Outcast (Hunter: A Thieves Series Book 4) Read online

  I hadn’t thought about it that way. Despite the fact that my stepdad sucked, I have two brothers and a mom who love me. Hell, my bio dad died before we could meet and I still know he loved me. I’ve learned in the last few years that having people to depend on is everything. When someone loves you it can be a protective barrier against the shitty things of the world. It’s easy for me to dismiss Nemcox because I have a lot of people to fall back on. Trent didn’t have any family he cared about, but he was practically a member of the king’s family. He’d been with them for years, and the king tended to treat Trent more like a brother than a servant.

  Did Gray feel alone now?

  There was a smashing sound that made me start and gave Felix no pause whatsoever. He simply leaned forward. “I believe an apology from Trent would go a long way. He doesn’t have to apologize for killing Nemcox. He merely has to make Gray believe that he understands why Gray would be angry. That anger is more about loss and fear than rage. Imagine mourning someone everyone else hates. Gray has no one to bear part of the burden.”

  See, this was what we should be talking about, what we would be talking about if the guys hadn’t decided to murder each other. I ignored the long howl that shook the walls. “So I explain to Trent that he’s not getting in my panties until he apologizes.”

  That seemed pretty simple. Trent liked getting in my panties. I was sure he was looking forward to doing it on a comfy bed for once. Since he’d assassinated Nemcox in order to protect the king’s son, Trent had been living in a tiny cabin north of Dallas. It wasn’t much more than a kitchen and a bedroom, and thank god someone had built a bathroom, though the hot water in the shower wasn’t reliable. I’d been spending time with him when I wasn’t working. We’ve gotten into a nice routine. I go up when the moon is full and run with him. I’ve gotten some serious knee scrapes because Trent will do me in the woods.

  But I had to wonder if living alone was starting to get to him. Trent isn’t a loner. He’s used to having other wolves around him. He might not have a traditional pack, but he spent much of his time with my uncle Zack and Neil Roberts. For years he’d lived here in Dallas at the council headquarters, surrounded by people who consider him family.

  “No, that’s not what I meant at all,” Felix said with a sad shake of his head. “First of all, we should talk about using sex as a manipulative tactic. That can cause serious problems in a relationship.”

  Women had been doing it for thousands of years. I didn’t see why it had to stop with me. I glanced over and saw Trent had Gray on the floor. He stood over my demon and his booted foot was about to come down on a place I had use for. It was time to take control.

  “Don’t you dare kick him in the balls, Trent Wilcox. I need his sperm.”

  The boys stopped. I mean they went completely, utterly still. They were like statues for a moment, and a thrill went through me because I finally had their attention.

  Trent broke first. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  I hadn’t exactly meant to just put it out there. I’d meant to ease them into it. And yes, I knew it was the wrong time, but Gray was on a clock. I had no idea what the Hell plane would do to his swimmers. I needed them now. It can be very difficult for a she-wolf to conceive naturally. I was planning on getting on Dev Quinn’s schedule. Or maybe offer to babysit his son Rhys. “I said I want to have a baby.”

  Never had I imagined that I would think those words, much less say them out loud. I never thought I would have a family like that. It’s not that I don’t dig kids. I actually prefer them to most adults, but I couldn’t conceive of myself in a maternal role. That all changed when I was trying to help Gray through his transition to dark prophet. I acted as a balance for his mind that night, but I also had a vision of all my possible futures. The worst? Everyone dies and I’m left all alone. The best—my kids. My half-demon son and tiny she-wolf daughter. I’d seen them. At the time I’d discounted that vision as something that could never happen, but then I’d opened my heart to Trent and it all fell into place. Now I wanted that vision to be true more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life.

  Trent reached out a hand, the silence in the room almost stifling. I was surprised when Gray took it and allowed himself to be helped up. He got to his feet and wiped the blood off his face, and then both my guys took their seats again. They’d found a mutual fear, and it was me.

