Page 107 of Three

Hunter’s smile drops as he looks around. His gaze stops for a few seconds on the old dark spot on the church floor and then moves to Jasper’s body. Gabe is tying his hands and feet.

“What the fuck just happened?” Hunter strokes his head. Now both of his hands have cuts and bruises.

“Ramiel’s atrocious aim almost got him killed, and you bloody hammered your repulsive cousin to the floor after you found out he enjoyed watching his priest brother ruin children’s lives,” Lori replies with a succinct summary of the last fifteen minutes.

“Thanks for the recap, little one,” Opal scoffs.

“Anytime.” Lori smiles brightly at her.

“And yes, your aim is incredibly shitty.” She sinks an imaginary knife into my bruised ego—still stings.

“I distracted him, didn’t I? What did you do? Got shot!” I remind her.

“I kept him talking, didn’t I? Hence, the Truth Whisperer,” she retorts. “I want to know everything, Hunter.”

“And after he tells you, you’ll forget all about it. You never saw us. Any of us.” Uri stares at Opal until she nods in understanding.

“You guys saved my life. And with my forgetful memory, we are even,” she states.

“Let’s get out of here.” Hunter wraps his heavy, warm arm around my shoulders and pushes me toward the exit. I lace my fingers with his, being careful of his cuts, and smile up at him.

He brushes a finger over my cheek. “You need to shave, I can’t see my triple-dimple smile well.”

“Your what?” I frown as he grins, and all thoughts are…poof! Gone.

Except…“Wait! My phone.”

HUNTER

There’s a golden plaque over the glass door that says FUNS room, but it looks more like a torture chamber than an entertaining one. There's a table full of sharp tools on the left, a large squared sink on the back and Jasper tied down to a metal chair, naked, gagged, bloody, and bruised. The sight doesn’t repulse me. He deserves what he’s about to get. And so much fucking more.

What confuses me are the plastic sheets covering the floor and walls. They’re yellow with little palm trees. I turn to the lab where Rami is happily hugging Michael, and a smirk hitches up my lips.

“You must be Hunter.” A woman in her sixties is slowly coming down the stairs. Her black hair with a few white strands is tied in a perfect knot at her nape. She looks too thin, but her gaze is firm andresolute. “I’m Meg,” she introduces herself. Her smile is open and sincere.

“Ramiel’s foster mother.”

She nods. “How are you feeling?” She looks at Jasper.

I grind my teeth. “Ready.”

“So, you don’t have a problem with…this?” I know whatthismeans. The family side business.

When we first arrived here, I actually realized how deeply serious this family is about their…vigilante business. They have a base to carry out theoperations,with a well-equipped lab, a tech corner, and a torture room. Their system works perfectly, and they’re actually doing good—in a nonconventional, idiosyncratic, outlandish way.

“I see a group of men trying to balance an unfair world.” I look down at my roughed-up hands. They have a lot of blood on them. “Sometimes, you need to dirty yourself up to wash away the filth surrounding you.”

“What you did for that girl was a heroic act. If only what motivated you was mostly saving her and not your unreasonable guilt,” Meg says, like she’s seeing right through me.

“So, this is Rami’s boyfriend and anchor.”Anchor?A short woman with blue eyes, a petite figure, and an amused smirk walks our way. “Let me look at you.” She whistles, sliding her astute eyes all over my body.

“Linda, lay off him!” Ramiel comes out of the lab and curls himself around my side, swathing me like a warm blanket and melting my dark thoughts away. My dick twitches at his nearness, even though both his mothers are here.

Linda raises her hands in the air. “Just getting to know the man who turned you into a real boy!” she teases, but her smile looks full ofgratitude.

“He does look like the fairy with turquoise hair. His black wound might be thicker though!” Lori jokes, stopping near the FUNS room door. “Your asshole cousin is waking up.”

We all turn to Jasper, who’s frantically looking around while futilely pulling against the restraints around his wrists and ankles.