“Ummm, Kenai, care to tell me what just happened?”
“He showed up when Koda and I were on a job the other night. Tried to shoot him and nothing. Misted out just like he did now. I don’t even have the first clue where to start researching him when we get back to town.” There was a true growl to his voice, one that I had rarely ever heard from him.
“Awesome.”
Shit just got weird, even for us.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Kodiak
I don't think I had ever sat in silence with Dez so long. The only thing I had to keep my mind occupied about Rhen and Kenai hunting that thing was my fingers being buried in Czar’s fur. Czar watched every movement Dez made. Growled at him a few times too.
I heard his phone vibrate in his pocket. With a groan he dug it out and checked the message.
“So who is Snow?” he said finally breaking the silence, his voice tight, the annoyance showed as he shoved his phone back down in his pocket.
Gods. Now he was getting messages?
“I don’t know. I’ve been getting the messages since the beginning of summer.”
“You were just going around with threatening messages being sent you and didn't say a word to either of us? That’s not smart, Koda.”
“Oh come off it Dez-”
“No!” He cut me off, the parental disappointment heavy in his voice. “Where the hell are these picture of you and the seal having sex coming from? They have to be old, he doesn't have any tattoos.”
I slumped on the bed. “We don’t know, its not our thing to take photos. Apparently there was someone stalking us back then. When you and Ken cleaned out the place, did you find anything unusual?”
Dez reached for my phone he had dropped in the scuffle and tossed it on the bed beside me. His fingers scrubbed a hand through his dark beard. That small action reminded me of Poppa, but I knew my brother was fighting himself. Was I going to get the tired, over protective big brother Dez? Or the hypocritical asshole patriarch?
“Do you really want to know?” he said as he scooted himself across the floor to lean against the wall, still unable to stand. His knee was going to take a while to heal and a small part of me regretted my part in his injuries.
“That bad?”
He shook his head no, his demeanor going soft. Overprotective big brother it was. It had been a while since that side of him had made an appearance.
“Rhen was already gone by the time we had gotten there. Kenai and I had never said a word to him that day. Willow was already there to pick up the rest of his things. Rory had left you a note, but Willow took it. I still don’t know what it said, I didn’t care to fight her for it.”
“So you lied to me about confronting him?” My fingers curled in Czar’s ruff of fur, holding onto him for comfort.
“What was I supposed to do, Bear?” It had been years since Dez had called me by my childhood nickname. It was even more painful to hear it with his voice soft and uncertain. “You’d come back to the house in tears. Of course I was going to tell you what you wanted to hear, that he was an asshole, a bastard, that he didn’t deserve you. You’re my sister, my responsibility, and the last thing I want is you hurt and heartbroken. But what I told you that day was the furthest thing from the truth with him though, Koda. All he ever wanted was to make you happy and keep you safe. He's just a fucking shifter.”
“I didn’t believe him at first.”
“Willow told me he was trying to protect their secret about being seals, and that Rory threatened him. That's when Kenai and I realized we had messed up. That’s when we realized you had no idea what they were. We had never managed to tell you that the Ravenwhites were selkies. We’d found out years before. Just with Mom dying, and all that mess, no one ever got around to explaining to you what they were. You were so young, and Poppa kept you away from hunting.”
I just stared, unable to believe what he told me. My blood was already boiling.
“Say something.”
“You knew this entire time? You knew that they were Others and you still pursued Willow. But now you have an issue with Rhen?” I made no effort to hide the anger that bled into my voice.
“Koda, I’m not ok with any of it. I’m not proud that I ever got involved with Willow, especially for so long. I never should have. You can’t get involved with him again. I mean it. We can’t expect the Others that we hunt to take us seriously if we’re involved with them. We just can’t, especially with just the few of us left. The bloodlines can’t mix. Willow and Rhen both need out of our lives.”
