The Hunt (The Wilds Book Two)

by Donna Augustine

  * * *

  “Doc say she’s fine?” I heard Dax ask outside my door about an hour later.

  “Yes. He checked her over after I did. A couple bumps, that’s it. Go see for yourself,” Bookie told him.

  “I’ve got other things to tend to. You stay with her.”

  I heard Dax’s footsteps leave as Bookie walked in my room and shut the door behind him.

  “You know he’s telling everyone that same bandit story, but I’m not buying it.”

  I nodded. Bookie wouldn’t.

  He grabbed a wooden chair from the corner, dragged it over to the bed, and took a seat. “So what really happened?”

  Dax had polished it into something completely different, and I should probably follow suit. But this was Bookie, and I hated lying to him.

  “Was it those Dark Walkers?”

  “Yeah, a bunch of them. He probably doesn’t want to scare anyone, but there were—two of them,” I said, catching myself at the last second. There would be no way to explain how we would’ve been able to fight off ten without outing Dax. Just because I trusted Bookie, it didn’t mean I could make Dax.

  “That’s not good.”

  “I know.”

  “What does this mean?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Chapter 12

  It was later than I normally got up, and I heard the knock at my door a minute before Fudge walked in with a plate heaped full of food. I didn’t need to see it. I smelled all of my favorites: eggs, sausage, and, of course, the King of Breakfast, bacon.

  I pushed back the covers and met her halfway across the room. “Fudge, what are you doing? You have too much to do in the mornings. You didn’t need to bring me a plate. I’m fine.”

  “You had a rough day. It won’t kill you to stay in bed.”

  I looked at the plate she was carrying, trying to think back and remember ever getting served in bed before. Not that I’d wanted her to, but I’d been in a lot worse shape than I was now. I’d been pulled out of a dirt pit and had a broken arm, and still gotten up and went downstairs to breakfast. Come to think of it, I’d never seen Fudge bring anyone breakfast.

  I was fine. Fudge knew I was fine. She’d checked in on me last night. This place wasn’t like the Cement Giant, where you could get a gratuitous kick in the teeth just for looking at a guard the wrong way, but it was pretty far from holding your hand and babying you, too. Something funny was going on here.

  Fudge smelled suspicion on me like I smelled the offering of bacon on her. She smiled, knowing I was onto her. I smiled back, holding my tongue as I took the plate.

  She left looking satisfied, but as soon as the door shut, I shoved a piece of bacon in my mouth and grabbed my clothes. I shoveled in a couple bites of eggs in between pulling up my pants and throwing on a shirt. I might have left her alone for the cost of bacon, but I hadn’t made any silent agreements to not harass someone else.

  The bedroom door opened and closed, and I knew I’d find Tiffy standing there. The kid didn’t believe in knocking. She said it was a waste of the noise. That knocking on wood should be saved for more important reasons other than to announce oneself.

  “Something funny is going on,” she said.

  “I agree. Any ideas?”

  “No, but there’s more people than normal lingering around outside, and Fudge is trying to buy me off with brownies in bed.” She looked around, her mouth in a small moue, brownie crumbs still clinging to the corners as evidence that it had worked to some degree.

  She walked over to my breakfast plate. “I see she’s gotten to you as well.”

  I pulled on my boots quickly and tucked in the knife. “Don’t look at me like that when you have chocolate breath. I’m on it.”

  “Okay, I’ll go back to handling my business,” she said, and I guessed there must be some brownies left.

  “Tiffy, did you talk to your friends for me?” I asked before she walked out the door.

  I’d never seen a kid make the uh oh face like she just did. “I might need some time. When they extended the invitation to you and you didn’t meet them, well, let’s say it didn’t make them happy.”

  I kneeled down to tie my boots and realized that I probably couldn’t meet them because they didn’t exist. The magic had come back when I needed it most. It was still in there. There weren’t any mystery creatures blocking me. Whatever was wrong was something I must have been doing.

  I watched her leave, telling myself she was just a lonely kid with invisible friends, and that was all.

  * * *

  There was a crowd formed around the back porch by the time I stepped outside a few minutes later. Even if I hadn’t known by the numbers, I scanned the faces and realized it wasn’t just the people who lived here on the compound mulling around but the people from the surrounding areas. What was going on?

  I spotted Bookie standing along the back of the crowd. Our eyes met and I saw the same question on his face. He didn’t know what this was about either.

  I weaved through people, most of which I saw every day, some of them still giving me a wide berth, even though no one had dropped dead from the Bloody Death since I’d been there. In instances like this, though, it came in handy. I let loose a few coughs to clear my way where it was tight, and then walked along the perimeter until I was standing beside Bookie.

  “You don’t know either?” I asked, confirming what I thought his expression had said.

  “Nope. I’d heard the chatter this morning that Dax had some sort of announcement he was making, but no one seems to have any idea what it’s about. What took you so long to get out here?”

  I shrugged. “No one told me.” Whatever this was, it probably had nothing to do with me. Or nothing dire. Dax probably wanted to let everyone know they should be on high alert for strangers or something.

