Outcast (Hunter: A Thieves Series Book 4)

by Lexi Blake

  “He’s gone.” Gray jogged back. “He’s good because I couldn’t catch him. He had a truck at the edge of the woods.”

  And Gray had hesitated. He wouldn’t have gone after the guy unless he’d been absolutely certain Trent had me covered.

  “That wolf wasn’t right.” Trent got to his feet. “I could smell the rest of them, but not him. What the hell was that?”

  Gray looked away. “Dude, could you cover that up? Your senses might be off, but I can still see, and I have to see too much of that as it is.”

  I rolled over, taking care because Gladys can do some spinal damage even in her sheath. My eyes still worked, too, and Trent was looking fine. “Oh, he gets an erection every time he changes. He can’t help it. He always comes back like that.”

  “Yeah, well the adrenaline of seeing a mutant wolf and nearly having my mate get shot didn’t help,” he complained, his hands on his hips and righteous indignation on his handsome face. “And you’ll have to deal with it because I don’t have an extra pair of jeans with me.”

  “You’ve got a shirt,” Gray pointed out.

  Trent picked it up where it had dropped and shook it Gray’s way. “Yeah, well, it won’t cover my dick. Can we move on to the fact that none of what we just saw was normal wolf behavior. Those were all males. Every one of them. And they were strong, alphas and betas. That wasn’t a pack. That was an army.”

  I took the hand Trent offered and he helped me to my feet. An army. He was right about that. “Our wolf was controlling them. Is that something werewolves can do? I’ve never seen it happen. Most of the time normal wolves won’t come anywhere near a were.”

  “They know we’re not them,” Trent agreed. “They always cede territory to weres. Come on. I want to get back to the shelter. We need to let Eddie know what’s out here and make sure they can’t get in.”

  Gray started walking, leading the way. “Or we could treat Eddie the way we should and tread lightly around him. He’s a demon. We can talk to Liv. She’s the one we trust.”

  “Albert’s a demon,” Trent pointed out. He looked awfully scrumptious in the moonlight, but my head was still spinning.

  There had been a hunter in the woods. A hunter without the capital H. Likely a human hunter. Trent had told me sometimes Lupus Solum brought in human hunters when they didn’t want to risk themselves in a hunt.

  Had my stepfather been the man behind the gun? Had he been the one pointing that laser scope at the middle of the wolf’s head? Had he seen me and wondered if he couldn’t kill two birds with one stone?

  “Albert has been with the royal family for years and I still wouldn’t trust him,” Gray said. “Demons can lay in wait for decades.”

  “Everyone except your brother, because he was a saint,” Trent complained. “Nemcox was good and kind, and the little satan who got kicked out of his family and sold at auction is the one we should worry about.”

  “Have you thought about the fact that he could be working for my father?” Gray pointed out as he stomped through the woods.

  My father. It made my gut churn. And there was something wrong with the wolf. Not wrong, precisely. He’d seemed sweet and lost, and not like a creature who went rabid and tore apart whatever happened to be in his path.

  “Not everyone works for your father,” Trent shot back. “Do you know who did work for your father? Your brother. He totally worked for your father.”

  Up ahead I saw the clearing where the entrance to our shelter was. I needed to get inside and think for a while. I needed to have their arms around me and talk about what we were going to do if my stepfather was out there lying in wait.

  “Don’t talk about my brother.” Gray stopped, turning and facing off with Trent. “Don’t even mention his name.”

  “You are being irrational.” Trent sounded less pissed off now. “We have to talk about it. We have to be able to move on. I’m going to find a way to come home and I’ll be there every day. She doesn’t need us fighting.”

  We were back to the dead zone. I could feel my senses go offline. Suddenly nothing smelled the way it had a moment before. Before I could smell the wolves even as they fled through the night. I’d gotten their scent when they’d been close, and it would have been easy for me to follow them.

  Should I have followed them?

  “Kelsey?” Lee was peeking out of the tent. “Are you okay?”

