“I still don’t get why they let Hayden go with them to look for me,” Phoenix wondered out loud.
“Maybe they realize he’s a hot mess of crazy and are hoping he’ll get killed,” Lydia suggested.
That was a possibility Phoenix hadn’t considered, but it made sense. It was always possible they’d decided Hayden’s mental state made him too flawed to breed. If that was the case, the hunters with him might even be under orders to make sure he didn’t survive the trip. The hunters were seriously mistaken if they thought Hayden was going to be an easy kill.
“The hunters with him might be dead,” Phoenix stated.
“Why do you say that?” Roman asked.
“I can’t see the hunters stopping communication if they’re still alive,” she explained.
“It’s also possible they’ve gone rogue for some reason,” Lydia suggested. “You’ve got a bunch of people who’ve been trained to kill, but they don’t kill anyone anymore, right?”
“True,” Phoenix agreed. “The hunters and vampires have an agreement, and I haven’t heard of more than a handful of times when hunters have had to go after vampires. Most of those were in Europe.” From what she’d heard, there weren’t many vampire families in North America, and they tended to stay out of trouble.
“I’m still surprised they didn’t find out about Drew’s crazy mom and kill her,” Lydia mused.
“Phoebe was a serial killer with a specific ritual she followed with most of her kills,” Roman explained. “Any that deviated from that, she disposed of the bodies, not because she was trying to avoid detection by hunters so much as she hated deviating from her planned ritual.”
“How long did you let her do this?” Phoenix asked, annoyed that they’d allowed a serial killer to run free for any length of time.
“Way too long,” Lydia answered for Roman. “They kept thinking they could control her and keep her from killing people, which was stupid. Eventually, they decided she had to be taken out.”
“Taken out?” Caitlin asked with a snort. “Have you been reading stories about the mob again?”
Lydia flipped Caitlin off.
“So, Drew’s mom never made it onto anyone’s radar as a problem,” Phoenix surmised. “I think I see where you were going before we started talking about Drew’s mom. You think that it’s likely some of the hunters want to kill people, and they may actually look for excuses to kill, which is ironic since that’s what the hunters say they’re afraid the vampires will do.”
“It happens with some of us,” Roman admitted. “I’m sure the same is true with hunters.”
“So, you think the hunters with Hayden may still be alive but hoping to kill me,” Phoenix said.
“It may not be you they’re hoping to kill,” Isaiah interjected. “I think you’re right about Hayden being the biggest threat. At the very least, Hayden knows you have some connection to our family or he wouldn’t have killed Andrei. Whether he knows about Hunter is another story.”
They were all quiet for a short time before Justin spoke. “We may have an issue involving my mom.”
“Let me guess,” Roman began. “Your mother is being stubborn.”
“She refuses to take any time off from work,” Isaiah explained. “We have someone accompanying her to and from work. I also have security in the parking garage the days she’s scheduled to work.”
“She thinks no one can tie her to us since she’s using a different last name,” Justin added.
“That makes it more difficult to find her connection to our family, but not impossible,” Roman grumbled. “This is especially true after her recent visit here.”
“Are you regretting having me here now?” Phoenix asked with a wry twist of her lips. While she hated the fact that she’d turned their lives upside down, she couldn’t help being grateful that she wasn’t alone anymore.
Surprisingly, it was Roman who answered her. “Our family would be a target even if you weren’t here. Your presence has been quite helpful. You’ve been able to give us more information to help prepare for any attack.”
“You also make my brother happy,” Justin told her.
“He’s right,” Isaiah assured her, taking her hand in his. “I could never regret having you with me.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Drew was prowling around the house, doing his best to avoid interrupting the big breakfast meeting. It didn’t really come as any surprise to him that his mind was fully focused on finding Shayla. He usually either didn’t give a fuck, or he was obsessed. There was rarely any middle ground. At the moment, he was fixated on helping the bat shit crazy breeder, meaning he’d end up pissing Roman off by asking questions about Shayla if he was in the room. Despite what most people believed, Drew was well aware of how much patience it took for Roman to put up with him on a good day. Today wasn’t likely to be a good day.
