Secret Origins Read online

  Copyright © 2020 by Maya Daniels. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references, real places, real events, or real persons names and/or persona are used fictitiously. Everything in this story comes from the author’s imagination and any similarities, whatsoever, with events both past and present, or persons living or dead, are purely coincidental.

  Cover design by Jessica Allain, Enchanted Whispers

  Edited by Cassandra Fear

  If you are unable to order paperback copy of this book from your local bookseller, you may contact the author at [email protected] or visit the website

  www.authormayadaniels.com

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  From the Author

  Also by Maya Daniels

  Secret Origins

  The Courtless Fae Series Book 1

  Maya Daniels

  Prologue

  Trust: a fickle thing that could mess you up for life if given to the wrong people. It also happened to be the story of my life, or as much of it as I could remember anyway.

  The beautiful sound of the rain splattering the glass windows was suffocated by the low hum of conversations and the droning of the annoying country tune playing through the speakers in the crowded pub. Some song about the guy whimpering to his horse about the girl getting away or something. I would’ve preferred the horse over the person, but what did I know? Leaning with both elbows on the polished bar, I watched the glass of rum and coke cradled between my palms with such fascination one might think it was hiding the greatest wisdom of all times. Everything around me was muted to white noise as all thoughts were pushed to some deep recess of my brain where they’d leave me alone, even if it was just for a moment. I’d struggled to quiet the urgency of my mind, which pulled me in every direction most of my life, but then I discovered that sitting in this particular shithole brought the elusive silence I’d been searching for.

  Who would’ve thought being around humans was a good thing?

  Not me, that was for sure.

  So much had happened so far that I could’ve sworn my mind had started short-circuiting because it was unable to process the sheer volume of disasters piling up one after the other. I knew Alexius—my boss and the Daywalker vampire that took a chance on me when I was about to run and hide from the supernatural world—was up to something. I recognized the signs immediately, from the elusive half answers to his carefully picked assignments for me that were not the norm. I was his right hand, his hit man—or hit-woman if you will—doing all his dirty work until I wasn’t anymore. When the secrecy started I should’ve listened to my gut and followed the jerk, but I was trying to work on my insecurities so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Many people died. More will die, too, and all because I let my guard down and trusted someone.

  And there was that damn word trust, again.

  What a fucking joke.

  “Is this seat taken?” The voice coming from my right wasn’t one I’d heard before, so I reluctantly dragged my eyes away from the object sitting between my cupped palms to look at the shmuck. I even managed not to grind my teeth or snarl like a feral beast at the poor thing. Look at me adulting.

  “It is.”

  The rejection entered one ear and exited the other before I had time to blink. Interest sparked in the darkness of his eyes, which looked me up and down slow enough I had no doubt he could become my new tailor, no measurements needed. You’d think my dismissal of him was an invitation for a quickie in one of the bathrooms that had seen better days. His square jaw with a couple days’ worth of stubble on it and that slightly crooked nose rested on an attractive enough face, for a human at least. His features added up to someone I’d definitely take for a ride on any given day … just not today. Unfortunately, humans had deviated from their primal natures that the poor creature beside me couldn’t rely on his intuition, which should be warning him about the predator before him. Instead of being scared of me, he actually smirked as if I was amusing.

  I smirked back.

  “Whatever it is that you are thinking at this very moment, it will not end well for you boy.” My comment made the amusement slip off his face, but it didn’t deter him any further than that. “Go find a nice girl who will give you an even nicer blow job so you can fall asleep with a smile on your face.” His lips parted, but I was not in the mood to hear what would come out from between them. “If I put a smile on your face, it’ll be of the permanent kind. The one I’ll carve over your skin, one that will give the coroner nightmares for years. We don’t want that now, do we? It also makes a poor canvas for postmortem makeup. Foundation for dead people is expensive, trust me.”

  “You are a crazy bitch!” he spat the words at me with disgust, but not even a little fear showed as he rushed away to whichever hole he’d crawled out of.

  “Why thank you kindly,” I called after him, smiling from ear to ear. It made his legs move faster, but he kept glancing over his shoulder as if expecting for me to stalk after him. As tempting as that idea was, I really was not in the mood. All I wanted was to mope in peace.

  A girl had a right to brood, too.

  Especially if she’d been screwed over too many times to count through no fault of her own by people or the Fates themselves.

  She had a right to kill the motherfuckers, too. Too bad some of them were already dead.

  “You promised not to scare people in the pub, Myst.” The bartender scowled at me, the light sheen of sweat gathering around his hairline and upper lip standing out against his pale skin while he nervously wiped his trembling hands on his apron. “You done with that one?” It’s not always a good thing when the bartender knows your name.

