by Kaye Draper
"Oh, shut up!" I said, getting in his face so he had to stop staring at the ground and meet my eyes. "That's not what I meant, and you know it." I took a breath and got myself under control. "You mean well, Em. I know. But I just don't understand why you insist on calling me a girl and bringing this crap up all the time."
He looked down at me with soft brown eyes. "I just want you to know it's okay, Sam. You can be a girl and a boy. Girl Sam doesn't deserve to be locked up all the time."
I gaped up at him. My face heated up for some damned reason, and breathing suddenly became impossible. "You…you…," I spluttered. "You asshole."
Fin shoved between us, shaking his head. "Enough," he ground out. "You two are so fucking dumb. Sam, stop being prickly. Emerson, stop crushing all over Sam." He passed between us and we both watched him go, flabbergasted. "I need a fucking drink," he muttered as he headed down the sidewalk.
I glanced at Emerson to find the green hulk had turned a fascinating shade of pink. "Em?" I breathed, completely confused and feeling like I might faint if I got any redder myself.
He refused to meet my eyes. But his bumbling and blushing now made so much more sense. "Come on Sam," he said in a deep, gruff voice. "We need to get Fin a drink before he does something to make us all unlucky."
I nodded in agreement and followed him. Because if this was us being lucky, then I didn't think I could survive unlucky.
"Hey, Fin!" I called out as I lengthened my strides to overtake him. "Can leprechauns even do that?"
Because that could be a useful weapon. And I'd much rather focus on that than the fact that big, nerdy, wonderful, kind Emerson thought I was somehow worth his attention. Or the fact that the thought made my insides go all warm and…gooey. Eew. Yuck. Gross.
I glanced at the green giant as he lumbered after Fin, trying to catch up without bumping into and crushing passing civilians. Absurd.
I shook myself. Maybe I needed a drink too.
Chapter 6
I pulled up to the tall metal gates in front of the stupid palatial estate that housed one spoiled, rich human. Apparently, the guy refused to use the provided government housing and insisted on his own house. The guards by the gates didn't bother to hide their scoffing looks when they saw my rusty old Jeep.
I still hadn't been able to completely get rid of the ink stink, so the guard who tapped on my window was treated to a waft of foul-smelling, fishy-sewer air when I cranked the window down and held out my ID. I beamed at him with my brightest, most annoying smile.
"What's a hunter want with the new sovereign?" The guy demanded. He was tough and gritty looking, a middle-aged human with salt and pepper hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and enough firepower strapped to his person to negate pretty much any cur threat.
I eyed the other guards who stood by the gate. Coming here was stupid. They would be just looking for any excuse to kick my ass, simply because I wasn't human.
"I'm sorry," my mouth responded before my brain could censor it, "I gave you the wrong ID. I meant to give you my prostitution permit." I waggled my brows. "I hear the new head honcho is quite the cock gobbler."
The guard had his gun to my temple in record time. Not too bad, for a human. "Too bad fucking animals is illegal," he ground out, his eyes going mean. "Or I'd choke you with my own cock while I put a bullet in your mongrel brain."
Ahh, bigots. Always so charmingly hypocritical. "Or," I said calmly, baring my sharp teeth. "You could actually check to see if I was invited here before you start acting like an asshole."
"Stevens!" a brisk alto called out. "Is there a problem?"
The guard didn't remove his gun from my face. "There won't be in about two seconds. Just a cur to mop up."
His arm was knocked aside, and I found myself staring into a pair of intelligent hazel eyes set in a slightly wrinkled, olive-toned female face. Her gray-streaked brown hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, and her no-nonsense posture said she was used to dealing with her mulish subordinates. "What's your business?"
I sighed. "I'm not sure the big boss man would like me to share the sordid details."
She rolled her eyes. "Name?"
"Sam Forest," I said, fighting a smile.
She smacked the other guard in the back of the head. Hard. "Go check the logs, twat-waffle."
