Aiden lifted from the couch. “We should probably be going too.”
Dana didn’t budge from her position on the loveseat. Instead she lasered her stare into the back of her aunt’s head. “What are you hiding from me?”
A wary stillness washed over Emmaline. She clutched the doorframe, her knuckles rigid. Half expecting her aunt to try for a quick escape into the night, Dana shoved from the loveseat and stalked to the door. “Exactly what kind of hunting did my dad teach Leo?”
“Oh fuck,” Jace groaned from behind her.
His outburst slammed into her with the subtlety of a two-by-four. She swiveled and caught the fast exchange of glances between Aiden and Jace.
Just like that, she knew. The realization that’d slowly been building inside her the past two hours exploded in an ugly mess. “My dad hunted you guys, didn’t he? He was a slayer.”
Jace averted his gaze but she wouldn’t let Aiden off so easily. Storming to the couch, she towered over him, her body shaking with the chaotic emotions whirling inside her. “Answer me, damn it.”
“Yes, he was.”
Oh God. She staggered back a step, the contents of her stomach threatening to make a reappearance on Emmaline’s Chinese rug. A pair of strong arms wrapped around her middle, pulling her onto the couch. Ducking her head, she waited for the queasiness to abate. Her aunt’s footsteps rushing across the carpet sounded like a dull thud in Dana’s eardrums. Emmaline’s weight settled on the cushion and the familiar scent of lilacs drifted to Dana’s nose. Rather than offering its usual comfort, her aunt’s perfume increased Dana’s nausea.
Emmaline’s hand curved around Dana’s knee. “I never meant for you to find out.”
“Don’t you think I had a right to know?” Dana scrubbed furiously at the tears starting to accumulate on her lashes. “God, even Aiden and Jace—who you didn’t even know until a week ago—know more than me.”
“Your aunt didn’t mean to tell us,” Aiden said, stroking her back gently. “When we harassed her about the hunters sitting in La Luna’s bar, the truth kind of came spilling out.”
She gaped at him before swerving her focus to Emmaline. “How many hunters have been hanging around me all this time?”
Emmaline cleared her throat, her cheeks growing pink. “Including Leo—twenty, give or take.”
“Oh my God.” Dana surged to her feet, knocking both Emmaline and Aiden’s hands aside. “Is there anyone in my life who isn’t a hunter?”
“I’m not.” Emmaline’s voice held a quiet hesitancy. “And I don’t think Raul is. At least he’s never mentioned it.”
“Probably only because he can’t find a camouflage dress that flatters his figure,” Dana said, unable to disguise the bitterness that’d crept into her tone. She paced in front of the couch before turning to assess the three people staring at her with obvious worry. It was like she’d been looking at things through the wrong end of a telescope all this time. Suddenly the lens had been flipped and the big picture made clear. Only she didn’t like what she saw. “Why did my dad decide to hunt?”
Emmaline fidgeted with her silver claddagh ring and refused to meet Dana’s eyes, causing the bile to rise again in Dana’s throat.
Dana swallowed, trying to keep down her dinner and her agony. “He did it because of me, didn’t he?”
An answer would have been less damning than the silence surrounding her. The room felt like it was pressing in on her, making it difficult to breathe. “I—I need to go home. Please.”
Aiden and Jace shot to their feet, but Emmaline struggled a bit extricating herself from the cushions. “Hon, you’re still upset. We should talk—”
“You waited twenty-seven years to tell me all this. I think our talk can wait until tomorrow.” Tugging her misery around her like an invisible cloak, Dana stormed out the door.
Dana’s unusual silence during the ride to her house scared the hell out of Aiden. It seemed no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t unlock her from the dark prison of her inner turmoil. The news about her father had hit her hard and he didn’t know how to make it better for her.
The second he shifted into park in front of the garage, Dana scrambled from the vehicle and disappeared inside the house. He started after her but Jace blocked the path.
“Leave her be. She needs space to sort things out.”
Heeding Jace’s advice felt like the toughest thing he’d ever endured. Giving the front stoop a longing glance, he followed Jace inside the tent. They sat across from each other on the mattresses, neither saying anything for a long spell. Aiden’s patience started to buckle and he moved to stand.
“Christ. It’s only been five minutes.”
Aiden thunked back onto the mattress. “Us sitting here doing nothing isn’t helping anything.”
“And you running in there making things worse will?”
“Since you know so goddamn much, how about you come up with a brilliant plan.”
Jace leaned back on his elbows and studied him. “For starters, how about you admit you’re in love with Dana?”
He briefly returned Jace’s penetrating stare before giving up and shifting his attention to his boots. “I did. She wasn’t exactly thrilled with the news.”
“Weird. Most chicks like it when you break out the L word.”
“Does Dana strike you as being like most chicks?”
Jace chuckled. “Good point.”
“She wants a normal life. Something we sure as hell can’t give her. And this business with her father just complicates things more.”
“Do you suppose she sees having a relationship with us as being a slap in his face?”
A thick lump lodged in Aiden’s throat. “What do you think?” He pushed to his feet and walked to the opened tent flap. The house remained dark as a funeral shroud. The analogy seemed fitting because all his hopes and dreams were dying around him.
Chapter Twenty-One
The sound of an engine gunning slapped Aiden from a restless sleep. Fighting his way from the blanket entangling his legs, he hurtled off the mattress. He stumbled outside in time to catch Dana’s Suburban hightailing it down the driveway. “Son of a bitch!”
Racing back inside the tent, he frantically scanned for his set of car keys. He found them still tucked in the pocket of the trousers he’d worn the night before. Palming the keys, he ran to the Navigator. He skidded to a halt when he noticed the flattened front tire. Blinking, he circled the hood and gaped at the flat tire on the passenger side. Footsteps padded behind him and he pivoted.
Jace scruffed a hand through his major case of bed hair. “What’s all the commotion about?”
“She let the air out of the tires,” Aiden said, his voice spiked with disbelief.
Jace shuffled sideways and peered at the ground, apparently just realizing he stood where POC was usually parked. “Dana took off?”
Fury and frustration boiled inside Aiden. He bared his teeth at his brother. “So much for giving her space.”
“How was I supposed to know this would happen?” Jace’s hangdog expression contradicted his defensive tone.
Scared and angry to the point he couldn’t see straight, Aiden stormed inside the tent and searched for his cell phone. Once he located it, he called his roadside assistance provider and gave them Dana’s street address.
“Isn’t Dana supposed to work the Ren fair today? Maybe she’s headed there.”
He shot Jace a doubtful look. “At six thirty in the morning?”
“Okay. What about her aunt’s then?”