Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sherese
I carry my bag back to Hunter’s spare room, thankful to finally be back.
We ended up staying two more days with the Northwoods Pack.
The entire time, Bryce and, eventually, Hunter and Leo were in meetings.
I guess since Wyatt and Maverick were there too, they went all in.
I even got pulled into one of the meetings regarding getting Ajax to them.
It sounds like they want to raze the entire facility to the ground.
It’s not surprising, honestly. I don’t think it will be that easy, especially now that the vamps have super soldiers they’re creating, but they’ll have to figure it out.
My sole job is to get in, get information, and get Ajax to them.
I also need to try to destroy the vials of Ava’s blood that they still have.
Oh, and not get found out in the meantime.
I shudder to think what would happen to me if they got wind that I was double-crossing them.
They obviously can’t kill me, but some things are worse than death.
“Sherese.” I turn to Hunter, who’s standing just outside my room. “I’ve got to get to work. You need anything?”
“I’m good. Thanks.”
He eyes me a moment like he wants to say more, but then he turns away.
I frown, wondering what that was about. I hear the front door close and sigh in relief.
I haven’t been by myself in days, and it’s showing.
I need a little bit of time without people around.
I pocket my phone and make my way out to the kitchen and open the fridge.
I eye the nearly empty fridge except for my blood bags.
I stare into the fridge and frown. “Something wrong?”
Hunter’s voice makes me jump, and I crack my head on the top of the fridge. I’m irritated I wasn’t paying attention enough to sense him. “Ouch. Would you make noise and not sneak up on me all the time?”
He moves towards me. “I do make noise; you just aren’t very observant. You need to work on that.” He reaches his hands out, and I step back.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m checking your head.”
Right before his hands touch my head, I jerk my head to the side. “I’m good.” He studies my face for a moment and then drops his hands.
“What were you staring into the fridge for?”
I debate telling him that blood bags keep disappearing from the fridge, but I don’t.
It sounds crazy. Why would anybody take blood bags?
“Nothing,” I tell him and walk past him.
“Oh, and you need to order groceries for yourself. The fridge is almost empty. Or if you have a list somewhere, I can do it for you.”
He stares at me. “You’ll order groceries for me?”
I shrug. “It can’t be that hard, right? Ava always gets hers delivered. I figure I can do something like that for you.” When he still doesn’t respond, I tag on, “Or not.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“You want me to?” I ask in surprise.
“Or did you just offer, hoping I wouldn’t follow through?” he asks with a smirk.
I scowl at him. “No. Of course not. Just let me know or just text me, I guess.”
“Okay. I will. I’ll be around all day. Text me if you need anything.”
I head back to my room, thankful to have something to do besides drive myself crazy.
I do enjoy the alone time, but I also need something to do with my time.
When he texts me a list a little while later, I skim through the list and then text Ava and ask what store she uses.
She calls and explains her system to me.
I find it pretty easy to do. It takes a little while, but I get an order for delivery placed using the numbers Hunter gave me for his credit card.
When the groceries come later, I work on putting them away.
I honestly don’t really know where he wants everything, but I make it work.
If I knew how to cook, I would cook something for him.
But I’m not sure I’m ready to do that for multiple reasons.
One, it might look a little too domesticated for him to come to a meal I prepared.
Also, who wants a vampire cooking for them?
But at the top of my list is, I don’t know if I could.
I’ve sort of avoided food over the years, but it’s still painful for me.
Losing the ability to eat is not something you just get over.
Never being able to take a drink of a soda, snack on a cracker or some chips, enjoy a home-cooked meal.
..it’s not something I’ve ever gotten over.
I leave the kitchen and those depressing thoughts behind and make my way to my room.
The rest of the day passes rather slowly.
Hunter doesn’t come home before I get ready for bed for the night.
I find myself listening for him to come home and then get annoyed with myself.
The next morning, I get dressed and throw my hair up into a messy bun before making my way out to the kitchen.
I stop in surprise when I see Hunter standing at the stove. “Morning.”
“Good morning.” I walk past him to the fridge and grab a blood bag. “I didn’t hear you come in last night.” I immediately regret my words, but there’s no taking them back.
“I was out late.” He doesn’t expand on that, and I find myself feeling disappointed.
I remind myself that what Hunter does with his time is none of my business.
I start to walk past him and head back to my room.
“Thank you.” I turn back. “For ordering groceries. I can’t remember the last time I had a full fridge. ”
I shrug. “You paid for them; I just ordered them.”
“Well, I really appreciate it.”
There’s a knock at the front door, and I step out of the way so Hunter can go answer it. I’m almost to my room when I hear an angry voice. “Where’s the vampire?”
What in the world? I turn around in time to see several men push past Hunter and storm into the house.
“There it is!”
