Outcast BoxSet

by Emilia Hartley

She looked up at him.

  “I promise,” he added, seeing her questioning eyes.

  Gradually, a sense of safety settled into her, making her limbs heavy. This place was strange and unfamiliar. The people around her were, too. She should have been scared, or at least, cautious. Instead, she sank to the ground and curled into a small ball, her tail over her nose.

  The man laughed. “How about we use the bedroom? You can have the bed, okay?”

  His big hands lifted her small frame from the ground without disturbing her position. He held her close to his chest, where she could hear the steady beat of his heart. It comforted her and lulled her closer to sleep. He leaned forward, placing her on the plush surface of the bed. She missed the sound of his heart as she watched him lower himself to the floor.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” he grumbled. “I’m being chivalrous. You should just accept it and be happy.”

  He disappeared past the horizon of the bed. She settled down, tucking her nose back beneath the warmth of her tail and let the exhaustion of the day claim her. The man on the floor snored a little, but it was all right. She enjoyed the reminder that he was still there.

  Chapter Two

  Gage stirred, stretching his limbs. The floor had done nothing for his back. Or his shoulders. Or any part of his body.

  For a long moment, he just lay there. His mind pulled him back to the night a few days ago. Killian’s pack of feral shifters assaulted Vancourt’s house. It hadn’t been all that surprising. Killian was a volatile piece of crap, and desperate for any semblance of power he could latch onto. What had been surprising had been a scent Gage found.

  It had left him stunned. The face he found when he turned toward it threw him for a loop. As much as Gage wanted to deny it, as much as he wanted to claim that it was dark or that it had all happened too fast, he couldn’t deny the truth of the situation.

  When Fredrick had become one of the feral shifters in Killian’s pack was beyond him. How it had happened… Gage could only speculate. From the smile on his old friend’s face, he could tell that Fredrick had found his people.

  Gage’s hand clenched at his side. He pressed his eyes shut against an old memory, a night of laughter that had ended in sirens and handcuffs. They’d been close, partners in crime quite literally. But, just before Gage had been ousted from his Pack, they’d pulled one final prank. It was supposed to be big, a public display, leaving a cow in Stonefall square. But, when the cops arrived and they split, Fredrick had tipped them off to Gage’s location just so he could get away.

  Gage opened his eyes and looked to the dusky skinned hand hanging over the edge of the bed. What drove him mad was how Fredrick’s scent clung to her. What it meant… he didn’t want to think about it just then. There was still time to get out of this forsaken town and start a life of his own.

  He groaned and tried to sit up, just as a cute cry sounded from above him. He looked up just as a body rolled off the edge of the bed and fell onto him. She landed with an oomph, hair berry scented, and hair falling like a curtain over his face, twisted and tangled in a bed sheet that kept most of her concealed.

  His hands grazed skin as he tried to help her up. She was a myriad of dusky skin and bright colors, images inked into her arms and thighs. Eyes wide enough to show the whites that stared down at him, caught like a sweet doe in the headlights of a car.

  His throat tightened as he continued to study her. Long, dark lashes touched her cheeks and her pink lips were pursed into a cute heart shape. Her curls were dyed an inhuman shade of red, dark like wine. His hands hovered over her skin, fingers aching to study the lines she’d chosen to immortalize in her skin. A growl of frustration slipped through him.

  She was a thing of beauty.

  “Hey now!” he shouted as she fumbled to stand. Her elbows jabbed him in the ribs and her knees came terrifyingly close to the family jewels.

  He reached up, grasping her by her arms, and helped her disengage without causing any serious harm, mainly to his manly goods. She pulled away and fell back onto the bed, clutching the sheet to her chest as if it was her last defense. He couldn’t stop the way his eyes travelled down her arms. Her tattoos were candy bright and depicted actual candy in places.

  “What are you staring at?” she challenged. Her expression was one of open defiance, as if she didn’t know she was talking to a bear. Hell, she didn’t know anything in that moment.

