by K. F. Breene
“I’d planned to keep them from you, but…” He walked toward me slowly. I stood frozen, unable to back away. Not allowing myself to go forward. “You’re more powerful when you control your fate. One day you’ll be my equal in all but power, and I have every reason to suspect you’ll find a way around that. Or else your wards will.”
He smiled again, stopping mere inches in front of me. He looked down into my eyes.
“I’m scared to know those results,” I blurted, betraying myself. “I’m scared it will change my life, and endanger the kids.”
“It will change your life. I’ll make sure it doesn’t endanger those kids.” His warm hands cupped my shoulders before sliding down my arms. “You have the blood of Hades in you. It’s potent. You are not a Demigod—but as a class five, his gifts have manifested in you in intriguing ways. You are a Spirit Walker, Alexis. You are the rarest and highest form of necromancer. But more, your gifts have been amplified by the boost of divine blood. That is why you can see spirits as though they were people. That is why you can easily call them, send them over the Line, bring them back—all of it. You are one in a million.”
I stared mutely, horror-struck. “I’m a soul stealer? I joked about that the other day to some Chester. Without knowing it, I was actually being truthful.”
His hand came up and he traced a thumb across my chin. “You have that ability, yes. To rip a person’s soul out of their body.” He stepped back and drew a line down his chest. He fisted his hands near his middle and then spread them, as though pulling open a trench coat to flash me. “I felt it the first time I met you. I feel it right now. It’s a helpless feeling. Terrifying, if I’m being honest. More so because you don’t know you’re doing it. You don’t know how to control it.”
I clasped my hands together. “I’m not doing anything.”
“Yes. Exactly.” He stepped closer again, and this time ran his thumb over my bottom lip.
I barely felt it.
Shock riddled my body. Fear. Disgust.
Soul Stealers were the most ruthless villains in any magical society. Everyone knew that. They could walk through a battle and rip the very life out of a person. Then they could shove that life right back in, creating a sea of walking corpses. Lifeless bodies lay in their wake, or mindless drones followed behind them. It was like being an extremely powerful Necromancer and an Encourager rolled into one, and the very idea made me shiver.
“I’m not one of those,” I spat. “Your test is wrong.”
He studied me for a moment. “In the hands of my father, you would become everything you fear, but I will not let that happen to you, Alexis. I swear it. I will protect you, from him and from myself. You already have a just and moral heart. You help others. You protect the realm of the dead, whether you realize it or not. That is the job of the Spirit Walker. A soul stealer is what happens when the corrupt prey on the less powerful. When good people are mind-raped and used for ill.” His grip was hard on my arms. His eyes held ruthless determination. “Trust in me, Alexis. I am not always a good person, I don’t always have the best of intentions, but I will not allow that to happen to you. I will protect you with my dying breath. I vow it.”
I blinked back tears, fear and hope swirling into a cocktail in my stomach. I didn’t want to believe the results. Couldn’t. But I wanted to believe he’d protect me. If the results were true, I wanted him on my side, even though he was…him.
“I have to think about all this,” I said.
His eyes roamed my face. He nodded slowly.
“I want proof.”
He nodded again.
“That’s why you thought you could find out who my father is. He’s a Demigod.” My heart tightened with the words that came out of my mouth. I could scarcely believe it. And if it were true, I knew my mother had known. She must have. And given her love of assholes…
“It’s Magnus, isn’t it? The Demigod who kills his children. She’d want to keep me away from him at all costs. Including moving out of the magical zone and into the forgotten crack of the societies. That’s why she made sure I hid my power and, apparently, most of my magic in the assessments.”
She’d claimed to prefer the crack because she didn’t like the roughness, or iron-clad rules, of the magical society. Besides which, the people she wanted to help were the ones who didn’t belong anywhere.
But this news painted a different picture. Maybe my mother and Kieran’s mother had had something in common.
“Yikes.” I backed up until I could sit down hard on the bench. “One moment I’m a normal Joe with a useless kind of magic, and the next…”
Sorrow crossed Kieran’s face for a fraction of a second. “I don’t know who your father is,” he whispered, sitting next to me. “Regardless, it’s a safe bet whoever it is doesn’t know about you. We’ll keep it that way. I just need to know what I’m working with so I can get the right training for you. Not all of Hades’ gifts manifest in his heirs. I want to know which gifts are possibly lurking in you. Testing only gives us a general idea. Now we need to push you and lure it out.”
I blew out a breath and leaned without thinking, resting against him. “I need to take a second and hate you with my whole body for dragging me into all this. For exposing me.”
He lifted his arm and put it around me. “Hate sex can be fun,” he murmured, rubbing my back. “I’d be happy to let you experiment on me.”
“Hate sex is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Only men would think that was a thing, filthy bastards.” I shook my head, giving myself over to the moment. I needed to let it wash over me, before I could push it aside and get on with my life. Because I would get on with my life. I had to. I had two kids relying on me. I’d figure this out like I figured everything else out.
“Okay.” I straightened back up. I needed to get Mordecai his cure first. Then I’d confront this thing head-on. I didn’t know if my mom had purposefully hidden me, but if she had, she’d done so for good reason. She’d want me to take care of myself, even if that mean taking cover. No shame in the hideout game. “Okay.”
