The Aberrants Box Set (Books 1-5)

by Sarah J. Stone

  “And what’s that?”

  “Gathering allies.”

  “Allies?” That was from another Hunter that she rarely heard speak. “Like what, hordes of Wendigo or more cayote gangs?”

  She shook her head. “No. Those were pawns. He needs mindful allies who want the Shifter infrastructure to crumble just as much as he does. There isn’t a quick enough way to recruit all the Aberrants in hiding, so he’s after something else.”

  “Such as?”

  “What’s the only group with enough numbers to matter and would want to dismantle the current structure?”

  They all gave her blank looks and it reminded her of the last time she’d had to go through this whole guessing game. How did they make it without her? Or maybe her understanding of Creed really was uncanny.

  “Prisoners,” she blurted finally. “Criminals! My mother told me there’s a prison somewhere that you keep the worst of the worst. Those that are too dangerous to be handled by human prisons. If I had money, I would bet it all on that he’s going there now to spring them all.”

  “Would he really do that? There’s some seriously sick people in there. People who don’t exactly respond to authority.”

  “They will to him. After all, he would promise the anarchy they want to ply their trades. And on the off chance that any of them do challenge him, he’ll murder them for standing in his way. The should cow anyone else who might think they can go toe to toe with them.”

  “Shit!” Bradley hissed. “Then we need to get going.”

  “You know where the prison is from here?” Jaelle asked. “And you’re confirming that what my mom told me was true?”

  “Well, somewhat. It’s not like there’s this massive, underground facility.”

  Now, it was her turn to be the perplexed one. “Then what is there?”

  “Two prisons that were abandoned by the federal government. Happened a couple of generations ago and a few on the men side did what they needed to secure them for our kind and erased them from the records. So, we have one to the east toward Upstate New York and the other in Southern California.”

  “Which one are we closest to?”

  “The California one. But it’s at least a couple days of driving straight through with only gas breaks, and I don’t think we want to arrive at what could be a battleground with half of our number running on twenty-four hours without sleep.”

  “Then we’ll just have to be careful how we time it,” Dannon said.

  “What’s the word on the storm?” Micah asked, crossing to the window. “It still looks pretty bad from this vantage point.”

  Bradley fiddled with his smartphone for a moment. It actually seemed to be a bit of a useful skill. She should actually learn how to use one once this was all over. “Looks like we’ve got an hour or two before it’s going to ease up enough for us to risk it. In the meantime, everyone prepare themselves. We’ll load up the cars then. I suggest you get what sleep you can. This is going to be a hard ride.”

  “We don’t need to know about what you two are getting up to,” Javi said, standing up and stretching.

  “Careful,” Bradley growled, but Jaelle just waved the younger man off.

  “Don’t be jealous just because no one loves you.”

  “Ouch!” he said, holding his hand to his chest dramatically. “My heart!”

  She tossed her curls over her shoulder—which were getting a bit long for her tastes—and returned back to their room. Of course, by the time her and Bradley ended up inside, they were soaked all the way through. That led to undressing and drying with a towel, which in turn led to more kissing and the next thing Jaelle knew, they were indeed spending their last couple of hours alone having a very hard ride, indeed.

  *

  Jaelle flicked across the screen of Javi’s tablet for the sixth time, absorbing everything she could learn about the prison. She was hoping that Creed was behind them, but somehow, she knew that wasn’t possible. So, then her next hope was that they arrive before he fully infiltrated the prison. If he was even going for infiltration that is. Who knew, he was insane enough to charge it directly.

  She shuddered at the thought of the absolute massacre that would happen then. She could practically smell the blood and bloated corpses, making her stomach clench.

  “You okay?” Dannon asked from the back. “Your ketones aren’t happy right now.”

  “Just thinking of possibilities,” she answered. “Wondering if we should just give him the prison and focus on getting those records from the hospital before they can be destroyed.”

