by May Dawson
“Nothing makes me flustered.”
“Because you like her,” I finished. “And I do too. I care about what happens to Nix, too, for that matter, you absolute ass.”
“You like her.” He rolled his eyes, as if that was such an embarrassing revelation.
“At least I’m man enough to admit it,” I said.
Cade stared at me, a cold glint in his eye. “Choose your words carefully.”
“I know what I said and I meant it,” I told him. “What? You want to fight me because you feel helpless in this whole situation?”
I knew that feeling. We couldn’t know where Deidra and Nix were. We couldn’t help them. It was driving me crazy.
Cade gave me a long look. “Yeah. Actually. Come to think of it.”
Finally. At least he admitted to feeling something. “Let’s go down to the dojo.”
An hour later, as the two of us took a break, I guzzled water as sweat trickled down my body. I’d stripped down to nothing but my shorts to fight my brother. Music pounded from the radio in the corner, and I scrubbed my t-shirt over my face, wiping away the sweat.
“The Council didn’t trust Nix,” Cade said behind me. “So they put him through a series of trials.”
“Trials?” I didn’t turn around to face him. Sometimes it was easier for Cade to talk when he didn’t have to look anyone in the face.
“Yeah. I wasn’t sure if he’d survive.” Cade’s voice was bleak. “No one was. The Council didn’t care.”
“It was after the fight,” I guessed. That fight, the night in the woods when a kid had died in the ring, had probably brought Hell down on Cade in more ways than one. No wonder Nix and Cade hated it so much when the younger Hunters fought out there.
I’d promised Cade before that I’d stay away from Julia and their little fight club, but when Deidra went, I had to stay with her to watch her back.
The way Cade had looked at me after, though, twisted in my gut every time I replayed that scene. No wonder he didn’t trust me.
“What kind of trials?” I asked.
“They used magic. Forced him into the night his parents, his sister died.” Cade rubbed the back of his neck absently, but he was obviously troubled by the memories. “The Council can be cruel.”
“I thought they were supposed to be the good guys.”
“The two are not always mutually exclusive. We’re in a war with the witches.”
“And yet they’re willing to use witches,” I muttered. Nix hadn’t been the only witch at the academy; Dani Hedron was another witch who had become a Hunter, but she was currently on loan to the shifter academy.
“They don’t know they can trust Deidra,” Cade said.
I knew he was pissed off too, and scared for Deidra and Nix, but he took the Council’s side when he talked to me. Cade loved rules and order. He buried what he really wanted, what he knew on an instinctive level, under all the Hunting rules.
“How do you know?” I asked.
Cade turned abruptly, his gaze sharp as he frowned. “What do you mean?”
My brother was so determined to act like he didn’t care for her personally. But we were both equally worried about her.
Fuck his act protecting the Council. I bet if I pushed him, it would crumble.
“How do you know you can trust her?” I demanded. “She’s a witch. She’s Truby’s daughter, and he’s made it his mission to kill as many Hunters as he can. So I’m just wondering why you aren’t riding out with the Council to find her and—”
“Shut up,” Cade warned me.
“Yes,” Calla said from the doorway. “Why aren’t you riding out to find her?”
Cade’s eyes widened as he turned to her, but that expression was gone in a second, replaced by his usual cool demeanor. “I’m sure the Council can find one harmless teenage girl if you want to.”
“Whether she’s good or not, we all know she isn’t harmless.” Calla sauntered into the room.
I glanced behind her, and she didn’t miss it.
“I didn’t bring my guards,” she said. “I wanted to talk to you boys alone.”
“Why?”
“Tomorrow morning, the entire Hunting community will be looking for Nix and Deidra.” She tilted her head to one side, studying us curiously. “How long do you think they’ll last?”
“Why are you doing this?” I demanded.
Cade flashed me a warning look. He wanted me to stay quiet.
“She’s Truby’s daughter,” she said. “She has to run from the Academy. It was always inevitable.”
“She hates him!” I protested.
“Good,” she said.
“You want to use her,” Cade said slowly. “She can infiltrate Truby’s coven.”
“You are a bright boy.” Her eyes crinkled at the corners. “Even though I have to wonder sometimes.”
“It’s a stupid plan,” he said. “Deidra already thought of it. She wants to bring Truby down.”
“Lovely. We’re all on the same page,” she said lightly.
“What if the Hunters do catch Deidra? What if they kill her?” I demanded. “Then you don’t get the chance to infiltrate Truby’s coven.”
“No, but then I’ve got one less witch in the world. Seems like a win-win,” she said, smiling.
Cade’s posture was tight. She reached out and patted his shoulder, her face condescending. “Have a little faith in your friends, Cade. The problem with you is that you worry too much.”
Cade’s jaw tightened, so tense that a muscle ticked in his cheek. “You want the Hunters to really go after her, to make it look like they drove Deidra and Nix to Truby.”
“Mm. But I need you two to find them and tell them the plan.”
“How do I know you aren’t lying to us?” he demanded. “That you aren’t just using us to find Deidra?”
“I swear to you on the circle of the rose,” she said, touching her fingers lightly to the elaborate tattoo that crawled up her leanly muscled bicep.
