“I fell in love again, Frankie,” Jess murmured. The words were true, and she knew it the minute she said them. Despite her denials and her ‘falling in love’ declarations, they were lies. Jess was already in love with Mitch.
“And the problem is?”
“He’s descended from the Weideman line.”
Frankie stilled and turned stiffly. Frankenstein’s Monster appeared, and Frankie wrestled him under control.
“Yeah, now imagine Jase’s reaction,” Jess muttered.
Frankie gazed at her and shook his head. “This is a clusterfuck, Jess. You can’t be with him.”
“I know.”
“We’d never trust him. Jess, he’s aHunter!”
“Frankie, I’m well aware.”
Jess crossed her legs and stared at the roses which had bloomed. Five of them for five of her siblings. There’ll never be one for her. She kept making stupid mistakes and falling for the wrong people.
“Jess, is Mitch aware of what you are?”
“God no. I don’t trust him, either.” Jess shook her head.
“Can you imagine Mitch coming here? That’s a disaster in the process. Even if Mitch left here alive, he’d no doubt tell everyone where we were. We’d be in so much danger. Jess, Mitch is a pipe dream.”
Jess’s shoulders slumped. She’d known that, but hearing it from Frankie drove the message home. She’d never get a happy-ever-after.
Frankie sat down and wrapped an arm around her. “Jess, I don’t mean to upset you. But a relationship between one of us and a Hunter will never happen. You’d never know when he’d wake up and slit your throat. Look at Lamia and Emmaline. Hunters nearly destroyed them both. Mitch can never come here. You’d live a dual life and eventually would be estranged from all of us.”
“I understand. Mitch insists he’s not one of them, but I can’t trust him. It just hurts so much.” Jess got to her feet and walked away.
She headed down to the shore and dived in, shifting mid-dive. Ness paddled out to the middle of the lake and sank below the surface. She’d hide here for a while.
Mitch
It had been eight days since he’d last seen Jess, and it was tearing him apart, but he and Diar had finally come up with a solution. Well, Mitch hoped he had. The week had been a nightmare. First, Alfred got bail, although his passport was taken into custody. That wouldn’t stop the old bastard from flying privately to escape prison. However, Alfred was so arrogant that he didn’t think he needed to run.
Clearly, Alfred’s arrest hadn’t stopped his vengeful feelings, as Mitch and Diar had confronted a second Murtair. They dumped his corpse at the estate, called the police, and had Alexander apprehended alongside Alfred this time. The officers were very interested in how a body ended up in the state it did on their land. Then, to ensure a cover-up didn’t happen, Mitch anonymously uploaded the footage of the body and them being arrested. It was all over the media.
In addition to sealing Alfred’s fate, Mitch also released more evidence for four more murders, and that was Alfred done and dusted. Alexander was discharged, but not Alfred. Not that Mitch thought Alexander was bothered. With Alfred out of the way, Alexander now ran the Weideman branch of Sealgair Uilebheist. The Ceann-Feadhna would ensure that Alfred died before he could barter for his freedom.
And Mitch couldn’t care less. All he wanted was Jess, which led him to storm Leon Ericks’ office, much to Ericks’ surprise. Mitch had ruthlessly bullied Diar into making an appointment in his name and then attended himself.
“Well, now. Mitch McQuoid. Funny, you don’t look like Diarmad McDonald,” Leon sat back in his chair and steepled his hands.
“I need you to get something to Jess.” Mitch slid a flash drive over to Leon, who didn’t even glance at it.
“I warned you, McQuoid. Mess with Jess and pay the price. She’s hurting and refuses to even speak to those who care about her,” Leon growled out.
“That should reassure Jess that I meant what I said,” Mitch stated.
“And if I dispose of it?”
“Then you have no right to claim you care about Jess. I love her; that’s not going to change. And I don’t give a fuck what my ancestors did, I’m not them, and that will prove it.”
Leon’s eyes narrowed, and he slowly sat up. “What your ancestors did?”
“Yes.”