  Gray looked to Felix. “I feel confused and a little afraid.”

  Trent nodded. “I feel anxious and also horny.”

  Gray pointed at him. “Yeah, that’s in there, too.”

  Felix gestured toward the seat I’d sat in. “I definitely think we should talk, Kelsey. Perhaps I should clear the rest of my afternoon.”

  These did not look like men who were eager to hit the insta-dad button, and my stomach kind of knotted. Were they going to tell me something like “hey, you’re a nice lay, but I don’t know about kids.” I knew I was pushing them, but something deep inside was telling me this was the time. I needed to do this or it might not happen.

  It couldn’t not happen.

  How did I tell them I’d seen our babies and I wanted them now?

  There was a knock on the door and I practically breathed a sigh of relief when my uncle walked in.

  Zack Owens was a handsome man who looked like he was about twenty-five years old. He was closer to forty, but he was also the king’s servant, and that meant he took the king’s blood. The vampire king’s blood was way better than Botox. “Kelsey, Trent, Daniel needs to see you. Gray, you’re more than welcome to come along, but Lord Sloane will be here soon and we have a development Daniel wants to talk about before he gets here to discuss Trent’s status.”

  Saved by the freaking bell. Someone had died or was going to make someone else die or planned to blow up shit that made a lot of people die, and I welcomed it because it meant I could put this discussion off.

  I wasn’t sure how I would look either of them in the eyes again, but I was more than willing to put off the moment when they told me they didn’t want to have kids.

  “Don’t you think we should discuss this?” Felix asked, looking concerned for the first time.

  “Gotta work. The king calls,” I said as I ran out the door.

  I felt my men behind me but just kept on walking. Therapy would have to wait.

  * * * *

  “How are you, bella?” Marcus Vorenus asked as I walked into the king’s office. He smiled my way but his eyes went to the painting on his left.

  The king had received the painting as a gift from the wizard known as Myrddin. You would probably know him as Merlin, the dude who helped out Arthur. Apparently King Daniel is the latest in a long line of Earth plane warriors known as King of the Sword. Myrddin is a halfling demon tied to the sword. When a king rises, the wizard takes him under his wing and they do whatever fate has told them to do. Or something like that. It didn’t precisely work that way for Daniel. Myrddin had claimed it wasn’t “their time” and he’d gone on a tour of the world. He sometimes sent Daniel things from his travels, and the painting Marcus was fascinated with was one of his gifts. I glanced over and could see the woman in the painting had moved again. She was further from the forest, moving toward the viewer, though we still couldn’t make out her face. I had the oddest feeling she was running from something.

  Myrddin arranged for my father, Lee Owens, to be killed because he’d learned the lone wolf was one of two creatures on the plane who could take him down. From what I understood, he’d sent the other away to another plane because he was a baby. But he’d made sure my father died, and the secret I couldn’t reveal, couldn’t allow Nemcox to give up, was that my father’s soul now resided in Lee Donovan-Quinn.

  I was going to kill Myrddin one day.

  “I’m good. It’s nice to see you.” I looked him over. He’d gone to his home in Venice for a while but came back to advise the king. I hadn’t seen him in several weeks. Once we’d been inseparable. He’d been my t
rainer. Marcus is what’s known as an academic. There are various classes of vampires, and academics in particular are attuned to work with Hunters like me. The relationship is intense and it doesn’t last forever. Marcus was the first man I’d had a genuine good relationship with, and there would always be a part of me that loved him, but our bond had broken when Trent had claimed half my heart.

  His eyes left the painting for a moment and settled on me. He always reminded me of a gorgeous hawk. A graceful, intelligent predator. “It’s good to see you, too. What are we doing? Come here to me, cara.”

  He opened his arms and I walked into them. That was when I heard the low growl.

  Marcus still hugged me to him. “She’s not your property, Mr. Wilcox, and I’m only being friendly. We were very close once and she still means the world to me. You won the woman. Be more considerate.”

