Outcast (Hunter: A Thieves Series Book 4)

by Lexi Blake

“But I get mad. I hate it when they look at me like I don’t matter. I’m not ever going to ascend like Papa. I’m not going to come into powers like Rhys. I don’t glow like Evan. They’re never going to accept me. I’m nothing.”

  “You are not nothing.” My heart ached for him. He was special to me, but I wasn’t sure how to explain it. Maybe I needed to be more honest with him. He was smart enough to know something was wrong, but he didn’t have the pieces of the puzzle to put it all together so he’d placed the blame on himself. “I asked your mother to let me bring you here with me. I don’t like the wizard. I think he might have plotted to have my father killed. I think there’s something going on with him and I don’t like it.”

  Lee went still. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously. I don’t want you around him.”

  He was silent for a moment and I could practically see that magnificent brain of his working. “Because he already killed me once.”

  I went still.

  “I heard you talking about it. You and Mama think I’m him. You think I’m the first Lee. Your dad. Papa told Mama he didn’t believe her until I got sick. Something happened. They said I had the flu and that I was sleeping, but I remember some of it. I wanted a beer. I called Uncle Zack brother.”

  “Would that be so bad? If you were him?” I thought he didn’t remember anything from the previous year when a spell had brought the old soul out. My father’s soul. He’d briefly remembered who he was and I’d spent some time hanging with my dad and trying to keep his liver intact. Dad had wanted a beer pretty bad.

  “He was cool,” Lee admitted. “But he was a wolf, Kelsey. He was a lone wolf. I’m not anything.”

  “You’re a hell of an investigator.” He needed to understand how much I valued him. “I don’t keep you around for fun, Lee. You help me. I think as you grow up that’s going to be your place. After college, you can come and help me. If you want to go into law enforcement, my brother Jamie works with the Rangers. There is a place for you. Always.”

  “Mostly my place is being the thing that makes my dads do what other people want them to. Just once I’d like Rhys to be the one who gets kidnapped and almost dies because some jerk face wants Dad to do something he doesn’t want to do.”

  That did happen way more often than it should. “They do it because they know how much your dad loves you. And I love you, too, buddy.”

  He shook his head. “They do it because I’m the weak link. That’s what everyone at school says, and no I’m not going to tell you who said it because you can’t kill them all.”

  I could try. “I know how you feel. I didn’t always have this power. My stepdad hated me.”

  “The one who’s here?”

  “Yeah. I think he always knew something was wrong with me. It wasn’t so bad when I was a little kid, or maybe I just don’t remember. But when I got older, my mom would make me eat dinner before my dad got home. She and the boys would eat as a family, but I had to stay in my room.”

  “That wasn’t fair.”

  I shrugged. “It was more fair than getting the hell beaten out of me. I thought something was wrong with me. I wondered why my dad didn’t love me.”

  He reached his small hand out, placing it against my cheek and reminding me who was behind those sweet eyes of his. “Your father loved you very much. He loved you, Kelsey.”

  Tears pierced my eyes. “Yes, and that’s all that matters. You are loved, Lee Donovan-Quinn.” I took a deep breath and stood back up. “So we’re going to start training. I know you’re only eleven, but that doesn’t mean a damn thing in this world. You train with me and I’ll teach you how to fight. Despite having super strength, I’m usually smaller than my opponents. I can teach you how to take down some big dudes.”

  His whole face lit up. “Seriously?”

  “I have to run it by your mom, but I think she’ll go for it if we promise it won’t disrupt your schoolwork.” I kind of thought the queen would do anything to make her baby boy feel better about himself. And the truth was it would only get harder as he got older. Rhys was gaining control of his powers. His cousin, Sean, was a royal prince. Mia Day was already showing her witchy strengths. Even my little cousin Courtney was a mini she-wolf. Lee was the weak link and I needed to make him strong.

  “I can use help with the business, too,” I added. “Justin is great at running the office and dealing with clients, but he has zero investigative skills. I sent him out to get pictures of a weretiger who was cheating on his lioness, and not only did he get caught, but that lion did a number on him.”

