by C. M. Owens
“And help her learn control,” Alyssa interjects as she materializes in the room with us.
“Alyssa, she’s killing immortals,” I remind her. “Keeping her alive is an unnecessary risk to all of us. We already have one immortal hunter out there. And that one will have to die as well. We can’t become the prey, especially not with all the other shit we’ve already got on our plate.”
She glares at me like I’m the unruly child. It would probably do no good to tell her that I have a few centuries of age on her.
“Just because killing them is a quick solution; it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.”
We all look around at each other, confused by what she’s trying to say.
“You do realize you’re talking to a bunch of less than savory creatures, right?” Dice drawls.
She looks directly into my eyes. “Do you really think you could just kill someone without so much as trying to help them change?”
No hesitation. “I know I would, Alyssa. I’ve done worse for far less righteous reasons. Do I need to remind you that I’m a really old changer? You’re starting to sound like the old you. There’s no black-and-white area of reasoning. It’s one big gray area.”
She scowls at me, but I grin fiercely at her. She can’t resist my charm. When her lips twitch, she cuts her eyes toward Zee and Gage.
“You two back me up on this.”
“I’m with Thad on this one,” Gage says without delay, and Kimber glowers at him.
“I’m with Alyssa on this,” Kimber says, still looking like she could slap Gage. But he’s impervious to her I’m-kicking-your-ass glare.
“Zee?” Alyssa prompts when he doesn’t answer.
Zee gives her an incredulous look. “Night stalker,” he reminds her, motioning up and down his body. “My moral compass was broken even before Gavin jacked me up with his mysterious dark user powers. I think we should kill them.”
The sweet queen huffs out a breath, and she starts to speak to Dice, before she comes to her senses and redirects her attention on Karma instead.
But before she can ask her the same question, Karma says, “Half demon who has been caged for a few years and worked hard to survive. You probably don’t want my opinion on what I want done to something that wants me dead if you’re looking for a rainbow at the end.”
Alyssa frowns, and Kane covers his smile with his hand. He’s just as realistic as the rest of us. Which is why Alyssa doesn’t bother asking his opinion.
“Should we ask Drackus his opinion when he gets here?” I ask just to piss her off, and I’m rewarded by that wicked glower once again.
“We’ll come back to the life-or-death sentence,” Kane says, avoiding Alyssa’s not-so-scary silent threat. Well, it’s not scary in her human form. “So we have a rogue, out-of-control werewolf/witch that is possibly in town and shredding through immortals like she’s invincible enough to take on anything. And we have an ancient bloodline of anointed hunters that has been restored. Until we get them both… situated… everyone stays in pairs.”
Looks like I’m getting a damn roommate after all.
“You can move in with us,” Gage tells me.
“Nah. I want eyes on Roslyn. If this thing could do that to an immortal, imagine what it could do to her. Zee can come stay with me, and someone else can keep eyes on her when I’m taking my shift to scout.”
Gage’s lips twitch, and I roll my eyes. I don’t give a damn if they make fun of me. I’m not about to let her get close to something this vicious.
“Hashtag—Thad has finally gotten a leash.”
Damn incubus.
Several of them laugh, but I merely roll my eyes. She’s not a leash, but she’s becoming quite the little obsession. I wonder how she is with animals.
“Whoa,” Gage says, looking down at his phone. “Did you read this about Roslyn’s foster dad?”
Turning a quizzical look at him, I ask, “Now you’re cyber stalking my girl?”
He looks up from his phone. “I thought it’d be wise to check up on her and her roommate, considering all the crazy going on around here. So did you see the thing about the mauling? The few photos that leaked online are pretty damn vivid and gruesome. They called it a bear attack, but it looks more like a werewolf attack.”
Rolling my eyes, I shake my head. “Checked into it. It does look like a werewolf at first glance, but that territory is off-limits to all were. It’s marked by dark users, and they would have raised hell if a werewolf had been there.”
He studies it harder. “These marks are brutal and deep, much deeper than a grizzly could go. You sure?”
