Grumbling, he veered away from the woman and stomped down the cooler aisle. He could smell more shifters in the air. As he pulled open the cooler door, his eyes slid sideways. At the end of the aisle, a man rocked on the balls of his feet. He looked at nothing in particular, setting off alarms in Archer’s head. The beast inside him rose to sniff the air.
It smelled like dog.
Palming a couple of forties and a six pack, he stomped toward the end of the aisle. Archer grabbed a few bags of jerky before passing the shifter. As he rounded the corner, he saw another unfamiliar face lingering at the other end of the store. The two shifters looked at one another before glancing toward the front of the nearly empty store.
Archer had been away for a while. It was easy to believe some new faces had arrived while he was gone, but there was something about these two that put him on edge. They weren’t shopping. Instead, it seemed like they were waiting for a signal.
A signal for what?
He glanced around, seeing nothing too exciting happening. There was a human woman pacing the toiletries aisle, an annoyed human father waiting for his kids to finish with the quarter candy machines at the front of the store, and the shifter behind the customer service counter. Paul’s Mart was as empty as it always had been.
As the voices of employees filing out of the backroom filled his ears, Archer didn’t hear the bell chime above the front door. He did, rather, catch the coat of the shifter beside him as he leapt forward.
Archer swung the man around, slamming his back into the coolers. Bottles and cans crashed inside as the shifter fought to catch his breath. His lips curled away from his teeth, the animal flashing in his eyes. Archer’s beast roared through him and the man cowered.
Damn right, he thought. Cower before the bear.
Screams and shouts filled the air. The other shifter grabbed a Mart employee and wrestled him to the floor. The human, confused and stricken with terror, covered her face with her arms. Archer reached forward and grabbed the shifter atop the clerk by the back of his shirt and tossed him.
This made no damned sense. The human world knew nothing about his kind and they all liked to keep it that way. At least, that was the consensus last he’d heard. These shifters seemed to care nothing about secrets and everything about bloodshed.
The shifter landed on his feet, sliding across the wet floor, snarling and spitting. Behind him, more screams split the air. A woman dropped to the floor. Archer glanced back to make sure the father had gotten his kids far away from the chaos. He caught sight of them as they pulled out of the parking lot, blissfully oblivious of the brutal fight inside.
He let out a breath before returning his attention to the shifter before him.
“I take it you’re new around here,” Archer said by way of introduction.
“I’ve never met you before. I’d say you’re the new one. You’re trespassing on what belongs to the Red Moon Pack.”
Archer’s brows shot up in mock surprise. “That’s a lofty name for a pack. Couldn’t think of anything better?” He took a tentative step forward as he spoke. “How about the Chased Out of Town Pack. That seems fitting right about now.”
The shifter was so confused by Archer’s banter that he didn’t realize that a bear of a man had closed the space between them. He lunged forward, fingers wrapping around the man’s throat before he could move.
“You should take some obedience lessons, pup.” Archer flung the man down the aisle and into two other shifters.
A woman, the indecisive shopper, yelped and ran past him. He could smell blood on her, but he didn’t have time to chase after her and see if she’d been bitten. The four shifters in front of him were a bigger threat than one possible Stray.
“This is Vancourt territory,” Archer growled. The bear pressed against his skin, it made him seem larger, made his head rise and his muscles tense in anticipation.
One of the shifters smiled. Were they feral, he wondered? There was a gleam in their eyes that would have made his stomach turn if he hadn’t been looking for a fight to begin with. Eyes flicking from one to the next, Archer decided they were easy pickings.
“Don’t count on that, Teddy Bear,” one shifter said.
Archer snorted at the nickname until a familiar face appeared in the aisle. Her face was downcast, eyes on the floor as if weighed down by the dark circles beneath them. The man beside her, another new shifter, boasted a sadistic grin and pulled her into his side. Archer’s heart stuttered.
