“I’ve lost interest in the subject since becoming a father.” To prove my point, I pulled up a pic of Eira and shoved it in front of him.
“Nice.”
Hmmm, maybe he should join the “not interested in babies” club with Atticus, though his reaction was nothing compared to that other guy, the one I’d shared…
Ugh, I put my head in my hands. “Listen, I no longer think I’m a hunter.”
The second the words left my mouth, I regretted them and waved my hands around, trying to get them back. Holden froze with one hand in the air.
Shit, what had I done? I couldn’t look around because I was scared of what I’d see. Seconds, maybe minutes went by and Holden hadn’t moved. He was stricken with what? Fear? Indecision? Horror? All three?
Finally he swallowed and his lips parted. “Keep your voice down.”
A movement in the corner of my eye got my attention. Fuck. Bardoul. It had to be him. He charged toward the entrance, and his expression mirrored Holden’s. Jack entered just as he was leaving, and I sort of waved, but Bardoul grabbed her and they left.
If my secret, which might not be real, was out, I’d be hounded from college, and I should get back to the infirmary. But Jack would talk sense into Bardoul. Hunters weren’t real, as Phelan insisted, and Mika was dead, so there’d be no more killing for twenty years. Great, I’d just put that on my calendar so there’d be a reminder before I got the urge.
“Why would you say that?That’swhy you were interested in them?”
I was fucked. “It was hormones. I was also seeing little green men and hearing voices.” I wasn’t pregnant when I’d first read about hunters, but Holden might not be able to count. I trusted that he couldn’t or it was a minor detail and he wouldn’t get fixated.
“Okay. I was freaked for a moment.” He wiped a hand over his brow. “But as far as you know, latents can’t be hunters, as they’re shifters. With the information you have, only humans are hunters.”
I put my head on the table and thunked it three times. Not only had I told him I’d convinced myself I was a hunter, but I’dpretty well revealed my true status and species. And what was that bit about as far as I knew?
I wriggled my ring finger. I could ignore what I’d blurted out or fill him in. We couldn’t have an honest conversation without him having all the details. “It’s a long story and I won’t get into the deets, but this ring makes me scent latent.”
If Holden was freaked before, he now appeared shellshocked. His pupils were tiny, and he gripped the table with trembling hands.
“You…” he spluttered. “You’re human.” He slapped his brow.
“And you have to keep my secret now that I’ve shared it.” I preferred not to guilt him, but I was going to. “Because if you blab, you’ll put me and my innocent baby daughter in danger.” I dangled the phone in his face and showed him her pic again.
He rubbed his fists in his eyes. “Fine. I didn’t want to, but your daughter’s innocent in all of this.”
“So, what have you found out?” I never thought I’d be eager to talk about hunters.
“In my research, I discovered an aberration.”
“Yeah, okay.” My mind was back on Bardoul, and I sent a message to Phelan asking if Eira was all right. Holden needed to wind this up so I could get to my daughter.
Holden went on about the time centuries before hunters supposedly split from shifters, which I knew about, but he added that some remained shifters and also developed a hunter side.
Eira is asleep. All well here. I breathed easier on reading my mate’s text.Are you coming back before your next class?
I understood how Phelan couldn’t understand why I wasn’t with our daughter when I’d had such a hard time leaving her this morning.
Not sure.
But Holden was still jabbering on about hunters and freaking me the fuck out.
“And the dual identities almost drove them insane.”
And I’d opened my mouth and blabbed to him about hallucinations. Maybe I could pretend I’d eaten mushrooms that made people see weird stuff.
“So, what? They terrorized the population and killed more than one person per generation or what?”
“They reacted differently. Some vanished, others died an early death, a few sat in the woods and meditated, some had visions, and others were jailed or had their heads lopped off.”