“I called Simon, the head of that dark user coven that has the territory marked. He said the only were of any kind that was hanging around at that time was Reese. And he was only there briefly to sort out some details about a shared interest of theirs. They vouched that he couldn’t have done it.”
“You really are thorough,” Gage says, eyeing me curiously.
“You girls done talking?” Kane asks us, not looking at all pleased.
We both nod toward him, but Gage returns his attention to his phone. “I’ll have Karma check her out just to be safe,” he says quietly.
“She’s human, but have her check her out just to clear your mind. Even if she wasn’t human—even if the sweet, docile, perfectly gentle girl was somehow a temperamental werewolf, she would have been too young to do this. She was twelve. Any child infected by bitten fey dies—if they lived, they’d be frozen in that age. They sure as hell don’t leave behind adult mauling marks.”
He tilts his head, studying the files closer. Apparently he didn’t read the date.
“Ah,” he says more to himself than me.
Kane clears his throat, glaring at us, and we both lean back, letting him continue his speech. But my mind is solely on the girl I can’t seem to stop thinking about.
Chapter 6
ROSLYN
My eyes float up to the sky as I walk outside, leaving the school behind. College is a lot more boring than I expected. I thought I’d be riveted by all the intellect spewing out of the wise professors’ mouths. Instead, I’m pinching myself in class to stay awake.
As my eyes squint against the glare of the sun, I see something I saw earlier. The white hawk is still there. It’s fascinating. I’ve never seen anything like it, and for some reason, it seems like it’s been following me all day.
And I’ve officially started to become paranoid. Years of running away have always had me looking over my shoulder. I don’t have to do that anymore. I’m free. I’m no longer a child stuck inside a broken system.
The bird continues soaring over me, and another bird tackles it in the air, squawking almost playfully. The two have an aerial spar, and I watch, riveted, as they continue to go back and forth at each other, both of them staying high above me as I walk home.
I grin when they start flying in circles, seeming to be having fun with each other. Even as I near my house, they’re still high above me. It’s not until I reach my block that they suddenly speed off, diving somewhere close by.
With my entertainment gone, I glance over my shoulder out of habit, expecting a cop to spot me and recognize me from the days I once made trouble. But nothing like that happens here. I really love Pine Shore.
“Hey, sweet girl.” Thad’s voice has me popping my head toward his house just before I pass it, and I pretty much dissolve when I see him shirtless and barefoot on his front porch, wearing nothing but his jeans and his devilish grin.
He’s leaning against one of the columns of his house, his gaze heavily weighing on me.
“Hi,” I say lamely.
“Come in and have a drink with me.”
He nods his head toward his house, tempting me with his eyes, his smile, and his unnaturally perfect body. It’s almost annoying at how flawless he is.
“Yeah. Sure,” I say before I can talk myself out of it.
His grin only grows as he backs up, letting me walk in, and he f
ollows me. But I stumble to an abrupt halt when a strikingly gorgeous blonde walks in from a back room, buttoning up a shirt as she comes toward us—a guy’s shirt.
“Oh, hi,” she says, her eyes wide in surprise.
“Um…” Yeah… that’s all I can manage. I’m not sure what he’s into, but I’m definitely not his type. “I actually forgot that I have a lot of homework,” I lie, turning to escape but slamming right into the hard body of the very kinky guy that is too much for me to handle.
“No you don’t. You see a girl in my shirt, and your mind immediately goes to the wrong place,” Thad says, grinning down at me with a mocking hue to his honey-colored eyes.
“I really do have homework,” I stammer, trying to go around him, but he wraps two very strong arms around me, and my knees buckle. It’s as though his touch is electric and lava at the same time.
He drops to his couch, pulling me with him, and the girl cocks an amused eyebrow. I really need to get out of here, even if he does feel like heaven when he’s pressed against me.
“Ella, this is Roslyn. Roslyn, this is Ella. For all intents and purposes, Ella is my sister. Or I’m her uncle. Or… anyway, she’s family.”
