Outcast (Hunter: A Thieves Series Book 4)

by Lexi Blake

  “He knows who I am.” Trent’s words came out on a low growl as he talked about that dragon on Gray’s chest, but there was tenderness there, too. “He knows what we can be.”

  They could be vines that held me up. It rushed back to me, that day I’d spent in the place where Gray’s mind was all the time now. I’d been there and my own mind had formed a place for me to stay, to be safe from the maelstrom. There had been a mighty oak there and at first I’d thought it was Gray and I was the vine that wound around him. A second vine had been there because it had taken two to support the oak.

  Now I realized I was the oak and they were my vines. These men could hold me up or they could choke the life from me. They were necessary.

  They belonged together. It would never have worked with Marcus because he spent as much time in his head as Gray did. Trent trusted his instincts. He ran with them and accepted things as they were, trying hard to make it all work but never questioning that it would in the end. Trent would lift us up in a way no one else could. He would be as good for Gray as he was for me.

  He would be so good for our children.

  “I’ll send out a better mattress to the cabin.” Gray moved back, breaking the contact, but they’d taken a step forward. “For now, let’s take care of her. When we leave this place, I’ll start to try to figure out a way to bring you home. She needs us both.”

  I needed them right then.

  Gray shucked his slacks while Trent moved to the end of the bed, settling himself there. He picked up my right foot in his hand and kissed my ankle and the arch of my foot. He wasn’t satisfied with simply kissing me there. He rubbed his face over my skin, letting his scruff play along my flesh. He reveled in me. Gray might be my dirty boy, but Trent made me feel like there was no one else in the world for him, like I was something to be worshipped.

  Gray laid himself out next to me. “Eddie originally gave us three separate rooms, but apparently Liv explained that you wouldn’t like that.”

  Trent frowned. “I know I wouldn’t.”

  Gray’s hand moved from my collarbone to my breast, where he traced the circle of my nipple. “Liv made him remake the rooms so we have one big one all to ourselves. This bed is perfectly sized for the three of us. I have to say, I might not trust the little demon, but he’s got a way with magic.” He palmed my breast and I could feel my whole body softening. “I’m sorry, Kelsey mine. I’m being stubborn and I haven’t been taking care of you. It’s the prophecy thing. It clouds my mind and makes me worry. I can see everything but how we end.”

  “We weren’t meant to see that,” I replied, though I knew how I wanted us to end. “I still dream about that day.”

  Trent was kissing his way down my leg and I was getting restless. “What day?”

  “The day she helped me transition. That was the day she saw the possibility of you. I did as well.”

  “That’s why you were pissy with me. Good to know.” Trent winked my way. “And that’s why you all of the sudden started getting hot every time I walked into a room. Thought I couldn’t tell, did you? Those months were hell. Do you have any idea how many thin excuses I came up with so I could take off my shirt and tempt you with all my manly goodness?”

  I was normalizing now that both their hands were on me. I wasn’t able to think about anything except how good and right it was to have them here.

  “Douchebag,” Gray said, but he was smiling while he said it. He leaned over and kissed me, tangling our tongues together. “Stop thinking. Let us take care of you. Are you sure you want me to…”

  Was he asking what I thought he was asking? “Yeah.”

  He looked at me seriously. “I won’t ever ask the two of you to come with me. I wouldn’t do that but I need to know that you won’t be alone. Especially if we do this.”

  “She’ll never be alone again,” Trent vowed. “Do it. If it doesn’t work and you don’t get her pregnant tonight, we’ll ask for Devinshea’s help. I want you to have time with our kids, Gray.”

  If Dev Quinn and the fertility god who lived inside him blessed our union, Gray and I could have a son by next year. We could have time together as a family.

  “Marry me,” he whispered against my lips. “He’ll ask you eventually and I’ll be okay with it. But I need you to say yes to me. Be my wife for however long we have.”

  Tears slipped from my eyes and the day had changed. It had gone from something terrible to one I would never forget. “Yes.”