“That doesn’t mean anything to me,” Cade said. “I’m not sure it means anything to you.”
She shrugged. “Whatever it means, if you don’t go help your friends, surely they’ll die out there, won’t they?”
Her words hung in the air, even when she’d gone.
Chapter Six
Deidra
The two of us stopped for the night at a motel. It was already dark, and the sign that said vacancy seemed to flicker against the rundown buildings that surrounded the motel.
“This place looks creepy,” I said as I got off the bike. “Hopefully it’s a little nicer than the last place you took me to.”
Nix pulled a face as he threw his backpack over his shoulder. He seemed lighter than when we were at the academy, no matter what kind of trouble we were in. “I should’ve seen the signs that this is pack territory. They let humans pass through, no issue. But once they made us as Hunters…”
“How could they tell?” I frowned.
Nix squeezed my bicep. His hand felt warm as it lingered on my skin, and my breath caught in my chest.
He didn’t seem to notice. “Let’s see. Super fit girl who looks like a badass. Leather pants. All that damned attitude…doesn’t take a genius. Even a shifter could figure it out.”
“Are the shifters dangerous?” Liam had talked about having shifters as allies in the past.
Nix shrugged. “Yeah. And no. They’re the same as humans, Hunters, witches… it’s all the same. Assholes and heroes and in-between all mixed up together.”
I frowned. “Before you made it sound like they were some kind of monsters…”
He shook his head. “Nah. They’ve got problems, but so do we.”
We certainly did, given that we were on the run from the other Hunters. The thought troubled me.
“So are we Hunters or witches?” I asked.
“Both. Other people don’t get to decide that for us,” he said. “Now come on.”
As our boots crunched a
cross the gritty pavement of the parking lot toward the motel office, I asked, “What do you think Cade’s doing right now?”
“Worrying,” he said.
“We aren’t going to get in touch with them?” I asked.
Nix swung to face me. Impatience was written across his face, and then as his gaze met mine, his gaze softened.
“Better to have our friends worried than grieving,” he said. “As witches, the Council tolerates us. They use us. But they never really trust us.”
His words chilled me. “Then how do you stay there, Nix?”
“I believe in what we do,” he said. “And I don’t need everyone to like me.”
That was such a dismissive answer. “Yeah, I don’t care if everyone likes me either. I am really passionate about not having anyone try to kill me.”
“It’ll be fine,” he told me.
“How is it going to be fine? No matter what the Council wanted, we ran. Can we ever go back?”
The academy meant so much to Nix. I hated the thought that I’d cost him the chance to ever go home again.
“Yeah,” he said. “The Council’s just scared because Truby thinks you’re his daughter, and you’re like a magical nuke.”
I stared at him, but he didn’t add anything else. “I’m still waiting for you to say something comforting.”
He crossed his arms. “How’s this? You can always kill Truby. And it’s good to have power.”
“That’s comforting,” I muttered.
“Yeah, that’s me.” He headed toward the motel. He was tall, broad-shouldered, but moved with the grace of a dancer. “Here to make you feel better.”
That definitely wasn’t a service he provided. But he and Cade had, for all their faults, looked out for me since I arrived at the academy.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
Was he here with me because he wanted to see Truby dead? Killing Truby had been his mission since his family was murdered. He must have some kind of feelings about the fact I was Truby’s daughter.
“You talk a whole lot, kid.” Nix said without looking back. His words were barely audible, since he wasn’t facing me.
He took a few quick, bouncing strides up the steps to the motel entrance. I followed him, but irritation flared in my chest. I was trying to make sense of the world I lived in now. Excuse me for having questions.
“You and your bestie are two emotionally-closed-off bastards, you know that?” I muttered under my breath.
He pushed open the door, then paused leaning against it, holding it open. “I’m aware, yes.”
My chin tilted higher as I crossed the parking lot to him. I wasn’t going to feel abashed for saying exactly what I thought.
In the motel, a tired-looking attendant took Nix’s credit card. I glanced at him curiously, wondering how it was possible that wouldn’t give the Council a way to trace us, but I couldn’t ask now.
Still, Nix didn’t miss anything. He held up the card between his fingers, then with deft sleight-of-hand, it was gone. His brows arched. “Magic.”
At least he was willing to answer some of my questions.
The bored attendant didn’t even seem to notice Nix’s talent show routine. He slid a piece of paper across the pitted countertop. “Sign here. Only king rooms available now.”
Nix signed a fake name without comment. His signature even looked different than his regular jerky, angular handwriting.
The attendant handed over a room key. “There’s no breakfast. But there’s coffee in here in the morning.”
“Who needs anything but coffee?” Nix asked. “Have a good night.”
The two of us headed back across the parking lot, the cold night air prickling the back of my neck. Nix unlocked the door to a seedy room, with frayed hunter green carpet and a faint musty odor.
My stomach growled as I sat on the edge of the bed. The only bed.
“I saw vending machines,” Nix said, inclining his head towards the door.
“Worst date ever,” I said lightly.
And then I regretted it as Nix froze.
