Fox Chance in Hell (Misfit Shifters Book 3)

by Rae Foxx

  Wulf shifted first and sprang for his father’s side, hoping to catch him off guard.

  Before Wulf got a bite in, Lym whirled on him and clamped down on his muzzle with his massive teeth, warranting an ear-splitting yelp from the lighter wolf. Wulf swerved to the right, pulling his muzzle free, but not fast enough. Lym took the chance to sink his teeth into Wulf’s arm next, the one with the leather cuff. Wulf growled out a warning, but it seemed to fuel Lym on and he stepped into the bite, raising his eyes to his son’s to see how much pain registered on his face.

  He would certainly not be getting a father of the year trophy anytime soon.

  Actually, at this point, I didn’t know of a single father in my life that would.

  Lym jerked his head sideways and the crack of Wulf’s leg echoed through the room. Wulf fell to the floor, holding his paw up in pain. Lym took this as a small victory and rose up on two legs, shifting back into his human form, laughing as he returned to a man.

  “All that training and molding. All of it was a complete and total fucking waste.”

  I braced myself to turn back into a fox so that I could take a chunk out of Lym’s calf and maybe give Wulf or Travis a chance to move, but when I called to the beast within me, there was nothing but silence.

  Stacey chittered out a staccato laugh and cocked her hip out. “Having a little trouble shifting? What a shame. Do you feel the strain? Like someone is tearing her consciousness from you, like you might never shift again?”

  Okay, clearly this bitch had underestimated me. I wasn’t one of those shifters who needed claws and fur to throw down. No, I was a badass bitch all by myself. The fox was just there to help.

  I lunged for her, but we were both naked and sweaty. Instead of slamming into her as I’d intended, I slipped off and landed, flailing, on the disgusting carpet..

  She cackled loudly at my failure, even going so far as to clap at the display, adding to my already trembling anger. While I was on the ground and she was caught up in her own laughter, I decided to swipe at her ankles. Her eyes grew wide as she fell and she bounced off the bed before spilling over onto the carpet next to me. I scrambled over to her, growling as I did, and with one fistful of her hair, I began to punch her in the gut over and over while she curled into the fetal position, trying to protect herself. Her hands tried to grab me, catch me, but I was still sweaty and this time used the slipperiness to evade her.

  I landed one last punch before my fist slipped off her abdomen, making me land face first on the carpet with my torso draped over her. She began to laugh, but I pulled my knee up and connected with the bitch’s ribs, making her groan. I even thought she might be crying.

  Pussy.

  I heard some noise at my right and knew it was Evan, trying to get Owen out of there. I knew that moan like the back of my own hand. While I was worried that they’d draw attention, if nothing else at least they were getting out of here. I hoped. But Evan, upon seeing the chaos in the room, realized he was bringing Owen out of the fire and into hell and stopped in his tracks.

  As Wulf somewhat recovered from being chomped on, Travis shifted back to his lynx and joined the fight. My mates rounding the large man, carefully waiting for the opportune moment to attack. Wulf leapt first, sinking his teeth into Lym’s thigh. Lym reached down and tried to grab at Wulf’s scruff, but this time Wulf was faster, as though he already knew the move Lym would make before he made it.

  Every time Lym would lurch forward, Wulf would bounce faster. When Lym reached, Wulf evaded. When Lym swiped, Wulf ducked. When Wulf wasn’t able to land a bite or swipe, Travis was there to do it for him. They worked in tandem, keeping the larger wolf busy. If I wasn’t fighting the bat bitch, I would’ve been mesmerized. Wulf had finesse, where Lym relied on pure brawn.

  Stacey had managed to land one good shot to my eye when Poetry busted in the door like the fucking swat team. Her eyes immediately targeted Lym.

  “That’s quite enough, you fucking bastard!” Her scream filled the room, and in one poof of motion, she turned into her beautiful long-haired silver fox. In one leap she had not only shifted, but taken a chunk out of Lym’s ass, like a dog on a postman.

  I busted out laughing as he leaned forward, because there was a literal chunk out of his backside. Poetry continued to round him, snapping her teeth and swiping her claws against his bare skin, earning more snarls from him.

