Rhylan stilled.
“Oh, don’t worry. It’s not that bad. As it is, I have absolutely zero marketable skills. I was raised to be a breeding cow.”
The words entered the world, souring the air around them. Rhylan grimaced, the taste of flat soda biting along his throat. His wife made a face and tried to push the taste from her mouth. Rhylan looked stricken as he tried to find the right thing to say. How could he heal old wounds like that? He didn’t know the first thing about patching up the mind. Before he could do anything, she shook her head.
“Hear me out. I’m not asking to leave Fangway. Honestly, I like Jax and Sydney. I like having a pack of wolves to run with. What I want is an education. There’s a community college in…”
Rhylan cut her off. His lips split into a smile. “Yes. Whatever you want. Yes.”
“Wait. Really? You didn’t even let me finish.”
Rhylan shrugged. “Does it matter? You want to better yourself and I want to support anything you do.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Good, because I was going to suggest a few business classes so I could open a food truck.”
He let out a roar of a laugh. “That was not what I expected at all, but if that’s what you want I’m not going to stop you.”
She reached onto the tips of her toes and claimed his mouth. The laugh was lost in their kiss, but the smile was not. His arm snaked around her. Pulling her close, he deepened the kiss. The wolf was pleased, their future unfolding perfectly. Not only had they found their mate and promised her a secure future, but she’d promised them a happy one.
“Like you could’ve stopped me anyway,” Thalia teased before sinking back into his kiss.
JAVIER
Emilia Hartley
Chapter One
Nora sat with her back against the headboard, arms wrapped around the knees drawn up to her chest. Unease slithered through her. The sun had fallen, and night had risen to take over the world. She should have been sleeping. Instead, she was listening to Javier’s suffering.
He tossed and turned beside her. Whimpers and growls slipped out of him, muscles of his back tensing and rippling with whatever torment he was facing in his dreams. Nora considered waking him. Her hand hovered over his dark skin, over the black tattoos that covered his skin in an intricate pattern, but uncertainty kept her from touching him.
Javier was her mate. She should have felt safe around him, should have felt confident that she could help with whatever he was going through. Nora knew she was to blame for the nightmare he’d been trapped in. If it hadn’t been for her and her family, he never would have had to endure captivity. His soul wouldn’t be in the hands of her demented mother.
Javier had been passing through. The only mistake he’d made had been the one to stay in Fangway instead of passing through to somewhere else. He’d decided to stay and run on four feet. Her cousins hadn’t expected him, but when they dropped Javier, they’d celebrated with shots.
It was obsession at first sight for Cordelia. She’d taken one look at the man they dragged back to the farmhouse and found herself unable to use him for her magic. Instead, Cordelia promised the family they would have a hunting dog, as if he were some stray mutt they’d found on the streets. Nora hadn’t understood at the time what that meant, but if she had, she would have released him that first night.
She should have done it. She thought about it every night since then. The way he howled touched her bones. It caressed her soul, a scream for help even if it sounded like a howl for vengeance.
She pulled back her hand and tightened her arms around her knees. Tears touched the corners of her eyes. What could she do to help him? A part of her knew she loved him, even though she knew so little about him. The bond had stretched between them, snapping tight and pulling them together without warning.
To think, a year and a half ago, she’d been married to a perfectly normal man. Walter had been human and peaceful, wanting nothing more than cuddles and coffee in the morning. He’d known nothing about her family or the darkness they lived in. She’d thought she knew what love felt like. It had been such a fierce and undying feeling… until he died. It was sudden and unexpected. A heart attack, the doctors said. That was when Nora forgot how to feel. It’d all washed away and left her empty.
For a year, she’d wandered like an empty shell, doing whatever her mother told her to do because it was far easier than dealing with the grief held deep inside. Little by little, day by day, Nora tried to destroy herself. As if living in this world was more pain than it was worth. She would have continued that way until an early grave if it hadn’t been for Javier.
She could remember that day, the day she realized he was her mate, like it happened only moments ago. It wasn’t the day they caught Javier. It was the day he escaped. Nora knew he was her mother’s favorite pet, a fact that irked many of her cousins. They lived to exterminate shifters. Cordelia’s fascination with Javier, the things she’d done to mold him into her pet monster, bothered many.
Nora set out to make her mother proud. She was going to capture Cordelia’s pet and bring it back. While Cordelia’s power fed off the souls of the living, Nora had her own gift. It sparked and burned through her veins, a power that fed on her own soul. It was a double-edged blade, but back then she cared little about how she was sawing away at her own soul. Only the mission mattered.
She’d found him, in his human shape for the first time since she’d met him. He’d looked glorious, all muscle and dark hair as he faced the mountains beyond them. She should have caught him while he was still unaware, but she’d been drawn into him.
He’d spun and caught her, pressing her into his naked body before she could draw on her own magic. It startled her, leaving her unguarded as he ran his nose along the curve of her neck. He’d breathed deep. His growl rumbled through her core and lit fires that’d long been dormant. Her breathing had come rough and shallow. Immediately, they both knew it for what it was.
The bond.