When Drew noticed his uncle, Josef, brooding in one of the sitting rooms he passed, he was tempted to keep walking. Then he realized Josef might be a good distraction, something he definitely needed.
“Why aren’t you at breakfast with the others?” Drew asked. From what he could tell, his uncle was too clueless to realize others didn’t want him around.
Josef observed him with a bland expression. “I could ask you the same question, but I’d guess you’re not there for the same reason I’m not.”
“You’re obsessing over a crazy chick you’ve never met?” Drew asked.
Josef chuckled. “Okay, we may have different reasons for not being there. I’m not very popular with the family.”
Drew shrugged and dropped down onto one of the plush chairs, draping a leg over one arm of the chair. “I don’t know you very well, but you kind of come off like you have a stick shoved up your ass most of the time. Then again, so does Justin and they hang out with him, so that can’t be why they all want to avoid you.”
Rather than looking offended, his uncle let out a full-bellied laugh. When he finally got his laughter under control, he smiled at Drew. “We’ve never spoken, have we?”
“Nope,” Drew replied. “Near as I can tell, you don’t leave your house much.”
Josef sighed. “I’ve never been good at adapting to change.”
“You’re also a dick,” Drew reminded him, not in the mood to beat around the bush. Josef was a dick who’d fucked up a good thing. Helena was beautiful in an almost intimidating way. Drew had always avoided talking to her, mostly because she wasn’t the type of woman he’d flirt with. Helena tried to be nice to him, like Trish. She never looked at him like he was some rabid dog who needed to be put down, even though he suspected she knew why her sons didn’t like him. The other reason he wouldn’t come onto her had to do with Isaiah. Much as it pained him to admit it, he liked his cousin, and fucking with Isaiah’s mom seemed wrong. That was something he’d never admit to anyone.
The silence stretched between them until Josef finally spoke. “Did you come in here to insult me?” Josef finally asked.
“Nah,” Drew told him. “That was fun, but that’s not why I’m here. Actually, I was tempted to pretend I didn’t see you, but I figured even if I can’t solve my own issues this morning, I might be able to help you with yours.”
“I don’t see how,” Josef scoffed before looking almost embarrassed by his own behavior. “Sorry. That was rude of me. The truth is, I don’t believe anyone can help me.”
“I may have phrased that wrong,” Drew admitted, regarding him through hooded eyes. “I can’t fix your problems, and I can’t make you stop acting like a dick. I know better than most how hard it is to stop being a dick, and I haven’t been one nearly as long as you.”
“You say whatever comes to your mind without consideration, don’t you?” Josef asked.
“Yep,” Drew responded before sitting up in the chair to regard his uncle in a more critical manner. “You should be grateful for that. The last thing you need is more lies. That’s why I’m going to just lay this out for you. You’
ve moved from the point of loving your wife to her being a sick obsession. That shit won’t work.”
“You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” Josef spat out.
“Don’t I?” Drew asked with a raised eyebrow. “At first, I thought your obsession with her was the same as love, but it’s not. I’ll bet, when you first met her, you didn’t make her think she needed to change to make you happy. If you had, she’d still be with Alek.”
Josef looked down, and Drew knew he’d hit a nerve. “When I first met Helena, she took my breath away, and it had nothing to do with the way she looks. She is, and always has been, stunning, but it was the sweet woman inside that made my heart feel like it was going to beat out of my chest whenever she looked at me.”
“She’s still that nice,” Drew pointed out. “Why’d you start telling her she wasn’t good enough? Seriously, that’s crazy. You’re the one who’s not good enough for her.”
“And I never could be,” Josef admitted with a defeated sigh. “When she started to change and become more independent, I was terrified she’d leave me.”
