by Emma Dean
“Tell me about this job.”
Hunter came out of the kitchen with more pizza and sat on one of the ottomans. “Your grandmother is the one who contracted the job. You tell us.”
Kenzie set down her pack and leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest. “I didn’t know about it until you told me there was one. Tell me the details of the job and I’ll see if I can fill in any blanks.”
Finnick was a bit surprised. He’d thought for sure she’d fight them every step of the way since that’s what she’d done at the barbecue. But it looked like she’d gone all in. Fascinating. Some small part of her trusted them – trusted them to do what?
She looked to Finnick and it was like she could get a sense of his thoughts. He made sure his face was nothing but that charming mask. Maybe she could. He didn’t know what all those charms were for.
“Edith Kavanagh put out a contract for the destruction of Bradley Davis. It was advised to keep it to him only, but if his family was collateral that was fine. We have to destroy his reputation and his business,” Hunter told Kenzie.
None of this was going to be easy.
It was the perfect job for foxes.
“And her name was right there on the contract?” Kenzie asked as one red eyebrow rose in disbelief. “I highly doubt that.”
Finnick snickered. She had so much sass. Hunter could be terrifying and she gave no fucks.
It made Hunter smile too, but he kept his eyes down on his pizza as he arranged the pineapple just so. “Of course not. I had to dig for it.”
“You’re the one who does the computer work?” Kenzie asked, uncrossing her arms as she leaned forward.
The blatant interest shocked all three of them. Hunter looked up and it was as though he just now realized how close she was. Ash went completely still as he watched her. Finnick’s hand paused mid-sip. He realized there was no smell of fear in the air.
Not one tiny drop.
She was definitely nervous. Or she had been. Those blue eyes focused on Hunter with such intensity Hunter blinked and Finnick nearly choked on his drink as he realized their leader was fucking speechless.
Finally Hunter cleared his throat. “Yes, I do the more complex computer work though Ash is nearly as good.”
“And what do you do?” Kenzie asked him.
Finnick grinned. “I’m pretty.”
“Yeah, I guess you are,” she smirked.
The smile dropped from his face when he sensed she was serious.
Holy fucking shit. Things just got real.
“All right, how much time do we have? Are there any hard stops?”
Ash rested his hand on her thigh, testing her boundaries, and she slapped it off. “Six months,” he told her. “And no. Anything goes apparently as long as it won’t get traced back to the Kavanagh clan,” Ash told her.
Kenzie finally took a bite of the pizza Ash had brought her. She chewed thoughtfully and Finnick wondered if they had kits together, would their hair be red too? Would they be born a witch or a fox? Would they be some kind of insanely cool hybrid who would one day take over the world?
It was too early to know for sure, but the prospect sure as shit sweetened the deal.
Were there any cons to this mate bond? That was the real question. Finnick was so busy wondering if he wanted it – how he fucking felt when none of that really mattered, did it? His fox wanted her – he wanted a mate. The pull in his chest had already begun.
Pro – she was fucking hot enough he could cook an egg on her ass.
Con – she didn’t like him. But that wouldn’t be too difficult to change once she knew how incredibly charming he could be. And was reminded how big his dick was.
Pro – she was a vicious fighter and stronger than she looked. Kenzie could definitely hold her own.
Con – she was a witch.
Con – he wasn’t her only mate. Eh, he wasn’t sure that was a con.
Finnick looked at Ash and studied the way he put his arm across the back of the couch so when she sat back it would look like he had his arm around her. Finnick smirked. He couldn’t wait to see what she did when she realized.
But he had no feelings of jealousy – at all.
Then he studied Hunter.
Hunter was the unofficial leader of their little leash – their pack, whatever someone wanted to call a leash of foxes. Finnick preferred the term he made up: ‘a chaos of foxes.’ Because when any of them decided to group together it was nothing but pure, undiluted chaos.
And murder was already taken.
They’d all met as teenagers and strangely enough Hunter had saved him from some wolves up north in Oregon not long after he’d found Ash nearly dead in the middle of a storm.
Fox shifters were strange. As ‘lesser’ shifters they stuck together, but it was against their solitary nature. Only families really got along well. Most leashes were a total shit-show. But they were loyal to each other since it was difficult to win against a shifter six times your size. Only with numbers could they stay safe.
Unless they registered with a pack or pride. It was rare to find one that would take lesser shifters in, especially non-predators. Most prides and packs saw the smaller shifters as a weakness – someone who couldn’t pull their weight.
Foxes had it bad, but others had it worse. They had acquaintances he’d almost call ‘friends.’ As raccoons they were looked down on by everyone. But they were some of the funnest fucking dudes Finnick had ever met. They were the ones he called when he wanted to get shit-faced drunk and fuck something.
Ash and Hunter could be such buzzkills.
“Well,” Kenzie said, breaking the silence. She leaned back and then jerked back up when she felt Ash’s arm. “The reason my grandmother put out this hit in the first place is because of my sister. As you guessed she’s currently powerless.” She flicked a look at Finnick.
