Outcast (Hunter: A Thieves Series Book 4)

by Lexi Blake

  Of course he was a child who’d possibly seen terrible things happen. He was a child who might not understand his own power. He’d stared at the brownie like she was a broken toy.

  There was still something I was missing. “I’ve seen him twice and he hasn’t hurt me.”

  “He will kill everything in his path,” Erik vowed. “He cannot live. If you are not here to aid us, we must ask you to leave these…what is that? Where are you going, priestess?”

  Nesta had stood, turning toward the door. There was a blank look on her face. “He needs me.”

  Something was wrong. She was moving but with none of her previous grace. It was like she was being pulled by some invisible string.

  I stood, dragging Lee up with me. I could feel the air charged with something electric. It felt…wrong.

  Erik looked at his father. “Do you feel that?”

  The wolf known as the Eye nodded. “He’s here. The abomination. It’s worse than we thought. I can’t move.”

  Lee squeezed my hand. “Something’s happening.”

  This was the moment when I totally should have like hunkered down and hid Lee, but I didn’t. Something made me follow Nesta out of that doublewide. I didn’t have to move. Nothing forced me to, but I could hear a call. Something whispered deep inside to come out, to join the gathering.

  Something called to me, begging me to help, to take care of him.

  I walked out, holding Lee’s hand. The human part of me got that this was wrong and I stayed in control. I glanced back and the big men seemed glued to where they sat. Their faces were tight as though they couldn’t quite work up the will to do what they wanted to or say what they needed to say.

  Nesta kept walking.

  Lee and I followed and when we got to the front steps, we could see Nesta wasn’t the only one moving. The doors to all the trailers had opened and the women of Lupus Solum were walking out. They were dressed in all manners. Most wore long robes like Nesta, but some had on stretchy pants and T-shirts while others seemed to have walked out of baths or showers, towels wrapped around their bodies. And a few wore nothing at all. They all seemed to know exactly where they were going.

  They formed a procession. A creepy silent procession that seemed to be leading to the outer part of the compound.

  We got to the edge, to where the barbed wire surrounding the compound separated Lupus Solum from the greater world, and I saw him. The giant wolf sat amongst the pack. They were chillingly silent, sitting back on their haunches. They waited, the forest eerily quiet.

  “What’s he doing?” Lee looked up at me.

  My whole body had chilled as I realized he controlled them all. “I think he’s looking for his mother.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  My heart threatened to beat out of my chest because I didn’t understand how the kid was working this mojo.

  Unless…god, I didn’t want to think about the implications. Why would Lupus Solum want to kill their own wolf king? They’d spent hundreds of years trying to create one. It didn’t make sense they would want to get rid of him. They didn’t care about violence. The fact that he might have offed his mom and dad—or the cult had done it—shouldn’t have made them want to kill the boy. They should want to bring him in.

  The wolf sat in the middle of his army, his snout up as though trying desperately to catch a scent.

  The she-wolves stood at the edge of the compound, but only because there was nowhere else for them to go. Barbed wire cut off the compound from the rest of the world and the she-wolves didn’t seem to understand that they could get around it. They simply pressed their bodies against the harsh wire, blood starting to flow.

  I glanced back and noticed the men. Some were on their porches, some standing in the dirt road that split the compound. I couldn’t see Erik or his father. Tanner stood in the middle of the compound and I could see him fighting whatever was holding him there.

  What the hell was I supposed to do? Fen’s mom was gone.

  He needed someone who would care for him. Or someone who would put him down.

  My heart ached. I thought I could only be one of those. I didn’t think I could be the one who put down a kid.

  I was a shitty death machine.

  “He’s alone out there.” Lee put his hands on the non-barbed part of the fence. “He can’t really talk to those wolves.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that. Nor was I sure of what I should do. What I could do.

  I was looking at a nine-year-old boy who might be the most powerful werewolf the world had ever seen.

  “I can’t stop. I need to get to him.”

  Nesta had been the one to say the words, and I looked her way.

