Outcast (Hunter: A Thieves Series Book 4)

by Lexi Blake

  “Your friends need to understand that we’re not out here for them.” Gray had moved closer to me and Trent. “We’re here to make sure there’s nothing out in those woods that might be a problem. You’ve heard about the killings in the towns between here and Colorado?”

  He frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  So they didn’t know everything. “How about the massive wolf pack that’s moved into the woods? I ran into them last night. There has to be more than seventy of them, led by the largest wolf I’ve ever seen.”

  The officers exchanged looks that told me they knew nothing and it worried them.

  Gray sighed. “You don’t know about the rabid wolf. They don’t tell you everything. Look, I’ll send you the case files as a courtesy. We’re here to make sure this wolf doesn’t hurt anyone else, including any runaways who are hiding in the forest. Do you understand? If the wolf’s moved on then we’ll move on, too, and look for him elsewhere, but we’re not leaving without some kind of closure. Wolves sometimes get sick and go wild and then all kinds of questions get asked. Questions none of us want to answer.”

  “Dude, if we don’t find that wolf and he continues to kill people, you’ll have news crews out here.” I was sick of the pussyfooting around. I don’t do diplomacy well, which is probably why the king had sent Gray and Trent with me, and that’s pretty sad since one was a demon and the other a wolf, and neither of those species are known for their deft social touch.

  The sheriff nodded at one of his deputies and the man moved back to the vehicles. That got Trent on high alert. His every muscle was tense, his eyes watching the man who moved to the SUV containing our extra player. I tensed, too, as the door opened and the man got out on the far side of the vehicle.

  Gray simply sighed. “Fine. What she said. Tell your friends we’re not here to cause them hell. If they’ve taken care of the problem, they need to show me proof and we’ll leave. Otherwise, we’re going to do exactly what we’ve come here to do—find the stray. They get in our way and we’ll have trouble, but our employer isn’t going to back down when the stakes are high.”

  The sheriff stared at him for a moment. “I have to wonder what kind of freak you are. I know the other two must be wolves, but you don’t look like one.”

  Gray didn’t back down. “You don’t want to know what I am, Sheriff. You only want to know not to tangle with me.”

  “We have this handled.” The sheriff gestured behind him. “We brought in our own hunter on another project. He can deal with this situation, too. Tell your employer that we’ll inform him when the stray is put down.”

  That brought my attention right back to the sheriff. “You know exactly what’s happening with the kid Jensen saw. They brought in a hunter to take down a kid? I’m not going to allow you to kill him. I will find him and I’ll take him home myself.”

  “Now, there, darlin’, I thought we were talking about a dangerous animal.” The sheriff shrugged, his nonchalance making me want to show him exactly who the real threat here was. “If we’re talking about a human child, then I fail to see why you’re here at all. And like I said, we have the problem well in hand. Mr. Smith, if you don’t mind explaining how you intend to take down that stray that’s apparently been causing all kinds of trouble, you might be able to clear this up.”

  “Oh, that one knows exactly how I work. Don’t you, Kelsey?”

  I turned slightly and my nightmare was complete. I hadn’t been mistaken about the man at the motel. I’d instinctively known something was wrong, and now I was face-to-face with him.

  My stepfather stood in front of me. He wore jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, a camouflage vest over olive-green clothes, and boots on his feet. His hunting wear. He was older than I remembered, his eyes lined and hair gray at the temples.

  My hands started shaking and I could feel my wolf in a way I hadn’t in over a year, not since before Marcus had started my training. She rattled against the cage. She wanted blood.

  My stepfather stood there, his cold eyes on me though he spoke to the sheriff. “And she ain’t a wolf. The bitch might be fucking one, but she’s not a werewolf. I never figured out exactly what she is.”

  Trent’s growl was back and Gray actually stepped in front of him.

