Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Dead Things Series Book 1)

by Martina McAtee

  “Aww, I knew you couldn’t stand to be without me,” he winked.

  “Enough,” Isa told them, “What happened?”

  “Well,” Tristin stumbled, searching for where to start “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, I just feel like Kai should be the one to tell you.”

  Wren looked at her, confused, “Then why isn’t Kai here to do that?”

  “Because he is a dirty coward,” Quinn laughed. “He totally sent her to plead his case.”

  “Is that what this is?” Isa asked, gaze piercing through her soul, “Are you hear to beg for your brother’s life?”

  Tristin shrugged, looking anywhere but at the alpha. “Sort of.”

  “Fear not,” she told Tristin, “Like any good parent, I’m not going to kill him. I am, however, going to put the fear of God in him.” She exploded across the table then, less than an inch from her face, “What were you two thinking? Running around, leaving the state without telling us? You went into territories belonging to other wolves. You could have started a war. You could have been killed.” Her breath hitched, voice wavering, “We wouldn’t have even known where to start looking for your rotting corpses.”

  Wren pulled her back, rubbing her back as her eyes flashed gold. Donovan and Quinn snickered until Isa cut her eyes at them, rumbling low in her chest. They looked away, Donovan whining.

  “I’m sorry,” Tristin told her, meaning it. “We just didn’t know what else to do. A name appeared on Kai’s arm and then things just got away from us.”

  Isa’s face pinched in confusion, “So, Kai had a collection?”

  She could only nod.

  “Was it a child?” she asked, “Those are the hardest on him.”

  “No, not exactly,” she knew she was stalling but she knew that this next bit of information was bound to set the wolf off again.

  Isa’s mouth tightened and she could feel her eyes boring into her.

  She took a deep breath to calmly tell her exactly what happened, but instead said, “Kai was supposed to collect somebody but the name was the name of somebody that he knew and he knew that it couldn’t be right because…well, just because…there was no way but he had to go because you can’t refuse a collection but…he couldn’t do it.”

  “Couldn’t do it?” Isa’s asked quietly.

  “He couldn’t collect her.” She swallowed hard around the words.

  “Are you telling me that there is some girl lying dead on a slab who is still in possession of her soul? Trapped inside her body?” Isa sounded horrified.

  “She didn’t die.”

  Everybody looked at each other in confusion, Wren finally saying, “What do you mean?”

  Her mouth was desert dry, tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth. She hated her brother for this. “She was family, Isa. It didn’t even seem possible. Like so impossible. But, Isa, the name was November Lonergan. What could we do?”

  Quinn was the one to finally ask, “What did you do?”

  “We saved her,” she whispered.

  The entire group looked poleaxed. Isa’s flashing gold eyes bled to red and the noise that escaped the alpha wasn’t even close to human. To his credit, Quinn stepped closer, placing a hand on Tristin’s shoulder. She cowered against him, heart jackhammering in her chest.

  “You what?” Wren shouted, slamming his fist down on the table so hard the Formica cracked and a salt shaker fell over, rolling to the floor with a crash. Quinn retrieved it, throwing a pinch of salt over his left shoulder before returning it to its place on the table.

  “Let’s hear her out,” Quinn suggested, squeezing her shoulder. The alpha turned her furious eyes on the boy who quickly abandoned her plight. “Or I’ll just shut up and not speak. That works too.”

  “That’d be a first,” Neoma laughed where she now spun on her stool at the counter.

  Isa continued to stare her down as she lifted her phone and called what she could only imagine was Rhys. She spoke in clipped tones, explaining the situation to the other wolf as succinctly as possible.

  “I’m going to call Allister. No. We have to tell him. We have to try to get ahead of this,” She listened intently before saying, “Rhys. Calm down. We will handle this and you will calm down. Everything will be fine.” Again, she listened, nodding as if he could see her. “We’ll be there as soon as we can,” she told him, clicking the button on her cell.