  Gage had to shake his head to bring himself back to the present. Before he could find his voice to tell her he was looking at the prettiest mutt he’d ever brought home, she stood and moved toward the window.

  Shoving aside the ugly lace curtains, she glanced outside. “Where the hell am I?”

  “No, ‘oh my god you kidnapped me’ or ‘what kind of drug have I been on?’”

  “Well, I kind of figured both, but I was going to wait for my chance to bolt.” She paused, the ugly curtain still in her hand. He heard the ripping of threads before she did. It tore free and fell limp in her hand. She stared at it with horror. Gage just shrugged. He always thought it was hideous. He never asked for them to be hung in his room.

  “I’m so sorry,” she tried to say.

  “Looks like you still have a long way to go,” Gage said, his eyes caught by the way the sheet slipped down her back. He forced himself to lie back down, pulling his gaze away from the half-naked stunner in his bedroom.

  She moved, and he saw the end of the mattress sink beneath her weight as she sat down. “What the hell is happening?”

  “Were you at Paul’s Mart when a bunch of assholes started attacking people?”

  She paused. “Yeah,” she breathed. “I remember that. Someone bit me with his mouth, but I managed to run. I got out the back of the store.”

  “That bite changed you. You became like him.”

  “Like hell am I going to go around biting people!” She shot up. The indignation on her face was almost enough to make Gage laugh. Part of him wanted to convince her that she would, indeed, run around with a need to bite people. But, he held back. Now was no time for trickery. He had to be honest and upfront.

  Gage laughed. “That’s not what I mean. I’m trying to say he turned you into a shifter. A coyote shifter, to be exact. That’s why I slept on the floor. If you woke up, back in this form, I didn’t want you to be alone and confused. As much as I would have liked to cuddle up to…” he gestured to her body. “I thought it’d be a little inappropriate considering you were going to wake up naked.”

  He sat up and met her eyes. She seemed to process his words before her gaze slipped out the window. He could see she wanted to fight it, but she came up with nothing. She only stared out the window, her world probably crumbling around her.

  Gage wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms, but it wasn’t his place. The familiarity he had with the confused coyote wouldn’t work with the stricken human side. Instead, his eyes slipped down her frame again. It followed the long line of her legs as the bear sniffed the air.

  He wondered if she would taste like raspberries. No, blackberries. Sweet and tart, she would taste like a hot summer day.

  “I want to go home,” she whined.

  Gage swallowed past the lump in his throat and moved the blanket over his lap. “I can take you home, but I’d like to give you something to eat before you leave. Having a full belly can help you control the coyote.”

  She glanced back at him then down to herself. There was trepidation in her eyes, but she did well, hiding it behind her bravado. “Am I supposed to eat naked?”

  “I sure as hell wouldn’t mind it.” He held her gaze and watched her face turn pink.

  He stretched and pulled his aching body off the floor to reach for a pair of sweat pants. Just about everything in the room belonged to a fifteen-year-old version of Gage, but he was sure the old clothes would fit her. In fact, he liked the way the old shirts fit across her breasts, her perky nipples pressing against the fabric.

  He liked it too
much, making him force his hand into his pockets and adjust his growing erection that pressed against his clothing. She moved past him, leaving behind the scent of maple syrup and spring flowers. As much as he wanted to follow and breathe in her scent, he paused on the landing and watched her descend the stairs.

  The sway of her hips made his chest tight and his morning wood even worse. When she stopped at the base of the stairs, one hand on the wall as she looked back up at him, Gage knew he was done for.

  But, he didn’t even know the woman’s name. All he knew was that she had no idea how to live the life she’d been handed. It’d been clear that she’d been unable to change back to her human form when he found her in the alley of Stonefall. It also looked as though she’d been moments away from eating out of the nearby trash bin.

  Hell, she probably was. The poor woman couldn’t even figure out how to walk on four feet let alone hunt for food. She was, as they say, a hot mess. One that Gage wanted to know more about. He wanted to get to know the scent between her legs, the shapes of the ink in her skin, and the feeling of her lips on his.

