Page 39 of Hunted (Love and Revenge #5)

Sanka exhaled loudly in displeasure, and he and the curse breaker came over to stand by the table near me, in the center of the room.

I glanced between them. “That bad?”

Sanka looked at him for a long moment. “You know she’s scared, right?”

“Who?” In my scattered state of mind, I instantly looked toward Ruya. Was she terrified of me now? Afraid I’d come for her next? She couldn’t magically heal herself, the way she healed the others.

“Acacia,” Sanka said flatly. “She’s reacting. Lashing out. That means you’re pissing her off. The longer you resist, the weaker her grip gets. She’s scared you’re gonna give her the slip.”

I didn’t answer. It was something, I supposed. It just didn’t seem like enough.

“Soon,” the curse breaker said, holding his coffee mug up toward me in a salute. “Sanka here has a spell to make sure you can’t take the amulet off again, which will muffle her. On the Cold Moon, we’ll do the breaking. Just try not to kill anyone before then, kid.”

And with that, the guy left, probably off to lock himself in his warded guest room where I couldn’t eat him by accident.

*****

T he court convened more formally again that night. I was surprised when they summoned me from my room. I couldn’t believe they continued to include me in these things, poison that I was.

Cicely lingered close by, fully recovered from the injuries I had inflicted on him and as warm and easy with me as ever. The fool.

Sadavir stood on my other side like a stone statue, stoically contained fury written in every line of his tall, muscular frame. Every once in a while, he reached out to touch my shoulder. I wasn’t sure if it was an attempt to comfort me or himself.

Robin’s eyes were molten gold. She still struggled to be in the same room as Sadavir, and she seemed to be avoiding close contact with Ruya.

I didn’t blame her. I wanted Ruya and Sadavir to be happy together.

They were a wonderful pair. But I hadn’t had the time and space to process what it meant that my lover—however long that continued now that I was a vampire puppet—now had a bonded omega true mate.

The last omega he’d set his sights on had tried to shove me out of Sadavir’s life completely. Not that I thought Ruya would purposefully do that. But if he needed another reason to kick me to the curb, there it was.

Martina watched Robin and Vir, one hand suspiciously close to the knife at her belt, as if she was just waiting for one of them to step out of line so she could stab them.

Dusek, leaned in a shadowy corner, unreadable as always.

Ruya finally stopped fussing over Yukio and moved to joined us in the center of the room, and I watched her every move with a hunger I hated and gloried in at the same time.

I hadn’t had a chance yet, to talk to her.

It seemed pointless anyway. What would I say?

Sorry I almost killed two of your lovers so far and would really love to pin you down and drink your sweet magical blood until you run dry? But don’t be mad. Right.

Besides, we had more important things to worry about right now.

“Well?” Robin said, crossing her arms over her chest and cocking a hip as she stared me down, her posture all deceptive ease and her voice too soft and easy to be anything but dangerous. “Sadavir tells me you have a message from our dear little friend Acacia. Share with the class, Josh dear.”

“She gave me another name,” I said softly. I was tired. So tired of all of this. I had dragged my feet too long before going to Robin with this new demand, hoping some new information would come to light about the emperor in the meantime, and Acacia had made me pay for it. Made Yukio pay for it.

Robin arched a red-gold brow, giving me an unimpressed look that I knew was actually for Acacia.

Ruya’s face tightened, and I felt a fresh wave of guilt. I knew how she felt about taking life. “Who?”

I pulled a slip of paper from my pocket and handed it to Robin. I’d written the name down just in case. But I knew I wouldn’t forget it. Acacia wouldn’t let me. “Lady Violet Elhenna. Matriarch of the Willowfen fae enclave.”

A gasp rippled through half the room. Cicely flinched.

“She’s neutral,” Robin said. “She hasn’t gotten involved with the syndicate in fifty years.”

“She’s also powerful,” Dusek said. “And respected. Acacia wouldn’t want her suddenly deciding to get involved when the vampire bitch makes a move for the syndicate throne.”

“So we kill her for what she might do?” Ruya’s voice was rising. “You can’t be serious.”

It hurt watching her, hearing the frustration in her voice.

I knew what it was like to try to keep your softness and moral compass in a world that was constantly trying to destroy them.

Being a beta at the Naga court wasn’t without its trials.

.. but my time spent serving the syndicate vampires was what had really killed that hope.

The nightmare of living in the vampire coven had instilled a healthy dose of cynicism in me.

Ruya’s insistence made me sad for the hopefulness and faith in goodness that I had lost along the way.

Robin’s jaw clenched. “We’re not having this argument every time.” She carefully avoided looking at Ruya, rocking her head side to side to crack her neck.

“We should,” Ruya snapped. “Because every time we say yes, we help her. Every time we say yes, another person dies.”

“And every time we say no,” Dusek said quietly, with a sad nod toward me, “Josh gets hurt and one of us bleeds.”

That silenced the room.

I stared at the table. The words weren’t wrong. But they still carved the wound even deeper. My very existence was pain, for me and everyone around me.

Robin exhaled, and I glanced up to find her gaze pinned on me. Her golden eyes glowed faintly, and the pupils were slightly elongated as her dragon side tried to push forward. “We’ll go,” she said evenly, with the alpha confidence that her word was law.

“Just like that?” Ruya demanded, but her voice had lost some of its fury and insistence, with the reminder of my pathetic situation.

“Just like that.” Robin’s voice was flat.

“Because it’s us or them. And I am not losing any of the people under my protection.

” She glanced at me again, raising a perfect brow and giving me a look that said she wouldn’t be defied.

“And that includes you, Joshie darling. Next time she makes some absurd demand, bring it to me immediately.”

My voice came out a cracked whisper. “I’m sorry.” But Robin had already looked away as the others bombarded her with questions and practicalities. No one heard me.

Only Odin, perched in the rafters, turned his black eyes down toward me. He let out a soft caw.

A second later, Ruya came to me, as if the crow’s call had alerted her I was in need of her attention. “It’s not your fault,” she whispered, reaching for me, taking my cold hands in her warm ones and letting a gentle slip of her healing magic work its way into my aura, healing what it could.

Her touch thawed some of the pain wrapped around my heart. But it didn’t change what I was, or what I was doing to this court.