Page 134 of King Luna

He blows out a slow breath. “Okay, fine. What do you want to know first?”

I blink a few times, struggling to process; I didn’t expect him to give in so quickly. What do I even start with?

Whipping open my messages with shaky fingers, my eyes land on one word:

hunter

“What did the hunter say, in his exact words? Tell me the story, from the beginning,” I say.

Steven hums, pausing for about ten seconds. “Yeah, I told you pretty much all of it already: the dude was drunk, bragging about something fucked-up that sounded familiar.”

“Then tell me again. I need to know as many details as possible.”

Steven sighs, wind rushing through the receiver in his silence.

“Are you outside?”

“Yeah. I didn’t want anyone in the office to hear me. It’s just twisted, you know? With how the cops basically cold-cased it, I wanted to tell you first.”

I drop to our bed, Noah’s emotions flip-flopping faster than mine as he halts in front of me, our knees brushing.

Finally, I allow myself to meet Noah’s eyes. As I feared, they’re steeped in horror.

But so are mine.

Yet Noah is here, braving this pain for me.

As my heart opens up to him, Noah’s posture softens, and my thoughts slip out.

Steven is being surprisingly empathetic... It makes me anxious.

Noah cups my cheek.I’m right here.

“Aliya? Are you still there?” Steven asks.

I blink a few times, struggling to push the words out.

My voice comes out soft and emotionless. “Just tell me what you know. Please.”

“I really did tell you everything.” Another whoosh of air muffles the receiver. I’m suddenly reminded of how much of a fidgeter Steven was, like he was always afraid I’d see straight through to his rotten core if he stayed still for too long.

Rolling my eyes, I open my mouth to urge him ahead, but to my surprise, Steven continues.

“I was sitting a couple stools down from him at the bar, and he had too much to drink. He was slurring, but we all got dead serious when he sobered up a little and said he got away with killing a dude once.”

I cover my mouth, nausea creeping up my throat.

“He said he could’ve sworn he saw bears, so he shot them. Turns out it was two big, bulky guys.”

By now, Noah is restless and jumpy, gripping the back of his neck as he shakes his head. I can’t contain myself either.

“And you just let him go on and on about this without doing anything about it?Everyonedid? What the fuck?”

“No, Aliya, wediddo something about it—of course we did! But not before I dug for more information for you! I thought you’d be relieved.”

I roll my eyes, biting back every cuss word I want to scream at him. “Then what else did you ask?”

“I asked him how long ago that was. He said five years. Almost six.”

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