He sighed heavily and tried to adjust his position against the wall. “And I need you to tell me what you know about Cash Harris. Since he’s been in Alaska, I’ve been hearing that Others have been using Broken Tusk as a safe house. I tried to ignore it, but I’m hearing it more and more. It needs to stop. You should have told me they were there.”
“No. No more lies. It’s not Cash.” I took a deep breath and steeled myself. “I own Broken Tusk and I won’t pretend to play by your rules anymore. We’ve got to change, Dez. They aren’t all bad. They just want to protect themselves as much as we want to protect ourselves.”
“What?” he snapped. My brother’s eyes burned dark with anger. There was the patriarchal hunter again.
“I have for the last three years. If you want to bring your wrath down on me, so be it, but I’m not hiding it anymore. I’m tired of watching my words. This family has too many secrets and we’re not going to make it if we don’t start sharing them.”
He closed his eyes and sighed heavily, I saw his hands shake as he tried to control his anger. He was still an avalanche waiting to happen, but this was the most composed I’d seen him in years with information he didn’t want to hear. “Fine. No more lies. I know you were close with Mr. Romans from working at Broken Tusk. I know I told you I didn’t know who killed him-”
“Did you? God, Dez, he was a human!”
He shook his head no, refusing to meet my gaze. “No, not me. Willow. He caught her and I under the docks messing around at low tide. He was a Collector and was coming after both of us. Her for being a seal, me as a hunter crossing the lines.”
I shivered. Even hunters weren’t safe from Collectors.
Drunk Mr. Romans had been a Collector? That was a scary thought. How many Others had we inadvertently led him to? I was sick at the thought of those who had potentially been left in captivity. Collectors were no better than zookeepers for the supernatural, that's if the Collector was decent. Most sold and traded Others and pieces on the black market.
“Willow killed him?” I couldn’t imagine Rhen’s red headed twin actually harming anyone. Sure, she had a temper, and hated me, but to kill Mr. Romans?
He barely nodded as he brushed his short hair back. “She killed him, right there in front of me, then shifted and started biting him. Said she didn’t want to chance him or anyone that came looking for him adding her seal skin to the collection and having control over them. Said she wanted to leave him as an example for other Collectors that might come through the area. That was the last time I saw her, I swear. I didn’t want anything do with her after that. We brought out the worst in each other. I won't go back to that. I won't have you going through that either.”
“Seal skin? What are you talking about?”
“Selkies have seal hides to shift. Rhen and Willow can do it without their hides. They aren’t even normal within their own species. Willow shredded and burned both her and Rhen’s hide that very night. She didn’t even tell Rhen till after it was done. I heard him screaming at her on the phone when she called to tell him what she had done. She’s nuts, Koda. And the crazy runs in the family. You can’t be around Rhen, he needs to go, let him go back to Washington. Let him stay out of Alaska. “
I didn’t even hesitate. “You brought him back.”
“That mistake falls clearly on my shoulders. Just like Marie and Connor. I’m doing a shitty job, Koda, but it's not like I can go back and fix
it. Family is first, whether you like what I do or not. You're all my responsibility. All I have been able to do is try.”
That he did. Ken and I didn’t give him nearly enough credit as we should have for being the glue in this messed up family.
“Dez-” I cut words short when I heard voices outside the door. I reached for my knife just in case it wasn't the guys.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Rhen
The cold had started to seep into my body through my wounds by the time we made the hike back to the cabin. My stomach was sick at the thought that Dez may have laid hands on Koda while we were gone. The reality that Dez had also been with my sister, and that I now potentially shared blood with him in the form of my nephew Rook disgusted me as I hobbled back. Connor was a jackass, but I wasn’t sure how much of that was attributed to Marie, or to the fact that he was Dez’s son.
I wanted Rook as far away from Dez as I could keep him. For once Willow and I agreed on something when it came to the Sesi family.
I grabbed Ken’s arm while a gore covered Zom bounced at the door. The blood continued to ooze from my thigh and my shoulder. The only thing that kept me on my feet was my anger toward Dez about being Rook’s father. Angry that he had such an amazing kid and was such an asshole.
