Misfit Fortune

by Stephanie Foxe

  She stuck the bandaid on her arm. Crooked. And wrinkled. She tried pointlessly to smooth it down, wishing once again that she’d brought Shane. “Why don’t you think you could find it in time?”

  “You are currently three moves behind, darling. Whoever is plotting against you has been doing so for weeks, if not longer. It’s too late to cut off the ambush. You are already surrounded. Metaphorically, of course.” Bram emptied the vials of her blood into a bowl, careful to get every last drop, then moved to his canvas.

  “So, what? I just have to walk into this metaphorical ambush?”

  He shrugged, dipping his brush in the palette. “You have to beat them outright.”

  She sighed. “You make it sound easy.”

  “It is simple, not easy. There is a difference.”

  His paintbrush moved in quick strokes across the canvas. The smell of her own blood drifted through the room, sending a shudder through her. There was something horribly intimate about letting him use something that had been inside her like this.

  “You said I couldn’t afford you but…what if I could come up with the money somehow? What kind of price tag are we talking about?” She didn’t want to walk out of here empty-handed. Maybe she could scrape the money together, or get a loan. There had to be a way.

  Bram added a few more strokes before answering. “You are close to seeing what is happening. The big picture. But you do not understand what you are asking of me.”

  The angels. The MIB. Carter. Ito. It was all politics and grudges that ran deep. “You’d have to pick a side, wouldn’t you? If you helped me with this.”

  Bram inclined his head with a smile. “Bravo, you are learning.”

  She put her head in her hands. “I hate politics. I didn’t want any of this crap.”

  Bram laughed. “This is why I like you. You’re straightforward. What you see is what you get. That is also why they hate you. You’ve upset the natural order.”

  “If they had just left me alone, their precious natural order could have stayed how it was,” she grumbled, rising from her chair. “Thanks for the advice. It was helpful even if it wasn’t what I was hoping for.”

  His pale eyes met hers. “It was my pleasure.”

  “I’ll see myself out. You can keep the painting this time too.” She headed toward the exit, mentally patting herself on the back for not sprinting away.

  “Won’t you look at it this time?” Bram asked.

  She paused on the stairs. She didn’t want to look at the painting but she also didn’t want to piss Bram off. He seemed to like her. Enough to indulge her questions at least. It’s not like it would hurt anything to look at the painting even if she did hate it.

  “Fine.” She turned around but didn’t find what she was expecting. Last time, she’d looked dangerous. All fire and anger. This was…different. “That’s not me, that’s…”

  “It is you, very much so,” he crooned, fingers caressing the edges of the canvas.

  A pair of deep red eyes stared out of the face of a wolf, teeth bared in a warning snarl. There was still anger and a sense of threat, but the eyes were powerful. They were alive.

  She tore her gaze from the painting and saw that Bram was staring at her.

  “Yes, I captured you very well.” He smiled, his long, white fangs pressing into his lower lip.

  Chapter 40

  Kadrithan (Angel)

  “Everything has changed. This pack has been pulled into this and there is nothing we can do to change that now.” Kadrithan filled his glass. This wasn’t an evening for temperance.

  “Pour me one as well,” Zerestria said tiredly. She accepted the glass and settled herself on the opposite end of his chaise lounge. “What did you tell them.”

  “The bare minimum. They know Laurel was my mark but nothing of the task I gave her.” He took a drink, letting the elven whisky burn its way down his throat. “However, if this continues, they will find out more soon. Whatever this troll has gotten mixed up in will bring them into direct opposition of the angels. Of Raziel himself.”

  “You must delay the explanation until the right moment. As long as your mark is on their alpha, you control the pack, but having their trust would be even more powerful.”

  Kadrithan stared blankly into his glass, contemplating everything that had happened. “I can handle the pack and Amber. What troubles me is this elf.”

  “Me as well,” Zerestria admitted. “This murder has hurt our plans but I do not think that was the reason for it.”

  “Neither do I.” He thought back to the crime scene. Laurel’s body had been put on display. There was a message there, though he had no idea who it was meant for. Raziel? Himself? Someone else entirely? “There’s something that’s bothering me.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Killing Laurel is pointless. She was the third-favorite mistress of Raziel, not the first. Torture and kidnap make more sense. There were things she knew that might help someone move against Raziel but he won’t care that she is dead, he will simply replace her.”

  “Perhaps they had a personal grudge. Laurel had a life and enemies outside of Raziel.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “The only way to know for sure is to find Laurel’s murderer. Venali finally managed to get that mark he’s been after the last month. Use him however you need for this.”

  Kadrithan gave her a blank stare. “You are so generous.”

  “The angels moved against the western front after a decade of peace. Our resources are drawn thin.”

  The reminder that he was being kept away from the fighting set a mixture of guilt and anger boiling in his gut. “Some days I think we should just fight them and end this.”

  “That is a battle we would lose and you know it. I am just as frustrated at being stuck in this empty castle as you but we have a job to do. The fate of this war depends on us, Kadrithan. We will never defeat the angels so long as we are bound by this curse.”