  One possibility achieved.

  Trent had moved up to my thigh. The heat of his mouth was making me crazy. “I want in on the honeymoon. I’ll let you marry moneybags there. He can have all the paperwork. When we’re ready, we’ll have a mating ceremony. It’s binding.”

  For life, because wolves mated for life.

  Whatever happened, we would face it together. That included my stepfather. The rest we would work out. Together.

  I wasn’t going to let them take it back. I wasn’t going to allow Gray to slide into his previous habits tomorrow. If he did I would go psychotic on them and we would be right here again.

  I gasped as Trent’s mouth played along my pussy. He breathed on me, teasing me as he settled in for a nice long session. Gray’s hands became more insistent, rolling my nipple between his thumb and forefinger. His tongue played along my lips and I was drugged with lust.

  The world, which only moments before had seemed hard edged and nasty, took on a happy glow.

  It got even happier when Trent finally took that first long lick.

  “Get her ready for me,” Gray murmured against my lips.

  “I’ll get her hot and wet and perfectly ready for everything you have to give her,” Trent vowed.

  I wanted to reach out, but the cuffs held my hands. I remembered another time Trent had cuffed me. The king had been testing me. At the time I’d hated him, but now I wondered how much it had cost Trent to do that. He wouldn’t have allowed anyone else to have taken the task. He would have forced himself to do it because he wouldn’t trust another person.

  It was funny how much seeing things from another point of view changed my own.

  I was trapped and there was nothing wrong with that. The cuffs held me tight and there was nothing to do but accept all the pleasure these men could give me.

  Trent speared me with his tongue and I couldn’t breathe for a moment.

  Gray kissed his way down my neck, moving to my breasts. He gently bit my nipple sending crazy shocks of pleasure through me. “Do you know what we’re going to do to you tonight? We’re going to take turns getting inside you. Hell, maybe we won’t take turns. We’ll just pick one of your sweet holes and fuck you hard. You’re going to be full of cock tonight. We’ll make up for all these months where you’ve only had one of us. Poor little Hunter.”

  Poor me. I’d had to suffer through only one lover at a time. All that terrible pulsing rage and self-hate was flowing out and being replaced with sweet reality.

  Trent picked up the pace, his tongue gliding over my clitoris, and the orgasm bloomed from deep inside me.

  Gray held me as the pleasure coursed through me.

  When I finally calmed down, he kissed me again.

  “I love you, Kelsey mine,” he said against my lips. “No condom. Nothing between us.”

  “Nothing between us,” I said.

  Gray kissed me again and the bed shifted as he and Trent changed places. My wolf used a key to release my hands. I wanted to touch them if we were getting serious. I wanted my arms around them if we were going to do this. Trent immediately took my mouth, giving me back my own arousal.

  “Forgive me?” Trent punctuated the question with kisses to my nose and cheeks.

  He was always put in the position of playing the bad guy with me. The truth was I would have attacked my stepfather had Trent not drugged me. I wouldn’t have cared that the deputies would shoot. I’m not capable of thought when I get that way, and neither of my lovers can reach into my brain and force m
e to calm down. “There’s nothing to forgive, babe. You and Gray did what you had to do.”

  And now they were giving me exactly what I needed. They were showing me how much they loved me. They were giving me a future.

  I sighed as Gray thrust up and joined us. Trent held me while Gray worked over me. When he bent down to kiss me, Trent moved but never left my side. The three of us were together, working to build our family.

  Gray was looking into my eyes when he brought us both to pleasure. My legs were wound around him and I wrapped my now free hands around both of my loves.

  My circle felt complete.

  Chapter Eleven

  I am bathed in sunlight. It seems to come from everywhere, this joyous light. It covers my skin and I am not afraid. The trick might have worked, but now we could find our way out of the trap. All we’d needed was summer’s pure glow.

