Nine Tails Collection 1-3: Kitsune and Shaman novel

by J. L. Weil

  He broke the kiss. I immediately leaned forward, intent on reclaiming his lips. I already missed their warmth. “Karina.”

  It was the sound of my name and not ‘Kitten’ that had me pausing. Sanity was slow to return, regardless that my body was humming. I blinked, the temperature in the air as hot as the sun.

  The smoldering look in his eyes began to cool. “I should probably take you home.”

  “I could always stay here.” Did I really say that? He was going to think I wanted to sleep with him. I mean, the way I was feeling right now, I kind of did want to sleep with him, but wasn’t what I had been implying. Or so I told myself. And I hadn’t wanted to come across as desperate, and yet I somehow managed to.

  “Sooner or later you have to go home. You can’t hide out here forever. Besides, won’t your parents be looking for you?”

  My arms looped around his neck. “They’ve probably put out an APB by now.”

  Devyn’s hands were at my waist. “I’d rather keep the cops off my tail.”

  “Probably a smart idea.”

  “I’ll drive.”

  “Do you think that’s safe?” I teased, needing to lighten the heavy feeling that had started to settle in my chest.

  Annoyance flashed in his eyes, and his jaw tensed up. “I’m still pissed about my car.”

  Ah. The massive dent. His pretty little baby had an imperfection. “Spoken like a true guy. There are more important things in life, you know.”

  He trailed a finger along my cheek, then down my throat. “I do. I care more about you.”

  Dazed, I stared up at him. Did this mean he was rethinking the we-can-only-be-friends rule? The thought had barely crossed my mind, when I found myself lifted off him and dumped on the other side of the couch.

  I blew the hair out of my face and glared at the Shaman.

  He was grinning like an utter shithead.

  Jerk.

  Chapter Eight

  Devyn’s car rolled into my driveway just after six pm and butterflies flitted in my stomach. I had turned on my phone during the short trip home and, man, what a clusterfuck. My phone was blowing up with notifications from Jesse, Hannah, and my parents. I thought Devyn was going to throw it out the window if the beeping didn’t stop, but I had to face the music.

  Jesse was at the end of his driveway, taking out the trash, and when he caught sight of me in Devyn’s car, he came stalking over with purposeful strides.

  “Shit,” I muttered.

  “Do you want me to take care of him?” Devyn asked.

  I gave him a side eye. “No, I don’t want you to kill my friend.”

  Devyn shrugged. “I don’t have to kill him. There are other ways of dealing with someone like him.”

  I wasn’t sure what he meant, but there was no way I was going to let Jesse and Devyn have a chance to go at each other. That was a recipe for disaster. “I got it, but thanks, I think.” Taking a deep breath, I got out of the car just as Jesse reached me.

  “What the hell, K. Where were you today?” Jesse demanded. He had on his annoyed expression.

  I exhaled, my energy levels dropping. “I took the day off. I needed a break from everything.”

  Jesse watched me with an unreadable expression, his stormy eyes more grey than blue. “And didn’t bother to tell anyone.”

  “You’re not her keeper,” Devyn cut in, doing anything but defusing a situation that was going to quickly escalate. I could feel it. I hadn’t even heard him get out of the car, or move so he was standing beside me, shoulder to shoulder, as if he was protecting me from Jesse. This was insane. I didn’t need protection from Jesse.

  “This doesn’t concern you. Why are you still here?” Jesse spat. “You got her home. I can take it from here.” He took my hand and gave it a tug, trying to pull me to his side.

  Jesse,” I hissed, yanking my hand out of his. No one was going to manhandle me tonight. I’d had my quota for the day. “He’s here because I want him here.”

  He shot Devyn a look that could kill before turning those daggers at me. “You have people who worry about you. Hannah and I tried to reach you all day. Your parents are worried sick. Your dad said you got in a fight last night, and you took off in the middle of the night.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I turned my phone off.”

  “This isn’t like you, K. Ever since you’ve been hanging around him, you’re not you.”

