Read Online New Regime by Laken Cane - Free Book Online

cross was also bloodstained.
    The scent of despair, held in the air by rotting flesh and
maggot-filled entrails, became too much for her.
    Grimacing at not only the smell but the lingering pain in
her head, she and her monster prepared to get the hell out of the horror that
lived at the bottom of that well. She dropped the chain over her head.
    She ran, then leaped at the walls she’d banged off of when
she’d made her hasty descent. She was fast and strong—her monster was
unbelievable. She had absolutely no doubt that she’d be able to climb the
walls. She scaled them, pushing herself from one wall to the other as she
scrambled to the top.
    Her feet gained purchase on the slippery, slimy walls, but
only for a brief second—then she was pushing off and digging her toes into the
wall a little higher up.
    Slime and goo competed with vegetation for space on the well
walls, and by the time she burst free of the hole in the ground she stank
almost as much as the rot at the bottom of the grisly prison.
    She shuddered and ran her palms over her body, trying
unsuccessfully to rid herself of the sticky grime as she strode away from the
treacherous hole.
    The sun was hot, the air so fresh she couldn’t stop drawing
it deeply into her lungs. It helped clear the lingering memory of the stench
from her brain.
    She picked up her speed, running back to the hill on which
she’d stood when Epik had approached her. When she stood on the hill looking
once more at Poison Pond, Owen wasn’t the only one standing there.
    The berserker stood beside him.
    He and Owen peered into the lake, and as she watched, Strad
began yanking off his weapons, then peeled off his shirt.
    She grinned. He was going in after her.
    “Hey,” she screamed and waved.
    The two men glanced up at her and Strad’s hands froze on the
waistband of his jeans. “Rune,” he roared. He didn’t sound happy to see her.
    She lifted an eyebrow. “I’m coming,” she yelled, and without
waiting, charged down the hill.
    She ran through the trees at the bottom of the hill, her
bare feet skimming the ground. Most times her monster wasn’t entirely engaged
unless she was in danger, fighting, or otherwise extremely emotionally
involved, and running toward Poison Pond seemed to take forever.
    She needed to get to the berserker.
    She wanted to wrap her arms around his hardness and taste
the skin of his chest before he covered it back up. She wanted to inhale his
scent, to put her lips to his smooth neck and sink her teeth into his flesh.
    She wanted his blood. The need for him was so sudden and
overwhelming she slowed her run.
    Nothing good could come of wanting another person so much.
Nothing.
    He was addicted to her. Addicted to her blood.
    What if, for him, that’s all it was?
    What if he made her weak?
    She forced herself to jog, slowly and methodically, across
the forest floor.
    When she finally reached the two men, Strad was once again
fully dressed, frowning impatiently.
    “What—” he began.
    “ Fuck you,” she said, and began to pull on her
clothes.
    Owen pursed his lips and stared into the distance.
    Strad raised an eyebrow, then folded his arms across his
massive chest. “What the hell happened up there?”
    She jerked on her vest so forcefully she nearly ripped off
her fingernails, aware the men thought she’d lost her mind but what was new
about that?
    If the berserker turned on her…
    But how could she love someone she was afraid would hurt
her? More importantly, how could she almost actually believe that someone might not hurt her? If she let him, he’d hurt her. That was the way it was.
    And it’d be her own damn fault.
    She bent over to pull on her boots.
    One second she was furious and frustrated and fucking scared —and
the next, she felt a touch on her back.
    “Rune,” Owen said. That was all. Just that touch and her
name.
    She went from anger to horror in a millisecond.
    She fell to the ground and curled into a ball, her breath
wheezing from