a one-eighty the second she saw me," Sammy said, interrupting Rune's thoughts. "It was disarming how easily she read me. She always kept her head or eyes lower than mine, and every fucking thing she did pleased my tiger."

Rune's tiger wasn't just pleased, he was ecstatic .

This mate was their missing piece and it looked like she might fit in better with them than he could have ever hoped.

"She's very good at that," Mylo agreed, pulling his new tablet toward him and staring at the screen.

Rune focused his attention on the second and pulled his hair up into a ponytail, ignoring the pieces that fell out and got into his eyes as he listened to Mylo's pulse, his breathing, and even the way his eyes stayed on the tablet despite not actually reading what was on there.

Their psychotic little mate had done something to halt Mylo's spiral into chaos and death.

What could have made him settle so much in such a short amount of time?

"What we saw in that forest could be situational," Sammy mused as he slowly spun the ring on his thumb around and around. "Angels could trigger her. It's not a foreign concept considering we all have our own triggers."

Unfortunately, Rune's didn't have to be as specific as Sammy's, or even Mylo's. If no one touched Mylo aside from them, he'd be fine. Well, fine as long as Rune was fine. He lost whatever semblance of sanity he had the moment Rune did.

Sammy's trigger wasn't just incredibly specific, but it was also rare.

Though hearing their mate go on and on about the value of names made him wonder if she'd been put on this earth just to torture his alpha.

Rune liked torture though…he was almost as good at taking it as he was at giving it.

"Why do you think she assumed I was going to steal from her?" Sammy asked, eyeing him and Mylo like he could sense their attention was upstairs.

"Does it matter?" Mylo asked, pushing his glasses up his nose to focus on their alpha. "I doubt it's actually that significant."

"Disagree." Rune crossed his arms over his chest when both of them looked at him in surprise. "Was I the only one listening to her talk to that angel?"

Sammy narrowed his eyes, the wordless command to explain obvious even to him, and Rune rolled his eyes. It really wasn't that hard to just fucking ask.

"She told the angel his brother took her which implies there is another angel, but a higher rank considering how disappointed she was by his regiment," Rune reminded them.

It was second nature to file interesting and useful information away, especially on a species no one really knew anything about. Not even the Collector had ever been able to get his hands on an angel.

"Then she said she was going to steal everything from him, just like he stole everything from her." He eyed the violent black lines swirling up his forearms as he considered what that could mean. "I think what we should actually be worried about isn't a raven assassin with golden eyes who hunts angels, but the fact that she believes this angel will eventually come looking for her."

Maybe if he asked super, super nice, she'd give him one of those special blades and he could take apart an angel. Would she let him help her? Rune rocked back on his heels so he didn't run right up those stairs to ask her.

Not when she was naked and those skintight clothes had left so very little to the imagination.

Their mate had pink nipples instead of dark ones like Sammy.

Just thinking about those nipples and what he could do to make them hard…maybe get her to tremble for him if he played them just right, the thought eased the bloodlust like it was nothing.

It was unsettling how easily she could calm him down, just like her hands in his fur had nearly had him fucking purring . Rune didn't purr. Ever.

He was pretty sure the only time he'd ever heard that sound from any of them was when Sammy doted on Morgan.

"You gonna be okay?" Rune slid their alpha a look, knowing just how much he was going to break down under that crazy girl's chaos.

"I'll manage." Sammy ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "We need a game plan before I go up there and she fucks with my head."

"She doesn't have a scent," Mylo pointed out as he typed something into the tablet. "How do you plan to confirm whether she's our mate or not?"

Rune didn't need a scent to know she was theirs. He could feel it in his chest, telling him exactly where she was. His tiger was so focused on the sound of her heart beating that he would never lose her as long as she stayed where he could hear her.

"If she's not a raven and is some other kind of shifter, she should be able to scent it on us," Sammy muttered, not looking pleased about that. "If she's a raven then I guess we could spend some time with her and then go on a trip without her to see if the pain starts."

That was inefficient, but Rune didn't care because he was going to stay here with her. The alpha and his second could run off like idiots to feel the excruciating pain distance caused with an unclaimed mate bond.

"What if she tries to murder us in our sleep?" Mylo asked, smiling slightly like he almost hoped she would – like it would be so cute, and Rune kind of wanted her to try.

"One of us will stay awake at all times, on a rotation," Samuel decided. "We can contract Valentina to help. An assassin in the house doesn't seem like such a bad idea anymore, does it, Rune?"

He snarled slightly, pissed Sammy was being so petty. "You're missing the point, Alpha. She is hunting angels and can bring them to our doorstep where your precious cub is currently staying. I don't know about you, but I don't have an angel blade to kill one of those bastards. That's not even the worst thing that could happen."

Both Sammy and Mylo raised their eyebrows at him.

It was so annoying how they could be so clueless sometimes.

"She could decide to leave if she feels neglected," Rune said softly, grinning when Sammy jumped to his feet at the subtle reminder she was still waiting for the alpha. "I doubt there's anything we could do to stop her, especially without a scent to track her down."

Sammy didn't exactly run out of his office, but he definitely hustled.

"Her lack of scent doesn't bother you?" Mylo asked, setting his tablet down to focus on Rune.

Clearly, it bothered the other tiger.

"If I'm her mate, she'll claim me." He shrugged and studied the snow-covered trees again and wondered what she might want after getting all cleaned up. "Scent isn't everything if you know how to read the rest."

And he'd been really, really good at that.

"Torturing someone is an art form." Rune flashed Mylo a grin that promised pain if the second felt so inclined. "Scent can overwhelm everything else and distract you from the goal – the purpose . I wish I could scent the mate bond only because you and Sammy keep doubting if she's ours or not, but otherwise, I couldn't care less. If there's something I want to know, I'll just ask her."

"And if she won't tell you?"

Rune felt his grin become feral and he decided he'd cook her the best steak in the world, rare. His mate would like that it was still bleeding when he set the plate before her with those perfect, browned edges.

Some caramelized onions from the greenhouse would go well with it.

"If she won't tell me the answer…" he trailed off and then gave Mylo a mischievous wink. "Guess I'll have to find a way to make her give it to me, won't I?" He had a feeling she'd like that game.

Mylo said nothing as Rune headed toward the kitchen, wondering what his psycho little mate would like to drink, other than angel blood.