“Grab it!”
“Stop it!”
In the chaos and confusion, I don’t even try to defend myself.
Somebody grabs my arm, and I’m too shocked to do anything to fight back.
“Let her go,” Hunter demands. Somebody wrenches my arm behind my back, surprising me.
The guy is ripped away from me, and Hunter shoves him against the wall. “I said to let her go.”
Several more men surround me, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to fight them, but I’m also not going to allow them to hurt me. Hunter shoves the guy away from him and is in front of me a second later. “Back off.”
“You can’t protect it from this!”
The words burn through me, and I don’t miss the way Hunter’s body stiffens.
“If you want to be able to walk out of here, I suggest you get out of my house.” There’s no way to miss the threat in his words.
Nobody listens to him, and somebody grabs my arm again.
This time, I spin around and use my momentum to break the hold on my arm.
I get the guy on the ground a moment later and put my knee on his back.
The door opens, and more men come inside.
They take one look at me keeping one of their own on the ground, and they come at me.
There are too many of them. Without hurting them, there’s nothing I can do.
Somebody rips my shirt, and I’m hit in my back.
I stumble forward and try to blindly push away the hands grabbing for me.
“Enough!” A power rips through the room, and I know Bryce has arrived. “Get out of here now.” I’ve never seen Bryce mad, but he is now. No, he’s furious.
“The vampire deserves to die,” somebody says, and Bryce turns to him, eyes glowing.
“Get out now. We will deal with this in a civilized manner. Pack meeting right now.” They must not move fast enough, because he adds, “Now!”
I get a few shoulder bumps on their way out, but soon the room is empty except for me, Hunter, and Bryce. “What was that? And what took you so long to get here?” Hunter asks, anger in every word.
Bryce turns his gaze on him, and I don’t miss the anger on his face. “I got here as soon as I could.”
“Why are they suddenly after Sherese?” Hunter demands.
He doesn’t say anything for a moment. When he does, there is no emotion in his voice. He sounds...cold. I’ve never heard Bryce like that. “Enforcers on duty found a body this morning.”
Hunter’s scowl deepens. “What’s that got to do with her?”
“It was drained, and there were bite marks.”
I feel the oxygen sucked from my lungs. There is absolute silence in the room. When Bryce looks at me, I nearly take a step back at the cold there. “Was it you?” Shock rolls through me. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“No,” I manage to get out. “It wasn’t me.”
His expression doesn’t change, but he turns to Hunter. “Don’t leave her side until we get this figured out.”
He starts to turn to leave, but I stop him. “Wait. Is that to protect me or to protect everybody else?”
He meets my gaze. “Both.”
Then he’s gone. I feel like I’m going to throw up. “Sherese?” I hear Hunter’s voice, but it sounds far away. “Hey, look at me.”
I feel two hands on my face, and it shocks me. I look up. Hunter’s dark eyes are right there. Desperation comes over me. “I didn’t do it. You have to believe me.”
He doesn’t skip a beat. “I do.”
“Really?”
“You’ve never drunk from a person. I can barely get you to drink your blood bags. And besides that, you’re not cruel. I know it wasn’t you.”
A sense of relief so strong overcomes me. I drop my head for a moment. I take a deep breath and look back up at him. “If it wasn’t me, who was it?”
His eyes darken. “That’s what I intend to find out.”
“Well, that’s going to be tough when you’re stuck babysitting me.”
“I’m not babysitting you.”
We both know he is, but I don’t argue with him. He drops his hands to my shoulders, and I’m shocked to feel his hand touch bare skin. “They ripped your shirt.” His words are mostly a growl.
“It’s fine.”
He scowls at me. “It’s not fine. Where did they hurt you?”
“They didn’t hurt me.”
His eyes search mine, but he doesn’t say anything. I take a step back, putting much-needed space between us. “I’m going to put another shirt on.” I start back towards my room.
“Sherese.” I turn back. He’s frowning fiercely. “Do me a favor and put one of mine on, will you?”
“One of your...” my voice trails off. I’m not sure what he’s asking.
“One of my shirts. I need you in one of my shirts.” I frown and am going to ask what he means, but he squeezes his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose.
I take a step towards him. “Are you okay?”
When he looks at me, his eyes are nearly glowing. I go still because I know that his wolf is close to the surface. “You’re safe with me,” he says in a much deeper voice than usual. “Always.”
“I know.” The words come without me thinking about them, and I realize with a certainty how true they are.
I trust Hunter, probably more than I should.
I turn and walk to my room before I say something stupid.
I open my drawer and pull out one of his shirts I have yet to give back.
I throw on pajama shorts as well that all but disappear beneath his shirt.
When I get back to the living room, he’s busy straightening the furniture that got knocked askew. “Is this better?” I ask.