Chapter one
Jack
Theleaveshavebrowned,littering the yard with their dead carcasses. Through my bedroom window upstairs, I could see my dad, Darren, raking the leaves into large piles, the afternoon sun beaming down on him. His head lifted and turned toward the kitchen back door.
I pressed my face harder against the cool glass where I sat in my window seat in my bedroom, watching as my mom walked out into the yard, a coffee cup in her hand and a mischievous grin on her face.
My brow arched. This couldn’t end well.
She stopped in front of my dad. Their voices were too muffled through the glass for me to make them out, even with my supernatural hearing. Whatever she said made my dad tip her chin up, his usual unreadable expression hinting amusement. He reached for the cup in her hand, which my mom held out of his reach with a laugh, backing up from him with a taunting wiggle of her body.
My dad set the rake against a nearby tree before approaching her. He said something that made her stick her tongue out before he struck, grabbing her around the waist. My mom twisted her legs between his, knocking him off balance, and they went falling into the freshly made pile of leaves, the coffee cup crashing to the ground, its contents splashing across the stone pathway.
Neither of them seemed to care anymore, their attention completely on the other. When they started kissing, I turned away from the mirror. Partly because no one wanted to see their parents make out. Partly cause of the fist that felt like it was squeezing around my heart at the sight.
I’d been back at my parents’ house for two weeks now, and it felt like eternity. Tate had messaged and called me. Most I’d left unread or let go to voicemail. I knew he was just worried about me, like everyone else. But it was hard to pretend that everything was alright.
I didn’t blame him that I was stuck here at my parents’ house instead of back at the academy. It wasn’t like it was his fault. It was utterly and absolutely clear that I was the one to blame. I was the one who went out on my own without backup or telling anyone again. Julian had warned me over and over again, and I hadn’t listened.
Julian was another thing.
Besides that one moment before I walked into the headmaster’s office, I hadn’t seen or heard from Julian since. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt. We had just gotten back together, or I thought we had, and already we were having issues. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. We were too different. He liked to follow the rules, and I… well, I followed them when they suited me.
I didn’t even want to think about Kyren right now and what had happened at his apartment. If it hadn’t been for him, my mom and dad would be mourning me instead of making out inthe backyard. The thought of how close I’d come made it feel like a heavy ball was sitting in my throat.
Sighing, I pressed my face to the material of my leggings, my eyes burning as I stared out the window.
Maybe my dad, Antoine, was right. Maybe I shouldn’t be a hunter. Maybe I could go into something else. Law enforcement? No, I might have an advantage over the human cops, but a bullet could still kill me as easily as it could kill them. There had to be something I was good at other than tracking down supernatural beings, right?
“Still spiraling, I see.”
I sniffed, not turning to look at my dad, Rayne. “It’s not polite to read people’s minds.”
“Yeah, but when it’s my daughter…” His presence moved closer until he stood beside the window in the shadows, even though the special laminated glass didn’t allow any UV rays in to harm him. “I’ll make an exception.”
I rolled my eyes. “One of these days you’re going to listen in and hear something you don’t want to.”
He chuckled, running a hand through his red hair before he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. “I think I’ll take my chances.”
I hummed in response.
Rayne stood there for a few moments, watching out the window. No doubt he saw Darren and my mom out in the leaves. I kept my eyes up on the trees, though it did nothing to keep the melancholy feeling out of my chest.
“The others are worried you’re going to waste away up here,” Rayne began after a few minutes.
I snorted. “With how much food dad brings me for every meal, I highly doubt that has a chance of happening.”
“Still,” he squatted down in front of me, peering up into my face, “you’d keep everyone from worrying so much if you left thisroom.” He sniffed a bit and then wrinkled his nose. “Maybe take a shower.”
“I do not stink.” I grabbed the pillow off the window seat and threw it at him.
He laughed.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I leaned back and sighed. “I just don’t know what to do with myself. Can’t go back to school. Can’t hunt. Can’t even go to the guild and train. I’m just… stuck.”
Rayne sank to the floor beside me. “You could take up a hobby?”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Like what? All I know how to do is kill.”
