Huntsmen (The Better to Kiss You With Book 2)

by Michelle Osgood

  “Who are you?” the woman asked back.

  “I’m supposed to be here. I don’t think you are.”

  The woman laughed. “You’re kind of a bitch; does anyone ever tell you that?”

  “Every day.” Kiara smiled. “Are we done here?” She couldn’t smell anything unusual on the woman—no hint of weapons or the hair-raising scent of electricity that the cattle prods had carried—just the heady scent of expensive perfume and now impatience.

  “Oh, we’re done.” The woman tried to shove past Kiara, obviously assuming that her size would be more than enough to move Kiara out of the way. When neither Kiara nor the door budged, the woman made a sharp noise. “What’s going on? Seriously, who are you? And is—is Nathan having a party?” The woman’s indignation seemed to mount as she peered over Kiara’s head through the small opening of the door to the dance party beyond.

  “Nathan!” The woman tried to push past Kiara again. “Nathan, what the fuck?”

  Kiara finally allowed Nathan to wrestle past her. “Amy, I’m sorry.”

  “Did you forget about our date?”

  “There’s been a lot going on. I didn’t realize… It completely slipped my mind.”

  On the counter, Nathan’s phone buzzed again. Kiara left Nathan to deal with Amy, fairly certain that she wasn’t a threat—at least not to anyone other than Nathan—and answered. “Who’re you?” she demanded.

  “Uhhh… Mitilini’s Pizza?” a male voice answered hesitantly. Kiara buzzed him in, then watched Nathan shoo Amy out the door.

  “I don’t see how it’s not a good time. You’re obviously having a party. So… what? I’m good enough to fuck but not to meet your friends? Is that it?” Her voice rose as she fought to be heard over Adam Lambert.

  “No, Amy, it’s not that, really. I wish I could explain, but—” Nathan shook his head. “Let’s reschedule, okay? I’m so sorry, I forgot that our date was tonight. It wasn’t on purpose. I promise.”

  “It’s a family thing,” Kiara informed the woman.

  “Yeah, I can see the resemblance.” The woman stepped back from the door. “You’re both assholes.”

  “Amy, I’m sorry!” Nathan called after her. She gave him the finger as she waited for the elevator. The doors popped open, and the guy from Mitilini’s stepped out.

  “Pizza’s here!” Kiara yelled over her shoulder. The look Amy sent her before she stepped in the elevator was so venomous Kiara wondered if Nathan had a bezoar on hand.

  Chapter Fifteen |

  “Was that Amy I heard?” Deanna asked as they crowded around the island, where everyone fought for a slice of their favorite pizza.

  “Yeah.” Nathan hadn’t joined in the fray. “We were supposed to have a date tonight. And I forgot about it.”

  “I’m sorry.” Ryn gave his shoulder a sympathetic squeeze as she reached for a napkin. “She’ll come around though, hot guy like you.”

  Nathan barked out a laugh. “Yeah, maybe if someone hadn’t been a total dick to her.” He looked pointedly at Kiara.

  Kiara sniffed and grabbed for a slice of meat lover’s before it all disappeared. “Sorry I’m careful. It’s only that I don’t know if you noticed, we’re being hunted.”

  “Whatever.” Nathan sighed and took a slice of the pineapple pizza. “It wasn’t that serious or anything.”

  Deanna laughed. “Are they ever?”

  Nathan glared at her. “It’s a little hard to have a serious relationship when all this werewolf bullshit keeps invading. Literally.”

  Jamie winced. “I’m sorry.”

  Deanna nodded, looking sheepish. “Me too.”

  “It’s fine.” Nathan dropped his plate on the counter, barely having taken a bite. “It’s fine.” He picked up Arthur’s leash. “I’m going for a walk. I’ll be back.”

  As the front door closed, the bite of pepperoni and bacon smothered in cheese in Kiara’s mouth suddenly tasted like sawdust.

  Across the island, Ryn was watching Kiara with a too-knowing expression.

  “Have you heard anything from Dad?” Kiara asked Cole, abruptly changing the subject. He shook his head. She wasn’t surprised—he’d have said something if he had. “I’ll give him a call.” She snagged another piece of the meat lover’s and her phone and went upstairs.

