Chapter 21
Hunter
Back at the office, I was half-lost in a swirl of Addison thoughts, scrolling through dead-end leads online, and trying my damndest not to dwell on how she’d looked splayed out on my desk like a ready-to-eat buffet. Every time I pushed the thought aside, it came back with twice the fervor.
And, if that wasn’t enough, Maxine had been shooting me looks ever since she’d waltzed in that night, her triumphant smirks and pointed side-eyes greeting me the second I stepped out of my office. For the past two days the small vamp had held her tongue, which was practically a miracle. Not that I expected it to last forever; her restraint was probably just some uncharacteristic bout of wisdom.
She knew better than to ask outright, no doubt sensing that I’d be liable to bite her head off if she started grilling me about the mystery guest wedged under my table. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to pry in her own way. Wherever I went, she was watching me with that knowing glint in her eye, waiting for me to crack.
With a sigh, I clicked through a handful of tabs, eyes flicking over useless search results as my mind drifted back to Addison again. She had her “appointment” at the spa that day, and I was on standby in case things went horribly wrong. Considering how flustered she’d sounded on the phone the day before, that was a very real possibility. Acting could only get you so far.
The sheer recklessness of what we’d done on that desk gnawed at the back of my mind, mingling with the very real worry about her safety. I knew I should be focusing solely on how best to go about busting into Cathy’s place – actually, I should have been pondering how best to protect my boss, our people, and her business endeavors from my reckless actions of late – but my brain refused to cooperate.
Infatuations aside, Maxine could wait all she wanted; she wasn’t getting a single confession out of me – at least, not if I could help it.
I was just about to snap my laptop shut, flicking through the thousand opened tabs that I hadn’t bothered to close when something caught my eye. I straightened up in my seat, squinting at the screen. Back when I’d first looked up Esmerelde Flawne, I’d fished out a Flawne & Flow Facebook page and the tab had sat open on my desktop ever since.
It was a throwback post, one of those seemingly innocent “spotlight” pictures from a few years back. Esmerelde was posing at the spa’s grand opening, arm slung around another woman, tall and striking with the same chiseled features and long, blonde hair. The woman’s eyes were hidden under chopped bangs, a thin smile painstakingly carved on her face.
She looked younger, thinner, but even without the oversized sunglasses, I recognized her instantly.
Cathy.
Suddenly on high alert, I hunched over my laptop, scanning every last detail of the innocent throwback post. The caption read, “Big thanks to my sister. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
I blinked at the screen. Sister?
The realization was a bucket of ice water, launched over my head without warning.
Cathy and Esmerelde were sisters, bonded by more than just business ties and shared associates. All this time, I’d assumed they were just acquaintances, maybe even rivals. But blood was another matter entirely. It was a whole new level of complication, the kind that bred all kinds of secrets.
It clicked into place like a key turning in a lock. Whatever happened to Penelope, Cathy and Esmerelde were in on it together. And that meant that Addison –
“ Addison!”
Like she’d heard me on the wind, my phone buzzed a second later with an incoming text. I knew it was her before I’d even picked it up. My heart dropped at the words:
She’s here. Cathy. At the Spa. SOS.
Without a second thought, I called her. The line rang once, twice, then clicked over to voicemail. I tried again. Nothing.
I could feel the faint, creeping dread clawing up my spine. My mind raced through the possibilities, every one of them more troubling than the last. I clenched my jaw, sending her a quick text back.
Addison, call me the second you get this.
If Esmerelde and Cathy knew Addison had been snooping into their affairs – and worse, that she’d linked them back to Penelope’s disappearance – then this wasn’t just a spa appointment anymore.
It was a trap.
The drive to Esmerelde’s spa was a blur of angry, red-streaked visions and a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. I hadn’t even thought to grab my coat, my mind blank except for Addison, her text, and the eventual switch to voicemail that left my imagination careering into overdrive.
Every second that ticked by was another that she was in the hands of people with motives I couldn’t even guess at, and people I now knew to be closer than I’d realized – two sisters with too many secrets between them.
I barely remembered pulling up to the spa, but I slammed the car door behind me with a ferocity that made the glass tremble. My thoughts honed into one sharp, cold certainty: Addison was in danger, and I was getting her back, no matter the cost.
The receptionist stammered when she saw me approach, her eyes darting as she opened her mouth to call for Esmerelde.