  “I’m going home. You guys finish up here and meet us back at the house.”

  “Impromptu pack meeting?” Donovan joked.

  “More like crime scene cleanup,” Wren ground out. “I’ll be right behind you.” Donovan hit Quinn in the face with a spitball and Wren closed his eyes as if searching for inner peace, “and I’ll bring the children with me.”

  “You,” Isa told her, jabbing a finger in her direction, “Are not in the clear so don’t get too comfy. I see a lot of cleaning grease traps in your future.”

  Tristan grimaced. She wasn’t sure who she felt sorrier for, Kai or their cousin. Either way, she was pretty sure things were going to end badly.

  9

  EMBER

  When she came too, the world was a blurry swirl of color, everything out of focus like she was viewing it through a dirty window. Her head throbbed and her tongue felt like she’d been dragging it across a dirty carpet.

  Despite her aching head, she was aware of the fact that she was on a rather comfortable couch and there were agitated voices carrying from the other room.

  “So you thought you’d just disregard everything we’ve ever been taught and bring her here without consulting any of us, without consulting our alpha?” asked a male voice she didn’t recognize.

  “What should we have done? Left her to die?” that voice was clearly Kai.

  “Yes!” the other male responded in exasperation. “You are a reaper. That is your sole purpose for existing, remember? That is the textbook definition of what you were supposed to do, you dumbass. You help people who are going to die to…die” the other voice finished, sounding mildly humiliated by the lame finish to what had started out as a scathing comeback.

  “You don’t get it. Tristin screamed, Rhys. She screamed for her. That means something.” Kai sounded almost frantic as he pleaded, “It has to mean something. Besides,” he added “She’s family, man.”

  There was a snort of disgust, “We have no idea what your sister’s screams mean. We don’t know anything at all about banshees. How could you be this stupid? You brought her here and you don’t even know who she is. You don’t know what she is. Do you ever think before you act?” There was a sigh of exasperation, “It’s not always about you. You don’t get to just make your own decisions and let us clean up after you.”

  “Oh, screw you,” Kai snarled, “I’m sorry I care about people. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to stand by and watch my family member get slaughtered. I’m sure you would have just grabbed some popcorn and enjoyed the show but we can’t all be heartless robots. I’d say it must be a wolf thing but since the rest of the pack all have feelings I’m guessing it’s just a ‘you’ thing. You’re such a dick.”

  “And you are too reckless. Where is this girl going to stay? Here? We aren’t an orphanage for homeless paranormal teens. There’s not a lot of room here at the inn as of late. You’re lucky the pack lets you two stay here. Isa is going to kill you when she finds out.”

  “We have six bedrooms and your sister will understand.” Kai told him. “Ember’s my family. You don’t abandon your family. Even someone like you should be able to get that. There aren’t many of us left.”

  Having heard enough, Ember risked sitting up, unable to stifle the groan that slipped from her lips as the world tilted on its axis. They both glanced at her sharply. Kai grimaced and looked at her with apprehension.

  The other boy glowered at her, a sneer pulling sharply at one overly p
outy lip. He was one of the largest guys she’d ever seen. His eyes were bright green and shone like they were lit from within. He was all heavy brows and sharp cheekbones. She supposed he was good looking if you liked that Spartan warrior look. Despite the fact that he was currently looking at her like he had homicide on his mind-which seemed to be her new type- he wasn’t really doing it for her at the moment. Maybe it was the skull splitting headache pounding behind her temples maybe it was because he looked like he wanted to murder her new found family member.

  Rhys cocked his head to the side, like a German Shepard, and smirked at Kai. “Hope you know what you’re going to tell my sister. Because she just pulled up.”

  He pushed past her cousin, unnecessarily body checking him into the bannister as he passed. Kai stumbled but recovered, having braced for the impact. She wondered how often he found himself shoved around by the wolf. He glanced at her, smiling in a way that was probably meant to be reassuring but instead looked like terror. He walked out of her line of vision, likely in the direction of the door.