  “If you don’t want to know exactly what I am, you’ll never use that word to describe her again,” Gray said in a calm voice. It was the voice he used right before his fangs and claws and horns came out. “Trent, stand down. I promise I will take care of this, but we have to make sure she’s safe first. Take care of her. Let me deal with them.”

  My hands were shaking. I was caught between fear and rage. Standing in front of this man took me right back to my childhood.

  Why does Dad hate me?

  My mother hustles me into the room I share with my brothers, begging me to stay there. I don’t understand why Nate and Jamie get to watch TV in the living room when I’m stuck in our bedroom. Mom says it’s because I need more rest, but when Dad is on his trips, I’m allowed to stay up late and go wherever I like. I’m not stupid.

  I hide behind the door to the kitchen, peeking out at the horror show in front of me. Dad slaps at Mom, the sound cracking through the house. He does it now because Jamie’s not home. It’s only me and Nate and we’re both scared. Mom tells me I’m never to interrupt them when they’re arguing. The one time I did the police came and Mom cried. But I feel something different this time. Something is rolling through my body and I step out. My father snarls my way but then he stops and I see his fear.

  My father is finally taking me out to hunt. Wolves are dangerous. They kill people. Dad is a hero for stopping them. Except these are just kids and I’m bleeding. They try to help me.

  They die in front of my eyes.

  The world becomes rage and when I wake, I no longer understand anything.

  “Kelsey?” Trent’s voice is insistent in my ear, his hands warm on my body. “Baby, stay calm. Stay here with me. I’m going to take care of you. Let’s go back to the car. Gray will join us in a minute.”

  “You see, it’s there in her eyes,” my stepfather was saying. “She’s dangerous. I don’t know who my wife fucked, but that ain’t mine. I got two boys though. They were good boys before my wife turned ’em. Good hunters.”

  “I think Nathan would disagree.” Gray still sounded cool and professional. It was surprising to me because Gray usually went insane when he thought someone was threatening me. “I know Jamie does. I work with your son.”

  “Yeah, he went traitor,” my stepfather replied. “I heard that he was working with some half-demon. Guess that must be you.” He nodded toward the sheriff. “Halflings ain’t so hard to deal with. I’ve taken care of many a halfling. No one gives a shit about them. I don’t think we have anything to worry about here. I can handle that wolf. He was big, but dumb. Ran the minute I took a shot at him. Hell, the other one’s giving me more trouble. Can’t find the little fucker. Don’t worry that these things here are going to screw anything up. They sent a halfling demon who ain’t smart enough to know which side he oughta be on and a freak named Kelsey Atwood. Look up her record. She’s nothing.”

  “Owens.” I forced the word out of my mouth. “My name is Owens. Kelsey Owens. Try looking that name up, asshole.”

  I turned, stepping away from Trent’s hands because in that moment I didn’t want to calm down. Oh, I knew I had to get out of the situation or I would do something that would jeopardize us all, but I couldn’t accept comfort in that moment. If Trent got me alone, he would put his hands on me, trying to soothe me with soft caresses. My she-wolf wanted something else. Violence. She wanted to rip and tear, and I had to find a way to calm her down or she would do something bad.

  This was what I’d needed Marcus for. Since we’d split, I hadn’t had a single episode. I hadn’t felt this horrible rage like bile in my throat. It threatened to spill over and I would lose control.

  “What the fuck is wrong with her arm?” one of th
e deputies asked, his tone horrified.

  That was when I realized the situation had gotten far more desperate. I turned around and had three guns pointed my way. The sheriff and his two deputies were all in firing stance, their pistols drawn.

  Trent moved in front of me, his claws out.

  Gray had pulled his own gun. “Get her in the car. We’re leaving and there’s going to be serious trouble if you try to stop us.”

  Only my stepfather seemed calm. “You turned real freaky there, girl. Never thought your mother would have fucked around with a demon. Looks like she was more of a whore than I thought.”