Her hair is windblown, she’s obviously not wearing anything more than his shirt, and she looks like she just stepped out of a man’s-dream-girl catalogue. Family doesn’t look as though they’ve just had wild sex with each other, and they sure as hell don’t look as phenomenal as they both do. Or half-dressed.
“I really should—”
“Drinks?” A male voice from the kitchen draws my attention just as the guy steps into view.
Tattoos ride up his bare arms and slither across his chest until they break apart in the middle. His dark hair is spiky and styled in a short faux hawk that has red tips. He looks vaguely familiar.
Ella goes to his side, hugging him, and he leans down and kisses her head. Are they together?
“How did you do that? I didn’t think we could do stuff… for long periods of time,” she says, confusing me. “And it was like that yesterday, too.”
She runs her hand over the tips of his hair, playing with the red ends. They’re definitely familiar with each other, but they don’t really seem… sexual with each other.
“Learned a few tricks with the new juice. Apparently it works differently.”
I actually sag in relief when he drops his arm around her shoulders and steers her toward the kitchen with him. At least she’s not in view anymore.
“Make us something, Zee,” Thad says.
Zee… Oh. That’s the guy Jenny originally wanted.
“Coming up,” he calls back.
Thad leans over, pulling me closer to him, and I try to ignore my usual flight response.
“You smell so damn good,” he says, bending over—way over—and nuzzling my cheek with his face.
That has me smiling.
“So you’re not… um… with her?” I ask, needing to be certain.
“Hell no. I’m friends with her family. In fact, you know her… sister. Alyssa Ice.”
That has me popping my head up. “You know the girl I bought my house from?” I ask in surprise. “How?”
“We go way back,” he says, keeping his answer vague.
“You can’t go too far back. She’s my age.”
He snickers lightly, brushing his lips against my forehead. He sure as hell isn’t timid about what he wants. I’ve never had anyone come after me as aggressively as he has. There aren’t any games, any questions, or any doubts about what he wants—well, in the physical sense. I’m not sure about anything past that.
“Feels like decades,” he says, moving his lips lower, letting them graze my cheek, and my heartbeat speeds up to the point it feels like it’s thudding in my chest.
“What made you buy that house?” Zee asks from the kitchen. “Did your roommate go in on half or something?”
I really don’t like personal questions, but I decide to answer anyway. “No. I paid for it in full. I had some cash from my grandfather who passed away recently. They… I didn’t even know he existed until after the fact. But I don’t want to blow through what’s left of my money, so I got a roommate to pay the utilities—that’s her rent cost. With my course load, it’s hard to find a job, so it seemed like a better alternative.”
“Your roommate is fucking annoying,” Thad says close to my ear, and I can’t help but smile.
“She’s not what I thought she was, but she’s better than a lot of people I’ve met.”
He starts to say something, but then he stops for some reason. “What made you buy instead of renting? You planning on staying here for good?”
Something tells me that’s not his original question, but he seems genuinely interested in the answer.
“I just couldn’t bring myself to rent. There’s something about owning a house… Owning anything, really. It’s a first for me, and I like the way it feels. I also like Pine Shore, so I don’t see why I wouldn’t stay.”
He seems to approve of that answer, and he wraps me up in an intimate hold that feels a lot like after-sex cuddling.
“I thought that house only had one bedroom,” he says idly.
Telling him that I converted a small office space into a bedroom for myself will sound absolutely pathetic.
“Two bedrooms,” I partially lie.
Jenny insisted she get the master bedroom, since she’s only staying until college is over. I just need a place to sleep, so it doesn’t really matter.
“Here, lover boy,” Zee says, smirking as he thrusts a glass at Thad.
The amber liquid lies around the cubes of ice, and Thad grins while taking it. “Thanks, barkeep.”
Zee flips him off, seeming more amused than annoyed by that. Ella walks in with two more glasses, quickly handing me one that I can tell is a margarita on the rocks. That has me smiling. It’s my favorite.
