Not Quite Free

by Kaye Draper

  The sheriff huffed. “Well, normally I’d say I don’t want to hear this shit. But look...the big guy was spouting off the entire way out of town. And in all that bluster, I heard some things that didn’t sound like he was bluffing.” The sound of his voice changed, and I could tell Griffith had just taken us off speaker phone. “That’s why I called you, Theo. The shifters are threatening to escalate things if we don’t deliver your new viceroy to them. And they say they’re willing to go through as many humans as they have to in order to get what belongs to them. They gave us two days to round Sam up and deliver them.”

  Theo’s posture went tense, but his expression didn’t change. He simply reached for the shiny buttons on the ancient conference phone. “Thank you for keeping me advised, sheriff. I will be sure to increase my security. As to the rest, I will of course put my best PR people on the job to ensure the hysteria doesn’t get out of hand in town.”

  PR people. Right. He meant he’d send Angel out to whammy everyone in the media into behaving using his magic and subtle mind manipulation tricks. I really might be working for the devil.

  Sheriff Griffith sighed on the other end of the line. “You’re the sovereign, far be it from me to tell you what to do. But this is going to piss people off. Viceroy Forest has protected this town from encroaching fiends for years with their work at the association, but there’s gonna be a big chunk of the population who’ll think it’s stupid to risk human lives over a cur.”

  Theo didn’t look at Sam. “Was there anything else, Sheriff?” The tone in the politician’s voice was dangerous.

  Griffith huffed. “Don’t get all pissy with me, sovereign. I didn’t say you should just hand over your employees to the first asshole to start throwing around threats. I just wanted you to understand how much of a mess it’s going to be.” He paused to take a sip of his coffee sludge, the thud of the cup hitting his desk loud in the background. “There was one more thing,” he said, sounding a bit less grim. “My undercover officers found a couple of witnesses to your fiend friend’s murder—people who have a whole different take on the story than anyone else involved. The little girl’s parents. The potential lead was right in front of us the whole time.”

  Theo finally looked at me and I knew what he was thinking. He had promised me that the investigation into and justice for Ahura’s death would take precedence over just about anything else. It was the main reason why I’d come to work for him. But the shifter problem was the more immediate concern. It had the potential to get more people hurt when it imploded. I gave the sovereign a small head nod.

  “We’ll be in touch to get more details about that as soon as we handle the current issue,” he told the sheriff. “Thank you for taking time to contact me.”

  The call ended and Theo sat back, a dangerous look on his face. “This is Carlyle. He never could just let things go.”

  I tapped my fingers on the table in irritation. “Who is Carlyle, and why the hell would he get me involved in his scheming?”

  Theo stood and went to the little side table to pour out a glass of expensive booze, waving his hand to invite the others to help themselves before he strolled back over to lean a hip against the table, the perfect picture of a rich, unconcerned human. “He’s my cousin. Unfortunately for him, he was born completely human, not a trace of other in him, despite his cur breeding.”

  It happened sometimes. I mean, look at me—I was pretty damned weak for a cur myself. I rolled my eyes. “So, what? You’re saying this guy is all jealous because you’re stronger than him and you get to run a city? So he just goes around throwing tantrums?” And that still didn’t explain what any of it had to do with me.

  Theo raised a brow at me, his mouth twitching up into a slight smile. “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. He vied for my position along with several others. I was more qualified. I won. But he just can’t stomach a fiend—no, a monster—running a city. As if his human blood somehow makes him more worthy.”

  I shook my head. What was it with humans and their need to be in control and one-up each other constantly? It was exhausting enough just staying alive. You’d think they’d be too busy surviving to worry about petty shit like this.

  “You’re not a cur?” Fin’s voice cut through my musing and I mentally kicked myself. Fin and Em were watching Theo. Fin looked suspicious and surprised. But Em...he was really calm, all things considered. I had a sneaking suspicion that he might have figured Theo out a long time ago, with the ogre-cross’s knack for reading people.