  We’re really doing this now? Heat seared my face. “Jesse, that’s not fair. And you know it has nothing to do with Devyn. Whether you believe me or not, he’s actually helping me.”

  “Did you hear that, tough guy? She likes having me around.” Devyn pinned Jesse with a dark look.

  “She doesn’t need you to speak for her,” Jesse snapped, poking Devyn in the chest.

  I blinked, and they were suddenly chest to chest, glowering like a pair of lions battling to be king. “Guys!” I interjected myself between them. The last thing I needed was an all-out brawl in my driveway. “Knock it off!” I barked, doing my best to shove them away from one another. It was like moving a brick wall one-handed.

  Anger still clung to Jesse’s features but he stepped back, and his gaze cut to mine. “Whatever. I’ll talk to you tomorrow—that is, if you decide to show up to school.”

  “Jess, that’s not fair,” I argued, but he had already started to walk away and kept going.

  “What’s his problem?” Devyn asked, scowling as Jesse marched across the lawn to his house.

  He couldn’t possibly be that dense. You, you meathead. That’s what I wanted to say, yet instead I sighed. “He’s worried about me. It’s what friends do.” Jesse knew me. It had been stupid to think I could keep my Kitsune life separate from my normal life. It was impossible. One trickled over to the other, emotions tangled, lies grew, and I didn’t know how to make it work.

  “He’s acting like a jealous boyfriend,” Devyn said, refusing to let it go for whatever reason.

  I stared at Devyn, wondering why he cared how Jesse acted. Was he jealous? Good. I hoped he was, but I was too tired to deal with this. “I’m going inside. Thanks for the ride and all the other stuff. I should probably go talk to my parents and let them know I haven’t been kidnaped. See you tomorrow, okay?” I twisted toward the white house. The porch light was on, glowing in a soft inviting yellow.

  “Kitten?” he whispered, stopping me right as I reached the door.

  I slowly turned back toward him, finding him closer than he had been before. “Are you okay?”

  There was a gentleness in his eyes that could unravel me. My emotions were close to the surface, my nerves were fried, and I didn’t know how much more I could take before I lost it. “I don’t know that I will ever be okay again.”

  “It might feel like that at the moment, but there will come a time when this will be behind us and nothing but a memory.”

  “Thank you. I hope you’re right.” I turned and walked through the front door, uncertain what I’d find. The moment the door clicked shut behind me Mom softly sighed my name, and then she engulfed me in a hug.

  “You’re okay.” Her voice quivered, and I knew she was close to tears.

  Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. I had never meant to upset her, and a crap pile of guilt mounted inside me. How could I have been so careless? I should have texted her, let her know I was safe and not being mauled to death by a Silvermyst or kidnaped by a Karura.

  “I’m so sorry,” I apologized, wrapping my arms around her and hanging on tightly. “I shouldn’t have left like that, not without letting you know where I was going.”

  “Your father told me you had a fight, about Devyn I assume.”

  I nodded, sniffling back the overwhelming feelings seeing my mom had caused. “He’s being so unreasonable.”

  “I know this is hard for you.” She kept her voice low. “But it’s for your father’s safety that he doesn’t know.”

  I couldn’t help notice how pale her face was, the dark h
air framing her hollow cheeks only emphasizing her washed-out coloring. “Trust me, I get it, but he isn’t making this easy on me when he forbids me to see the one person I need.”

  “I’ll talk to your father, and then you and I will discuss what’s going on later. I don’t want to hear how nothing is wrong, because I can see it in your eyes, Karina.”

  I nodded, tired, and feeling defeated at the moment. Everyone I seemed to care about was upset with me, and I didn’t know how to make it better. “Where’s Dad?” There was no use dragging out the inevitable. I had to see him sooner or later, no matter how angry with me he was.

  “He’s in his study.”

  His thinking room, the place he retreated to when he had a problem or needed to contemplate. I padded down the hall to the back of the house, and pushed gently at the cracked door. The hinges squeaked, alerting my father someone was approaching. His grayish-white head lifted as his blue eyes met mine.

  I swallowed, standing awkwardly and tongue-tied in the doorway.