  A door opened and closed in rapid succession, confirming her suspicions.

  “Hey, Isa-” Kai began. There was a muffled “Oomph,” followed by a squeak that may have been human. Ember didn’t have time to contemplate its origins before a blur of a body flew past the doorway followed by another fast moving shadow. A crash erupted along with the sound of splitting wood and shattering glass. She was on her feet before her brain even registered the decision, carrying her to the next room. The crash was the coffee table, currently crushed beneath her cousin.

  On top of him was a woman. Well, she was definitely female, though the elongated teeth currently at his neck were undeniably not human.

  She felt herself nodding to nobody in particular as she made peace with the realization that her cousins weren’t crazy, the supernatural was real and, there was, given the conversation she’d overheard, a werewolf about to tear her new found family member apart.

  “Isa, I can explain,” Kai panted, his hands held up in surrender, throat bared in submission. She’d seen that on Animal Planet. “Please, please, please just let me explain.”

  Isa growled, she honest to goodness growled, low in her throat. “Oh, too late for that, Buttercup, your sister already filled me in.”

  He looked dismayed at this new information. Isa didn’t wait for further explanation; she slammed him once, then again against the wood remnants. He sucked in a pained breath. “Careful,” he grunted, “I know you’re mad but I don’t heal like a wolf; fragile human-like physique here.”

  Another snarl, “You are not a human.” She hissed, “You are a reaper and an absolute idiot. Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Give me one reason why I shouldn’t just tear you apart and feed you to the rest of the pack like reaper tar-tar?”

  “I’m probably really gamey, like free range rabbit,” he tried joking. The low rumble that emanated from the wolf made Ember’s blood run cold. The sound Kai made when Isa’s teeth nipped his throat was not even a little manly.

  Ember’s heart was beating about as fast as a rabbits and her skull felt like there was an entire drum line in her head. If this wolf killed Kai, she was sure she was next. Perspiration slid between her shoulder blades and beaded across her hairline. She pulled at her dampening sweater, why was it so hot in here?

  Kai’s hand was on his neck where a tiny bit of blood dotted his skin, “Come on, Isa. I know you’re mad but you’re not going to kill me. If you want to kick my ass just do it so we can move on.”

  The girl leaned back a little, still straddling his waist, arms folded across her chest. Kai sat up slightly, resting his weight on his forearms, “Aren’t you even a little curious how she popped up on my list when she’s supposedly been dead for twelve years?”

  At that, the wolf turned to glance in Ember’s direction.

  Embers gasp was reflex. There was no other response when faced with glowing gold eyes, a slightly elongated nose and a low drooping brow. She felt her mouth fall open. She prayed that she didn’t do something completely uncool like wet her pants. She was equal parts terrified and fascinated. She fought to keep her hands to herself and not reach out to touch the creases that marred the girl’s heavily furrowed brow.

  As she watched, the wolf tossed her head back, flexing her jaw. Her long hair flowed across her face like an ad for fancy conditioner but it didn’t hide the way her features shifted before her eyes, bones sliding under skin, righting themselves until her features looked entirely human.

  “Awesome.” The whisper slipped out before Ember could stop it.

  She let herself drop heavily into the high backed chair behind her. Isa wasn’t tall like her brother, Rhys. She was tiny even, but they had similar coloring and the same perfect cheekbones, straight teeth and insanely long eyelashes. Her eyes were also the same startling shade of green now that they weren’t glowing gold.

  She was beautiful when she wasn’t shifted and snarling with murderous rage.

  Isa cocked her head in that same canine way Rhys had earlier though she didn’t appear to be listening for something; she seemed to be concentrating. Ember fought not to shrink under the wolf’s weighted gaze. Dogs could sense fear, she reminded herself. She bit down on her lower lip. She didn’t think they’d appreciate a dog joke.

  “So,” the older woman began, “you’re claiming that you are November Lonergan.”