  He cursed at himself. He had to be the least reputable person he knew, but he wouldn’t take advantage of her like that. She had to be vulnerable. Fear and confusion could make anyone weak.

  Gage would teach her what it meant to be a shifter. Once she found her feet again, maybe then he would see if she was up to a romp or four. She’d be sticking around for a while anyway, he figured.

  Chapter Three

  Kaylee looked around, running one hand through her hair. Only days ago, she’d been preparing herself for a weekend of bingeing Netflix and ice cream. Somehow, that’d led her to a strange house in the middle of nowhere, presumably near Stonefall, though she couldn’t be sure.

  The house was austere and full of antique furniture holding nothing more than an empty vase or decorative pillows. It looked like something her grandmother would have loved, but nowhere near half as lived in.

  Scents screamed all around her, making her head begin to throb. She could smell what seemed like several people, the imprints of their lives lingering like ghosts in the room. It was enough to drive a person mad. She had to backpedal out of the room, turning and frantically searching for a door.

  Once she found it, she stumbled into the fresh air. The sun was touching the horizon; the day long gone as night slowly encroached. She scanned the world around her, taking in the sprawling lawn torn up by tire tracks and the naked trees in the distance. It would have been picturesque had she not lived through the nightmare of the past few days.

  Had she not been brought here against her will while on some sort of drug? Sure, the man inside was being nice, but she didn’t know how long that would last. It felt like something out of a horror movie.

  She spun back toward the house and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Where the hell am I?” her words echoed through the yard.

  And how the hell do I get back home?

  A series of bone shaking coughs erupted from an upstairs window and took Kaylee by surprise. “Could you… shut… the hell…up!”

  Her brows furrowed as she looked up at the window where the voice had come from. She hadn’t been aware there was another person in the house, not someone who sounded as old as this one did.

  “I swear,” her captor’s voice said, bringing her attention back to the ground. “Dad will never change.”

  “Take me back to where I was staying,” Kaylee said, feet sliding apart to stand her ground.

  “You mean the alley?” He leaned against the doorframe, his thick muscled arms folded over his chest.

  “No,” she snapped, rolling her eyes. “I wasn’t staying in an alley. I have a room at a bed and breakfast in Stonefall. As you can see, I’m perfectly fine now. You can take me back.”

  The nightmare was over. Whatever acid trip she’d been on was now fading. Some of it still clung to her, like the stronger than ever sense of smell, but she reassured herself that it, too, would disappear. Gage had been kind enough to take care of her while she’d been struggling, but if he didn’t take her back into town soon, she would pick a direction and start walking.

  “And what happens when you change again and can’t walk? What happens when you change and can’t feed yourself?” He pushed off the doorframe and approached her. His eyes softened, the cocky spark of humor melting.

  She took a step back. “Dude, you have a few screws loose. I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you aren’t going to take me back, I’ll find my own way.”

  Panic flashed through his eyes. Without wasting a moment, she darted. The ground was soft beneath her bare feet. She wished she could have found a pair of shoes before she had to run, but the guy clearly didn’t want her to leave. Her chest heaved, and her muscles protested, but she ran.

  A bent and broken gate appeared ahead of her, already open. She was steps away when a set of golden eyes appeared before her. Imposed over her vision, the eyes looked back at her knowingly. Her feet tangled, and she fell. Her hands and face slapped the muddy ground.

  Behind her, laughter filled the air. She hated it, but the sound stirred things inside of her. It warmed her in places she’d long thought defunct.

  “Eat shit,” she muttered.

  “No thanks. After watching you do it, I’ve lost my appetite.”

  She sighed. Her fingers curled into the mud beneath her. The only explanation she could think of was that the assholes that attacked the grocers had poisoned her. There’s been some kind of drug in that man’s mouth and, in turn, it had entered her blood stream. She was seeing things, hallucinating.