  Even with the events of yesterday, it couldn’t possibly be anything about my situation. Dax had been agitated the last time I’d seen him, but if he’d come to some sort of decision on the next step, he would’ve talked to me. No. Dax wouldn’t just spring something on me, out here with everyone else, without even giving me so much as a heads-up. We were past that point.

  Weren’t we? But then why would Fudge try and buy me off with a plate of bacon?

  “You feeling okay?” Bookie asked.

  I shoved my hands in my pockets to stop them from clenching. “Yeah, right as rain.”

  “Okay, because you really seem off. Is it because of the…”

  I knew he meant the Dark Walkers showing up but didn’t want to utter the name here. “No, not at all.”

  I wasn’t lying. I was off, but for other reasons.

  I didn’t know how much Bookie was aware of magic, but I wasn’t ready to give a course on it and then explain that mine had gone belly up, except for occasional life-threatening event. I couldn’t explain it myself, let alone to him.

  Plus, it was probably only a temporary problem. I wouldn’t let it be a permanent issue, even if I had to set my chest on fire to fix it. Still, this was not the day for Dax to spring anything new on me.

  The devil himself stepped out onto the porch just in time to head off the next question I saw forming in Bookie’s mind.

  Dax scanned the crowd. He always scanned his immediate area for threats, even here. It wasn’t obvious unless you were watching for it. He might shut down his emotions handily, but he was always looking for the fight. That never turned off.

  When his gaze passed over mine, there was something in it that sent a shiver through me. A coldness, like he was already gearing up for a fight and this one was with me.

  Oh no. He wouldn’t. Not like this.

  He cleared his throat, and the few people who were whispering to themselves ceased. “I’ll be leaving for a while with a select few others. While I’m gone, Lucy is in charge.”

  That was it. Two sentences in front of everyone to tell me we were leaving. Two sentences that sent my temper to boiling. Two fucking senten
ces he couldn’t have told me before this, in private?

  He didn’t scan the crowd any longer, but let his gaze stop on me again. I knew this look well. It was his I’m in charge and I’ve made a decision. Live with it. I waited for details to follow, but he turned abruptly and walked back in the house, the squeaky door rebelling as well.

  I certainly wasn’t going to just live with it.

  Bookie immediately turned and hit me with a stare of his own, so condemning I felt it before I turned.

  “You weren’t going to tell me?” His words were riddled with raw, open pain, as if I’d leave here and not say something to him.

  “I would’ve told you if I knew.” Dax couldn’t be including me in the “few” without so much as a word to me privately. I had to be wrong.

  “Good, because that would’ve been fucked up.”

  I patted Bookie’s shoulder, using Tiffy’s standby consolation because I was too dumbfounded to think of what else to do. I was starting to see the merit of the move.

  “I’ll be back. I’m going to go find out exactly what he’s talking about.”

  Bookie reached out and grabbed my arm as I moved to leave. “You want me to come?”

  “No. This is a conversation I need to have mano a mano.”

  I could tell Bookie didn’t like that answer, but he’d respect me enough to not try and impose his wishes on me, unlike some others.

  I made my way through the crowd that was breaking into smaller groups, all speculating on the news. They were whispering and shooting glances in my direction, surely accusing me of being the reason as they worked up their conspiracy theories.

  Yeah, it was me. I was the problem. I wanted to question the whole lot of them and ask how long they’d lived there and for how many of those years had Dax looked like he was thirty? Oh no, that nobody talked about. That didn’t raise any suspicions. Me, my secrets all laid bare for the world to see, I had to be the one hiding things. Not that I wasn’t, but the hypocrisy of the situation was galling right now. I didn’t care who looked at me or how. I was near shaking with anger, and it focused every ounce of my attention toward one man.

  I skirted one group who were already circling Lucy and buttering her up pathetically. The dirty looks Tank had been shooting at Lucy the other night now made sense. He’d been planning this for a while. Tank surely felt like he’d been passed over for a promotion. My guess was that Tank was getting dragged along with us.

  It was a bit of a shock the whole place hadn’t known this was coming as soon as Lucy did. Lucy couldn’t keep two beans in her mouth. And I was the one who’d been avoiding her in the mornings, or she surely would’ve blabbed about it. That was what a peaceful breakfast had cost me.

  I barely managed to keep my comments to myself as I passed another group, all staring at me, and walked in the house. Fudge was in the kitchen arguing with Tiffy, who had probably been listening from the upstairs bedroom.

  “I’m staying,” Tiffy said like she was digging in firmly, and that kid could dig like a groundhog in the garden.

  “It’s not optional for you,” Fudge said, in her best authoritative tone.

  “Why?” Tiffy asked, undaunted.

  “Because I said so.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Fudge as I passed them in the kitchen.

  Fudge narrowed her eyes back. “I saw you ate all your breakfast.”

  I kept walking, leaving the two of them. I knew when I was outclassed. That woman could win an argument with the devil, and I had another battle to win.

  Chapter 13

  Dax was at the bottom of the stairs talking to the guy I knew was in charge of the perimeter guards. “Just remember, if they come, let them search for whatever they want.” He paused for a second, and I knew it was because I’d stopped and was waiting at his back, like he could feel my angry stare nailing him. “They’ll leave once they don’t find it.”

