Outcast (Hunter: A Thieves Series Book 4)

by Lexi Blake

  Casey wasn’t even close to Marcus. I didn’t have the same relationship with him, and honestly, it would have taken everything Marcus had to calm me down because I was starting to remember all the bad shit that had happened this afternoon.

  I realized I was surrounded and tried to move, but my limbs were so heavy. I thought about opening my eyes but I decided to gain a bit more strength.

  My stepfather had looked me in the eyes and I’d become a teenaged girl again, one who couldn’t handle who she was, who hadn’t known what she was. He was here in Wyoming and he didn’t seem to be afraid of me anymore.

  “I think we need to put Jeanine Atwood under guard, and let Nate and Jamie know their father has resurfaced,” Gray was saying.

  He would come after my brothers. He would try to convince them to go with him, but I had no doubt if they wouldn’t he would take them all out. He would kill us all if he had a chance.

  “Uhm, guys, I think she’s having a bad dream or something,” Casey said. His stroking of my arm picked up again and that voice in my head was sounding a bit on the desperate side.

  I didn’t care. The whole day slammed back into me. My family was in danger. All of them. My stepfather was back. The fucking wizard wanted to kill my real dad’s soul. Trent and Gray were fighting, and I would never get those kids I longed for.

  Just being in the same space with that man had darkened my soul, and my wolf responded the way she always did. She wanted to fight.

  “Tell him Lupus Solum sometimes works with human hunters when they can’t take care of the problem on their own or they don’t want to get on the Council’s radar. They will have him kill that child,” Trent was saying.

  “Kelsey, sweetie.” Liv was the one talking now. I felt her hand on my brow. “You need to calm down. You’re safe now. You don’t need a creepy demon arm. Shit. It’s not creepy. It’s pretty, really. It’s a nice color, but I think it’s going to wreck your manicure if you’re not careful.”

  My arm had changed again, and something about the transformation sent me a nice boost of energy. I could feel the clouds lifting from my brain. Rage is an excellent mind clearer.

  I remembered every horrible thing that had happened. I was in a corner. I would have to fight my way out.

  “Guys, seriously, something is happening with her,” Casey insisted. “Kelsey, how are you feeling? I know you’re awake.”

  He would be able to feel my emotions, and I was certain that he wasn’t feeling anything vaguely good.

  How did I feel?

  Scared. Stressed. Beyond betrayed.

  They’d drugged me but they hadn’t understood the fundamental problem. All those emotions didn’t go away simply because they’d knocked me out. They were all back because I didn’t feel safe or grounded. I’d been worried for days, and seeing my stepfather sent me over the edge.

  I opened my eyes. I was almost strong enough. Another few moments and the drug would clear my system. I could feel its power lessening. When it was gone, I could take care of one of my problems.

  I could kill my stepfather.

  Liv was staring down at me. She had a glass of something in her hand. “Hey, sweetie. Are you feeling sick? Do you want some of this? The doc here says it’ll help with your tummy.”

  I pushed the glass away because I sure as fuck wasn’t about to drink anything. I’d already been drugged once that day. I must have shoved too hard because there was the sound of glass smashing as it hit the wall on the other side of the room.

  “Okay, we’ll try it.” Gray was suddenly standing over me. “But I don’t know that it’s going to work. Her arm changed again. It was back to normal when she was sleeping.”

  Even though he wasn’t on speaker phone I could hear the stream of Italian coming from the other end of the call.

  Trent was at my side, crowding Liv out. “You two get out of here. Make sure Lee is kept far away. I mean it. This is going to get ugly.”

  At least someone understood.

  “I can’t leave her,” Liv said.

  Casey picked her up, much against her will. “Yes, you can. Hex me later, but she’s about to explode. I’m sorry. I’m not close enough to her to handle this. She’s enraged, Trent. When the drugs clear, she’s going to go after her stepfather. You have to stop her.”

  Casey started for the door.

  I could almost get my limbs to move.

