Huntress

Chapter 35

"We both thought we were going to die," Ryder said nonchalantly. The man he had been when he found me in the shed returned. There was no trace of a smile, not a glimmer of fear, nothing.

I on the other hand, wanted to curl up and die. Clearly, she had smelled something. Did I still smell like the sex we shared or had my scent altered because of our mating? Oh Jesus, did Ajax and Hades both know too?

"So that made it better?" Keiko asked.

"Would you want to die not knowing what it was like to ever have your mate?" Ryder challenged back. "You are welcome to be annoyed if you'd like, but she was in heat and we decided that it was alright together. I'm not pleased that it landed us in this situation but I'm not feeling particularly inclined to defend it either. Of all the things happening, I'm not sure this is the worst."

Keiko didn't argue, though she did let out a noise of clear frustration. Her hands slicked back her dark hair while her eyes narrowed on me. She was entirely serious and undeniably fierce despite how young she looked with her hair tied back. "You're right. But we still need to decide what we are going to do. We surely can't let her go with all of the information she now has on us. Whoever she is working for does not need to know that we have an unkillable werewolf or Ryder cleaning up our messes. Clearly, if they made it here, they already know too much."

I kept my mouth shut, still standing in the entryway. I would never say it, but part of me questioned who I would even tell at this point. The group would know for certain that the attack had gone belly up – and presumably me with it. I hadn't been too involved with the meetings around the move, but by now they would have hopped to another town, all gotten new phones and addresses, and any reasonable trace of them would be gone. Without having some kind of database that was beyond a civilian, I didn't have much hope of finding them.

"If she was strong enough to get through what you did to her the first time, she's not going to break this time either," Hades piped up. The beast gently placed his hand on my shoulder. I did my best not to recoil. "Come on, I know this is hard, but have a seat and let's all talk about this."

I numbly did as he asked.

We all settled on the couches and arm chairs in the living room. I very pointedly took an arm chair on the far end. I didn't want anyone to think that they should feel comfortable enough to get close to me, especially not after they had all conspired about how I should or shouldn't be killed.

Hades sat on a loveseat with Keiko and Ryder kept his couch to himself, though he got up immediately, moving into the kitchen.

"So you saw my torture techniques then?" Keiko asked.

"Some of them, but it was Noah that told me more. Poor kid looked so sickly when I talked to him," Hades explained. "Either way, we all know that we aren't going to be able to get any information out of her, no matter how hard we try. And now with them being mated, anyone laying an ill-intentioned hand on her could have deadly consequences."

We all turned to look at Ryder then who was too busy digging around the fridge to respond.

"Well this is just an absolutely lovely situation, isn't it?" Keiko sighed, melting into the soft leather beneath her. "My mate gets shot, my child put in harm's way, several of my subjects murdered, and when we catch the person, I can't do anything about it without fear of getting my own throat torn out."

Ryder returned to the sitting area with a glass of water and a small plate of cheese and bread. He thrust both towards me.

"Oh, um thank you," I stammered.

He nodded with just a pinch of coldness and returned to his couch.

"We can't torture her and we can't just let her loose," Ryder began and something in me rose to attention. I hated that he was talking about me like I wasn't there, but what I hated more was how focused he was on the rug in front of him. A storm was rumbling within him, that much was clear. "But we can use her to our advantage."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Keiko pressed.

"They won't come after me," I blurted, as if trying to save myself from the misery of knowing what he would subject me to. "They'll think I'm dead and even if they don't, they might just cut their losses."

No one seemed to hear me. All attention remained on Ryder. "You all would give me information if I asked, right? Realistically, if she got here, she's high enough in the ranks to know somethings and ask a few questions without raising alarm. We can use her to get us more information and access to more of the members of whatever group this is."

My heart twisted. Panicked words poured out of me. "They have all moved away. That was the plan after this assignment if it went well or not. All phone numbers have been changed, maybe even names for all I know," I confessed. Because I couldn't sell out the people who kept me alive. I wouldn't.

Keiko turned back to Ryder, raising a single eyebrow.

"Not all of them," Ryder corrected. "I had Noah return to the house where I picked you up from a while back. The one you said wasn't yours. Turns out Milo is still there, alive and well. I'm sure he would be so happy to hear you're okay and would be willing to tell you anything you wanted to know."

"No," I whispered.

"We can't just release her and hope she comes back with more information," Keiko warned.

"Don't worry. I'll be there to make sure she stays on a short, short leash," Ryder stated. 

~~~Question of the Day~~~

If you had to live in a Disney movie, which would it be?

Frozen for me! Horses, snowy weather, and amazing powers!