The Rebel Queen (Outlaw 1)

“I want a list of the dead,” Daniel said. “Justin. I turned him myself. He was a good kid. Damn it. Did they get Angelina?”

Angelina had been Justin’s girlfriend. She’d fought her own pack to be with the vampire. She was also Lisa’s sister.

“She was at her mom’s that day. She was out of town with Lisa and Courtney. They’d gone to Denton to be with their pack and by the time they found out what had happened, it was over. I think they would have killed her, too, if she’d been home. I know she wouldn’t have sat by and let them kill Justin,” Neil explained. “We picked them up there and when we went on the run, Angelina came with us. She eventually met a wolf and mated with him. She’s in France with his pack. It took us years to settle down because there was a bounty on our heads, but we found a few packs willing to hide us. When Trent and Sasha settled the kids here for the winter months, we took to the forests. We’ve been there ever since. Until today. I thought Myrddin had basically forgotten about us.”

“Until we returned. Obviously he communicated with Liv, and he knows we’re back and we got away. Neil, I’m sorry. We should have brought you in last night. I thought we would have more time,” Daniel admitted. “What exactly happened?”

“I was getting ready to make the journey here. I wanted to ask you to heal Zack myself. I knew you would, but I wanted to explain the situation, to prepare you for it. A little after dawn it hit.” Neil took a long drink of water before he continued. “It was like a slow wave of nausea at first. I thought I was getting sick until I realized Brendan and Cassie were feeling it, too. They’re the kids Chad and I…well, it’s not a formal adoption, of course, but they call us both Dad. Brendan’s pack decided he would be an alpha one day and the current alpha doesn’t like challenges. They left him on his own when he was six years old. Cassie was born with a genetic defect that makes it hard for her to turn. She was only three when her pack abandoned her. They’re teens now and quite healthy, so I knew something was going wrong.”

My heart clenched at the thought of Neil having kids. I’d met them briefly when he’d settled them into the small brugh Lee had made ready for them. The kids had carried Chad’s sleeping body in and made him comfortable and promised to watch over their vampire dad while their wolf dad debriefed the royals.

“Was it a spell?” Dev asked.

“It was some kind of dark magic. I think it was probing us. I felt it move around, flicking like a sharp tail inside me.” Neil’s voice had gone deeper than normal. “Lily made sure we had some magical defenses and when they kicked in, we decided to run. It was Myrddin. I know because he spoke to me directly. I suppose he was looking specifically for me.”

“And what did he have to say?” Daniel asked.

“He said I should tell you to turn yourselves in, to plan no rebellions, and all will be well. All you have to do is come to the Council building. Or you can contact him and he will meet you. He told me this was all a misunderstanding. I was the only one who heard his voice, so I have to think that eye of his recognized me. You have to know that he’s lying. He will kill you. He’ll kill you all, though I suspect he’ll torture you first. The rumors are someone stole his grimoire.”

“I’m sure you were in on that,” Dev accused. “We didn’t find out until much later.”

“Until we had the thrall stones removed,” Danny pointed out.

“I will need to hear all about the thrall stones, and I would like the whole story of how Daniel handled being human.” Neil took a bite of the enchiladas and sighed. “So good. I’m staying close to Z because Albert goes into beast cooking mode when she’s pregnant. Anyway, he suspects our favorite thief had something to do with his big book going missing, and it’s killing him. The demons are willing to give him some time, but it’s been over a decade, and even the immortal know that’s too long. He needs that grimoire, and I worry now that you’ve returned, he’s going to find a way to put pressure on you to talk.”

“We’re going to steal it back,” I told him.

“Well, of course we are.” Neil’s lips curled into a smile. “And luckily I know exactly how to get in the building.”

It looked like this would be a three-man job.

Chapter Twelve