Echo snorted, “Oh, please. Since when did you care if humans are innocent? You lived off those innocent humans for over a century. Are you suddenly developing a conscience?”
“I’m simply saying I don’t understand why I’m being kept out of the loop. Shouldn’t I have all the information if I’m going to keep tabs on this girl?”
“This isn’t a loop, it’s a ladder and you’re on the bottom rung so just do what you’re told before you get us dead, yeah?”
“Wow. Time has made you bitter, Echo.”
“Listen to me, you go find that girl. You do exactly as you are told and not one thing more. Do I make myself clear?”
“Mm, no. I don’t think so, Dear” he told her, happy that she couldn’t see him grimacing. “New plan. Tell the man upstairs I want to speak to him directly.”
She laughed, hard and loud. “That will never happen.”
“Tell him I want to speak to him now or I’ll just rip the girl’s throat out and be done with it. I am, after all, the only one who knows her whereabouts.”
“Are you crazy?” He felt a little bad. The poor dear sounded near panic-stricken.
“Do it, Echo. This conversation is starting to bore me and we both know what happens when I get bored. I promise you, the girl didn’t go far. Tick tock.”
“Hold” she said, leaving him to listen to surprisingly jaunty music. He always expected the bad guys to have darker taste in music but he supposed that was stereotyping.
Time seemed to creep by as Mace listened to all the hits from the classics to today. He stared up at the stars, the shapes still bleeding in and out of focus, hoping that his supernatural hangover would soon dissipate. His eyelids were starting to droop when a voice came on the line.
“Mace,” the other man said, voice hissing his name like a snake. “I knew giving you this job was a mistake. I knew you were reckless but I didn’t think you were suicidal. You will not touch that girl unless I say. Is that understood?”
He rolled his eyes, “Yes. Yes. I’ll be tortured, maimed, you’ll cut out my heart. Rend the flesh from my bones. Blah. Blah. Blah. Just tell me what she is and I’ll go back to being creepy lurking in shadows guy until you let me off my leash.”
“Excuse me?”
“What is she? You must know. That’s why you’ve been waiting for her powers to show, right? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“So she did come into her power? I knew it,” the other man muttered under his breath. “Were you planning on telling Echo this?”
“I wanted to tell you directly. I’m not really one for middle management. Too much room for error. I think if this arrangement is going to work, I should just speak directly to you.”
“I’m not entirely sure where you got the idea that you were somehow the one making decisions around here but I assure you that is not the case. I will just hire somebody else to watch the girl. Somebody who knows how to take orders.”
“What do you think that somebody will do when they get a taste of her magic? I can tell you, whatever she is, she’s powerful and a bit out of control. It seems like she might be quite a weapon with a little bit of training. Do you really trust anybody else with her? Besides, she and I really hit it off quite nicely.” He thought back to their brief interaction, “I think she likes me.”
“So you disobeyed a direct order and talked to the girl?”
He smiled at that. “Oh, come on. You know me. You had to know I would. You can’t dangle a hunk of meat in front of a lion and not expect it to at least give it a sniff.”
There was a snort from the other end of the line. “I can’t figure out if you are a genius or one of the stupidest people I’ve ever met.”
“It varies from day to day,” he reasoned. “But I’m not wrong. We wouldn’t want your fancy new toy falling in with a bad crowd, would we?”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “I want you to make friends with her. Get her to trust you. Do nothing else until I say. Nothing, Mace. Until further notice, that girl is your new best friend. Are we clear?”
“Crystal, Sir. Crystal.”
11
EMBER
A rather disheveled looking pale boy fell through the doorway as if gravity itself worked against him. Rhys righted the boy with one hand, shaking his head in resignation, as if this was something that happened all the time. The boy glared at the doorframe as if it was the culprit. He then righted the navy blue beanie cap perched on his longish shaggy brown hair and pushed up his black framed glasses with one finger.
