Stranger Series Box Set
Isadora Brown
Contents
Chapter 1
Stranger
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Acknowledgments
Did You Like Stranger?
Finder
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Epilogue
Did You Like Finder?
Keeper
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Acknowledgments
Did You Like Keeper?
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Also by Isadora Brown
Also by Isadora Brown
Also by Isadora Brown
Also by Isadora Brown
Also by Isadora Brown
1
Text copyright © 2012 Heather C. Myers
All Rights Reserved
Created with Vellum
For Dylann and Fieffer
1
She dusted off her hands, wondering what to do with the body.
Sophie hadn’t meant to actually kill the guy. Her insides churned with guilt, but her mind was too focused on trying to figure out her next step. Sometimes she underestimated her own strength, which was just silly because she should know better by now. She had this strength the moment she was born—possibly while in the womb.
That didn’t mean, however, that she knew what she was. She wasn’t sure if there were people out there who were like her, who had this super-human strength that she—a five foot seven teenage girl—shouldn’t possibly possess. She knew from a young age that the power—curse?—she was afflicted with was wrong, unique, and just plain weird. After all, her parents abandoned her when she just a year old after they found out what she was. Apparently they didn’t want to keep explaining to the neighbors why a one year old could lift their car in order to retrieve a Barbie. As such, Sophie learned not to advertise that she was different which was how she managed to survive various foster homes for the past sixteen years of her life. At some point, her secret would come out and she would subsequently be placed into group homes, waiting for another family to take a chance on her. Until she decided she was through with foster homes and decided to live on her own. Still, she attempted to keep mum on her strength—though she was quite certain she could get paid a lot of money to exploit it—because, as far as she was concerned, it was nobody’s business. More than that, Sophie liked being underestimated and able to fend for herself if the situation called for it.
And this situation most definitely had.
She had finished eating breakfast at a local diner, and after paying the bill, left, preparing for a long trek down to Southern California. It was September, and winters in Tahoe were freezing. As much as she loved the snow and mountains, she couldn’t afford to wander around the rural community in merely jeans, a worn pair of Converses, a plain blue t-shirt, and a thin zip-up hoodie, not if she didn’t want to lose a body part thanks to hypothermia. No, Costa Mesa was her winter destination. It was where she had been born and though she barely remembered anything when she was a year old, she remembered the warmth.
It wasn’t too cold this morning, but there was a bitter breeze and a thick fog that nipped her pale cheeks and turned them a bright shade of red. Sophie didn’t want to think about what her nose looked like. Out of nowhere, a guy grabbed her wrist and spun her around. With a smirk, he muttered something cliché about her being by herself like Little Red Riding Hood and asked if she was afraid the Big Bad Wolf would get her. Sophie had already been on her guard thanks to the fact that the diner was surrounded by forestry—something quite common in Tahoe—and was pretty much a dive. Cheap, yes, but skeevy. However, Sophie was desperate and knew that beggars couldn’t be choosers.
When the stranger touched her, it was like she didn’t even have to think. She just reacted. In that moment, reacting meant jamming her palm sharply upward so it connected with his nose, making a satisfying crunch. He reacted as expected: shouting obscenities and then threatening her life, her virtue, blah, blah, blah. He came at her, and she tried to warn him. Tried to tell him not to mess with her. But he laughed at her and then advanced with steely eyes.
As he circled Sophie, her eyes quickly took him in: the five foot ten height, the curly blond hair, the red lips. He had blue eyes hardened like snow on a rock, and a lean if a bit skinny physique. Relatively attractive, maybe a few years older than she was, but a redneck was still a redneck and Sophie had a strict no-redneck policy.
This time, though, she wasn’t quick enough to dodge him. She was on her back now, and he was mounting her rather cl
umsily due to the fact that she was struggling. The next thing she knew, Sophie reached up, placed her hand on the back of his neck, and snapped. He was gone. Throwing his body off of her in order to stand., she needed to figure out what to do—and fast. Someone could walk out of the diner at any moment. Though she was already immersed in some of the wilderness, her red hair made her stand out like a flower among weeds. And once they saw her, surely they would notice the man lying at her feet.
She couldn’t let that happen.
