by Kelly Hall
Ignis gave her a sweet smile in return too. It was nice that she liked to think that even at the very heart of evil, there was light when love was involved, but he knew Kayne’s darkness was uglier than anything she could imagine. He knew that darkness better than anyone and why Rebekah was better off not trying to make a bargain with Kayne. “It’s not that it’s a terrible plan, darling, but it’s what he’d want in return that I’m afraid of.”
“He loves her. He’d do her better than he’s done others.” Talia had barely gotten away from him with her life, but she knew there was some glimmer of mercy, and desperate times called for desperate measures.
“Absolutely not!” said Ignis. “Have you lost your mind?”
“I don’t think that would win me any favors with my men, but thanks for the suggestion.” Rebekah thought she had indeed lost her mind. Even if Kayne wanted to fuck her, he’d never want to marry her. In what world could that even happen?
Rebekah sighed. “I’m not quite sure what to do.” Rebekah hung her head. It always came back to her not knowing how her Fellowship would perceive it. “No offense, but this isn’t you and Ignis. I have a whole army behind me that I have to worry about, and as long as I stay strong to the cause, which in case you didn’t know, includes a war with the vampire population, they’ll support me.”
“Love will find a way. If it takes centuries. One day, there will be nothing between you, and you’ll have to face the fact that you love him. There will be no other choice and no one left to come between you.”
Rebekah didn’t think that day would ever come. As long as the humans populated alongside both vampires and hunters, it would be a vicious cycle. Their hunger would never subside, and therefore, Kayne would always be her enemy.
Chapter 22
Jarreth had waited two hours to crawl out of that hole, and another hour passed before he stopped roaming the woods and returned to camp. By then, the day had started, and most of the hunters were packing up their tents and preparing to leave the location, while others were off on hunting missions.
With Delilah nowhere in sight, Canter filled him in. “She’s gone ahead to the new camp with your father.”
Jarreth frowned. “Since when is she daddy’s girl?”
“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. I tried to make her stay, but she said that the camp is only an hour walk north, and when you decided to stop your pity party, she’d be there.”
“I thought this was the camp.”
Canter gestured around at the emptying clearing. “No, this is just a camp they used coming off their last mission. I guess they didn’t want to lead any stragglers back home with them. If we hadn’t stumbled on this camp or tried to cross the river, we would have been at the camp before them. Guess we got lucky.”
“With any real luck, we can talk some sense into Delilah and get her to come back home instead of making herself more comfortable here. I know she’ll think she can stay because of my dad, but that’s just all the more reason I want to go.”
“You’re going to have to face your dad. You need to work it out with both of them.”
After that, they joined the others on the walk to the other campsite, and though it took a little more than an hour, he and Canter made it with no problems from the other rogue hunters. As a matter of fact, many didn’t even speak to them, which was even better.
When they finally arrived, Jarreth was surprised to see actual cabins instead of tents, and though some of the outside units were small, the rogues had themselves a nice little community that, to the rest of the world, would look no different than a summer camp or a tiny house village.
Katie, who had gone ahead with Delilah and the early group, sat on the steps of a large cabin looking at her cellphone. When her head lifted and she saw Canter and Jarreth coming in with the others, she got to her feet and walked down to greet them. “Hey, Delilah’s inside,” she said, gesturing behind her. “Your dad said we should all stay in his cabin.”
Jarreth wasn’t sure how long he could stay at the camp, much less in the same cabin with his father, but he knew it was better than the alternative, which was probably in a bunker with Grady and his loser friends. He looked to Canter. “Well, this should be nice and cozy.” He walked past Katie and went up the steps to the small porch and into the cabin.
Katie looked up at Canter, who stood staring down at the ground. “I can show you inside. Delilah’s dad put you and Jarreth in a room together.”
“Sure.”
He followed her up the steps and into the cabin, where Jarreth was still standing at the door taking off his shoes.
Brock stood in the kitchen making a sandwich. “There’s plenty to eat. Make yourselves at home.”
“Do you have running water?” Jarreth asked.
“All the bells and whistles of home.”
“Except a wife,” mumbled Jarreth.
Delilah stepped out of one of the bedrooms and walked over to the sink to wash her hands. “Are you guys hungry?” She turned and stepped up beside Brock, who slid the jar of mayonnaise over in front of her.
“I remember it was your favorite. You used to ask Cindy for extra.” Brock remembered a lot of things about Delilah as a kid. He had always paid attention to her as if she were his own, whether she knew it or not.
“Funny how things change,” she said, knowing she wouldn’t ask the woman for anything.
“I know you’re pissed off at my wife too, but she really did think the world of you. You were the daughter we couldn’t have. Jarreth was the only baby we were ever going to get, and while we’re both thankful for him, having no other option for children really bothered her. We wanted to give Jarreth a brother or sister. Then you came into his life, and we were just so glad he had you.”
Delilah looked across the bar where Jarreth stood watching. They had known each other for so long, and it was hard to think that their time together had come to an end. With the hurtful things he had said, the very idea that he would think she’d sleep her way into comfort, bedding the boss? It sickened her.
