by Emma Dean
Using his hold she brought up both legs and kicked Ash again right in the chest as he came towards her. He stumbled backward and then she brought all her weight down hard, throwing Finnick over her shoulder.
Kenzie was about to run but Hunter was suddenly there, gripping her throat hard enough to keep her in place. It promised pain if she moved, but as she stilled it felt more like a caress.
Something about the way he looked at her was frightening, but Kenzie wasn’t sure what it was.
His eyes were so dark. He was so deadly serious, but at the same time – nothing was serious to him. Not if the potion meant nothing, not if he’d risked Samuel finding out about the theft just by coming to the barbecue.
“I still have a question for you, mate,” Hunter said softly – like they had all the time in the world.
Kenzie swallowed. Her pulse racing as she stared into those golden eyes. She saw the end of everything she loved there, but she also saw something strange – hope in a desolate place.
“Why do you want the potion?” Hunter asked.
He was as strong as the rumors said. It took only one hand to hold her in place while the other reached in his pocket, and she knew he could snap her neck without even really trying. Out came a bottle identical to the one she’d just taken. Glancing down she saw the liquid in her bottle was pink, not the iridescent purple she needed.
Snarling at him, his grip tightened and she choked. “I like when you do that,” Hunter said. “But do it again and I’ll hurt you. I just need to know the answer to the question.”
Kenzie tapped his hand. He eased up just enough so she could speak. “Go to hell.”
Finnick snickered. “Oh we’re meant to be. I love her so much already.”
Ash just smiled. “We’ve already been to hell. It’s nicer than you’d think.”
Hunter didn’t look angry at her outburst; he just studied her, stroking her neck with his thumb again. “It’s important I know why you want the potion,” he whispered to her, leaning forward just a little. “I need to know who you are.”
“And my scent wasn’t enough?”
Hunter let go of her and it threw her completely off balance mentally, emotionally, and physically. Kenzie stumbled and barely kept herself from falling when the hem of her dress got caught underneath her sneaker.
“It’s never enough, although you smell exactly like I thought you would.” Hunter flashed a grin at her, but then it was gone without a trace and Kenzie wondered if she’d imagined it. “Cinnamon and fire and blood and…burnt sugar.”
Kenzie glanced back toward the Alpha’s mansion when the sounds suddenly filtered in and she felt disoriented. How did these three send her so off kilter so quickly? And she was their…mate. That’s what she got for being jealous of shifters.
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
“Why do you want the potion?” Hunter asked again, slipping his hands back into his pockets. Somehow he managed to sound like he was asking her for the first time – like the answer didn’t matter to him.
Kenzie considered the cost of her reply. Could she play their game? How could she answer without answering? If she told him the whole truth then he could sell that information to the highest bidder. A matriarch without a lick of power?
It was more dangerous than going to the Council for justice. Selene had refused. This was witch business. The Council didn’t need to be involved.
She glanced back again, imagining she could see her sister among the crowds of shifters, chatting with the coven and probably wondering what had happened to her. Kenzie tossed the wrong potion back to Hunter, not bothering to wonder what it was.
Then she slowly and deliberately put each earring back on until her ear glittered once more. Having them back settled her and she contemplated her answer. It was strange the stillness with which they waited – all three of them were predators despite the stigma against the smaller shifters, and she didn’t want to test their vicious ferocity.
“It’s not for me,” she told him. “Despite my situation.”
“Then who is it for?” Ash asked.
“I can’t tell you.”
“Baby sister I bet,” Finnick said slyly, glancing at Hunter. “She smells off. There’s no tang of power.”
“You stay the fuck away from her,” Kenzie hissed, pointing her finger right at Finnick, she even took a step forward.
Everything in her said to silence him before he could spread the information. But if he could smell it…her anger faltered. “Can they all tell?” she asked, her voice sounding more vulnerable than she wanted.
Something in the three of them softened at the sound of it too.
“I doubt it, the necklace was a good cover,” Ash reassured her.
“Her tits are also distracting,” Finnick said without a hint of a smile or a joke – only truth. “That works too.”
“Foxes aren’t like feline or wolf shifters,” Hunter said, still studying her like he just wanted to understand. “Some of our abilities aren’t shared. We can smell things that aren’t…corporeal. Taste the air and know what is there – what has been left by others.”
“For example,” he said, taking a step closer and trailing a finger just above her biggest scar. “I can taste the pain and emotion that was stitched into your skin with this scar. If I want to look hard enough, I can see the memory.”
Kenzie shuddered. “They’re not pleasant.”
“They rarely are,” Hunter admitted.
Ash was close enough his arm brushed hers. “But you survived.”
“Are these scars fucking runes?” Finnick asked. “This is the worst coolest thing ever.”
For some reason that made her smile even though she didn’t want to. “Yeah, pretty much. Now give me the damn potion. I took off my charms.”
Hunter grinned and a sick feeling twisted in her stomach. “I never promised to give it to you; I just said I might if you let us scent you.”
Fuck.
Totally her fault for not locking that down. Kenzie was pissed at herself. She should know better. Crossing her arms over her chest in irritation she glared at all three of them.
