Flame Shift: Kitsune and Shaman novel (Nine Tails Series Book 3)

by J. L. Weil

  “I bet I can change your mind.” His voice wasn’t playful anymore and had gone cold as ice. I’d always suspected Anthony was an asshat, but a rapist? And I didn’t care how drunk he was, it wasn’t an excuse for his behavior. His fingers moved to the hem of my dress, yanking it up my thigh.

  Okay. That was it. I’d had enough. Ramming my knee upward, I hit him in the junk. “Did I change your mind?” I asked condescendingly as Anthony grunted, dropping to nurse his manhood like a baby.

  He groaned, and I’m pretty sure he called me another not-so-nice name.

  I bristled at the insult, my tongue dying to lash out. I opened my mouth, prepared to let it loose, but… Anthony’s head snapped back as if he was possessed or there was a ghost with the same objective I had—to kick his ass.

  Chapter Twelve

  “You never should have touched her,” a dark voice growled. Devyn had Anthony by a fistful of hair.

  I leaned against the wall, exhaling, the fight inside of me draining out, because Devyn was here. I was safe. “Devyn, what are you doing?” I breathed.

  “Teaching this asshole a lesson.” His voice was strong and steady, filled with the dark promise of pain.

  “I can see that.” I made a sad attempt at fixing my hair and pushing down my dress.

  His eyes darkened, and he yanked on Anthony’s head. “The way I see it, you have two options. You can apologize for your disgusting behavior, and I will only hit you once in the face, or you can say nothing and I rearrange that face you’re so proud of. I’d choose wisely.”

  I wasn’t going to stop Devyn. Anthony deserved an ass beating and so much more. I didn’t want him to have the chance to do this to another girl. Flickers of unease trickled into his glassy eyes, but I don’t think he really understood the situation he was in or how serious Devyn was.

  “Look man, I don’t know what your problem is. We were just having some fun—”

  Devyn hit him in the face as promised. Anthony’s head snapped back, blood instantly streaming from his nose. “Wrong answer,” Devyn sang.

  “You’re fucking crazy,” Anthony bit out, his hand flying to his face.

  “I’m glad we got that cleared up. I did warn you.” Devyn lifted the back of his hand, whacking Anthony on the side of his face. The sound of flesh meeting flesh made me wince. Anthony’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he plopped unconscious to the ground.

  “He isn’t dead, is he?” I asked, peering at his body sprawled on Hannah’s pretty floor. There was going to be blood. Damn.

  Devyn shook his head. “Are you okay?”

  “I am now. Thanks. You saved me from having to go fox on him. What are we going to do with the jerk?”

  Devyn shrugged, the I-couldn’t-care-less attitude shining in his eyes. “Leave him to sober up and get a clue.”

  “We can’t,” I argued. “This is Hannah’s room. I don’t want her coming up her finding him bloody and passed out on her floor. What if he tries something with her?”

  “Then he truly is an idiot,” Devyn ground out.

  I shot him a glare.

  “Fine. I could toss him out the window,” he suggested.

  The fact that he was serious worried me. “And break his neck? No go.”

  “Then what do you suggest?”

  “Um,” I glanced around the room, looking for what, I didn’t know. The sounds of the party seeped in from under the door. “Maybe we can sneak him out into the hallway and prop him up against the wall.”

  “You be the lookout,” he said, not vetoing my poor excuse for a plan.

  Good idea. I tiptoed to the door for no apparent reason, other than this situation seem to call for stealth mode. Cracking the door, I glanced down the hallway to see if we were alone. The party was mostly contained downstairs, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be a few stragglers like Anthony. “The coast is clear,” I whispered over my shoulder.

  Devyn had his hands underneath Anthony’s armpits, and at my word he started to drag him over to the door. I opened it all the way, letting Devyn pass. He crouched down, propping Anthony up in the corner—none too gently. His head thumped against the wall, blood beginning to crust on his face. He was going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow. And I didn’t feel the teensiest bit sorry for him.

  I waved Devyn back into the room. “Quick, you need to leave before anyone sees you.” I closed the door quietly behind him.