***
Joanna peeked up at the beast of a man standing at the other end of the aisle, her breath caught in her throat. She should have been disgusted at the sight of the chaos and terror around them, knowing her pack was responsible for it, but her eyes were stuck on him. On Archer, the man she almost married eight years ago. He was wider, sexier than she remembered. Tattoos wound their way down the thick muscles of his arms, peeking out of the collar of his shirt, and a layer of beard scruff outlined his strong jaw as it twitched with annoyance.
“Jo?” His deep voice rumbled through her, dredging up emotions she thought long gone. Lust pooled in her core and dragged her gaze back toward him, pulling her toward him. “Jo, what is going on?”
Joanna swallowed the growl rumbling through her chest. This man could have stopped this nightmare from happening. Her thumb brushed over the naked finger that should have bore a ring and hot anger burned through her. It filled her throat, rendering her wordless.
What was he doing back? He’d been the one to walk out on her, walk out on everyone here, for a human woman. No one had heard of or seen him since and, all of a sudden, she finds him in the toiletries aisle of Paul’s Mart.
Would the bear of a man fight for her, for her people? Or, would he turn his back on them again and walk away from this fight like he wasn’t a part of it? Her hands clenched at her sides. The beast inside her writhed with ferocity, but she shoved it back down. The beast whimpered and snarled at her, wanting nothing more than to fight for its people, for the human on the floor. Joanna knew it would only get her killed.
So, she stayed where she was, one hand firmly holding down the lynx inside her while she watched Archer. He outweighed several of the new shifters in her pack, but when he stepped forward, they snarled in unison and he stepped back.
When his eyes flicked to her, she felt her heart leap into her throat.
Kill them all, she wanted to say. But there were no words in her mouth. Now was not the time. She could stalk her prey, could wait for the right time to strike. There was no one who would do it for her.
Joanna had been the daughter of her pack’s Alpha. She’d had her future laid out for her, respect had been given, and she knew her place in the world. That ended the day Killian stepped into her life. Archer had been long gone and she’d wanted someone strong to stand beside her. She’d wanted to fill a space inside of her so badly that she’d been blind.
Killian laughed and reached to touch her chin, pulling her gaze up to him. The smile on his lips made her sick, cold washing over her skin. It was the same smile he’d worn when he slaughtered her father and her younger brother.
“Wasn’t this the Teddy Bear you were supposed to marry?” Killian asked with humor in his voice. His gaze slid back to Archer, sizing the man up and, seemingly, finding him lacking despite the broad spread of Archer’s shoulders and arms. “Looks like you dodged a bullet, after all.”
Joanna said nothing.
Killian jerked his chin and one of the new shifters raced toward the clerk laying dazed on the floor. He hauled the boy to his feet and dragged him toward Joanna and Killian, a hostage she never wanted.
Where were they? Nervously, she shifted from foot to foot. She let her attention fall back to the floor, keeping her from looking at the entrances. She’d risked a lot when she went to the Vancourt Pack for help. They knew what was happening. So, where were they?
Killian reached out and grabbed the human boy with his free hand. He crooned to the boy, making
soothing sounds until the boy trembled in Killian’s hands. The sour smell of fear and sweat filled the air around them. The shifter holding her seemed to draw amusement from it. He laughed, a loud and obnoxious sound of true joy that rang through the room. Joanna fought to keep from cringing.
A loud bang made the shop rattle. Joanna cringed, her ears ringing. The shifters crouching in front of her cringed away from the sound. No, she realized. They reeled back, small spots of blood appearing on their clothes. From break in the shelves, a short shifter woman with feathered hair approached them, a shot gun in her hands. She leveled a dark glare at the shifters crouching on the floor, her eyes darting between Archer and Jo.
“Put my Produce Boy down. I’m sure he has some fruit to be cutting.” Nancy’s voice was strong and gravelly.
Behind them, the door chimed, and the sound of footfalls filled the air, like soldiers rushing to clear an area. Jo let out a breath, her shoulders sinking. Beside her, Killian growled.
