Obsidian Wings Read Free Page A

hair that
flashed golden one second and dark red the next.
    “What color is her hair?”
    She was nearly as tall as Strad and every part of her was
carved and defined. She faced him with an obvious familiarity in her eyes—eyes
that matched her hair. Golden, then flashing a strange reddish-brown.
    After staring at him silently, she put her hands on his
shoulders and stood on her toes to kiss him, a quick, soft kiss that was almost
over before it had even started.
    Rune dropped her fangs and shot out her claws, the sound
loud in the sudden, complete silence.
    The berserker and the bird snapped their heads around to
look at her.
    She had to forcefully rein in the black anger growing inside
her. She wanted to kill the bird. Kill it, cook it, and eat its fucking guts.
    But more than that, she wanted to hurt the berserker.
    Jack’s words and his hesitation were making more sense.
    “Who the fuck are you?” she asked.
    The bird put her hands on her bare hips and stared Rune
down. “I am Cree Stark. Who the fuck are you? ”
    Rune smiled, and her monster broke free. She forgot the dead
bird, forgot the watching RISC workers, forgot everything.
    Her only thought was showing the bird just who the fuck she
was.
     
     

Chapter
Four
    “Whoa, whoa,” Jack said, and planted himself between the two
females. “Back away, Rune. There’s a death here.” He glanced pointedly at Cree
Stark. “One of hers was murdered.”
    Rune gave her head a hard shake.
He was right. She could feel heat climbing her cheeks and cursed herself
silently for her stupid show of…
    Jealousy.
    She retracted her claws and fangs.
    It was the addiction that linked her to the berserker and
made her possessive. The blood and the bite made her crazy.
    Yeah. Sure.
    She stomped her monster back into hiding and took a deep
breath. Strad had stepped forward as Jack calmed her down.
    The look on his face was both alarmed and proud.
    Fucking berserker.
    He wrapped his fingers around her arm but she avoided his
gaze and shook off his hand.
    She knew one thing for sure. She did not like Cree Stark.
Her gut was telling her the stranger couldn’t be trusted, and Rune’s gut rarely
let her down.
    Cree had begun to shift as soon as Rune went after her, but she
let the shift lapse and stood once again as a human. The other birds waited at
her back, not trying to calm her or interfere at all.
    They were silent and unmoving, their flat, black eyes
darting with glossy impatience.
    “You’ll have to go to RISC,” she told the bird. “My boss
will have some questions for you.”
    “The birds handle bird business,” Cree said. “We don’t want
RISC involved.”
    Rune shrugged. “Doesn’t matter what you want. We investigate
Other crime in River County. Go talk to Bill Rice.”
    “And if I don’t?” Cree’s voice was cold and eager. She
wanted to fight—maybe as much as Rune did.
    But Rune had been about to kill the bitch, so she really
couldn’t blame her for being unfriendly. “I’ll come find you. I’ll arrest you
and take you in by force.”
    Cree’s lips parted in a smile. And from the sparkle in her
eyes, she was genuinely amused. “You don’t know a lot about the birds, do you?”
    “Stop,” Strad said, quietly. He pointed at the sad, hanging body.
“Say your goodbyes to Lara. RISC will expect you before the day is out. Bring
Fin in with you.” He wasn’t asking.
    Cree narrowed her eyes at him, but the berserker won the
ensuing staring contest and finally, she nodded. Then, with one last glare at Rune,
she strode to the murdered bird. The other birds swept along behind her like
silent shadows.
    Two more cars pulled up. Rice had sent his own
investigators. Now that he’d taken total control of RISC, he was putting
everything he had into it.
    And if they discovered who’d tortured the bird to death,
Rune and her crew would be sent after the son of a bitch.
    “I’m not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed that
the birds don’t make an