Misfit Angel
The Misfit Series Book 2
Stephanie Foxe
Steel Fox Media LLC
Misfit Angel
All rights reserved.
No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and coincidental. All inquiries can be sent to [email protected].
First edition, November 2018
Version 1.0, November 2018
Copyright © 2018 Stephanie Foxe
Cover © Steel Fox Media LLC
Cover by Covers by Christian
The Misfit Series (along with the plot / characters / situations / worlds) are Copyright (c) 2017-18 Stephanie Foxe and Steel Fox Media LLC
To my husband
Who helps me through my bad days
And celebrates my good days
I love you!
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Make a Difference
Acknowledgments
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More by Stephanie Foxe
Prologue
ELOISE
Eloise yawned as she tapped another piece of the puzzle into place. It was still dark outside but she was already awake. The older she got, the harder it was to sleep through the night. She supposed it was insomnia. Or too much coffee after dinner.
Her seventieth birthday was in less than a month. The number galled her, so she refused to think about it. Her body was aging faster than her mind, and it was annoying, to say the least.
There was a quiet creak and she turned around expecting to see Evangeline coming down the stairs, but the stairway stood empty. Knitting her brows together, she reached toward the curtain to peek outside. The back door crashed open at the same moment as a flaming bottle flew through the kitchen window. It shattered against a cabinet and burst into flame.
Eloise jumped up from her puzzle and ran for the antique buffet where she kept her pistol. Just before she reached it, thick arms wrapped around her from behind and lifted her off the ground. She kicked wildly, hoping to catch his knee or something more sensitive.
The man grunted and slammed her against the wall. He grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her head back sharply. “Where is the demon spawn?”
She bared her teeth at the intruder. “I’m looking right at him,” she said right before she spat in his eye.
He reared back in anger and disgust giving her enough room to kick him square in the balls. Without hesitating, she lunged for the drawer again and ripped it open. As her fingers closed around the pistol as he yanked her back by her arm.
She pointed the gun at him, but he shoved her arm up and the first shot went wild. Her ears rang from the deafening blast of the Colt 45 and she prayed to God she hadn’t hit Evangeline. She had to have heard the fight. Eloise hoped she had run.
The man’s fist connected with her face and she felt her knees give out as her vision exploded into stars. She was too old for this, but she wouldn’t let them hurt her daughter. She kicked blindly and kept a firm grip on the gun. It was her only chance.
As her vision began to clear, he swung her around and her back hit the bookcase. Something cracked, most likely a rib, and breathing became painful. Books toppled down onto both their heads. She lunged forward and sank her teeth into his meaty forearm. He slammed her against the bookcase again and she cried out in pain.
When he slammed her against it a third time, the whole thing swayed forward. He jumped back to avoid getting crushed, half dragging her with him. She pulled in the opposite direction then yanked her arm free. Aiming the gun right at his chest, she pulled the trigger as the bookcase crashed down on top of her.
Pain like she’d never felt throbbed through her leg where the heavy bookcase had her pinned. The intruder lay dead in a pool of blood across from her. She’d barely been able to shoot him before he killed her. His face was still contorted with rage and malice, but his eyes were empty.
Smoke filled the home she had lived in for thirty years. Flames licked up the wallpaper, turning the delicate flowers black. The air was thick with the scent of gasoline.
Her daughter stumbled down the hallway, clutching her pillow. Her face was pale from weeks of illness, and now this.
“Just run," Eloise choked out, willing her daughter to get out before they found her. Another bottle crashed through the window, shattering and igniting the carpet.
"I won't leave you!" Evangeline cried, limping toward her. As she drew closer, the flames lapped at her legs, but they didn't hurt her. They couldn't, because she wasn't human. Her daughter knelt down by her and pushed futilely at the heavy bookcase she was trapped underneath.
These bastards had managed to kill her, but not Evangeline. That was all that mattered.
“Eva, baby, you have to run before they find you,” she said, forcing her fingers to release their tight grip on the gun. She wiped away the tear
s streaming through the ash and grime on Evangeline’s face.
“I can’t leave you!” Evangeline sobbed, banging her fists against the bookcase.
“You can’t move it––”
The demon mark on Eloise’s chest tingled and he appeared, looking as he always did, like an old man cloaked in shadows.
“Why are you still here?” the demon demanded, surging toward Evangeline. “Get out before it’s too late!”
“No!” she snapped back, slashing her hand through his smoky form. “Help her!”
“You know I can’t,” he growled. “But you can if you just stop suppressing your magic!”
For a brief moment, Eloise wondered if the demon had arranged this just to force Evangeline to accept her demon side, but she dismissed the thought. She didn’t think he would truly risk her being harmed.
The demon leaned in, whispering something in Evangeline’s ear. The fire was drawing closer and Eloise could barely catch a breath. Evangeline couldn’t be hurt by the fire and smoke, but she could be hurt by whomever was outside.
Evangeline’s scream of anguish cut off her words. Her black hair lifted from her shoulders, floating around her head. With a scream, wings of fire burst from her back. She sat there panting, then looked up. Her eyes were black as night.
Eloise gasped as she took in the transformation. She’d known from the day she found the baby abandoned in the woods and the demon had appeared to her, what Evangeline really was. She’d also known that people would hate her, and she’d protected the child as long as she could.
Her daughter lifted her shaking hands, tears still streaming down her face, grabbed the bookcase and threw it across the room. She blinked, delirious from the lack of oxygen. Her daughter scooped her up carefully but she still had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out as pain shot through her legs and her side. She wouldn’t have to hold it back long though, her vision blurred as her mind tried to protect itself by sliding into unconsciousness.