He glared, but went to the guardhouse and rummaged around. Then he came back with dragging steps and handed her a notebook. She glanced at it, then at him. "Leave your weapons at the booth, you ignorant, incompetent waste of oxygen. Your last paycheck will be deposited in two weeks."
He gaped at her. "You've gotta be shittin’ me! Over a fucking cur?
She rounded on him, her voice quiet but deadly. "If you aren't smart enough to check the facts before you try to start an interspecies incident with a diplomat invited here by the sovereign, you deserve everything you get."
He growled and stormed away.
"Bad day at the office?" I asked, finally letting the smile out.
She lifted one eyebrow at me. "Don't even start with me, boy. I'm way too old to take shit from anyone. Even someone as pretty and important as you. Get the shit-eating grin off your face."
Gods, her and Josie would get along great.
She lifted a hand and waved to the guards to let me through the gates. I laughed my ass off all the way up the long, densely wooded drive to the stupid mansion. Because I liked that woman. But also, because even she had fucked up so badly. Important person. Diplomat. That was a riot.
I parked my vehicle in a perfectly manicured space off to the side of the towering sandstone monstrosity this Theo guy called a house, and was escorted by five more guards to the front door. These ones kept their mouths shut. Though they still gave me the side eye. Yeah, yeah. Suspicious monster in human territory. It got old after a while.
I was just glad I'd decided not to bring Fin and Emerson. I told myself it was because I didn't want them to embarrass me, the way they always did. But if I was being honest, I just didn't want to see them deal with being looked down on like dogshit. Plus, it always was possible the humans would get trigger happy just because we weren't human.
I made sure to smile at every guard who glanced my way, just to make them uncomfortable. I was surprised when a few of them smiled back and nodded. That wasn't the usual response. It was just weird.
At the door, we were greeted by a butler who was definitely not human. I glanced from him to the guards around me, wondering if they knew. The guy looked human enough, tallish, slender, his blond hair just starting to go gray at the temples. But he smelled like water and magic.
I arched a brow at him when he held out an arm and motioned for me to come in. He just gave me a bland look, then turned to the guards. "I will escort Mr. Forest from here, thank you ladies and gentlemen."
The guards shared a nervous look, but did as they were told, resuming their positions on the wide stone porch.
The big wooden doors closed behind us and I stood alone with the butler in a big, bright foyer, looking down a hall that held way too many over-sized potted plants. It reminded me of some sort of atrium or aviary or something. "No guards?"
He gave me a bland smile. "Not necessary. I could fill your lungs with water pulled from the air around us before you got far enough to do any harm." He lifted an arm and gestured down the hall. "Follow me please."
I shook my head and followed the weirdo. Apparently, those rumors about the new guy employing monsters weren't wrong after all.
He led me to another room with tall, carved wooden doors flanked by two hulking bodyguards. After a brief knock, he opened the doors and waved me inside. The new human ruler stood by a bank of tall windows, looking out at a garden courtyard filled with lush vegetation the likes of which I had never seen in this town. He was immaculately dressed, as usual, in a perfect gray suit. The sun coming through the window lit up his perfectly arranged chestnut curls with a little halo of red-gold. It was a good illusion, since I was pretty sure he was as rotten
as the rest of the upper-class humans I'd met.
He turned to me with a small smile. His brown eyes seemed almost golden in the sunlight, and it gave them the illusion of warmth. "Sam," he said, coming to take my hand in both of his. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I'm eager to hear your thoughts on improving interspecies relations." His voice was pitched just slightly too loud, and it carried out into the hall to whatever staff were nearby.
I just stared at him. This was a great show. But despite the front-row seat, I had no idea what was going on.
He glanced at his butler. "Jules, you can leave us to chat. Please turn on the wards as you leave."
The butler nodded, his expression neutral as he left. When the doors closed, I felt some sort of magic activate. Glancing at Theo, I raised an eyebrow in question. He shrugged and went to his massive desk to pour out a couple glasses of Whiskey. "Silencing wards."
I crossed my arms and regarded him warily. "You know, that would make it really easy for me to assassinate you without anyone hearing."
