“Kodiak.” Rhen breathed in warning as he put a little bit of space between him and my brother.
“You will not interfere with my life again,” I whispered harshly in my brother’s ear before I slipped off his back, knife still at his throat. “Do you understand me, Dez? Things are changing. Shifters will be part of this family, even part of our bloodline.”
“Never.”
The wind rattled the door and drew my attention. Dez caught me off guard and swatted me, I crashed against the bed frame again. Rhen grabbed the hem of my pants and yanked me across the floor towards him as my brother winced in pain as he tried to get off his knees but gave up.
“The both of you knock it the hell off. No more blood.”
The laugh from Dez was nothing short of chilling.
“Little seal can't take some blood? Maybe you should just go catch some fish. We’re hunters. We fight bloody whether it's family or our job. Don't like it, I don’t really care. You'll always be the enemy to me. Even if I tolerate you because of family history, I never needed much of a reason to want to skin you. Nothing you have done lately has earned you any brownie points. You threaten my kid one more time, seal, and it will happen.”
I watched in disgust as Dez licked the wound on his arm. When had he turned into this?
“Good one, Koda. That should have stitches. And my nose,” he said trying to take a deep breath, “ is definitely broken. He'd better be worth it.”
“They are,” I managed.
Rhen tried to roll up the leg of my jeans to assess the injury to my knee, but he stopped at those words. Rhen’s black eyes met mine, I could see the question there of my word choice. I gave him a barely perceivable nod and look that said not now, and he let it drop.
“Whatever.” Dez grunted as he tried to move to the fireplace for more light. “Get me the damn super glue and electrical tape will you, Koda?”
When had we turned into this? Is this what had happened between Poppa and his brothers before they died hunting Others or fishing for a living? I shook my head in disbelief as I started to reach under the bed for the toolbox and first aid kit. I don’t think Poppa would be proud to know that this is how we turned out, that his children turned out. Too often we resorted to violence when dealing with each other. Rhen being a shifter would have been the last of Poppa’s concerns.
A hand on my arm stopped me.
“I’ll do it,” Rhen said as he reached to grab a blanket off the bed. “You stay warm.”
“Well at least you're a good little bitch for her,” Dez taunted as Rhen retrieved the toolbox. “At least you’re good for something.”
Rhen dropped the heavy tool box on Dez’s injured left knee, the crunch barely audible over the thud of the heavy metal tool box. Dez rocked forward howling in pain as he grabbed for his leg, cursing under his breath. I tried not to take a little bit of pleasure in that sound. He crouched and grabbed a handful of Dez’s short hair forcing eye contact.
“Don't ever let me see you treat Koda like that again.”
“Or what?” Dez laughed. “You’ll scare me with your ability to turn into a seal? I do love the black eyes though Rhen. You pissed or something? I do miss pissing off Willow though, loved her soft skin and spo- ”
“Valdez!” I snapped cutting him off as I saw Rhen’s lips pull back in a snarl, his teeth starting to elongate to those pointed seal teeth. “Do you never stop?”
He chuckled as he lightly patted Rhen’s cheek with a blood covered hand.
“You’re out of your depth, seal. You need to step up your game if you expect to run with us. I've got more shit to worry about than you. So what?” Dez pulled free from Rhen’s grasp and moved to find what he wanted in the toolbox. “The two of you just going to stare at me? Did you manage to find anything out about what is going on around here killing these animals, aside from just letting it chase you into the pond? Or was this a complete “let's fuck and fuck Dez over” moment that I interrupted?”
I would have backhanded my brother if I was closer to him. Rhen was more composed and came to where I had managed to get to a standing position against the wall. He wrapped his arms around me, a growl rumbling in his chest.
“They weren’t just animals Dez, they were shifters. Which explains why it marked Rhen’s trailer at the mine, and then his SUV at Broken Tusk.” I leaned harder against Rhen to take some of the weight off my screaming leg.
“Wait, what?” Dez stopped cleaning his arm. “What did you say they were?”