Evangeline walked to the back door and kicked it open, then flew into the night. Cool air stung Eloise's burned skin as they raced through the sky.
Chapter 1
AMBER
Three days earlier…
Amber's hand tightened on the armrest as they hit another patch of turbulence. She ground her teeth together and pretended the plane was just bumping down a gravel road and that they weren't thirty thousand feet in the air. There was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.
“Are you sure there’s room? I could camp in the woods if I had to,” her brother, Derek said, for the tenth time.
“Dude, there are two extra bedrooms even with four of us staying there. It’s fine.”
“And your pack won’t mind? I won’t be intruding on your new family, or whatever?”
She punched him in the arm, maybe too hard judging by his flinch. “They’re not my new family. Stop saying it like that. And they’re alarmingly excited to meet you.”
The pilot announced the plane was beginning its descent. She double-checked her seatbelt and leaned back in her seat.
Her visit had ended up with a big family fight, of course, but Derek had decided he wanted to open his own mechanic shop after all. Since doing it in the same town as their father was out of the question, he’d asked to come to Portland with her. That had caused another family fight when he'd told their parents, but she just didn't care anymore. Derek had been fed up with it as well and stormed out.
She needed a job, he wanted a fresh start, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for both of them. When she’d told her pack their plans, Tommy had volunteered immediately to help out, eager to have a job again himself. He was always fretting about helping to pay the bills.
As the plane bounced onto the ground, the demon mark on her chest twinged painfully. She rubbed it. It had been aching a lot like that ever since the wolf had somehow banished Angel during the fourth trial to prove her worthiness as an alpha. She kept expecting the demon to show back up that day…and the next…but he never did.
She had no idea how the wolf had done it, but she was insanely glad Angel had been absent while she had visited her family. Though, the temporary peace was probably going to come at a high price.
Everyone stood and crammed into the aisles, but Amber just relaxed in her seat. She'd wait out the crowd and avoid the mad rush for the exit. She didn't have a connecting flight to make and ever since she'd been changed being shoved around by strangers made her irrationally angry. It was better for her sanity and everyone else's health if she just waited. The wolf huffed in agreement in her mind.
"Who did you say was picking us up?" Derek asked, turning his cellphone back on.
"Ceri, she's a witch in my pack."
"That's so weird," he said, shaking his head. "How does that work?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, it just happened. I'm not convinced anyone actually understands how magic works."
"No kidding, there's no explaining how my baby sister ended up an alpha werewolf." He snorted in amusement.
She glared at him. Maybe she hadn't missed having her brothers around. "I could always beat you up."
"You could not!" he objected as she finally moved out into the aisle and grabbed her backpack from the overhead bin.
All her luggage fit in a backpack. Derek had chosen to only bring a carry-on as well, having mailed the stuff he wanted to bring to the house. He'd said he didn't have much in the way of furniture and hadn't thought it valuable enough to bother bringing with him to Portland, especially since there’s wasn’t anywhere to put it.
"Just keep telling yourself that," she said with a smirk.
They finally got off the plane and a knot of tension unwound from her shoulders. The wolf had not been a fan of flying, and she wasn't exactly a nervous flyer, but she was a grumpy one. The combination hadn't been fun.
Her phone buzzed about ten times, finally receiving all the messages that had been sent while she'd had it turned off. She skipped all the ones from her pack and found Ceri's name.
"Ceri is here already and waiting for us at the terminal,” she said, shoving the phone back in her pocket and picking up her pace. It was weird since she hadn't had many close friends in her adult life, but she missed her pack.
They passed through baggage claim, then headed outside. It was chilly out. She tugged her jacket a little closer around her and adjusted the backpack on her shoulder. The wind shifted and she caught Ceri's scent.
"This way," she said, hurrying in the direction the scent led without waiting to see if Derek actually followed.
When she spotted Ceri, the wolf practically howled inside her. Before she realized what she was doing, she'd run over and wrapped her friend up in a tight hug, inhaling her scent deeply. Blonde curls covered her face and drowned out all the other smells. It was nice.
"Hey there, missed you too," Ceri said with a laugh, hugging her back just as tight.
"Felt wrong to be gone," she muttered, feeling a blush grow on her face.
"Yeah, it did. Gen has been grumpy as a hungry pixie since the day after you left."
Amber forced herself to let go and moved back. She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at her brother as he jogged up behind her. "This is Derek."
"Hey, I'm Ceri," the witch said, stepping forward with a bright smile and wrapping him in a hug as well.
Derek looked surprised and patted her back awkwardly, getting a face full of curly, blonde hair. "Nice to meet you."
Ceri let go of him. "You too! I expected you to be a redhead like Amber though."
He grinned. "Our oldest brother is the only other carrot top in the family. Other than Mom."
Amber rolled her eyes. She hated being called carrot top. "My hair is auburn, not orange. I'm not a carrot."
Derek slung his arm around her shoulder. "Whatever you say, alpha."
"Oh, shut up," she said, shoving his arm off. "Let's get out of here. I don't like the way it smells."
Chapter 2
Tommy gnawed on the end of his pencil as he stared at the problem. He’d been good at math, but after over a year off, he was rusty. Deward had taken away his formula cheat sheet and insisted that he work from memory. He glanced at the troll, wondering if he could wrestle it away from him and deciding against it. Deward was taller, buffer, and had probably been wrestling since before he could walk.
It had been Ceri’s idea to hire the troll as his GED tutor. Deward was insanely smart, but he wasn’t really the best teacher. If Tommy didn’t understand the first explanation, he’d just shake his head and mutter something about humans, then tell him to try it anyhow.
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