  “I think he wants his mom. You’re the ones who killed her.” I was more than willing to put the blame where I thought it lay. Though I wasn’t sure why they would leave Hester for the cops but hide Christopher’s body. I was absolutely certain they were the ones who’d gotten rid of all evidence of Fen. The police might be willing to let a murder/suicide of a couple go, but a child would have attracted attention. The papers might ignore a woman choosing her husband poorly, but not a kid. That would make headlines, and Lupus Solum would want to hide that.

  He didn’t look like an abomination. He looked like a big old sweet puppy. He was searching the line of women, studying them, wanting his mother.

  “Fen?” I had to talk to him. “You can’t be here, baby. These people want to hurt you. They’re scared of you. Your mom isn’t here.”

  What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t give up a baby wolf to save Trent. He wouldn’t allow it, and that was one of the reasons I loved him. Never would he trade his freedom for a child’s life. But Fen was hurting people. I needed time to figure out if he was salvageable.

  He was barely a boy. How was I supposed to decide he wasn’t salvageable? He had a whole life ahead of him.

  The massive wolf tilted his head as though he wasn’t sure how to respond. The natural wolves around him tilted their heads in the exact manner.

  He controlled them all. He could work his will on every freaking wolf in the area. It was insane. No wolf could do that. No alpha. I wasn’t sure Donovan—who had animus powers—could do what this baby boy was doing.

  And I wasn’t sure how to break the hold he had over the Lupus Solum wolves. It would break. He would have to sleep. He would have to walk away and then they would come after him. They would try to kill the abomination.

  “Fen, baby, I need you to stay in control until we can get out of here.” I had to talk to him. I had to figure out what had happened. He was a boy. His life couldn’t end like this. Not on my watch.

  I had to believe that he could be saved.

  A low whine sounded from him and the wolves twitched and started to prowl around their leader.

  “Abomination,” Nesta managed to say between clenched teeth. “You see now?”

  I turned her way. “I see a boy who lost his parents and has no idea how to control his powers. Did he get away from you that night? Did he watch you kill his parents?”

  “Didn’t know,” she said between gasps. “Didn’t realize what would happen. They were hidden, but magic couldn’t save them. Make him stop. It hurts. It hurts. He’ll kill us all. The bastard who stole our daughter is still protecting him. Didn’t know what he was.”

  I would have asked more questions of the she-wolf because I didn’t think she was talking about Fen. I would have, but that was the moment I noticed Lee wasn’t beside me anymore. He’d managed to crawl between the barbed wire, though he hadn’t come out of it unscathed. His shirt was torn and he had cuts on his shoulder. Blood stained the back of his shirt but not once had he cried out or complained.

  I did not do the same. “Lee!” Panic threatened to overwhelm me. “Get back here now.”

  He didn’t look my way. “He’s alone. He needs a friend. I can talk to him. Fen, my name is Lee.”

  Fuck. Fuck. Triple fuck.

  Nesta took a step
back and I realized Fen was losing control.

  “It’s okay,” Lee was saying. “Kelsey’s cool. She won’t let anyone hurt you.”

  I wasn’t going to have a freaking choice. The minute the males of the pack could move, they would descend on him. I was too big to get through the wire, but we were about to see if I was strong enough to climb it. Lucky for me, demon skin is tough.

  I climbed up the fence, my weight collapsing the wired layers and making every inch I gained difficult and awkward, but I was determined. Lee was alone in a swarm of wolves. They moved all around as though trying to suck him in, and I worried they might take him off with them. He might go. He was so reckless.

  “You stay right there,” I shouted as I reached for the top of the fence post to haul myself up and over. The barbs caught on my jeans, sticking me there for a moment. Frustration warred with abject terror as I tried to free myself.

  “It’s okay,” Lee was saying. “It’s okay to come out.”

  “It is not okay,” I shouted, the denim tearing. I wasn’t ready for it and the movement sent me over the top, my body dropping over the side and sliding along all those nasty barbs. Pain flared over my skin and the breath knocked from my lungs when I finally hit the ground.