Thankfully, he grinned. “What are you talking about? We kicked ass in a bar fight together and now we’re going to eat candy for dinner. This like the perfect day as far as I’m concerned, Deathwish.”
I’d been feeling so tight with guilt after discovering what Truby had done to my mother and after taking Nix away from the academy. But his easy words made me feel lighter.
I smiled back at him. “Cade would be so unhappy that neither of us are eating our vegetables.”
Strangely enough, I missed Cade’s gentle nagging. There was something so protective and caring about it.
The two of us raided the vending machine. When we headed back into the room, I deposited my root beer, chips and Snickers onto the bed. Nix cracked open the drapes and glanced out the window.
For a second, I’d almost forgotten how much danger we were in. Watching Nix conceal himself at the side of the window and study the world outside reminded me.
“How will the Council track us?” I ripped open the bag of chips, but suddenly they didn’t seem as appealing. When I put one on my tongue, it tasted greasy as it disintegrated in my mouth. “And if they aren’t, how will we know?”
“Malcolm will get a message to us. We’ll find a computer in the morning and check the academy website.”
My eyebrows shot up. “The academy has a website? I thought Hunters were all technophobes.”
He released the drapes to give me a skeptical look. “What gave you that idea?”
“We don’t get to have laptops at the academy,” I pointed out. “I thought I was going to die when I had to copy over my essay about the Nephilim. Five pages on their traits and how to beat one in a fight—”
“Five pages of optimism,” he cut in. Nephilim, or half-angels, were hard to take down once they grew past being children. “Also, your handwriting is terrible. I pity your teachers, not you.”
I rolled my eyes. He wasn’t wrong.
He left the window and sauntered toward the bed. “We just don’t put anything on the internet. The underworld has stayed a secret—more or less—for thousands of years. We don’t need to fuck that up because some freshman saved their homework to the cloud.”
“So what’s the point of the academy website?”
“Passing information in code. It’s not for recruitment.” He launched himself onto the bed beside me, and as the mattress dipped, I had to resist sliding toward him.
“I can’t say I love the recruiting techniques you guys employ,” I said.
“Like saving your life?” He yawned as he sat up against the headboard. “Anyway, in case something happens to me, you should know. There’s a weather ticker at the bottom of the academy website. If it shows clear skies, it’s safe to head home.”
There it was again. He’d said home. Guilt flared in my stomach all over again.
“If I have to stay away from the academy,” I said, “will you be able to go back?”
“If you have to stay away, I’ll be with you, watching your back, Deathwish.”
“That’s not a life plan.”
He shook M&Ms into his mouth and ignored me. He studied the wall across from us so intently that I twisted to follow his gaze. But there was nothing to see but the stucco.
“Okay. We’re not talking about life plans past tomorrow, are we?”
“We’re Hunters,” he said, as if that explained it.
“I’m not,” I shot back. “Not yet. Liam tried to keep me out of this life. I barely had time to figure out my class schedule at the academy before I had to run. Now here I am, and I don’t know what I’m doing—I don’t know anything about this world—and I—”
“You have me,” he cut in. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”
His cool blue eyes met mine. No matter how flatly he said the words, no matter how icy his gaze, he meant what he said. I could feel his protectiveness wash over me, and something else flare
d in my chest along with it. Desire, maybe. Trust, for sure.
“That’s not enough,” I said doggedly, pushing all those other emotions away. “I need to be able to take care of myself.”
“Don’t you always?” he asked. His gaze returned to the wall, and his words were off-handed, dismissive. “You’re a born Hunter. You’ll always figure something out.”
His words lit a warm glow in my chest.
“You’re just trying to make me feel better, aren’t you?” I accused.
“Nah.” He sat up abruptly, pulling his t-shirt over his head. With his back to me, his muscles rippled with the movement. He had a powerful but leanly muscled body, broad-shouldered with a tapered waist. His shoulders were covered in tattoos, elaborate pictures that concealed the runes worked between them.
I bit my lip and glanced away.
“Remember,” he said, “I’m an emotionally-closed-off bastard. You can trust me. I wouldn’t bother to lie to you.”
“Ha.”
He unbuckled his belt and stepped out of his leather trousers, which he slung on the foot of the bed.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“Are you going to sleep in leather?” he asked. “Because they are great to wear in a fight or on a bike, but they don’t really breathe.”
He pulled the covers up to lay his sword into the bed, then tucked his 9mm under his pillow. This guy had a totally normal bedtime routine.
He’d stripped down to his boxer briefs, and I did my best not to think about the hard press of his cock against the front of those briefs. My heart was beating a little faster than it had before.
He tumbled into bed, already dragging the covers over his shoulders as he turned his back to me. “Stop staring and go to sleep, Deathwish.”
“I’m not staring.”
“Whatever you say.” His voice was amused.
He might have been an emotionally closed off bastard, but the boy was ripped and sexy as hell, too.
But no matter how gorgeous he was, it wasn’t his good looks that really drew me to Nix.
Chapter Seven
I sat up in bed, breathing in a gasp.
My heart was pounding as I took in the shadowy room around me. Nix’s breathing was soft and even as he slept beside me, with one muscular arm thrown over his face. The night was quiet except for the rumble of the heater in the corner.