“I can't go back in there yet. My sister’s kid- is Dez his father?” I blurted out.
Those mismatched eyes couldn’t hide his shock.
“Foxy’s got a kid?” He choked on the words.
I managed a nod as he looked away from me, fumbling in his pockets for his lighter and cigarettes.
“Give me one of those.”
He lit a cigarette and passed it my way before lighting his own. The smell of the spice was comforting. So was the burn of the smoke as I inhaled. I’d regret it later, but right now I needed to calm my nerves as badly as he did.
Kenai just shook his head as he turned over the words in his head. I recognized the look that crossed his face, blank, but deadly as he tried to shove down whatever was racing through his mind.
“I don’t know. Last Foxy said anything about Dez being around was when you both left Cordova. Unless they have been sneaking around-”
“He’s six.” The words were more forceful than I had anticipated.
Ken raised an eyebrow at me. “Six? Shit.”
“Yeah, blue eyes, freckles.”
He finished his cigarette before he answered.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Rhen.” He cracked his knuckles, taking a moment to weigh his words as he spoke. “I’ve talked to Foxy, but she's never mentioned a kid. Last time I actually saw your sister was the week Mr. Romans died. That was about six months after you left. It’s possible that he’d be Dez’s, but seriously, he could be anyone’s. Your sister liked to be the center of attention at those parties at the Hayes house.”
I shook my head. “And all those years she was just screwing me over.”
“And everyone else.”
I groaned at his comment, the more I heard about my sister, the more I couldn’t deny it. “But you still talk to Will? She never mentions you. She was shocked you weren’t dead when I talked to her yesterday.”
“I am shocked I’m not dead half the time, Raven.” He was quick to respond.
He had a point.
“You sure he's not your kid?” I took a stab in the dark. I could live with Rook being Kenai's son.
That eyebrow over his blue eye said it all, just like Koda’s did when I said something stupid. “I may have been in love with Willow when we were in elementary school, but that changed long ago, Rhen. I can't. I can’t be part of your world and still hunt things to keep my family safe. Not like Bear can. That’s not me.”
I could respect that.
“One more thing.”
He raised an eyebrow at me.
“I saw your father last night.”
His eyes closed as his shoulders slumped. I expected him to question me, not this.
“I did too. Figured he'd come back for his anniversary.”
I blinked a couple of times while I did the math. It was almost ten years.
“Come on, we've got to get you help, Raven.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Kodiak
Zom bounced through the open door, headed straight for Dez; muzzle and body covered in blood as he started to lick my eldest brother’s face. Czar growled at the sight of the smaller husky covered in gore. I didn’t know what the gore was from, I hoped they had killed the loup garou.
“Goddamnit, Zom,” Dez growled at the dog as he tried to wrestle the nearly 50 pound pup out of his face and off his knee. I couldn't help but chuckle when Ken cursed the dog too as he stepped through the door. That husky had a big personality and had shown early he was going to be a good companion for us.
My heart sank at the sight of Rhen. He was bloody from head to toe, belt pulled tight around his thigh with his jeans ripped open showing the gash that ran mid thigh to his knee against patches of silver fur. He was unable to stand on his own, Kenai shouldered most of his weight. The sleeves of his jacket were shredded as well as the one shoulder. I met his gaze and he gave me a weak smile, eyes dark. I looked at Ken, if my brother was covered in blood I didn't see it for all the black he wore.
“What the hell happened?”
Kenai eased Rhen into a chair and kicked the door shut. “We got lucky. Get the first aid kit Koda.”
I heard fabric being ripped as I grabbed the first aid kit from where Dez was wrestling to keep Zom from pouncing his bad knee. I turned and tried to keep calm as I saw the extent of Rhen’s injuries, both forearms had claw marks that were already starting to heal. The new slice on his cheek through the scarred V made me furious that he and Kenai had gone without us.
