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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

NERI

Neri glanced at herself in the mirror in the bedroom she and Hunter share at Kai’s house, taking in the beautiful white sleeved corset wedding dress etched in silver lace and emerald green accents that matched Hunter’s eyes.

She had never worn a dress before, much less an elegant one made with lace and satin, but as she twirled around to see the intricate design in the back, Neri could live in the dress.

Jade, Liv, Frost, Thalia, and Aubrey had dragged her and Ara to every wedding dress store in Denver and Snowfall. She had the dress she loved saved on her laptop since the day after Hunter’s proposal. But she laughed at each grumble or curse Ara had given whenever they had to stop at ‘just one more’ store. And when she found the exact wedding dress in a small bridal store on the outskirts of downtown Snowfall, and Liv had made a beeline right to it.

“Oh, this is beautiful.”

Neri stood still as Liv handed Frost the wedding dress to hold up against her clothed body.

“It’s perfect,” Thalia gasped.

She had seen Aubrey’s perfect white and peach sleeveless dress and Liv’s simple, yet elegant pure white one, and knew this dress matched her as much as their dresses complimented them. After a whirlwind fitting session and a few minor adjustments, Neri took the dress home that day. But they had to wait another two months for the actual ceremony.

Hunter had wanted to get married at the courthouse the day after her birthday. But with the fight and Zahava’s death, Neri wanted a new date to start their life. So, they decided on November thirteenth.

Friday the thirteenth.

Neri knew under most circumstances the date was unlucky. But to her, she’d gone through the impossible by becoming the first shifter vampire hybrid, met her mate after years of being alone, and found her mother because of her new immortal family.

Life had changed for the better since she met Hunter in the clearing that first day. She couldn’t deny how fast she fell for him, but after talking to the others, the assassins didn’t hesitate to commit in once they found the one person destined for them.

Neri loved Hunter, and he loved her.

Since Zahava’s death, the constant unknown stopped plaguing them. Her shifters died from sickness from the subpar serums or at the assassin’s hands. Ghost and the others had searched the remaining floors where the shifters lived, and the ones who hadn’t fought, killed themselves. They were obsolete.

After Liv’s autopsy of the shifter Neri had gifted her, she found the transitions succeed and were less likely to kill with the diluted injections. The scientist created a way for humans to survive a transition without a mate.

Similar to Neri’s transition, the shifter venom was strong enough to strengthen the cells and mutate them, but soon the serum broke down healthy cells until the body, about a year after the transition, killed them.

Hunter had raged when he learned that Dr. Steven’s saved her life by mixing the bioweapon and the vampire venom. Although the combination was beneficial, it was luck it hadn’t killed her.

“If I introduced the bioweapon and vampire venom to any shifter, they become a hybrid.”

Liv’s statement was meet with silence, until Axel stood up.

“No, thank you. We’ll let gray eyes be the only one.” And with a wave, he was out the door.

The rest of the assassin felt the same way.

But the most surprising part of the entire situation was Damian. They found out that Zahava had his tongue cut out as a vindictive measure when he didn’t locate Neri and kidnap her within the first year of her escape.

To control Damian, she used techniques she learned throughout the years to brainwash him. She targeted him as a loner, offered friendship and then separated him from his life. Zahava made affection or praise conditional on how successful he completed his tasks. But the time she met Anzû, she controlled Damian with fear and isolation. Anzû hated Damian and could punish him whenever he displeased Zahava. He was so relieved when Anzû died that he stuck with Zahava.

“Have you ever killed anyone?” Ghost asked.

Damian shook his head. He wrote out she liked to kill and she assigned him surveillance and being her personal transport.

After that confession, Ghost told him he was free to go, but he didn’t have a place. Knowing firsthand how Zahava was, Neri wondered if she could do something. She pulled Hunter aside.

“What do you think about Damian working with both of us at the workshop? He can get supplies and I can show him how to design and build furniture.”

Hunter didn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, I’m fine with it.”

Neri kissed Hunter and smiled against his lips. “Thank you.”