I know I can’t put it off any longer.Where?
Meeting room.
I head that way. When I get to the packhouse, I shift and throw on a pair of sweats from the basket by the front door and head inside. It doesn’t bother me that I’m not wearing a shirt or shoes. We’re pack; they're used to it. Bryce might give me grief for being like this in front of Ava, but I couldn't care less. I stride inside and push the door open to the meeting room.
“Thanks for dressing up,” Ava mutters.
I smirk, calling on my dark side. I need it right now. “Anytime, Princess.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Bryce pins me with a dark look, and I drop into a chair. Everybody’s eyes are on me, and I feel like flipping them all off just for the fun of it. I don’t, though.
Leo slides a box across the table to me. “Thanks.” My voice is dark as I take out the new cell phone.
Bryce turns to me. “What happened?”
“With what?” I can’t help but retort.
He scowls, but it’s Ava that responds verbally. “Maybe you could pull your head out of your backside for thirty seconds and tell us what happened with my friend.” She emphasizes those last two words heavily.
“Sure. Why not?” There’s a niggling in the back of my head that tells me to stay quiet, but I ignore it. She wants the truth? I’ll give it to her. “Where should I start? How about that she was strapping the healer down to the table? Or maybe the part whereshe was taking her life’s energy from her, nearly killing her? Oh, or here’s a good one.”
“Hunter,” Bryce says in a warning voice, one that I ignore.
“How about when she was shoving a needle into the girl’s arm to take her blood?”
I hear a sound, and I finally come back to my senses. My gaze lands on Ava, and regret bubbles inside, but it’s too late. She has her hand over her mouth, and then she stands up from the table and runs out the door. Bryce gives me such a cold look before disappearing from the room. I wonder if he’s going to kill me in my sleep tonight. It’s silent in the room. “When did you become such a jerk?” Cody asks.
I smirk. “I’ve always been this way.”
“No, you haven’t,” Leo says quietly. I don’t look over at him.
“I could have told you this would happen,” Alicia says, leaning back in her chair. “What did you all think was going to happen by bringing avampirehere? At the end of the day, her baser instincts will rule her.”
“Stop, Alicia,” Cody warns in a quiet voice.
“Why should I?” she asks.
“Because Hunter’s going to rip your heart out,” Leo says in just as quiet a voice.
Alicia laughs. “No, he’s not. Why would he?”
There’s silence in the room for all of three seconds. “Because she was his mate,” Cody says quietly.
My heart squeezes, and I find myself gripping the table so hard that it cracks. Alicia gives a brittle laugh. “She’s not his mate. She’s a vampire! What don’t you all get about that?” Her voice is shrill, and it grates on my nerves.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Alicia says, sitting back in her chair. “She made her choice. She’ll have to live with it. Hopefully, the vampires will take their vengeance on her for helping you get the healer out.”
I go very still. “What did you just say?” She looks across the table at me and must see something on my face.
“What?”
I continue to stare at her. “How did you know she helped me get the healer out?”
She stares at me. “I just know, just like everybody else knows.”
“I never told anybody that.”
