by May Dawson
“Hey Kate, it’s Deidra. Sorry I just disappeared.” Shoot, it wasn’t like I could explain why very well. Kate was my best friend in the world, but she didn’t know anything about Hunting. I wonder what she had heard. “Things got really weird but if anyone told you I hurt someone… I didn’t. Okay?”
There was an urgent knock on the door. “Hanna?”
It was Cade’s low, sexy voice, and the rumble of his voice sent a spike of nerves through my chest.
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said, hanging up quickly.
Hanna swung open the door for Cade.
He looked past her to me, and groaned, raking his hand through his hair. “You can’t call home. Didn’t we talk about that?”
His words unsettled me, but I looked down at the vibrating phone as Kate tried to call me back. “I can’t call home. Home is gone.”
Home had his throat ripped out…
“I’m just trying to make sure my best friend doesn’t have to wonder if I’m alive or dead.” I said.
“She thinks you’re in the witness protection program,” he said. “Part of the cover story to get those police charges off your back and erase as much about you as we could, that someone else set that bomb, and you’re testifying against them.”
“Erase me,” I repeated. “Wow. That’s comforting.”
The phone stopped vibrating.
“It’s fine,” I said, getting up to hand my phone back over to Hanna. The sympathetic look she gave me when I handed it to her made me feel instantly self-conscious. “I won’t call again. I just wanted her to know I was okay.”
“She knows. We took care of everything,” Cade said.
“Great.” My voice comes out rougher than I intended. “Maybe you could fill me in on the details sometimes.”
They might think they were in charge, but this was still my life that I was responsible for.
Cade hesitated. “Kate, would you give us a minute?”
“Sure.” She swept her books off the desk and headed into the hall, without hesitating, as if she’d been waiting for that moment.
“What is it?” I demanded.
He reached out to push the door closed, then leaned against it. There was a bleak look on his face that I couldn’t decipher.
“You need to know, the witch wasn’t going after just any Hunter,” he said quietly. “He targeted Liam specifically.”
“I assumed that,” I said. “Too bad you guys didn’t realize that soon enough to be helpful instead of riding in like white knights a few hours too late.”
Cade’s jaw flexed, but he let that go. “He killed Liam to get to you. That’s my point. It was never about Liam.”
“Why me?”
His gold-flecked hazel eyes met mine evenly. “Your power.”
For some reason, the moment in the car right after he told me he’d taken my cell phone rose in my mind. He’d looked me dead in the eyes, just like now. Cade could look me in the eyes and lie.
I was right before when I thought that meeting my gaze was his tell.
“What is it really?” I asked, my voice as low and calm as his, and I was rewarded with the faintest flicker of surprise across his face before it was schooled back to neutral again. “Come on, Cade. You want me to trust you.”
“Actually, I think that you already do,” he said. “I think it’s hampering your training. You trust Nix and me not to hurt you.”
“Trust me, you hurt me plenty in the ring last night,” I said.
His eyes widened. Shit. I shouldn’t have said that. I knew better than to make myself vulnerable.
“That was the point,” he said, his voice hard. “Sorry, but hurt feelings are better than dead.”
“No one else has magic,” I pointed out, waving my hand at the academy.
“Nix does,” he said. “And everyone uses spells.”
“But no one has the sparkle-fingers stuff that Nix has going on, and yet they’re all real hunters,” I said. “Why do I have to use magic to be worthy?”
“No one else has a witch and his coven coming after them,” he said flatly, “who already killed seventeen Hunters.”
“Seventeen,” I repeated.
He nodded, his expression softening. “Between you and me. We’re not trying to scare the kids out there.”
The kids out there. Like he didn’t think I was just a kid. But even though I knew better, some irrational part of me felt like he’d confided in me.
“Why would the witch be coming after me?”
As his lips parted and his eyes met mine, I could tell he was going to lie to me again.
“Don’t,” I said, closing the distance between us. Some impetuous, ridiculous impulse had me pressing my hand over his mouth, even though I had to reach up to do it. Turn about was fair play. I was still angry at how he’d held his hand over my mouth, forcing me to endure his cruel lecture.
But once my palm was against his lips, my body pressed against his so I could reach, and his hazel gaze was fixed on mine, I felt ridiculous.
“Don’t lie to me,” I told him. His lips were soft against my palm, and I could feel the hard edge of his defined jawline, the faint scruff of his late night shadow rough against my skin.
Cade wrapped his fingers around my wrist and yanked my hand away from his mouth.
Then before I could say anything else, he pressed his lips against mine.
His mouth against mine was as demanding as he always was. His lips probed mine, teasing and delicious. When his lush lower lip brushed against mine, desire sparked through my body.
I didn’t mean to, but I pressed into him, my lips against his, my hand running up his chest to his shoulder. His body felt good against mine, warm and alive.
When he kissed me, the anger dropped away that had been my constant companion, and for a few seconds, I felt alive.
He broke away, suddenly, lifting his head and sucking in a sudden breath as if he was coming up for air. As if I was drowning him.
