Page 24

“Lucas!” My breath came in quick gasps as I shot up from the bed and glanced around my bedroom.

I ran a hand through my damp curls, the image of Lucas’s lifeless body still vivid behind my eyelids.

I swallowed, trying to calm the pounding in my chest. A nightmare wasn’t the best way to wake up to, especially one that involved your recently deceased friend.

Hunter stood at the stove, spatula in one hand while moving with the kind of focus he had on everything else. He was shirtless, his combat jacket tossed over a nearby chair, and the muscles in his back flexed as he shifted.

My chest began pounding again.

“You’re cooking?” My voice came out squeakier than I had intended it to, and I mentally wanted to hit myself.

“Morning to you too, Bambi,” he said without turning around. “Figured someone should make sure we didn’t starve.”

I crossed my arms, looking at a stack of plates sitting on the counter. The smell of eggs and toast lingered in the air. “Any updates from the Celestials?”

His movements faltered for a fraction of a second before he flipped the eggs as if he were on an episode of MasterChef. “Nothing yet,” he said quietly.

I nodded, swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat. I’d hoped I would wake up today and for my nightmare to just be that. A nightmare. But I wasn’t so fortunate in that department.

“How are you holding up?” he asked, glancing at me. His grey eyes locked on mine, searching, and I immediately stiffened under his gaze.

“I’m doing fine.” A lie if he ever saw one.

He raised an eyebrow. “Sure, you are.”

We stared at each other, the silence stretching longer than it should. I think he was waiting for me to fess up and tell him that I was far from fine , but just as I was about to do that, Brandon burst into the kitchen, his blonde hair looking like a bird’s nest.

“It smells so fucking good out here.” He clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he peered at the breakfast buffet Hunter had cooked up.

Hunter shot him an annoyed look. “Here’s your vegetarian breakfast,” he grumbled, pushing a plate of grilled tomatoes and mushrooms toward Brandon.

Brandon squinted at it. “You call this a fry-up? Where are the hash browns? The beans? The brown sauce!”

“I’m not your personal chef. You want your hash browns? Get Silas to buy the food next time.”

“Silas would just spend our monthly allowance within the first five minutes if he went shopping.”

Hunter shrugged. “Not my problem. Now, if you don’t want it, I’ll eat it.”

Brandon snatched the plate before Hunter could take it back. “I didn’t say I wasn’t eating it. Hey, are those eggs runny by any chance?”

Hunter rolled his eyes as Brandon scooped up some eggs and took a bite out of his toast. I wanted to smile for a moment but the light-heartedness of it all shattered when Silas appeared in the doorway. His long dark hair was unkempt, and his expression was too cold not to go unnoticed.

Silas’s gaze landed on me, and his jaw clenched. “What’s she still doing here?”

Brandon’s smile disappeared as he dropped the plate back on the counter and walked up to Silas.

“Look,” I began, trying to ease the situation, “I know you’re angry. And about Veronica—”

Silas scoffed, cutting me off. “I’m not angry.”

I frowned.

“I’m just pissed.”

Now, I blinked, feeling as though I had missed something here.

“Pissed is the same as being angry, my guy,” Brandon said, but I didn’t think Silas was in the mood to be educated on what those words meant.

Silas ignored him and took a few steps forward until he was standing over me.

Brandon followed closely behind, while Hunter’s grip tightened against the counter.

“Listen, I don’t care if you’re not an Ascendant or how you were brought up; what I do care about is that Veronica saw you in that vision of hers, and it hurt her. That’s my problem.”

The way he said Veronica’s name—it was raw, like it clawed its way out of his throat, leaving behind something jagged and broken.

It wasn’t just a simple name to him. It was a wound he couldn’t hide, and the dark circles under his eyes told me he hadn’t slept.

That made two of us. But I couldn’t bring myself to ask what it was between him and Veronica.

Not when his gaze locked on me as if he were silently weighing the reasons to keep hating me.

“I wasn’t the only one there when it happened,” I said quietly, almost like my voice didn’t believe me either. “I just want to make things right.”