“Shut up,” I spat, lacing the venomous words with a jolt of coercion.
The woman’s mouth went slack and her arms dropped to her sides, hanging limply where she swayed in place. Under the layers of vicious fury I felt a small pang of guilt, but it was quickly smothered as I stormed past her, shoving open the door to Esmerelde’s office.
An overpowering scent assaulted my nostrils as I entered – lavender and eucalyptus, deceptively relaxing scents meant to pacify. But the effect was lost on me, only heightening the roiling anger that surged in my chest.
I stalked right up to the preening elf’s desk, fists clenched, patience hanging by a frayed thread. Esmerelde looked up from her seat, an infuriatingly calm smile spreading across her lips. “Oh, it’s you. Can I help you?”
She knew exactly why I was here, and if she wanted to play the innocent act she was about to lose that privilege. My voice was ice, each word laced with anger.
"Where is she?”
Esmerelde tilted her head, her face a study in practiced surprise. "I’m afraid I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
I let out a humorless laugh that did nothing to mask the fury clawing its way up my throat. “I think you do, so I’ll ask again. Where is she? ”
“Oh, are you referring to Wendy,” she began, holding up a placating hand, unaware or unbothered that she was essentially trying to reason with a storm. “I’m afraid she never arrived. Perhaps she’s delayed, or perhaps she’s simply decided to–”
“Don’t waste my time. Tell me where Addison is. Now .” I took a step closer, letting every ounce of my power coalesce into one point, drawing it into the dark, forceful pull of coercion. And… hit a wall.
Seeing the glint of frustration in my set jaw, Esmerelde chuckled, patting at the jewels and talismans around her neck like she was brushing dust from a prized possession. “Nice try. But these little charms keep out meddling minds like yours – if you’re doing what I think you’re doing.”
Her smirk was smug and she tilted her head, looking me over like a specimen in a jar. “You’re not human, are you? You smell human enough, but something’s… off.”
She was onto me, toying with me. But I was past the point of caring about concealing my identity. I wanted her to know what I was, to understand exactly what I was capable of.
I exhaled slowly, letting a cold smile curve my lips as I met her gaze.
“Your mind might be protected,” my words came out casual, conversational, but my fangs followed shortly after, and that coy smile of hers gradually slipped away, “but the rest of you is not.”
Esmerelde’s calm facade faltered, her eyes widening slightly as she registered my meaning.
Before she could breathe, before she could blink, I bared my fangs in full force and lunged forward, swift and deadly. She had no time to react before I was over the desk and on top of her, one clawed hand wrapped tightly around her throat, the other ripping the talismans from her neck with a brutal tug. She tried to scream, but I toppled both of us to the floor, the impact knocking the breath from her lungs.
Her talismans hit the wall behind me where I tossed them, and her panicked gaze found mine. I gripped a handful of her hair, locking her in place as I lowered myself to her eye level, aiming pointed fangs at her exposed neck.
“Addison – tell me where she is,” I hissed, turning the full brunt of my coercion on her. Without the protection of the talismans she had no solid defenses against me. Her eyes widened, and I could feel her mind struggling, fighting desperately against the intrusion.
It was a precarious line to walk – my powers had limits when it came to the fae, and elves like Esmerelde were resilient, trained to guard their minds. She gritted her teeth, stubbornly resisting even as I drilled through her mental walls. But I’d come this far – I wasn’t letting go until I had what I came for.
I focused, pushing deeper, until I felt something snap, some invisible barrier finally breaking under the pressure.
Esmerelde’s gaze lost focus, her body going slack beneath me as I tore through the fragments of her mind. Words floated up, scraps of information scattered like broken glass.
“The labs…” she whispered, her voice barely more than a gasp. “She’s… taken… testing…”
Her words hardly made sense, but I grasped the key details, sifting what I could from her fracturing mind. Addison had been taken to a facility, Cathy’s forensics lab, for some kind of testing . Testing for…
“The A-gene.” I said it out loud, and Esmerelde nodded in a half-conscious daze.
The image that surfaced in her mind was chilling: cold, sterile rooms, metal equipment, industrial doors and walls housing people like specimens.
