Page 48 of Unveil

My eyes sweep over her, clinically this time as I try to figure out the answer. But her hooded gaze is trailing up from my boots and rests where my raised shirt and jacket reveals my lower abs. I never want her to stop looking at me like that.

Thunder rumbles low and long in the distance.

We have to go.

I clear my throat.

She shakes her head like she’s rattling out thoughts I’d do anything to make come true.

My brows raise and my lips twitch. “You good?”

She straightens and adopts a smug look that just makes me want to kiss her.

“I’m a ballerina, so I’m flexible and I have a high pain tolerance. I loosened these restraints enough to tuck my knees through and loop my arms forward.” She lifts a shouldernonchalantly. “It was a lot easier with tulle in a crossover than handcuffs in a cop car.”

“Impressive.” I whistle, then waggle my eyebrows. “Flexibleanda high pain tolerance? Don’t tempt me with a good time.”

“Asshole,” she grumbles, fisting her hands together. “You’re disgusting, you know that?”

“Only for you.” I wink, and a blush blooms over her ivory cheeks.

Everyone says she looks like her mom, but to me, the differences are stark. Her eyes are lighter, her smile wider, more carefree in their similar porcelain features, and she’s slimmer with a more athletic build, gliding everywhere she goes—except the woods, apparently.

And her sass? That’sallLuna, and I love it. Meek and mild ain’t for me. That’s more Hatch’s speed. The way she cares for her friends and snarls at her enemies makes her perfect for me.

Finding what I need from the SUV, I balance the items in one arm while I force down what once was an automatic trunk door and then kick it shut. Hatch would kill me if he saw me do that, but I’ll fix it later.

Not taking any chances, I prowl around the woman who has no idea she’s in my trap.

Wary eyes analyze the plastic bag and one child’s arm float swimmy, but then her gaze lands on the crossbow on my back.

“Why do you casually have a crossbow?”

“Ain’t nothing casual about it. I hunt.”

“So, you’re one of those guys who sits up in a hut all day and drinks beer?”

I scowl. “I’m a hunter, not an aimer. Those guys set up bait, then point and shoot. I like the chase.”

“The chase? You brought that thing to New Orleans,” she snorts. “What were you gonna hunt there?”

I can’t help the smile that breaks free. “My wife.”

Her eyes widen, and I chuckle. “In all seriousness, I’m the oldest in my family, which means once King steps down, I’ll be the head of the King Fury line. Until then, I guess you’d call me an enforcer, or a second-in-command. We all protect each other, but Hatch and me are more… hands on. Me especially. Dash is the one who’ll actually be something someday.”

She frowns. “So you’re saying you hunt people. With a crossbow? That’s ridiculous.”

“Caught you, didn’t I?” I flash a grin.

She rolls her eyes. “Why can’t you use guns and knives like everyone else?”

I almost laugh at the phrasing,like everyone else. Only people in our world think “everyone else” is as strapped and ready to fight as we are.

But her question brings a lump to my throat that I have to clear. “I do have those things. But I guess you could say the crossbow’s got sentimental value.”

Her eyes narrow on my face this time. I don’t know what she sees there, but they soften at the edges, a balm to that ache in my chest, before she sighs.

“You’re weird.”