  Marcus rarely pulled punches. Well, the verbal kind at least. He was more of a lover than a fighter. All the academics are. I feel at home with the academics, likely because of the odd connection our species have. Vampires like Marcus can calm me down when my men aren’t around.

  “That doesn’t seem like a friendly hug, Vorenus. And she has a name. You should use it sometime.” That hadn’t come from Trent. Gray didn’t like my old mentor either.

  “You see,” Marcus whispered in my ear, “they can agree on some things.”

  He was also an incredibly smart man, and he always knew what was going on. Of course he’s the oldest walking vampire on the Earth plane, so he’s learned a few things over the millennia. He let me go and stepped back.

  “What does the king need?” Trent asked, his tone impatient. “I’ve got a meeting with Hugo Wells in an hour. I would like to spend some time with Kelsey before I have to go out into the wilderness again. We apparently have a lot to talk about.”

  “You’re not talking to her in private, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Gray shot back.

  And we were back to fighting. I had planned on attending that meeting with Hugo. Hugo Wells was another academic. I treat them as my team, in a way. Academics tend to obsess about subjects. Marcus knows pretty much everything about history a brain can stand. Henri Jacobs was the resident medical expert. He knows more about supernatural physiology than anyone. And Hugo is our go-to for all things legal. Hugo had been trying to negotiate a way for Trent to come home.

  “You’re wasting Hugo’s time. My father will never agree to allow you to come back to council headquarters,” Gray said, his jaw tight. “Now what does the king need from my fiancée?”

  “Excuse me?” Trent looked at Gray like he’d gone insane.

  I was with him on that one. I didn’t have a ring on my finger. I turned to him, but Gray stopped me.

  “Do you want to have this out in front of Marcus and your uncle? Because I can explain why we’ll be getting married soon to both of them,” he promised.

  Trent frowned my way. “Actually, he’s right. After that last bombshell of yours we’re going to talk about a proper mating ceremony.”

  I hadn’t discussed my baby craziness with anyone but Liv yet. I certainly didn’t want to hash it out in front of my uncle.

  “Where is the king?” I needed him to save me and fast.

  “I’m here. Why don’t you have a seat.” The King of all Vampire strode into the room. Daniel Donovan looked like he was roughly twenty-one or twenty-two, but that was only when he wasn’t talking or being serious—and he almost always was. When he simply smiled, one might think he was a college kid. But there was no doubt he was the ultimate authority figure in my world. “Trent, it’s good to see you. I’m hoping we can work something out today. My wife is still pissed at me.”

  Zoey Donovan-Quinn had been incredibly angry that Daniel had used Trent to take care of the Nemcox problem. I was and I wasn’t. I wished the king could have found someone else to do his dirty work, but I knew why he’d trusted Trent. His son’s life had been at stake. I would have done it myself, and that was precisely why Trent had taken the burden from me. I doubt Trent would have allowed anyone else to have done that particular job since if failed I would have either died or descended to hell. He hadn’t known why I was willing to sign the contract with Nemcox. I hadn’t explained that Little Lee’s life was in danger. No one but Marcus knew that I had offered to go to the Hell plane with Gray in exchange for Nemcox’s silence on the truth about Little Lee’s soul.

  Trent shook the king’s hand and took a place on the couch. Gray did the same, sitting opposite from him and leaving a nice space for me between them. I plopped myself down and immediately felt Gray’s arm go around the back of the couch, brushing against my shoulders. Trent just put a hand on my knee, but both men felt tense.

  The king shook his head. “Ah, I remember those days. Give it up, you two. The faster you get on the same page, the easier it’s going to be on you both. Anyway, we’ve got a problem and I need Kelsey and Trent to help me with it.”

  “Classified?” Trent asked. “Because we should clear the room if there’s sensitive information.”

  I sighed because there wouldn’t be any clearing of the room. Marcus, Trent, and my uncle all served as advisers to the king. They would be in on anything “classified.” Gray would be the only one asked to leave.

