Chapter Twelve
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A WEEK LATER, JASPER was starting to regret letting Emric go.
He still hadn’t heard from the other man, even though Emric had promised to be in touch.
He hadn’t promised to stop killing people, but so far, they hadn’t gotten news that another hunter or ex-hunter had been found dead, so Jasper was pretty sure that Emric was either lying low or thinking about Jasper’s offer.
Jasper still didn’t know where that had come from. Before Emric had mentioned it, he’d never even thought about rebuilding what his parents had been working on so many years ago. He’d only been trying to find out what had happened to them and what kind of people they’d been.
But the world still needed a place like the sanctuary.
Monsters weren’t accepted, and interspecies couples and families even less.
Jasper saw it every day. He might be half monster, but he looked human, and often, people had something to say about that when he and Archie were out together.
Even more than that, it was his parents’ legacy.
It was what they’d been working hard on and what they’d been killed for.
Rebuilding the sanctuary, working toward what they’d been working for, would be a middle finger to the hunters, and Jasper was almost giddy at the thought.
He hadn’t heard from Leroy, either, and he didn’t expect to.
Leroy had made it clear that Jasper wouldn’t get answers out of him, but Jasper thought that was okay.
Emric didn’t actually know a lot since he’d been a child back then, but they had the documents now.
It was enough to be almost 100 percent sure of what had happened that night.
Someone at the sanctuary had been working on building a case against the hunters.
Jasper didn’t know what they’d intended to do with it.
Human authorities probably wouldn’t have done much about it, but if this person had gone to the media, there would’ve been an uproar.
People might not like monsters very much, but the hunters hadn’t only been attacking monsters.
Besides, they’d been turning into monsters themselves, attacking monsters and humans alike, hurting them just because of their prejudices.
Even if a lot of people might have agreed with them, others wouldn’t, and the organization might have been forced to close.
But the documents had never seen the light of day.
In fact, they’d been buried in a basement for more than twenty years.
No one had known about them except apparently Kester, which left Jasper with more questions.
How had Kester known about them? How had he known they were there, what they were, and why had he been interested in them?
These were all questions that Jasper wanted answers to, but in this case, the only one who could tell him was Kester, and Jasper had no intention of reaching out to him.
He was sure that Kester would reach out to him eventually, anyway.
For some reason, he still enjoyed taunting Jasper.
Jasper was sure he’d find out what was going on eventually because Kester wouldn’t be able to stay away.
He was both looking forward to finding out what was going on and wary of it.
“You’ve been pensive,” Sarah said, startling Jasper out of his thoughts. He blinked back to the present, which was him sitting at a coffee shop table, sipping a caramel latte and talking to Sarah.
He’d called her with Emric on his mind. He still hadn’t told Sarah about Emric, and he wasn’t sure that telling her would be a good idea, but it wasn’t like he was planning on mentioning the fact that Emric had been killing hunters.
He just wanted Sarah to know that she didn’t have to be afraid of being next on the list. Emric could confirm that he was only going after hunters who’d been there and had helped destroy their home. Sarah was safe.
“I was thinking about Archie’s case.”
“You mean the ex-hunters?”
“Yeah. We found out who it was. You don’t have to be afraid of them coming after you. They left the area.”
Sarah frowned. “They did? It felt like they were on a mission.”
“I guess they were. Those on the list only had the sanctuary in common. They’d worked on several cases, and there are plenty of monsters angry with them in the area.”
“So you’re saying it had nothing to do with the sanctuary.”
“Not that Archie could find.” Telling Sarah about Emric would probably reveal too much, but it was good that she was skeptical anyway. “I also found another sanctuary survivor.”
She blinked. “Did you?”
“Since Archie and I thought that this was connected to the sanctuary, we looked into it. Do you remember Emric?”
Sarah beamed. “Of course I do. I also remember the time the two of you brought several buckets of sand into the kitchen from the backyard. We were finding sand everywhere for weeks, including in places where sand has no business being.”
Jasper barked a laugh, surprising himself. He’d heard childhood stories from Sarah, but nothing like that. “So we were close?”
“Yeah. He’s a few years older than you, but he took his protective role very seriously. He tried taking all the blame about the sand, and to this day, I still don’t know who had the idea. Both, probably.”
“It’s weird because I don’t remember him.”
“Maybe you don’t have to remember him. Maybe now that you’ve found him, you can bring each other back into your lives again.
You’re going to have to build a new relationship, but that’s what you’re trying to do with me, too, isn’t it?
You wanted the connection to your past, and now, you have several. ”
Jasper nodded. Sarah was right. He’d wanted to know more about his past and his family, and he’d found out through Sarah, and now, hopefully Emric.
Maybe he didn’t need to remember Emric. Maybe he just needed to be open to the possibility of them growing close and see what happened.
Of course, he didn’t know if Emric would give them a chance, but he suspected that eventually, he would.
He just had to trust Jasper first, and that was going to take some time.
“Thank you,” he told Sarah.
She shook her head. “There’s nothing for you to thank me for.”
“I think there’s more than you think. I wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for you. I probably wouldn’t have found Emric.”
“I think that eventually, you would have. You’re as stubborn and strong as your parents were. You’re going to do great things, Jasper.”
Jasper wasn’t sure he believed that, but maybe he didn’t need to. He had enough people who believed in him, and maybe that was enough.
* * * *
ARCHIE GESTURED AT Petra to sit on the other side of his desk before walking around it and taking his chair. She was wearing all black and was pale, and she looked apprehensive.
She was right to be. She was here because she’d paid Archie to find out who had killed Daniel, and he had.
He just wasn’t going to tell her who it was.
