Page 37 of V for Vilified (Hunter V #4)

A Little Help From a Friend

I ’d been on the other end of a lot of weird-ass shit, but flying was a new one. Carried like a princess by a feathered self-proclaimed god wasn’t how I saw this day going for me.

I was a Hunter who feared nothing, but not having my feet on the ground was uncomfortable, and I clung to the giant Fae without meaning to. It wasn’t the impression of strength I planned to project after accepting Aram’s terms.

I’d left all my favorite people back at the not-volcano. If they were smart, they wouldn’t come looking for me. They’d been frozen, not deaf. They should all know why they couldn’t.

Hopefully, Jo would talk some sense into the protective three. When my gaze met hers, it was the same look she gave me whenever she trusted me to do what I needed to do. She knew I had a plan.

Until the Season was finished, I’d be Aram’s prisoner.

Well, at least I’d act the part. Really, I’d exploit the up-close and personal with the powerful Nether Royals and find out the best way to get each of these Fae assholes in the ground.

Because I wasn’t stupid. Aram was too willing to strike a contract that would kill him, so it must’ve meant it wouldn’t. Or not at least the way I wanted.

He might be sure he could sway me, but a small part of him was anxious. I didn’t act the way he expected—the way every person who crossed his path did. Everything I said and did perplexed him, but unfortunately, it only made him more determined to have me.

Go figure.

Villains weren’t known for their sound minds.

I still wasn’t sure what Jo found when she went looking for Lyra, but if I had to make a guess, it probably had everything to do with these three Nether douches.

They likely finished what they started and killed her off.

It made the most logical sense. If Lyra had dirt on them, they wouldn’t want it to be exposed. Which was even more reason to do this.

I needed to know everything, and Aram was my ticket to enlightenment.

If Lyra was to be believed, then my bet was on these giant pretend gods being the reason the Organization were the beast they were today.

My two monsters couldn’t even bypass Lyra’s block on portal travel.

The only Fae that made sense were the Nether Royals.

Aram didn’t want to kill me—which was a nice change of pace—so I’d use that against him and get every bit of information I could out of him.

I wouldn’t underestimate the cleverness of a pretend god who’d ruled over a realm with very few contenders.

If there was a way to put him six feet under without endangering everyone I cared about, I’d do it.

It was never meant to be our fight.

It was always meant to be mine .

Jo had given me all the tools to practice without her. I’d get my time mojo back, and then I’d use it to destroy the Nether Douche Trio. I’d do what I always said I would. I’d make sure everyone who made the Organization possible pay, and then I’d make sure the humans in this realm were free, too.

Guess I couldn’t give Cash a hard time. I was motivated by those I protected.

The Nether Castle looked like something straight out of a Tim Burton film—gorgeously noir and haunted. It was a quintessential castle vibe when he landed on the balcony of one of the three towers.

His two brothers had peeled off a few minutes before we reached the tower and were immediately surrounded by low-hanging clouds before we dove in close, so I didn’t catch where they’d fluttered off to, but it wouldn’t be the last I saw of them today was my guess.

Neither one seemed particularly happy with the arrangement.

I could chip away at that break in their bond.

Grams taught me how to exploit every weakness, especially the emotional ones we caught whiff of.

Warfare wasn’t just purely physical. Sometimes the strongest moves a Hunter could make were the attacks they made on the mind.

Aram set me down like I was made of glass and then towered over me.

As if he’d summoned it, light broke through the cloud cover and cast his imposing figure in nothing but luminous white.

“These will be our shared quarters. Tonight, I’ll introduce you to our court and most faithful subjects.

You see, despite what you’ve been led to believe, we aren’t despised by everyone in the realm.

I’d even go as far as to say far less than you were told. ”

My lips thinned. “Uh, and what in the Game of Thrones does that have to do with me? That doesn’t mean much.

People follow out of fear, don’t they? It’s totally a thing I doubt differs for this realm.

And I’m not anything to you right now. Isn’t that what this contract is all about? I don’t see why I have to meet them.”

“ Game of Thrones ? Hardly. I’m no Jon Snow, but far from Joffrey.”

I gawked openly at him, having expected he’d have no clue what that show was.

One side of his lip hitched up. “But I suppose you’re right.