  Theo waved a hand, as if his whole being a fiend thing was unimportant. “Of course. I assumed Sam had told you.” Then he narrowed his eyes at me, his expression going sharp and penetrating. “You really never even talked to them this entire time? Honestly, Sam, I don’t understand. How are you not feral right now?”

  I growled at him. “Maybe I am. Keep giving me shit and I might lose it and eat your ass.”

  Angel snorted a laugh, and I turned my glare on him. “Oh, shut the fuck up.”

  He held up his graceful hands as if pleading innocence, but his gold eyes were swimming with mirth. Leave it to Angel to still have the sense of humor of a fucking teenager. What a moron.

  “He’s a giant dinosaur bird that catches fire,” I said to Fin and Emerson, waving a hand toward Theo. “Surprise.”

  Theo rolled his eyes. Shaking his head, he gave Fin and Em a look that said he was sorry they had to deal with my bullshit on a regular basis. “I’m a full-blooded phoenix shifter,” he said, pausing to take a sip of his whiskey. “But understandably, I don’t share this knowledge with the general public.”

  “Or much of anyone else,” Angel added on, his expression going serious. “You have to understand how important it is to keep this a secret.”

  I didn’t miss how he looked to Emerson first, as if he knew the ogre cross would understand and make sure Fin didn’t go ballistic. What the hell was the sneaky siren up to now? He was going to get himself stabbed if he was plotting to somehow manipulate my nicest mate.

  Emerson nodded solemnly and met Theo’s gaze. “Of course. The whole town would fall apart if anyone knew, wouldn’t it?”

  Fin snorted. “You know you can’t keep something like that a secret forever. What the fuck is the point of running the place when you know you’re gonna eventually end up destroying it?” His sharp emerald eyes watched the sovereign in a way that said he was sizing him up, taking his measure. It probably didn’t help that Theo was under pressure to turn me over to my clan. The unspoken threat being that this Carlyle guy might just expose Theo’s secret if he didn’t comply.

  Theo took another sip of his drink before he answered. “The point,” he said easily, “is change. I will reveal what I am when the time is right and Westhold will become the shining example of what is possible if we all look past our differences and act with the common good in mind.”

  I watched my mates while Theo spewed his crazy nonsense. Emerson was wide-eyed and captivated, gullible to a fault. But Fin just sat back in his chair with a laugh. “Holy shit, you’re crazy. The ruler of Westhold is crazy. We’re fucked.”

  I couldn’t help it. Laughter spilled out before I could stop it. I’d been telling Theo that all along. We were all gonna die in a fiery ball of anarchy and revolt. And that was exactly why I’d tried to keep my mates out of it.

  Theo was not amused by my outburst. He waved to Jules. “Please show Sam’s guests around and assign them quarters to use at their discretion. We’ll discuss how they can best fit into the ranks around here after supper.” He leveled a dark blue look at me. “I need to speak with my viceroy about the shifter threat.”

  Everyone rose to leave, but Angel lingered behind. Giving me a cool glance, he put a hand on Theo’s shoulder. “I know what others will say, but you can trust Sam to do their job despite whatever emotions try to get in the way. If Sam says the best course of action is to get rid of that asinine alpha, then they’re right.”

  Theo nodded. “I kno
w.”

  Then the siren glided out of the room and I was left alone with our crazy sovereign.

  I knew what Angel was saying. Any sane person would say I was not the one to give unbiased advice about how to handle the shifter clan. It would be perfectly reasonable to assume my abuse at their hands would color every judgement I made. It would be vengeance I was looking for, not justice.

  Except they’d be wrong. Because I was trained to do my job—to hunt without thinking about the feelings of the monster involved, to pull the trigger for a paycheck, and to put my physical being in danger every damned day to protect this fucking town from the threats lurking just outside the city walls. Even if half of the idiots never realized how much danger they were in to begin with.

