Obsidian Wings by Laken Cane Page A

words would
come.
    “Levi loves you,” she said.
    Ellis bent forward, sobbing. “Levi,” he cried. “Levi.”
    Rune strode to him and pulled him into her arms. She
embraced him and she embraced the pain from the covered fang. Right then, she
needed the pain to keep her mind from exploding.
    “He saw me,” he said, his voice thick. “Levi saw me.”
    “I see you, baby,” she whispered, but knew it wasn’t enough.
And maybe none of them believed they’d get the twins back, but not one of them
would stop trying.
    “There has to be something,” Strad said.
    Rune glanced at him. His eyes were full of murder. Before
Lex had finished speaking, he’d reached for his spear, his face blank. She
recognized the killing rage with which he held his favorite weapon.
    Yes, there had to be something. Some clue, something they
were missing, that would lead them to the twins.
    But if so, they weren’t finding it in Lex’s grim account.
She’d felt emotions. Pain, fear, horror. She’d heard words. Mostly she’d been
somehow inside the twins, had felt what they felt, but there was no way to know
where they were.
    COS was hiding, and they were hiding well.
    “They could be anywhere,” Owen said. “COS could have them in
a basement in the city, or underground in Hawthorne Forest.”
    Rune closed her eyes against the burning pain of the
insidious fang and flinched the tiniest bit from Ellie’s body. When she opened
her eyes, the berserker watched her.
    Ellis gently extracted himself and turned his back to wipe
his wet face. “Why can’t we find them?”
    “COS had a long time to prepare for this,” Jack said.
    “They may not be keeping them in River County,” Raze told
them. “On the night of the new moon, they’ll bring the twins back for the
ritual.”
    Rune shook her head. “They’re close.”
    Lex agreed. “I couldn’t have found them if they’d been far.
They’re here.” She made a fist and hit her leg. “They’re here. ”
    “Strad,” Rune said. “Ask the birds. I feel it in my gut.
They know something. Maybe they saw COS on Hook Road. They know something. ”
    “Any little bit of information can help.” Ellis stared up at
Strad. “Please. Please.”
    The berserker’s sharp gaze softened as he looked from Rune
to Ellis. “I’ll talk to them. If the scepters know anything, they’ll tell me.
But they don’t.”
    For whatever reason, Strad had no doubt.
    Ellis took Strad’s hand. “Thank you. Now help me understand.
Why would a man deliberately torment another person? It can’t just be hatred,
can it?” He peered around at the crew. “COS…they’re people. They were once
children. All of them have brothers or sons or fathers. What makes them want so
badly to hurt another man?”
    But the crew had no answers for him.
    At least none that would satisfy him or make him understand.
Such brutality would always be beyond Ellis’s comprehension.
    He was too good, too pure , to understand the monsters
that lived inside the dark corners of one’s mind.
    Rune understood them, though, and she shook with dread and
fear.
    No matter when they found the twins, the boys were not
coming out of there the same as when they went in.
    If they came out at all.
    Stop it. We will save them.
    Only what if they didn’t?
    Strad handed Ellis off to her. “I’ll contact you after I’ve
talked with the birds.”
    “I’ll come with you.”
    He shook his head. “If I take you up there, they won’t tell
me anything.” He smiled. “And we’d probably have a full scale battle on our
hands.”
    She nodded, then gave him a weak smile. “Don’t look so
shocked, Berserker. I know it’s not a good idea for me to go to Spikemoss
Mountain.”
    “I’m used to you arguing,” he said, and leaned down to kiss
her forehead. “I’ll call you as soon as I can.”
    “Be careful.”
    “Always.”
    “Strad,” Lex called.
    He went immediately to her side and knelt down beside her
chair.
    Her expression was somber, her