Nine Tails Collection 1-3: Kitsune and Shaman novel

by J. L. Weil

  With bags in one hand and refreshments in the other, we turned around to tackle the last wing of the mall and bumped into the last two people I wanted to see on earth.

  Madison Shuman and Valerie Miller.

  Seaside Heights’ very own rich, entitled, mean girls.

  I stifled a groan.

  Madison had a problem with me, and I didn’t know why. Maybe I had wronged her in another life, but for as long as I could remember, Madison and I butted heads. Something about her—other than the acrylic nails, bleached hair, and expensive French perfume—got under my skin. She was a shallow person, and it showed.

  Madison clutched her Luis Vuitton handbag as her cherry lips curled into a sneer. “Where’s Jesse? Or did he finally get a clue what losers the two of you are?”

  Savannah snickered beside her.

  Like I didn’t have enough going on. Now I had to deal with Madison, the skank of Seaside Heights. She tended to make a scene wherever she went.

  Hannah didn’t have my restraint, verbally or physically, just one of the many reasons I loved her. “Jesse has taste and class. He knows a skank when he sees one. And you, Madison, are a two-faced, lying, cheating bitch,” she snapped. I half expected Hannah to fly across the mall and make good on her threat.

  Note to self: never piss off Hannah. This was one of those instances I was glad she was my friend and not my enemy.

  “You’re right,” Madison said to Valerie. “They’re trash.”

  Hannah’s fingers tightened on her drink. I thought for sure she was going to throw it in Madison’s face. “You’re a real bitch, you know that?”

  I laid a hand on Hannah’s arm just in case she decided her tea might look better on Madison’s head after all. The last thing I wanted was a brawl outside of the food court. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before you decide to go round two, Rocky.”

  Hannah gave one long squinty eye in Madison and Valerie’s direction. “Argh. Girls like that burn my ass. Who does she think she is?”

  What really bothered Hannah was that Madison had implied she wasn’t good enough to date Jesse, which was just plain bullshit. “Don’t let her get to you. She isn’t worth the brain power.”

  “You’re right.” Hannah hooked her arm through mine. “I just hate how she thinks every guy at school is dying to fall at her feet, like she’s some goddess.”

  “Jesse wouldn’t. He’s one of the good guys.” Hannah couldn’t argue that point.

  The shopping mood had more or less been compromised, and after wandering aimlessly around Victoria’s Secret (Hannah’s favorite store) and coming out empty-handed, we knew it was time to go.

  As we headed toward the other end of the mall where we had parked, a strange feeling came over me that caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up. At first, I thought maybe a shift was coming on, and my palms began to sweat, but as we continued walking, I realized it was my inner alarm telling me we were being followed.

  I took a sip from my half empty drink and glanced over my shoulder, but there was no one, which didn’t explain why the whisper of unease tiptoeing down my spine amplified. Hannah chattered on, running her mouth a mile a minute about Madison, Jesse, graduation, college—jumping from one topic to the next. I heard what she said, but her voice sounded as if it was underwater, muffled by an instinct inside me, telling me we were in trouble.

  I shook my head. You’re being ridiculous. Paranoid after what happened.

  Yet I would swear on my Grandma Alice’s grave we were being followed. But every time I swung my head behind me, there was no one suspicious. Little beads of sweat slid down the front of my shirt, between my boobs.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Hannah asked. She studied me like I stood two steps away from going off the deep end.

  I ran my fingers through my hair, forcing my feet to keep moving. “Nothing,” I replied. “I just can’t shake the feeling we’re being followed.”

  Hannah held the door open as we walked outside into the cool, crisp evening. “Oh goody. Hopefully it’s a pair of hot guys.”

  I rolled my eyes. Only Hannah would turn a tense situation into a possible date. There was definitely something wrong with my best friend. She had testosterone on the brain. “Don’t think about asking me to go on a double date with you.”

  “Aw, come on, K. It could be fun.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  The moon filtered through the trees, spilling over the parking lot. Seaside Heights had always felt like the safest place on the planet … until this weekend. Lamplight from the posts shined along our path. A rock skipped on the pavement behind us.