  Lee rolled his eyes. “I could do that in my sleep.”

  I wasn’t going to send him on a stakeout anytime soon, but he could help me. I could teach him how to run a skip trace and he could work on the less violent cases. But one day he would need a job and it wouldn’t be out in the human world. He was trapped between worlds, too human to have a real place with the Council and too highborn to be allowed to live a normal life as a human.

  I could give him a job. I could teach him, but I also had to make sure he knew how to fight. Lee was reckless, scarily so at times. It was like he needed to prove something. That was a place I knew only too well.

  Somehow thinking about my stepfather was easier than it had been the night before. I’d had my freak-out and Trent had drugged me. No biggie. I knew I should be feeling the aftereffects. I used to feel shame, but I’d come to accept a lot about myself. The strength that gave me the ability to protect the ones I loved came with a price. I was willing to pay it.

  The river was closer now. I could hear it rushing. Spring was coming in. The grass was starting to green and the trees out here had buds blooming. Maybe we could do some fishing, me and Lee. We could find the brownie who Eddie had sent out to catch our dinner and settle in and spend the afternoon fishing. It would be a nice way to spend some time together.

  “Kelsey,” he said.

  I looked down at him as we approached the river. He’d stopped and was pointing to his left.

  “Do you think that’s him?” Lee asked.

  My heart threatened to stop in my chest because a boy was crouched over something. He was small, completely naked as he poked at the body of a brownie.

  We’d found her, but she wasn’t fishing anymore. She’d become the prey.

  “Get behind me.” I stepped in front of Lee but the boy’s head had come up.

  He crouched over like he was used to moving on four limbs instead of two. He growled, the sound low and much deeper than I would have expected coming from a child.

  “Hi,” Lee said from behind me.

  The growling stopped. He shook his head. “Didn’t do it.”

  The brownie was dead, her small body ripped into pieces.

  “He doesn’t have blood on him,” Lee pointed out.

  He could have cleaned up in the river, but I needed him calm so I was going to figure out if he was a killer later. Somehow I thought interrogating the kid wouldn’t go well. He was weird. I couldn’t smell him. Even without my she-wolf in charge, I should have been able to smell him. Werewolves give off strong scents. Humans do, too, for that matter.

  I breathed in and got a whiff of something I definitely didn’t like. We weren’t alone. I needed to move and quickly. We were outside of the spell Liv had placed on the tent. I needed to be inside it so they could shut down the place once we were safe. We would have to come back for the brownie’s body. God, I remembered Eddie talking about the brownie who’d been fishing for our supper and that she had a sister. I hated telling family members their loved one is dead and I hadn’t prevented it.

  “Is your name Fenrir?” If I could get the kid to come back with us, that would be best. I wasn’t certain the wolves who were prowling around the forest weren’t actual wolves. Sometimes I can’t tell. I certainly couldn’t when I was anxious, and being out here with a dead body and a possible rabid wolf, about to be surrounded by other wolves, definitely made me anxious.

  The boy sc
ratched behind his ear. “Fen. Mama calls me Fen. Have you seen my mama?”

  Oh, that made my heart hurt. How long had this kid been looking for his mother? What had happened to him? It was one thing to know intellectually that he could be dangerous. It’s another to stand in the middle of a forest and see a child who needs a parent.

  “I’ll help you look, baby,” I said. “There are some wolves coming.”

  “Bad men,” he said, his big eyes solemn. He sniffed the air. “Not my friends. They don’t like me. Do you think they have my mama? I smelled her here.”

  Lee had his hands on my hips, looking out from behind me. “Do you know who killed the brownie?”

  Fen shook his head. “She was like this. She doesn’t want to play. She looks sad. My mama looked sad the last time I saw her and then she was gone. Daddy was gone, too. I think they brought her here.” He stopped and sniffed the air. “They’re here.”

  His shift was instantaneous. I’ve watched many werewolves shift and I’ve never in my life seen one do it with the ease of this kid. Trent’s wolf flows from his body, shifting easily, but I can see the change come over him. One minute Fen was a kid and then he was a wolf.