  He leaned back in his large mahogany chair, the leather groaning from his weight. “Well, look who the cat dragged in.” His voice was deep, and I remembered how it used to make me feel safe when I was little.

  “I came to apologize. I shouldn’t have left without telling anyone.”

  He waved me inside, motioned for me to sit. I sank into the chair in the corner, the one my mom used to curl up and read in while my father worked, just to be near him. “I might have been a little too harsh. I was taken aback seeing you with a stranger. You’d never talked about this guy before. You used to talk to us.”

  “I was working up to it. Mom asked me to have him over for dinner. I just hadn’t picked a date. Things have been crazy between work and school.”

  “Maybe you should cut your hours at the café,” he suggested.

  I shook my head. “I’ll be fine. Besides, college isn’t going to pay for itself.”

  “We talked about this. Your mother and I will—”

  The urge to cry rolled over me, but I stiffened my lip. “You have more important things that money could go to. Mom needs it more than I do.” I needed her to hold on as long as she could, especially now that I knew she wouldn’t be getting better from any medicine a doctor could prescribe.

  “He’s that important to you?” Dad asked, circling back to Devyn. I was glad. Talking about Mom would for sure bring on the tears I was doing so hard to hold back.

  I wanted to look away as I tensed, but I tipped my chin up. “He is.”

  He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk. “Okay, then. We’ll have him over for dinner.”

  I smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. I’ll be keeping my eye on him.”

  I stood up and walked around the desk, closing the gap between us as I gave him a hug. “I have tons of homework to catch up on and a ridiculous amount of reading material. You’d think since it’s almost the end of the year they would lighten up. Not at Seaside Heights High.”

  There must have been something in my voice that alarmed him. He stared down at me with concern. “Kit Kat?”

  “I’m okay, Dad. You don’t need to worry,” I assured.

  He flicked the end of my nose. “I’m your father. It’s what I do.”

  Upstairs in my room, I checked my phone and responded to Hannah’s umpteen texts. By the fifth message, she had been threatening to call the FBI. By the last message, she told me not to bother to call her. She was pissed. Today was turning out to be one of those days I wanted a damn do-over.

  Hannah, Jesse, and I rarely fought, which made this rift between us difficult. Maybe pushing them away was the only way to keep them from getting swept up in this mess. As lonely and depressing as the idea was I toyed with the notion, but I couldn’t bring myself to cut them out of my life. Hannah would forgive me eventually. She always did.

  I had my hand at the hem of my shirt, dying to get out of these two-day-old clothes, when a telltale prickly feeling on the nape of my neck alerted me I was being watched. Half afraid to look, half afraid not to, I glanced out the window and my eyes connected with Dmitri.

  Holy crappity-crap

  My heart stopped.

  What was he doing back? Was he going to try to take me again? If he did, would Devyn be able to save me? Find me?

  Alarm had me frozen, turning my blood to ice as I stood locked in a staring contest with the Karura. It was a yellowish glow from the corner of my eye that broke the trance. A light had flicked on at Jesse’s house, his bedroom, and fear gripped my chest, making it hard for me to breathe. Dmitri’s eyes followed mine next door as Jesse opened his curtains.

  Oh. My. God.

  No. No. No.

  Jesse, what are you thinking? Can’t you sense the danger? Get the hell away from the window!

  I fumbled with the phone in my hands, frantic to call him or text him, something to send a signal. Jesse’s eyes captured mine, his fingers going to the bottom of the window.

  Feeling sick, I pressed against the glass, yelling and motioning him to move, to get back into his room. Jesse’s brows rose, confusion reflected in his expression. My gaze darted back to where I’d seen Dmitri, but the winged douchebag was gone, vanished into thin air.

  Son of a—

  Where was he? My nose was smashed to the window, fogging up the glass as I breathed heavily, searching the dark sky like a lunatic.

  A glimmer of green broke through the darkness, along with the tingles of recognition.

  Devyn.

  I didn’t know how he was able to move with such speed, arriving back at my house just as the cusp of danger encroached.

  My phone buzzed.