  There was a brief knock, then the door to his study swung open. A messenger scurried in, carrying a sealed envelope. “Venali sends an urgent message.”

  Zerestria grabbed the envelope and tore it open, reading the note quickly. “Leave us.”

  The messenger shut the door behind himself.

  She turned to him with a frown. “Someone broke into Raziel’s estate. Two guards were killed.”

  “That escalates things.”

  “It certainly does. If they took it––”

  “We weren’t sure Raziel kept it there. That’s why I needed Laurel to find out.” Still, the idea that the very thing they’d been hunting had been snatched out from underneath their noses at the last moment was enough to make him want to punch a hole in the wall.

  Zerestria was silent for a beat. “We have to know.”

  “Send Venali to deal with those MIB agents. I have to search for this elf personally.”

  She nodded. “Time is of the essence.”

  Chapter 41

  Evangeline

  Light flooded her room, waking Evangeline out of a dead sleep.

  “We’ve gotta go. Get up now,” Katarina said, tossing her always packed backpack at her. She caught it right before it hit her face.

  “What’s wrong? Are they here?” she asked, scrambling out of bed to shove her feet in her shoes. She slept with her clothes on now. They never knew when they’d have to move again. She hoped it was somewhere warmer this time.

  Tommy thought she was still in Mexico relaxing on a beach. Unfortunately, that had only lasted a few days before she’d been woken up at a dawn and told to run.

  “How do they keep finding us?” she asked as she ran after Katarina into the main room.

  “We don’t know, which irritates me,” Katarina said with a scowl.

  Charlie burst through the front door. “Let’s put a little hustle on it, ladies.”

  “Where is––”

  “Waiting in the Jeep.”

  She’d begged her uncle to send
her mother somewhere safe but apparently the safest place was with them. He couldn’t spare the resources to assign anyone else to protect Eloise, and her end of the deal required her to stay with Evangeline as long as she was alive regardless.

  Despite the darkness, she saw clearly as they ran to the Jeep. She hopped in the back, sliding over to sit next to her mother, who grabbed her hand to reassure her.

  Katarina sat in the back with her rifle, eyes scanning the snow covered trees around them. The woods were eerily silent.

  Charlie slammed on the accelerator, throwing her back into the seat. They bounced over the uneven terrain, tires slipping in the snow that had built up on the narrow road overnight.

  She squeezed her mother’s hand, wishing she wasn’t trapped in this hell. She should be with Tommy, helping him search for his friend.

  It wasn’t dying that scared her. It was how vulnerable everyone around her was. Charlie was human. Breakable and vulnerable like her mother. Katarina, for all her skill with a gun and magic, was only one woman.

  “Heads down,” Katarina whispered.

  Evangeline pulled her mother down, then draped over her shoulders, shielding her as much as possible. They’d argued about it the first time they’d had to do this, but her mother eventually accepted it since she could heal from a bullet wound fairly quickly but her mother couldn’t.

  They stayed perfectly silent as the Jeep rumbled down the road. She hated how much noise it made. It always felt like a giant neon sign pointing at them: HERE THEY ARE, COME KILL THEM.

  “Three behind,” Katarina whispered, before firing off a shot.

  Evangeline covered her ears with her hands, trying to preserve some of her hearing. A second shot rang out, then a third.

  “Two remaining, coming up left side.”

  “We got company on the front side too,” Charlie said, slamming on the accelerator. “Eva, go.”

  She opened the door and burst out into the open, kicking it shut behind her. The momentum of the Jeep gave her the speed she needed to charge at the attackers ahead of them. It was wolves, two of them. Their eyes glowed yellow in the headlights.

  In the time since she’d killed that half angel Zachariah, she’d learned a few things. She thrust both hands out ahead of her and fire bloomed from her palms in a wave. It swept toward the wolves who separated, running in opposite directions to avoid the attack.

  Steady gunfire continued behind her as Katarina laid down cover fire. She’d hold them off as long as she could.

  Evangeline lifted her hands, lighting a ring of fire around the now stopped Jeep. If they wanted them, they were going to have to pass through it to get to them.

  A howl rose up from the forest. Another joined it, then another and another. She couldn’t tell where they were coming from, just that they were surrounded. The haunting sound made her skin crawl.

  She lifted off the ground with a hard push from her wings and searched the darkness for the mercenary pack. If she could find the alpha, it would de-stabilize them.

  There was a yelp and a clump of trees shook. Katarina must be in the woods now. She spotted a flash of eyes amongst the trees and dove at them, sending flames before her. At first, she’d been hesitant to do this sort of thing, but she’d burn down the entire forest if that’s what it took to survive and protect her mother.

  She landed in a small clearing, smoke thickening the air as the trees burned around her. They were close. She could feel them watching her.

  Paws thudded into the ground behind her and she shot up, flipping backwards as the wolf passed beneath her. They always went for the legs first to slow you down, just like real wolves. She’d learned that the hard way.

  A bullet hit the side of the wolf and he stumbled, sliding to a stop against the tree. She heard the next one coming and met it head on with a blast of fire that rolled over it. It rolled in the dirt trying frantically to put out the flames but didn’t have a chance before another bullet drove through its head.