  Gray and Trent stopped arguing long enough to realize we weren’t alone. Lee stepped out and all thoughts of following the wolves back to their camp fled. Lee was here and I needed to protect him because there was a lot of danger in the woods tonight.

  I rushed forward. “Get back in. Someone’s shooting out here.”

  “Is that how Trent lost his clothes? He had to change, right?” Lee was still standing outside, looking out into the darkness as though trying desperately to see the danger. “Did you see the wolf? Was he scary? I want to see it, too.”

  How had his mother not had a heart attack yet? “Inside. You don’t leave this place without one of us with you, and by one of us, I mean me or Gray or Trent. Casey doesn’t count.”

  Lee groaned. “Casey’s a vamp.”

  I pushed him back inside, breathing again when my feet hit the marbled stairs that led down to the foyer. “Casey would hide behind you if he saw what I saw tonight.” Up ahead, Eddie stood at the bottom of the stairs, a silver tray in his hand. It looked like there were three beers waiting there, and I had no doubt they were cold and delicious. If Eddie was evil, I would cry. “Eddie, Trent’s buck-ass naked. He’s going to need some pants. And Lee isn’t allowed outside without an escort approved by me.”

  Eddie set the platter down and clapped his hands. “We have a code blue, people. Hurry. Master Trent needs garments to cover his nether regions.”

  “Seriously?” Trent asked as he strode down.

  “It’s good to know we have a plan in place to cover Trent’s nether regions,” Gray said, following him.

  Trent sent Gray his middle finger. I sent Trent a dirty look.

  “Dude, we have the kid with us,” I pointed out.

  “I know what the middle finger means. Papa uses it around Uncle Declan a lot,” Lee said with a nod. “What are nether regions?”

  “Whose nether regions are on…” Meredith rounded the corner and her eyes found Trent, her mouth curling in obvious appreciation. “Oh, hello. Wow. You look good, Trent. Damn. I’m not normally attracted to alpha wolves, but you are quite lovely.”

  I stepped in front of my wolf so his nether regions—yeah, I figured it out from context—weren’t on display. “He’s not showing off. He had to change.”

  “Oh, it means penis.” Lee proved he was good with context, too.

  “Yes, and Trent has a nice one,” Meredith said. “Sorry, you can’t expect me to ignore it. It would be rude. He’s obviously worked very hard to look that good.”

  She might have been spending way too much time with the Fae. “Is there a reason you’re not in your lab?”

  “I didn’t realize I was supposed to lock myself away,” she replied. “I came to tell you I’ve researched all the autopsies Henri sent me and I agree with his conclusions. The wolf is obviously rabid. He tore apart the bodies, but didn’t actually eat much of them. Mostly he lapped up the blood. There are two pathogens that can cause this type of behavior in werecreatures.”

  Two tiny brownies made their way into the foyer, hefting a pair of Levi’s over their heads. Eddie was back, picking up his platter again and offering me a beer.

  “I have a nighttime repast available for you in the lounge, mistress,” Eddie offered. “Master Trent, do you require a shirt as well?”

  Trent was climbing into the proffered jeans. “I can handle it. I get the feeling it’s going to be a long night. We’re patrolling, right?”

  Gray holstered his weapon. “I’m not leaving this place unguarded. Not with that pack out there.”

  Meredith practically vibrated with excitement.
“There’s a pack? Are they all sick? Could we catch one? I would love to experiment...on the pathogen, of course. I need a sick wolf so I can figure out exactly what we’re dealing with.”

  “I don’t think he was sick.” I took a long swig of beer and started toward the lounge because I could use a snack before taking my turn on patrol. “He seemed perfectly normal to me.”

  “There was nothing normal about that wolf,” Trent insisted. “I couldn’t smell him.”

  “Have we considered that there’s something wrong with your nose and not the wolf?” Gray asked.

  Trent turned and stared at him.