  Ember floundered, not sure how she should answer. She opted for the truth, “Um, I never claimed to be anybody.” She shrugged apologetically at Kai, wondering absently where Tristin had ended up. Had Isa killed her? “I was minding my own business when I was assaulted in a cemetery.”

  Isa snapped her gaze to Kai, her look mutinous. Kai’s eyes widened and he shrank from the wolf.

  “No, not him.” Ember clarified quickly, “Kai didn’t attack me...they didn’t attack me. Some hot, sullen guy with major bedhead did.” Her heart did a weird little flip flop thing as she pictured Mace. If that was even his real name. She tried to explain further. “Well, he was going to…attack me, that is. He, um, well, he talked about attacking me. Actually, first he just insulted me a lot…then he talked about killing me but like in a weird flirty way.” The she-wolf was looking progressively more confused. “I guess that’s not really important. Kai and Tristin found me and saved me.”

  “She’s definitely one of them,” Rhys muttered as he appeared in the doorway. “She rambles as bad as he does.”

  She flipped up her middle finger in his direction, with a glare, hoping it wasn’t the last thing she ever did. He snorted, rolling his eyes.

  There was a clatter from the front room and all eyes swung for the door. Ember was prepared for almost anything but what she saw.

  10

  MACE

  Mace wasn’t sure exactly how long he lay on the ground clutching his head. He wasn’t sure about a lot of things. He didn’t know where those two had come from, he didn’t know how they found them and he didn’t know which one of them had hit him but he’d happily beat them to death with the shovel they’d left behind the next time he saw them. If he could just get off the ground. He stared at the stars overhead as they swam in and out of focus. It was his own fault for indulging his curiosity.

  His phone rang in his pocket which felt very far away from his hand for some reason. Whatever the girl had hit him with-Hellbore he suspected-was potent. Ember had been worth it though. She was something. He groaned as he attempted to shift himself before thinking better of it and lying back down.

  If he didn’t answer, there was a very good chance they would send somebody else to follow the girl. Somebody who had even looser morals than himself. He wasn’t entirely certain such a person existed but he didn’t want said person anywhere near his newest hobby.

  He’d met plenty of fascinating girls over the years. He wouldn’t be so trite as to say that she was differe
nt. They had all been unique in some way. This girl though, she was a bit of a mystery. He should know better than to make assumptions but he’d thought she would be meek and quiet. His intentions had been pure. He simply wanted a conversation but when she’d asked if he’d planned to kill her, he just had to know how she’d respond.

  She surprised him. He wouldn’t let her surprise anybody else. She was his. He had to know more about her. His magic wanted hers and it seemed the feeling was mutual. If he wanted to keep her, he didn’t have much choice. With great effort he pulled his phone from his pocket.

  “Mace,” he said.

  “What did you do?” He held the phone away from his ear, wincing at the pain that shot through his skull at Echo’s definitely not flirting tone.

  “What?” he asked, feigning innocence.

  “You had one job, Mace. Watch and report.”

  “I’m sorry. I realize I’m two hours late with my report but I assure you that there was nothing to report.” He lied smoothly. Just disobeyed a direct order, threatened a girl, got hit with some supernatural pepper spray and then left for dead in a cemetery. Nope. Nothing at all to report.

  “We happen to know otherwise.”

  “Do you?” he asked. “Fascinating. What is it you know?”

  “Do you think this is a game?” she whispered.

  “It’s all a game.” He grunted as he pushed himself into a sitting position, reclining against the stone building at his back.

  “This isn’t a game to some of us. I get that you get some sick thrill out of flirting with a lifetime of torment but some of us would like to keep our skin on our bodies.”

  His eyelid twitched. “I’m not interested in any of us losing our skin, least of all myself. I just don’t like secrets and you and I both know there is no reason for him to have chosen me for this job unless he has something else in mind for this girl.”

  “So what?”

  His eyebrow shot up, “So what? It doesn’t bother you that he might want to kill an innocent human?”