  I stopped and whipped around, my eyes darting over the parking lot. My hand tightened on my shopping bags as I listened. For what, I wasn’t sure. The area was well lit, and still I couldn’t help feeling like the stupid girl in every horror film being stalked by some creep who was going to torture and gut me.

  “You really are jumpy,” Hannah whispered. “You’re starting to freak me out.”

  I was trying to protect her. If anything happened to Hannah because of me, I’d never be able to forgive myself. Maybe I should text Devyn, just to be safe.

  I gulped, swallowing the knot that attempted to form in my throat. “I just have a really bad feeling,” I muttered, pulling out my phone.

  We kept walking, and I could see Hannah’s SUV. Just a few more—

  Another rock skipped across the ground, but this time, it was followed by the unmistakable sound of footsteps. Screw this. I wasn’t about to second-guess this instinct inside me to run. “Get in the car now!” I took off, grabbing Hannah’s hand in the process. She matched my strides, not even bothering to ask what my problem was.

  We scrambled into the car, tossing our packages in the backseat. Hannah reversed, tires screeching as we left burnt rubber in our wake. I glanced in the side mirror, and I definitely saw something. A flash of two metal swords sliced in the air at a figure that shimmered silver under the moon.

  Devyn.

  He had come.

  And I wasn’t crazy. Something had been following us.

  Warmth and relief flooded me, and I sunk into the leather seats with a sigh. My traitorous heart reacted, thumping wildly in my chest. I was actually glad I had a stalker (said no girl ever), but tonight I was. Without Devyn I shuddered to think what might have happened to Hannah and me.

  Speaking of my best friend, a frown pulled at Hannah’s rosebud mouth as she guided the car onto the main road. “Are you going to tell me what just happened back there?”

  I closed my eyes for a moment. “I saved us from being jumped at the mall.”

  Taking her eyes off the road, she glanced at me. “Oh shit. I’m sorry, K. I totally forgot. Jesse told me what happened Friday night. You should have told me.”

  “I didn’t want to talk about it.” My hand lightly touched my cheek, and my thoughts traveled back to Devyn. He was back there fighting a Silvermyst, probably, or whatever extraordinary being had been sent from the Second Moon. I should have stayed. I wouldn’t be much help, but at least I would have been able to see if he was okay. Now I was just left wondering and worrying. I couldn’t explain it, but the idea of Devyn being hurt (or worse) left me horror-stricken. On the tip of my tongue balanced a demand for Hannah to turn around.

  And then my phone lit up in the dark car. It was Devyn. Are you okay?

  I exhaled. Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks to him. Twice now I owed Devyn my welfare.

  “And we won’t talk about it. Not until you want to,” Hannah said, bringing me back to our conversation.

  Hannah’s ability to know what I needed amazed me. I didn’t know what I would do without her and Jesse. It sucked serious goat balls that I couldn’t confide in them. As I studied my friend in the dark, her face illuminated by the interior blue lights of her car, I wanted more than anything to tell her everything. I had a guy in my life, sort of, and I couldn’t talk about him with the one person I wanted to. Seriously unfair.
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  Hannah dropped me off at the end of my driveway, and I waved as she took off toward home. I turned, entered the house, and headed straight for my room. I sat on the ledge of the window seat, looking at the million stars that twinkled in the cloudless night. There was a whole universe out there, and I wondered if the stars looked the same in the other world. Moonlight spilled over the houses in the cul-de-sac, including Jesse’s.

  I felt tired, but I wouldn’t be sleeping. Every time I drifted off, I dreamed of the alley and the two Silvermysts who attacked me. And I had dreams of me running through the woods as a fox with winter white fur and sapphire eyes. Occasionally, there were flashes of glowing green eyes and the hiss of snakes.

  It all seemed ridiculous.

  Laying my head back, thoughts of Devyn invaded my mind. No matter how hard I tried to block out the images of the dark-haired Shaman, he poisoned my brain like a drug I couldn’t get enough of.

