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

by Martina McAtee

  “Take off your shirt.”

  Kai’s head shot up. That escalated quickly. Tate was on his feet, shucking off his jacket and unbuttoned shirt.

  “Whoa,” Kai told him, hands up, “I’m not that kind of girl.”

  “Shut up,” Tate rolled his eyes. “Do you want to make him jealous or not?”

  Kai got to his feet, eyeing him warily. Tate came towards him, holding out the shirt. “Put it on.”

  Kai’s eyes widened, “Oh.” He stripped off his own button down shirt, reaching out for the one offered.

  “Yes, ‘oh’,” Tate repeated, gripping Kai’s arm when he reached for the shirt. He looked at the swirl of names on his arm. He traced the swirl with one finger dipping under the sleeve of his t-shirt. Kai shivered. “Your cousin’s name isn’t on here.”

  “No, it disappeared after we rescued her in the cemetery.”

  “Odd,” he said but didn’t elaborate.

  Kai thrust his arms into the shirt, letting Tate button it up for him. The panther dragged his hands through Kai’s already messy hair and smiled. “That should do it. I can’t guarantee he’ll act on his feelings but if he doesn’t his wolf will be seething with jealousy; should make for a very unpleasant few days for your friend.”

  Kai struggled to ignore the sharp pain in his heart. Rhys would never act on it. He had no idea why but he was nothing if not stubborn.

  “Hey.”

  Kai looked up.

  “You don’t have to wait on him. You are gorgeous. You are funny. You are a magical, mystical creature.” Kai punched his arm at the joke. Tate continued, “You can have any guy you want. Don’t waste your time on a guy who doesn’t know how awesome you are.”

  “The problem is, he’s the only guy I want.”

  Tate tsked, “Well, that is a problem but if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.”

  He leaned over and kissed the panther on the cheek. “You are pretty nice for a demon.”

  “I have my moments.” He leaned towards him again.

  The trap door burst open and Quinn poked his head in, a furious look on his face. “Quit making out and let’s go. Seems Mace has been lying to us…again. Big surprise, right?”

  “Huh?”

  “I’ll explain in the car.”

  “Okay.” He looked over his shoulder at Tate, “Hopefully, I live long enough to see you again.”

  Tate smiled. “Things have a way of working out.”

  The walk out was awkward, there were five people at the bar now. A bald guy covered in tattoos, stared him down as he walked past. Kai shivered. He was drinking something out of a highball glass. He tipped it in Kai’s direction, in a cheers motion.

  “Is that another reaper?” Kai whispered to Quinn.

  “Just keep walking. We have to get out of here.”

  Once they were in the car, Quinn lurched forward from the backseat and turned on Mace. “I think it’s time you told us everything.”

  Mace glanced at him and shrugged, “There is so much to tell you, I wouldn’t even know when to start.”

  “How about, when exactly did you start working for Allister?” Kai suggested. Mace was driving but only because Kai and Quinn didn’t trust him at their backs. Also, they weren’t entirely sure where the hell they were and they had no GPS signal.

  Mace looked at Quinn, “To be clear, I don’t work exclusively for your father. I’m an independent contractor. He occasionally hires me to take care of things so he doesn’t compromise his…reputation.”

  Quinn closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “You mean you kill people for my dad.”

  Mace seemed to consider his options before finally saying, “Yes, among other things.”

  Quinn went silent, jaw set, snatching the blue beanie cap off his head and raking his hands through his hair. “This sucks. I knew my dad was a horrible father but I thought he was at least one of the good witches.”

  “Did you really?” Mace asked. “Do you really think your father is a good witch?”

  Quinn just gazed out the window at the passing scenery.

  “We don’t know everything, Quinn. Your dad probably has good reasons for doing what he’s doing,” Kai tried.

  “Right, my dad has a soul eating hitman on his payroll. I’m sure he has the purest of intentions. No offense, man.” Quinn looked at Mace. Kai risked a look between Quinn and Mace. Why was Quinn apologizing to Mace?

