Chapter 6
SIX
ARLO
“You’re more annoying than usual,” Soren grumbles from beside me.
Today, we’re meeting up with a fellow Society member, who may or may not want to kill us.
To be honest, we don’t really know. It’s been a few months since Reon joined one of our parties.
Attendance is usually mandatory, but considering we put his wife, Lilith, whom we didn’t know was his wife at the time, into a hunt, let’s just say he still isn’t happy with us.
Soren especially since it was his idea to add Lilith.
“Do you think he’ll walk in and try to kill you?” I ask Soren, who doesn’t even bother with a reply. Instead, he stares straight ahead at the door.
The Forsaken has been around for generations, and Soren is our Lord.
There are rules to follow, which I usually respect because I love them, but Reon hates them and likes to push the boundaries when he shouldn’t.
One of the consequences of breaking the Forsaken’s rules is death.
They are meant to protect all members, and even though we are a fucked-up bunch, we at least respect that part of our Society.
We both turn as Reon walks in, dressed in his usual business attire. He eyes both of us before his tattooed hands clasp the back of a chair, and he pulls it out.
“It’s been a long time,” Soren says, and Reon glances at me before he focuses back on Soren.
“I see you had to bring your lap dog to have a meeting with me,” Reon sneers.
“We both know I’m no one’s lap dog. If I recall correctly, you are Lilith’s lap dog. Don’t think we aren’t aware that you still take her for hunts without anyone’s permission,” I say.
I regret what happened the night we hunted his wife.
What Soren did is very much against our code.
But he is our Lord, and he has the right to change any policies in place.
And he did, for Reon. Not so much for Lilith.
He tried to make it right by offering her a hunt.
It was the very same one he put her in, hoping that Reon would kill her.
If Soren had had his way, Reon would be married to his crazy sister, and trust me, he did try to push them together.
But Reon refused, which caused the rift between them in the first place when he said he wanted to be with someone else.
Reon sits back in his seat and smirks at us.
“And what do either of you intend to do about it?” Reon interjects.
“Boston is getting a little jealous.” I smile at him, and his eyes narrow.
Boston is also a member of the Forsaken Society.
Each member of the Society is powerful, but Boston is a different type.
Where Soren is a media mogul, and Reon is a pilot who arranges a lot of very illegal cargo, Boston appears to be more normal on the outside than us.
He’s a detective, right at the top. And while I appreciate Boston’s thirst to kill in the hunt, I also understand he does it because he can’t kill those he arrests.
So sometimes, when he gets leads, he will go himself, collect the person, and lock them up in his own private cell, then offer that person for the hunt.
Usually, the people being hunted are picked by Soren, but on the odd occasion, he gets Boston to assist.
The Forsaken doesn’t consume all our time though. We hunt twice a year, and we are all required to attend.
“He’ll survive. How are the sessions going with my wife?
” Reon directs his question to me. Before they were married, she was one of my patients, then the hunt happened, and she stopped.
But recently, she came back. Despite my sometimes hatred for Reon, I do like his wife and her fucked-up way of thinking.
If she were a man, she would be in the Forsaken.
“You know my conversations are confidential.” I grin at him.
One of the many perks of doing my job…
Secrets.
And I hold a lot of them.
Some secrets are so fucked up I should report them.
Luckily for those with secrets, I’m equally as fucked up.
Plus, it’s what keeps me in demand. I have had mayors tell me how they have accidentally killed a prostitute they were fucking, and actors tell me how they cheat on their wives. And so the list goes on.
“We’re hunting in two weeks, so you need to come back.” Soren gets straight to the point.
“And if I don’t?” Reon challenges.
“Make no mistake, Reon, my patience only goes so far.” Soren smiles.
And then I add, “We have a mixer next week. This one, we invite the girlfriends.”
“I wouldn’t attend such a thing without my wife,” Reon scoffs, and I smirk at his reply. Of course he wouldn’t. At these events, we share. We bring a woman to play with, and each woman that we bring knows exactly what she is walking into.
For the mixer, we pass the women around.
However, some of our members prefer men.
To each their own, really.
“You want to share your wife?” I ask him, and he clenches his fists on the table, knowing that’s not something we do.
Cora comes to mind. What would she think of a place like this, the activities that happen here?
I would like to bring her, but the thought of passing her around would be a no. She is only for me to play with.
“I’d cut off the hands of anyone who touched her. Maybe you should tell the others before we attend.” He stands and glares down at us. “You will also mind your manners around her.” And then he smirks and strides off, Boston right behind him.
“You let him get away with a lot,” I say to Soren. He has a soft spot for Reon and always has, even if he put the woman he loves into our hunt.
“He could have left,” he replies.
“That’s against the rules,” I remind him. “Or are rules meant to be broken now?”
I raise a brow at him, and he stands and taps me on the shoulder. “Always the abiding one, aren’t you, Arlo?” Then he leans down. “Unless it’s a pretty little thing to break.”
I smirk.
He walks off without giving me a chance to say anything back.