  I glanced at the screen and swiped to answer the call. “Devyn, that thing, that winged-kidnapper with the muscles. He’s back. I saw him from my window.”

  “Muscles, huh? Sounds like you want to date him.” There was humor in his voice. How could he be amused?

  “Oh, shut up. Is he gone?”

  “Yes. I took care of him.”

  My shoulders relaxed. Knowing it was safe, I returned to pressing my face to the window, seeing Devyn leaning against a tree in the shadows. “What do you mean by taken care of? Did you, you know, send him back?”

  His eyes were glittering like sharp diamonds. “He won’t be bothering you or your family tonight. You can sleep easy tonight, Kitten. I’ll be here, keeping an eye on you.”

  The pressure in my chest let up. I don’t know what I would have done without the arrogant Shaman. “You’re going to stay out there all night?” I asked. I didn’t want him sleeping on the street.

  A winsome grin appeared on his face. “Unless you plan on sneaking me into your room.”

  I choked. Under the current circumstances that was a very bad idea, regardless of how tempting the prospect was. Devyn. In my bedroom. My toes curled. “Uh, can you teleport?” I was more or less joking.

  “And if I could, would you let me spend the night?”

  My skin suddenly grew hot, the green of his eyes brightening under the stars. “Probably not.”

  He chuckled in a way that said I was a liar. “I doubt lover boy next door would take kindly to seeing me scale the tree he used for so long to get into your room.”

  Jesse! My gaze flew to his house. Had he seen Devyn? Dread pitted in my gut. When I looked back at Jesse’s window, he was gone.

  “Great. Just freaking wonderful,” I mumbled, forgetting I was still on the phone with Devyn.

  “Guess someone got his tighty-whities in a bunch.”

  “Don’t be a jerk.” I hung up the phone with the sound of his laugh resonating in my ear.

  From under the streetlight he smirked as he crossed his arms, still leaning up against the tree. I trusted him when he said I would be safe for the night. He would make sure of it, but Devyn St. Cyr was making a mess of my life. I’d never felt more confused about everything. It didn’t matter at the moment I was responsible for most of the mes
s. There was something about the Shaman that pushed my buttons.

  I stuck out my tongue.

  His smirk only widened.

  Guess guys from other worlds weren’t so different from here.

  Chapter Nine

  Two days went by and not a single word from my friends. They didn’t acknowledge me in the halls. They ignored my calls. When I walked into a room, they walked out. I got it. They were still holding a grudge, maybe even giving me a dose of my own medicine, but when was it going to stop?

  Hadn’t I been punished enough?

  Obviously not.

  I couldn’t make them understand. It was too dangerous, so I endured their silent treatment. Eventually they would forgive me, and things would go back to normal… as normal as my life could be.

  But the treatment had me at the height of bitchiness by the end of the day.

  Yesterday, I had worked at the café until closing, and as I walked out of the school alone the past few days started to come down on me, wearing me out emotionally and physically. I wanted nothing more than to go home and curl up in a little ball, binge Supernatural, and pig out on a bucket of cookie dough and Cheetos.

  Instead, I had to meet Devyn at his apartment, seeing as the beach was no longer a safe place to practice. He’d better have a bag of Cheetos and be ready for some serious ass-kicking, because I was in a mood to release a mountain of pent-up emotions.

  I hopped into my car and weaved through the afterschool traffic, making my way toward the center of town, where Devyn’s apartment complex was located. Some douche behind me laid on his horn when my foot didn’t hit the gas fast enough for him at a light. Could I help it if I was distracted?

  Swinging into the parking lot off Elm Street, I parked my little Nissan and entered the building, taking the stairs at a jog. I didn’t bother to knock. He was expecting me. The Shaman had better have some damn pants on, or I might attack him with my mouth. Yeah. I was in that kind of mood, consequences be damned. What more did I have to lose?

  I tossed my bag on the floor and slammed the door shut behind me. Sadly, Devyn was wearing sweats and a T-shirt. He was in the kitchen, guzzling a bottle of water, looking like he’d just had his own workout. His golden skin glistening with a sheen of sweat.