Kieran chuckled, standing with me. “Just like that, huh? Your world is flipped upside down, and you’re ready to go?”
“Sometimes that’s all we can do.” I flicked my hair out of my face. “I’ll look forward to getting the appointment information for Mordecai. And I won’t be paying for any training. You started this, so you have to foot the bill.”
His smile weakened my knees. “No sweat.”
“And get your people out of my yard. No one knows about me. No one bothered me until you came around. I don’t need them.”
“Nice try.”
I affixed him with a glare before I brushed it off and turned for the trees.
“Oh, and Alexis?”
I stopped at the tree line.
“I know that you know about those cameras,” he said, his good humor now in full force. He thought my annoyance with his “protection” was hilarious. “I also know that your neighborhood doesn’t have a homeowners’ association, nor do they have any rules about drones. Take down my cameras, and I’ll have two drones over your house twenty-four/seven. I don’t fight fair, as you may have already noticed.”
“Mark my words: you and your minions are going to rue the day you tangoed with me.” It was a good, strong bluff.
His laughter was not the response I’d been hoping for. “I can’t wait.”
Head held high, I marched off through the trees. One thing was for certain: this guy was never going to get in my pants. I’d work with him, I’d help his mom, and I’d satiate my curiosity for how Demigod Valens was trapping spirits, but lusting after Kieran was as far as I was ever going to go. He could bark up that tree till he was blue in the face, but he wasn’t getting anywhere.
A thought curled out of the back of my mind before I could help myself.
With a kiss like his, his prowess in bed would surely blow my mind. He’d be like rich, decadent chocolate. One t
aste, and he’d ruin me for anything lesser.
Gritting my teeth, I knifed those thoughts and buried them in the proverbial backyard.
But egotistical jackass or no, I did have to own that Kieran had granted me a miracle. He’d helped materialize one of my Big Dreams.
He was giving a future to a very sick kid.
Regardless of the torture he’d likely put me through in the months to come, he was trying to save Mordecai. I would allow a soft spot in my heart for this selfless action.
Now we just had to get through the procedure itself. Mordecai wasn’t out of the woods yet.
Kieran watched Alexis disappear through the trees as supreme confusion stole over him.
He’d just vowed to protect her. With his life, if need be. It was like a stranger had said those words. He hadn’t even made that promise to his Six. To anyone.
But even now, when the energy of her presence and her entrancing quality drifted away, allowing cold logic to resume, he didn’t want to take it back. Couldn’t.
The warm heaviness within him wasn’t lust. It wasn’t the result of their electricity or the delicious burn of her magic rising through him.
It was deeper than that. Not attraction, but affection. Somewhere along the way, she’d gotten under his skin. In trying to learn about her magic, he’d learned about her as a person. About her life.
He liked what he’d discovered.
He blew out a breath and turned, surveying the ocean. He had a long, dangerous road ahead of him. First, he’d free his mother, something he was confident he could do now that he had Alexis on board. Then he’d take on his father. And though Alexis, if trained, could help him with the latter, freeing his mother would be the end of it. She was too good of a person to be tangled up with him for the long haul. He would only bring her down, not to mention possibly get her killed.
No. No matter how much he needed her, or wanted her, he’d only employ her for the first leg of the journey.
41
Alexis
Two weeks later, I checked the clock on my nightstand and shoved down the rampant anxiety coursing through my body. Three-oh-one. An hour until checkout. Time to go.
True to his word, Kieran had gotten Mordecai an appointment for the procedure that would quell his body’s response to the shifter genes. Being the son of Demigod Valens, not to mention a Demigod himself and extremely influential in any circle, Kieran had ensured Mordecai got sent to the front of the line. Considering the waitlist was six months long, that was pretty incredible.
I wasn’t under any illusions that this was strictly a kindness on Kieran’s part—the quicker Mordecai improved, the quicker I could start working for him.
“Daisy, are you ready?” I called, grabbing a light coat and my keys off my dresser.
“Yeah,” she said tiredly as she passed my door toward the living room.
We’d been at the hospital all day yesterday while Mordecai was in surgery, then half the night while he was unconscious and hooked up to various machines that would finish the job. According to his last checkup, the procedure had great odds of working for him. But I’d been unlucky all my life. I didn’t trust percentages and ratings. Life had plenty of room for error.
So Daisy and I had hung around, wanting to be on hand if anything were to happen.
Thankfully, nothing had.
We’d tucked him into bed at one o’clock last night and wished him goodnight.
We’d woken up this morning to a message left on the machine. “I’m alive. I’m tired and sore, but they say that’s part of the recovery process. They said I’m already out of danger.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “My body took to the procedure really well, and once the issue was resolved, my body started healing at abnormal rates. Which is apparently good. So I’m just going to sleep. You guys should, too. I’ll see you for check out at four. Love ya, bye.”
“I looked online,” Daisy said as I joined her in the kitchen. She had a glass of water and puffy blue bags under her eyes. “They usually keep patients for a few days after the medical thing Mordecai had done.”