  He turned and started walking up the stairs as if he didn’t know I was there, as if it weren’t glaringly obvious I wanted to talk to him. He was probably heading to his room or some other private place where he could avoid me. Like I’d make it that easy for him. My fingers wrapped around his arm just as he hit the top landing and locked on for the duration. He could either stop and listen to me or drag me along with him, but this talk was happening.

  He stopped easy enough, and I dropped my hand, becoming overly aware of the heat his body threw off.

  He looked at me as if he hadn’t a clue as to what I wanted, nor did he have the time.

  “Who’s leaving?” I asked, spelling it out for him.

  “We are.”

  “Why?”

  He let out a long sigh and gave a condescending glare. “You know why.”

  Score one, Dax. I couldn’t argue the whys of it. I wasn’t ready for a fight with the Dark Walkers. If what he’d told the guard was accurate and they would leave this place alone without me, then it had to happen.

  “When?”

  “Tomorrow night,” he said, and turned to finish the walk to his room. I followed on his heels but didn’t reach for him. The door to his room was already starting to shut, but I shoved it roughly open and then closed it behind me for good measure.

  I watched as he walked over to a chest of drawers and started pulling out items and laying them on his bed.

  “Why? That’s too soon. It’s not good timing. I’m already running shoddily with my magic coming and going in spurts. Can’t we give it another couple of weeks until I sort myself out?” He went back to the drawer, and I thought I saw him pause, as if I was getting through to him, but he didn’t say anything. I needed to be here, in this house. Didn’t he get that? How could I get better anywhere but here? “I can’t leave here. Not yet.”

  “You don’t have a choice. You aren’t safe here, and I can’t afford to let them take you.” There was no give in his voice, and he was moving about the room again.

  I was wrong. There was no budging him.

  “And what if I won’t go? I don’t remember relinquishing control of my life to you.”

  He stopped moving and finally gave me his attention again. “You did the second you decided to stay. If you don’t like the way I do things—”

  “I know. I can leave,” I said before he could. He didn’t realize how many times I’d thought of doing that very thing recently before I’d reminded myself that I needed him. Damn, though, sometimes I wanted to just kick the shit out of him. Again, another reason I was stuck. He was the only one that might be able to teach me how to do that.

  “Do you think they are the only ones out there?” His voice dropped into something just above a whisper. “There’s more coming, and soon.”

  “So we run?”

  “We fight on our terms, not theirs. That’s how you win.”

  My knuckles landed on my hips as I watched him casually go about his business.

  “I do have a choice.”

  “Really? And what would that be? You can’t stay here.”

  So there it was. It was go with him or nothing.

  “Go pack,” he said, before I was forced into making a choice I didn’t want.

  I walked out of his room, slamming the door. It was petty, but I needed whatever I could get right now. It was either that or strangle him. He was stupid, arrogant, and to top it off, he grew fur. He had no redeeming qualities whatsoever, but I still needed him.

  Not to mention that it seemed like whenever he turned into the beast around me, the next time I’d see him he had another layer of ice packed on his glacier.

  Fudge was stirring a huge bowl of chocolaty goodness when I found her downstairs, and Tiffy was long gone. It was Fudge’s second batch in under a month. I guessed I wasn’t the only one unhappy with the plans.

  I walked past the stool and hopped up onto the counter beside the bowl.

  “Why’s he such a dick?” I didn’t expand on who the dick was. She was smart enough to know exactly who I meant. After all, she’d tried to stall m
e from witnessing his dick move this morning.

  She’d been right. If I hadn’t been there, he would’ve been forced to tell me one on one. I should’ve stayed in the bedroom. Would that have been so friggin’ difficult? Fudge was right about almost everything. I should probably start listening to her hints. I wouldn’t be nearly as annoyed right now.

  She stopped stirring to grab a spoon and load it up for me. “Here,” she said, handing over the chocolate.

  I took it without argument. After all, I wasn’t mad at her, and it must be a sin somewhere to turn down Fudge’s fudge.

  She went back to stirring. “It has to happen.”

  “I’m not mad about the leaving part. I understand that. It’s everything else he does that’s irritating me. Why can’t he sit us down and discuss this? Why blurt out his orders?”

  “You would’ve been fine with it then? Is that what you’re telling me? You were going to be mad no matter how you found out,” she said, waving a spoon covered in fudge at me. “Whether you realize it or not, you are the main reason he’s doing this.”

  “You’re making excuses for his jackass behavior.”

  She rested her spoon on the side of her bowl to give me her full attention. “Then why did you ask me?”

  “Because you’ve known this particular jackass longer. Your guess is better than mine. I didn’t ask him to do this.”

  “That has no bearing in his mind. You knew this was coming. You knew when he said there’d been strangers spotted around the area, and you knew when you visited the Rock. Did you really need it spelled out?”

  I hated when someone besides me was right.

  “I don’t want to go.” I looked down at my finished spoon.

  Fudge handed me another loaded one. “It’s a nice place and it won’t be forever.”

  A nice place for normal people to be with other normal people. If I was a normal person, then she might be right.

  “It’ll be okay. We’ll come back.”