  “None taken.” Mace shrugged. “Listen, I’m not one to point fingers but your father isn’t looking out for anybody’s interests but his own. I’ve known him for a long time. You shouldn’t trust him.”

  “What’s in that box?” Quinn asked, gesturing to the back of the vehicle and the crate Mace had stuffed in the trunk.

  “That’s confidential.”

  “You don’t get to say that anymore,” Kai told him. “Tell us everything or we tell Isa.”

  Mace arched a brow. “Isa is no threat to me. None of you are a threat to me. I am immortal. Ember needs me. I don’t have to tell you anything.”

  “Does that box have to do with Ember?”

  “Look, you don’t have to believe me about anything else but believe me when I say I will take care of Ember. I have this situation under control.”

  “My dad hired you to kill Ember.” Quinn said, voice barely a whisper.

  Kai’s eyes bugged at the idea. “That’s right. You tried to kill her. You work for Allister. Allister wanted her dead?” Kai asked.

  The two of them stared at Mace, shocked. “I wasn’t hired to kill her. I was hired to watch her.”

  “But you tried to kill her, I saw you,” Kai said.

  Mace huffed at them in exasperation. “How many times do I have to say this? I wasn’t going to kill her. I wasn’t even going to hurt her. I was just playing with her. I was bored. I was entertaining myself.” Kai scoffed in disbelief. “She started it,” Mace said, sullenly.

  “You just said my dad hires you to kill people but for some reason he didn’t want you to kill Ember.”

  “I was surprised too,” Mace told them. “I was told to watch her and report. I wasn’t to make contact with her. I wasn’t to speak to her. I was only supposed to watch her. My instructions were very clear.”

  “So what happened?”

  “I thought she was human for the first few days. The strangest human I’d ever met, to be sure, but human, nonetheless. She talked to headstones and dead bodies. She always had a sketchbook in her hand. She skipped school all days but one and spent her days in the cemetery. The first time I saw her use magic was at her father’s funeral. I had to do something.”

  “Why?” Kai asked.

  “I don’t know. She was drenched and panicked and looked so absolutely alone that I just…did.”

  Kai wondered if Mace could hear the way he talked about his cousin. It was strange. “How did he know she was alive? Why would he hire you at all? If all he wanted was a spy, why you?”

  Mace took his eyes off the road long enough to look at Kai. “You are asking me questions I have no answer for. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it wasn’t a surprise to him to learn that Ember was alive.”

  Quinn popped forward again, “What does he want with her? None of this makes any sense. How did my dad know about Ember? Does this mean my dad is responsible for all of this? Why is her magic tied to yours?”

  Music erupted from Kai’s lap. All three of them jumped. He fumbled, realizing it was his cell phone. Obviously, they had finally returned to a service area. His heart started to pound as Isa’s face appeared on the screen. He’d left town again without the alphas permission. “Isa,” he said, “I can explain-”

  “Shut up and listen to me.” Isa cut him off, “The Grove is coming. They want the entire pack present.”

  Kai’s stomach lurched, h
is heart pounding so hard he thought his ribs would break. “What? Why? D-Did they say why? They are coming for me, right?” He had known this was coming but he thought for sure that he had just a little more time. He thought of Tristin. He thought of Rhys. His mouth went dry. The urge to flee was almost overwhelming.

  “I have no idea, but they asked for you, Ember and Tristin specifically.”

  “When,” was all he could manage.

  “Any time now.”

  He sat frozen, unable to speak. He felt Mace pry his fingers off his phone but he didn’t fight him. He couldn’t believe this. He thought he’d take his impending death like a man but now that he knew it was tonight he found the urge to run was almost overwhelming.

  From far away he heard Mace ask Isa, “What’s going on?”

  He couldn’t hear her response and he was grateful. “We are an hour out,” Mace told her. He heard more shouting and a slight hysteria in the muffled words. “I understand. We’re on our way.”

  “Kai,” Quinn shook his shoulder. “What’s going on?”

  He opened his mouth and snapped it shut again.

  “The Grove,” Mace said. “They’re coming.”