But I lost it when I saw the bullet wound.
I started smacking at Kenai’s shoulder.
“What the fuck did you do, Kenai?” I yelled in his face as he turned toward me for a brief moment before shoving me off him to work on Rhen.
Dez chuckled under his breath. I grabbed Kenai’s arm to force him to look at me.
“What the hell happened, Kenai, that this is lucky?”
Rhen grabbed me, my eyes met his coal black eyes and I tried not to whimper.
“Chill, Kodabear,” he said harshly, his elongated teeth catching his lip. Kenai continued to work as if we weren't there. “I’m alive because of him.”
“Such a shame,” Dez said from the floor. “Would have been done with you once and for all.”
“Ya know what, Dez, shut the fuck up. We wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't sent them up here.” Kenai shouted over Czar and Zom’s antics.
“You’re not any better. River’s blood is on your hands, Kenai. So let’s not talk about who made what mess. Maybe if sealboy’d kept his dick to himself we wouldn't be in this mess at all.”
“That's it.” Kenai tossed down the bottle of antiseptic and gauze on the table and stepped over to where Dez sat against the wall. “I'm tired of this.”
“What? You want to be the one in charge?”
“I want you to leave us alone.” Kenai said as he hauled Dez to his feet.
“You think that’s really gonna happen?”
“One way or another, at least for tonight.” Kenai caught Dez across the temple with a practiced punch. Even the dogs went quiet as Dez slumped in his hold.
We all watched in silence as Kenai maneuvered Dez to the bed before raiding our eldest brother’s pockets for the keys to the truck. He tossed them in the coffee can on top of the fireplace where we kept the matches and saw our blank stares.
“What? Stop being a fish, Koda, help me get his leg cleaned up and sewed back together. Then we’re out of here before Cy shows back up.”
“What?” I swallowed hard, mouth immediately dry.
“We’ll talk about it in the truck.”
“We can't just leave Dez here passed out.” Rhen was trying to be the voice of reason, despite everyt
hing.
“I can and I will. Magi is still in the truck, I will leave him here. Maybe Dez will get his head out of his ass for once, but I'm not sticking around for him to wake up. We’re going to the hunter’s cabin to wait the night out. I’m not chancing driving Rhen around like this. I don’t trust that you’re well enough to defend yourself with your dip in the river. And not with Cy knowing we were here.”
Rhen passed out in the back seat with Zom curled up, half lying across his chest. I never thought I’d see him cuddle with a dog. Czar sat between Kenai and I, head back between the seats, never taking his eyes off Rhen. Kenai filled me in on what had happened in the woods and nothing sat well with me. I didn't like what Cy showing up on two different encounters meant. I didn't even have the first clue who this may have been. And I didnt like that we just left Dez injured in the cabin.
“First Cy vanishes while we're hunting vampires and now disappears with the loup garou?” I asked as I twined my fingers in Czar’s fur.
“Cy’s the first thing I’m looking into when we get back.” Kenai sighed heavily as he navigated the snow covered road.
“I know that sigh. Out with it.”
“Dez sent you and Rhen up here on purpose, Bear. He knew Rhen was a target. Connor told him about the scratches on the trailer at the mine. He didn’t want the two of you possibly getting back together. If Rhen died, his hands would be clean.”
“Damn Valdez.”
“That’s one way to put it.”
“I still don’t feel right leaving him up here with just Magi.”
“Damn it, Bear, you’re ok with the fact that he sent you up here to watch Rhen get killed?”
“No, no way in hell.” I sucked in a deep breath of cold air.
My fingers curled in Czar’s fur so hard my dog whipped his head back to look at me. Being away from Dez it finally sunk in. He really had sent us up here knowing full well we’d been in danger and that Rhen had been a target. We’d both been attacked. I’d almost died because of my plunge into the river, and Rhen lay in the back seat bandaged up. I wished I had done more damage to Dez than just his knee and broken nose.
Steal the Sun: (Book 1) Page 17