Canter spoke up from across the room. “I could eat.”
“Me too,” said Katie. “I’ll help.” She hurried over to help Delilah with the food, while Brock took a beer from the fridge and walked over to sit in his recliner with his plate.
Delilah took out three plates then looked up and gave Jarreth a dead stare. “Do you want something?”
“I can get it.” He wasn’t about to ask her to do anything for him, at least not until he apologized.
“I don’t mind,” said Delilah. She took another plate from the cabinet and placed it on the counter.
Katie got their bread and placed it on the plates. “What do you want on it, Canter?”
“Anything you’ve got,” said Canter. “I’m not picky.”
“Wow, the tension in here is thicker than this bologna,” said Brock. “I’ll just be over at the recreation center if you guys need me.”
Jarreth walked over and got two beers from the fridge. Then he tossed one to Canter. “This is how it should be, you know? Us men enjoying a beer, while our women make us a sandwich.” He gave Canter a wink, knowing he was about to catch hell for that comment.
Instead of saying a word, Delilah glanced at Katie and globbed on some extra mayonnaise. Both girls knew better than to say a word and that Jarreth was only trying to bait them.
“Leave me out of your sexist banter, my brother. I already have enough problems, and you’d think you would too.”
Katie brought Canter his plate and gave Jarreth a “go to hell” look as she sat down across from him.
Delilah walked over and met Jarreth’s eyes with a glare so hard it wiped the smirk off of his face.
“Thanks, Del,” he said with a soft voice.
She turned without saying a word and took her plate with her to the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
“Way to go, jackass.” Katie took a bite and looked over at Canter who chewed in silence, not
wanting to be mixed up in any of the drama.
“I was kidding.”
“Yeah, well you’re not funny.” She got up and walked over to get a beer from the fridge and returned to the couch.
“Shit.” Jarreth took his plate across the room and tapped on the bedroom door before opening it up to find Delilah sitting on the bed, staring down at her untouched sandwich.
“Can I come in?” he asked, walking into the room slowly and waiting on her to scream and throw him out.
“Only if you’ve come to apologize for being a dick.” She wasn’t talking about the stupid joke he’d made either. She still couldn’t believe the things he’d said.
He sat on the bed and moved his plate aside with hers. “I am sorry, Del. I was stupid, okay? But just knowing you were here in this fucking camp, where ninety percent of these ogres haven’t even seen a woman as beautiful as you for god knows how fucking long? I was sick all goddamned night with worry about what might be happening to you here. I didn’t know my dad was the leader here, and when I heard—”
“Stop talking.” She was already sick of hearing his excuses. “I understand why. I just don’t understand how. How could you think I’d sleep with some stranger like that? That I’d run away to a bunch of strangers and bed down with one. Who do you think I am?”
“I sometimes don’t know,” he blurted.
The words hurt her heart. “I only just found out about your dad, and none of our parents’ secrets were mine to tell. They’re the ones who lied to you, Jarreth, who put me in that difficult place. I’m sick of liars. Then Rebekah, the person I swore my loyalty to, she turned out to be a liar too.”
He angled to face her better. “Rebekah wasn’t lying, Delilah. She did go to meet him for information. You’ve been so angry with her, you can’t even see the other side of it.”
She shook her head, certain there were things she could not do for him. “I’m not going back to the academy with you. I’m done there.” If he wanted her, he’d have to stay with his father’s camp and work it out. That was what her heart wanted.
Jarreth didn’t know how to break the news to her about the academies. That all she’d known and loved was gone, forever changed by the Church’s ruling. “I’m not going back to the academy either, Del.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, you should stay here and spend some time with your dad. He misses you, you know? As angry as I was with him when I found out, I understand his position, and I don’t blame him. He was hurt.”
Jarreth didn’t like the sound of that. Delilah had already made up her mind to stay with his father, which would only make it harder to convince her to leave. “I’m not staying here either, Del. I’m going to Ireland.”
The look on her face gave him a pain in his chest and made his gut feel even more hollow. “Why? What’s in Ireland?”
“The judgment was passed down already. Rebekah has been released from prison. She’s banned from the academies, and they stripped her of her ranks.”
“How? Not that I disagree action needed to be taken against her, but how could they do that? She’s the mother of the hunters. Don’t they call her that because they need her to make more?”
“Yes. I guess they found a way around that. But that’s not the only part of her sentence. She has to hunt Kayne. She has to bring him in to the Church as her prisoner and give him up if she wants her ranks back.”
“She’ll never do it.”
“She’s prepared to, knowing that the Church had already begun to make moves that will force her out for good. There isn’t going to be any going back. And as for the Fellowship, it’s falling apart. The commanders have been given no choice but to stay with the academies, which have taken the sign of the cross as their new emblem, by the way. So, unless they want to lose their ranks, they have to keep their posts.”