  The king looked straight at me. “You want to bring Lieutenant Sloane in? He could be helpful. After all, his father is the one who brought this problem to the council, and I wonder if helping to solve it won’t change his mind about a few things.”

  Gray frowned. “My father brought a problem to the council?”

  I was surprised, too. “I didn’t think he particularly liked the council.”

  “Lord Sloane has been actively working with us,” Marcus explained. “It’s why I came back to Dallas. Gray’s father and I have been negotiating. Our contracts have already expired. The mandatory extension time will expire faster than anyone would like, and there are things to deal with. The supernatural world has changed much since our last contract.”

  Because the last contract had been signed by the old council head and had only covered vampires and demons. Donovan’s council had to represent all supernatural creatures on the Earth plane, and that was a tricky thing to do. I’d been the one to convince him to go into these negotiations in order to spare the plane from the probable war that would come without rules to govern us all. The least I could do was help him out and, hey, if it brought Trent home, I was definitely cool with that.

  “What could be so bad that my father would negotiate with my brother’s murderer?” Gray asked, his voice a low growl.

  Donovan’s brow rose in that regal “did you just say that in my presence” way. “He’s negotiating with me, Lieutenant. Do we have a problem? Because you do not have to remain.”

  The king glanced my way as though asking me what I wanted to do.

  The king and I have come a long way since those first harsh meetings when he’d considered both locking me in a cage and putting me down. The fact that he gave me the choice meant he trusted me. “Gray, I would like it if you would stay, but if the conversation upsets you, maybe you should wait for us outside.”

  Gray frowned as though having some kind of internal struggle. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. I want to stay and help. I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

  There was a knock on the door as Donovan accepted my honey’s apology. The king nodded and my uncle opened the door.

  Lord Sloane stood there in all his Hell lord glory. He looked a bit like his son, though older in a deeply distinguished way. To me he looks like the TV politician version of Gray. I’d never seen his demonic self. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to. Today he was dressed in his typical three-piece designer suit.

  “Excellent, you’re all here,” he said like he’d been the one to call the meeting. He nodded his son’s way. “Grayson, it’s good to see you. I’m surprised you’re here with the wolf. The last I heard, you weren’t pleased your destined wife was sti
ll fucking around with the wolf who killed your brother.”

  I could practically feel the rage rise in Gray. I put a hand on his thigh.

  He eased back, taking a deep breath.

  What the hell was I going to do if I couldn’t get him to see reason when it came to Trent?

  The king took a seat in one of the wingback chairs and my uncle sat across from him. Marcus remained standing, his eyes trailing to the painting that dominated one wall of the king’s office suite.

  “Mr. Wilcox is necessary to the Hunter’s well-being,” Marcus explained. “Though I think you are well aware of this fact. Without her wolf mate, she could become unbalanced and a danger to this plane. Given the reason you’re here today, I think you would be conscious of this.”

  Papa Sloane sighed and took a seat. “I wish I didn’t have to be here at all, but we do have a problem and I can’t take care of it without putting our negotiations at risk. I’ve been ordered by my boss to do everything I can to ensure a settlement between our planes is arranged. I’m willing to put Mr. Wilcox’s status as outcast on the table.”

  Given that his “boss” was Lucifer himself, I bet he was going to try not to let the dude down. I’ve heard he can be hard during the yearly performance review.

  “I’m more than willing to talk,” Trent said. “What’s going on?”

  “We believe we’ve located a stray wolf,” my uncle began. “There have been reported sightings of a wolf in the woods outside of a small town in Wyoming. That in and of itself isn’t a big deal. Unfortunately we’ve also got a trail of bodies.”

  Marcus passed me a folder. Naturally it was filled with crime scene photos. Just once I’d love to get a folder full of happy face stickers or something. Gray and Trent both leaned in as I flipped through my pile of horror.