  She and Katarina were a good team.

  “Kat!” Charlie’s shout cut through the woods.

  Evangeline ran back toward the Jeep, heart pounding in her chest. They’d gone too far, gotten too aggressive. This pack was smarter than the others. They weren’t just chasing her.

  The alpha was charging toward Charlie, unconcerned about the shotgun pointed at his face. Before Charlie could get a shot off, the massive wolf slammed him into the side of the Jeep. It raised its head, ready to strike, when the back of its skull exploded. The wolf slumped to the side, revealing her mother with the rifle still held to her shoulder.

  “Charlie, you okay?” Eloise shouted.

  “Peachy keen,” he hollered back. “But stuck under this throw rug. He’s heavy as hell.”

  A mournful howl went up, echoed by only one other wolf. She waited, standing between Charlie and the tree line until Katarina ran out, slinging her rifle over her shoulder.

  “They’re retreating. Let’s go.”

  She pulled the dead alpha off Charlie and helped him up to his feet. There was a nasty gash on the back of his head from where he’d hit the Jeep and he wasn’t standing up straight.

  “They sure aren’t screwing around anymore,” Charlie said, spitting out a gob of blood.

  “I don’t understand,” Evangeline said, tucking her hand in her sleeve and brushing glass off his shoulders.

  “Something must have changed to give them a sense of urgency,” Katarina said with a shrug. No matter what happened, it never seemed to phase her. She spilled blood with the same ease that she made a cup of tea in the morning.

  Evangeline stared at the carnage around them feeling numb. They’d survived this attack but the next might be worse. The angels could send more people. They might send a sorcerer next time.

  She curled her hand into a fist. When her uncle finally bothered to show up, he better be prepared to give her some answers.

  Chapter 42

  Tommy

  “You have quite the juvenile record,” Horan said, pulling out a thick file. “Breaking and entering, theft, more theft, vandalism. The list goes on for a while. I’m surprised you managed to avoid jail time.”

  Tommy just stared at him. Was his record supposed to be a surprise? It’s not like he’d forgotten. Everything he’d done had been in order to survive though and he refused to let some MIB stiff make him feel bad about it.

  “You seem to be fond of bringing up things that have no relevance to the current investigation,” Genevieve said, sounding bored.

  The other agent stood behind Horan like some kind of silent guard. He couldn’t get a feel for Icewind at all. She looked angry but her heartbeat was slow and even.

  Horan gave Genevieve a sharp smile. “In my experience, the context of a person’s life has great relevance to my investigations.”

  Icewind’s eyes flicked to Horan and her frown deepened.

  He shuffled through a thick file, unaware of his partner’s disapproval. “In the weeks leading up to the incident with the sorcerer, you had contact with a woman named Selena Blackwood.”

  Tommy nodded. “Sure. She got me fired.”

  “Was this a chance meeting?”

  “Pretty much. She had a grudge against Ceri and tried to hurt this pixie that’s kind of our pet. I just got in the way.”

  “Interesting.” Horan scribbled down a few notes.

  “A grudge over a pixie?” Icewind asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

  He nodded. “It sounds dumb but that’s what started it.”

  “A pixie is an odd choice in pet. Most people consider them pests,” Icewind said.

  “They shouldn’t be either –– they can understand us and talk with us. We’re teaching Woggy sign language.”

  Both of Icewind’s eyebrows shot up. “Sign language?”

  “The pixie is a quick learner,” Genevieve said with a sharp smile.

  Horan cleared his throat. “Have you had any contact with Selena Blackwood since the incid
ent with the sorcerer?”

  “Unfortunately, no.”

  “Unfortunately?” Horan asked, looking up at him.

  “I’d rather she wasn’t out in the world doing who knows what. I’m surprised the police haven’t been able to find her after all this time.”

  “It is interesting how completely she has disappeared.” The way he phrased it sounded like an accusation. Tommy resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

  “I spoke with your father yesterday and was surprised to learn you’d had no contact with him for a very long time. He was concerned to hear you had joined a werewolf pack.”

  “Why the hell are you contacting my father? He has literally nothing to do with this,” Tommy objected, unable to stop some anger from leaking into his voice. Even Icewind looked shocked, her heartbeat picking up in pace for the first time.

  Horan looked up, mock surprise on his face. “I was simply doing my job, of course. I didn’t realize it would upset you. Your father did express an interest in reconnecting, by the way. He has been looking for you for a while.”

  “I highly doubt that,” Tommy said drily.

  “Since you do seem to have a contentious relationship, I should warn you that he might try to contest your current, uh, living situation,” Horan said, waving dismissively at Genevieve. “Perhaps that’s something you can work out before he contacts the local police.”

  “Amber became his legal guardian the moment he submitted to her as his alpha. Regardless of the legality of the bite, his father lost custody of him in that moment. The only person that could dispute that is Tommy himself.” Genevieve stood, motioning for him to join her. “This meeting is over and you can expect a call from your superior after this. Threatening my client is out of line.”

  Icewind remained silent, looking at Tommy rather than Genevieve. He held her gaze, challenging her, and he could have sworn that for a moment she looked apologetic.