  I glanced down and my arm had turned. It’s a thing Hunters can do. I can’t fully transform into a wolf, but I can change my arm. Most of us can only do a hand, and even then it’s basically a case of sprouting some helpful nasty sharp claws. Naturally, even among the freaks, I’m a super freak. Back when I’d just returned to Texas after my first training period, I came up against a dude who could freeze body parts. He froze my right arm. I’d almost lost the sucker. A creepy doctor had a way to save it that consisted of injecting me with demon blood strengthened by the king’s own. I’d never changed my arm before, but after that day I could, except I didn’t get a wolf claw. I sported full-on shiny red demon skin when things got rough. I had it now, my emotional state bringing it out in defensive mode.

  The fact that I had guns pointed my way did nothing to help the situation.

  The rage was a drug pouring through my system. It was like adrenaline, except this drug whispered to me. It told me how good I would feel when I held their hearts in my hand. When I ripped and tore them apart, they would know who the fucking alpha bitch was. I could bathe in their blood and it would warm me.

  My wolf can be a little on the violent side.

  I heard a low growl. It was coming from my own throat.

  “Keep going, girl.”

  My stepfather was the only one I could hear now. In the back of my head I realized the others were talking, yelling really, but all I could see or hear was him. My world narrowed to his throat, to that place where I would sink my claw. I could see his jugular, knew instinctively the best place to swipe.

  “You come after me and I’ll finish what I started in the woods that night. I should have put you down then. When I’m done with you, I think I’ll visit my faithless wife again. It might be time to put that bitch down, too.”

  Gray yelled something and Trent was trying to hold me back. His hand gripped my arm, but I tossed him to the side.

  “Do it. Do it now,” Gray yelled.

  I would do it. I would kill them all and our problems would be solved. I wished my men would help me. We could revel in the kill together. We could tear them all apart. They’d questioned me, threatened me. I would show them.

  I could practically feel my claw sinking in as I took a step toward my stepfather. I would stop him. He wouldn’t kill another creature again.

  Then I felt something dig into my shoulder, something sharp and biting.

  The world immediately went hazy.

  “That’s the way to take down a fucking freak,” my stepfather said with a laugh.

  “Shut up or I’ll do what she was about to.” Gray’s words sounded far away. “Trent, take her to the car. We need to get her out of here.”

  Nausea rolled in my gut as my vision started to fade. My wolf was clawing at my insides, but she’d been caged. And by my own lovers.

  Trent’s face came into view, his brow furrowed as he stared down at me. “Baby, I’m sorry.”

  He lifted me into his arms and I felt myself being carried away.

  He’d done this to me. My lover. My wolf, the man I thought could be my mate and father to my daughter. He’d done this, and Gray had ordered him to do it. Well, I’d always known Trent followed orders.

  “Fuck you,” I managed to bite out right before the world went dark.

  Chapter Ten

  “We didn’t have another choice, Marcus,” someone was saying. “I’ve never seen her like that.”

  The words came from far away, like I was hearing them from another room and maybe the door was closed.

  My head throbbed and for a moment I thought I would throw up.

  “Hey, you okay?” a familiar voice asked. Something cool was placed on my forehead.

  “Shhh,” another familiar voice said, though this one was female. The first had been male. “If they know she’s awake, how will we listen in on them? I want to know why they brought her back drugged out of her mind.”

  I breathed in, trying to figure out where the hell I was. Someone stroked my left arm, warmth coming over me in waves. Whoever was sitting on my left side was a calming presence. I could feel my heart rate lowering, my breath easing.

  Why had I been so upset? I didn’t have to be. I could be calm. There was nothing at all wrong.

  My eyes wouldn’t open, but that was okay, too. I needed rest. I needed to relax. It didn’t matter where I was or what had happened to me. Everything was fine.

  “Do you have to rub her arm? I don’t know that she would like that.” Liv. Liv was here.

  “It’s what Marcus told me to do.” That voice was Casey’s. “He was very explicit about how to take care of her. He was also explicit about what he would do to me if I fucked it up. I like the particular part he’s planning on ripping off my body, so if you would let me concentrate, I would appreciate it.”