  In the dark room, he arched a brow. “I just saved your virtue, and you’re kicking me out the window.”

  “Yes!” I pushed at his back, guiding him across the room. “It was good enough for you to sneak into.”

  He turned in front of the window, hooking a finger under my chin and lifted my face upward to meet his eyes. “You owe me.”

  I didn’t really want him to leave. Heat fused my cheeks. “Add it to my running tab. Now go.”

  “As you wish.” He slipped through the window and disappeared into the darkness, and I was left with an aching heart.

  I stood by the window for another minute, inhaling the lingering scent that was all Devyn, mysterious and earthy. Knowing I’d been gone too long, and it was only a matter of minutes before my friends went searching for me, I left Hannah’s room to go back to the party. I forwent the urge to kick Anthony as I passed by.

  Jesse and Hannah were at the bottom of the stairs, about to head up. “Where were you? Did you get lost?” Hannah asked, flipping a blonde ringlet off her shoulder.

  “No, of course not. How many times have I been to your house?” I countered, trying to play it as if I hadn’t been attacked in her room, and there wasn’t an unconscious guy in her hallway.

  “Jesse was about to send out a search party,” Hannah informed.

  “I was not,” he argued, but he did have his worry face on.

  I stepped down off the last stair, making myself level with them and shrugged. “I’m having girl issues.” That usually shut people up.

  Except if you were Hannah. “Weird. It isn’t for another two weeks.”

  Our monthly cycles had been in sync for years. I had completely forgotten. “I’ve been under a lot of stress. I’m sure it messed everything up.”

  Jesse groaned. “Can we please talk about something else? I don’t want to hear about how many times you shave your legs or the strange bump you found on your ass.”

  Hannah and I looked at each other. “Did you find a bump?” we asked in unison and then laughed. Poor Jesse. I don’t know how he put up with Hannah and me all these years.

  We hooked our arms through Jesse’s on either side. “I think we should get you another drink,” I said, resting my head on his shoulder.

  “Make it a double,” he mumbled.

  My phone buzzed against the inside of my bra. Where the hell else did you keep something as important as your life in a party dress? I fumbled inside the top half of my dress with my fingers, seeking the vibrating box and getting quite a few funny looks, but all I could think was, what if it was my dad? What if Mom had taken another turn for the worse?

  I sighed in relief, recognizing the number. It was the café. “Hello,” I answered.

  “Karina, thank God you picked up.”

  “Corrine?” She sounded frazzled, out of character for my calm and sheepish co-worker. I tried to remember if Corrine had ever called me outside of work before. “Are you okay?” I asked, because she definitely didn’t sound it.

  “Yes. No. I don’t know,” she said with a quiver in her voice. Was she crying? “My sister just called. There was a car accident, and they’ve taken my little brother to the hospital. I-I think he has to have surgery.”

  “Enough said. I’m on my way.”

  “Thank you. I couldn’t get a hold of anyone.”

  “Give me ten minutes.” I hung up the phone, keeping it in my hand.

  “What’s wrong?” Jesse asked, seeing my sober expression.

  I hated to cut the party short, but I couldn’t let Corrine down, not with so
mething this important. “I’ve got to go. It was Corrine from the café. There was an accident. She needs to get to the hospital.”

  “I’ll drive,” Jesse said without hesitation, always there when I needed him. No questions asked.

  Hannah put a hand on my arm. “Do you want me to come with?”

  I shook my head. “And miss your party? No way. We’ll come back right after the shop closes. It will be less than an hour.”

  Barefoot, my feet hurried through the house as we wove our way toward the front door. It took less than ten minutes to get to the café. Corinne was pacing behind the counter, biting her nails as the door chimed at my arrival. Her hazel eyes were puffy and red, as if she’d been crying. I gave her a hug. “Go. Don’t worry about anything here. I got this. And I brought help.”

  Jesse smiled at her sympathetically.

  “You sure?” she asked, already untying her apron.

  “Of course,” I insisted, not taking no for an answer. “And be safe. Don’t drive too fast.”