  “We can’t keep playing without Nathan… so come on, handsome, let me give you that haircut.” Kiara heard Ryn’s suggestion to Cole before she tuned them out.

  “Dad.” He answered on the third ring. “Has GNAAW talked to you?”

  “Yes.” Her father’s voice sounded weary. “Kiara, you realize your actions affect the rest of us, right? This isn’t happening in a bubble.”

  “He was an idiot, Dad. He didn’t even know what had happened in the alley. He—”

  “He’s someone we have to respect and not someone we say no to.”

  “Dad!” Kiara responded, horrified. “He wanted us to turn Ryn over to the Huntsmen! For no reason. She hasn’t done anything.”

  “You cannot keep protecting this person,” her father said. She could almost see his clenched teeth. “She is not pack. She is not anyone’s pack. You cannot risk all of us for one lone wolf. I will not allow it.”

  “What about last year?” Kiara shot back. “Cole and I risked ourselves for Deanna. She wasn’t pack.”

  “Did you forget about Jamie?”

  “No, I just—” Kiara rubbed at the frown lines growing on her forehead. “Taryn is innocent—completely, utterly innocent. We don’t know anything about the Huntsmen. We didn’t even know if they were real until three days ago. And now we’re just supposed to give up one of ours to them without a fuss?”

  “Not one of ours.”

  “She’s a wolf, Dad. She belongs with us before she belongs with them. Do you even know what they’re going to do with her?”

  “Do you?”

  “I know enough.”

  “Unfortunately, Kiara, you are not the Alpha of this pack. I am. And you will do as I say. Tomorrow, Mr. Davis will contact you again, and when he does I expect you to do exactly as he says. Am I clear?”

  Kiara pressed her lips together. “Yes.”

  “I’m sorry about this.” Her father gentled his voice. “I know you’re not happy about it and I know it’s not fair. But we are in an incredibly tricky position, and I have to look out for the well-being of my pack before that of a stranger. You’ll understand one day.”

  “I’ll call you tomorrow, after it’s done.”

  “Thank you, Kiara. Say hi to your brother for me.”

  “Say hi to Mom.” Kiara hung up the phone. She stared at it: the pink case, the fingerprint-covered screen. She picked up the small garbage can Nathan kept beside his bed. She held the phone over the garbage can and carefully, deliberately, crushed it in her right hand so that all the pieces fell neatly into the garbage. Then, she slid the can back into place.

  Chapter Sixteen |

  “GNAAW wants us to stay put for now.” Kiara answered Jamie’s unspoken question as she came down the stairs.

  Nathan had returned and twisted to look up at her from where he was tidying. “Like, stay here?”

  Kiara nodded. “Not all of us. But Ryn should. And I’ve got plenty of sick days.”

  “Here,” Nathan repeated, “like, my house specifically?”

  Kiara blanked. “Yes.” When she’d destroyed her phone upstairs she hadn’t had a specific plan—she still didn’t. All she knew was that she wasn’t going to let Ryn out of her sight and she definitely wasn’t going to let the Huntsmen take her. For now, staying at Nathan’s seemed like the safest bet. No one else knew where they were, and all she’d told her father in their initial phone call was that they were with a friend of Deanna’s. Deanna had a lot of friends. It could be anyone. They could be anywhere in the city.

  R
yn didn’t look up as she swept Cole’s hair off the cement floor of the apartment, though the line of her back was tense.

  “They’re meeting with the Huntsmen tomorrow. They’ll talk about this mess then. GNAAW will put it right, and then they’ll let us know when we can go.” Kiara was improvising. She had no idea what would happen when Davis was unable to contact her. She was being stupid, incredibly, recklessly stupid, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell them the truth: that her father wanted them to give Ryn up, and that GNAAW wouldn’t lift a finger to keep Ryn safe from the Huntsmen.

  The whole thing was making Kiara sick. She’d been told all her life that GNAAW was there to protect wolves, that she could rely on the system, that she could trust it to keep her safe. Finding out that simply wasn’t true was turning her world upside down, and she was starting to understand Ryn’s instant distrust for any self-proclaimed benevolent authority.

  “Great.” Deanna was cheerful as she helped Nathan clear away the pizza.