  “Get everyone to a safe place,” Gray ordered. “Casey, you protect Lee, do you understand? You both watch after him. Liv, she’ll die if she hurts that kid.”

  “Not going to hurt Lee,” I managed to say. I was fighting my way past the drug. I found out I could pretty much force my heart to beat faster, to clear the drug from my system. I could flex my hands now. I could feel my strong arm. The rest of my limbs might feel heavy, but that demon arm was ready to do some damage.

  “Maybe we should give her another dose,” Liv said warily. “The doc can monitor her. Apparently Casey can feel her emotions. We won’t bring her out until she’s calm. I can come up with a spell to help her. I can’t stand to see her like this.”

  I would love to see her try. She’d just made my list. It didn’t matter that she was my best friend. I would visit with her after I’d dealt with my dad.

  When I get like this, I think bad thoughts. Lots and lots of bad thoughts. When my wolf is in control, she knows how to handle situations so they don’t come back to bother us ever again. And she didn’t like the thought of some newbie doctor putting us out.

  Of course, she wasn’t happy with our men putting us down either. It was time to show them who the fucking boss was.

  I wouldn’t have anything I’d wanted, needed. It had been foolish to think I could have those beautiful children, that life I’d seen when I was pulled into Gray’s brain. I was nothing and always had been nothing. From the moment I’d been born, I was cursed, and the only thing I had left was rage.

  Yeah, my she-wolf can be a downer.

  At the time, in that state, I couldn’t see anything good in the world. I only knew that one thing would satisfy me—blood.

  “Get her out of here, Casey. That’s an order.” Gray put the phone back to his ear. “Yeah, I know what to do now. I’m sorry. I didn’t understand. She hasn’t had one of these episodes in front of me before. No, we won’t drug her again. It won’t solve the problem. I’ll call you when it’s over. I’ll take care of her, Marcus. We’ll take care of her. Yes, I get it.”

  He tossed the phone away and started in on the buttons of his shirt.

  Trent pulled his T-shirt over his head. “Casey, Gray was serious. You should leave now. Tell Edward to keep the servants in the kitchen. And to make a shit ton of food because she’s going to be hungry when we’re through.”

  My legs started to twitch. I was almost there. A moment more. I could feel my body warming up, getting ready to move. My heart thudded in my chest. It was like I was in a cage and the door was slowly opening. I could see the light. Adrenaline pumped through me.

  Trent looked down at me. “Kelsey, I’m sorry. I had to do it. Don’t be too rough on me.” His lips curled in a feral grin. “Or be as rough as you like, baby. I can handle it.”

  He thought I was doing something freaky with him? “Fuck you, Trent.”

  “That’s the plan,” he replied. “Marcus gave us hell because we set Casey on you. He told us we should have hopped into bed with you and had our hands and mouths all over that gorgeous body of yours even before you came out of it. You should have known you were safe.”

  I could move now. I wasn’t strong enough, but my wolf wasn’t about to wait. My stepfather was out there. He was waiting. If he found that kid first he would kill him. He would kill that wolf too, and I wouldn’t be able to solve the mystery. He would revel in it and then he would look my way.

  The fucking wizard was out there and he would rip Lee apart. He would tear his soul from his body and consume it.

  Only I could stop them. Gray and Trent di
dn’t love me. I was their burden. It would be good for them if I sacrificed myself.

  The king would put me down, but only after I’d done my work.

  I saw it all play out in my head. I saw myself victorious.

  “Baby, Marcus thinks we should hold you,” Gray said now that the room had cleared. He leaned over and brushed a hand over my hair. “You’re all right. You’re so loved, Kelsey mine. I’m not going to say I’m happy with Trent here, but I get that you need us both. We would never let your stepfather hurt you.”

  A snarl hit the back of my throat because he was treating me like a soft, sweet something.

  I was neither soft nor sweet in that moment.

  “It’s not going to be like that,” Trent said, his eyes shifting and proving that despite what the sheriff and my stepfather had said, he was all alpha wolf. And now that I knew he was one of the few wolves alive who was pure werewolf, I wondered how much he’d been holding back on me.