  The bushes under my window swayed, and I leaned forward, pressing my nose to the glass. A logical explanation would have been the wind, but after everything that had happened, I was on edge. The tree that led to my second-story window began to shake, and I thought for sure someone was climbing the trunk and branches like a ladder. What if it was another Silvermyst determined to steal my soul? A flash of white caught my attention, stalling the air in my lungs.

  For the second time that night, my hand reached for my phone, prepared to dial Devyn, but when I turned back around, a face peered at me through the glass. A silent scream bubbled up in the back of my throat.

  “K? Let me in.”

  “Jesse?” I exhaled a whoosh of air. Duh. Of course it was the boy next door. He’d been sneaking through my window from the moment he learned to climb a tree. I quickly unlocked the clasp and opened the window.

  “Why is your window locked?” he asked, climbing over the frame and into my room.

  Another tidbit I’d overlooked in my paranoia: I never locked my window. Never had a reason to before. Seaside Heights was a safe place, and the only person dumb enough to climb the tree and bridge the gap from the branch to the house was Jesse.

  I looked up at him. His hair was windblown and had a leaf in it. I lifted my hand, plucking it from a loose strand. “What are you doing here?”

  He gave me a funny look. “I saw you in the window. You looked sad.”

  I sighed and curled up on the end of my bed. “I was just thinking about how this will be our last summer together. Everything is changing.”

  Jesse sat beside me, our shoulders touching. “Maybe. But one thing will never change: I’ll always be your best friend.”

  Would he? If he knew what I was, would he accept me? I thought about Devyn and Jesse meeting, and the idea made my stomach churn. Something told me there would be no bromance brewing between them. I needed Jesse in my life, depended on his friendship, but it was also becoming clear that I needed Devyn. One day my past and my future were going to collide. I didn’t want to be stuck in the middle when that tornado hit.

  I laid my head on Jesse’s shoulder. “I hope so.”

  Chapter Seven

  The next morning, my eyes burned with fatigue as I roamed from class to class. Last night had been rough after Jesse left. I’d laid there with my eyes open, staring at the ceiling. Before I knew it, my alarm buzzed in my ear and the sun crested over the horizon. Devyn was meeting me after school, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could function without sleep. Guess I would find out. Not that I was all gung-ho about my shifting session with Devyn, but I was anxious to see him.

  I had more questions, but that didn’t explain the anticipation dancing inside me.

  I would be lying to myself if I kept pretending I didn’t want to see him.

  Throughout the day, I found myself searching for him, wondering if he would just pop up when I least expected it. He didn’t. And I was irrationally disappointed. My brain couldn’t make up its mind about Devyn. He was bad, yet I wanted to see him. He was dangerous, yet he made me feel safe. He was different, yet I felt like I understood him.

  Students hurried through the halls after the final bell, pouring into the school parking lot and to the buses that lined the street. Devyn leaned against his shiny, sleek car parked beside my white one, looking like a renegade hell-bent on disrupting my life. He wore a black T-shirt that stretched over his hard-won muscles. His hands were stuffed into the front pockets of his dark jeans. Shadows cascaded over his face, hiding those magnificent emerald eyes, but not the curl of his lips.

  Excitement spread through my veins. The moment our eyes met, my mouth went dry, and I lost focus of my surroundings. He was all that I could see.

  “Who. Is. That?” Hannah purred.

  I blinked. “Uh, my self-defense instructor.” Wow, that sounded lame, and I highly doubted Devyn would take to being my “self-defense” instructor. Or then again, maybe he would.

  “Are you shitting me?” Hannah gasped, drooling. I couldn’t blame her. “He is totally chili pepper hot.”

  Jesse scowled. “He looks like a douche.”

  “And that shows how much you know about girls and what they want. How do I sign up?” Hannah asked, her glittering eyes roaming over Devyn.

  I cleared my throat. “He isn’t taking new clients.”