He handed me a cut-glass tumbler, one corner of his mouth quirking up in a wry smile before he sipped his own drink, probably to prove to me it wasn't poisoned. "Because you're a cur and I'm a poor, defenseless human."
I let loose my own smirk. "It's a good act." I was pretty sure his plain human exterior hid a wicked intelligence. He wouldn't lock himself in here with me if he didn't have some other security measure in place. Tossing back the tumbler, I swallowed down half the whiskey. Then I closed my eyes and moaned, vowing to sip the rest so I could enjoy it longer. I was pretty sure this was the kind of hooch that cost more than my entire house and all my weapons and transport vehicles combined. I'd probably never get to taste it again.
A soft laugh spoiled the moment, and I opened my eyes to find the compact politician watching me as he leaned casually against his desk. "Like that, do you?"
I shrugged. "It's not the worst thing I've ever tasted."
He smirked again, an expression that somehow made his plain features appealing, in a dangerous kind of way. "I should hope not. But I suppose there's no accounting for tastes."
I sipped my expensive drink again and sank down into an ostentatious leather chair. "I just came to update you on the job."
He paced over and sat across from me, crossing his legs and leaning back, one hand resting on the armrest as the other lazily swirled the amber liquid in his glass. It was weird, seeing the average, ordinary human looking so…sovereign-like.
"And?" he asked patiently. "How is the hunt progressing?"
I swallowed down the rest of my whiskey. Something about this guy put me on edge. Which was dumb. He was just a human. A rich one who didn't hesitate to dabble in magical protections, but still, just a human. Average height, average build, average coloring. His whole persona was so neutral it was laughable. But I could see him running things. Ruling people.
Except no one ruled me. Not the shifters who held my life in their hands growing up. Not the humans who paid me to hunt my own kind. Especially not one soft little politician who probably couldn't tell the truth if his life depended on it.
"I found out who the thugs were," I said, tamping down the weird discomfort I felt rising up from my beast side. My second meeting with Ahura had been surprisingly useful, even if I did have to put up with her blatant flirting the entire time. "No one important. Just hired goons. Ones who take unsanctioned hits, but aren't that smart. They work for the highest bidder and aren't picky about their jobs. Shouldn't be too hard to track them down and nab them."
The human nodded. "No idea who hired them?"
I stared him down, not falling for the innocent look in those wide brown eyes for a single second. "No. But you already know who hired them, don't you?"
He smiled, slow and evil. "Perhaps. I have a…rival, who was not impressed by my promotion. He feels I'm too weak to rule."
Not a surprise. Humans were weird about appearances. And the man before me hardly screamed "ruler," at first glance. So, this was all part of a game to prove himself. Politics were so stupid.
The human stood and went to his desk, where he tapped a few keys on an old, but pristine-looking laptop. "Your payment is on its way to your account now." It figured that a guy like this him would have a working net connection. His eyes met mine again and he smiled. "Bring me the involved parties and the rest of the money will be in your account the moment they are in my hands."
I sighed, but didn't argue. I didn't like this at all. I hadn't ever hunted down and kidnapped other people. But I had hunted the worst fiend beasts the rift could dish out. How hard could it be?
"Within the week," I promised.
I was rewarded with a smile that seemed more genuine than all the others before. "Be careful, Sabertooth. I look forward to working together for a long time to come."
I shook my head. First off, because he thought he needed to tell me how to do my damned job. And secondly, because he seemed to somehow think just because I worked for him this one time, he would somehow rope me into it again. Never happening.
I made my way to the door, stepping back in surprise when the creepy butler opened it before I got there. "Mr.…Miss? Forest," he said with a nod. "May I show you out?"
I rolled my eyes. "Sam. My name is just Sam. Not Mr. or Miss anything."
He gave me an indulgent smile. "As you wish, Just Sam." He turned to his employer. "Will there be anything else, Sir?"
"Ask Thor and Loki to send me the guard that threatened our new diplomat friend, please," Theo said in a calm, voice. "And reactivate the silence wards when they arrive."