  “I don’t think so,” the blind man answered honestly. “He doesn’t seem like the type you want to give a stronghold. With an army of freed convicts on his side, he can do a whole lot of irreparable damage that will assure Aberrants are never accepted no matter which way this battle goes.”

  “True.” She sighed. “You have a point. I just… I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

  “I don’t blame you,” he said. “You two seem to… share a certain kind of thought pattern.”

  “Yeah, I’m beginning to notice that, actually.”

  “Do you think it’s an Aberrant thing, or more of a shared history thing?”

  Jaelle shrugged, glancing at Bradley to see that he was absorbed in his driving once again. Or who knew, maybe he was listening. She couldn’t tell, but he didn’t seem to miss anything that ever happened in his vehicle. “I’m not quite sure.”

  “Do you think you guys are linked, like mentally or telepathically or some shit?”

  She snorted at that. “Telepathy doesn’t exist.”

  The man raised his eyebrow. “You realize you’re saying that when we literally talk in our heads to other Shifters when we’re in animal form?”

  “That’s different.”

  “Is it?”

  “Yeah,” she said, crossing her arms. “I think. I mean… probably.”

  “Uh-huh. Just saying, I don’t think you should be so certain about anything in these times.”

  “Well, I’m pretty certain that Creed doesn’t have a telepathic link to my mind.”

  “True. We’d probably all be dead if he did.” He sat back. “Or he’d be shitting his pants. I half-wish he had been there to see you actually turn into that Wendigo. I know I did.”

  “I think that might be bordering on TMI.”

  He shrugged. “Eh, I’m sure you’ve seen worse in your life.”

  “You’re not wrong.”

  The conversation eased her nerves a bit, and she slipped into her thoughts as the hours passed. Eventually, night fell and the weather cleared, then it was her turn to drive.

  She was getting better at it. Not that she was ever bad, but there was a difference between driving vehicles around the lot to make sure her repairs were effective and highway cruising for hours and hours. There was a certain mix of concentration and relaxation that one had to pull off not to go made but still be safe.

  Of course, Dannon would love to drive again, he still brought up that one time with David, but on a straight blitz to the coast wasn’t exactly the most opportune time for him to practice.

  When morning came, her shift was finally over. They pulled into a gas station to fill up the tank, grab some snacks and then she slipped into the back while Bradley took over again.

  Her sleep was restless, but not the worst that she had ever experienced. It was enough to have her feeling somewhat lucid by the time noon rolled around and she sat up, looking to Bradley.

  He looked so striking with the way the sun was coming through the window, bathing across his features in a borderline magical way. What had she done to deserve someone so handsome? So kind? So brave?

  And he listened. There was never a moment where she told him how she felt and he ignored it. In fact, he had upended his entire life for her. She had never thought that something like what she had now would be possible.

  Was it wrong to move on so fast after David? It had only been a mont
h… maybe two? Did it cheapen her love for him, or just show how desperately dependent she had become on someone else’s affection? She didn’t know. And it wasn’t like there was a manual hidden somewhere that she could use to figure it out.

  It was borderline impossible to believe when she thought back to her mindset at the beginning of all this. David had been nothing but a toy. She had been nothing but a monster and the Hunters… well, they had been nothing but Hunters. What a terrible, lonely life she had led. No wonder she had fallen into the hands of… oh, goodness! What was his name? The Shifter in the lovely cabin that had sold her out after sex that she thought was pretty great at the time, but proved to be comparatively mediocre after reuniting with David and finally breaking the sexual tension between her and Bradley.

  Perhaps if Creed had made his moves on her then, it would be a different story. Would she have fallen for him? She liked to think not, but it was hard to say. Braywire Jaelle was oh-so very different. Maybe she would have been wooed by the idea of revenge, or having someone who understood what she was going through in the most intimate of ways. Regardless, she supposed she was lucky in a bizarre way. She seemed to have come out on the best side of it, despite everything.

