Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
“Yeah,” I reply shortly, hating that there’s still a part of me waiting for him to get his head out of his ass and realize that throwing away someone who honestly loved him was the dumbest thing he’d ever done. I know from Leo that Ryder misses me, that he’s hurt too, and that his relationship with his parents has deteriorated, as it would. How can you look your father in the eyes after he forced you to make a choice like that? That’s not real love…not at all.
Ryder apprehensively sits down at the table across from us, a smile on his rugged face. We’re in the back of the tavern, at my usual table, in our hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. My heart skips a beat and I sit up a little taller, reaching up and flipping my brunette hair over my shoulder.
“It was nothing,” I say quietly.
“It was something,” Leo says. He knows what happened with Ryder and has hated the guy in secret ever since. Both Leo and Antonio—and even Larissa—wanted to beat the shit out of Ryder after they learned what went down. I almost had to get Vivian involved before I could convince them no amount of ass beating could make Ryder see what his dad did was wrong.
And for that, I pity him.
Blind loyalty to family doesn’t make you a good person. Sticking with the tradition of a hunter pairing off with another hunter is outdated, wrong, and just stupid. But I can’t fix Ryder’s trauma for him and the most egregious thing about this is that I know he wanted us just as badly as I did. We met once after Daddy laid down the law, and Ryder broke down and confessed that his relationship with his father was already damaged beyond repair. He confessed going against his heart’s wishes by leaving me.
He regretted it then, and I can sense his regret now. But I’m stronger, and anyone who’s going to be my future husband would never leave me like this.
“The demon turned out to be demons. Plural. One had active powers,” Leo goes on. “And Wren took them out like it was nothing.”
I shrug. “It was fun.”
“Damn. I’m kinda jealous,” Ryder replies with a laugh, taking a swig of the beer he was holding when he sat down.
“This sigil was drawn in blood.” Antonio pulls out his phone and shows Ryder the sigil on the floor. “Haven’t placed it yet, though the demon is dead, so I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
“Hmm…I don’t recognize it.” Ryder looks up from the phone, meeting my eyes for a fleeting moment. “Looks like you got out unscathed. How many demons were there?”
“Seven. They’re easy to kill.”
“Especially for you,” Ryder replies, his lips pulling into a grin. His dark brown eyes sparkle under the dim bar lights. Fuck you. You don’t get to talk to me like you know me after what you did. “I’ve seen you in training. You’re scary.”
“I can be when I want to be,” I say in a level tone, though inside, I’m screaming and the voices are conflicted. I want to cuss him out, curse him with impotence, and make that thinning spot on the back of his head turn into full-on baldness. And I want him to choose me. To tell me he made a mistake and he’s sorry and he realized what an idiot he was. I want him to say he’ll do anything to earn my trust back so I can see that he loves me, really loves me.
But he hasn’t…so he won’t.
“I got to watch training last week,” Gia, our youngest sister, pipes in. “Wren is scary but in a good way.”
“You are an excellent hunter,” Antonio tells me and then narrows his eyes playfully. “Even though you did beat my record for knife throws.”
“Should I be sorry?” I laugh.
“I want to see you fight demons someday,” Gia goes on.
“Someday,” I press, hoping that if the day comes and Gia is still a hunter, I will be the one to go out with her so I can keep her safe. “Seven demons at once…that’s…that’s a lot.”
“It really is,” Ryder goes on.
“And we weren’t expecting it,” Leo says.
Larissa leans forward, pushing her shoulder back in a way that shows off her ample chest. Her thick blonde hair is cut short, just barely touching her shoulders. She’s a pretty woman, which matters because we've both been trained to use our looks and femininity to our advantage. “Well, good thing we had our Little Orphan Annie there.”
And just like that, the feeling of being included is ripped out from underneath me. “Don’t call me that,” I retort, rolling my eyes. It’s a bit of a silly, childish nickname, but it stopped being funny the first time I heard it.
“Yeah,” Larissa says, smirking. “Don’t piss her off or she’ll put a curse on you.” Silence falls over the table and, out of the corner of my eye, I can see Gia look from Larissa to me and back again. She’s only eleven and hasn’t been permitted to go on a hunt yet, but she comes to all our debriefings, listening intently, dreaming of the day she’ll be handed a gun and an enchanted dagger, sent out into the dark knowing there’s a good chance she’s never coming back.