  “Yeah, great,” Ryn echoed.

  Kiara nodded, not meeting anyone’s eye as she crossed to the washroom. She locked the door behind her, turned on the taps, and stared at her reflection. Her makeup had long since washed off. Without her styling products, her hair was a puffy mess. It wasn’t curly, like Deanna’s, so the humidity added volume without control. She could have asked Ryn, of course. Judging from how the rest of the occupants of the loft looked relatively put together, Ryn wasn’t opposed to sharing—or charging.

  The instant she had the thought, Kiara dropped her head in shame, unable to meet her own eyes. Ryn’s job was as entirely legitimate as Kiara’s work as a mechanical engineer. Ryn was right to charge for her services, and Deanna had saved the day when she’d been able to mitigate Ryn’s loss of income.

  “Hurry up, K,” Jamie called from the other room. “It’s your turn!”

  ***

  Jamie, Deanna, and Ryn had gone upstairs to bed twenty minutes ago. They were asleep now; Jamie and Deanna’s breaths came smooth and even, in sync with one another, while the rustle of Ryn’s sleeping bag betrayed her uneasy rest.

  On the couch, Kiara pulled her blanket to her chin and willed herself to sleep. She’d need a clear head tomorrow, and who knew when she’d next feel safe enough to sleep.

  In the hallway, the elevator opened. Kiara held her breath until the sound of Arthur’s claws on the floor, accompanied by two pairs of feet, reassured her that Nathan and Cole had returned from taking Arthur out for a last-of-the-day walk.

  They let themselves into the apartment. Arthur trotted straight up the stairs and settled with a happy groan next to Jamie and Deanna on the air mattress, which wheezed at the added weight.

  “I think about getting a dog.” Cole hung up his coat and followed Nathan into the kitchen, which was lit by the dim stove light. “But it isn’t really fair—Kiara works long days, and since I work shifts…” He shrugged regretfully. “Can’t keep a dog cooped up all day. Arthur is lucky he has Deanna.”

  “Deanna’s lucky she has Arthur,” Nathan joked. “Well, we are all lucky to have Arthur.”

  Cole hummed.

  There was a long silence. Kiara let out a slow breath and closed her eyes. Cole would know she was awake, but they were used to politely ignoring the parts of each other’s lives that they couldn’t help but overhear. Werewolf manners—if you weren’t supposed to hear or smell, you pretended you hadn’t. It had made their teenage years much more bearable.

  “I’m sorry about earlier. With your date.”

  Nathan gave a rueful laugh. “What can you do, right? This stuff kind of comes first these days.”

  “I wish it didn’t. You shouldn’t have to put your life on hold for our politics, our problems.”

  “It’s not all bad. There are perks.”

  “Slumber parties?”

  “Slumber parties with enough people to play Game of Thrones,” Nathan corrected.

  “Right.” Cole’s voice was warm.

  Another silence followed.

  “It wasn’t serious.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Amy. She wasn’t—we weren’t. Serious. I don’t really do serious. Or, I haven’t.”

  “No?” An uptick of interest now, discernible only to Kiara by the cautious catch in Cole’s breath.

  “No. It’s not that… it’s not that I wouldn’t. But, you know, other stuff comes first. Deanna. Work. Family—I mean, that’s Deanna again. And Arthur. And Jamie.”

  “Family is important. I get that.”

  “I know. I know you do. Obviously there’s the whole werewolf-pack-thing, which, from my understanding, is like regular family times a million, with more shedding.”

  Cole snorted.

  “Most people don’t get it. They wanna be, like, The One.” Nathan paused. “It hurts people when they can’t be that for me.”

  “Is that a warning?”

  “It’s…” Nathan licked his lips. “It’s just a fact. You should—I want you to have the facts.”

  “You can take the librarian out of the library.”

  “Hah. Yeah. Something like that.”

  “Why don’t we try something like this...”

  A sharp intake of breath. Two hearts pounded. A moan, muffled against lips.

  Kiara buried her face in her pillow and smiled.

  “Are you sure you don’t need us to stay?” Cole lingered in Nathan’s front doorway. “I can switch my shift, if you want.”