Doing so would put Emric in jeopardy, and through him, it would do the same for Jasper and what remained of the sanctuary.
Jasper might not know what he wanted to do about that yet, but Archie knew him.
Once this mess was over and he had time to think, what Emric had said would stick in Jasper’s mind.
He wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about it, and he’d want to help.
Maybe the sanctuary wouldn’t be the same as it had been twenty years ago, but it could still be a place where interspecies couples and families could be safe.
Hell, they’d probably be safer considering Jasper was an ex-hunter.
But that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, Archie had bad news for Petra.
He looked at her. She was tired, with dark shadows under her eyes. She wore all black and clutched a tissue as if she expected she was going to need it. She waited for him to say something, but Archie wasn’t sure where to start.
“Did you find the person responsible for Daniel’s death?” she asked.
“Not quite, unfortunately. As far as we can tell, it was someone from Daniel’s past. I mentioned last time we talked that it appeared he was at the sanctuary.
There weren’t many survivors left, but we suspected it was one of them.
Unfortunately, it’s pretty much impossible to know who survived that night.
Most of the adults were killed, but not all of them, and there were some children left, too.
I can continue looking into it if you want, but I can say for sure that Daniel was killed because of what he did that night. ”
Petra sucked in a breath. “I still can’t believe he was at the sanctuary when it was destroyed. That’s not the kind of man Daniel was.”
“Maybe it’s not the kind of man he was when you met him, but he was a hunter back then. I’m sure he changed, but the killer didn’t care about that. They only cared that Daniel hurt them.”
Petra looked down. “I guess that some people will think that’s what he deserved.”
“I don’t think he deserved to die. I do think he deserved to pay for what he did, and that never would’ve happened.”
She nodded and got to her feet. She seemed a little lost, so Archie gave her time to gather her thoughts.
“Well, as far as I’m concerned, you did what I paid you to do.
You found out what happened to Daniel. I hate that I lost him the way I did, but maybe you’re right.
He should’ve paid for what he did, and eventually, he did. ”
“I’m really sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry any of this happened. I wish Daniel had never been a hunter.”
Archie didn’t know what to say to that. He walked her to the front door, keeping it open for her, then watched her walk away. The waiting area was empty, but it didn’t stay empty for long. Cullen and Braith appeared from Braith’s office, both of them with a grim expression on their faces.
“What did she say?” Braith asked.
“What do you think she said? She hates that her partner was a hunter. She hates it even more that he was involved in the sanctuary. There’s nothing she can do to change any of that, though.”
“She doesn’t suspect that you know who’s behind the murder?”
“I don’t think so, but something tells me that even if she did, she wouldn’t want to know.
She’s trying to deal with the knowledge that the man she loved probably killed people and set the building where they lived on fire.
” They may never know for sure what happened that night, but Archie didn’t think they needed proof.
Whatever the hunters had been thinking, the results didn’t change.
They’d killed people and had changed lives, including Jasper’s and Emric’s.
Archie clapped his hands. “All right. Who’s ready for family dinner?”
*
SINCE JASPER’S APARTMENT was bigger, that was where they headed.
Corey, Kerry, and Jasper would be there, too, and it made Archie feel some kind of way to think that he actually considered all three of them family.
They weren’t biologically related, but it didn’t mean they didn’t belong together.
They did, which was amazing considering that both they and Jasper were ex-hunters.
That was the past, though. They’d been nothing but welcoming to him, Cullen, and Braith.
It wasn’t a hardship to sit at the table with them, listening to Corey and Kerry bickering as he sipped a glass of wine.
Jasper was sitting next to him, still tucking into his steak and salad, a smile on his face.
He was more relaxed since he’d met Emric, and Archie hoped that would continue.
No matter what happened with Emric, Jasper was finding a huge part of himself.
The past was unchangeable, but it could change the man Jasper was now, and it was already starting to.
Even though Jasper had lost his birth parents, he’d found out where he came from.
It was easier for him to accept that Leroy probably didn’t love him.
It wasn’t because he was defective or wrong.
It was because Leroy was an asshole and hated monsters, even though he’d adopted one.
Jasper knocked his shoulder against Archie’s, getting his attention. Archie turned to him, arching a brow, turning his head to look when Jasper tilted his chin toward the end of the table.
Braith was sitting next to Cullen, who was giggling at something Braith had said.
Braith was giving him an indulgent smile, and his arm was around the back of Cullen’s chair.
That meant that Cullen was tucked against Braith’s side, but neither of them seemed to find that awkward.
If anything, they both seemed to quite enjoy it.
It was cute, which wasn’t something Archie usually thought of his best friend.
Braith was as far from cute as anything could be, but Cullen brought out a different part of Braith’s personality.
“Do you think there’s anything there?” Jasper asked.
Archie hummed as he took another sip of wine. “It sure looks like it,” he said.
“They might need a little push.”
Archie snorted softly. “If you push Cullen, he’s going to end up in Braith’s lap.”
“I don’t think he would mind.”
“I don’t think he would, either, but maybe we should let them decide the pace. It’s none of our business, is it?”
Jasper pouted. “You’re no fun. I wanted to meddle.”
Archie looped his arm around Jasper’s neck and pulled him close so he could kiss the top of his head. “Don’t meddle just yet. Give them a little bit longer to get their heads out of their asses. If they don’t, you can meddle all you want.”
The smile Jasper gave Archie was everything.
Their family dinner was exactly what Jasper had needed after everything that had happened.
It showed him that even though none of them were related by blood, they still loved each other and him.
No one at the table cared that he had monster blood.
No one cared that he wasn’t a hunter. They only cared that he was Jasper, because that was the only thing that mattered.