  The middle-aged human tending the bar jerked his chin at my rum and coke from the other side of the long, wooden slab, not daring to come closer. No, this one was not from the smart stock, he just had the misfortune of seeing me kill a demon in the back alley one night while he was dumping the trash. He’d emptied his bladder, and I’d honestly been surprised he didn’t have a heart attack right then and there. He stood frozen for a few seconds before he bolted inside and locking the back door. I followed him and discovered that this pub silenced the thoughts tormenting my mind, so we had a long chat that night. He kept my secret, and I let him live. We were buddies now. I didn’t know his name, though. I never asked, and he never offered. It worked well for me if I ever changed my mind and decided to kill him. I hated knowing the name of the people I killed.

  “If I didn’t know better, I might think you were trying to get me drunk and take advantage of me.” I grinned to show him I was joking, but the blood drained from his face making him even paler. “It’s a joke.” I deadpanned frowning, and he relaxed.

  Humans were very strange creatures.

  He scuttered away the second I shook my head to decline his offer for another drink. I hadn’t touched the one I had since,
thanks to the brave guy who tried his luck with me tonight, the silence in my head had disappeared. Being barely above five foot two made men think I was approachable. They’d think twice if they knew I was a creature of the night who washed her hands with blood on a daily basis. Even the supernaturals were scared of me. Everyone feared what they didn’t understand, and no one had a clue what I was.

  Not even me.

  Apart from the fact that I was Fae, and after spending time at the Daywalker Academy in Sienna appointed as one of the Courtless, I had no memory of my origin. The only thing I could remember was opening my eyes when I found myself on the steps of the Academy stretched out in front of the double doors like day-old roadkill someone dumped there. I had no memories of my past, where I came from, or how I got there. Soren, the ancient Dragon Blood, made sure they took me in, but the moment the Order started to poke around in my forgotten past, some unknown instinct inside me reared its head and made me run. For all the good it did me. I had other reasons I ran from Sienna, too, but I didn’t want to think about that. About him.

  Coming across Francesca Drake, a half blood with a very strong Fae bloodline, woke something else in my psyche. The darkness I felt in her called to my own like a beacon of hope. I wanted to hate the female since she was the reason for half of my troubles, but it was difficult to hate Francesca. More powerful than anyone else I’d known, the girl was as naïve as she was dangerous. But she grew on me like a virus I couldn’t detect, and before I knew it, all I wanted to do was protect her or die trying as she ran headfirst into danger. It stirred something powerful and ravenous in me, a hunger to learn why I couldn’t remember anything before finding myself in Sienna. Did I go there on my own because I was running from something? Or did someone knock me out and wipe my brain before discarding me like yesterday’s news?

  After the betrayal Alexius served me like cold porridge to a starving peasant, anger simmered and churned in my gut, spurring on my need to find answers. I might not know what type of a creature I was, but I knew one thing: if Death himself came across me, he’d think twice before raising a hand. So, with that being said, if I had been running at the time … who had I been running from, and how could I find them? And if I was discarded by someone in Sienna for whatever reason … who was it that thought fucking with my head would be a good idea, and where could I find them?

  Because one thing was certain one way or another: I would find them.

  Lifting the now-warm glass full of rum and coke, I took a slow sip, eyeing the human bartender who was pretending not to watch me from the corner of his eye. Tonight was “The” night, the moment when the hunted becomes a hunter and heads would start to roll. I was done allowing people to mess with me. The time for playing nice—even if nice was relative in my case—or pretending to be human was long past. There was no cure for my insanity. The blood boiling in my veins craved violence, and the longer it waited to get what it wanted, the worse things would become. A sleeping monster had awakened inside me and it was getting stronger by the minute. I must discover who and what I was. For my sake, but also for everyone else’s. I had a feeling the path to that discovery would have a pretty solid body count. Never, not even for a second, did I wonder why that thought made me smile.

  Little did I know at that time that what I was searching for had started looking for me, too.

  1

  Drumming my fingers on the steering wheel of the SUV, I watched the raindrops dance over the windshield in the dark parking lot of the abandoned warehouse. The brightness of the fog lights was devoured by the pitch black of the night illuminating only a small portion of the moistened packed dirt and potholes, which were filling up with more water by the second. We hadn’t had that much rain in this city in years. It was a nice change from the suffocating heat. It was good to enjoy it while we could. I might’ve arrived at the meeting place early, but I’d rather wait than walk into a set up. No one had ever said Myst was not prepared.

  The sound of rain always calmed me, but when my breathing was bouncing off the interior of the car and so loud it was the only thing I could hear , I felt a little on edge. It might’ve been the anticipation of what I was doing, too. I had to start somewhere, so I made the call without a second thought. Approaching things after I’d looked at all the pros and cons of the situation was my go to, at least until tonight. I’d blame it on the rum I sucked up in the dingy bar, kind of like the how the Sahara would soak up this rain if it had the chance.