  Hannah smirked. “Oh, I see how it is. K doesn’t want to share her shiny new buff toy. I thought we shared everything.”

  I hiked my backpack higher up on my shoulder. “Not boys, remember?”

  “Right. Girl code.” She winked.

  Hannah and I had made a promise long ago never to date the same guy. First dibs got him, and the other didn’t even look twice. So far it worked just fine for us. It also helped that Hannah and I had completely different taste in guys … except apparently when it came to Devyn.

  You don’t like Devyn, remember?

  Ha. If only my body and brain could get on the same page. I looked over at Devyn again, and his eyes drank me in, as if I were the most beautiful thing in the world.

  Oh wow.

  “You never told me you were taking self-defense.” Jesse still frowned. In fact, it had deepened.

  What had he said? Oh right, self-defense. “I don’t tell you everything.”

  “You used to,” he grumbled.

  “Hello. I’m still here,” Hannah said, waving her arms in the air to draw attention to herself. “Can we get back to the subject of that tall drink of water over there?”

  Hannah and I weren’t the only girls eyeing the impressive Devyn St. Cyr. He knew how to stand out, but those eyes never strayed from my face.

  My stomach did a series of senseless cartwheels. “What about him?”

  “Okay, judging by the look on your face, he is teaching you a whole lot more than how to defend yourself. He’s the guy you met, isn’t he?”

  “What guy?” I responded automatically.

  Hannah rolled her eyes, smiling. “Oh yeah. Someone has a serious crush on her instructor. He probably knows your bra size too.”

  Shock smacked me in the face. “Hannah,” I hissed between my teeth.

  She grabbed my arm and began dragging me across the lot. “I want an intro. Now.”

  “I’ve got practice,” Jesse mumbled, turning toward the field locker rooms. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Your instructor has Jesse’s boxers in a wad. I wonder why.” She tapped a bubblegum pink nail on her lip, pretending to ponder the thought.

  My cheeks grew hot. “How many times do I have to tell you? There is nothing between Jesse and me. Besides, I thought you had a thing for him.”

  Hannah’s mouth fluttered open and then closed. Speechless. There was a first time for everything.

  Devyn’s gaze slid over me, and he gave me a smirk as Hannah and I approached. “Devyn, this is my best friend Hannah.”

  Hannah and Devyn exchanged looks. “Do you have a girlfriend?” were the first words out of Hannah’s mouth.

  I wanted to crawl under my car. �
�Hannah,” I snapped at her.

  Devyn’s disarming grin grew. “Are you offering, sugar?”

  “No, she’s not,” I answered for Hannah, unsure what came over me.

  Devyn lifted a brow. “You ready, Kitten?”

  I could have hit him for using a pet name he had no right using.

  Kitten, Hannah mouthed, the excitement on her face twinkling. I steered Hannah toward the other side of the parking lot. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Okay?” It was time for her to go. She’d gotten her introduction and had embarrassed me in the process. That was all I could take in one day.

  “Oh, you bet your ass you will.”

  I leaned against my car to find my balance and exhaled before facing Devyn.

  “We should go,” he said, a pleased-with-himself grin saturating his lips. He liked making me uncomfortable. I could see it in his glittering eyes.

  Nodding, I slipped into his car and glanced sideways at him, studying his profile. Being enclosed in the car and surrounded by his scent wreaked havoc on my brain. I found I longed for things I shouldn’t want, not with Devyn.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he assured me, his voice gentle.

  The damn thing was, I believed him. “How could you tell I am worried?”

  “Your eyes. They give away your emotions. And you were doing that lip thing you do when you’re mulling something over.”

  “Oh.”

  His lips curved. “Did you think it was something else?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe. You knew I was in trouble last night without me calling for help.”

  He nodded, his hands flexing on the steering wheel and then tightening. “You seem to be in danger a lot lately.”

  And according to him, it was only going to get worse—precisely why I sat here with him now, agreeing to learn about a curse I didn’t know I had. I was having a hard time seeing anything good coming out of being a Kitsune.