“Looks like our fun will be cut short today. You guys went and disappointed my mate! Look at how sad she is now.” Killian rattled her shoulders as if to prove a point. Joanna was happy he mistook her relief for disappointment.
She bit back her growl, burying it deep inside her. She was the daughter of an Alpha, but it meant nothing if she was dead. A dead person couldn’t pull a pack back together.
“Put the boy down,” Nancy said, aiming her shotgun at Killian’s face. “Then get out.”
“You’re just going to kick them out?” Archer growled the words, his voice rumbling down the aisle.
“You’ve been gone a long while, son,” Nancy said to Archer. “If you don’t like how we’re doing things, take your complaints to your father.”
The Vancourt shifters filled the space behind Joanna and Killian. While she felt relief upon their arrival, Killian’s fingers dug into her shoulders hard enough to pierce the skin through her shirt. Her jaw clenched to keep from showing the pain. They would turn and retreat soon. That was what she kept telling herself.
Killian’s show of power today had failed. He’d hoped to take claim over the small grocery store and hold it while his power spilled out into the Vancourt territory. No matter what he did to take over the territory, no matter what show of power and sadism he tried to enact, there were always barriers in his way. She knew there would be a price to pay when they returned to their own territory, but she would accept the tithe. She would bear it.
They spun, Killian’s head held high like he hadn’t just been put in his place. Today had brought at least one small victory in Killian’s opinion, and it might have been the only one he needed. Sampson Vancourt hadn’t shown up to stop him. Joanna watched the realization blossom on her Alpha’s face. Killian’s eyes flashed, and a smile pursed his lips as he winked at one of the Vancourt shifters. He knew their days were numbered if their Alpha couldn’t show up to stop a brawl.
She knew she would never allow this man to get that far. The familiar roars of a bear shifter echoed behind her. Part of her hoped he, too, would choose to stay and fight, but she knew that was asking a lot of Archer Vancourt.
Chapter Three
Fury roiled through Archer as he followed Nancy to the front of Paul’s Mart. SUVs with spinning white and blue lights sat outside the store now, their drivers inside to interview the traumatized employees. Several times, he’d demanded to know what was going on and none of the shifters dared say a word. Their lips were shut tight, tired looks in their eyes. A pack, one they’d been on okay terms with, had just attacked people on Vancourt territory. Archer wanted to know where his father was, why this hadn’t been stopped before it had happened.
All the while, images of Joanna flashed through his mind. The frame of an adolescent, the one he remembered, had filled out with ample hips and the heavy breasts of a woman. His mind ran over her curves again and again, always ending on the flash of her blue eyes behind the veil of her soft brown hair, stirring something inside him. Why was he so stuck on her when there were more important issues? Why did the thought of fear on her face fill him with the urge to destroy the man beside her?
Archer knew it wasn’t affection or love. Perhaps it was nostalgia hitting him in the gut once again. The Joanna he remembered had been strong and wild, had smiled in the face of a challenge. Seeing how that had changed over the years had struck a chord in him, even if he hadn’t known her as well as some had wanted.
“What the hell are you doing back in Stonefall, son?” Nancy ducked to tuck her shotgun under the customer service counter.
Archer couldn’t help but wonder if she was ever tempted to pull it on disgruntled customers.
“I got a call,” Archer told her. The rest of the words stuck in his throat, the story of how he’d gotten the call, of what it asked him to do. He looked around and wondered if this, of the horror of today, was his fault.
There was more going on than he’d thought. The pack he should have married into was now being led on rampages through Vancourt territory by a man he’d never seen before. Archer looked at the door, thinking that he could hunt down the man with the twisted smile and put an end to all this, but he knew tradition held the shifters of Central New York in a bind.
If the man with the twisted smile was the other pack’s new Alpha, killing him would either make Archer the new Alpha or put a bounty on his head, giving the members of his pack the right to hunt him to his death for justice. When he thought of Joanna cowering beneath the man’s arm, for a moment, he thought it would be worth it.