  Gray shook his head. “I know. You’re right. That wolf is fuck-all wrong. I said that to poke at you. I don’t even know why I’m doing it.” He stood there for a moment, his head going down, and when it came back up my demon love was gone and the prophet was in his place. His eyes had gone midnight black with not a hint of white.

  Meredith gasped, but she didn’t appear afraid. Lee kind of sighed like he knew whatever happened next wasn’t going to be cool or fun. Trent found his way to me and slipped his hand into mine.

  “Boys become men in the blink of an eye as the new world begins. The two natured will join in friendship, their years together breaking the walls that have defined the world for millennia. Though one is not two natured until he Becomes. Leave the king behind and he shall destroy. Bind the king in friendship and he will find the light. The glow of her love will make or break him. The crown is twofold. Never let them tell you there can be only one.”

  Eddie proved again that he had his shit in order. He had pulled a cell phone out and was recording the prophecy.

  I’d heard this one before, or at least parts of it. The crown is twofold. There can be more than one. The new world thing was freaking me out a little. Bind the king in friendship and he will find the light. I figured that had to do with Donovan because I knew damn well we were on the precipice of saving or destroying the world.

  But how was I leaving the king behind? With the wizard? Had I made a mistake leaving Dallas?

  Gray looked straight at me. His voice lost its smooth edge. “A trick and a trap. A trick and a trap. A trick and a trap.”

  He took a step toward me and started to fall.

  Trent was quick, catching him before he could hit the floor.

  I got to my knees beside him. His eyes were Gray’s again, but I saw such pain there.

  “I saw it.” He gritted his teeth. “Forgive me. Please, please forgive me.”

  His head fell back and I was left with a million questions.

  “He’s fine,” Meredith assured me. “All his vitals are perfectly normal. I’ve consulted with Henri and he told me Gray has had a few of these episodes. That’s why he sent along the tonic.”

  Henri had been working on a tonic to help Gray control the migraines he could get from time to time. According to Henri, it was all part of being a prophet. Gray wasn’t used to it yet and his brain had trouble acclimating, especially when Gray pushed for a vision.

  “He’s never passed out before.” I looked down at him and he seemed to be sleeping peacefully. I wanted him in our bed. The room we’d been assigned was big and luxurious, but not a one of us would be sleeping in it tonight.

  Trent was already prowling around the tent. He was worried about the wolves having been so close. Liv was working on a spell that would close down the entrance to the pocket universe if someone unknown came into close proximity, but it wouldn’t be done until the morning. Trent wasn’t going to leave us unprotected.

  And I wasn’t about to climb into bed alone.

  “He’s stubborn,” Meredith said. Like I didn’t know that. “Look, I’ve never treated a prophet before. From what I understand there are only two of them walking the Earth plane right now. I don’t know a ton about it, but I have studied some witches and demons with psychic powers. If they fight it, if they try to direct it, that’s when they run into trouble. These powers are gifts. They’re not tools to be used. They’re gifts to be accepted.”

  “I don’t think Gray would call it a gift.”

  “Again, because he’s stubborn.” She checked his vitals one more time before moving to the standing desk that held her laptop and starting to make notes. “He needs to ride the wave, so to speak. Any idea what he was talking about?”

  I put my hand over his, but he didn’t move. “No. Apparently someone’s laid a trap for me and I can’t leave the king behind. There was something about boys becoming men.”

  “Interesting,” she commented, her eyes on the laptop screen. “Prophecy is a funny thing. We tend to see what we want to see. It’s all open to interpretation.” She glanced over at Gray. “It must be hard for him. He can see it all and can’t find a way to tell you. I worry what will happen if he physically tries to stop an event. If trying to control what he says does that to his brain, what would actual physical intervention do?”

  I didn’t want to find out. “I wish it would happen and we could get it all over with.”

  “That’s a healthy attitude to take.” Her glasses gleamed in the low light. “Bad things happen. There’s no way around it. All you can do is survive and handle it on the other side. I often wonder what would have happened if Adam had lived. I wonder how he would have handled the king giving me the option of leaving.”