It was moments like this one that Sophie wished she had taken the time to make friends. She could really use some advice right now. But keeping her secret would have been excessively difficult, and she was tired of making excuses. Plus, trusting people wasn’t easy for her, and instead of trying and wasting her time on something that was bound to fail, she kept to herself. This actually worked in her favor because no one depended on her and she didn’t depend on anyone else.
Just the way she liked it.
Except now, obviously.
Although …
There was a good chance they would have abandoned Sophie to her fate, maybe go to the point of turning her in. This wasn’t lifting a car for some doll; it was murder. It was probably better this way, being alone.
Her eyes looked at the body. Burying it sounded like the smart thing to do, and if anyone ever managed to find him in this wilderness, she’d be long gone.
“Are you waiting to get caught?”
Sophie’s head snapped up. She thought she had been alone out here, despite the nearness of the diner, trees managed to obscure a good view of her. She made sure to keep her ears open to any possible cars or people coming and going, but apparently someone had gotten beyond her scope.
The man who had spoken looked to be in his early twenties, probably twenty-three at the oldest. He was under six feet, with thick but short chestnut brown hair styled in such a way that it looked like he had horns or pointed ears, like an animal. With unruly sideburns that practically grazed his chin on top of a five o’clock shadow, he looked like one of those lumberjacks that inhabited the woods from time to time, and he dressed like one too. He was wearing a worn leather jacket, a plaid dark blue long-sleeved shirt, jeans, combat boots, and a belt with a distracting belt buckle. Definitely a working-class type of guy.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as frantic as her insides felt. She thought it was pointless to hope he didn’t see the body considering he was only six feet away from her.
“Of course not.” He took a step toward her and raised a brow, giving Sophie a look that told her he didn’t believe her. She didn’t care. He could think whatever he wanted. “He deserved it though.”
“I didn’t ask,” she retorted, glancing upwards. Did that mean he had seen what happened?
He gave her a dry look. “I don’t care,” he said, taking another step toward her.
There was a tense moment between the two. Sophie wasn’t sure why he didn’t threaten to call the cops or why he didn’t start screaming in the diner’s general direction for help, though the latter idea probably wasn’t too smart. She knew she could take on a group of people as long as she knocked each individual out without too much fighting. Fighting wasted time she didn’t have, especially not now. Not with a body at her feet. And this guy in front of her was currently wasting what precious moments she did have. If she had to knock him out, she would do it just as long as it didn’t attract any attention.
Before she could do anything, however, he said with a knowing glint in his eyes, “I know what you are.”
A shiver slid down her spine at the sound of those four words, and Sophie felt herself swallow. He couldn’t possibly know what she was unless he was either a conspiracy theorist, worked for a classified section of the government specializing in what she was—if such a thing even existed—or he had similar capabilities she did. While he had broad shoulders and a well-built frame, she didn’t think he was one of her kind simply because she had yet to meet someone else that was strange like her.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” she said. She couldn’t think of anything else to say. She just wanted him gone as quickly as possible.
“I can help you control it, kid,” he replied.
Did he just call me kid? She might not have been his age or anything, but she sure as hell wasn’t a child.
“Who do you think you are?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
At this question, he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. She couldn’t tell what color his eyes were just now; it was too foggy. Sophie had come to find that the eyes told more than the lips ever could and they always gave her a good read on people. If she needed to read anybody, it was this guy, some lumberjack who didn’t even blink an eye seeing a girl like her kill a guy with no weapon, no injuries on her person, and a body to dispose of. If he was so comfortable around this type of situation, the least he could have done was offer to help her find a place to bury the body.
“I can teach you how to control it.” His voice was low, a gravelly sound. It was like he was perpetually angry even though his body looked relaxed, maybe even calm. Hers, on the other hand, was tense and ready to fight.
“I don’t think this is any of your business,” she snapped. She could feel herself start to get frustrated that he wasn’t offering anything about himself all while hinting at knowing her dark secret. She had never seen this guy in her life and it was like—
“Can you read my mind?” she asked him, and while the question itself was ridiculous on human standards, if a girl like her could kill a guy twice her size, it wasn’t that much of a stretch to assume particular people could read minds.