  “What? When?”

  “Tonight, Isa said we need to come home immediately,” Kai said, voice hoarse, Adam’s apple bobbing. He twisted his hands in his lap, not sure what else to do.

  After a while, Mace said, “We can keep driving, mate. You can run. Nobody would blame you.”

  “He’s right. Maybe you should,” Quinn agreed, face pinched.

  Kai laughed humorlessly. “Run where? It would only make things worse. They would take it out on Tristen and Ember. They are coming for me.”

  They both glanced at each other uneasily but said nothing.

  “Just take me home.”

  55

  KAI

  There were several cars parked in the drive when they arrived. All lights blazed inside, as if to ward off the evil to come. Like the bad things could only live in the shadows. Quinn bolted for the front door but Mace hung back, giving Kai a long look. “You sure about this?”

  Kai wasn’t sure about anything. This may very well be the last night of his life. He wasn’t sure but he nodded, “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  Mace nodded, waiting for him to exit the car and walked along behind him. Fear was a gnawing ache in his gut but he plastered an easy smile on his face anyway.

  Tristin tackled him when he stepped through the door, hugging him tight enough to make him stumble. He let his head drop to her shoulder, reveling just a little in a scent he’d always taken for granted. “I’m fine. Everything is going to be fine.” Kai soothed, his hands stroking her hair, trying to reassure her. Her hair and her cheeks were cold and flushed from the air outside. “God, you’re freezing.”

  Quinn slid his jacket off and Tristin accepted it, burrowing deeper into the warmth. She pressed her nose to the collar, inhaling deep and her brother smiled. Quinn ran his hands up and down the sleeves still trying to warm her up. Quinn would take care of her if things go…badly. She had the pack. She’d get past losing him eventually. She’d be okay here with the others.

  Isa took a step away from a very unstable Ember. The alpha hugged Quinn and Kai together, nodding at Mace who nodded back, eyes going to Ember as if he couldn’t help it. He crossed to her, holding her face in his hands and whispering something in her ear. She blinked rapidly, looking up at him, bewildered. Kai couldn’t help but wonder what he’d said.

  Wren appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, grabbing first Quinn then Kai in a hug that made Kai pray to breathe. The wolf didn’t know his own strength. His heart squeezed. He knew what this was. Everybody was saying their goodbyes. He swallowed the lump in his throat. They weren’t sure they were going to make it out of this.

  Realization settled over him. They were going to try to fight for him; for all of them. They couldn’t do that. They had to let the Grove deal with him, whatever that meant. He looked at Ember leaning against Mace and his sister, chewing on her lip. The Grove hadn’t asked for just him. They’d asked for all of them. He didn’t want to die but he would rather take the blame alone. He’d had time to prepare for the inevitable.

  A shadow from the corner caught his attention. Rhys stood against the wall near the kitchen, arms hugging himself. Kai’s heart flipped in his chest. Dark circles marred the skin below his eyes, his expression grim but he was still the most beautiful thing Kai had ever seen.

  He looked like he’d spent the last several hours dragging his hands through his hair. Kai physically ached with his need to touch it, to smooth it down, to try to sooth his mind. He couldn’t stop himself from wondering if someday he would have taken this for granted. If he had lived to be an old man, would looking at Rhys have ever have stopped feeling like a privilege? Maybe it was good he’d never know.

  His stomach clenched at what he’d done just an hour before. He’d wanted to make Rhys jealous but he didn’t want Tate to be the last kiss he ever had. That didn’t belong to him. Guilt gnawed at his insides and he could barely look at Rhys who stared him down as if trying to telegraph a lifetime of desperate conversations into one hard look.

  They didn’t have time for this. They didn’t have time for any of it anymore. He didn’t have a lifetime to play games and fight and breakup and makeup and fight again about weddings and babies. He had now. Just now. He stalked over to him, determined in a way only desperation allowed. Rhys flinched at the scent of another man as he entered his space. Kai shoved Tate’s shirt off his shoulders, leaving just his own t-shirt from earlier. He ignored the others freaked out expressions and delivered what may be the worst line of his life. “If I’m going to die, I want you to be the last thing I taste.”