His eyes widened as he took in the scene before him. Kai gave a half-hearted wave from his position beneath Isa. The new kid gave a confused one fingered salute back, moving to the side of the room where he would be out of the line of fire.
Behind him, another boy followed. He walked with every bit of grace and confidence that the first one lacked. He had the build of an athlete and biceps the size of her head. His hair was close cropped and his complexion was a warm butterscotch like some of the creole kids she grew up with in the French Quarter. He had the palest blue eyes Ember had ever seen. He wore a pair of baggie jeans and a sleeveless grey hoodie. He sort of hovered at the edge of the room, hands buried deep in his pockets like he was cold.
She was no expert on the supernatural but from what she could tell, the wolves’ eyes all seemed to glow slightly. Which meant the paler boy was not a wolf. His eyes were amber behind those square frames, beautiful but human.
“Where are the others?” Isa asked, tone sharp.
“Harpy,” Donovan said as if it explained everything.
Clearly it did because Isa huffed an aggravated sigh.
Hoodie wolf’s gaze fell on her and a huge smile split his face. “Is this her?”
He rushed forward. She shrank back, bracing for an attack. She braced for attack. Instead, he leaned forward, nose pressing against the space where shoulder meets neck, inhaling deeply. Her skin crawled, muscles tense. His hands braced on either side of her head boxing her in as he took his time, snuffling at her like an overeager puppy. People really needed to stop sniffing her.
“What is she?” he asked wondrously, to nobody in particular.
Her head was pounding. Was he kidding? What was she? What the hell were they? What was she doing here? She was not a pet. She shoved hard, only briefly admiring the wall of his chest muscles as she pushed him. He didn’t even budge though he did grunt a bit.
“Uh, dude,” the pale boy said, “I know we’ve never really lived in the outside world, but humans out there don’t like being sniffed. They think it’s weird.”
The guy in front of her laughed with a shrug like that was the weirdest thing he’d ever heard but backed off. She glared at him. “Yeah, that’s right. We don’t.” She pulled her legs to her chest, wrapping her arms around herself wiping her sweaty forehead on her sweater sleeve. “Here’s a short list of what else we don’t like. Being kidnapped. Being driven over state lines. Being the only human in a room full of supernatural freaks. Being stared at by said supernatural freaks like they are contemplating whether she’s their next snack or a nifty science project.”
Silence filled the room as her last sentence died off, growing awkwardly until Hoodie McSnifferwolf turned to Isa earnestly and said, “I like her, Isa. I like her so much. Please tell me we can keep her. This place is so boring and she’s-” he sighed, “awesome.”
He suddenly seemed to remember his manners. He thrust out his hand, “I’m Donovan.”
She stared at him blankly, brain fighting to keep up with his odd behavior. She took his hand before dropping it, his skin too hot on her already overheated skin. “You’re hot,” she gasped.
He winked at her, “Thanks, you too.”
“That’s not wh-” she started.
“Ignore him,” Black Glasses said. “He has no manners at a
ll.” He walked forward, awkwardly sticking his hand out for her to shake. He flinched when she took his hand, “I’m Quinn, and given the way everybody in this room is reacting to you right now, I’m about ninety eight percent positive I’m the only human in this room.”
There was a shuffling outside the room and two more people hurried through the door, Tristin trudging along behind them resentfully. “Did we miss it?” a male voice asked, sounding more curious then disappointed.
Ember gaped, more stunningly good looking people. A tiny girl with long platinum hair and huge pixie like eyes stood just inside the doorway and leaned herself against Rhys, her back to his chest. They were a striking couple, like the kind you’d see on a romance novel cover. He wrapped an arm around the girl’s waist and used his other thumb to wipe at a weird green substance on her cheek.
“Harpy?” he asked.
“Harpy,” she confirmed in a soft bell like voice.
The guy who arrived with her cousin and the pixie didn’t venture far from the door either. He stood, arms crossed, leaning against the wall, taking in the scene. He was tall and lean, hair the color of wheat. A rather impressive tattoo snaked up his right arm and disappeared under the sleeve of his t-shirt.