  “Thanks, Karina. You’re a lifesaver.”

  “Call me if you need to talk. And send me a text, letting me know everything is okay.”

  She dug out her keys, her hands shaking just slightly. “God, I’ve never been so scared before.”

  “They’ll be okay,” I assured, trying to give her a dose of hope.

  And with that, Jesse and I were alone in the café. I was glad he’d come with me. It wasn’t often I closed up the coffee shop, and being here by myself didn’t sit right in my stomach, not after what happened with Anthony today. It mirrored too closely to being attacked in the alley the night of my first shift.

  “What are you doing?” I asked Jesse as he stretched out into on of the cushioned chairs Naomi had near the front window.

  His gaze casually drifted to me after sweeping the room. “Am I supposed to be doing something? The place is empty.”

  I snorted. “That doesn’t mean you get to sit around on your gluteus maximus.”

  “Do I get to wear one of these?” he asked, unfolding his legs to pick up Corrine’s discarded apron.

  “Knock your socks off.” I tossed him a wet towel. “You can start by wiping down the tables.”

  He caught the rag before it whacked him in the face. “I came to tag along, not be your slave. And what are you going to do?”

  I lifted my brow. “I’m going to clean the bathrooms. Want to switch?”

  He made an icky face. “Yeah, I’m good with tables.”

  We worked for a few minutes in silence, and my mind wandered to Devyn, as it so often did. I’d been dragging my feet the last week, knowing I needed to leave town, but having a hard time actually going through with it. Days like today made it seem as if maybe I didn’t have to leave, maybe it wasn’t as bad as I had thought. Sura hadn’t shown her face since the day of graduation, and things had been quiet.

  I lifted my head, watching Jesse dust off the chairs and scoot them under the table. My friends deserved to be happy. “You know, you should try asking Hannah out,” I said, breaking the quietness.

  Jesse scratched his head, staring at me as if I’d grown horns. “Hannah? You mean like on a date?”

  The bathrooms were finished, and I’d moved onto inventory. I put a fresh filter back into the coffee pot for tomorrow morning. “Duh. You like her. She likes you. What’s the big deal?”

  “We’re friends. I don’t want to ruin that, besides I always thought—” His brows furrowed.

  “You thought that maybe you and I might date?” I filled in for him. That’s what he’d been about to say.

  He gave a careless one-shoulder shrug. “It crossed my mind.”

  Shit. I’d started this conversation, so I was going to have to finish it, even though I didn’t want to ruin a perfect evening. I moved from behind the counter to help replenish the condiments. “You know I love you, Jesse. I can’t imagine my life without you, and I hope I never have to. There might be something between us, I don’t know, but what I do know is I could never hurt Hannah like that. She has had a crush on you for as long as I can remember.” There, it’s been said. Now they could figure out what to do about it.

  Skepticism and hints of disappointment drew his lips into a thin line. “I don’t know. We’re both going off to college. What’s the point?”

  They were hopeless. I wasn’t going to push. The seed had been planted. “If I have to tell you the point of having a relationship, this is going to turn into a much longer conversation.”

  “What about you? Are you dating that brooding douchebag?”

  I should have known Devyn would come up. I moved to the cash register. “Maybe. I like him.”

  Jesse’s crestfallen face sent a stream of remorse washing through me, making me wish I hadn’t admitted my feelings for Devyn.

  “Jesse, I’m—”

  The bell on the front door jingled, and at a minute past closing I should have already locked the door, but had forgotten. I figured it was Corrine, and lifted my head. “Is your brother—?”

  Fuck.

  It was definitely not Corrine, not unless she had grown a foot, dyed her hair pink, and turned into an evil bitch.

  Sura.

  Chapter Thirteen

  My eyes whipped to Jesse, who was eyeing Sura with a light of interest. It wasn’t her pink hair that caught his attention. She was pretty. Jesse would have to be dead not to notice.

  Oh, my God. My worst fear. Jesse coming face to face with the giant secret I’d worked so hard to keep from him and Hannah, and in strolled a fae, bringing those fears right smack in front of my nose.