  I was itching to find out.

  “And you can say you don’t want me here,” Trent continued, his voice deepening. “But I know it’s fear talking. Keep it up. I’m not going anywhere. You can hide all you like but this ends one way.”

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Gray stood tall again.

  “It means I’ve felt what that dragon of yours wants.” Trent was pacing, his words coming out on a low growl. “And I’ll give it to you when you’re ready. But for now pull the stick out of your ass because this will get nasty. She’s playing with us. She’s waiting until she’s ready and then she’s going to try to take us both out.”

  Well, if I was caught, I was caught. I pushed off the bed, flipping my body up and getting into a crouched position. Gray and Trent were on opposite sides of the bed, both staring at me. Trent looked like he was ready for anything I could throw his way. Gray was the weak link. Gray was the one who didn’t want to hurt the poor female.

  “Do not let her fool you,” Trent warned. “If that arm is red, she’s still exactly where she was before we pissed her off. Come on, baby. Take it out on me. I can handle it.”

  Gray had his hands in front of him as though showing me he didn’t have a weapon. “No one’s going to hurt you. We’re here to help you.”

  That was the moment I pounced. I leapt. I hit Gray with the power of a truck and he smacked back to the floor. It was exactly what I’d been hoping for. Gray had been closest to the door out of here. I had no idea where I was but I opened my every sense and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I could find my way out. I didn’t bother to grab Gladys. I wasn’t taking my stepfather out with a sword. He would meet my right hand. It would find his cold, dead heart and rip it from his body. He would watch it take its last beat in my hand.

  I didn’t care that I was stepping on my lover. He wasn’t my lover in that instant. He was the man who meant to keep me from my prey. I didn’t care about his groan as I put my full weight on his chest and I leapt off his prone body. All that mattered to me was getting free of these confines.

  I couldn’t run in here. When I found my way to the woods, I would open my power and let it flow. I would be faster than the wind, and no one would see me coming. The wolves wouldn’t be able to keep up with me.

  I would be free.

  An arm clotheslined my midsection right before I made it to the door. The air threatened to rush from my lungs and anger flashed through me. Fucking Trent. I’d thought to leave the men unharmed, but if they wanted a fight, I would give them one. I brought my elbow against Trent’s head. Hard. He didn’t let go, didn’t even react. I tried again, growling my frustration. His head snapped back, but his arms merely tightened.

  “Let me go.” I wasn’t about to get back in that bed and let them pet me. They’d lost that chance days before. Months. They’d lost it the night I’d fought in the arena. I’d almost died and Gray had been more worried about his brother than me.

  God, I hadn’t forgiven him. I was angry with him for picking his brother.

  I was just as angry with Trent. It wasn’t rational because he had absolutely chosen me that night. He’d given up so much for me and he was still trying, but he’d hit me with that fucking needle and that was good enough for me.

  I swiped at Trent’s back with my clawed hand. He hissed and then I watched as he immediately healed. I’d barely managed to draw blood and I’d gone deep.

  “Cut me all you like, bitch of mine,” Trent ground out. “I’m full up on king’s blood. I can take anything you want to give me. I did a double dose straight in the vein the minute I realized you were waking up. I can take you down.”

  He’d mainlined the king’s blood? That was bad for me. King’s blood always made the person taking it stronger, but shoving a hyper dose in his veins would make Trent a super wolf for a brief period of time. He had a chance in this fight now.

  Not that I would give up. “I thought we weren’t calling me a bitch anymore.”

  He tossed me on the bed and even as angry as I was I had to admit he looked good in nothing but a pair of low-slung jeans. His gloriously cut chest was on display, every muscle rigid with tension. And that wasn’t the only place my wolf was tense. His dick was hard in those denims. “No one else gets to call you that. They don’t mean the same thing I do. You’re always my bitch, baby.”

  Gray stood beside him and his claws were out. Me putting him on his back had pissed him off. “Don’t try that again, Kelsey. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  I would love to see him try.

