Page 114 of Hunters and Prey

Chapter 10

“Cailyn,” Cecilia saidover the phone. “I need you to listen to me very carefully.”

Alarmed, Cailyn stopped at her car door. Her hands shook. Her mother’s voice sounded strained, rushed.

Terrified.

“What’s wrong?” The panic in Cecilia’s voice put Cailyn on edge.

Cailyn’s cheeks reddened as she imagined everything that could possibly go wrong.

“Dinner tonight is canceled. I’ll tell you everything soon. Just stay away from Alexander Hall…and stay away from Connor. ”

“What the hell is going on? Tell me now.”

“I can’t right now,” Cecilia said. “We are taking care of it.”

Dial tone.

Cailyn’s hands shook when she pulled her phone from her ear.

“Everything okay?” Asher stood by her car door, a bag of Tupperware filled with leftover jambalaya from lunch with his parents in his hand.

The sky seemed a little darker that night as the clouds moved to cover all traces of the stars and moon.

Something was not right, and even nature seemed to send her warnings.

“I have no idea.” She stared at her phone, wishing it would ring again and that she’d get some answers.

She glanced over at his parent’s house. His mother and father still stood in the doorway, watching them leave. They’d been thrilled to hear the news of their engagement.

That elation quickly dissipated as fear gripped her.

Cailyn put her phone in her cross-body purse. “Something isn’t right.”

“Can I do anything?”

“I really don’t know,” Cailyn said. “She just told me to stay away from Alexander Hall.”

She left out the part about Connor. Asher still had no idea what was going on with the newcomer. She really didn’t know either.

“That’s weird. Is everyone okay?”

Sighing, Cailyn leaned her back against her door. They were just getting ready to leave and tell her family the good news. Now she didn’t know what to do.

“I hope so. I don’t know what to do now,” she said. She held her hand up to look at her ring. Despite the worry simmering in her gut, she smiled. Only a few more hours and they would head to the airport, pick a place, and leave.

“I know what you can do,” Asher said.

“What?”

He tilted her chin. “Go and tell Tessa the good news.”

Cailyn’s smile faded. She wanted Tessa to know that she and Asher were engaged, but she couldn’t stand to tell her the news of her departure.

“Oh boy,” Cailyn said. She pursed her lips and nodded. “You’re right.”

She stood on her tip-toes to kiss him. “Okay. I’ll go and tell her.” She waved at his parents again. “I’ll come back after I see her and we can figure things out then.”

---