It’s antiquated at best, and not something I want to partake in. I’ll happily be a stay-at-home mom, but there’s no way in hell I’m moving into his family complex where I’ll feel like just another obedient wife added to their cult.
“Hey,” Ryder starts as the truck slows to a stop at a red light. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Don’t worry, babe. I promise I’ll never let anything come between us.”
Chapter
Three
NOW…
Ibring my hands to my face, fingers still trembling, and close my eyes. I’m sitting in the ER waiting room, not sure what’s going on. They just took Devon through a set of double doors and I wasn’t allowed to follow them. In the back of my mind, I’m sure they’re taking him straight to the OR to get the arrow out of his chest and to stop the bleeding.
But I’m just here. Alone. And vaguely aware that people are staring at me. I am covered in blood, after all.
Something familiar pulls on my heart and I look up as Xavier speeds through the lobby, coming to my side in an instant. A few people in the waiting room gasp, and a mother pulls her crying toddler closer into her lap.
“Wren,” Xavier breathes, and drops to his knees in front of me. He takes my hands in his and looks me over.
“It’s not my blood,” I tell him.
“I know,” he says, able to smell the difference. “Are you hurt at all?”
“No, I’m not,” I assure him, knowing he needs to hear it from my lips in order to believe it. “Mabel?”
“She’s okay. Ezekiel is with her.”
“Good.” I let out a shaky breath, eyes fluttering shut. So much has happened in the last day. Has it only been a day? Was it really just last night I was in Connecticut, finding my family’s graves? It feels like ages ago.
Xavier gently cups my chin and kisses the top of my head. “I need you to tell me what happened.”
I slowly inhale and open my eyes. “With who? Mabel or Devon?”
“I have a feeling they’re connected.”
A wave of anxiety flows through me. “Don’t leave me.”
“I won’t,” he says and I know, without a shadow of a doubt, he means it. I look into his blue eyes, remembering how things changed between us, too. It wasn’t just sex—it was a connection on another level. Xavier opened up and took me in, showed me that he really will choose me over anyone else. I am his wife and we are family. It didn’t happen in a conventional way at all, but he takes his word seriously.
I know he feels the same things I do.
“I got back to the house,” I start, feeling panic begin to rise in my chest. Xavier moves into the seat next to me, keeping a hold of my hands. “Wait, before that. On the way, I looked at Mabel’s Instagram and traced back where that photo was taken because the girl was holding a cup that said “We Proudly Serve Starbucks”which means it came from a location that wasn’t a Starbucks but served it, which narrowed it down. The cup was full, so I made the assumption they were nearby wherever she got the iced coffee. Then I reverse imaged searched areas around locations that serve Starbucks and found the street they were on.”
“That’s…that’s really impressive.”
I shrug. “PI work is like half of being a hunter. A good one, at least. And that’s when it hit me that if I could find her location that easily, other hunters could. And other hunters kinda have itout for me—and my new family.” Saying those last three words feels natural. “I had Larissa’s sweater in my box of stuff we took from the compound. I did a locator spell on her and took the chance that she might be the one who took Mabel. I just…I just had a feeling.”
“You are very intuitive.”
I nod. “I guess. But, um, I was right.”
“Was it only Larissa?” Xavier asks in a level tone.
I swallow hard and look into his eyes. My lips part but before I can get any words out, it hits me that what I say next can influence who lives and dies. It’s a lot to process in such a short amount of time. Do I want Larissa to suffer? She’s been nothing but cruel to me my entire life. I’ve never done anything to her to make me deserve such treatment. And Mabel? Mabel was innocent. Larissa took the easiest vampire to capture, drugged and tortured her.
And I know as soon as I say the other two names, I’m sentencing them to death. There won’t be stopping Xavier and Theo this time. That’s assuming Ezekiel doesn’t get to them first.