Thing is, you’re still my mate whether or not you like it.

I’ll need to ensure you’re treated as such.

” His eyes dragged down my body like it was his intention to own it with a single glance.

“Especially considering the Season is upon us. I doubt you’ll be fighting the urge long, and I don’t share what’s mine.

I’m sure you wouldn’t want any…accidents to occur should someone overstep their bounds. ”

His lust invaded my head, nearly making me choke on my next words. “No, thanks, my dude. You’re about to find out how incredibly stubborn and fully capable of fighting the urge I am.”

A familiar heat swept my body, but I ignored it. I wouldn’t abandon everything and everyone I cared about just because it was a little difficult or painful to fight what this bond did to me. I’d use that pain to motivate my plan. It wouldn’t be me left begging by the end of this. It’d be him.

His fingers snapped and suddenly Kate was standing in the large, lavish room he dubbed our quarters, her eyes as round as saucers. “Where the fuck—V?”

My mouth dropped open. “Kate?!”

“I thought you could use a friend to keep you company,” Aram murmured next to my ear. “Joffrey would never .”

Game of Thrones jokes in his accent and looking like an anime villain really hit different. So weird. Almost too surreal to think it was my enemy who’d said it.

My throat bobbed and I glared at him. “If this is your idea of wooing me, it’s a bad fucking one.”

“No harm will come to your human,” he whispered and shrugged a massive shoulder, taking his wing with it. “I only thought you might want a friend in your new life here.”

“You said you wouldn’t hurt anyone and leave them as you found them,” I said quiet enough for Kate to miss as she hesitated and stared at the giant next to me.

Aram’s red eyes beamed, and he tucked some of his beautiful white hair behind a pointed ear. It felt oddly rom-com of him. “And she wasn’t among the ones you pleaded for. But read my mind, little mate. Will I allow any harm to come to her?”

Kate glared at him and then ran over to hug me. My eyes tracked up to him again after nearly being taken out by a human.

I used all my wit to gauge the trick he was playing, but all I sensed was his happiness to give me someone I cared about that he didn’t feel threatened by.

He knew she’d put me at ease, and it was the entire reason he brought her here to be with me.

I didn’t pick up on any other intention.

His reaction to her hugging me was soft and affectionate—and fucking weird when I considered this was a god even Jo feared.

I searched our connection for more, but his thoughts were relatively quiet other than his excitement to finally have me to himself. Nothing else mattered to him, not what his brothers had to say about it or anyone else. I wasn’t the only stubborn one in the room.

I hummed and nabbed a stray thought in his head.

It was about what his brother said. Rayis had been concerned about Aram’s strong attachment to me from the start and mentioned severing our bond out of fear of what it’d do to him.

But Aram had brushed him off and refused to even humor the thought, so his brother threatened to do it if it put them at risk.

Wait, severing? Could a bond like this be severed? More importantly, severed without our consent?

Images flashed in my head of Rayis pinned under Aram, a clawed hand wrapped around his throat. It was a crazy sensation to relive Aram’s memory of the event. The tingle of his fangs extending to threaten his brother affected my own teeth.

“Don’t test me, Rayis. I’ll kill you before I ever let you take my mate from me,” memory Aram growled in warning. “Don’t forget who’s really in power here—who our clan chose. If you’re not with me, you’re against me.”

The fluttering sensation of the memory faded, so I couldn’t explore it more, but it gave me somewhere to start and a bud of hope that I could not only sever our bond, but widen the gap between his brothers so they’d do it for me.

“I was so worried about you,” Kate whispered in my ear, dragging me out of my head. “Please let me stay. I want to be here for you. I don’t trust him.”

I heard Aram stroll away to give us space. Everything about this situation was unfamiliar and complex. I’d have to be as careful as I could be. As far as I was aware, Fae didn’t have heightened hearing like vampires and Shifters, but I wouldn’t take any chances around these beasts.

I detected something off in the way Kate asked to stay.

It sounded like there was some sort of plan in place.

My bestie’s tells were glaring. She never could hide things from me.

Maybe they discussed it before she was taken, but her mind was susceptible to being read, so they wouldn’t tell her anything that mattered.

Aram would be able to read it off her vulnerable human mind.