“Shifters. Last one was from Caleb’s crew. He didn’t say if the victim’s door was marked or not.”
“And it marked Rhen’s trailer? Well I guess you got lucky in more ways than one, didn’t you seal?”
“Fuck you, Valdez,” Rhen ground out between grit teeth.
“Not really that into you, pretty boy. So, you’re telling me that none of them shifted back, that whatever it is got lucky and took the hearts first? For all of them? That’s extremely rare for a trained hunter to do without some help.” Dez said as dug for the electrical tape. He held the cap to the super glue in his teeth and twisted with his good hand, spitting the cap at my feet. “Don't try this at home, kids.”
He filed the edges of the fresh wound with glue, his breath coming in sharp hisses from the sting of the chemicals. His good hand wrapped over his arm to hold the edge of the wound in place. “You gonna answer?”
“I’m a seal. I don’t typically have to worry about people coming after me, forgive me if I’m not up on all the ins and outs of shifters and death.” There was sarcasm in Rhen’s voice as he rubbed my arms.
“Well you're about worthless then. I’m just biding my time with you, Ravenwhite. I want you out of our lives.” Dez snapped as he wrapped the electrical tape around his arm to help the glue hold the wound closed.
“Not happening. He’s not going anywhere. Not after he pulled me out of the river when that thing came after me today.” I wanted him around as long as he’d stay. “He’s the only reason I’m still here for that creature to come after me. You should really be thanking him for keeping your family as intact as it is.”
Rhen held me tighter. “Koda, you don’t need to do this.”
Dez tossed the roll of tape back in the tool box. “What are you talking about?”
“Remember the glacier hike that you sent the three of us on, Dez? The one after Poppa died?”
Dez glared up at us. He tried to stand but he couldn't muster the strength just yet I had a twinge of guilt thinking he was going to need surgery. “What of it? You ended up in the hospital needing a blood transfusion because you cut yourself when you fell on the ice.”
I swallowed hard, this should have been easier after all this time, but it wasn’t. “I didn’t fall, Dez. I jumped.”
“You what?” he barely managed a whisper.
“Jumped. Untethered my line from the group and jumped. I didn't want to deal with our lives anymore, everyone I loved was leaving me so why not be done? Save you the hassle of one more kid to watch over-”
“Koda, you weren't just another kid to me.”
“Come off it, Dez, I was. Connor was nine, I was sixteen. Hell, Ken was a mess too, barely twenty. So yeah, I was just another responsibility for you, just like you try to make me out to be now. And yeah I jumped. But Rhen saved me. In more ways than one. So I’m not letting you run him off. Not again. Not ever.”
“Then how'd you get the scar?” Dez asked quietly, taking everything in.
“She got caught on the ice when I hauled her back up. That part we didn't lie about.” Rhen’s voice was softer than I expected, it wasn’t a fond memory for him either.
I realized now how much it had affected him. Rhen had caught the safety lines I had purposely disconnected before I went to jump. He had manage to talk me out of cutting the line with my knife and hauled me back up over the edge of the glacier. As he was helping me back over the edge, I caught my arm on a jagged piece of ice and sliced my arm open. I’d
lost so much blood, even the flight medics weren’t sure I was going to make it that day.
The door burst open, snow and cold billowed in along with my dog. Czar came immediately to my side, teeth bared at Rhen. One word and Czar stopped and sat at my feet.
“Hey, do one of you jack-what the hell--” Ken came barreling through the open door in his snow boots and a side arm. This was ridiculous. “Kodiak help him, Raven with me. Now. Zom and Magi are going nuts in Dez’s truck.”
“You trying to get Rhen out of the picture, too?” I snapped at Ken as Rhen held me back, keeping his distance from my dog.
