I looked up, meeting Hunter’s pale eyes. The look wasn’t so apathetic now. If anything, he appeared like he was as confused as I felt.
My hands were shaking as I rubbed them together. Trusting Hunter was huge. I could be making a big mistake. What if it was Hunter who wanted to kill me? And he just liked to play with his food first? My heart twisted at that, but a tiny voice inside me told me that wasn’t the case. If Hunter had wanted me dead, he could’ve done it by now. And I had trusted him earlier.
I had to trust him again.
“Okay,” I said, and it felt like I was stepping off a cliff.
Hunter’s lips twitched as if he wished to smile, and the knots in my stomach grew.
Chapter 18
I packed what Hunter had bought me in a daze. He had dug up a small suitcase and everything fit. It only took a few minutes, but it felt like hours. By now I should be used to the unexpected—the bizarre—but I was shell-shocked by the turn of events.
The government wanted me dead.
As I flung my last pair of jeans into the suitcase, my heart skipped a beat. How in the world could I survive this if the government was also in it? There’d be nowhere I could go. I’d never have control over my life again.
The enormity of the situation pressed down upon me. I felt the telling catch of my breath again and swore.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I did trust Hunter. And right now he was all that I had to count on.
Zipping up my suitcase, I quickly scanned the room for anything else I needed.
There was nothing and there was no time to delay.
Hunter was waiting for me downstairs. His duffel bag was splitting at the seams by the door, but when I got a good look at him, I drew up short.
Wow.
He’d changed. And not just his clothes it seemed.
Under the thin black shirt, the sinew strength of his muscles strained. His thighs were like tree trunks in black leather pants. The boots he now wore were true ass-kickers. He looked nothing like the man who sat on the deck in the mornings, dressed in worn jeans. What stood before me was a full display of power that went beyond masculinity and was far too menacing. Even the wild tumble of dark hair seemed unpredictable.
Hunter oozed danger, but that wasn’t the only thing he was throwing into the air.
Excitement. The kind of danger of a man who could take care of things when they got out of hand and could, and would, fuck you senseless when it was all done.
My cheeks reddened.
Good to know my ovaries were still functioning like sex was going out of style.
Jesus. I shook my head. “You look like your brother.”
Hunter arched a single brow.
“I mean, you are his twin and all, but you really look like him.” I paused. “You are Hunter, right?”
A small smile appeared. “I like what you did with your teeth when you were on your knees before me.”
“Yeah, you’re Hunter.” Flushing a deep red, I gestured at his bag. “Where are we going?”
“We need a car. Dex is taking care of that for us.”
“We can trust him?” I asked.
“Absolutely.” He nodded toward the kitchen. “If you want anything to drink, the kitchen is clear. I took care of them.”
I shuddered. I didn’t want to know how he took care of the bodies. Frankly, as wussy as this made me, I didn’t want to think about them at all.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m going to take this outside.”
He gave a sharp nod.
Tugging the suitcase along, I went out on the deck, sort of surprised that he hadn’t made some sort of remark about me not roaming off.
The night was dark and full of deep shadows, but the clean mountain air was soothing. As I propped the luggage against a chair, I felt my tense and tight muscles loosen.
Down below, a black Expedition was parked in the driveway, most likely belonging to the dead officers. Another shiver rippled through me.
Unable to really understand why he’d stopped the agents from doing what they came to do, I grabbed the handle on the suitcase and hauled it down the steps. The whole situation spun my head in circles. Maybe later, if there was a later, I could figure this out.
I turned to head back up the steps, when something blurred past the Expedition. It was like a shadow cast from a very tall man. But no one was on the deck. No one was anywhere.
A warning snaked down my spine a second before my breath puffed out in a small, misty cloud and froze, like it had the other night when Hunter had been seconds from losing control. Under my hand, the railing turned ice-cold. I jerked away from it.
Oh shit.
Adrenaline kicked in and I twisted, but the icy coating on the step caused me to lose my balance. I slipped, my knees cracking off the porch step. Hot pain shot down my legs.
A cold hand circled my bare ankle and yanked me back. I desperately tried to grasp the railing, but I lost my grip. I twisted onto my side and my cheek smacked against the board. Another burst of pain exploded across my face and lip. I sucked in a harsh breath, tasting blood.
Dark, thick tendrils of smoke wafted out, reaching me, slipping over my skin and chilling me to the bone.
I screamed.
…
What the fuck could be happening now?
I had felt the presence of others seconds before I heard Serena’s shrill, panicked scream cut straight through me, triggering the part that was more monster than human.
The part had been activated when I’d taken out the officers in the kitchen and it worked off the basest of instinct for my kind—the need to dominate, to kill, to feed, and to protect what was mine.
To protect what was mine…
Rushing the door, I threw it open. My eyes scanned the night. Serena was nowhere, but her suitcase was at the bottom of the steps. But there were others—two of them in the driveway, one further down the road, but that was Dex, and another in the woods.
A shadow blurred across the driveway, coming to a halt at the bottom of the stairs.
Out of the shapeless mass, a form began to take shape. Within seconds, a tall woman stood there. Her icy blond hair was loose over bare shoulders. The strapless halter she wore did very little to hide the swells of her breasts or her toned midsection.
It was Jael, one of the three that had been by the gazebo the day Serena decided to take a little walk.
Jael’s hips swayed with each step. Her skirt climbed higher and higher, until I saw a thin strip of white lace.
“Hunter,” she purred, her bloodred lips parting as she rolled her tongue around my name. “I think it’s long past the time we get to know each other on a personal level.”
“Really?” I replied. “Where’s your boy Raz?”
She gave a vapid smile. “He’s busy. That just leaves me and you.”
“And Colec,” I pointed out, referencing the other one.
Jael ran a hand down the valley of breasts and her stomach. “He likes to watch.”
“Good.” I watched her prowl up the remaining steps. “I have something for him.”
“You do?” She slinked up against me. “I like where this is heading.”
I wrapped a hand around Jael’s throat. The female smiled. “I like it rough,” she whispered.
“That’s great because it’s about to get really rough.”
Jael’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch. I spun around, lifting her up in the air, tossing her over the railing. Stunned, the Arum didn’t drop the human form quick enough. She smacked off the hood of the Expedition below.
Grabbing the railing, I propelled myself over it, landing below in a crouch. My head snapped up as Jael rolled off the hood and fell onto her knees, gasping.
A shadow launched over the SUV, heading straight for me.