  Marcus smiles beside me because he’s found his home. I will miss him forever, but I have a home now, too. A home and soon a child. My demon boy. I want to be home. Gray and Trent will have missed me. They don’t know about our son yet. I did what I needed to do to protect us all. I stayed on the path. Never leave the path.

  A trick and a trap.

  A wolf howls and I find myself in the forest. I look around because I can feel the world has changed. I was happy in the sunlight.

  There is darkness and gloom here.

  I see the child surrounded by wolves. He sits in the middle of a great pack. Natural wolves. They surround him but to protect. They look my way, silently requesting aid for their king.

  Lee walks to him. The wolves begin to growl and I try to stop him. A hand on my elbow holds me back.

  “Don’t. Let them meet. Let the new world begin,” a familiar voice says.

  I look down and Jacob is beside me. He looks to be around sixteen until he turns those endless eyes on me. He is the Heaven plane’s prophet, an angel who fell millennia ago. He is Gray’s mentor and he likes to witness world-changing events.

  My heart is suddenly filled with fear.

  “New world?” What did my little Lee have to do with the new world? There were wolves waiting to tear him apart.

  And then the child stands and the wolves sit at his command. He is so small amongst them. He reaches out a hand and Lee takes it and then neither one is small. They are at the height of their youth and beauty, both young men.

  Both wearing crowns. The wolves bow before them.

  “The crown is twofold,” Jacob says.

  I realize we are not alone. The woods are filled with people coming to witness this day. Wolves are everywhere. And the Fae. They bear witness.

  I will be here, too.

  Why is the queen crying? She holds a child in her arms and weeps while Devinshea consoles her.

  Why is Lee wearing a crown?

  Jacob shakes his head. “Never let them tell you there can be only one. Time will twist and turn in on itself. It will speed up or slow down as it will. Blood informs blood.”

  I shake my head because none of it makes sense. I know some of this comes from Gray. A trick and a trap.

  The wolves part and a bride appears. Her glorious red hair is threaded with tiny white flowers. She carries a bouquet of them, too. A wedding. This is a wedding.

  Donovan takes his daughter’s hand and the woods darken. The trees themselves seem to shake.

  Lee smiles and reaches for his sword. I watch in abject horror as he presses it to his own chest and pierces his heart. Blood begins to flow, staining the white of his dress shirt.

  Nothing can make me stay in place now. The rest of the world doesn’t seem to notice he is dying. Donovan continues walking his daughter down the aisle. I have to rush around them. The music keeps playing, though it sounds warped to my ears. The wolf king smiles, a look of pure satisfaction. He has everything he’s plotted and planned and worked for. All these years he’s known he would take her in the end. From the moment he entered the royal house. Through all the planes they’d run through, he’d been at her side. The rebellion means everything to him, but nothing means more than finally taking his bride.

  He doesn’t notice his best man is on his knees, his heart’s blood staining the forest floor.

  The crown on Lee’s head rolls away and he is a boy again. A boy impaled with a sword.

  I look down as the wolves begin to howl. I look down and see my father’s eyes.

  “Had to do it, darlin’,” he says to me. “This was written before I was born. Blood informs blood. Never leave the path.”

  He looks up at me. He is dying. He’s so small in my arms. I can feel Jacob watching us.

  This is the moment. This is everything. Lee’s death will change the world.

  I don’t care about the world. Tears flow.

  “Don’t leave me behind,” he whispers, his voice that of a child again. “Never leave me behind.”

  I hold him close and promise.

  Jacob stares down at us as Lee dies in my arms. “She needs you. She needs you all. Summer is coming.”

  I weep. I don’t give a shit about any season. All I care about is Lee.

  I have to protect Lee.

  When I look up, the wizard stands over us, Excalibur in his hand. He picks up the crown and smiles.

  Fucking prophecy dreams.

  I was sweating when I woke up and the images from the dream were already murky. Ever since the night I helped Gray transition to his dark prophet state, I’d occasionally had some crazy-ass dreams, though this was the first time Jacob had made an appearance.

