“Stop being a fucking idiot,” I counter, and I laugh when he smacks my ass.
“Well then,” Micah says. “I didn’t plan to bring her, but she bullied me into it.”
“I did not,” I say with a frown. “You were more than happy to pick me up in your arms.”
“You did what?!” Soren booms.
“You little shit,” Micah laughs. “She was in pain and demanded that I bring her here. Next time I drag her out by her hair. Deal?”
“Better,” Soren says.
“Asshole,” I gasp and smack Soren’s arm. He grins at me, and I realize that this is the first time he has smiled at me. Like a real,genuine smile. I don’t say anything, because I don’t want to ruin it.
“We have a contract that needs to be handled,” Micah says.
“Alright,” Soren says. “We can drop you off at home, Talia.”
“Okay,” I say. “Try not to lose your head again.”
“You think you’re a funny little brat, huh?” he says, frowning at me.
“Yep,” I say with a smile.
Soren is without a doubt a monster, and we might be stuck, but I am moving through this life with him with eyes wide open, fully aware that he chooses me, even when he doesn’t want to. That’s more respect than I’ve ever been offered, and that means something. Maybe oblivion isn’t so bad after all.
Chapter Thirteen
Soren
One Month Later
“How much longer?” Diegocomplains, flopping back on the shitty motel mattress.
“He’ll be here,” I say. I know everyone wants to go home, but this fucker has evaded us for weeks. We can’t keep letting him slip past us. This time, he went hours away. We’ve got him now, though.
“I’m so bored,” Vaughn mutters from the chair in the corner.
“White sedan pulling in,” Micah says from the window. “Getting out…. Fuck yeah! There’s our man. Jeff Jones. Got you, motherfucker.”
“Alright. You know the drill. We wait until he is in his room, and then we move,” I say. “If he gets a chance to run, he will. He knows we are after him.”
Everyone agrees, so we wait. I’m trying not to be impatient, but I, too, want to go home. The last month has been weirdly good. Henry knows without a doubt that I am alive, but he hasn’t reacted to the fact that my head went from gaping open to perfectly fine in under an hour. I’m sure he’s confused, but I won’t discount that he somehow knows that I am a hybrid.
I have accepted that I won’t get rid of Talia. Not right now, at least. I have gotten used to her being around, and she doesn’t piss me off the way she used to. Truthfully, we are coexisting well. Night is the only time we come together at all, but we don’t speak. There is nothing to say other than we know we are dependent on the other, love it or hate it.
We sit in silence and wait. After nearly thirty minutes, Micah looks up from his tablet. “It’s go time, boys,” he says with a grin.
“Thank fuck,” Vaughn sighs as he stands up.
We walk out of the room. Vaughn, Caine, and Laurent go around to the side window of his room while Micah, Diego, and I go to the main door. When we get closer, we can hear the televisionplaying. I knock, and he responds immediately. “What?” Jeff grunts.
“This is the front desk. There was a problem with your payment,” Micah says calmly. When the door opens, Diego punches him so hard that he flies back and slams against the wall.
“You thought you could hide from us,” I say as we step in. The others get in and shut the door, and Jeff frantically looks around for something to defend himself with. He picks up his pocket knife, and I laugh when he tries stabbing me. It feels like the smallest pin prick. I swipe it away from him and slam it into the side of his arm.
“Ah!” he screams and falls back holding his now-bleeding arm.
A wave of nausea hits me, and I step back a bit dazed. Vaughn steps up, and the others start beating the shit out of him as I grab the wall to keep myself from falling over.