  But my experience with the shifters gave me an inside view of exactly how dangerous they really were to Westhold. Plus...I was pretty sure their need to take up a cause for the money offered by Theo’s rival probably had a lot to do with me depriving the shifters of Josie’s bribe money. This could never be entirely impersonal for me, because it was personal for them. Alpha Baghinder had always wanted to control me, to own me. But I had slipped that control and taken his paycheck with me. He had to make life miserable for me in order to maintain his manly power. And the best way to do that was separate me from my supposed new protector—the rich human guy who had stolen me away.

  Joke was on Baghinder. Theo wasn’t a weak human. And he also didn’t own me. I still thought and acted for myself.

  Theo’s hand on my shoulder brought me out of my musing. “Sam?”

  When I looked up, I was surprised to find that he wasn’t wearing an expression of hesitancy or pity. Instead, his gaze was direct and full of something so fully fiend that I couldn’t identify it. “I trust you to handle this. If you end up killing him, I don’t particularly care. You deserve to mete out punishment to anyone who has ever dared lay a finger on you.”

  I swallowed hard, pushing down the overwhelming sensation in my gut. The one that wanted to glory in his permission and go hunt some fucking shifter scum.

  “Thanks.”

  He withdrew his hand and once again became the soft, slightly dorky human I knew. “We need to discuss how to neutralize this threat. Then we need to go on a bigger hunt. Carlyle has a disgusting habit of using the people I care about most to hurt me. He tried to destroy Ada and get her to stop working for me by getting her mate exiled. Then he went after you when you started working for me. Now he’s come after you again, and he’s decided to hurt innocents, which is what will happen if he lets the shifters loose to wreak havoc. He’s just used up his last bit of luck.”

  I nodded. “Let me handle the shifters through the guild. We have to take care of them now. Even if you get rid of this Carlyle guy, Alpha Baghinder won’t call off his bullshit. He can’t back down from his promises or he’ll lose face with the clan.”

  Theo nodded. “As you wish, viceroy. But feel free to draw on any of my resources you require. I want you back by my side in one piece.” His eyes met mine and he paused, as if there was more that he wanted to say. Then he tossed back the rest of his drink and strode from the room.

  Chapter 5

  In the end, it was surprisingly easy to convince the head-honchos at the hunter’s association to let me lean on their authority for a little trip out to the shifter forest. Half the association had been just dying for a chance to hunt the monsters that lived in the forest right outside of town. And the other half was surprisingly...loyal to me. Who would have imagined? I just assumed I was universally hated for being a cur hunter. But apparently, I’d done something to garner respect among some of my coworkers over the years. We were all set to head out first thing tomorrow to deal with alpha Baghinder and his bullshit.

  And tonight...I had a couple of mates to suck up to. The more the fog of my almost feral state lifted, the more I realized how stupid I’d been. In my shock over Ahura’s murder, I’d acted impulsively, like a wounded animal. And it had almost destroyed us all.

  “I love you,” I said, not even blushing this time.

  Emerson gave me a soft smile from where he stood by one of the bookcases. “I love you too Sam. I missed you so much.”

  Fin was silent. I plopped down to sit on the end of the bed, grinning at Fin’s mutinous expression. I knew exactly how he felt. Saying those three little words was hard when you’d spent your whole life thinking you weren’t worth anything...that no one would ever want to hear them.

  I schooled my face into a grave expression as I reached toward the leprechaun cur. “I’m picking you up.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes, giving a little huff. But he didn’t say no. So, I grabbed him around the waist and hefted him up to sit on my lap, his short legs awkwardly straddling me as I nuzzled into his neck, breathing him in. “I love you, you little ass.” Then I purposefully let out a puff of air, blowing on a particularly ticklish spot.

  He squirmed and turned his arms around my neck into a weak chokehold.

  We were still laughing and snarking at each other when there was a soft, perfunctory knock at the door. I’d gotten used to the sound, since all the staff seemed to go to “How to Knock So They Know it’s You” training. “Yeah?” I called out.

  Jules strode into the room, carrying a tall stack of fluffy white towels, which he set on a nearby footstool. Then he turned to regard me with a bland expression and an arch of his brow, as if wondering whether he’d just interrupted something indecent.

