Page 15 of V for Vilified (Hunter V #4)

Jo giggled so cutely it made the man next to me cringe and sink back in horror. The guy was so damn melodramatic.

“It really is,” Jo agreed after clearing her throat.

I absently rubbed the mark on my neck. “But wait, won’t she try to break the magical bond the minute she discovers it?”

Smirking, Jo winked at me. “She’ll try, but even she’s not that powerful. No Fae is. A bond can’t be broken by an outside party. It has to be broken by the ones who created it, and not one-sidedly. Both have to be open to severing the bond, or it can’t be broken by anything other than death.”

Made a girl wonder.

As if reading my mind, Jo barraged my weak will with an absolutely devilish look. “And yes, some resort to killing off their bonded to escape the magical contract of it.”

“I would never do that to either of you.”

I wasn’t sure why I thought it was important to say so, but both of them seemed surprised I’d bother to say it at all. I didn’t mention how I never intended to break it in the first place because, despite having not said it, bonds were likely two ways.

If it’d weaken my power, it’d weaken hers. I’d never do that to Jo. But even that was an excuse. I didn’t want to break any bond I had with them even if being bound wasn’t what I’d initially chosen for myself. The mere thought of it tore me apart inside.

For once, the two shared a look that wasn’t full of disdain or ire. “No one in this room ever thought you would.”

“Would Lyra…?”

Again, the two were in sync, laughing in a way that eased my anxiety. “Did you forget the part where we’d be more powerful than she is?” Jo taunted, brushing my jaw with her knuckles. “I’d like to see her try.”

Heat erupted where she touched me and Cash’s hand held mine.

It was so weird to be in the middle of the two after they’d been fighting and suddenly wish they’d put aside their dislike for each other and just fuck me already.

Both of them. At the same time. This girl wanted to be the middle in a very sexy Fae sandwich.

Holy shit my head and body were a mess.

Cash sighed, and I wondered if he’d suddenly picked up on my horribly horny thoughts.

I peered at him, curious. “Will I need to magically bond with you after…you know, glowing runes?”

Shaking his head, he gave me a cute grin. “We’re bound in all the ways one could be as a Fae, my love, so no. And unlike a magical bond, it’s not something that can be broken.” His eyes moved past me to where Jo was. “Not even by death.”

I barely caught the dark expression Jo wore when I turned to look at her. I was perceptive enough to know that Cash was emphasizing that last part for a reason, and it had everything to do with her.

“Jo?”

Her lips pursed before her glamor came down and a rune that had color but didn’t glow appeared on her shimmery neck. I hadn’t thought the woman could be any more beautiful than she had been in her human form, but once the glamor was gone, nothing but a goddess walking the earth came to mind.

Jo was insanely beautiful. Her obsidian eyes had a circle of amber glow surrounded by darkness.

A glowing ring no human eye could replicate.

Her black hair was somehow both darker and more vibrantly aglow than it had been.

The subtle sheen of scales and glitter appeared and disappeared along every visible part of her skin.

But unlike Cash, the rune on her neck was the only one she seemed to have.

“That rune…”

It wasn’t black like the ones all over Cash. It was pink. So was it…

“A bond rune?” I asked after piecing it all together. “Wait, do Chaos Fae not get dark runes?”

I was almost certain she’d taken innocent lives. She’d told me as much. So why wasn’t she marked by them like Cash and Eros?

Cash’s hot breath painted my neck as his arm went around my waist, bringing my back snugly against his firm chest. “They do not. They are one of very few, love. Even Hands of Death can’t escape innocent death’s mark. Though, my kind views the marks as a natural part of who we are.”

Jo didn’t break eye contact with me. “Yes, it’s a bond rune.”

“You’re bonded? To whom?” I asked, fighting the burn in my chest at the thought she might have someone out there, waiting.

Letting loose a breath, Jo touched the rune. “I was. Her name was Reyna.” Her eyes dropped before lifting to glare at Cash, as if blaming him for forcing her hand. “The Organization used her blood and magic to create genetic hybrids. One hybrid in particular.”