“If I were, he did that to himself,” Kenai said as he locked eyes with Rhen. “Right now, he’s the only abled body in this room aside from me. Dez isn't going anywhere like that and neither are you, Kodiak. Boots and coat. Let's go. Shirt is optional, Raven.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Rhen
Kenai dragged me out of the cabin as soon as I had on my boots and a dry sweater. He threw my coat at me, not that I needed it. I didn't want to leave Koda, but I wanted away from that dog of hers. I worried about keeping my focus, but I reluctantly followed him to the king cab truck. I groaned as I saw the twisted pile of metal that had been my Suburban. I liked that SUV. I couldn’t even save the license plate. Just be calm, I could be calm.
“Are you really this big of an idiot? Why didn’t you leave town?” He hissed at me quietly.
“I was trying - ”
“Apparently not hard enough.” Those mismatched eyes narrowed at me, the snow came down harder than it had last night at Broken Tusk. He tugged on his knit hat to keep it down over his ears.
“What was I supposed to do? Let Koda come up here by herself?”
“How about tell Dez “no” and take her away somewhere safer?”
I was taken aback. I never thought I’d hear any of the Sesi’s siblings say that, let alone Kenai.
“Dez is out of control anymore,” Kenai said softly, unsure if we could be heard in the cabin. “If you’d been paying any attention this summer, you’d have seen it. Connor told him about the scratches on your trailer. Whatever this is, marked you as the next victim. Dez saw it as an opportunity.”
He motioned for me to follow him.
“When you answered her phone, you screwed yourself over. There was never any attack up by the cabin. He did this because he was pissed you walked off the mine. This was an easy way to get rid of you without getting his hands dirty with Bear. He just wanted you gone when he realized you weren’t of value anymore. Me, on the other hand, I like having you back.”
He sure had a funny way of showing it. He had barely spoken with me all summer.
“She safe in there with him?”
Ken shrugged. “She'll kill him if she needs to. She won’t like it, but she’ll do it. She's the quicker of the two, usually.”
He opened the door to the truck, giving the two huskies commands to sit. The little red husky couldn't have been more than four or five months old and would not stop vocalizing, the other was mostly black and silent. I had recalled seeing the dog with Dez a few times, had to be Magi. Magi sat quietly with its head cocked, unsure what to think of me. The little one must have been pretty special if they were bringing him along this early. I still didn’t care for them, but at least it wasn’t Czar. That dog and I were going to have issues.
Kenai pulled a spare sawed off shotgun from under the back bench seat of the truck and handed it to me. I grabbed for it with my bad arm and winced.
“Your eyes gonna stay black?”
“For now.” I said with a heavy sigh. The stress, the emotional roller coaster, the quick shift, yeah, too much at once for my body. I’d lost control over the magic. I needed to rest and re center myself. A little part of me was thankful I was with the Sesi clan rather than your run of the mill human. At least they wouldn't freak at my eyes.
“Silver shot. I don't have an extra knife. Zom, shut it.”
The pup yipped and went quiet.
“Zom?”
“Zombie.”
“You guys really need to get better names for your dogs.”
“Talk to Kodiak, she names them.”
Kenai shoved some spare ammo my direction and shoved the pup back across the seat before slamming the door of the truck. He checked his gun as howling came in the distance, the sounds sending a ripple down my spine. “You know he's the biggest hypocrite around, right?”
“Dez? That’s the last thing I’d expect to hear from you about Mr. Super Hunter.”
Kenai snorted at my statement.
“You really were too caught up with my sister, weren't you? Dez has been hooking up with Others since Marie left with Connor.”
“What?” My mouth went dry. That was the last thing I had ever expected to hear about the head of the Sesi family.
“One in Vegas, couple here and there, but mainly your sister. For years it was only your sister.”
“Willow?” I choked on her name. “There is no way. She never liked Dez. She was always after his friend.”
“You’ve got another sister?”
“Why would he bother with Will? He didn’t know we were-” I stopped myself. That’s what Koda snapped at him about. Where my eyes betrayed me, her fur and spots would show up in random patches when she was pissed. He knew. I clutched the gun tighter, glad that Kenai was between me and the door to the cabin.
“Bear and I didn't tell you they were together because Dez threatened us. I didn't believe it myself till I walked in on them one time. All I ever told Kodiak was that I saw them, not what she was.”