“Oh, come on,” Ember moaned, clutching her temples. “Do all wolves look like they escaped from a movie? Are you like supernatural models?”
Quinn snickered, crossing his arms over his chest, mimicking the older male. He moved to lean against the wall as well, flailing as he realized he’d miscalculated the distance.
She didn’t think this was funny at all. Did being supernatural make you supernaturally hot? Were they just genetically gifted? Was it years of breeding out flaws? Would she somehow get hotter now that they thought she was something not quite human?
Maybe she could finally get rid of her freckles or that weird birthmark on the back of her neck or the slight gap in her front teeth. That would be awesome. There had to be some perks to being kidnapped by werewolves and, well, whatever her cousins were.
Isa finally left her perch on top of Kai, kneeing him in the diaphragm as she did, most likely on purpose, judging by the small smile playing at her lips. She walked over to the older guy with the spiky blonde hair and planted a hard kiss on his lips, “Hey, babe.”
He smiled, wrapping his arms tightly around her. He buried his face in her neck growling softly. Ember knew she was staring but she couldn’t look away. The man rubbed his cheek against Isa’s and made a strange sort of snuffling sound. Ember risked a glance at the others. Nobody seemed to think this was strange at all. Kai dusted wood and shards of glass off his butt and cracked his neck. Ember tried to school her features into a look that didn’t scream ‘what the hell’ but knew she was failing miserably. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore.
“Will somebody please, please tell me what is going on?”
Isa untangled herself from her boyfriend, dragging him to the sofa across from the chair Ember occupied. She shoved him down roughly and sort of draped herself across his lap. He just smiled dopily at her like she was his entire reason for existing.
Jeez, these people didn’t care at all about personal space. Isa looked at Kai and Tristin each in turn. “Gather round, children,” she commanded the room, her voice daring somebody to argue. “It seems its story time. And, since Kai decided he can make decisions without his pack, he gets to be the one to fill us all in.” To his credit, Kai at least had the decency to blush.
Tristin stayed against the wall, near Quinn. Donovan sat in the chair that was the mate to the one Ember was sitting in. The girl peeled herself away from Rhys and settled herself on the floor in front of Donovan. The boy began to run his hands along her back and shoulders, not even looking as he did so.
Kai sat on the couch next to Isa like he wanted to be close to her but wasn’t sure if he was still in trouble. From the corner of her eye, Ember watched the larger wolf, Rhys, watching Kai, his look giving away nothing of his motives. She wondered what the story was between those two.
Kai looked at his sister, clearly hoping for help. She smirked viciously, “Go ahead, brother, seems the floor is yours.”
12
EMBER
“I hope you weren’t planning on starting without me.” A voice asked from the doorway.
A man of about fifty sauntered into the room, casual in khaki’s and a button down shirt. He had familiar eyes and hair greying at the temples, a big fake smile on his lips. He looked like he should be selling life insurance.
Ember didn’t know if he was friend or foe as his arrival sparked several different reactions. Isa looked relieved; Quinn’s mouth turned down at the corners. Tristin shuffled closer to Rhys, who tucked her into his side, bored expression never changing.
Kai looked like he might vomit.
“Of course not, Allister.” Isa smiled, “You are just in time. We were going to introduce ourselves to our new friend here and then Kai was going to tell us exactly how screwed we are.”
“Excellent,” the older man said, smiling benevolently at her, earning another glare from Quinn.
Kai took a deep breath and blew it out slowly before nodding, “Uh. Right, introductions.” He mumbled to himself, “So, um, this is Isa-Isa McGowan, she is the alpha werewolf of the Belladonna pack,” his voice shook, “this is her mate, Wren,” He gestured to the man beneath her. “Um, their like werewolf married, kind of.”
Isa slapped Kai’s arm, then stroked a hand through his hair. He leaned into the touch, “That’s Rhys,” he said, gesturing half-heartedly toward the broody wolf in the corner, “he’s Isa’s douchebag brother, he says he’s in charge of keeping everybody safe but mostly he just scowls and mopes and rolls his eyes.”