My heart thundered at the thought. She couldn’t possibly mean…

“You,” Jo whispered. “It was likely her blood and magic that played a part in creating you.”

I’d been hit by a lot of metaphorical buses over the last year and a half, but this one was an especially hard hit. I grew a little weak in shock, but Cash held me closer, harder, his heat merging with mine, and for some reason, it calmed me.

“Is she…can we still—”

“She’s dead, V. She has been for a long time.

The Organization has been doing this for a lot longer than you were probably made to believe.

But what they did to try to create a perfect hybrid that they could control and use to cross the realms eventually killed her,” Jo whispered, the earlier expression twisting her face. “I didn’t save her in time.”

I stared at the rune on her neck. “A bond that can’t be broken even by death…”

Jo stood and stared down at us. “Not even by death.”

As if her heart hadn’t just been ripped out and shown to us, the sadness that had crept into her face was gone. Crossing her arms, she was back to her usually cold indifference. “We’ll need to bond as soon as possible to start training, but we’ll need that first.”

Cash released a petulant breath, refusing to let me go. “Consider it done. I have someone who could procure the necessary item for channeling and ensuring the bond is successful.”

Jo nodded, but didn’t explain. Neither one did. But I connected the dots and figured that we’d need something to help form the bond between us.

“If that’s all, then V and I should hurry off to our room.” Cash’s arms loosened around me, and I exploited the opportunity.

Escaping his hold, I touched Jo’s shoulder and hoped the gesture said what I couldn’t put into words out of fear of everything sounding like pity.

That I was sorry she’d lost someone so important to her.

That I couldn’t imagine how hard it was to look at me knowing what I was. How I wished it were different.

I ignored how uncomfortable it made me to think about her previous mate’s blood and magic creating me. I didn’t know how much of Reyna was a part of me.

Was that who she saw when she touched me? Kissed me? Did she see her in me? Was I just…a memory relived? Fuck. How selfish was I to worry about myself when her mate was used to create a monster and killed?

Self-hatred was a vicious squeeze on my chest. I struggled to breathe despite not needing to. Panic set in. Before it could spiral out of control, Cash was there, holding me again, easing the pain and debilitating emotion bent on destroying me.

Jo covered my hand on her shoulder with hers and wiped away a tear that stole down my cheek without permission. “You’re as much a victim in this as she was, V. Don’t let yourself think otherwise.”

Her eyes jerked over to Cash behind me, close to setting the possessive bastard on fire with the heat in her glare. But then she leaned down and gave me a kiss that put that fire in my body instead, all while I was a hostage in a Dark Fae’s arms.

“You’re you. To me, you’ve always been you and no one else. I don’t want you to ever think it’s anyone else’s mouth but yours I feel when I kiss you,” she whispered against my lips before pulling away. After giving me one last intense look, she left.

How did she always know what I was thinking? Oh, fuckity fuck. Right. Mind barriers. I’d taken off my necklace earlier when I showered. Great. Fucking fantastic. Maybe Jo could read thoughts.

Would our bond give her access to my emotions the way the bond with Cash did? I fucking hoped not. It already felt invasive knowing that they could possibly read my mind and feel what I was feeling. The motivation to protect my mind had never been so damn strong.

“Let’s go to our room, love,” Cash murmured in a tight voice. I picked up on the rage that wasn’t mine. The desperate need to claim what was his. The yearning.

I shook my head and decided he should sit with those feelings for a while after being a jerk all night to Jo. “I’m sleeping with Kate tonight.”

Throwing off his arms, I left the room and headed to where Kate was sleeping.

I needed to be with my best friend right now.

I wanted the safety of a friend who didn’t know this…

monster. Who couldn’t access parts of me I wasn’t ready to share.

Who only knew what I used to be, not this new and confused version of me.

As if knowing I needed her, Kate gave me a sleepy grin and opened her arms wide. “Come here, my bro.”

“My dude.” I dove into her embrace and pressed my face into her chest, thanking whatever deity that had sent this angel to me when I didn’t deserve her.