  Frozen, I didn’t know what to do. Behind the counter, my eyes watched her every movement like a hawk. If she made a single gesture toward Jesse, I was going to light her hair on fire. Maybe she wouldn’t out me, and this was another friendly visit.

  Her black leather pants were tight and hit low on her hips, flashing a flat belly. She wore a white knitted cropped top that fell off one shoulder. The bracelets on her wrists clanged together in time with her boots as she walked into the center of the café. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the Kitsune and her little boy toy.”

  Shitballs.

  So much for not being outed.

  Jesse’s eyes narrowed. “Do you know her?” he asked. “And what the hell is a Kitsune? Is it a new drink you guys are serving here?”

  I clenched my hands. “Sura, you need to leave. This isn’t the place.”

  Her boots clunked on the floor in slow, rhythmic steps. “That’s the thing, little fox, I think this is the perfect spot. Besides, we got off on the wrong foot. I’m really only here to help you.”

  “You keep saying that, but I don’t see how you’re helping.” If setting me on fire was her idea of help, I’d pass.

  “K, what is going on?” Jesse asked, his eyes volleying between us, looking lost, with the first inklings of concern wrinkling at the corners of his month.

  Dammit. I needed to get Jesse out of here before he got hurt, but how was I supposed to make him leave? “Jesse, you should probably check on Hannah. I can have my dad pick me up.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” he gritted out.

  I didn’t have time to argue and give Sura the opportunity to get close to Jesse or me.

  “Isn’t he just the cutest?” Sura said, her haunting eyes turning to my best friend.

  My blood ran cold.

  She wound between the tables, trailing a finger over the wooden tops. “Humans are so susceptible to persuasion. Would you like a demonstration, love?” she asked, looking at Jesse.

  “No!” I bolted around the corner, putting myself in between Jesse and the Camirra. “Leave him alone.”

  “K, this is getting weird. Maybe we should call the police.” He reached for his back pocket, and I knew it was a mistake.

  “Jesse, don’t!” I barked, but it was too late.

  Sura tsked her tongue. “Jesse, is it? That is a bad idea.”

  I blinked, a
nd the Camirra was no longer in front of me. Cursing under my breath, I spun around.

  A flicker of surprise scuttled over Jesse’s features at Sura magically appearing beside him. “What the hell?”

  Sura’s hand snatched the phone from Jesse and dropped it on the ground. She stomped on the device, crushing it under the heel of her boot. “There. Problem fixed,” she announced, smiling sweetly in a way that made her appear insane.

  “Hey, that was my phone,” Jesse scowled.

  Sura chuckled, a low husky sound. “You humans and your little devices. Useless. Just like you.”

  The three of us stood in a triangle formation. “If I’m so useless, why haven’t you killed me all ready?” I snapped.

  “Kill?” Jesse choked.

  “Jesse,” I hissed. “Not another word. Let me handle this.”

  There must have been something in my face that stopped him, because he closed his open mouth, his gaze growing wide. “Karina, what is wrong with your eyes?”

  Crap. I had tapped into my fox abilities without realizing it. “I’ll explain later. Once she leaves. It’s time for you to go,” I hissed to Sura.

  “Now? The party is just getting started, and we can’t waste such a pretty dress.” Her glance raked over my appearance.

  “What do want from me?” A crazy thought occurred to me. What if Sura had waltzed into the café and puffed her power of control in Corrine, making her believe there was an emergency, so Sura could get me alone? Except I had shown up with Jesse, throwing a wrench in her plan.

  “Oh, we’re getting to it, but what’s a show without a bit of suspense and a dose of action?” Her hands danced in the air, and I flinched.

  I had to be quick and not give her the chance to use any of her special abilities, but it wasn’t going to be easy. I’d been a Kitsune for only a few months. Sura had her entire life to hone her skills. My disadvantage was real. “I’d rather just get straight to the point and skip the drama.”

  She pouted her cupcake-pink lips. “If you insist.” Her hand shot out, securing around Jesse’s throat. “It’s simple, really. I want your star soul in exchange for his life.”