I glanced back at the man to find him with a black look on his face that made me shudder. Shit. I was probably working for a psychotic serial killer or something. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.
When we passed the guard in question on our way out, being towed inside by the two beefy bodyguards, I smiled at him and waved. "Oh, hello again. Have a nice time with the boss man."
He was visibly sweating.
I almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost.
Now, where should I get lunch, since I had money in my bank account now?
Chapter 7
In the end, I decided to stop by a food cart on the way out of town. It sold the best hand-rolled tamales I'd ever tasted, and you could get tons of food for cheap. The cart was owned by a human family who had lived down in Mexico before that whole area was overrun by dragons. They were good people—the cart owners, not the dragons—and they didn't give a fuck if I had cat genes, as long as I handed over money and told them how amazing their food was.
I headed out of town, turning down the bumpy dirt two track that led to the shifter forest. When I pulled up in front of Josie's cabin, the tamales and beans in their cardboard boxes were still warm, and my stomach rumbled loudly. I hopped out of the vehicle and jogged up the front porch steps, eying the newly repaired roof and the handrail on the stairs. The money from the unicorn bounty had been put to good use. Winters could get harsh around here, and now I'd know Josie wasn't going to take a tumble when the porch steps caved in, or have to suffer through the wet and cold when the roof collapsed.
I went in and tossed the food on the battered old kitchen table. Josie wasn't in the tiny house, so I went out the back, smiling to myself when I found the old bat singing to herself as she fired up her brand-new gas-powered wood splitter. I snuck up behind her and poked her in the ribs, earning a sharp slap upside the head when I scared the living fuck out of her.
"Samantha Forest!" she huffed, putting her hands on her overall clad hips. "You near gave me a damned heart attack."
I smirked. "Just testing your reflexes, old lady."
She tried to smack me again, but I dodged. "There's food in the house," I told her, turning to the wood splitter. I was happy to see the wood I'd paid for had been delivered and neatly stacked up under the overhang at the side of the little house. It just needed to be split to fit into the potbellied stove she used for coo
king and heating the cabin. This wood splitter had cost a pretty penny, and gas for it cost even more, since the fuel was like liquid gold nowadays. But it was worth every penny if it meant Josie wouldn't be out here risking amputation by axe every time she needed more wood. I took off my leather jacket and rolled up my long-sleeved t-shirt. Then I got the splitter running and started feeding logs through it.
When I had a good-sized pile, I hauled the wood up to stack it on the back porch, within easy reach. I tried to do a bit every time I visited. That way she'd have a good stockpile already split by the first snowfall and her blind old ass wouldn't be out there skating around on the ice, risking a broken hip or a cracked skull. She might be a shifter, but she wasn't a spring chicken. Her healing abilities weren't what they used to be.
Knowing the pack, no one would find her frozen corpse until next spring. I'd paid up the extortion fees for the next few months, so they had no reason to come check on her. In fact, they'd probably be relieved if something did happen—except that would mean a loss of income for the pack. The only reason they let the broken old shifter continue to live on pack land was because of the "rent" she paid.
When my stomach cramped and let out a growl that warned it was about to eat itself, I shut down the splitter, covered it with a tarp, and grabbed my jacket. Inside, I was greeted by the smell of the amazing food I'd brought, which Josie had plated up on her chipped, mismatched second-hand china.
I pulled up a chair and dug in. We were mostly silent as we ate. Neither of us could shift, but we both had shifter metabolism. I reached for the last scoop of beans, but she stabbed me in the back of the hand, cackling in evil glee. "Paws off."
I growled, but let her have the damned food. "Age before beauty," I snarked.
She raised one white eyebrow at me, the deep grooves in her forehead becoming more pronounced. "Damned straight, you little kit. After all the shit I put up with raising you, I deserve a little damned respect."
I watched her eat the rest of the food, suppressing a smile. "Right," I said dryly. "Like it was a picnic putting up with your crusty old ass."