  My body felt so heavy, like all I wanted to do was sleep. I wasn’t precisely awake. The words were coming to me like a dream.

  “Yeah, I bet you’re using that part on the new companion.” Or it could be a nightmare where my bestie made an idiot of herself and I couldn’t do anything about it. “When are you having the ceremony? Is it a formal thing?”

  “You don’t understand.” Gray sounded closer now. “She lost it. I wasn’t in a place where I could try to help her. No, Trent couldn’t either. Casey’s with her now.”

  Boots thudded across the floor.

  “Are you talking about Meredith?” Casey’s words were whispered.

  The voice in my head went silent and I started to rouse. I wasn’t sure what had happened. We were in Wyoming. I remembered that much.

  Something had happened. Something terrible. Something I’d dreaded for years.

  “We’re just friends, Liv,” Casey whispered back. “Which is more than I can say for you and that vamp. Don’t act like the offended party here. You’re the one who said no to me.”

  “And I was right to…” Liv stopped suddenly.

  “How’s our patient?” a new voice said. “You know, Casey, she won’t be awake for another hour or so. I dosed the dart myself. Those were serious sedatives.”

  The voice was back in my head again. It was okay. I should rest because there was nothing for me to worry about.

  I waited for them to explain to the newcomer that I was conscious. They knew it. Casey could feel it.

  “Marcus told me to chill her out and that’s what I’m going to do,” Casey vowed. “When she wakes up, she needs to be calm and know she’s surrounded by people who have her back. I’m the only academic here. This is part of why I’m on the team. Especially out here since it’s not like there’s a bunch of computers for me to hack.”

  He hadn’t given me up and he wasn’t going to. Not even to his new “friend.” Casey was letting me know he was on my team.

  Darkness was calling me again. If I gave in, I could have blissful dreams. My men wouldn’t fight in my dreams. There would be no mutant wolves to kill and no little boys to worry about. No one would come after me there.

  “Did you tell Marcus about Atwood?” Trent wasn’t close to me, but I could hear him.

  That calm state I was in started to quiver and shake.

  “Do you do everything Marcus tells you to?” Meredith asked Casey. “You know just because you’re an academic doesn’t mean you have to do everything they say.”

  “Yeah, you don’t understand v
ampire world, honey,” Casey replied.

  “She needs him right now,” Liv shot back. “Kelsey is different. When she gets in this state, she needs help. After what happened this afternoon, I’m not surprised at all that she lost her shit. I kind of wish Gray and Trent had let her take care of that particular problem. I can’t believe that son of a bitch is here.”

  Yeah, the walls were shaking now because I was starting to remember. We’d met with Jensen and found out about the boy wolf. We’d been stopped at the edge of the ranch.

  “I’ll leave this here with you then since you seem to know more about medicine than I do,” Meredith said, sounding irritated for the first time. “You know I do have a degree and everything, right? I’m literally here to take care of the medical needs of this team.”

  “I’m just saying I know my best friend better than you do.” Liv sounded past irritated.

  “Excellent. Then I suppose you’ll call me if you need me. And I lived with a vampire for years, Casey. Believe me, I know the vampire world and I know what happens when you don’t obey,” Meredith said. There was the thunk of something hitting the bedside table. I assumed it was a bedside table. “When she wakes up, give this to her. She’s going to be nauseous.”

  “Your Highness, Trent believes Atwood is here to take care of the boy Jensen saw in his house. He thinks Lupus Solum decided there was something wrong with him and they often bring in hunters to do what they consider distasteful work,” Gray said in the background. “I know. I have to figure out what’s going on. Of course, I’m not going to allow that.”

  The voice was back in my head, stronger now, as though Casey was concentrating again. It was Casey’s voice in my head, though it tried to hide as my own thoughts. When Marcus would do this, he would press his will into me and I would hear his deep tones as he convinced me everything was all right. He would speak directly to my wolf, stroking her with every word, letting her know she was safe.