Silas let out a dry laugh. “Oh, you want to make it right, do you? Fine.” He took a step back and looked me up and down. “Get naked for me. Go on, you’ve seen all of me; it’s only fair I see some of you.”

My stomach dropped.

“Silas,” Hunter warned, but if I knew anything about Silas by now, it was that he enjoyed pushing people too far.

Unfortunately for him, I was in no mood to play any of his games as I raised my hand and slapped him clean across the face.

Silas’s head snapped to the side and the room went completely still.

Brandon blinked. “Holy shit—”

But before he could finish, Silas calmly turned and slapped Brandon across the face.

I jumped.

“What the fuck, man?!” Brandon clutched his cheek, looking all confused. He then turned toward Hunter, his hand twitching like he was about to run over to him and retaliate, but Hunter just raised a brow in warning. Brandon hesitated before turning back and slapping Silas again.

What the hell just happened here?

Silas didn’t even flinch this time. He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully and let out a low chuckle. “Okay,” he muttered, giving me a slow, considering nod. “I respect you a little more now... I needed that wakeup call, although I was never going to actually let you get naked in front of me.”

I rolled my eyes. It was hard to believe him. Ever.

“I would say we do that behind closed doors, since I am a gentleman after all—”

“Silas,” Hunter snapped, causing Silas to raise his palms. At least he seemed back to his usual aggravating self.

“Great slap, by the way,” he said, then pointed a finger at me. “Still not a hundred percent sold on you, though.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly here wanting to collect any approval ratings from you,” I shot back.

“Good. Saves me the trouble.”

Hunter let out an exasperated sigh, dragging a hand down his face while Brandon still looked offended, rubbing his reddened cheek.

“I’m just saying,” Brandon huffed. “Why did I get slapped?”

Silas grinned at his friend. “Collateral damage.”

“You’re both fucking idiots,” Hunter muttered under his breath, and somehow, that all felt like progress.

I was about to say something else, but before I could, a loud pounding sounded at the door. Everyone froze, glancing at one another.

“What the fuck?” Brandon asked.

Hunter strode to the door, peering through the peephole before opening it cautiously. He glanced around the hallway, then bent down and picked up a piece of paper off the floor. As he unfolded it, his expression darkened.

“What does it say?” I asked, my stomach twisting as if part of me already knew it would be directed at me.

He turned it around, and the word KILLER was scrawled in bold, black letters.

My heart sank.

Hunter crumpled the note and tossed it into the bin. “Ignore it. They’re just cowards who won’t say it to your face.”

Brandon nodded in agreement, but his easy going demeanor couldn’t mask the concern and pity in his eyes. Despite Hunter’s words, the sting from the note lingered, and I knew I was once again a pariah in a school environment. Not like I ever got out of that title.

“Hey,” Brandon said softly, stepping closer and brushing a hand lightly against my arm. I blinked, looking up at him as my vision blurred. “You’re fine, okay?” he assured me. “Right, Silas? She’s fine isn’t she?” He turned toward Silas, his brows raised in an unspoken challenge.

Silas hesitated, his gaze shifting between Brandon and me before exhaling slowly. “Yeah, I guess,” he mumbled.

Even with their reassurances, a small part of me still wavered. I’m not sure what Hunter and I were, and while Silas looked less resentful than before, I was still their unwanted roommate.

Hunter’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. His brows furrowed as he read the message, and tension settled into his shoulders. “I’ve got to go and meet with Azrael,” he said, slipping the phone back into his pocket.

“Wait.” I frowned. “I thought that we weren’t supposed to leave our sectors after what happened?”

“It’s just something about training,” he dismissed, grabbing a shirt from one of the stools. Brandon and Silas exchanged glances but said nothing, and something about their silence made me uneasy.

As Hunter grabbed his jacket and headed for the door, I suddenly couldn’t help but call after him, “Be careful.”

He paused, looking back at me, and I felt my cheeks burn. “Always,” he said before disappearing into the hallway.