“Sorry if you don’t like it. That’s the only drink mix Thad has.”
“My favorite, actually,” I tell her.
Thad leans down to press another kiss on my bare shoulder, making me both happy and regretful about wearing this camisole top.
Zee rolls his eyes at us, and Ella moves toward him just as the front door opens and the guy from the other day walks in with a duffel bag in his hands.
“Gage,” Ella says while walking over to him. “Did you bring my stuff?”
He nods, his eyes raking over Thad and me as his lips twitch. “Yeah. Heard you needed a change of clothes. Kane is pissed you took off solo. Kimber is even more pissed, considering she was put under house arrest for defying him, then you sneak off.”
Curious, I lean over and whisper to Thad, “They still live at home with their parents?”
He coughs on his drink when his laughter tries to rumble free, and all of them stop to look at me, seeming genuinely amused.
No way they heard that.
“No,” Thad says finally. “We all work together. Bounty hunters. No solos for a while due to some new info.”
Ella turns back to Gage, narrowing her eyes. “I had to stretch my wings. Da—I mean, Kane should understand. Why are you solo?”
He smirks cockily. “Because I’m that badass.”
Thad rolls his eyes, but then Zee says, “And Dice is in the car.”
Gage shrugs, his cockiness still in play. “And Dice will be of some major help,” he says sarcastically.
Dice, Zee, Ella, Thad, Gage, Kane, Kimber… What kind of names are these? Who the hell am I to talk?
“Let’s take this to my room,” Thad says against my ear, and I immediately tense.
“Um… I should get home. This… just a little too fast for me.”
His throaty chuckle vibrates through me, and chills rise on my skin.
“Don’t worry, sweet girl. I’m not trying to tarnish your halo. Yet. I just don’t feel like sharing you with all of them. Come on.” He tugs me with him, forcing me to follow.
“Some chick just went i
nto your house,” Zee announces, still staring out the window and apparently watching my coming and going guests.
“Um… yeah. I have a roommate.”
“It wasn’t her,” he says, and Thad’s arms get stiff as his body tenses, as though he’s on alert.
“Jenny’s cousin is spending the weekend with us. It’s probably her. She was supposed to be getting here early this morning, but I left to hit the gym before school. She was staying with some friends in town, but apparently they kicked her out.”
Thad relaxes, but only slightly. Gage nods to him as though there’s an unspoken conversation, and then the blonde tempter pulls me toward a bedroom. It’s much, much larger than I was expecting, considering his house isn’t too much bigger than mine.
The large bed is covered in a seductive dark red color, and the numerous pillows all look so full and inviting. His hardwood floors are dark, but a rug that matches his bed warms the space. It’s fairly dark in here with all the color choices, but it doesn’t look anything like what I imagined.
Not that I’ve spent hours imagining his room. I haven’t. Nope. Not at all.
His arms come around my waist with a familiarity they shouldn’t have, and I find myself leaning back against his hard chest.
“You still coming with me tomorrow?” he asks, moving his hands down to my waist and settling them there.
I’d say yes to almost anything right now.
“Mm hmm.”
I feel his smile rather than see it, but suddenly someone is pounding on the door. Zee walks in, smirking as we turn around, and Thad groans for some reason.
“Now?” he asks.
“Yep. Need to go to Edgebrook. Sorry.”
Thad mutters something about needing a break, but he sighs before turning me in his arms. “You’re welcome to hang out here if you want to avoid your roommate and her cousin. I couldn’t imagine dealing with two of them.”
Zee walks away, leaving us alone again.
“It’s fine. I’m sure Wendy isn’t too bad,” I tell him, even though I know it’s a lie. Jenny calls her a bitch, and if Jenny thinks she’s a bitch, then she has to be frigging terrible.
“Just stay. Ella will be hanging out here, and Gage’s girlfriend is probably on the way by now, since she knows Ella is here. Stick around. They’re not bitches, and I think you could use a break.”