Demon Hunter

Chapter 16

I jogged down the stairs prepared to do a few laps around Drake’s house when I ran into the man himself. Cass was taking a nap. We’d had a good talk, and when I’d slipped away from him he’d surprisingly stayed asleep. He was adorable when he slept and I was glad that he was finally doing so. He was helping Drake because I liked Drake. If he could have it his way we would be back at his house. He still held a petty grudge over Drake for me being kidnapped.

“Aurora, may I talk to you for a minute?” I looked past him but shrugged. I could spare a few minutes. I just wanted to get a run in before Cass woke up. Drake smiled at me and turned around. He led me through a side hallway and into double doors. It was a moderately sized office. It was also a complete mess. There were papers everywhere. A giant map was on the other side of the wall. I recognized it as Drake’s land.

Drake took a seat in the leather chair behind his desk and took a deep breath. “We met by chance, this is true.” He started and I was already lost. “But I believe things happened the way they did for a reason.” He leaned back in his chair and I crossed my arms over my chest. “Please elaborate because I am not following you.” He nodded and opened the top drawer of his desk. He pulled out a photo and smiled at it.

“I only knew her for a short while… When I was very young. But I will never forget her.” He slid the picture across the desk, face down. I picked it up and examined it. I immediately recognized the women as my mother. Her light brown curls and stunning blue eyes. Henry and I had the hair and eye color of our father but looked more like our mother. She was stunning, and would leave any man breathless. Tucked underneath her arms was a small boy who looked extremely like Drake.

“The whole war thing didn’t go unnoticed by Hunter’s. Of course there was really nothing they could do, with the treaty in place. But there were a few of them who thought that we were too viscous to walk the earth, both families. So we started to drop, one by one. Hunter’s were taking us out. The real reason my grandfather moved us here and started a pack was because we needed the protection. With a pack there was little Hunter’s could do.

“Back then I wasn’t such a bright kid. I liked to wander, a lot. I mean all over the place. It was crazy. I’d disappear for days. Well once I ran into a particularly brutal hunter named Alexander Pierce.” I looked up from the photo, recognizing the name.

“That’s my grandfather.” My dad had mentioned him once or twice, I wasn’t sure if he was still alive. He and my mother had fallen out of contact.

“Yes, he is. This man was massive. He stood at least 6’5 feet tall. On top of that the man was covered with muscle. But I was a tough kid and I fought back when he picked me up to use me as bait for my family. I was gone for weeks, much longer than normal for me. I knew my mother would follow me, she was a skilled tracker. I knew she’d bring my father along who scarred the shit out of me quite frankly.” He chuckled. I was very interested. I hadn’t seen his father once since meeting him. I wondered where he was.

“My mother arrived. I was anything but glad to see her because there in the shadows was Alexander. I tried to warn them, to get them out. But nothing I did work. They didn’t believe me. Alexander Pierce shot my father dead. Killed him and left his body out in the woods. He then took my mother and I back to his house to be interrogated.” I gulped and looked at Drake with watery eyes. He was stroking his chin, staring at nothing with his eyes glazed over. My family, my grandfather, had killed his father. “Why aren’t you driving a knife through my neck right now?” I whispered and Drake smiled, and continued to stare into space. “Because it was your mother who saved us. She took one look at me, and she fell in love. She called me adorable more times than I can count. She begged her father to let us go and when that didn’t work, she helped us escape.” He blinked and a tear slid down his cheek. He reached up and wiped it away quickly. “Her father disowned her. Cast her out. So she came back to us, that’s when that picture was taken. We took care of her, protected her, until she met your father and moved on.” I  dropped into one of the chairs facing Drake’s desk. I hadn’t known my mother for very long. But what I did remember about her, above anything else was her heart. It was made of gold, and nothing could change that about her. My own tears were falling but I let them go.