I nodded. “We can ask the doctor about it when we get there.”
“I mean, even really magical people.”
“I know, Daisy. We’ll ask the doctor.” I grabbed my sleek new phone, an anonymous gift that had been waiting on my porch after the meeting with Kieran two weeks before. The service had been prepaid for a year.
I wasn’t so stupid as to have no idea where the phone had come from. Nor was I too proud to keep it. As far as I was concerned, Kieran was responsible for breaking the other one. He could damn well make restitution, thank you very much.
“Same place as usual,” Frank said as we exited the house, standing in his favorite spot while surveying the lurkers hiding in my yard. “They even have a mat over there now to get comfortable while spying.”
“Good work, Frank. Stay vigilant,” I said distractedly. “And get off my lawn.”
“I don’t understand why you care that the…spirit”—Daisy shivered—“is on the lawn. It’s not like he’s real. And we barely mow it.”
“It’s the principle of the thing.” I got into the car, catching a glimpse of a bush moving at the side of my yard.
Apparently, the minions weren’t actually hiding from me—they’d given that up after a few days of getting constantly called out by me—they were keeping out of the public eye. They didn’t want anyone knowing they were there.
Jack had brought by the “official” assessment of my magic and power level, then the one that had actually come out of the machine. Kieran hadn’t been lying about anything. My mom had banged a Demigod with a lineage to Hades. I was likely a mistake, and she’d kept it a secret. Kieran still didn’t know which Demigod was my father. He was apparently stepping lightly so as not to raise suspicion.
I didn’t want to know. Coming to grips with the fact that I possessed one of the most feared types of magic had been hard enough—I didn’t need to duke it out with Daddy dearest. One day I’d have to circle back and learn how to use my powers just in case Kieran brought more trouble, but for now…I wanted to pretend my life hadn’t changed in a horribly dangerous direction. I wanted to focus on the kids.
“Does this mean we can stop giving Mordecai the medicine?” Daisy asked in a small voice. A dozen questions had been on repeat since Mordecai had checked into the hospital, this being one of them.
“If the procedure worked, then yes, we can stop giving him the medicine.”
She nodded, staring out the window. “And we’re positive that meddling bastard can’t get his hooks into us or Mordie for this?”
“Kieran has no legal way to use this goodwill to his benefit. We can walk away.”
“And we will? Walk away?” She side-eyed me.
I hadn’t yet told them that I would be taking the job. But Daisy, very astute when someone was trying to get something over on her, had noticed when the contract disappeared from the kitchen table. She’d asked about it, I’d fibbed and claimed I’d filed it, and the questions had come pouring in.
I was pretty sure she was onto me.
“Totally,” I said, and it almost sounded believable.
I showed my badge to the guard at the magical gate. “Lovely afternoon, gov’na. Fine weather we’re having,” I said in a horrible British accent.
He passed my ID under the scanner before readying the light to shine through the back. The machine beeped and his gaze snapped to me. “This is the old ID. Where’s the new one?
“What…new one?” I asked, pushing up in my seat to make sure I’d given him the right card.
He zeroed in on the screen. “Newly issued. Check your mail.” He handed my ID back. “In the future, use that lane.” He pointed at the fast-track lane beside me.
“But…” I glanced over before looking at the grim face pictured on my ID.
“Meddling bastard,” Daisy grumbled.
“Keep moving.” The guard waved me on.
“Right, yes. Because bumping me up in the world is a great way to keep me on the DL, Kieran,” I mumbled, stepping on the gas pedal.
“You need to get rid of him,” Daisy said, still looking out the window. “I enjoy all the hot guys hanging around the house, but it’s a bit much.”
Yes. It was. But try telling that to a possessive Demigod. He’d laugh in your face.
This one had laughed in my face, at least.
At the hospital, I parked near the back and took an extra few minutes meandering in. Instead of taking the lead and urging me to walk faster, Daisy kept pace, silent.
She was just as worried as I was that this was all some trick, and we’d show up to bad news.
Mirroring her deep breath, I made my way through the hospital doors, the anxiety a live thing in my middle.
“Will he need therapy?” Daisy asked quietly as we entered the elevator.
“No. He’ll be just like you and me. Healthy. A normal kid.”
“But weak.”
“As weak as he’s always been, yes. He’ll need to start running and exercising. But he can get stronger now.” Hopefully.
“At least those hot minion guys are still cooking. They’re making us a lot of protein stuff, I’ve noticed. They’re getting him ready to bulk up.”
I nodded as the elevator chimed and the doors shimmied open. “I should stop their charity, but…”
“He needs it,” Daisy said softly.
I didn’t comment.
“He won’t need any medicine at all?” she asked.
“No. No medicine,” I said patiently, taking her hand as we walked slowly down the hallway.
A large figure stood outside Mordecai’s door, and for one heart-stopping moment, I worried it might be a shifter, here to wipe out the new threat. But a moment later, I recognized the face and body: Zorn, the minion with wavy brown hair and piercing gray eyes.
“Hey,” I said as we approached. I was thankful for his presence. Mordecai wasn’t well enough for the alpha to issue a challenge just yet, but an alpha with no morals could kill him in his sleep.