  I got the feeling she didn’t talk about her past often. Not in anything but a sarcastic fashion. “Would you have left? I’ve heard the relationship can be just as passionate for a companion.”

  She laughed, but it was a dull sound. “Perhaps if you’re married to a man like Henri or Marcus. Academics are different. Warriors are vile. They see everything and everyone as property to obtain and protect. I say I wonder, but I know what would have happened. He would have killed me before letting me go.”

  “I doubt the king would have allowed it.”

  “He allowed my rape. He allowed me to be sold.” She shook her head as though trying to dispel bad thoughts. “Sorry. He wasn’t in power then, of course. He had to wait for the right time. I appreciate everything the Council has done for me since I was freed. I certainly wouldn’t have had the money to attend Harvard. And I wouldn’t have been able to create a new identity for myself. They’re quite good at making people disappear and reappear, but then you know all about that. I was surprised you came back. I saw you in the arena that day.”

  I didn’t doubt which day she was referring to. I shifted so I was sitting on the edge of the bed, my hand still in Gray’s. She was talking about the day I’d become the Nex Apparatus, the first time I’d fought in the king’s name. It hadn’t been my choice. Except it had. I’d made the decision to walk into that arena. “I was mad at the time, but the king did give me a choice. I could have apologized to the alpha.”

  “Why didn’t you? You should have died out there. Why not do the political thing and apologize? You accused that alpha of killing some werecreatures, right? A deer or something? No one cares about the prey animals.”

  “I did. I still do. I didn’t apologize because I wasn’t wrong. I didn’t apologize because he killed her and no one else would bring him to justice. I came back because I might be the only one willing to do what needs to be done. The queen once told me I serve a purpose. I don’t think about politics. I do what’s right.”

  And that was bugging me because the only way I could bring Trent home was to present that wolf’s head to Lord Sloane. It had been one thing when I was certain the wolf was chomping on anything that came his way, but that hadn’t been the truth of things.

  There was a deeper mystery here and I had to solve it. Even if it cost me.

  Gray was trying to do the same and it was costing him mightily. I just wished he could see that right had been all Trent had done, too.

  I stood up because it was time to get some sleep. We had a lot to do in the morning. But I was curious about a few things and Meredith seemed willing to talk. “Why didn’t you go home? I know at least o
ne of the companions went back to her previous life.” A young lady from London named Rose Beasley was now considered protected by the Council. All she had to do was let her representative know she was in trouble and I would show up to take care of it. The vamps left her alone. It made me wonder why Meredith hadn’t done the same.

  “I have nothing to go back to.” Her voice had gone bland again, monotone. “I was getting married that weekend when I was taken. Bryan. I met him in foster care and we made it through the system together. He was going to work and I was going to college. I went missing the night before our cheap-ass ceremony.”

  “Did he look for you?” My heart ached because I was betting the man she’d loved had likely found someone else.

  “Bryan was incredibly smart. He was also tenacious. As far as I can tell he looked for over a year before the police found his body in a hotel room in New York. He had a ticket for London the next day. That’s where Adam’s house was. He’d tracked me down. He was coming for me and that would have potentially exposed the Council,” she said. “I wondered if the king himself did it, but it turns out they don’t bother sending the Nex Apparatus out to kill regular old humans. They use lower-level people for that kind of work.”

  “I would never do that. That was the old Council. That was precisely why Daniel had to take over.”

  Her face cleared, and that passive smile was back. “And that’s why I work for them now. And like I said, I do like academics. I know Casey is in love with Liv. I’m not completely unaware. But he’ll need a companion. Maybe that’s why I’m so into the man. Most of the time I walk into a room full of vampires and every single one of them looks at me like I’m the most beautiful creature in the world. Not Casey. I’ll win him in the end. It’s a good thing that Liv doesn’t really want him.” She turned back to her work. “I’ll let you know if anything changes, but I promise, Gray’s going to be okay. I wouldn’t let anything happen to him. And I would love a full report on the mutant wolf if you have time tomorrow.”