“Hi.”
Luke stood there, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and scrubbing at his damp hair with a towel. The wind blew, and he shivered. “Get inside; it’s freezing.”
He disappeared, leaving the door ajar. I stepped into the house, welcoming the heat as I shut myself inside. I heard him fumbling around in what I assumed to be his bedroom, but I could have mistaken the room for a closet. The apartment was almost as small as my studio in Vegas, and nowhere near as nice. The walls were dingy, to the point where they’d need more than a good scrub to bring them back to life. The carpet had once been white but had deepened to a stomach-churning beige, and I didn’t want to know what the stain by the entertainment center was. A used couch sat in the corner, and it looked like it hadn’t seen the light of day since Hannah was born.
“What are you doing here?” Luke reappeared, having pulled on a sweater. “Is Kian okay?”
“He’s fine—myson-in-lawisn’t the reason I’m here.”
Luke smiled, but it faded quickly. “Guess we’re truly family now.”
I crooked a brow. “I’d rather not think about that given our history.” Luke scoffed, dropping onto the couch. “Sothisis where you’re living now?”
“It was all I could get on short notice. Did you come here just to inspect my apartment?”
Oh, how I wish I had. “Actually, I came here to ask if you knew of any hunters in the area.”
Luke stilled, then his dark green eyes hardened. “How would I know? You know that I left them.”
“I know,” I said, reaching into my pocket and withdrawing the necklace. “But I found this on the ground by my car. It’s one of theirs, isn’t it?”
Luke took the chain from me, flipping on a lamp. He turned the cross over and inspected it under the light. “Yeah, it’s one of theirs. See that?” I leaned in, uncomfortable with how close we were. But Luke didn’t seem bothered, so I tried to focus on what he was showing me, squinting to see the tiny lines etched in the silver.Memento vivere.
“What’s it mean?”
“It’s Latin for ‘remember to live.’ Their trademark—a reminder of what they’re fighting for.”
“Who’s ‘they?’”
“Virtus. The society I worked for.”
Luke dropped the necklace on the table in front of him in disgust and took a step away from it. He looked…scaredof it.
“Luke, can they track us through that thing?”
“No,” he said, and some of the tension faded. “It just…”
“Gives you the creeps,” I finished for him. I grabbed the necklace and returned it to my pocket. It reminded me of what it felt like to be near those cursed diamonds last year. In the end, I had to be the one to dispose of the silver so Gabriel could touch them. I never wanted to feel that kind of fear again.
I ran the chain over my fingers in my pocket, mulling over my next move.
“Like I’ve told James, I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” Luke said. “I just don’t want to get involved. If anyone can take these guys out, it’s the two of you, but I don’t want to be killed in the process. Not before Kian’s forgiven me.”
Well punch me right in the heart, why don’t you? “What do they want?”
Luke let out a long breath. “They hunt monsters to preserve humanity. The only motive they have is to save the human race.” As he spoke, his attention trailed down to my neck. “He turned you, didn’t he?”
I stiffened. “Why would you ask that?”
“That’s a nasty mark on your neck. One I’ve only seen on vampires. And I’ve never seen anyone survivetwoof them.”
I hesitated, unsure how much information I wanted to trust Luke with.
Unfortunately, he read right through the move. “Keep your secrets,” he said with a shrug. “But I’ve never seen ahumansurvive two bites. So either you’re a vampire, or…”
This was clearly my cue to leave. “I should go,” I said, a little too quickly. “We have, um, wedding planning to do.”
“Ah, wedding planning.” Luke smirked. “Kian mentioned you got engaged. Congratulations.”
