Huntress

Chapter 84

We told Adrienne everything once Armond and Dawn were tucked away and wrapped in gauze and bandages. Ryder let out a little noise of disapproval when he saw how nice the accommodations were for the vile pair. Despite the locks on the door and windows and the supposed magic suppressant pumped into the air in said rooms, it looked nice. Not a luxury hotel, but maybe a mid-tier one. The two bastards still screamed and cried about their unfair treatment the entire time, even after they were looked over by an on-staff medic for a second time.

Two hours of talking later and we finally left to head to a department store. I had no idea what I truly expected out of this escapade, but it clearly hadn't been an overnight stay. I purchased a cheap pair of leggings, a thick hoodie, and a toothbrush. I had never been so grateful to return to a three star hotel in my life. No magic, no knives, no guns, no screaming.

"I think I'm going to take the longest shower of my life," I stated.

"Can I join you?" Ryder asked. I quirked an eyebrow, too tired for more words. He just whispered, "Please?"

We both stripped out of our dirty, dusty clothes and climbed into the small shower-tub combo. I hogged the water as gentle fingers started at my neck, tracing their way down my arms, over my hands, settling on my hips. The sickly, soul-sucking feeling that had kept me vacant for the majority of the day ebbed away when I watched his bare chest shudder with a breath.

"You're okay, right?" he whispered.

"I told you I was okay before," I assured.

"I know. I know what you said," he murmured into the humid air. "But...you had a gun pointed at you today. If I had been a second later..."

I had. And not only that, but the man holding it had been someone I cared for, someone I looked up to. A person that I had trusted with my life, was prepared to 'put me down'. I would have been shot if Ryder hadn't stepped in. I would have let myself be shot if Ryder hadn't stepped in because I had spent my life being a killer, but I had never imagined this.

"I'm okay. I'm not the one who ended up with a knife in her leg and almost bleeding out in the back of a car," I stated, trying to sound confident as I ran my fingers through Ryder's dark, soaked hair.

"I shouldn't have let you get out of the car by yourself. I didn't really know what I expected, but I thought that you guys were close. I thought you worked for them for years. How could you kill someone that you knew that closely? Regardless of what they have done to werewolves, how could they hurt someone who was so loyal to them?"

It was odd to think about now, but it was true. I was loyal to them, obviously to a fault. When the gun had been pulled on me, I had just stared. I had been frozen. Because I thought that there was no way he could have pulled the trigger. Even though they lied to me about who they were, even though I knew in my soul that they were responsible, there was no way.

"I'm alright, Ryder. I promise. Look at me," I said.

His silver eyes met mine as his lower lip trembled. "I thought I was going to lose you, George. I thought I was going to lose you all over again."

I held him while he shook. And when I started to shake as well, his grip around my waist was tight and reassuring. I don't know who started crying first. It didn't matter. I was there for him; he was there for me. He shampooed my hair for me. I laughed when he got suds in my eye despite how much it stung. He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch when I stretched up on my toes to run conditioner through his hair. He gave me a shaky grin while we toweled off.

We ordered room service, Ryder insisting that using Ajax's card was not fraud. I didn't care enough to argue nor did I really think that the king would give a damn. My soggy nachos and his greasy burger were left mostly untouched, but the food helped add some normalcy to the disaster.

When we began drifting off to sleep, he stroked my hair gently. "I don't know if I'm dreading facing them tomorrow or if I'm excited to finally get some answers."

"I don't know either," I confessed, nestling into his chest a little more. "But this is nice. And I want to focus on this right now."

It didn't matter how much either of us wanted to stay in this limbo, tomorrow came anyway.

Adrienne was impossible to read when we let ourselves into her domain. I couldn't tell if she was off put by my badly fitting clothing or if it was the entire situation at hand. Her slender arms were folded over her chest, her eyes narrowed on us.

"How was your evening?" Ryder asked.

"Busy, thanks to you. Interview after interview, follow up after follow up," she complained.

"And how did it all go?"

"Max validated every detail of your claims. I also selected a few of his bats at random to interview as well. They all lined up almost perfectly. I'm waiting on a report from my men on the girl you claimed to have this wolf-drain and that boy that you told me about as well."

"Milo will really only know about Dawn and Armond as werewolf hunters," I chimed in. "He'll be a good contact, but he might be a little unwilling to talk. I wasn't exactly gentle with him when I was trying to figure out Dawn and Armond's location."

Adrienne studied me for a moment. A weaker version of me might have squirmed under her gaze, but now, a strong woman glancing me over was nothing. "I still cannot believe that you used to hunt werewolves. I cannot believe that you were convinced that those creatures were capable of harming humans. They're too busy fighting amongst themselves to go after anyone else."

"If it is the role that I had to play for this awful mess to come to light, then so be it," I said, but my stomach twisted with unease. I was responsible for enough blood to drown myself in it.

She lifted her chin ever so slightly and I thought the corner of her mouth rose just a pinch. "Well then, that's mighty noble of you. And you're right, whatever is going on has certainly been pulled out of the shadows. But, with the magic suppressants in the air, the fairies aren't able to use their glamour as readily and therefore aren't able to lie."

"You say it like it's a bad thing," Ryder said warily.

Adrienne hummed to herself, squeezing out the juice of her lemon slice into her steaming cup of tea. "If they aren't able to lie, they have simply decided that it's best not to speak at all. We have a fair amount of evidence against him, but they aren't defending themselves or damning themselves at this point."

"So, this is getting stagnant now," Ryder ground out.

"A single night is hardly long enough for anything to go stale," she huffed. "But it was enough time for the council to decide that there is enough against them to take...more extreme measures. I've heard through the grape vine that you have a lovely enforcer. Noah, I believe."

"Noah won't do it," I blurted. I thought of the way his face twisted when Keiko ordered him to do certain vile things. He had done it. he had followed the orders. But he had been on the verge of vomiting the entire time. "He hated every second of it. But I was the one he tortured. I'm not going to say that I'm practiced or anything, but if you need someone to get their hands dirty, I can do it."

"Georgia—" Ryder began.

"These people might have had a role in killing my parents," I said firmly. And dozens of others. Even those who hadn't ended up dead would be haunted for the rest of their lives. Hunters like Milo and I would see dead, vacant eyes staring at us in our darkest nightmares. Then there were others like Cassie. "I can do it."

Ryder nodded his head once. "I want the alchemist brought in too. We won't put our hands on him, but I have some suspicions."