  My heart nearly stopped in my chest because he wasn’t just any wolf. He was the wolf. He was the wolf we’d seen the night we’d gotten here, the one who commanded the army. The whole forest seemed to go cold. He shouldn’t be so big. He should be a tiny, baby wolf.

  And I still couldn’t smell him.

  I could smell the other wolves who were coming our way. The pitch-black wolf Fen had turned into seemed to give us a sad look before he leapt across the river in one incredibly powerful move. Lee gasped as he watched Fen run off.

  “Did you see that?” He pointed toward the river. “I’ve never seen a wolf shift like that. How is he so big?” Then he seemed to deflate. “That’s Racha. Her sister is going to be upset. What happened to her?”

  I put a hand on his shoulder. “We need to get back to the tent. Now.”

  “We can’t leave her here,” Lee said, tugging on my hand.

  We had to. “We’re not alone. We’ll come back for her when Gray and Trent can come with us. For now we need to get you to safety.”

  Once I had him safely in that tent, I would come back and deal with the intruders.

  Except when I turned I realized I had to deal with them now.

  My stepfather blocked my way. He was dressed for hunting and had a big rifle in his hands. “Hello, Kelsey Jean. I think you should come with me. Those fellas back there would like to have a talk with you. Don’t go psycho on me, girl. I don’t have tranquilizers on me. I shoot with this, you’re going down and not getting back up.”

  “You’re not going to shoot her.” Lee was moving in front of me.

  I hauled him back and kept my hands on him. I wasn’t entirely certain he wouldn’t go after the man with the gun. “Leave us alone.”

  John Atwood shrugged. “Ain’t my call. What happened to that thing over there? Ain’t seen nothing like it before. Did the kid chew her up? Don’t try to run, girl. We got you surrounded. They only want to talk. For now.”

  I wasn’t sure who “they” were. My stepfather moved around us and stood over Racha’s poor body. He kicked the fishing pole and her basket out of the way so he could get a good look.

  “Someone did a number on it,” John commented.

  Five big wolves were coming out of the forest. The largest started to head my way while the others prowled restlessly. I hoped one of them swished a tail into the circle of Liv’s spell.

  “Let me take the kid back to our place and I’ll come with you,” I promised. “We can talk all you like.”

  “I’m not going back,” Lee swore. “I won’t leave you alone.”

  Yep, this was why I had to train the kid. Even surrounded by wolves, he was fighting me.

  One of the wolves stalked in front of us. He was gray and white, bigger than the rest of them. He reminded me of Trent’s wolf. He growled and then sat back.

  And then he was a dude who also looked an awful lot like Trent. Except younger. He stood up, not caring at all that his junk was hanging out. “You will come with us, Hunter. Yes, we know who you are and we know who this is. The human won’t be harmed. He’s meaningless in this discussion, but his father isn’t one I want to gain the ire of. You will come and meet the Council of Three.”

  “Or I could drop my friend off and come with you later,” I offered.

  “I’m not leaving,” Lee said under his breath. “If you try to get rid of me, I’ll follow you. You know I can do it.”

  Yeah, this is why his mom drank. “Fine, but we are having a serious talk later, young man.” I looked back at the werewolf. My stepdad was busy poking at the brownie’s body. “Lead the way, but don’t forget who sent us. Both of us.”

  “Yes, the King of all Vampire. Do not ask me to call him king. He is not my king nor is he king of any wolf.” The dude spoke in oddly formal tones. And he really looked like Trent. “He sent you about the boy? Is he the one who also sent the Fae filth into our territory?”

  “The king is concerned,” I replied. “Did you kill her?”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t personally, but it is only to be expected. The impure are not welcome here. If your Council wanted to spare them, they shouldn’t have sent them here. This is our territory and we will protect it from intruders. Now, you must speak to the Three. They will decide whether or not to answer your questions. Mr. Atwood, if you will ensure that our guests follow?”

