Outcast Box Set

by Emilia Hartley

  What was she getting herself into? There was a new world unfolding before her. It was filled with mystery and danger, things she’d never once thought to be real. The world was becoming a much larger, much stranger place than she’d ever thought.

  Slowly, sleep crept in and took her.

  ***

  Jax leaned against the bar. It was a smooth piece of wood, lacquered until he could see his face reflected in it. Above, a chandelier made from antlers bathed the room in pale light. He cradled a scotch in one hand and glanced to the doorway.

  As the moments ticked by, he realized the shifter from the parking lot wasn’t going to show up. He threw back the scotch and raised his hand for another. The bartender didn’t think much about the first glass or the second or the third, but as he ordered the fourth, the bartender raised a brow.

  With each drink tossed back, the howls of his ghosts grew softer. His mind leaned back toward the bright-haired cop he’d spent his day with. It was an odd thing, a black man hanging out with a small-town Virginia cop, but he was glad for it.

  His mind returned to him the shape of her body. A thick, muscled waist led into thicker thighs and a curvaceous ass that made him hungry. His hands clenched atop the bar. He was glad he wasn’t holding a glass, or it would have shattered beneath his need.

  Jax didn’t need a woman. He needed to make amends for his failures. Becca’s bright smile crawled to the front of his mind. It’d been years since he’d seen her. Small and savvy, she was a survivor. She’d been smart enough to get out of dodge before Killian went on his rampage and destroyed any sense of family the Bart Pack had left.

  His hand tightened around the drink in front of him. He hoped Becca was still a scrappy survivor. Whatever was taking these people was targeting shifters. The thought sent a growl rumbling through his chest. One shifter managed to get away, but what about the rest? What happened to Theo and Becca? Were they still alive, suffering in whatever had broken Trisha to the point of silence?

  The woman they’d found had refused to speak, even after she woke up. Trisha had clung to Jax as if he was some sort of savior and not a failure that couldn’t keep his Alpha alive. He and the human cop drove Trisha home where a young man wept. Quietly, to avoid a media buzz, they took Trisha inside. The young man knew all about Trisha, confessing that he was her mate.

  The word stirred something inside Jax.

  Mate.

  A love that would burn eternally. A love that would see past the flaws and scars to see a soul that was worthy of love. But, what would any mate of his see? If they looked past the ghosts and the scars, he was certain all that was left was a stained soul unworthy of anything that good.

  Jax shoved aside his drink and threw down enough to cover double that amount. The alcohol sang through his system, there and then gone. Nothing was enough to chase away the ghosts. No, that wasn’t right. The human woman granted him peace. Her presence was a shining beacon that cast light in the darkness that haunted him. He didn’t understand why, and as much as he wanted to prowl to the human’s door, Jax directed himself in another direction.

  If Trisha escaped, whoever took her might be looking for her. He rounded a corner of the Lodge and let his wolf leapt forward. It entered the world with a mission.

  ***

  A smash startled Sydney awake. She jerked upright, heart racing. Her gun was in a locked safe, but she twisted to find the metal baseball bat she kept behind the bed. It was pink and emblazoned with Hello Kitty decals so that the last thing any invader might see was a kawaii kitty cat.

  She clenched her hand around it, trying to ignore the fear pulsing and feeding burning cold into her limbs. Silence filled the house. Had she imagined the sound? Had she dreamed it? Then she heard the shuffle of feet against the floor, soft and barely more than a whisper of a sound.

  Sydney cursed herself for not getting Jax’s phone number. She could really use the wolf man right then. She also cursed herself for wanting to rely on someone else. She was a cop, for heaven’s sake. If she couldn’t handle a home invader, who could?

  Still, her heart betrayed her, pounding erratically. Her feet touched the cold floor. Outside the closed door, she heard almost nothing. The air whispered, the only clue there was anyone in the house at all. She pressed her back against the wall and gripped the bat in both hands.