Delilah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They’d even gone as far as changing the symbol. Rebekah should know there was no going back to the way it was before. “She’s going to do it anyway? Even though she knows it’s not going to do her any good? I doubt that. There has to be something in it for her.”
“She just wants her Fellowship. She wants to continue to do what she set out to do, what she was made to do. She’s still the same honorable woman you knew, Delilah. She’s given her whole life, literally, for the war against our enemies.”
“So, you’re going into this fight with her?” Delilah’s heart twisted in knots. She wanted to be proud for him getting to live his dreams, but she also knew what it meant.
“Canter and I are, yes.”
“That’s a suicide mission. Kayne is too powerful.”
He reached over and placed his hand on hers, not knowing how she’d react. “I didn’t swear my life to the Immortal Huntress for a walk in the park. I can’t miss this opportunity, Delilah. I’ve waited my whole life for it, and I know you have too.” He gave her a pleading look. “Come with us.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. She was swooning over that asshole.”
“So, she’s a good actress when she has to be. So, what? You had just met her at the time. She didn’t owe you shit.” He knew that she had to see the reason in that.
“I don’t belong with her, and she’d probably not even want me to come along.”
“She does. She’s devastated that you took off. She’s worried. You’re her friend, Del. She misses you.”
“Then where is she? If she’s not locked up, why didn’t she come?”
“She was. She wanted to come, but then she found out that Ignis was mugged and lost Stella and Luna. As important as all of us are to her, Stella and Luna mean everything to her. To the Fellowship too. She can mark more hunters with Stella. Kill more enemies.”
“I get it.” She let out a long breath. “I don’t blame her then, but I still need to stay here. I’m sorry.” She picked up his hand and put it to her lips.
Jarreth hadn’t really thought she would choose another way. “I love you, Delilah. I don’t want to go that far away without you. And I don’t want to leave here with us being apart. If you have to stay, stay, but marry me before I go.”
Delilah’s ears suddenly stopped working as the two words managed to override her brain. “What?” She hadn’t heard him correctly.
“Marry me. I need to know that we’ll be together when this hunt for Kayne is over.”
Delilah had always just assumed the two of them were destined to take that road, but now, with everything going on and the small taste of freedom she’d gotten, she wasn’t sure if she was ready for anything so serious. “No. We can’t.”
“No?” He blinked a few times, not able to comprehend that she’d turned him down. “Why not? You love me, don’t you?” He had thought she did. “I’m really sorry about earlier. You know I am.”
“I know that. But this is the rest of our lives, and we’re young. I don’t want to end up like your parents. You’re all I’ve ever known. Coming here alone made me realize I’ve always been in your shadow, and I need to do something on my own for a change. See the world and figure out who I am. I felt like I was nothing without you for so long, that I need to know who I am when you’re not around. It’s time we both really let go for a while.”
“So, it’s not just no, then. It’s goodbye too.” He was so disappointed that he picked up his plate and got to his feet.
“I do love you, Jarreth. I just need to know there’s more to the world. When you let me down, I had nothing; I was nothing. I can’t let that be all there is.”
“I’d show you the world, give you the world. We’d start in Ireland and work our way around it if you want. I guess that’s not good enough.” He opened the door and walked away, not sure if he’d ever be able to look at her again.
Canter had finished his sandwich and sat slowly sipping his beer as Katie was looking at her phone when Jarreth came out of the room and passed by.
“You okay, man?” he asked.
He s
hook his head. “She said no.”
“Fuck,” said Canter softly. He met Jarreth’s eyes. “I’m sorry, man. Maybe she’ll come around?”
“No chance. It’s done.” He walked to the door and looked back at his friend. “Don’t let this shit happen to you, man.” With that, he shut the door.
Chapter 23
Delilah hadn’t realized how exhausted she was until she woke up and found she’d slept the rest of the day away. She had laid there after Jarreth had gone and cried herself to sleep, not sure if she’d done the right thing or not.
She got up and walked out to find Katie curled up on the couch watching a movie, her eyes filled with tears. “Sorry,” she said, wiping them on her sleeve. “I always cry at this movie.”
“Where is everyone?”
“Canter left when Jarreth did.”
“They left the camp!” Delilah’s heart raced, thinking she’d never see him again.
“No, but that’s a strange reaction. I got the impression you didn’t care if you ever saw Jarreth Barnes again.”
She walked over and sank down on the couch. “I love him. I just feel like I need to find myself.”
“And what if he’s the biggest part of you?”
“I don’t believe that. I mean, he’s an important part of me, yes, but the most important? We have our own identities, Katie. We’re not defined by our men.”
“I know that, but do you want to live and die alone? Because I don’t. I made this trip for Canter, and I’m not giving up.”
Delilah wasn’t sure how she felt about Katie and Canter, but if the young woman was that determined to come along, she must really care for him. But there was just one problem. “You can’t make him love you, Katie.”
She wiped her eyes, the tears no longer remnants from the movie. “I know.”
“Are you going to Ireland with him?” Delilah still couldn’t believe that they were leaving the country. She’d never been that far apart from Jarreth.