The life he lived outside of Stonefall was nothing spectacular. Killing the new Alpha and bearing the consequences of the bounty would be a fine end to things. Lost in thought, he scratched the scruff on his jaw.
“Boy, go visit your father. You should share some words before…” Nancy’s words trailed off. She sucked in a breath and let anything else she might have said fall away.
Archer’s mind had him halfway to the other pack’s doorstep before Nancy pulled him back. His brows folded in on themselves, forming a hard line. “Before what?”
Nancy shook her head. “Go see the old man. Take the beer and junk; it’s on me.”
Archer shook his head. He wanted to hunt down the other Alpha and rip Joanna out of his grasp, but he knew the desire was unfounded. Joanna was nothing to him, just another person he knew in his time at Stonefall. He fought, struggled, to push the urge down, and turned toward the door.
The bear inside him shoved the urge back toward the surface. So hard it made Archer stagger. He reached out to grip a metal shelf, the thin material bending beneath his fingers while he fought with the bear.
What is your problem?
The bear’s growl was the only response.
First Dad, then we will see what’s going on. Maybe, if you’re really good, we’ll go kill someone.
The bear settled down, but only barely. It still grumped and growled during the drive to the Vancourt estate.
A pair of stone columns flanked the driveway, holding between them a gate that barred him out. Archer jumped out and moved to push the gate open when he found a heavy lock holding it closed. He pulled, but the metal screeched as it dragged against metal. Dad had meant to keep his own people out, Archer realized.
He glanced up at the stone building behind the trees. The windows were dark, there was not even a breeze tugging on the drawn curtains behind them.
The hell?
Archer looked down at the lock in his hands, at the gate before him. It would be easy to climb over the stone wall, but he had another idea. One that was infinitely more fun. Perhaps his years living with Gage had rubbed off on him. Maybe, the anger he’d thought he’d gotten over had only been repressed.
Either way, Archer got back into the rental SUV with a smile splitting his face, and slammed his heavy foot on the gas. The SUV shuddered and charged forward. The nose of the machine slammed into the wrought iron gate. At first, it didn’t seem like it was going to budge, but Archer wasn’t
to be deterred.
He pushed harder on the gas. The gate bent and gave way, blasting open for the SUV to surge through. He dropped his foot on the brake and jerked the wheel to the side as the SUV slid into the yard. Shoving the door open, Archer realized he’d left deep trenches in the damp earth, but that only made him smile harder.
Still, nothing in the windows of the stone house moved. No one came charging out of the house to reprimand him. The familiar roar of anger didn’t flow out of the house. No one stomped toward him, simmering with rage.
Huh, weird, he thought as he walked toward the front door. Maybe he would have to call Gage into town after all. The presence of the youngest Vancourt would surely ruffle the old man’s feathers. What could their father be doing that would keep him away from Pack duties?
“You tore the hell out of the yard,” a familiar voice said behind Archer. “I have to say, I’m kind of proud.”
“I thought I left you back in Illinois,” Archer said without looking back at Gage.
“And you said you were going out of town for a job. I think we’re even.”
“I said that so you wouldn’t get involved,” Archer growled, turning to face his brother. Years ago, he towered over Gage, making it easier to get in the boy’s face. Now, Gage came nose to nose with him and it was a bit infuriating. “Go back home. Whatever is happening here, I’ll make it right and then we can go back to our lives.”
“If all you have to do is fix the yard, you could call a landscaper. Smells like there’s something bigger happening.”
“That’s exactly why you should go home!” In truth, Archer was only trying to protect his brother from having to watch him die. If Archer challenged the other Alpha, it could go one of two ways. Archer could win, and the pack could call the bounty, or Archer could lose and forfeit his life in the battle. Either way, he didn’t want Gage there when it happened.
Outcast BoxSet Page 2