“So, what do you want for it?”
Chapter Six
Ash
The witch was his mate.
Ash watched her glance between the three of them, but she knew the real threat and kept her eyes on Hunter.
Finnick was already completely infatuated with her.
Ash…he wasn’t sure how he felt.
She was fucking gorgeous though and the reason she wanted the potion so badly tugged at a place deep inside, a place he’d buried long ago when Hunter had found him bleeding out in the mud during a massive rainstorm.
Without Hunter he wouldn’t be here and now he was in a mate triad with him. Ash wasn’t sure how he felt about that either.
Kenzie looked at him again and he burned inside. The feel of her against him hadn’t left his thoughts since he’d first taken that potion from her. He wanted her, desperately. And he didn’t even really know why.
Was she a mirror of him, or something else?
His eyes fell to the scars on her body – the runes someone had carved into her skin. Her great-grandmother per the full night of research he’d done on the Kavanagh clan once they’d figured out who she was.
Ash glanced at Finnick. He wondered if anyone would refuse the bond. Finnick probably wouldn’t, but Hunter might.
What would happen then? Fox triads weren’t common. He didn’t think it would be like with the cats. Maybe each of them could make their own choice. Ash studied Hunter.
The man was obsessed, but he couldn’t figure out exactly what about. With Kenzie, but what was it about her that he was obsessed with? Hunter never fixated on one person like this; he never risked his livelihood for someone he didn’t know.
And they were all ready to hand the potion over to her if she’d take their offer. Talking about it they’d come to this decision toget
her and Ash had never liked Brad anyway, no matter how powerful he was. At the time money was money, but this…this was his mate.
She had smelled like burnt sugar – a bit like caramel. How was that even possible?
“So, what do you want for the potion?” Kenzie pressed when no one answered her the first time.
“We want you to do a job with us,” Hunter said. “No questions asked. You complete the job and you can have the potion, but not until we’ve received our payment. It would be a fair exchange considering the money we’d lose if we don’t turn this in.”
Her eyes narrowed and the bright blue flashed dangerously. She had fire and spunk and strength. But Ash just wanted to hold her so she could have a moment to rest after a lifetime of pain and sorrow.
Baring his teeth at her he started to pace. Ash didn’t like these feelings. He didn’t like feeling at all. Feelings were weakness and they made everything messy. Would he deny the mate bond?
What did he even want?
Ash didn’t know. And that was the problem. It was difficult to make a stand when he wasn’t even sure where the ground was.
“A job? That’s it?” Kenzie asked, eyeing the way Ash paced like he might pounce on her again.
And fuck, he wanted to. He wanted to shove her to the ground and take everything she would give him, ripping her nails down his back until he bled and scarred, marked by her forever. He laughed, feeling like a crazy person with these thoughts rattling around in his head.
“A job,” Hunter said with a nod. “We will work together making the plan. Your skills are impressive. Having someone like you on the team would be invaluable.”
And he was right. Kenzie wasn’t just a sexy woman who could tear her way through the darknets like she’d made them herself. She was agile and strong and could hit him hard enough he could feel the bruise before it healed – without super human strength either.
Ash liked that his mate could take care of herself – that she would be an equal.
Fuck – she was just a woman and he wasn’t even sure he wanted her to be his mate.
“There is a job we were offered,” Ash told her. “By none other than your grandmother Edith. She wants us to take this Brad down, to gather what information we can to ruin him. You are in a unique position to help us.”
Kenzie turned to face him, and he liked how she gave him all of her attention, turning her back on Hunter which was both brave and stupid. Considering how her hands shook she knew it too. She glared at him and Ash stopped pacing, barely an inch from her.
He wanted to smell her again, but she wouldn’t remove that charm after the first time.
Breathing deep anyway, he took in the scent of her metal and ozone, imagining the burnt sugar and spice he knew was there even if he couldn’t smell it. But he could still detect the agony in her scars and it made his hands clench into fists as he gritted his teeth.
The old witch deserved to be brought back to life for what she’d done just so he could tear her to pieces with nothing more than his teeth.
“Brad hates me,” Kenzie told him. “I doubt I’ll be very helpful, but I’d love to destroy him for what he did to my sister. Can’t we just kill him?”
Ash laughed. He knew exactly why Hunter was obsessed now. Somehow she complemented all three of them. Hunter had picked up on it in that way of his – terrifyingly perceptive. Not only was she viciously fun and straight to the point – Kenzie had the soul of a fox. She had the capability of playing with them, and once she figured that out…
The gods help him – Ash knew when that happened he’d never want to let her go.
“We can’t kill him per the contract,” Ash said, smiling wide. He reached out, wanting to touch her, but then dropped his hand. He wanted her permission more. It was worth nothing if he had to take it. “We have to take him down politically, financially, and without a trace.”
Kenzie smiled at him and something flickered in his heart at the sight. What did he want? He better figure it out fast before she took his choice from him, stealing his heart right from underneath him.
“This sounds like fun. When do we get started?”
Ash backed away and looked at Finnick. He and Hunter had done their part. Now it was Finnick’s. This was the way the three of them worked, dividing and conquering. He walked over to Hunter and kept his eyes on the tree line instead of Kenzie.