Nora’s heart had broken. She looked up at him and knew he had no soul. Her mother had torn it from him the moment he broke free. The pain tearing her apart was worse than when she’d been told her husband was dead. That kind of pain, that kind of need, scared her.
If she set him free, he would become a man wandering the earth with no soul and Cordelia would make Nora pay. They decided together that it was best that he return. She knew it hurt both of them, but what other choice did they have?
She wanted both of them to live. Was that too much to ask? As long as Javier returned, Cordelia would grant him his soul. She would spare her daughter. It gave them time to figure out their options.
If it hadn’t been for Sydney, the local detective, and Thalia, Javier’s sister, then her mate would still have his soul. They would have had the time they needed, but the two women had ripped it away from them. Sydney had started it all, forcing Nora to make a choice. The greater good or the nightmare her mother had built. The answer had been obvious, but Nora hadn’t been ready.
Then, Thalia had swept in and turned the small pack of wolves into her personal army. She’d tried to warn the girl of the consequences. There had been no way she was getting Javier out of that barn with his soul intact, but Thalia hadn’t cared. Nora almost hadn’t helped her. She’d considered leaving the girl and the quiet wolf to get their own cages, but she hadn’t been able to live with that decision.
Now, Javier was with them, free in the world. At least, his body was. She looked down at him, now peacefully sleeping. She wanted to curl against his back, wrap her arms around his middle, and fall into a blissful sleep. All she could do was sigh and shove herself from the bed. Behind her, Javier stirred, whimpering with whatever tormented him, but didn’t seem to wake.
There was only one way to fix this—only one way to get his soul back. The thought was a knife in her heart, but she needed to do it. Guilt weighed heavy in her stomach, making each step toward the bathroom a labor. Could she do this? Did N
ora truly have the guts to pull this off?
She would have to see.
***
He blinked, darkness pressing in on him again. He knew he should have been afraid, should have worried he was back in the cage, but nothing happened. No panic bit through him. No rage burned inside him. Nothing happened at all.
Slowly, the dark room came into focus. There was a plain dresser with chipped corners and scuffed paint. Above it was a window that looked out into the stars above. This wasn’t the cage. Even though he felt nothing, a small sigh escaped his lips.
The room smelled familiar, like a dusty version of his favorite scent. As he pushed himself up, he saw a rectangle of light spilling from the bathroom to the right. The past few days came rushing back to him. Thalia was here, in Fangway. She and his mate, one of the very hunters who’d captured him, had stormed into the barn to save him.
Javier knew something was wrong though. He placed his knuckles against his chest and pressed. All he felt was pain. It brought nothing with it. Where was the rest of him? Why did it all feel so far away?
“You’re awake.” A melodic voice cascaded over him.
Warmth danced along his limbs and sank toward his heart as he looked up. Nora was backlit by the light from the bathroom. She bent and placed her phone on the nightstand before climbing back into the bed. Javier instinctively reached for her, his hand finding the bare skin of her lower back.
Despite knowing so little about one another, they couldn’t stand to be apart. Both craved the sensation of skin against skin so much that neither wore much clothing. Javier hadn’t been bound by it for what felt like years. He yanked her into the circle of his arms and tucked his head atop hers. She nestled into him, silent and still for a while.
With her in his grasp, muffled emotions filtered through his mind, a torrent of things not felt in a long while. They’d been building up, somewhere distant. He wondered at how the universe could mate him to a traitor. Javier couldn’t help but feel betrayed by the world. Even though the pull toward her was intense, he waited for her to sink the knife into his back as if Cordelia was still manipulating him into her pet monster.
When she broke the silence, her voice was hesitant. “Did I… did I wake you?”
Javier didn’t know what had awakened him. It could have been her absence. She certainly hadn’t made enough sound to wake him. He had no answer for her, choosing instead to kiss the top of her head. The gesture felt right, even if his mind reeled.
She sighed into his skin, unfurling her hands to lay them flat against his chest. The feeling was like fire, her touch leaving a trail of flames in its wake. He wanted to ask her to keep going, to touch as much as she could, but the words caught in his throat.
As much as he craved to be devoured by her fire, he knew they shouldn’t right now. Eventually, he told himself. Once he won his soul back from the witch. Once he and Nora knew more about one another. Once he could trust her. Once the world returned to normal.
In that moment, he chose to place one hand over hers and settle into the bed. A promise would be made. He would get his soul back from Cordelia, no matter how stained and ugly it had become. Nora didn’t know the condition it was in after Cordelia twisted it to make him into something else. But, he could hope that, with time, it could be untwisted and cleansed.
If she stayed with him, Nora and her bright magic would help.
“We should get back to sleep,” Nora mumbled, already falling asleep in his embrace.
He placed his chin atop her head. Sleep was slow and torturous. The shadows around him stretched thin and laughed at him. The fingers of Cordelia’s magic danced along his distant soul, sending a shudder through him.
Glancing down, he sighed with relief when Nora didn’t wake. Somewhere, Cordelia was still working his soul into her perfect pet. He didn’t want to know what he would become once they returned it to him. He could only hope Nora was enough to bring him back.
Even though he knew nightmares were not far away, he closed his eyes and told his body to sleep. Let them come, he thought. Nightmares killed no one.