  “Let’s get you up,” He said just before gentle hands lifted her out of the mud. He was surprisingly strong, lifting her as if she weighed nothing more than a feather. Kaylee knew better. She’d spent too much time in the gym, lifting weights, to weigh so little. “Oh, you’re a pretty sight. Are mud masks popular with the ladies these days?”

  She pulled away from his touch, surprised when he let her. If he was working so hard to keep her here, why wasn’t he dragging her back to the house? Surely, there was a room with cuffs chained to a wall in his basement. Maybe the attic.

  With a cute half-smile on his face, He reached to wipe the mud from her cheek. She jerked away from his touch and saw the flare of hurt in his eyes. Her shoulders dropped. Whatever drug was coursing through her system put her on edge. Gage hadn’t done anything awful to her yet.

  Yet, she reminded herself.

  “You did say you were waiting to run. I guess this is on me.”

  Even if she wanted to trust the bear of a man and his piercing eyes, Kaylee told herself that she knew better.

  “Come on,” he said, the humor drained from his voice. Oddly enough, she was sad to see it go. “Let’s get you cleaned up before we drive back into town. You should grab your things and check out of your room.”

  Kaylee pressed her lips together. This guy was talking like he was going to bring her back with him. She would let him believe that if he was going to take her back into town. As soon as her feet found familiar ground, she would get the hell out of dodge. Sure, the first attempt was a bust, but once they were in public, it would be easier. There would be witnesses.

  Sullen and covered with mud, she followed Gage back into the house. He said nothing about the dirt dripping off her or the mess she tracked with her bare feet as he led her to a bathroom.

  Alone, she stripped off her dirty clothes. It felt odd to stand naked in an unfamiliar space. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, her eyes flashing with gold. It made her step back. She blinked, but it didn’t go away.

  Not the hallucinations again, she bemoaned. When would it wear off? When would her life go back to normal?

  It’d been in serious upheaval since she’d lost her job. Her parents thought a small getaway in Stonefall would help her focus on her art and regain her confidence, but the pain of what happened had stung. Kaylee put everything she had into the small ta
ttoo parlor, with a person she’d thought to be her best friend. It wasn’t until he’d turned around and pulled everything out from beneath her that she realized who he was.

  It left Kaylee without a dream, adrift in the world. Stonefall was supposed to be a break from reality. Well, she’d gotten the break from reality for sure. She reached to figure out the shower controls before stepping beneath the steaming spray. Mud and days of grime swirled down the drain.

  Only hours into her vacation, the wacko at the grocers had bitten her. From there, her life had spiraled out of control. She’d thought she had four legs, paws, and fur. She’d fallen in an alley and been unable to get up again. Just thinking of it filled her with shame and dread. What if she contracted a disease from the guy? Should she go to a hospital? If she had something crazy, something incurable, there was no way anyone would trust her to tattoo again.

  “You okay in there? Not drowning yourself like a turkey, are you?”

  “What the hell does that even mean?” she shouted through the water and the closed door.

  The door swung open and a rush of cold air prickled her bare skin. She shrieked and rushed to cover herself.

  “Oh, calm down. There’s a shower curtain between us. I can’t see you and you can’t see me. You’re fine.”

  Kaylee waited for her heart to stop thumping before asking again. “What do you mean drowning like a turkey?”

  He laughed before even speaking. “I’ve been told they’re so dumb they’ll look up into the sky to see if it’s raining and drown before they find out.”

  Kaylee couldn’t help but laugh. It was an awful thing to think of. “No, I’m clearly not dead.”

  She heard him hoist himself up onto the bathroom counter. “So, if I’m stuck with you for a while, could you bother to tell me your name?”

  “You don’t have to be stuck with me,” Kaylee argued. “You could drop me off at the B&B and never see me again.”

  “I kind of like your company. I mean, it could also be that I like looking at your ass as you try to run away from me. It’s quite distracting.”