  Rhys’ eyes widened when he kissed him, stiffening in surprise, his breath huffing out through his nose. His hands clenched at Kai’s shirt, yanking him closer. Kai slanted his head, wrapping his arms around the wolf’s neck. He didn’t care about the room full of people. All he cared about was trying to sear everything about Rhys onto his soul. Rhys pulled back, palms cupping Kai’s face. He pressed their foreheads together and Kai couldn’t help but think he would happily stay like that forever.

  “You stink like somebody else,” Rhys grumbled. “I hate that.”

  “If I live, you can roll around in my laundry basket and make everything I own smell like you, deal?” He laughed softly, hoping the wolf would smile but he just looked sad and a little desperate. Kai wished he could have gotten just one real smile from him. It was so rare but when it happened, it was like staring into the sun.

  “Don’t talk like that,” Rhys frowned, “you’ll be-” Whatever he was going to say abruptly died on his lips as Allister appeared with four cloaked figures.

  Kai’s blood chilled in his veins. It should have been cliché. Four hooded bad guys standing in their doorway. If it had been a movie, he would have rolled his eyes; but this was not a movie. This was how he would die, the victim of four movie villains straight from central casting.

  Kai tasted blood and he realized he was biting his lip hard enough to cause injury. The wolves froze, vigilant. The four pushed back their hoods and Kai finally understood why people used the story of the druids in their fairytales.

  The men, if you could call them that, were hairless and pale, their eyes as white as the hooded robes they wore. Ancient symbols marred almost every inch of visible flesh, carved so deeply into their skin the wounds never closed. Rings adorned their fingers, drawing attention to their unusually long slender fingers and razor sharp nails. They stood silent in a line, hands clasped before them in identical fashion.

  Allister watched the four anxiously as he made introductions, “Children,” Allister said, maybe attempting to drive home how young they were. “These are the brother’s sent to represent the Grove.” He gestured to each of the four in turn, as he said, “C
aro, Hadrion, Maarav and Macario.”

  Caro looked directly to Isa, recognizing her authority as alpha. “We thank you for allowing us into your home.”

  Isa visibly flinched but came forward. They said it as if they’d had a choice, Kai thought; bitterness burning like acid in his stomach. He observed the four as they observed Isa. Well, three of them observed Isa. The fourth, Macario, stared at Tristin, head tilted, giving her his entire focus. Kai leaned his weight against Rhys, his back to the wolf’s front; he needed him near for as long as he could have it.

  Isa inclined her head, bowing slightly. “It is an honor to host the Grove. Our home is always open to you.”

  Caro smiled, a monster attempting to blend. “You are well versed in the old traditions for an alpha so young; but I thought you were betrothed?”

  Her smile faltered at the statement. “I am,” she confirmed, eyes darting to Wren.

  “Congratulations. But, surely, your betrothed has already taken over as alpha in preparation for after you’ve wed?”

  Rhys stiffened behind him and Kai tried to sooth him by reaching back and squeezing his hand. They were in completely new territory. Isa opened her mouth and closed it again, eyes wide. “We’ve yet to set a date.” Isa finally answered, avoiding the question.

  Wren moved then, standing just behind her. “Wren Davies, blood heir of the Blackthorne pack and beta to the Belladonna pack,” he said, inclining his head.

  Kai’s heart burst with love for Wren. He didn’t step in front of Isa or even stand beside her. He stood behind her, making it clear she was his alpha as well. Wren also didn’t acknowledge his archaic right to rule because of marriage.

  The second druid, Hadrion, stepped forward, eyes shining, reptilian smile on his face, “Yes, I believe we had dealings with your pack just a few years back, a rather bloody incident regarding a witch and an omega. Such a tragedy.”

  Wren’s eyes flashed, jaw clenching. Isa reached back, hand circling his wrist loosely. They wanted Wren to lose control. Instead, Wren dropped his gaze, regaining his composure. “That’s correct, yes. The incident was resolved.”