Page 66 of Haunting the Hunter

Tears stream down her face as I pull her into a hug, a real hug. She needs this, and honestly, so do I. She hiccups then, swallowing back more tears.

“You’re right… but I don’tknowwhat I want, Cade,” she whispers into my chest. “I’m terrified. I hate that I feel so fucking helpless all the time, like everything is just too much.”

I hug her tighter and kiss the top of her head, resting my cheek there.

“I know, but you don’t need to know everything right now. You’ll know when it’s time.” I gently push her back to look at her face. “You saidyouwanted to talk tome. Is everything okay?”

She pulls away fully and sits back down, wiping away the tears staining her face. She looks up at me with her dark brown eyes as if searching for the answer in my own. She hesitates when we both hear a knock on the bookshelf.

“I—” She sighs, shaking her head. “Ignore that. Just the resident poltergeist.”

I stifle a laugh; this is so fucking weird. But I know now that she is telling me the truth.

“Thanks for the heads-up.” I laugh. “I noticed you and Jack were gone when I came back with Karma. Did you have fun?”

“I, um… I’m… I—” she stutters, and I tilt my head at her, but before she can say anything, the door behind us slams shut and I jump. Eyes wide, I look back at Calli. Suddenly, I feel something hit me from behind, the sting causing me to bend over, holding the back of my head.

“Fuck! What the hell?” I groan. Looking down, I see a book at my feet. I cock my head—the cover readsCovenant Origins.I pick the old book up and skim the pages. I glance at Calli, who looks annoyed, arms folded over her chest.

“Is this the shit Jack was telling me about?” I mumble, still rubbing the back of my head.

She looks at me, rolling her eyes, huffing, “Yeah, you could say that.”

Snatching the book from my hands, she places it on the large stack on the table next to her chair.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything else going on, Calli?” I ask her, my eyes drifting from the book back to meet hers.

“I could ask you the same, Cade,” she says, cocking a brow with a serious face. I roll my eyes at her.

“I told you I would tell you anything youneedto know. Let’s just leave it at that. Please?” The please makes her eyebrow raise in surprise, and she nods.

“Fine.” She sighs. “What do you need from me?”

I look at her for a long moment, knowing there is no soft way of putting this, but she has to know. It’s the only way, if it’s even possible.

“I need to find a way to kill a God.”

CHAPTER 22

CALLISTO

What he’s asking is impossible. The most we could do is banish the thing, but I’m not even capable of banishing whatever Alabaster is. It’s wrong and twisted, but I don’t even want to, and that scares me. I can feel my cheeks heating at the memory of Alabaster and me in the garden.

Ican’tlet him get to me.

I want to tell Cade. I want to talk about everything. Okay, noteverything.But it would be nice to talk about it, especially now that he actually believes me… But I can’t put him at risk. I have no clue what Alabaster is actually capable of, but what he has already shown me proves that I can’t test it. Too much has changed. For both Cade and me. Everything that has happened since the pendulum appeared, gave us both shadows.

My brother’s: a guardian angel.

Mine: a demon.

Both of us bound. Condemned to a fate we never asked for.

My nightmares have become my reality.

I just wasn’t expecting him to be so beautiful.

I’ve been in the library looking through the book that was oh-so-conveniently thrown at Cade’s head, but it doesn’t offer muchinformation regarding the God itself. Karma is curled up on the sofa, keeping me company.