“So, you abused her,” Drew finished for him.
“No!” Josef nearly shouted. “I’ve never even considered striking Helena.”
“You didn’t have to,” Drew told him. “You fucked with her head and made her think she wasn’t good enough so she wouldn’t leave you. That’s abuse.”
“I thought you said you were going to help me,” Josef muttered.
“I am helping you,” Drew told him. “You love her still, right?”
“Even more than I did the day I married her,” Josef said without hesitation.
“Then let her go,” Drew stated simply.
“I can’t,” Josef insisted.
“Then you don’t love her. If you love her as much as you say you do, you’ll let her go, and then fix the shit that’s broken in you—that shit that makes you hurt her. Once you do that, then you can try to win her back. Any other way, and you’re just an asshole who abuses his wife and blames it on everyone else. Own up to being the asshole you are, and try to be a better man.”
Drew didn’t wait for his uncle’s reply, just stood and left the room, wondering when he’d become the type to give relationship advice.
Chapter Forty-Four
It had been almost two weeks since they’d found the dead witch. Hayden was tired of hanging out in this hole in the wall motel room, and even more tired of having Reese and Kevin with him all the time. Those arrogant hunter pricks got on his last nerve. Hayden already knew they’d never let him live long enough to return to Seattle, not that he’d ever had any intention of returning to his old life as a breeder.
Reese and Kevin were easy to manipulate, and it hadn’t taken much for Hayden to convince them to stop answering calls from their elders. He’d made them believe they’d be forced to return to Seattle and more experienced hunters would be sent out when they’d failed to locate Phoenix quickly. Desperate to prove themselves, both hunters had agreed that they should cut off communications until Phoenix was captured. Then, they’d look good and the elders would forgive them for not checking in or returning calls. Hayden also suspected they didn’t want to miss out on killing him.
“I got another message from our elders,” Kevin told him. “Sounds like they think you might have killed us.”
Reese chuckled. “They really think we might get killed by a breeder?”
Hayden’s lips pressed together in a tight smile. They wouldn’t be laughing much longer.
“I still can’t believe the hunters in this area are claiming Phoenix,” Kevin mused.
That had shocked Hayden as well, but he chose to look on the bright side. When they’d gotten that message, it had confirmed that Phoenix was still in this area.
“I can’t believe our elders aren’t demanding her return,” Reese added. “She’s a killer.”
“They don’t want to deal with the problem,” Hayden pointed out the obvious. “The elders want people to do what they’re told and never question orders. Phoenix didn’t do that, and they’re worried they might not be able to prove she’s a killer. Then they’ll have to try to force her to train as a hunter.”
“Who wants a vampire’s whore as a hunter?” Kevin scoffed.
“Vampire’s whore?” Hayden asked. He hadn’t mentioned anything about Phoenix being involved with a vampire.
“That’s what I heard.” Kevin shook his head in disgust. “Once I found out the elders out here were claiming Phoenix, I contacted a breeder cousin who lives out here. I figured it would be a waste of time since she’s only a breeder, but I guess she overheard some of the local hunters talking about meeting Phoenix. She was with some vampires, and it sounds like at least one of them is fucking her.”
“Did they say which vampires?” Hayden pressed.
“Family by the name of Draksel,” Kevin told him. “We’ve been looking into them since we heard Phoenix was involved with vampires. We found out there’s some big shot vampire doctor in their family.”
Hayden’s fists were clenched at his sides as he struggled to contain his anger. He was so pissed, his left eye began to twitch. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
Kevin shrugged. “There’s not much a breeder can do.”
“I may have found something,” Reese said excitedly, turning the laptop toward them to show pictures of a dark-haired nurse.
“Who is she?” Hayden asked, unable to take his eyes off the pictures of the stunning nurse.
“Elena Carter,” Reese replied. “That’s the name she’s going by, anyway. I’ve been digging into her for a couple of days.”