He slid his eyes sideways and studied his best friend and leader. Hunter had saved his life ten years ago and they’d been inseparable since. Hunter was quieter, but Ash could read him almost as well as Finnick thanks to the years of working together.
Was he going to accept the mate bond with Kenzie?
Studying him, Ash could see as plain as day that Hunter didn’t know what he wanted either. Kenzie was supposedly made for them, but she would change their entire lives. Or would she? Ash narrowed his eyes at Hunter and finally he turned and smiled at him.
This deal with her had nothing to do with her set of skills. Hunter had set it up as a test to see if she would fit into their life – if they could find a place for her, learn about her, and let her learn about them with no promises from anyone.
Ash grinned. Even he was occasionally surprised by Hunter’s ability to play these games. Pain always honed these kinds of skills and foxes knew pain better than most.
“So, do you like pineapple and Canadian bacon pizza?” Finnick asked. “It’s like my main food group on a job, and if you can’t handle pineapple on pizza maybe the universe was wrong about this whole mate thing.”
Even with his back turned Ash could hear the laughter in her voice as she spoke. “I’m still not your mate, but pineapple on pizza is meant to be. I think we’ll be fine. So, what’s the plan?”
“Come to this address tomorrow night and bark three times, and then all your dreams will come true.”
Ash had to cover his mouth so he didn’t laugh. He wanted to hear her bark just as badly as Finnick did. Would it sound like a fox? For some reason he thought it would.
Hunter had the ghost of a smile on his lips. “Thank you for meeting with us, Kenzie. Your secrets are safe with us.”
“Safer than a Catholic virgin,” Finnick promised. “Actually, would it be safer to say a virgin nun? Catholics don’t always make it to marriage. Especially if I have anything to say about it.”
“Finnick!” Ash yelled, desperately trying not to laugh, so he turned and glared at his other best friend. “Let’s fucking go already and stop flirting.”
Finnick sauntered over and they walked through the forest to where they’d hidden their Jeep.
“That’s considered flirting?” Kenzie muttered before turning around. “Fates help me.”
He couldn’t hold it in anymore. Ash laughed his ass off as they got into the Jeep. At least she had a sense of humor. The next few months would definitely not be boring.
Chapter Seven
Kenzie
The rest of the barbecue had gone smoothly despite everything. Kenzie half expected Samuel to ask where she went, or Brad to butt into their lives again, but Brad hadn’t gone to the party. So, there was that small bit of peace.
No one spoke the entire way home. Kenzie didn’t care. There was nothing she wanted to say to anyone but her sister anyway. The way Selene tapped at the stones of the necklace; her sister had a million questions.
And Kenzie had a million for Edith. Just what in the hell did her grandmother think she was doing? If someone found out she’d put out a contract for mercenaries to take down Brad…well it wouldn’t be good, that’s for sure.
But the entire way back to the Kavanagh mansion, right smack in the middle of San Francisco, she kept going back to her interaction with the three foxes who’d called her ‘mate.’
What did she even think about that – how did she feel about that?
Kenzie was still reeling from sensory overload. The three of them pushed and pulled at her in ways she didn’t really understand. Part of it was the way they played
off one another. She could see it in how they looked at each other, then the way they didn’t look at each other and just knew.
Finnick was the wild card, the one who distracted and misdirected. And he was good at it. Kenzie couldn’t help but watch him when he moved, listen when he spoke, and her eyes were drawn to the fire-red of his hair – the green of his eyes. It was even in the way he walked, an almost swagger that hid the smooth and deadly muscles and the very real strength he had.
He was the tallest and he was also the funniest. His stupid little quips that were more serious than he let on made her smile even when she wanted to slap the shit out of him.
Then there was the black-haired Ash.
Ash was muscular, and slightly taller than Hunter, but not as tall as Finnick. Ash was also built slim, but sturdy. The muscles in his arms were to die for though and she wouldn’t forget the feel of his abs and chest on her back for a long time.
But mate?
Ash didn’t know if he wanted her either. None of them really did, not even Finnick. Kenzie doubted they’d wanted her scent to know if she was a mate. No, they just…wanted it.
But her knowledge of shifters was mostly of the felines. There weren’t any wolves close by, the lesser shifters kept to themselves, and no one really paid any attention to the Six Rivers Pride.
What these foxes had been able to pick up from scent alone…Kenzie shuddered as she remembered what Hunter had said about the essence left on the air – in skin. Her painful memories were stitched into her scars and they could read them. Part of her was horrified and the other part was fascinated.
What else could they get a read on? Now she wanted to get them in a room with Brad to see what they could learn.
Fucking Brad. Bastard deserved to get thrown into the bay with weights tied to his ankles. Drowning was almost too good for him. Being burned alive would be ironic and also appropriate.
Kenzie had a sudden flash of Hunter with his hand on her neck and she felt a multitude of things that were difficult to process. She was a bit embarrassed he’d bested her so easily, so quickly. Filing that away for later, she also was fixated on the fact that he’d been so careful not to actually hurt her.