54. Hayden
I watched as Wren wound through students, disappearing at just short of a run. I frowned as I turned back toward the guys, again taking in the stranger.
“Is that your lawyer?” I whispered to Easton.
He barked out a laugh. “Hell no. Our lawyer is in his fifties with a paunch and a three-hundred-dollar haircut.”
That definitely made more sense. “Then, who is that?”
Easton shifted his weight on his feet, losing any sign of amusement.
“East?” I probed.
“It’s Brix,” Maddox said, coming up beside me.
I looked up at him, silently asking for more information.
“He’s a new contact of Cillian’s,” Maddox explained.
“Be honest, Mad. He’s a mercenary. He gets paid to do less-than-legal things,” Easton cut in.
A flicker of nerves took root in my belly. “Why does Cillian need him now?”
Maddox met my eyes. “He and his wolf pack, the Diablos, have been looking into your parents’ deaths.”
“What?” I croaked.
“They have resources we don’t. They’re very good at finding information no one else can,” Maddox said calmly.
“But at what price?” If someone was a mercenary, then they weren’t going to simply do us a kindness.
Easton squeezed my arm. “Don’t worry. Cill is paying them well.”
I hated that, too. I didn’t want Cillian to have to spend more money on me.
“It’s nothing to him, Mo Ghràidh,” Maddox said softly. “A drop in the bucket.”
I nodded, but it didn’t change how I felt.
Maddox placed a hand on my back, gently guiding me forward.
As we walked up to the group, the stranger’s eyes were on me. Assessing. As if he were looking for any signs of weakness.
I swallowed hard and extended my hand. “Hi. I’m Hayden.”
The man stared down at my hand, not taking it.
Cillian cleared his throat. “Brix doesn’t shake hands.”
I quickly pulled my hand back. “Sorry.”
Brix’s gaze flicked over my shoulder. “The girl you were talking to. Who is she?”
I frowned. “Just a friend.”
“Name,” he commanded.
Easton rolled his eyes. “Chill. She’s a human classmate.”
Brix’s eyes narrowed on East. “I decide what’s important.”
“Her name is Wren,” I cut in, trying to defuse the situation. “We have a few classes together, but I don’t know her super well. She’s nice and shy. Definitely hasn’t tried to slit my throat or anything.”
The man’s lips thinned. He was silent for a moment, completely unworried about filling the quiet or having awkward pauses in conversation. Finally, his focus came back to me. “Do you remember living anywhere other than Maine?”
I twisted my fingers together, pulling them taut. I tried not to think about my childhood often. It hurt too much to remember all I’d lost. “No. My first memories are of that house.”
“Do you remember ever seeing your parents shift or show any abilities that seemed inhuman?” Brix pressed.
“No.” Everything about my life and my parents’ lives had been so very normal. Right up until that awful night.
“Tell me what happened when they were killed.”
My knuckles blanched white as my stomach bottomed out.
“No,” Knox clipped. “She doesn’t have to go through that.”
Brix pinned Knox with a stare that would’ve made me piss myself. “Do you want to know what happened to her family or not?”
“You can do it another way,” Knox gritted out. “I thought you guys were the best of the best. But maybe the rumors are exaggerated.”
Brix let out a low growl.
“I can do it,” I said quickly. The last thing we needed in the middle of campus was a brawl.
Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself. I tried to get all the words out without letting the memories land. “I was staying up past my bedtime, reading. I heard footsteps in the hallway. My mom barreled into my room and pulled me out of bed. She told me to hurry. She made me hide in this attic space I never knew about. But I could hear what was going on below.”
Pain streaked through me as I heard the voices as though it had been yesterday. “Some men came in. They spoke to my mom in another language, but I could tell they were threatening. They kept asking where she was. Then they killed her.”
I could still see all the blood, feel it beneath my hands as I tried to save her. Tears filled my eyes, and Cáel wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into him.
“Enough,” he barked.
Brix barely spared him a glance. “Do you remember anything that was said in the other language?”
I shivered against Cáel. “Càit a bheil a’ bhana-phrionnsa??”
Brix went rigid, his blue-green eyes sparking.
“What?” Cillian demanded. “That means something to you?”
“Don’t know for sure yet,” Brix clipped.
“Tell us what you think, then. We thought it might mean that her mother was running from an abusive relationship. Lots of fathers call their daughters princess.”
“Maybe,” Brix said low. “I need to go. I’ll be in touch.”
And with that, he was gone.
Knox glared at Cillian. “You still think using them is a good idea?”
Cillian gritted his teeth. “They’re the best at finding information, even if their methods are unorthodox.”
But something told me that Brix already knew something. He just wasn’t ready to share that information.