“Gladly!Yes.No problem.I’ll sign an NDA and make sure my mom does it, too.Oh my God!I never thought that was the reason for him trying to track me down.”I have to laugh.“Duh!I thought he was obsessed with me because of some nasty threats he made in the past.Now I feel like such an asshole.”
Luna lifts her eyebrows.“Really?You’re not going to shake him down for a fat check?”
“Ha!Don’t make me laugh.Along with our gypsy lifestyle, Mom and me are not exactly familiar with filing tax returns, if you know what I mean.The last thing I want right now is to make a large deposit into my bank account.”
“I’m sure Piers could arrange for you to receive cash or non-fungible tokens, Aila.Gold coins are easy to exchange if you don’t mind selling them at current market prices.”
“No, thanks.It’s reward enough to know I don’t have to be looking over my shoulder anymore.”
I don’t have to run anymore.I don’t need Theron to protect me.We can be together as equals.Poor, pitiful, pathetic me and my beast of a biker.
Luna’s back in the kitchen, sticking a meal into the microwave and setting the timer.
“That should be ready in a few minutes, Aila.Eat it.Eat anything you like.And then swallow a few supplements.Anemia is no joke.Wait here.”
I watch Luna dressed in her beekeepers’ outfit walk outside.
And then she’s gone.
I can’t work out if she hates me or not.I have so many questions I wanted to ask her.
Does she miss doom scrolling on her phone?Or food?But the biggest one has to be whether she misses the sunshine.
Luna was never one of the Original Seven.She’s modern like me.
I suppose knowing that she’s going to outlive all of her friends and family and loveable dog must make her sad.
ChapterTwenty-Seven
Theron
Ismell Luna’s scent as she breezes to a halt outside my lavvu.
“Theron.Put on your clothes and come out.”
She doesn’t want a stray ray of sunshine to catch me through the branches.This far into summer can be real problematic with some of the angles the sun rays can reach, especially in the mid- to late afternoon.
“Hang tight.”I start pulling on my outfit, which isn’t easy.I have to tilt my head because of the tent’s height restrictions.
Gloves, bandana, helmet.Done.
Mid-summer, the sun seems to linger in the sky forever.And I will always see it through the filter of a tinted shield.
“Yep?”
Squatting down, Luna motions for me to sit.If any ramblers or joggers come up the track, they will see nothing more than a biker and a beekeeper hunkering down for a chat.
“Aila is awake and feeling better.She drank some tea, and I left her eating supper.”
“Why am I sitting here like a forest troll getting my cheeks pinched by a helmet just so you can tell me that?”I’m in no mood for polite nothings.
For me, falling in love is the same as trying to tame a wild stallion.Like someone is attempting to stick a bridle between my teeth and a saddle on my back.And just when Aila thought she had me tamed, she went and stuck her spurs into me.
Piers—that smooth-talking son of a bitch—really knew how to stir the pot.I’m shrewd enough to deduce that he had a vested interest in being all polite and charming, but it ended with Aila and her mother looking… dubious at best.Sneaky and greedy at worst.
“Aila doesn’t want money, Hunter.She’s happy to sign the NDA with her mother and just get on with her life.I’m inclined to believe there was never a… financial angle to her relationship with Piers.As for all her other emotional baggage, I’m happy to put that down to Aila being a coward and a mindfuck.”
Luna is wrong.I remember that young woman slogging her ass off at Harry’s Saloon, walking bravely into the night to look for me.