I took a step back, hurt spiking through my chest, but he grabbed my wrist and turned my hand that had been against his shoulder over.
The last golden sparks danced across my outstretched fingers, and then faded away.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“And here you and Nix have been hitting me all this time when we could’ve gotten to my powers so much more readily,” I said. I glanced up at Cade’s rounded cheekbones, the shape of his mouth. He was so pretty when he wasn’t driving me fucking mad.
He shook his head. “Deidra. You’re a student and I’m—”
“Fine. I’ll kiss your brother and see if magic sparks with him.” I was furious all over again, but I wasn’t really mad at Cade. I was mad at myself. For wanting Cade.
How the hell could I possibly like Cade?
He nodded, although his jaw was tense. “Yeah. That’s a good idea.”
“You think I should go make out with your brother,” I said flatly.
“I don’t care,” he said. “But this, between us, can’t happen again.”
“Got it.”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You don’t have to be sorry. It wasn’t that bad a kiss.”
“I’m sorry that I kissed you,” he clarified. “It’s not appropriate. Our positions… it was unfair of me.”
“You say and do a lot of things that are unfair, Cade,” I said. “I don’t know why you’d feel any worse about this one.”
He put his hand on the doorknob, but didn’t meet my eyes. “I need to think about how we can use this information in your training.”
He was trying so hard to be cold, but there had been nothing cold about it when his lips were on mine. “Good. So glad it could be useful, at least.”
I could feel how much he wanted to ask me to keep this between us, but he didn’t. Maybe he felt he had no right to ask for that. He nodded, a quick jerk of his head, and then went out into the hall. The door behind him clicked shut with finality.
It was o
nly when he left that I felt pity for him that cracked through all my other emotions. He’d been so genuinely ashamed of himself.
I should have told him the truth before he left.
I should have told him that I would keep it our secret.
I should’ve told him that I’d wanted him to kiss me.
Hanna came back in then, her pencil still tucked behind her ear. “God, his face. What did you do to the gorgeous instructor?”
“I don’t know,” I muttered.
“I see.” She raised her eyebrows as she tossed her books down on the desk. “Are you going to bed? You asked to set my alarm like, an hour ago. I don’t want to keep you awake.”
“I definitely need my rest before tomorrow’s torture session,” I said. When I’d first heard restriction, I’d thought we’d be grounded, which was bad enough. But according to Tristan, it was so much worse than just grounded. Physical training from six to nine tomorrow morning, which I was sure was going to be a party. Restricted to the house except for whatever chores we were assigned, including for our meals. As much as I complained about the dining hall, I suddenly regretted losing the chance to eat there.
But when Tristan told me about it, he had flashed me a grin and added, “At least we’ll be together.”
The memory of his smile warmed my chest, just a little.
“At least we won’t be stuck with Julia,” I said. I thought we would be at first until I heard restriction was managed by our own cadre and instructors. “She’ll have her own tormentors for once, instead of being ours.”
Hanna snorted. “I wouldn’t bet on it. She’s about as spoiled as you can get at the academy.”
“Oh? Why?”
“Wait.” Hanna swiveled in her chair to face me. “Julia is one of your tormentors?”
“Well.” Honestly, she hadn’t done anything to me. “I don’t like her.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s a shrew?” I said lightly.
“Because she’s rude to Tristan? Even though she has a thing for Cade?”
“She has a thing for Cade?” God, she would hate that I just kissed him. But she was just the type to try to get Cade into trouble, and he seemed to really care about being a good instructor. I’d never do that to him, even to torture her.
“I think she has a thing for Tristan too, honestly,” she said. “But all the first-year girls do. He’s kind of perfect.”
“Really?” I crinkled my nose, as if I, too, didn’t think Tristan was kind of perfect.
She flashed me a look that said I wasn’t fooling anyone.
“I just don’t like the way she treats people,” I said. The way she’d called Hanna a baby-killer bothered me. People make mistakes, even Hunters. Especially Hunters. They have to live with the consequences. And they have to move on, to save the next person.
Hanna seemed so intense, and I wondered if that was the real reason why. She didn’t trust herself anymore. She didn’t know how to move on.
“I would drink to that.” Hanna hefted her stainless steel water bottle in my direction. “If only this place didn’t suck, and we could actually drink.”
“Yes,” I said. “Well, we can go out another weekend, right? When I’m not locked down?”
Cade’s words echoed in my head, about the witch hunting me for my powers. About how, if Malcolm thought I’d do something stupid, he’d keep me confined to the academy grounds.
There were things they weren’t telling me, I was sure of it. I had to figure it all out.
“There is a certain bar in the next town over,” she said, “which does not card. And which has an acceptable collection of pool tables. And which is very much frequented by what Cade sometimes refers to as ‘baby Hunters’.”
“That’s a terrible nickname,” I said. “Also, if Cade knows about that place, doesn’t that make it likely he’ll just show up there?”
I’d never forget the way I’d felt he’d stepped into the ring in the woods. I didn’t want to repeat that experience. I’d known, before I followed Julia out into the dark, that I was doing something foolish, but I hadn’t cared. I didn’t care what happened to me.