Chapter Two
The air was warming up, the last threads of winter suddenly cut away to welcome summer. It seemed as though spring never stuck around for more than a day. It left behind a trail of wet that dissipated into the air and left it muggy and unbreathable.
Nora sat outside a small restaurant, her mother’s favorite, of course, and waited. She tucked her hands beneath her thighs to hide the tremble in them. There was too much time on her hands, time to wonder if she’d made the right choice. She could very well be damning everyone who’d grown to trust her.
She could also be half way to saving her mate.
There was no way to know until she’d gone through with it. Nora felt dirty, but there was no other option as far as she could see. No one would forgive her, but she told herself she didn’t care. The opinions of a handful of shifters meant little to her. Never mind that she’d grown up around Sydney, human until only recently.
The only shifter who mattered was Javier.
Cordelia strutted up the street, purse hanging from one arm and sunglasses swinging from the other hand. The smile pasted on her lips enraged Nora. Behind the pretty floral shirt was a black heart wrapped in the souls of others. Nora couldn’t help but wonder if she used those souls to create the perfect halo of ringlets around her head, too.
“Good to see you again, traitor.” Cordelia’s voice was surprisingly chipper despite the words she chose.
Nora rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. “How about we skip the name calling and order some brunch?”
“Sounds wonderful,” Cordelia purred.
There was something up the woman’s sleeve, but Nora couldn’t get past the frilly, floral ruffles to see what she might be hiding. Nora followed the portly shaped version of herself into the restaurant, her mother eschewing the wait here to be seated sign to claim a table by an open window. Nora offered an apologetic smile to the befuddled waitress and sat down across from her mother.
It wasn’t just the nice breeze through the window that her mother coveted. It was clear from the empty tables all around them that her mother was ready to talk business. They couldn’t have other humans overhearing their conversation, could they? Cordelia seemed to live by one tenet, protecting humanity from the monstrous shifters at all cost. That included keeping them firmly in the dark about the existence of such creatures.
Nora had to admit, it would make this conversation much easier. She opened her mouth to begin when the waitress arrived with a nervous smile and her note pad in hand.
Cordelia promptly ordered a mimosa and the vegetarian brunch plate, a laughable virtue from a woman like her. Nora shared no such values and ordered a black coffee with her eggs and chorizo plate.
“You really shouldn’t eat such greasy meats,” Cordelia warned her daughter. “You’ll expand all around the waist.”
Nora rolled her eyes again. “We aren’t here to discuss my weight or my eating habits, and you know it.”
Cordelia pursed her lips while straightening the fabric napkin on her lap. “Then what are we here for? To discuss how you’re willing to throw away family for a wolf dick?”
Nora choked on air. She coughed and hacked, trying to rid herself of the words her mother just spoke. Cordelia didn’t seem bothered by her daughter’s choking. If anything, she looked pleased with herself.
“Do you see how ridiculous you’re being yet? Why don’t you come home? Bring the wolf with you and everything will be alright again. We’ll be a whole family.”
Only when hell freezes over, Nora thought, would they be a family again. “Not going to happen. I came to barter a trade instead.”
Cordelia barked a laugh. Heads on the other side of the room turned in their direction. From the corner of her eye, Nora caught some of them point to her mother and whisper to their neighbors. Everyone in Fangway knew Cordelia was on trial for kidnapping. Detective Sydney Jackson
had found two of the shifters Cordelia caught, people from town whose disappearance had made quite a stir. While one was dead, another lived to tell the jury his part of the story.
Of course, words like shifter and soul-magic never entered the conversation, but words like kidnapping and torture did.
Nora ducked her head. “I want Javier’s soul.”
“What makes you think I’m going to hand it over to you? I’m sorry to break it to you, darling, but we don’t need you back that bad. It would have been nice. A mother-daughter relationship means a lot to me.”
“Just not as much as your pet monster,” Nora’s chest was on fire. She wanted to snatch one of the butter knives off the table and drive it through Cordelia’s flesh.
Cordelia’s grin split wide. The drinks appeared, one in a tall flute glass and the other in a squat mug. Nora threw down part of her black coffee if only for the rush of caffeine while her mother sipped her mimosa and watched with humor dancing in her eyes.
She was enjoying watching her daughter suffer, as if this were the payment. This was Nora’s punishment. Cordelia would watch Nora squirm and struggle, happily knowing her daughter was powerless.
Nora licked her lips. She had one thing to offer. “I’ll give you what you’ve always wanted.”
Cordelia froze. Slowly, she set the flute glass back onto the table and leaned forward. Nora watched her mother’s glee unfold and fall apart. It was replaced with a pensive look as she tented her fingers.
“I know you’ve always wanted real power,” Nora continued. “You’ve always been jealous that I was born with power when you had to cut your own from the bodies of others.”
Cordelia didn’t move, but Nora could see the mix of bitterness and greed in her mother’s eyes. She was winning, but at what cost? Did Nora truly want to part with the magic she’d been born with? No, she wasn’t sure, but if she could pull Cordelia into this trap, they would be free of her forever.
Outcast BoxSet Page 69