I took what I needed from her memory and released her roughly, letting her slump to the ground. The elf woman lay there, dazed and defeated, her breath coming in short, shallow gasps. I hadn’t touched her with my teeth, hadn’t shed a drop of her blood, but she looked like she’d been drained of life.
The image of that facility burned in my mind, fueling my anger – and my desperation.
Without a second glance, I turned and left the office. There was no time to waste, no room for mercy. Cathy and her associates were about to meet an entirely new kind of reckoning.
The lab was tucked away in an industrial part of town, disguised as just another nondescript warehouse. But thanks to the fractured memories I’d forced out of Esmerelde, I knew exactly what I was looking for. Shadows blanketed the side of the building as I crept along the brickwork, every nerve humming with tension.
I found an entrance around the back where people in lab coats slipped in and out, some wheeling around unlabeled crates and mystery supplies. I waited, counting their movements, watching their patterns.
Finally, I slipped in behind a pair of lab technicians, blending into the shadowy hallways beyond. My footsteps were soundless, my senses dialed to a razor-sharp focus as I slid into the nearest alcove to let a few lab techs pass. I could hear Addison’s name screaming in my head, her heartbeat that I couldn’t track driving me forward.
I moved down the hallways, scanning each door I passed, listening intently for any sound that might give me a clue to her location. The silence was suffocating, and with every second that ticked by, my urgency grew.
As I rounded a corner a heavy hand clamped down on my shoulder. I spun around, eyes narrowed, and came face-to-face with what must have been a security guard of sorts. His face twisted in surprise and I instantly pushed my powers forward, compelling him to let me go.
“Walk away,” I commanded, my voice laced with persuasion.
But he didn’t even flinch. Instead, his gaze turned steely, and a mocking smile tugged at the corner of his lips. My weary eyes settled on the small talisman glinting at his neck. It seemed this place was prepared for the possibility of telepathic vampires. My coercion was useless here.
Before he could call for backup I struck, landing a blow to his throat and sending him stumbling back. He recovered faster than I’d expected, lunging forward, but I sidestepped him, my elbow catching his jaw as he staggered. I was about to slip away when two more guards appeared down the hallway, their own talismans catching the light as they moved toward me.
“Guess we’re doing this the hard way.” I brushed stray hair from my eyes, bracing myself with my fists raised.
They came at me in unison but I was faster, ducking under their swings and retaliating with strikes that landed with sharp, shattering cracks.
More guards flooded into the hallway, and I felt a grim satisfaction settle in my chest as I took them down one by one, my hands moving in quick, brutal precision. I was making progress, pushing through them toward another door, when a sudden, sharp pain exploded through my body.
Electricity crackled up my spine, paralyzing me where I stood. I let out a strangled gasp as my muscles seized, the shock rattling through me with relentless intensity.
The stun lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough. I fell to my knees, dazed, and before I could recover, whatever fucking asshole decided to tase me grabbed my shoulders, dragging me forward. I fought to shake off the dizziness, struggling against their hold, but my limbs were static and sluggish.
I heard my phone clatter to the floor, sliding out of my pocket, but there was no way to retrieve it as they dragged me through a pair of heavy metal doors.
With a shove, they threw me into what I could vaguely make out was a small, clinical room and slammed the doors shut behind me. The echo of a heavy metal contraction locking in place reverberated in my ears, and I pushed myself up from the cold floor, glaring at the barrier with every bit of fury left in me.
Dragging myself to my feet, I staggered and rushed forward, slamming my shoulder against the doors, hoping for even the smallest give. But they held firm, as unyielding as the walls around me. Frustration surged through me and I drew back, ready to ram into it again, when a soft voice, barely above a whisper, cut through the sirens in my head.
“Hunter?”
I froze, my breath catching as I turned slowly.
Addison was huddled in the corner of the room. Relief colored my fury, but it was short-lived. The sight of her, scared and vulnerable, knees curled to her chin, ignited a fierce knot of something tender in my chest – but it was tangled with something darker, something desperate.
Addison stood slowly, her eyes wide as she took me in. “Are you okay?”
"Am I okay – fuck that, Addison, are you okay?" I demanded, rushing toward her before she could muster an answer.
I reached out, tilting her chin up as I inspected her face, lightly gripping her jaw as I checked for injuries. She looked exhausted, disoriented – but at least there weren’t any cuts or bruises, nothing visible, anyway.