  Stacey used the ass-biting as an opening, and I turned as her hand began to glow again. Luckily I noticed in time. I took the chance and lunged for the glowing hand; my mouth open. Even with my human mouth, I knew I could do some damage. I would just pretend I was Mike Tyson and her hand was an ear.

  As I bit down on that stupid magical hand it vibrated, making me pull back thinking she was going to bust all of my teeth out, but I punched her in the mouth instead, thinking that a good knockout should stop her magic in its tracks.

  I was wrong.

  As soon as my fist connected with her jaw, raw energy emanated from her hand and pulsed once, then twice, before mushrooming out like a goddamned atomic bomb right there in Big Dick’s. I screamed, but that wouldn't help. We were all blasted out of the room and into the parking lot, our bodies hitting the concrete and some of us bouncing against the cars there like we were all pinballs.

  We were not, for the record.

  “Goddamnit, what the fuck are you?” I asked, stumbling to get to my feet again, my hand pressed to the back of my head. I was sure I was bleeding both internally and externally, and I was covered in scrapes.

  Stacey groaned, but she, Poetry, and I were the first to recover from the blast. “God, how many things are you too stupid to pick up on? I’m a hybrid, dumbass. I had been living with humans and hiding my abilities when Lym found me. I knew I had the ability to control men with sex, but he saw so much more. He saw my potential, saw the gifts I had inside me and sent me to a proper Coven to learn and be trained like he did his son. But I’m not a fucking traitor like Wulf.” She stumbled sideways, clearly still regaining herself from the blast. I was surprised how easily these idiots turned to monologuing. “When my master called me to duty, I reported and remained faithful.”

  That was almost more gag-worthy than Poetry’s cleansing tea. She stopped and bent over, maybe she’d started bleeding in her lungs. That would be convenient.

  By the time Stacey had finished her story, Lym, Wulf, and even Travis were now standing and ready to end this shit. Poetry barreled toward Lym while he took Wulf by the scruff and slammed him against the ground. He was growling something about victory.

  If victory was killing your son, then I’d take defeat any day.

  Travis took up the fight in Wulf’s absence. His Lynx was lithe and stealthy. He was like a professional boxer dancing around Lym, taking bites and swipes at every opportunity, taking the beast down inch by inch if he had to. But Lym reached down, and with his beefy hand, yanked Travis up, and slammed him down equally, if not harder, than he had Wulf.

  I watched as Evan now pulled Owen from the rubble of what was once the room. He had him scooped up like they often did me when I was hurt. Not wanting Lym to notice them, I lunged toward him, trying to distract him. I would do fucking anything to keep those two safe.

  In response, Lym let out a long high-pitched whistle and I reeled back. It almost sounded like the sounds bats used to echolocate. Oh. Right. Bats. Stacey perked up and ran to him like a puppy that had been summoned.

  “Is this all you’ve got, Fox? This is what my son wants to give up his life for? A piss-poor mate and a pathetic town?”

  “This town isn’t pathetic, you are!” I screamed back at him, and then shrunk back as a gunshot rang out, making me duck and slam my hands over my ears.

  Stacey crumpled to the ground like wet crepe paper. Lym cried out, falling to his knees next to her body. A stain of blood started at her forehead and spread out until she lay in a pool of it. She hadn’t seen it coming, thinking she was invincible next to Lym and whatever psychotic
victory he had in mind. I whirled to see Poetry holding the gun. How she’d gotten it, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was I was hella proud to be her niece. She was heaving, slightly shocked at having killed Stacey.

  “My turn, Lym. Your bitch is out of the picture, and no matter what happens, only one of us is leaving here alive.” Damn. I almost shouted ‘Go Poetry!’ but didn’t want to distract her.

  In one fluid motion, Poetry slipped back into her fox and leaned into the impending attack, lunging forward, but keeping her feet in place. That was her form of intimidation, I supposed, despite her much smaller frame compared to the wolf. Her lips drew back, revealing her perfectly sharpened teeth as she snarled and bit at the air, daring him, taunting him.