  Something tugged at my hair, hauling me back against the wires.

  “Kill it,” Nesta growled as she twisted her hand in my hair. “Kill it or we’ll kill you all. It’s your duty to kill it.”

  I pulled free of my de facto mother-in-law and scrambled to my feet. It was definitely time to get the kiddos out of here. This was not a good place for any of us.

  “Do you want to play?” Lee was standing in a sea of wolves, talking to the biggest one of them all. And petting the others. Yep, my dumbass boy was petting a group of normally aggressive alpha wolves and asking the largest predator I’d ever seen if he wanted to play.

  And then that big wolf was a little boy. “I like to play but I don’t have any toys. They took them all away from me.”

  The natural wolves continued their obedient behavior, but the she-wolves were suddenly free again.

  “Abomination!” One of the women started screaming and pointing.

  Chaos reigned behind me. Arms slipped out from between the wires. I looked back and there was a big gray and white wolf barreling my way.

  He couldn’t control them when he wasn’t in wolf form.

  I ran for Lee and Fen. “We have to go. They’re going to come after us. Tell this army of yours to do their jobs.”

  Fen’s big brown eyes were huge and round and the wolves started to growl.

  “Kelsey!”

  I turned at the sound and saw Gray running from around the compound, a rifle in his hand. The SUV that had been waiting for us at the private airfield had come fully equipped with an arsenal, and it looked like Gray was making use of it. He ran for me.

  A shot rang out and I watched in horror as blood bloomed on Fen’s small chest. Lee caught the boy before he could fall to the forest floor.

  Gray was there in a heartbeat, standing over the boys and firing into the tree line where the shot had come from. My stepfather, I was sure. He was out there, and he might have just gotten his bounty.

  The natural wolves seemed to understand something had gone terribly wrong. They whined and stomped the ground as if they weren’t sure what to do. A bunch of them took off in the direction the gunfire had come from, but the rest rushed the fence.

  And a new wolf was suddenly at my side. Trent. Thank god. He barked at me, letting me know it was time to get the hell out of here.

  “Kelsey, get the kids. We’ve got to get out of here.” Gray took another shot, but our problems were coming from two sides because some of the she-wolves had changed and it was obvious they had a plan. They tried to shove their bodies through the fencing, ignoring the way their fur was becoming soaked with blood. They were angry, desperate to clear out the interlopers.

  I dropped to one knee and picked Fen up. Even as I held the boy in my arms, I saw the bleeding begin to slow. The bullet had torn through him but luckily it had gone out the other side of his chest. If Fen had been bigger, that silver bullet would have lodged inside him and likely killed him quickly. As it was, his body was trying to heal. He was losing blood, but the silver wasn’t poisoning his system. He might have a chance, but none at all if I couldn’t get him to a doctor soon.

  He was so small and there was incredible power in him. His eyes looked up at me, pain clear in them. My heart ached.

  “I want my mom.”

  I would have answered him but there was a mighty howl and the big wolf I was sure was Tanner leapt over the wall with a grace I wished I’d had when trying to get over that sucker.

  I clutched Fen close as Trent attacked the wolf he didn’t know was his brother.

  Gray picked up Lee and held him high on his chest. “Trent, we’re moving! Catch up when you can.”

  “We can’t leave him,” I said when Gray pushed me to move.

  “He can handle it,” Gray replied. “We have to get the boys out of here. He’ll follow us.”

  But they wanted to kill Trent. Tanner especially.

  “That’s his brother,” I told Gray even as I ran in the direction he pointed me to. I would drop Fen off and go back for Trent. “They consider Trent a criminal.”

  “Not so surprising,” Gray muttered as we rounded the fence line of the compound. “He did burn down their homes. He’ll be fine, Kelsey. Lee will not. And that kid in your arms looks like he won’t last long.”

  I didn’t like the way he was talking about Trent, but I didn’t have time to argue with him. I could see the SUV in the distance. We were roughly a hundred yards away. They’d pulled up around the side of the compound.