  A shadow from the side disturbed the stream of yellow light stretching a yard or so in front of the car, and I tightened my hands on the steering wheel. Keeping my shoulders relaxed, I held my breath and let all my senses tune in to my surroundings. It was too early for the person I called to be here, so it was either someone else, or this was about to become a trap gone wrong for them. Shifting in my seat, I adjusted my foot on the gas pedal, preparing to slam it down the second someone not meant to be here stepped into the light. It wouldn’t kill them if it was a supernatural, but it’d slow them down enough so I could do the job with my own hands. I did love my job.

  The passenger door was ripped open none to gently, which amplified the sound of the pouring rain. Releasing the steering wheel, I flipped to the side and kicked out at the same time, pressing my back hard on the door, not stopping even when the door handle dug into my spine. The thin heel of my knee-high boot passed an inch from the familiar but startled face as Leo, a wolf shifter and a damn Daywalker, jerked to the side just in time to avoid being stabbed with it in the middle of his forehead. Being five foot two helped a lot in situations like that. I could twist around in the large vehicle however I wanted.

  “Nice to see you too, Myst.” Snickering, he batted my foot aside, climbing into the car.

  “Why are you here?” Annoyed I didn’t move my leg away, I just adjusted my aim by bending my knee so the tip of the heel was now pressed on his temple. I had every intention to stab him with it if he pissed me off.

  “I don’t mind playing rough, but I need this head”—He gingerly took hold of the heel and swiped my foot away from his head—“so the other head can work.”

  “I’m not interested in your cock, wolf.” Huffing, I pulled my leg away and settled back into the car seat.

  “That’s what they all say at first.” Smirking, he wiggled his eyebrows at me, and I snorted despite being frustrated with him.

  “What do you want?” My eyes darted to the sickly green light of the clock on the dashboard telling me I had ten or fifteen minutes before my meeting was supposed to take place. “And how did you find me?” Turning my narrowed gaze his way, I made sure he understood I didn’t appreciate him tracking me down.

  Leo tapped his nose, his smirk growing bigger as my eyes turned into slits. “Okay, fine.” He chuckled. “I had a bit of help. Fenrir found—”

  “Is he here?” I cut him off as I stiffened in my seat.

  “No.” The Alpha eyed me as if he expected me to explode at any moment. “Listen, I know there is bad blood between you two, but if you just talk—”

  “If that male gets anywhere near me, you’ll get him back, sure, but he’ll be slit from his navel to his throat. Am I clear?”

  “Myst …”

  “Am. I. Clear?” I glared at him as I pushed the words through my bared teeth.

  “Crystal.” Blowing out a tired sigh, Leo slumped next to me. “He knows, that’s why I’m here. Fenrir only found the trail so I could track you.”

  “Why are you here?” The clock told me I had nine, ten minutes max to get the shifter out of here.

  “Things happened back in Sienna, and we need your help,” Leo whispered after a long stretch of silence, shifting uncomfortably and staring out the windshield without looking my way. “Francesca needs your help … please.”

  I really, really didn’t want to have anything to do with them. It was a general rule I’d made for myself. A rule that, like an idiot, I kept breaking. The meeting tonight was supposed to help me get go
ing with my own quest, the one to find out what in the world I actually was, and that made the Daywalkers the least of my problems. Fenrir, the asshole that he was, and most probably Zoltan too since he was certainly encouraging him, sent Leo here on purpose. The Alpha was known to be too proud to ask for help. He would demand it, but he never asked for it the way he was now. With a heavy sigh, I let my head hang low on my shoulders.

  “I have things to do tonight.” I knew I’d regret it, but I couldn’t find it in me to turn him down. Having the Alpha owe me a favor could come in handy soon enough. “I’ll find you tomorrow and we can see what kind of help you need …” The clock told me the shifter needed to be out of here in five minutes. “And if I can give it.”

  “That’s all I ask. For you to hear me out.” Leo was not a stupid male. He knew something was up since he was already opening the door, the rain getting loud again and soaking up his hair and clothing that had halfway dried while we’d been talking. Raindrops were trickling like rivulets over his face in seconds. My mouth twisted in frustration at the wet car seat he left behind, but he only snickered at my grimace. “I’ll pay for the cleaning.” With a wink, he slammed the door.

  “You better believe you will,” I murmured, though I had no doubt he’d heard me.

  Tiredly sighing, I tilted my head back and closed my eyes. Why are you doing this to yourself, you idiot? I had no answer to my question, but I suspected it could only be one thing: loneliness, the most powerful motivator. It was what made me become Alexius’s lap dog, what pushed me to do his dirty work. It was the same thing that made me sit in the deserted parking lot tonight, as well as what made me agree to help the Alpha. I sat like that for a long time, forgetting everything but the gaping hole inside me.