  “It’s fine.” Kiara plastered a smile on her face. “You’re probably sick of this place anyway.” Deanna, Arthur, and Jamie had already left, and now all she had to do was get Cole and then Nathan, out the door.

  “I don’t know…” Cole’s head turned to the bathroom, where Nathan was showering. “It’s growing on me.”

  Kiara snorted a laugh. “Yes, it’s clearly the apartment that’s growing on you.”

  Cole shrugged casually, not denying the implication. “GNAAW will call you, then?” His eyes, the same honey gold as hers, searched her face. “And they’ll have sorted it out so Ryn won’t have to worry about the Huntsmen coming after her?”

  “Yep.” Kiara nodded. “That’s what Dad said.” She didn’t like lying to Cole. She never had, not really. There just hadn’t been reason to, since whatever mess she found herself in, he was at her side or not too far behind her. But she wanted him and Jamie to have completely plausible deniability. Kiara wasn’t going to let any harm come to her pack, but she wasn’t going to let any come to Ryn, either.

  “Okay.” Cole nodded slowly. “I left some cash upstairs on the dresser.”

  Nathan emerged from the bathroom in a billow of steam. “I’m flattered, but you know we just slept together, not slept together.” He wriggled past them, clad only in a blue towel that hung low on his hips.

  Cole watched him until he walked up the stairs, before his focus returned to Kiara. “On the dresser,” he repeated. “In case you need it.”

  “Thanks. I’m sure we won’t, but I appreciate it,” Kiara said mildly.

  “All right. Call if you need us.”

  “Will do.” Kiara pointedly held open the door. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”

  Cole dropped a kiss on her forehead before he stepped through the door. “Tell Ryn thanks for the haircut.”

  “Uh-huh.” As he finally went down the hall, Kiara closed the door. Cole knew something was up, obviously. But she appreciated that he was letting her take care of it.

  “Holy shit.” Nathan’s voice echoed from the loft. “This is like, a lot of cash. What does he think you’re going to need it for? Bankrolling a movie?”

  “Don’t you have to go to work?” Kiara asked.

  “I’m going, I’m going!” Nathan, hair still damp, barreled down the stairs.

  “What did I tell you about
mousse?” Ryn asked in exasperation as he ducked into the kitchen to grab a banana.

  “I’ll use it tomorrow. Promise.” Nathan flashed Ryn a grin, blew Kiara a kiss, and was out the door.

  Kiara locked the door behind Nathan and returned to the kitchen, where she’d left her coffee. Ryn sat on one of the bar stools across the island and didn’t look up from her phone.

  Kiara lifted her mug up to take a sip, but the thought of coffee suddenly made her ill. She set it down, and her eyes focused on the clock on the microwave. Seven thirty-six. She tapped her nails against the side of the mug. Ryn glared at her.

  Kiara stopped tapping. She looked at the clock again. Seven thirty-nine.

  She picked up her mug and dumped the coffee in the sink, rinsed it, and set it on the counter.

  Seven forty-one.

  Fuck it.

  “Okay.” She blew out a nervous breath. Ryn looked up from her phone. “Get your stuff. Let’s go.”

  “I thought we were waiting for—”

  “I lied. We can’t stay here. Davis is supposed to call me and arrange a meeting so I can hand you over. But I won’t. So we need to go.”

  Ryn stared at her. Kiara was already moving out of the kitchen. “Get your stuff.”

  “And where are we going to go?”

  “I don’t know.”

  There was silence, and from halfway up the stairs she turned and looked at Ryn. Ryn was studying her; the look on her face was so intense that Kiara felt pinned in place against the wall.

  “All right,” Ryn said, finally. She rose from the barstool and gathered her things.

  Kiara pulled open Nathan’s closet and rummaged until she found a backpack. She tossed her purse inside, grabbed the cash from the dresser—she didn’t bother to count it; the rainbow of colors assured her that it was more than enough—and stole a couple of Nathan’s shirts while she was at it. She left behind her outfit from Friday, figuring she’d have no need of a clubbing dress.

  Down the stairs again, she picked up the set of Nathan’s house keys that Deanna had left for them, and in their place in the little dish at the front door she dropped a note for Nathan and the others. It didn’t say much, simply “Sorry.” She figured they’d understand.