  “How much longer until we’re there?” Dannon asked from the front.

  She almost told him to check the GPS, but caught herself just in time. She was getting better at that. “Looks like just four more hours or so. The weather and all the toll lines really slowed us down.”

  “Not to mention all the piss breaks.”

  “What are you talking about?” Jaelle countered. “We stop like, once every eight hours.”

  “Yeah. That’s a lot. Normally we’ll just pee in a bottle and throw them out the window.”

  Her face paled. “You have got to be kidding me.” She looked to Bradley for confirmation. “He’s kidding me, right?”

  “I’m concentrating on the road right now,” he said noncommittedly, but she caught the ever so imperceptible upturn to the corner of his lip.

  “Ew!” Jaelle cried before melting into a strange sort of laugh. “That’s disgusting!”

  But Dannon just shrugged. “You do what you gotta do. I suppose we’re just lucky you haven’t had your period yet. I know that tends to cause even more stops.” Jaelle flushed at that and didn’t say anything. Of course, Dannon, the eternal bloodhound, had to take a sniff at the air. “Did I say something wrong? I wasn’t trying to be demeaning. It’s just, I had sisters so I know how inconvenient it can be.”

  “Oh, no, it’s just um…” She wasn’t quite sure how to put it. “I’ve gotten rid of that issue for now.”

  “The hell you mean?” he asked, whipping around in his seat to stare at her, despite the fact that he wasn’t capable of vision. “You’re not pregnant, are you?”

  For what it was worth, Bradley managed to keep driving without much of a reaction beyond his knuckles turning white.

  “No!” she objected. “The opposite.”

  “I’m not catching your drift.”

  “Well, being an Aberrant does give me some sort of control over my body. I took birth control for a very short while when I was younger and able to snatch some free ones from a clinic. After a while, I learned how my body felt on them and I was able to kind of, I dunno if shift is the right word, but I basically permanently shifted into a body that maintained that chemistry. I don’t get a period unless I want to.”

  “Can you return to your old chemistry then?” She was relieved that he just sounded intrigued rather than shocked or appalled. It was amazing how offended some people got over other people’s reproductive choices.

  “I dunno. I never really thought about it actually. I assumed that, as an Aberrant, I should never, ever reproduce.”

  That hung in the air a moment, the weight of all the reasons why she might think that hovering over their heads. She could tell that Dannon was tempted to say something, but debating whether it was appropriate or not. Instead of assuaging his guilt, she just waited for him to spit it out.

  “Has that changed at all?” he asked after a full three minutes of his jaw tensing and untensing.

  She shrugged. “No, not really. Doesn’t mean it won’t in the future, especially if Aberrancy is no longer a death sentence. But now would definitely not be an ideal time.”

  “Yeah, I understand that.”

  “I’ve always wanted kids,” Bradley muttered so quietly that she almost didn’t hear him. “Not a ton, but a couple. I’ve always been a sucker for them.”

  She didn’t know what to say to that, so she just sat quietly. Now that she thought about it, she really didn’t know that much about Bradley. She knew he was a Hunter and a good man, but that was it. Hell, she didn’t even know if he had a middle name. If they made it out of this, she was going to have to have a serious one-on-one with him.

  If being the key word, of course.

  Chapter Six: Breaking and Entering

  They pulled up to the edge of a hill and Bradley killed the engine before throwing the emergency brake on. Jaelle’s heart was in her throat, but she was still trying to play it cool despite the fact that everyone in the party could smell each other’s stress.

  There was that Shifter downside again; no privacy.

  But that quickly faded to the back of her head as they all exited their vehicle and walked to the crest of the hill.

  Below them was beautiful but dangerous desert land, stretching as far out as one could see. And there, in the distance, she saw black smoke rising from an otherwise barren plane.

  “Please tell me that’s a random wildfire,” Javi begged and Micah hunted around for binoculars.