“Why are you looking into the nurse?” Kevin asked.
“When I was checking the hospitals for the vampire doctor, I kept sensing a vampire on the fourth floor of one hospital, but I wasn’t able to locate the vampire at first. I went back there yesterday and saw this pretty lady leaving with two guards. That’s when I figured out she was the vampire I kept sensing,” Reese explained.
From what Hayden had been told, it was harder to find female vampires for some reason.
“So, I pulled all the nursing records, looking for someone with the last name of Draksel,” Reese continued. “No surprise, I didn’t find anyone, which is why I started pulling the personnel files and found pictures.”
“Where does she work?” Hayden asked excitedly.
“I’ll print out all the details, and we can go over everything while we have lunch,” Reese told him.
“Good thinking,” Hayden praised. “I’m starving. Should I go out for food?”
“I’ll go,” Kevin offered. “The local hunters might be looking for us, and you’ll probably panic if they stop you.”
After Kevin headed out the door, Hayden watched as Reese printed out all the details on the vampire nurse.
“You seem to have a lot on her,” Hayden remarked casually, as he rifled through his bag.
“I got her schedule, address, phone number, social security number,” Reese bragged. “You name it, and I’ve got it.”
“Great,” Hayden said before aiming the tranquilizer gun and shooting Reese in the back of the neck. He loved the shocked expression on Reese’s face as he turned toward him, just before collapsing onto the floor. Next, Hayden took out the duct tape to cover Reese’s mouth, before securing his hands and feet. Then he dragged the bastard into the bathroom and sat on the chair by the laptop, waiting for Kevin to return. The tranquilizer wouldn’t last long, but he’d give them each another dose before moving them. While it would be much easier to just kill both hunters when they were unconscious, Hayden wanted to see their faces when they realized they were going to die at the hands of a breeder. He also deserved a long, relaxing kill after all he’d had to put up with recently.
Chapter Forty-Five
After two weeks of being cooped up in Isaiah’s home, Phoenix was beginning to go stir crazy. There was also the fact that she was tired of Drew’s constant ques
tions about Shayla. Funny how she’d never noticed how obsessed he could get.
She was currently lost in the house, and she had to admit that was crazy.
“Why did I leave my phone in Isaiah’s room?” she muttered, tempted to climb out a window since it might be easier to figure out where she was from the outside of the house. It hadn’t been her intention to leave her phone in the room, but the text from Drew had sent her running. He’d told her he was on the way up to talk about Shayla. Luckily, she’d already been dressed, making it easy to flee quickly. She’d headed in the opposite direction of the stairs she normally took, figuring she’d be less likely to run into Drew that way.
Hearing movement in one of the rooms up ahead, Phoenix was momentarily relieved until she got to the door and noticed Josef sitting in an armchair, reading. He was dressed in flannel pajamas that looked older than her. They hadn’t spoken, and she’d barely seen him since his outburst about Isaiah being involved with a hunter. Even lost, she wasn’t tempted to make conversation with Josef. He’d probably refuse to help her, anyway.
Turning to continue wandering the hallways, she was surprised to hear Josef’s voice. “Phoenix, please don’t leave,” he called out in a kind voice. “I’d hoped to have a word with you.”
“What did you want to talk to me about?” she asked cautiously as she walked into the room.
“First, I want to apologize for the way I reacted when we met,” Josef began. “I’m not very good with first impressions, or second impressions, actually.”
“It’s okay,” she assured him. “I am a danger to your family, and I’m surprised no one else has mentioned it.”
Closing his book, Josef placed it on the table and gestured to the chair closest to him. “Come, sit down.”
Phoenix hesitated, but she ended up deciding she could always leave if Josef started acting like an ass. Taking a seat in the comfortable armchair, Phoenix eyed Josef warily. “I can’t stay long. I decided to wander around and left my phone in my room, so Isaiah is probably already wondering where I am.”
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