The ‘holier than thou’ attitude of the big shifters made it easy to hide certain…differences. Foxes had quite a few tricks up their sleeves. As did some of the other ‘lesser’ shifters. Finnick had been able to tell Selene was powerless because there was a strange void around her. Energy was trying to be absorbed by her body to make up for it, and she’d probably get sick.
“How long has she been cursed?” Finnick asked.
Kenzie looked at him again and he liked it. Too much. “Five days.”
“And it’s because of this Bradley?” Hunter asked, folding the pizza and shoving half of it into his mouth.
She nodded and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Yes. My great-grandmother //the one who did this to me// betrothed her and Brad before she could walk.”
The unspoken whisper of her pain made Finnick flinch.
He didn’t know the exact details of her scars, but everyone knew it had been done to get her powers to manifest. Or that’s what they all said when he’d asked about it.
She frowned at him. Far too perceptive. But then she continued. “She still had suitors but once they started really dating that was it for Selene. It’s common in powerful witch families to strengthen alliances or bloodlines. The Davis family is new power, but they are strong as shit. They dated for a long time, but then Selene turned eighteen and became matriarch. She dumped him a few months later once her place had been secured. She’d fooled everyone into thinking she loved him – even Brad.”
Kenzie sighed. “But Selene just wanted her freedom. It took a few months, but when he retaliated, he cursed her and stripped her powers. The spell is extremely illegal and hard to perform. Or so I hear.” She waved off the words, but Finnick could see the tightening of her jaw. It still bothered her.
“How did he do it?” Hunter asked.
“Another potion,” Kenzie told him, watching the way Hunter placed a piece of pineapple precisely on his tongue. “They had a sit-down or whatever between the families to discuss a different type of alliance. He slipped it into her wine, but since the potion is tasteless, odorless, and delayed she didn’t notice until she wok
e up without powers the next day.”
Finnick set his beer bottle on the table and Ash sighed at him, putting the bottle on a coaster.
“You know she’s going to get sick right?” Finnick asked, standing from the couch. He needed to move so he could think. He needed to work off this energy Kenzie’s scent filled the room with. “A witch without powers drains energy from around them. This leaves them open to all kinds of weird shit that doesn’t agree with them.”
He went into the kitchen and grabbed something he thought she might like. Kenzie might not be a beer type and she was a powerless witch. Drinking could make her feel too vulnerable when she was alone among strangers. Finnick tossed her some Gatorade when he came back into the living room. “How are you still alive?”
A witch stripped of powers was one thing, but a witch born without them seemed strange. She even smelled like a witch.
Kenzie gave him a vicious little smile. “I took my life and wouldn’t give it back.”
Studying the pain written on her skin, he believed her. Finnick matched her smile. “That’s my girl.”
Chapter Nine
Kenzie
Something about the foxes and their den was comforting. The house was a bit bare, but it wasn’t full of useless, decorative shit like the Kavanagh mansion was. Her house was full of people and still somehow felt empty.
All three of these guys filled the place with their presence, with their musky scent that reminded her of a forest just after rain – deep, dark soil rich and full of life. For whatever reason this smell relaxed her and she felt her guard falling.
Kenzie was a thousand times more on edge for that reason alone. These were foxes. She could never afford to be off guard.
What was it about Finnick that made her smile? He was fucking hilarious. But something about him spoke to her. And Kenzie didn’t just laugh. The only one she gave a real smile to was Selene.
“Tell us what you know about Brad,” Finnick said, sitting on the ottoman next to Hunter so she could look at both of them without constantly turning her head.
It was oddly thoughtful, especially since Ash was using every opportunity to touch her and the last thing she wanted to do was look at him right now when she had no idea how she felt about it.
“Brad is a little fuck-boy,” Kenzie snapped, feeling that old rage rising to the surface. “If Selene hadn’t called off the engagement I would have taken care of him myself.”
Hunter paused and then tilted his head. “Why is that?”
Oh she could go all night about Brad and his narcissistic, sociopathic ways. She practically snarled as she remembered the bruises on Selene’s arm. “If it hadn’t been for the ancient contract stating Selene had to be a virgin until the night of the wedding, I’m pretty sure he would have raped her. He wanted the power more than he wanted her body, but that didn’t keep other women safe. I’ve found multiple instances where the family paid off the woman. Sometimes even paying for abortions or adoptions.”
Her hands clenched into fists. It had been agony keeping that from her sister. It was that or tell her and crush her soul – but it wasn’t like Selene was stupid. Kenzie had never planned to let her make it to the actual wedding.
Selene had just beaten her to it and then paid the price.
If it had been Kenzie then nothing would have happened to her sister. She blamed herself for this curse. She’d been too slow – not enough once again.
“What else?” Hunter asked, pulling her out of her thoughts like he knew what road she was going down. Maybe he did.
“Witch families are ruled by the most powerful female. Brad tried to get them to appoint him as patriarch instead of his sister. Females are always more powerful than the males, at least comparatively. My father has more power than Brad for example, but he’s still weak compared to Selene. I was called an abomination in the witch community, but that would have been the real abomination. We’ve all seen what men do with power. This would be no different.”