She blinked at me, hands coming up to cover mine. "I’m fine, Hunter. I swear. But Cathy… she knocked me out. When I woke up, I was just… well, here.”
She gestured around the sterile, featureless room, her voice wavering slightly. "I’ve been waiting ever since, just hoping you’d find me."
I nodded, relieved to know she wasn’t hurt, but fury still roared in my veins. This wasn’t part of the plan. Not in the slightest.
At my extended exhale Addison looked up at me, wide eyes waiting for comfort and reassurance. “Please tell me you have a backup plan.”
“Yeah.” I raked my hand through my hair, frustration with the situation and with myself steadily building. “Working on it.”
“I’ve already inspected this place.” Addison murmured, biting her lip as she looked around the room. “It doesn’t exactly offer any easy exits.”
I glanced around too, noticing how meticulously the room was designed for containment, fighting down the creeping fatigue and keeping my expression calm. “Well, yeah. It’s meant to keep people in.”
“Then what do we do?”
I clenched my fists and stalked over to the walls, running my hands over the cold surface, searching for any weak spot, any gap. But the walls were solid, built to keep anything from getting out.
"Damn it.” I pressed my palms to the walls, trying and failing to calm the roar in my head. “I should have… I should have told someone, Jordan, Maxine – anyone.”
I cursed again, anger and frustration bubbling over as I swung my foot into the wall, the impact reverberating painfully up my leg. “I shouldn’t have rushed in. I shouldn’t have fucked up Esmerelde. They’re all gonna know what I did – they’re gonna – Fuck! ”
My voice rose, louder and louder, and I kicked at the wall again. “But I ran in blind like I always do and now here we are, trapped in some psychotic laboratory and nobody knows how to find us.”
I spun around to face Addison again, throwing my arms up, shame and fury written plainly on my face. “So in other words – I’m an idiot, and we are royally fucked because of it."
"Hunter, hey, it’s okay. We’ll get out of here.” Addison approached slowly, hands raised like I was some sort of wounded animal she wanted to tame.
Her words were gentle but rang hollow to my ears. She’d been waiting here, waiting for me to rescue her, and all I’d done was make the situation worse. I’d failed her, like I knew I would – failed everybody – and then I had the audacity to act surprised about it.
Addison was edging closer, reaching for my hand. “Just… breathe. Okay? We’ll think of something."
But when she stood right in front of me the heat of anger and guilt gave way to something else, something primal, as a scent drifted toward me, sharp and intoxicating.
My body seized with a sudden wave of hunger, ripping through me with a violent intensity. I slapped a hand over my mouth, stumbling back as the craving pulsed through me, my senses zeroing in on her for all the wrong reasons.
Addison looked at me, confused, taking a small step forward. "Hunter? What’s wrong? What’s going on?"
My pulse pounded and I took a ragged breath, doing everything I could to resist the scent of her, the warmth of her skin, the suddenly tantalizing pulse of her heartbeat.
“Nothing! I just – I got tased, it scrambled my brain a little.” I managed a small, reassuring grin, masking the mounting discomfort tearing at me from the inside. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Really? Because you look like you’re about to keel over.”
I laughed, but it came out thin. “Rough day.”
I wanted to hold her gaze, to reassure her with some easy quip, but I could feel my control slipping. She watched me with such open, unguarded curiosity that I couldn’t help but feel another stinging pang of guilt. She had no idea what I was, what I needed just to function.
What I needed…
It hit me like a freight train. This was a hunger pang, pure and undeniable.
In all the time I’d been spending with Addison, I’d skipped multiple feeding sessions with Caden, convincing myself that it was fine, that I’d manage. But I needed fresh blood. I could feel the ache gnawing at me already, a weakness creeping in around the edges of my resolve.
My gaze flicked to Addison, and a shiver of dread settled in my stomach as the desperation clawed its way up my spine. I pushed away from the wall, taking a few steadying breaths.
Addison stepped closer, her hand reaching out to rest on my arm again, her voice tinged with concern. “Hunter, if there’s something wrong, you can tell me. I won’t freak out or anything.”
I assessed the situation in my head. I was trapped in this cell, no contact with the outside world, and the only other person here was Addison, whose pulse was a maddening, tempting beat in my ears.
“Trust me.” I glanced at her, hysterical laughter straining my voice. “You really don’t want to know.”