  “If it is,” Bradley growled, “it’s a wildfire in the exact location of the prison we’re trying to get into.”

  “Shit!” Jaelle cursed. “Then he’s already won.”

  “We don’t know that for sure. Creed could just be attacking the perimeter. Or even have his initial efforts rebuffed. We won’t know until we get inside.”

  “And how are we going to get inside?” she shot back. “I don’t think they’re the type to roll out the welcome mat.”

  “Actually, they are.”

  “Yeah,” Micah added dutifully. “Hunters have permission to enter these kinds of areas. If we roll up to the door and they let us in, we can assume things are all right. If we roll up to the doors and they try to shoot us, Creed’s probably taken over.”

  “Really? That’s the gamble we’re taking?”

  “You got a better idea?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she said, “for all you know, the other Hunters have turned you in long enough ago that all your names are on file now. We could sauntered right up there just to end up arrested and ignored.”

  “So, what would you have us do?”

  “Simple. Let me go in, do some snooping then I’ll make it back to you. I’m the only one here capable of doing it.”

  Bradley’s face reddened and his brows knitted. Oh, boy he did not like her plan. “Absolutely not. It’s too risky.”

  “And driving up to the entrance to see if we get turned into swiss cheese or not isn’t?” Her hands went to her hips, daring him to tell her she was wrong. “My ability to heal is good, but not that good.”

  “I hate to say it,” Dannon said with a sigh. “But she has a point. We’re not exactly the most inconspicuous group of people.”

  “What do you mean?” Bradley snapped, clearly getting defensive. Jaelle wasn’t offended by it. She knew he was just trying to protect her, but what he wanted just wasn’t logical considering the situation.

  “Well, you’ve got a blind man with red locs, possibly the skinniest white boy Hunter to ever exist—”

  “I’m just naturally thin,” Micah protested before Dannon’s cloudy glare quieted him.

  “You’ve got the Latino playboy with the baby face, and last but not least, lil’ ol me. The oldest Aberrant in known history who just so happened to escape her own execution th
rough extenuating circumstances. And sure, we’re back on track to hunting down Creed instead of going to hospital like we originally planned, but they don’t know that. And even if they did, it wouldn’t excuse us from abandoning our mission in the first place. However, you look at it, our girl has a point.”

  Their leader stood there a moment, fuming before all the heat left his face and he sagged against his car. “You’re all right,” he said finally. “I just hate it.”

  “I know you do,” she said with a small smile. “But that’s just how being an Aberrant is sometimes. You have to do all the terrible, dangerous stuff that no one else will do.”

  “Fine.” He pulled her into a hug and practically crushed her to him, but she didn’t mind. It was the first time he had ever touched her like this in front of her men without some sort of tragedy to prompt the action and it made her heart skip a beat. “But I am firmly not happy about it.”

  “That’s okay. Neither am I.” She patted his arms before pulling away. A feeling, thick and choking, rose up in her chest and throat. There was no denying that she felt an incredibly connection to Bradley, and that she was sexually attracted to him, and that she enjoyed the sex that they had. But none of that meant she loved him. That was a different matter entirely.

  But in that moment, looking into his eyes as he was full of so much concern, it was easy to believe that what she felt for him was beyond companionship and comradery.

  “I’ll be back in a few hours. If I’ve not returned before nightfall, then something terrible has happened and you guys should probably find a way to save yourselves.”

  “That’s far from assuring.” But she was already stepping away from him and concentrating on her form condensing and stretching. “What else would you do? Break into one of two Shifter prisons in the entire world?”

  He looked like he had an answer, but she finished sliding into her new animal body and took off.

  She was a snake, specifically a Coachwhip, which was a fairly common desert snake in Cali that she remembered learning about at the zoo’s herpetology building. It was a quick mover and not dangerous to humans at all, meaning she could probably get pretty close to the base without anyone trying to kill her for their safety.