  Lym took the challenge. He shifted into his wolf, but this time he was much smaller, much less terrifying. He looked like a puppy compared to what he’d been before Stacey died. I guessed it was her who granted him his unnatural size.

  Wimp of a wolf.

  No wonder he was a murdering son of a bitch. He was compensating for his lame-ass wolf.

  Typical asshole.

  I guessed it was the shifter version of short man’s syndrome.

  I would call him Lord Farquaad from here on out.

  Poetry wasted no time. In one solid leap, she landed on his back and bent forward, plunging her teeth into the back of his neck. He shook himself, trying to shake her off, but she just dug her claws in deeper, pulled her teeth out, and bit down in another area. She did this over and over again until he was more blood than fur and there wasn’t a goddamned thing he could do to stop it since she was hooked into him by her claws. Desperate, he finally rolled over, running over Poetry in the process and releasing her hold on his neck.

  He scrambled away from her and quickly shifted back to human form, panting and covered in blood. Puncture marks marred his skin and blood seeped out in rivers that veined out across his naked skin.

  “Poetry, please! How can you do this? I thought we were mates, thought we loved each other!”

  I snorted loudly while Poetry quickly recovered from being dumped onto the ground. She shook herself and prepared once again to face off. He had his back to me and I saw Poetry’s fox eyes tick to me, quick as lightning.

  I got her message loud and clear. I snuck up behind Lym, as silently as possible. With a leap, I kicked at both of the backs of his knees, sending him into a kneel right at Poetry’s feet. She shifted mid-jump and landed on him, knocking him backward. He hit his head against the parking lot pavement as she picked up some random piece of shrapnel from the magical blast and straddled him, both of her legs on either side of his chest.

  “Too bad you don’t know what the fuck love is,” she whispered, and then holding his chin with one hand and the makeshift weapon with the other, she slit his throat ear to ear. With a flourish, she dropped the now blood-soaked shard on the pavement next to his head, breathing heavily. His mouth moved, but no sound came out as Lym gurgled on his own blood, choking on his life force as the color drained from his eyes and his limbs went limp. Holy fucking shit. My aunt is a badass.

  I looked over, not being able to watch anymore, and saw that Evan and Travis had restrained Wulf. Travis was holding his arms behind his head while Evan was sitting on his legs and holding his feet.

  One enemy down. One revealed. What a fucked-up day.

  But also, Owen had been saved. Now where in the hell did Evan put him?

  19

  “Owen you should really go rest,” I said, leaning against him where he stood against the prison wall, his eyes drooping more and more by the second. He’d lost a lot of blood, and while we’d wrapped up his wound well, I knew he would take a little longer to heal even with his shifter abilities. I mean, he wasn’t a lizard. Yeah, we could heal, but it wasn’t like we could just grow new limbs. Ask Wulf. He probably wanted to grow a new eyeball, as soon as he lost his. Alas, no dice.

  “Fuck that shit. I’m not leaving Scarlet anytime in the near fucking future. Especially if she steps foot near that bar. That back room where you hid me was not okay.” I shot him some serious side eye but he laughed quietly. “Okay, okay, maybe a year ago that would’ve been something I’d be into, but now there’s only one set of nipples I want to tweak.”

  He winked and my heart throbbed. I could explode from happiness at having him back and mostly whole.

  “God, what a romantic,” I dramatically swooned and batted my eyes at him before stealing a kiss. Poetry cleared her throat and handed everyone a steaming to-go cup of tea. My eyes widened as she did, but she dipped her chin. “It’s calming, not cleansing. Get a grip, dear.”

  Okay, so clearly she had somewhat recovered from killing her mate.

  Good to know.

  My eyes flicked to Wulf who was pressed up against the bars of the cell, clearly desperate to reach me. I hadn’t said a word to him since the Inn. Not when he called my name, not when he protested being locked up, not when he said please. My mind and heart were still scrambled about who and what he was, in life and to me.

  “Wanna tell us what happened that night, Owen?” Travis asked, his notebook out and pen clicked.