Everybody chuckled at Kai’s assessment except Rhys, who growled low at Kai. The alpha raised a brow at her brother and the sound died, with another eye roll. Ember wondered if it was possible to sprain an eye muscle.
“You’ve met Donovan, he’s an omega.” Kai said as if Ember knew what that meant. Donovan nodded towards her. Kai pointed to the blonde girl with the wide hazel eyes. “That’s Neoma. She’s an elemental; she came with Wren.”
Ember tried to keep up, she really did, but this was a lot of information for her foggy brain to digest. She’d seen enough movies to get the werewolf part. The last introduction stymied her, “Elemental?”
“She’s fay,” Kai said.
Ember smiled weakly, at least she’d been right about that. “I thought you looked like a pixie.”
Neoma’s face fell and Quinn laughed, “Oh, no. Faeries and pixies are not the same thing. Pixie’s are nasty, violent little things…like Tinkerbelle with fangs.” He crooked his fingers like snake teeth for emphasis. “Neoma is a faery, an elemental from the Ohrenthral Court.”
“Oh, sorry,” Ember looked to Quinn, “What about you?”
It was Rhys who spoke up, “Oh, the human? Near as I can tell, his job is to eat all of our food and distract him,” he gestured to Kai, “from providing any useful contribution.”
“So you’re really just human?” Ember blurted.
Everybody gaped at Ember, looking appalled. Her face flushed. She wasn’t sure what she’d done. The older guy at the door, Allister, sneered at Quinn. He seemed like kind of a douche. Quinn glowered back. Tristin glared at Ember, gravitating towards Quinn like a magnet. The room seemed to be turning hostile.
She tried to correct herself, wiping her brow. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. It just seems like there’s not a lot of humans around here.”
Quinn shrugged, staring down Allister as he said, “The town has been cloaked from the humans for their own protection. We get too many supernatural creatures roaming through town. There are many humans here but they are all born to magical families. Mine are witches. Talbot witches, actually. Now, that doesn’t mean anything to you, but we’re kind of a bi
g deal in the supernatural world.” She wasn’t sure if he was joking. His face would suggest no.
“So supernatural people are cool with humans?” That sounded promising. If she was a human. Of course, she was human. God, she hoped she was human. Didn’t she? She didn’t know anymore.
“Most supernatural families don’t care what their children are as long as their healthy. But some, say, from prestigious bloodlines like mine; tend to look down on humans.”
Ember nodded but Quinn didn’t notice. It seemed he wasn’t talking to her anyway, still staring down Allister.
“Quinn contributes plenty around here, human or not,” Isa stated, eyes on her brother, tone denoting it as the end of the matter. Rhys was too busy glaring at Kai to notice. As far as Ember could tell, Rhys’ full time job was watching Kai.
“So, yeah, that’s everybody.” Kai finished lamely.
Allister cleared his throat and Kai looked embarrassed, “Oh, yeah and this is Allister Talbot. He’s the head of the witches’ council and Quinn’s dad.”
“Oh,” Ember said. Well, that explained the hostility. She smiled sadly at Quinn. She could relate. She could write a book on daddy issues.
Isa spoke up, watching the older man, “Allister, this is the girl Kai saved. November Lonergan.”
13
KAI
Kai almost laughed at the look on Allister’s face. Almost. The older man stumbled forward, stopping just in front of his cousin.
“I-” Allister started, moving towards her and stopping short, “How is this even possible? I mean, we all thought you were dead.”
“Nope, alive and well.” She said, head lulling a bit on her shoulders. “Well, alive, anyway. Sort of.”
Allister studied her, “You do look just like them. Nobody could miss Seraphina or Samara when they were in the room. That hair,” He reached out a hand but caught himself. “Are you alright, my dear? You look unwell.”
Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (Dead Things Series Book 1) Page 7