Page 13 of Cursed by Death (Ruby Jane #1)

I didn’t know how Rally had gotten to the garage but he claimed to not have a vehicle when we left it.

And then he argued with me about driving.

Eventually, I got so fed up with his bullshit I finally told him to shut his stupid mouth as I handed over my car keys.

That’s how I ended up a passenger in my own Jeep on my way to Rally’s house. And we’d been in this fucking vehicle for a good half an hour now.

I mean, really?

It hadn’t taken him damn near that long to show up at the garage.

Now I was fed up with this and getting more pissed by the second.

“Where the fuck are we going, Rally? We’ve been in the car for longer than it took you to show up at the garage. What’s going on?”

“We are going to my place. My home. There’s a house in town that the pack uses for things. I was there when I got the call that you were at the garage. My actual home is outside of town. It’s very secluded and in the middle of nowhere. Much like your own home, I’ve learned.”

So, he’d either had me followed or he had a great investigator. I was curious to know just what he’d learned about me.

I didn’t have time to ask though because he kept right on speaking.

“I didn’t realize my little mate was a rich girl. Though, I shouldn’t have been surprised, this is the second vehicle you’ve been driving. But you live in a damn mansion on so much land it’s practically a shifter's wet dream. You do know if you got all that with Maredo money it’s dirty, yes?”

I sighed heavily as I sunk back in my seat and stared out my window. I didn’t feel like having this conversation with him but something told me Rally was like a dog with a bone and he wouldn’t let this go. I didn’t think he let anything go, ever.

He was obnoxious like that, I was learning.

I was getting pretty sick of explaining this to people though and hoped this would be the last time for a while. I usually didn’t share such personal information with people because it was no one’s business but mine.

First, I’d shared with the Detective and now I was going to tell Rally.

My life was certainly spiraling out of my control.

“Johnathon Maredo is my bio dad. His shit got my mom murdered when I was young and he abandoned me,” I said in a bitter voice. I hadn’t realized just how upset I still was until I started telling people about it. “I grew up in foster care. The house I live in and the money I have belonged to my mom’s mother. She left everything to me. So, no, Rally, my money is not dirty. I wouldn’t ever take anything from that man and I wouldn’t so much as piss on him if he was on fire.”

“Alright, little angel,” Rally murmured quietly as he placed his hand on my thigh and squeezed. “I apologize for upsetting you.”

I left his hand where it was because I was an idiot who liked to play a dangerous game.

I had absolutely no idea why I said what I did next, but I said it. “I met Roan and Bane in my first foster house. The woman who we lived with had lots of kids and she was a monster of the worst kind and a predator. I don’t know why but the twins tried to protect me from all of the bad that went on in that house. I had thought it created a bond between us but when the state took all of us kids away from her I never saw or heard from them again. Until the other day.”

The hand on my thigh tightened until the point of pain but I didn’t tell him to let me go.

“This vampire or demon that you were looking for, you think he murdered the elderly man who lived on your property?”

Yup, Rally had definitely looked into me if he knew about Thomas’s death.

“Yes,” I answered honestly, having no idea where he was going with this.

“Bane and Roan don’t go to the underground because their kind aren’t welcome there. But if what you’ve said is true it makes me question everything I’ve heard about them. They should have been able to tell when you were younger that you’re not entirely human. It makes no sense that they’d protect you.”

Not this again. I had absolutely no idea why the shifters were so brazen and bold about my not being entirely human but I was beginning to find it to be very obnoxious.

“I’m human,” I lied.

Rally snorted. “I thought I told you not to lie to me.”

“Okay, so I’m human enough. My father is a demon, you know this. My mother was turned into a vampire while pregnant with me. And, yes, I know vampires can’t have babies. She had an emergency C-section by some shady surgeon my dad found and I was born almost two months early. I’m very lucky to be alive. I don’t drink blood and I’m not evil. So, in my eyes, I’m human enough to call myself one.”

“Thank you for sharing that with me. I won’t tell a soul. Your secrets will always be safe with me.”

I shrugged, feeling uncomfortable with this conversation all of a sudden.

“The twins are hunters and I have no idea how they would have ended up in foster care because hunters stick together and they look after their own. Especially their young.”

My head whipped to the side so fast that my ponytail flew around and smacked me in the face. I placed my hand on top of his and squeezed. “Hunters?” I whispered in shock. “They can’t be hunters.”

Not my sweet, beautiful, protective boys.

Then, like a slap in the face, it hit me. If they were hunters then it would explain why they were at my house. They must have been tracking the man who’d killed Thomas.

They probably didn’t even know that had been my house they were at.

Had they even bothered to look for me at all during the many years we had been apart?

Loyalty meant everything to me. The thought of them not returning it broke something inside of me I didn’t think I’d ever be able to repair. Likely because only they would be able to fix it and they’d been gone from my life for a very long time now.

It would probably be best for me if they stayed that way.

I didn’t need any more disappointment in my life.

And I really did not need any hunters in my life at all either.

Hunters were born into it. Almost like with a family business. They were trained how to fight and kill the supernatural and they started learning at birth.

Rally was absolutely right about thinking it was weird for them to have spent any time in foster care. Even if both of their parents were dead they wouldn’t have gone into the system like that. They would have gone to live with other family members and if they didn’t have any other family of hunters would have gladly taken them in and adopted them as their own.

So, what had they been doing at the Harmond House? And with me, of all people?

My mind began to fill with very unpleasant thoughts.

What if they had been placed there specifically for me? Was something like that even possible? Given who my father was I thought the obvious answer to that question was yes.

Hunters didn’t kill people indiscriminately or without reason. If you followed the rules and didn’t harm other people then they left you be.

They policed the supernatural community and attempted to keep everyone in line because otherwise they were the boogeyman that showed up to get you.

It would probably make sense for them to be sent in to check out and make sure I wasn’t evil.

I just wished I hadn’t fallen for it and let them into my heart.

I wouldn’t make that mistake a second time. Not ever.