  “Well, Lym came into the bakery and nabbed us. He came up like a shadow. No sound, no scent, nothing that I could’ve detected that would’ve warned me that Dawn and I weren’t alone. He got us to the hotel room, where he killed Dawn right away. He said that she had been giving him information, but that since we moved in, she had given him nothing. After he killed her he turned to me, thinking that I was a snitch, but he was wrong. I didn’t give him anything.”

  He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but I knew the truth. Staying loyal when your life was on the line was hard as fuck. I wanted so badly to wrap him up and never let him leave my side again.

  Wulf, on the other hand, would not know about that level of loyalty.

  Asshole. I shot him a look that I hoped conveyed my level of displeasure.

  “If you didn’t give him any info, then why keep you?” Travis asked gently.

  “Well, I think he thought that I might cave eventually. He left me tied up in the bathroom for a day or so. I kind of lost track of time. But then in the middle of the night, he busted in and asked me again to tell him more, give him some answers. I may or may not have told him to shove his information up his large ass and he said he had other ways of getting information out of me. And a few days later, he did this.” He held up his hand. Or lack thereof. Anger surged in me looking at the stump. If Lym wasn’t already dead, I would’ve killed him for maiming my mate.

  “I tried to stop him. I tried to convince him that I could get the information he needed.” The voice came from the cell, and I twitched at hearing it.

  “Shut up, Wulf.” We all said in one disgusted accord.

  “Yeah, you’re such a protector,” Travis scoffed at Wulf and tapped the bars with his pen, meaning for him to move back. “If you had done your job as a person we trusted or even just as Scarlet’s mate, none of this would’ve happened. Owen wouldn’t have been taken. No one would be dead. You knew who she was from the beginning, yet you made her trust you, made her believe in you. That may be the biggest crime of them all.”

  “I did help her. I helped her get into the butcher’s the first time. She remembers, don’t you little fox?” I made a point of turning my head and gagging. I knew he was trying to remind me of the good times but we’d already burned that bridge. Maybe.

  Still, my mind reeled back to that night. He’d had a key to the fucking door. “Hey, you had a key to the door! Why in the fuck was that?”

  I kicked at the cell, needing some way to release my anger.

  Wulf seized up at my question, once again moving away from the bars as though it would actually distance him enough to get out of answering. I thought about that night. He’d wanted to go into the freezer. He chastised me for being scared. He’d made it out like I was the one who was crazy.

  The truth descended on me like a slimy blanket.
Slimier than any green stuff leading to a body. “You did it! You killed Kent,” I accused, pointing my finger at him and his built body. It made sense. He could’ve done it.

  He approached the bars in two long strides and wrapped his hand around them, giving them a hardy shake. It was like he was trying to convince me how sorry he was by his strength alone. More like his father.

  “I didn’t! I did not kill Kent. We’ve already established this, Scarlet! I was here to clean up the mess. I was commanded and paid to follow you and to infiltrate the town. You were my in.”

  I scoffed. He didn’t really think that made things better, did he? “So you used me? You used me to complete your job? Is that all I fucking am to you? You made me trust you and need you and lo—” Nope not saying that word. He didn’t deserve to hear it. Never again if I had my way.

  “What? No. I mean I was paid but that was my...it’s what he raised me to do. What he raised me to be.” Wulf genuinely sounded remorseful then.

  “Oh yeah?” Owen chimed in. “Tell us more about poor, pitiful little Wulf.”

  “Fuck you, pussy cat.”

  “Hey, knock it off, asshole!” I yelled at him, making him hang his head. “Just tell us what the fuck happened.”

  “Fine,” he gruffed back. “I was stolen as a child. I was raised in a shack by Lym who was only there maybe an hour out of each day. I had to fend for myself. I had to hunt for food, and I stayed in my wolf form most of the time. Over the years, I became less human. More wild. After a while staying in that shack was no longer an option. Lym got it into his head that I’d be safer, more controlled, in a zoo. He hid me there.. After a few years though, he came back for me and pulled me out. Sent me on ‘missions’.” He spat the word. Clearly Wulf didn’t care for Lym any more than the rest of us.. “I had to murder people. Steal. Whatever. I would’ve done whatever he asked me to. He rewarded me with special meals or sometimes women. When I first came here, you were just another task he had given me.”