  There was no way of knowing how many were in her house. There could be one. There could be twenty. The only thing she was sure of was that it had something to do with Trisha’s reappearance. The people in her house were the same ones who’d taken Trisha, Theo, and the girl Jax called Becca.

  The doorknob rattled, slowly turning. She readied herself. The door would swing away from her and she would bring the bat down on their head. That would buy her time to get to the safe in her office and the cell phone she left on her desk.

  A dark shape appeared in her doorway. The smell of decay slapped her in the face so hard she gagged. It was reflexive, unavoidable. It cost her time. The shape’s hand darted out and snatched the bat. It tried to jerk the bat away from her, but she wouldn’t give up her only weapon.

  The shape growled, an inhuman sound that grated on her skull like rusty nails. She cringed, and the bat slipped from her hands. The shape lifted the bat triumphantly, distracted in that moment. Sydney rushed him, bringing her foot down on his instep. The figure howled and staggered back.

  Sydney bolted through the open doorway only to crash into another figure. Massive hands gripped her arms and shoved her back into the room. How many were there? Her throat grew dry. She had no weapon. No cell phone to call for back up. Her eyes roved the room and tried to pick out something she could use as a weapon. Her fingers twitched at her sides, desperate to defend her.

  “Take what you want from the house,” Sydney told them, trying to buy time. She was certain they weren’t normal burglars. They hadn’t come to take anything other than her life from her.

  “Sit down,” one of them growled. The one whose foot she’d stomped on.

  Another shape entered the room. They remained dark, not even the dim light of the streetlamp outside her window illuminating them. This was something unnatural, Sydney realized. They were using a kind of magic.

  A chill swept up her spin and made her tremble. What could she do against magic? She gritted her teeth and decided she would do whatever she could. These people were hurting others, people who’d done nothing more than try to live a normal life.

  “I have back-up on the way,” Sydney tried to bluff. “A SWAT team is on their way.”

  The male shaped figure growled and closed the space between them with two long strides. He brought the bat back and Sydney had no time to flinch.

  Chapter Seven

  Sydney’s cheek throbbed from the impact. She fell to the bed, her eyes stinging with tears. She wouldn’t let them fall. She refused to let them fall. Blinking them back, she pushed herself up just enough to glare at the shape that’d hit her.

  “We came to offer a deal,” a gravelly female voice said, rolling with a southern accent.

  Sydney turned her glare to the bodacious feminine shape with her hands on her hips. The shape cocked its head and continued.

  “You’ve met the beasts, seen what they are capable of. Those monsters prey on humanity. They’re faster, stronger, and more vicious than anything that exists naturally. We’re doing our part to rid the world of them and protect humanity. Help us and tell us where the fox went. You get brownie points if you help us get the new one, too.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sydney managed to bite out through the pain flaring in her jaw. “You sound like a damned cult.”

  The male shape raised the bat again. She braced herself for the blow, but it never came. The female shape touched his arm, and he dropped his stance. How much longer could Sydney banter with them? Her eyes darted toward the open door. She could bolt for it again, run for the phone in her office. Never mind the gun, she would call back-up.

/>   “Look, dearie,” the husky female voice said as she leaned into Sydney. “We know you’re a good person. You do your best to help people, but you need to understand these aren’t people. They’re monsters with human faces. If you let yourself be fooled by them, you’ll get yourself killed.”

  These people kidnapped innocents. They broke into her house and hit her with a baseball bat, threatening worse. For all their words of supposed humanitarianism, Sydney would never be on their side. She sucked in a shattered breath and straightened. The breath escaped her, ready for the blow that would come.

  “I won’t help you,” Sydney declared.

  The female shape nodded, as if in disappointment. Her hand fell away from the man’s arm, and she stepped aside. Sydney watched the baseball bat rise again. But, he didn’t swing it. Instead, the bat dropped to the floor, and he pulled something from the belt around his waist. It caught the light from the streetlamp outside, the shape suddenly recognizable.

  A syringe.