  Everything we’d gone through slammed into me. We’d never really fought about it, Gray and I. We’d never fought about the fact that he’d walked away from me time and time again. He was here to feed my human soul, and my human soul was so fucking broken it simply accepted everything Gray gave me.

  “You can’t hurt me, demon.” I was done with all of them. Every single man. They didn’t stay, and these two wouldn’t either. They would figure out how fucked up I am and they would find their perfect mates.

  I got back to my feet, crouched again. They were surrounding me. Now they decide to work together? Naturally it was only when they wanted to stop me from doing something I needed to do.

  I was a volcano of emotion and I couldn’t see anything good. All the joy of the past few years, all the accomplishments and everything happy I’d managed to find—those didn’t mean anything. All I could see was Gray walking away from me time and time again. The fact that Trent had sacrificed meant nothing because in the beginning he’d been my jailer. He’d been the one who made sure I was locked down. He reported back to the king on my transgressions.

  Was that what he was doing now? Gray would walk away from me in the end and Trent was probably here because Donovan still didn’t trust me.

  My claw twitched and I knew blood would start flowing soon. Theirs. Mine. Didn’t matter.

  I launched myself at Gray, who braced himself.

  Trent caught me before I managed to sink my claws into Gray’s flesh. “Not so fast.”

  Rage made me strong. I kicked at him and managed to plant a knee in his gut. Trent dropped me and fell back. I was moving for Gray in an instant.

  “You want to go to Hell? You want to leave me? I’ll send you there myself, motherfucker.”

  I saw Gray’s jaw drop as he realized I was actually attacking him. His arm came up to stop my demon arm from clawing at his eyes. The beginnings of his horns had sprouted, peeking from his dark hair.

  “Don’t try it again, Kelsey.” His fangs were out too.

  I twisted my arm and it came free of his hold. That adrenaline pumping through my body was reaching a drug-like high. I could feel it coursing through me, driving me. If I could only get the fuck out of this prison, I could let it loose. I wouldn’t have to think about anything. I would let my wolf totally take control.

  I would get rid of the Lupus Solum problem. Trent had burned them down once. I would do the same. I would set the fire and then kill the fuckers as they fled.
/>   Problem solved.

  The human part of me didn’t want to kill my way out. Even the wolf part realized there were people I cared about in here. But I was rapidly losing sight of that. The arguments against leaving anyone at all alive were getting further and further away.

  I punched out, catching Trent in the jaw. His head snapped back and when he looked at me there was blood on his lips—lips that curled up in anticipation.

  Gray was moving behind me, the two of them circling me like the dangerous animal I was. “How the hell are you smiling?”

  “Because this is going to be so fucking good,” Trent promised. “I’ve been careful with you, baby, but I’ll give you what you want tonight. You think I don’t want this fight? I’ve been waiting for it since the day you finally looked at me. You’re angry. I fucked you over in the beginning. We don’t need therapy. You need to understand that I can take you. If I can take you, then I can also handle your shit. I can handle every inch of you. I want every inch of you. Even this crazed she-wolf killer inside. I fucking love her, too.”

  It was a hit. A direct one. I felt those words like he’d smacked me. I was unlovable. No one could possibly be okay with me. There wasn’t anything pure about me. I was the worst of all worlds, created specifically to destroy. “You think I don’t remember how you chained me up?”

  Trent nodded solemnly. “I did. I did all of it, and you know the worst part? I did it knowing who you were. I knew it the minute you walked into Ether. Do you remember? You came in with Gray that night and I caught your scent and I knew. Years I spent thinking I would be alone and you were there and I knew what fate had in store. Do you have any idea how confusing it was for me? All those years I’d dealt with that big motherfucker over there, thinking there was something wrong with me because I was attracted to him. I put him in chains, too. I kind of hated him because he didn’t make sense. I wasn’t attracted to men at all before Gray and none after. That night, it all made sense, and then Daniel told me what you are and what you can do. Daniel told me how much you would need Marcus, so I lay in wait.”