His lips curled up again, but he wasn’t smiling because he was happy and didn’t seem to be laughing at the ridiculousness of her question. At least that was what she garnered from his eyes. Hazel, she decided. A golden-green hazel color. They were surprisingly pretty, but Sophie didn’t have time to check him out, not when she had a body to get rid of.
“No,” he said, shaking his head.
Well, that is good to know. It didn’t seem as if the question perturbed him or anything, though it was entirely possible that he thought she was crazy.
“But I know people who can,” he continued.
Sophie clenched her jaw and felt her brow furrow on its own accord. It was her turn to ask, “What are you?”
“You’re running out of time,” he said, evading the question just as she had evaded his. “I’m sure your friend there has friends back in the diner waiting for him. And if he doesn’t show up soon, they’ll come looking for him.” He took another step toward her so that somehow they ended up being only an inch apart. She had no idea why she wasn’t backing up, why she wasn’t running and leaving the body with him. Probably because she knew she wasn’t as fast as she was strong. That, and she didn’t have anywhere to go. She could feel warmth radiating from his body. “But I’m sure you could take them, couldn’t you?”
“Stop it,” she told him.
“Stop what?” he asked, his voice testing her. Sophie wasn’t sure if he was annoyed with her abrupt command or if he was amused. After a quick peek at his eyes, she’d say he was getting frustrated with her, as if she was responsible for his quick temper. “You know what I think? I think you’re in denial. And that’s going to leave you very vulnerable.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” That much was true. Sophie wasn’t sure what he was referring to anymore. All she knew was that she didn’t have time to sit around and find out.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he replied, and oh yes, he was very frustrated. She couldn’t fathom as to why.
“Who are you?” she asked him again, poking his chest. “Where did you come from? You don’t know me, so stop pretending that you do.” With that, she turned. Sophie made up her mind to leave him responsible for the body and head off toward town to think about her next p
lan of action.
He grabbed her wrist and yanked her toward him. She managed to lose her balance and stumble into him. Her force knocked him off his feet, and before she knew what happened, she found herself on top of him. Because he pissed her off, Sophie made sure to push into him as she landed. Smirking upon hearing his sharp exhale, she had effectively knocked the air out of him. Good.
She stood, hoping to get up and make do with her plan, but the stranger actually reached out and grabbed her ankle, yanking her back down. Before she could land on him again, he moved with such speed that she didn’t realize what had happened until her back hit the ground and she was looking up into a pair of green-gold hazel eyes. He didn’t look too pleased, she decided.
“I’m only going to tell you one more time, kid,” he said through gritted teeth, “you don’t have much time.”
“I don’t think you realize just who you’re dealing with, pal,” she retorted and placed her hands firmly on his chest in order to push him off of her. He ended up flying a few feet in the sky before landing a good deal away from her.
Maybe now he would take the hint and back off.
She turned and looked down at the body. After a moment of thinking, she knew there was a good place to bury the guy another mile into the woods and it would be a cinch to leave him out there. The trouble now was shaking this stranger—she still had no idea who he was. Hopefully he was unconscious so he wouldn’t bother her any time soon.
She would have to carry the body, Sophie realized. Dragging him would leave marks.
Suddenly, a siren pierced the morning’s heavy, foggy silence, and Sophie’s heart jumped in her throat. There was no way she could run as fast carrying the body, and the sirens were only getting closer.
“Miss Harper,” a different, accented voice said, coming from directly in front of her. She saw a silhouette heading toward and she tensed. “I understand you won’t trust us. Perhaps if you hear us out, you might feel differently.”
A man emerged from the fog. He looked as though he was in his forties with a friendly face and warm blue eyes. He offered her a smile. His entire demeanor seemed trustworthy, but Sophie still wasn’t certain what he—and his angrier cohort—wanted with her.
“As Will said, you don’t have much time,” he continued, stopping a few feet from her. At least he seemed to know boundaries. “I promise to get you out of here if you’ll listen to what we have to say. I promise we won’t harm you, but you probably don’t believe me. However, I’m sure you’d be able to defend yourself quite admirably if anything were to go awry.”
The Stranger Trilogy Box Set Page 1