  “Is Fen okay?” Lee had his arms wrapped around Gray’s shoulders.

  “I don’t know.” I had to pray Meredith was as good as she thought she was because baby boy had taken on an ashy color. “Hold on, sweetie. I’m taking you to a doctor.”

  “Is my dad there? He needs a doctor, too.” His eyes were only half open. The bleeding had slowed, but the wounds weren’t closing, and I wondered if my stepfather hadn’t coated the bullets in something nasty.

  Gray took a shot at a wolf running at us, easily taking the wolf out of the fight. The werewolf went down, but he almost certainly wouldn’t be the only one. Now that they knew I had the abomination, they would all be running our way.

  Gray stopped and let Lee down. “Get in the car, all of you.”

  Lee ran for the SUV, opening the door while Gray kept that rifle up and ready to take out anything that came our way.

  “We can’t leave Trent.” Panic had welled again. We couldn’t drive away from him. And yet I knew I had to get the kids out of here.

  “He’ll be fine.” Gray’s jaw was tight as he studied the area around us. The howls of wolves made me shiver. “He’ll find his way back.”

  “I’ll stay with him. Get the boys to Liv.” I wasn’t leaving Trent. I would go back and fight at his side.

  “Fine.” Gray snarled but he looked my way and nodded to the Navigator. “We’ll go back and get him. Get in the car.”

  I got in, still holding Fen. I couldn’t take the time to lie him down in the back the way I should. Gunshots split the air and I had no idea how many people were shooting. It looked like the Lupus Solum group was taking a dual approach to the interlopers. Some had changed to their wolf forms and others had grabbed their guns.

  There were so many of them. Was Trent trapped out there? Had they overrun my wolf?

  Gray took one last shot and jumped into the SUV, gunning the engine. “Buckle in, Lee. I have to open the back.”

  He pressed a button and the Navigator’s back door swung open. The SUV beeped mightily in protest as Gray shoved the gear into reverse and hit the gas.

  I held Fen close as the rear camera showed a ton of sky and the barest hint of what was coming toward us. Trent was racing for the SUV, his fur matt
ed with blood. I couldn’t see the whole of it, but it looked like he was being chased. He got too close and then all I could see was sky. I tried to crane my head around, but Gray slammed the brakes on. It took everything I had not to crash into the dash.

  The Navigator shook as something hit it.

  “Go!” Lee yelled. “He’s in.”

  Gray didn’t even look back. He took off. I craned my neck around and Trent had already changed, his human arm reaching out to grab the leather handle and close the back of the SUV. But not before he gave the chasing wolves the finger.

  He slammed the back door down and Gray barreled through the woods, going way faster than he should have. We all bounced and thudded around the interior.

  But Trent was here and he was safe.

  I had to pray the same would be true for the little boy still bleeding in my arms.

  * * * *

  Meredith shook her head as she looked down at Fen. At some point he’d passed out and hadn’t woken up again. “The bullet was coated in wolfsbane. Otherwise he would be healing more quickly, though you understand that a silver bullet should have killed him, right?”

  “If it had lodged in his chest,” I pointed out.

  We’d gotten to the tent only moments before, but we’d brought our chaos with us. In our panicked flight from the compound, Gray had explained what had happened and how they came to find us. Liv had gone out to check on us, found the dead brownie, and immediately started a locator spell. She keeps a baggie of my hair on hand to make it easy. It’s weird and a little gross, but given my profession, I don’t mind the BFF being able to find me quickly. She’d put the call in to Trent and Gray and they’d hauled ass to get to me.

  “Given the damage that bullet did, I think it fractured inside him.” She had a pair of tweezers in her hand and plucked out a tiny piece of silver. “See? He’s so small that he didn’t get the full effect. There wasn’t enough tissue to hold it, but this is still silver coated in wolfsbane. This should kill any wolf, but this kid’s body is dispelling it. I think that’s why he hasn’t healed yet. His body is still getting rid of these scraps of silver. It’s fascinating.”