  Well, he almost had. But lucky for him no one had their pork swords out yet. Though, I was pretty sure it would take a hell of a lot more than a couple of dicks to freak out the weird, unflappable butler.

  “Did you need something, Jeeves?” I said with a slight smile to let him know he wasn’t trespassing.

  He nodded, glancing around my room until he found my knives and gun piled on the nightstand. “I was passing by and thought you might want your weapons cleaned and ready for tomorrow.”

  I brushed a glancing kiss along the ridge of one of Fin’s pointed ears, then lifted him off me, earning another huff and a blush as I set him on the bed beside me. One of these days, I was going to make him admit that he actually liked being carried around. But clearly, he wasn’t ready to come to grips with that in front of the butler just yet. I stood and went to grab my weapons and hand them over to Jules. He was the one person I had come to trust with my gear. I knew he wouldn’t fuck with anything, and he had enough magical ability to clean and condition everything without messing up the expensive wards and charms that I always maintained on my stuff.

  As I handed over my gear, I nodded toward the paper bag that sat on the desk by the door. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

  Jules followed my glance and frowned, looking confused. “Viceroy?”

  I ignored the taunt that was that fucking title. “The candy. It’s freaking weird how you’re always sneaking in here and leaving stuff like it’s some fancy hotel or something. But thanks. I haven’t had chocolate in a long time.”

  I hadn’t tried it yet, but the bag was from an exclusive—and fucking pricey—human bakery in Golding that a cur like me would never be able to access. Besides, I loved sweets, but spending money on that sort of thing just wasn’t practical. Especially chocolate. That shit was like gold, since the rift had destroyed ecosystems and rendered crap like cocoa tree farming almost obsolete.

  Jules’s confused expression smoothed out and he shook his head. “I didn’t leave them.”

  Now I was confused. And really fucking glad I hadn’t just dug in and eaten them the minute I walked in the door from my hunt and saw the bag. I strode over and opened the delicate brown paper bag, which was hand stamped with leaves and birds. “What the hell? Are they poisoned? Can you tell that kind of thing with your magic?”

  The butler let out a sigh but came over to inspect the chocolate with me. He closed his eyes and made a face like he was concentrating. But I didn’t feel him doing a
ny magic. Then he opened his eyes. “Not poisoned. Not spelled to do harm...though I believe there is a bit of a health spell woven in there.”

  He turned away and I thought I saw the hint of a smirk on his smug lips before he got away. “What the hell are they doing here?” I demanded. I wasn’t in the mood for puzzles right now. I just wanted to fuck off some of the restless energy that always came with the anticipation of a good hunt, then sleep for about ten hours.

  Jules headed for the door, pausing to scoop up my dusty boots and leather jacket. “A secret admirer, perhaps?”

  I rolled my eyes and lifted the bag to give it a sniff. I got a whiff of Theo’s scent. But that wasn’t unusual. Everything in the house smelled slightly like Theo. He did own the place, and he was a fiend, he was probably always leaking a little magic. But I was pretty sure the sovereign of Westhold had better things to do than go around leaving expensive chocolate in his staff members’ rooms. What had me growling was the scent that was mingled in with his. Angel and his alluring water magic scent.

  I set the bag down with a huff as anger flared up inside me. Damn it. Now I couldn’t eat the stuff. And that was a once in a lifetime chocolate opportunity sitting there on my desk, mocking me. But Angel was up to something, as usual. I flashed back to the last couple of weeks. To all the times I’d let myself turn to Angel for comfort and release as I was losing my damned mind. Of course he’d take the opportunity to use his fucking magic on me. Maybe he thought he could get me to offer up the last bit of my free will, since my defenses were so low.

  I knew I should never have let myself want him.

  Fin let out a short laugh and slid off the bed to go to the couch, oblivious to my growing rage. “So someone has a crush on you, Saber. Get over it and show me how to turn on this fancy-assed TV you’ve got here. I haven’t watched TV in years.” He whistled when he saw the shelf of various devices, discs, and tech under the entertainment center. “What the hell? How’d you get all this stuff, Sam? You suddenly start spending all your Viceroy money on tech?”