  A trick and a trap. That stupid phrase had haunted me ever since Gray made the prophecy a few months back. Sometimes at night I dreamed of warm days in a beautiful land. I was okay there but Trent and Gray are never in those dreams. Only Marcus, and we’re friends there. Never lovers. I’m always alone in that sunshine world. But I greatly preferred that over dreams of Lee dying.

  I tried to shake it off because the dreams were more like echoes. It had been explained to me that I could still touch that place where all things are possible. It didn’t mean they would happen, only that they might. I took them more as warnings than anything else.

  But it made me wonder if we weren’t all walking into that trap Gray talks about so often.

  I yawned and stretched and turned over in bed. That was when I realized I wasn’t cuddled in between two huge bodies. I opened my eyes and somehow there was sunlight filtering into the room. It came in through the window I hadn’t noticed the night before. I sat up in the big bed and looked around. Gray was right. Eddie had a way with the magics. The big bed was a four poster and the room was done in rich, dark wood with bright white trim. There was a large armoire and a vanity where someone had put out what little makeup I brought with me. And someone had left a bunch of wildflowers at the end of the bed along with a note. I scrambled out from my comfy nest and picked it up. It was written in Gray’s neat, masculine handwriting.

  Trent and I are going into town. Be back soon. Love you.

  And underneath in Trent’s chicken scratching—Don’t go psycho. Love you, too.

  They were almost certainly going back to Jensen’s place to find the spot where he’d set the trap. I’d wanted in on that mission, but I was feeling way too good this morning to get pissed at them. My she-wolf agreed.

  I glanced over and noticed that someone must have cleaned up. That or the place magically did it. The glass I’d broken the night before was gone and the place looked neat and tidy. My clothes were folded, and somehow I didn’t see Trent or Gray doing that. They were more toss-off-the-clothes kind of guys, and I happened to know they both had housekeepers.

  It was kind of odd to think about someone prowling around the bedroom while I slept.

  The door opened and I scrambled right back up and under the covers as Eddie entered, followed by several brownies carrying trays that looked bigger than their bodies.

  “Good morning, mistress.” Eddie was dressed in his butler best, a formal su
it and tie and no shoes because there weren’t many loafers that fit cloven hooves. He seemed to be in excellent spirits. “You’ll find that I purchased a robe for you. When I unpacked your bag, I noticed you hadn’t brought one along with you. I hope it meets your expectations. Sorcha, please, in the center of the room.”

  Sorcha was carrying a round table. She wasn’t one of the brownies. She was a decent-sized woman who just happened to have a tail peeking out of her very proper skirt. The troll placed the table and the brownies began setting it for what looked to be a spectacular breakfast service.

  “I didn’t have any expectations so you’ve already exceeded them,” I replied. I wasn’t really a robe kind of girl. I would probably have raided one of the guys’ drawers for a pair of boxers and a tank top if I had to get dressed. Gray wasn’t big on PJs and Trent preferred me in my own skin. He was a typical wolf. He slept naked and we often spent our days at the cabin naked and cuddled up together for hours and hours. We would wrap a blanket around us and watch TV.

  “I think we should buy you pajamas,” a familiar voice said.

  That voice sent me burrowing deeper under the covers. I might not care if Eddie and the brownies caught sight of naked me, but I did give a damn about Lee. I had those blankets up around my neck.

  “Don’t you get cold like that?” Lee asked as he settled into one of the chairs the trolls had brought in.

  The table was now covered in a white tablecloth and there was a bounty of breakfast on it along with plates for five. I suspected I would have the rest of our party in here soon and wondered what was wrong with the kitchen.

  “I don’t understand the naked stuff,” Lee admitted. “Rhys said it’s normal, but I think Mama should wear pajamas, too. She makes us wear them. Thanks for the cereal, Eddie. This all looks great. Thanks, Sorcha and Ellwis and Jenna.”

  I loved that he was barely eleven and had the best manners. Of course he’d grown up royal, and I was sure it had been pressed on him how important it was to make one’s subjects feel like they were worthy.