  What did they plan on injecting her with? An air bubble to stop her heart? An unidentifiable poison? Drugs to get her kicked off the force? Her mind spun in circles.

  “If you don’t want to help us of your own accord, we’ll just have to use different means.”

  Truth serum.

  Even though her legs turned to jelly, she tensed, ready to lurch away from the sharp needle when a loud crash broke the silence.

  Heads snapped up. The woman hissed something, and the bulky figure lurking in the shadowed hall drifted away. Moments later, there was a grunt, and a thud as something heavy hit the floor.

  A moment passed, silence stretching thin until the woman broke.

  “Everything alright out there?” Her voice wavered with uncertainty.

  They hadn’t expected this. Heck, Sydney hadn’t expected any of this.

  The only response was the sound of claws clicking on wood floors. Sydney’s heart clenched. Her mind spun out of control, thinking of what it could be until it hit the truth.

  Jax.

  The dark form prowled through the shadows, gold eyes flashing with ferocity. The dark figures standing over Sydney stepped back. They seemed to catch themselves, the man with the bat stepping forward. He brought it up, the pink looking ridiculous in the hands of what was nothing more than a man-shaped ink-blot.

  He swung. Jax leaped back, the bat whistling through the air he’d stood in only seconds ago.

  Sydney wondered how he knew she needed him. She shoved aside the throb of her jaw and slowly stood. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a familiar movement. She knew the gesture like she knew her own name.

  Her heart stuttered, a vision crossing her eyes, a memory she’d shut out. Her body was already in motion. Not again, it couldn’t happen again.

  She screamed, “Gun!”

  Sydney launched herself at the female figure. A bang echoed in her ears as they hit the floor together. It died in a low whine as they fought. Hands punched Sydney’s already bruised face. She didn’t flinch. She took the pain. It made her feel alive, awake.

  Sydney brought her fist down on the woman’s face. She grunted and bucked Sydney off. Tumbling, she hit the wall. When she stood up, she saw the room had gone still. A shadow laid on the floor, grunting as it struggled to make its body move. Nearby, a wolf shape towered over it. The wolf’s hackles were still up, but its breathing had gone shallow. The memory of the gunshot echoed through her mind, and her heart stuttered.

  Jax.

  She let out a cry and crawled toward the wolf form in the room. Once more, Sydney had failed. Once again, she’d gotten someone hurt. The woman scrambled to her feet, grabbing her fallen partner. They clambered out of the room, their faces still unseen as whatever magic they’d used to mask themselves held up.

  Sydney ran her hands along the wolf’s fur, searching for a bullet wound with a panic she hadn’t felt in a long time. The wolf staggered, it’s feet giving out beneath it. It was much heavier than she thought when the form crashed into her body and brought them both to the floor.

  Still, the beast growled. It covered Sydney’s body with its own and growled until they heard the click of the door downstairs. The invaders got away, free to hurt people again. All Sydney cared about was making sure Jax was alright. Her hand brushed over something warm and sticky, the wolf snarling at her.

  The sound died into a whine. Its body writhed over her. Muscles shifted and realigned. The sensation brought bile to the back of her throat. After a moment that seemed to drag on forever, a man laid in her lap. His dark skin glimmered in the dim light of the streetlamp. A layer of sweat covered his forehead, already furrowed in pain, and his breaths came shallow.

  He reached up and touched her cheek. “You’re hurt.”

  She let out a shaky laugh. “So are you.”

  But he wasn’t dead.

  Relief spilled through her, fear inching back. Jax wobbled, unsteady as his eyelids fluttered. That might not be the case if she didn’t hurry.

  Together, they helped each other down stairs to the bathroom. She was acutely aware of the blood leaking from the gunshot wound on his thigh because he was very much naked. He leaned against her, putting a decent amount of weight onto her shoulders. She forced herself to ignore the bare muscle and shouldered his pain. It was the least she could do.