  He shrugged. “You’re the ones paying me.”

  “You will stay at the gate,” the wolf said. “You are being paid, but you are not welcome in our community. See the Hunter and the boy to the gates and then go about your business. He has to be out here somewhere. Apparently he’s hungry enough to eat Fae creatures.”

  They couldn’t smell him either?

  What the hell was I dealing with? They should have been able to track him. From what I understood, these were pure werewolves, bred for their abilities. If they couldn’t smell the boy, I had to think there was something about him that left no scent behind.

  “It’s not far to our compound. If you get away and run, know that we will be forced to seek you out,” the wolf said. “And then we might be forced to deal with the fact that you brought a traitor into our midst. Trent Wilcox is wanted for high crimes against his people. Only the fact that he was close to the King of all Vampire kept him safe. We’ve been informed that he is outcast and now subject to our laws again.”

  “You look just like him,” Lee said, staring up at the wolf.

  A sneer came over his face. “Do not talk to me, human. You’re here on sufferance. And if I look like him, it’s nothing to be proud of. He is my brother, but only by blood. I abjure him, as does the entire family. Come now and be heard and seen by the Three.”

  He turned and was a wolf once more, the change far less fluid than Fen’s. But then he didn’t seem to notice Fen had been there at all.

  “Trent doesn’t know he has a brother,” Lee said, taking my hand.

  I was happy that was what he stuck on and not the whole humans-suck thing. “Yep, apparently that fire he set didn’t take everyone out. You stay close to me. I don’t care how cool things look. You do not leave my side.”

  Somehow I didn’t think going into a wolf cult was exactly what his mom had planned for this vacation.

  But then Trent hadn’t counted on a family reunion, and it looked like we were all getting that today.

  As I followed my stepfather through the woods, I wondered how they knew so much about our party.

  Someone was talking and I intended to find out who.

  I thought seriously about taking out my stepfather when we were alone again. I could take the fucker, but I had the problem of Lee. Dear old stepdad was good with a gun. If I attacked him, he might get a shot off, and I wouldn’t have any way to ensure where the bullet went.

  A vision of Le
e dying in my arms made my stomach churn.

  “You going to tell me how the boys are doing?” John Atwood asked as he followed behind us. He’d been giving us directions for ten minutes, but he wouldn’t take the lead. He wanted us to know he could take us down from behind if he had to.

  “Why would you care?” I was on the lookout for Fen. For some reason I thought he would be tracking us. He’d made a connection with Lee. It had been there in his eyes. He’d wanted someone close to his age to talk to, perhaps to play with.

  He was a child alone in the woods. It made me wonder what his parents had gone through to hide him. Someone had deleted that child from the house. I had to wonder who.

  “They’re my sons,” John said, his voice gruffer than normal.

  “Yeah, well, they work for the other side now,” I replied, helping Lee up the steep hill. “Jamie is the Council liaison with human law enforcement and Nate’s about to graduate from college and the king has a job lined up for him. Nate is in the king’s game group. They’re pretty tight.”

  “Knew I shouldn’t let him do that nerd stuff,” John said.

  “Why are you working for wolves if you hate them?” Lee was good at asking pertinent questions. Another reason he would be an awesome coworker if I could keep him alive to see puberty.

  “Lupus Solum ain’t like the others,” he replied. “They know they don’t belong in our world. They’re trying to find a way off this plane, to get back to their own plane. I intend to help them do that. They sometimes work with groups that know better than the Council.”

  “Know what better?” Lee asked.

  There was a dirt trail in front of us and my stepfather gestured that I should go to my right. It was grooved in two places, obviously used for big trucks. I started down the trail. In the distance I could see a clearing and some buildings that looked like mobile homes.

  “He means that he works with other evil groups who believe in a separation of the species.” I didn’t want to give the man a chance to explain his position. “He thinks wolves shouldn’t have anything to do with vampires, and Fae creatures should stick to their plane. He definitely thinks humans should have nothing to do with any other creature. He forgets that many creatures were born on this plane. Humans weren’t the first.”