None of them argued with her, even though she’d been half expecting it. ‘I’m not like that’ usually came up. But these three were…different. They didn’t pretend to be anything other than what they were. The thought unnerved her, but she kept her reactions to herself.
“Now the most powerful witch within the coven becomes the coven leader, also known as the High Priestess,” Kenzie explained. “Bay Coven is currently led by the matriarch of the Takahashi clan, Kimiko Takahashi. They’ve been in San Francisco nearly as long as the Kavanagh’s, since before World War II.” Kenzie stopped, this may not help them complete their job, but she wasn’t sure what the foxes knew about witch politics.
Hunter nodded. “We knew who the High Priestess was, but witches don’t talk much about their culture. So tell me everything and we’ll find where we can hurt him the most.”
The vicious words said so calmly electrified her. Kenzie licked her lips as she stared into Hunter’s glittering eyes. Then she looked at Finnick, who was giving her that goofy smile while sipping more beer – as if he didn’t care.
But his focus was too intense, too unwavering. He barely even blinked as he watched her – always watching her. What exactly did he see?
“He was denied the petition to allow for patriarchs from the High Priestess,” Kenzie said, studying Finnick. What was he hiding under that cocky act? “He played it off like it didn’t matter, but I’m pretty sure that was the reason he was so upset Selene broke off their engagement, because he wouldn’t have the power of a matriarch to control. The night after his petition was denied she came home from their date with bruises on her arms.”
Ash snarled next to her and Kenzie jumped about a foot in the air. He was so quiet she’d nearly forgotten he was sitting next to her.
“He fucking touched her? Why aren’t we killing him again?”
“It was expressly stated not to,” Hunter said calmly. “But it didn’t say anything about maiming.”
“Oooh, maiming,” Finnick said – as though someone had suggested ice cream and not torture.
Kenzie wanted to laugh, but she was still looking at Ash. Did he really care about something like that?
“We may be deplorable,” Ash told her, frowning. Was he bothered she was surprised? “But we don’t hurt women, children, or innocent bystanders. Everyone else though? They’re fair game.”
Fair game.
Kenzie wanted to know exactly what that meant for some reason. She had a feeling the answer would be fascinating.
“Is that everything?” Hunter asked, bringing them back to the main point.
She shrugged and leaned back against the couch, staying in that position this time even though Ash’s stupid arm was still along the top of the couch. His fingers brushed her shoulder and she ignored him.
“For his character? Sure. But it barely touches the Davis clan. They are powerful, but pretty new. They came to San Francisco about fifty years ago and then one of them was born with powers. It’s rare, but it happens when the universe feels there’s an imbalance of power. Two generations later we have the Davis clan, separate from the human Davis family that does still live here.”
Kenzie cracked open the bottle of Gatorade, silently thankful Finnick had somehow deduced why she didn’t want to drink with them even if it did bother her he somehow knew.
“The Davis clan owns one of the most profitable law firms and Brad is a lawyer, of course. He works with politicians, celebrities, and big companies like Samuel’s.”
Fucking Samuel. And now she had to go meet with the Alpha because Selene had a hard on for him.
“Well, Brad’s company will be a good start. He knows you though so we can’t put you in the firm. It’ll have to be one of us,” Ash said, brushing his fingers on her arm this time. It wasn’t sexual at all – just like he needed to touch her.
And for some reason Kenzie let him. It soothed some weird part of her she didn’t want to look at yet.
“The company will be the slow game,” Hunter s
aid, finishing his pizza. “We can start by digging up every piece of dirt on him, and from the sounds of it he’s got a lot of it. I want every single thing on him found. I’ll hit the computers. Ash you go get a feel for the company. Scope it out and tell me where the best locations are. We’ll go set up there in a day or two. Finnick you take Kenzie here and assess her skills.”
Finnick grinned at that.
“Wait a minute,” Kenzie sputtered. “That’s it?”
Hunter smiled at her, and it was honestly the most terrifying thing she’d ever seen. Somehow even in his human form his teeth looked sharp and dangerous. “That’s the beginning. But there is more to set up. That asshole needs to be afraid – to fear the way those he’s hurt did. By the time we’re done with him he’s going to be begging for us to just kill him and get it over with.”
Then he stood and took his empty plate into the kitchen like it was just another Tuesday.
Holy fucking balls.
Well…at least her grandmother was going to get her money’s worth.
“Let’s get started,” Finnick said with that big-ass grin on his face. “Try to hurt me. I’ll try not to let you – personal preferences can be so hard to ignore sometimes.”
Kenzie squinted at him as she set her pack down. This one made jokes like that all the time, but did he mean it? Was he some kind of masochist?
She decided not to say anything about it and looked around the room instead. It was a split-level house like most in San Francisco due to the hills.
The gym was on the very bottom floor. The narrow hallway had made her nervous at first, but nothing had smelled off and the light had been on so she could see where they were going.
It was a clean, well-lit room with hardwood floors, mirrors along one wall, and various different types of workout equipment on one end. The other end was empty and Finnick set up some mats before kicking off his shoes.
They were really serious about this whole thing – as though her almost getting away with the potion wasn’t assessment enough. But curiosity was getting the better of her judgement. What fighting styles did Finnick know?