“Will wouldn’t-”
“What do you think caused the crash that day you were going to ask Bear to run away with you? He and Foxy were fighting because he couldn't stand himself anymore.” I knew I made a face at the name, but he continued anyway. I hadn’t heard my sister called Foxy since we’d left Alaska. “The thought of you and Koda possibly having children, having Others in the blood line, freaked him out and he made himself give up your sister.”
Hell, Rook was probably Dez’s kid and why Will wouldn't tell me the name of the father. Rook had the same freckles as Koda and his eyes the same shade of blue as both Koda and Kenai. She probably never even told Dez she was pregnant. That asshole had two kids. I now understood why Willow had been so adamant about her hatred toward them as a family.
I wanted to kill Valdez Sesi myself for treating my sister as something that didn’t matter. He didn’t even deserve to know about Rook. Growing up selkies, we had enough issues going to mainstream school, a young kid didn’t need a parent that hated their very essence in their life.
The winds whipped as I got more pissed. I turned to head back in the cabin and he grabbed the back of my coat, throwing me up against the side of the truck, his palm on my chest to keep me in check. His mismatched eyes met with mine, I saw my old friend there, concerned for me. I didn’t bother to fight him.
“Cool the storm, dude.” His words were flat as a calm ocean. A calm ocean that I needed right now.
“What?”
“Don’t play dumb, Raven. I know. I know some of your kind can control the weather. I know you’re the reason for the early freeze. Ever since Koda showed up you’ve been in your head and so has the weather. Get a hold of yourself, we don’t need blinding snow and thunder if we are going to chase this thing. You want to be pissed at anyone, be pissed at your sister.”
“Why? I’m sure Dez talked her into it all.”
He shook his head. “It’s more than just that, I didn’t even tell Bear yet. Willow was the one that told Rory you were selkies. Willow didn't want you and Bear together if she was being shunned by Dez.”
I shook my head, there is no way my sister would betray us like that. “She wouldn't.”
“She did.”
There was a hollowness in my soul at those words.
“How the fuck-” I wanted to strangle my sister.
She'd spent so much time arg
uing with me about Koda and yet she was doing the exact same thing and lying to me about it. The wind whipped as I tried to push Kenai away in earnest. He held me still, my back against the truck. When the hell had he gotten this strong?
“Who up here hasn't been lying to me?”
“Chill. We’ve all been lying to each other for a long time. A lot isn't what you think.”
“What the hell, Kenai!” My voice cracked as I yelled at him, I tried to shove him away with the butt of he gun, half heartedly and pissed. I didn’t know what the hell was going on.
I took a deep breath and tried again. “Who told you it was Willow?”
“Rory.”
I heard the involuntary growl boil from my throat. I was never going to be done with that mistake.
“It's always fucking Rory,” I hissed at him as I pushed him away. This time he took a step back as the dogs began barking in the truck from my growl. I slapped the door of the truck. They stopped. “You’re telling me she just fessed up? Just like that?”
“No. I tracked her down a few weeks ago. She spilled about your sister paying her to sabotage your relationship.”
“And?”
He squinted those mismatched colored eyes at me, wrinkles forming on his forehead. “And what? I didn’t tell Bear, I didn’t want her to focus on it. She's already dealt with enough. Rory won't be a problem.”
“Then why tell me now?” I said stepping away from the truck with the dogs going nuts behind the door again. We were going to attract something for sure.
“You had no interest in getting back with my sister so it didn't matter. Finding the two you of you in the tub, I’m assuming that's different now.” He waved toward the cabin as if to indicate what he had walked in on earlier. “The two of you might fight, but you loved each other like Mom and Pop did. That means something. I know no one is going to hang the stars for me, but at least they can align for you.”
That gave me pause. Ken had never talked like this. I never knew him as the romantic. He’d never made much comment on my relationship with his sister before, aside from telling me not to break her heart.
Steal the Sun: (Book 1) Page 15