But I cared what Cade and Nix thought about me, and the way they’d looked at me like I was an idiot child… the thought made me smooth my hair back, suddenly restless and irritated.
“He does know about it, because he used to hang out there himself,” she said. “Cade used to be quite the rebel. Don’t let him fool you.”
“Oh? How do you know?”
“Well, I would have considered Cade a friend, before he went all… you know.”
“Are you telling me he used to be fun?”
“Yes,” she said. “Strangely enough. I know it’s hard to believe.”
The memory of his mouth against mine made my lips tingle all over again. Maybe I could imagine at least certain ways he could be fun.
I didn’t know what Hanna saw in my face, but she suddenly brightened. “Oh my god. You’re smiling. You have a crush on him. You and Julia!”
“I’ll fight her for him,” I said glibly.
It was supposed to be a joke, and Hanna laughed.
But I meant it.
“Who am I kidding,” I said. “I’ll fight Julia for anything.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The next day was just as much of a nightmare as I expected, and even worse, Cade didn’t even look at me. He was brisk, firm, and professional. I hadn’t realized that his bossing made me feel protected until he leaned into Tristan, muttering something low into his ear. As Tristan’s lips pursed in irritation, I felt a sudden throb of longing for Cade to come that close to me, to put his hand on my shoulder, even if he just wanted to tell me off.
Weird. This place was making me even weirder.
After a miserable physical training session in the morning that seemed to stretch on forever, Tristan and I were put to work waxing the floors in the academic building.
At least it was quiet in there; except for a few teachers who walked past, working on the weekend, and Cade checking in on us, Tristan and I were alone. Julia and company were apparently on the third floor, also hand-polishing the floors on their hands and knees. I was glad it was just the two of us, even though that meant a whole lot more floor space to cover.
It gave Tristan and I time to talk.
“Do you know anything about this witch?” I asked. “The one who’s coming after me?”
Tristan paused, then shoved the wax-coated rag back against the hard wooden floor. The movement made his arm muscles stand out sharply. “I’m not supposed to.”
“You do a lot of things you aren’t supposed to,” I teased.
His amber eyes turned my way, serious for once. “I try to do the right thing, Trouble. But sometimes Cade—or the Academy—disagrees.”
“I’ve got faith in you,” I said.
“Do you?” He sat back, one leg cocked in front of him as he rested his elbow on his knee. The rag dangled from between his fingers. “Or are you just trying to tease me into telling you anything I know?”
“Both?”
“Good answer.” His lips quirked. “All right. Well, you know Nix believes that his family was wiped out by the witch. Jonathan Truby.”
“Truby,” I repeated. It felt strange to say the name of the man I planned to kill.
He nodded. “Hunters aren’t usually superstitious. After all, we already know what things that go bump in the night are real. But people seem almost superstitious about Truby. Malcolm and some of the instructors, they hate that. They think we’re giving him too much power.”
Maybe that was why Malcolm had avoided the subject of the witch who was hunting me. He didn’t want me to be scared of Truby.
Malcolm didn’t know me very well yet. There were plenty of things I was afraid of, like letting down Liam’s memory or hurting people with my powers. But I didn’t have one speck of fear to spare for Truby.
“There are two things we haven’t figured out
yet. He’s controlling these beasts and he hasn’t even shared how with this coven. And on top of that, Hunters keep being killed by monsters they’d usually be able to slay.”
I thought of how hard to kill those monsters had been outside Duffy’s. “It’s like the monsters have superpowers.”
“Exactly.” He reached out, his fingers brushing over mine. “Good thing we’ve got a girl with superpowers on our side now.”
“You already had Nix,” I disagreed.
“You and Nix together will be a lot more powerful.”
“Maybe someday,” I said.
“I’ve got faith in you.” There was a mischievous light in his eyes as he mimicked my words.
“I’d better,” I said. I scrubbed my rag across the floor, feeling a sudden rise of nervous energy. “The witch is coming for me, apparently.”
“You’re safe here,” he said. “You’re safe with us.”
That was a questionable statement when Truby had already killed so many experienced Hunters. But I didn’t want to say that to Tristan. It would hurt his boy-feelings.
I waved the rag in his face, reminding him of how we were spending our Saturday. “I’m safe, even if I don’t like it here?”
“It’s not so bad,” he said.
I stared across the incredibly long expanse of mahogany-colored hardwood floors that stretched out ahead of us. It was pretty bad.
But honestly, part of me didn’t mind as long as Tristan and I were alone together.
“Why is he targeting Hunters? Any ideas?”
He shrugged. “You know how Hunters feel, right? Witches are evil… I mean, except for you and Nix. Maybe, since Hunters make a habit of hunting down covens, he decided to strike first. Or maybe he just likes killing the good guys.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it’s that simple.” My lips pursed to one side. “So what was it like for Nix the witch here? Was he the first?”
“He was barely tolerated for a long time.”
“He was?”
“It’s hard to believe anyone ever bullied Nix, right?” he said. “They certainly didn’t have anything to say to his face.”