  In the bathroom, Jax pulled himself away from her, spinning on his heel before letting himself fall onto the closed toilet seat. He hissed and straightened his leg.

  “It’s silver.”

  “What does that mean?” Sydney fumbled to get the first-aid kit out from beneath her sink before the man bled out in her bathroom. She wasn’t even sure she had what they would need to fix this.

  “It means this not only hurts like hell but that they knew they’re dealing with shifters.” He spoke through clenched teeth. When he looked at her, his face softened. “Oh, your cheek.”

  “It’s nothing,” she said with a shrug. Finally, beneath a mound of dry shampoo canisters, she found the first-aid kit. “I’ve had worse.”

  When she stood, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. While the fight had only happened moments ago, there was already a discoloration sweeping across her face. There would be no hiding it beneath make-up. By morning, it would turn a nasty shade of black and purple. She flexed her jaw, just to see if anything might be broken.

  It ached, throbbing, but she didn’t think she was in any immediate danger.

  When she turned to Jax, the sight of his cock made her face hot. It felt like she’d just open an oven cranked to five hundred degrees. His cock was humungous and draped over his thigh with abandon. Jax sensed her discomfort and smiled suggestively, a look ruined by the cringe of pain still in his eyes.

  “Put that damn thing away before you hurt someone.”

  Jax laughed, but reached for a nearby towel and draped it over his lap and the cock in question. With it covered, Sydney knelt by his side. She hesitated at the sight of blood covering his thigh, running in rivulets down his knee and shin.

  “Will this…” she didn’t know how to put her question into words that weren’t offensive.

  “Will it infect you? Is that what you were going to ask?” His voice was growing thin. He let his head fall against the wall behind him. “I’d have to bite you and break skin to make you into a shifter. A little blood won’t hurt as long as you wash your hands when you’re done. You don’t have to worry about infecting me with anything, either.”

  She nodded, unable to speak as her throat grew tight. The wound pulsed, looking horrible. With trembling hands, she flipped open the kit and searched for a pair of long tongs. Because of her job, she’d invested in a number of tools that might not be a normal first-aid kit. It was all part of her life.

  Sydney pulled in a breath, held it for a moment, and let it out in one long blow as she raised the tongs. “Hos did you know I needed help?”

  Her words distracted him as the tip of the tongs touched his wound. He
let out a sharp hiss but turned toward her question. “Honestly, I thought I was heading toward Trisha’s. I figured she would need protecting. It seemed the wolf knew better than I did.”

  Her brow furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean the wolf?”

  The tongs touched something made of metal. She almost let her shoulders drop with relief until she reminded herself this wasn’t over until the metal was outside his body.

  “Shifters have an animal inside them. It’s like another voice, one that’s primal and simple. I shifted to make the trek to Trisha’s, and somewhere in that time, the wolf took hold and directed me toward you.”

  The tongs gripped the metal. “Are you telling me it knew I was in trouble?”

  He hissed, and the tongs slipped off the bullet. Sydney cursed.

  “I don’t think it has any precognitive abilities. I think it just wanted to make sure you were safe. The wolf put you first.”

  Her chest warmed at the thought of it. Biting her lip, she looked up at the man from beneath her fallen bangs. Jax watched her work with a smolder in his eyes. It sparked a fire in her chest, one that danced and leaped through her. Her breath caught in her throat and she had to force herself to turn back to the wound in his thigh.

  With warm cheeks, she pressed again. The tongs gripped the metal. Jax went still, holding his breath.

  “Why would the wolf do something like that? Why would it want to put me first?”

  She tugged, and the bullet slipped free of his flesh. It clanged to the tile floor, bouncing away. Jax let out a sigh. She couldn’t believe it. Before her eyes, the wound stretched and closed.

  “Thank you,” Jax breathed.

  She continued to stare at his leg, wondering what her life had become. Like a knife through paper, she knew there was no going back after tonight. Something had happened, not that she knew which event triggered it, but her life had taken a sharp turn in a direction she’d never seen coming.