Page 34 of A Hunter Turned
With a sigh, Cady laid her head back down on his shoulder. “I really like her.”
“I really like her too.”
With dread pitting his stomach at what he could expect from his pack come sunrise, Archer held his daughter a bit tighter in his arms.
He didn’t sleep. He couldn’t. Despite how tired he felt, his mind wouldn’t shut down. At breakfast, he went through the motions, smiling when he should, giving all the appropriate responses, but when Cady started bringing up plans for a second date with Jamie, he couldn’t do it. The future was an unknown right now and making any plans at all caused a clenching pain in his chest.
“Why don’t we let Jamie pick the next date,” he suggested so as not to crush that bright, excited light in his daughter’s eyes and it seemed to work. If anything, she became more excited at seeing Jamie later that night so that the two of them could plan a surprise date for Archer.
Leaving Cady off with the healer rather than Marceline, under the guise of a special treat, Archer braced himself to face his pack and was surprised when none came forward to issue the expected challenge. Oh, there were whispers and ducked faces, a few of his lieutenants even grinned at him, bumping knuckles and clasping hands with him, suggesting they’d heard the news – or perhaps Jamie’s orgasm – and were fine with it. It gave him hope, and suddenly, he could breathe again.
∞∞∞
Jamie woke with a smile on her face. She was still smiling as she ate breakfast and downed a bag of blood, though Archer’s blood was still a thrilling hum in her veins. And by the time she wandered out of the house to go check on Morgan and any progress with Sophia, she was humming.
The bayou was no longer creepy but beautiful, the buzz of insects no longer an annoyance that made her itchy, but a symphony, and there was an unexpected bounce to her step. Is this what love did? She’d never previously believed in all that time slowing, music playing, clouds parting nonsense that some people attributed to falling in love, had always written it off as endorphins released during a round of hot, sweaty sex but it had been hours, plenty of time for any afterglow to fade, yet here she was…
That pep in her step faltered as she realized she wasn’t alone and the presence behind her was decidedly unfriendly. Turning slowly, her hand creeping to the knife sheathed at her lower back, Jamie came face to face with a cluster of women, some of them in wolf form though she somehow sensed they were female, and all with angry expressions and bared teeth. Oh, shit. This couldn’t be good.
Warily, Jamie raised her free hand in greeting. “Hello.”
One of the women stepped forward. She looked to be in her mid-forties with dark skin and black hair parted in the middle and combed flat on top, the sides left to float in a wild, curly cloud around her head. The woman’s eyes were normally probably a dark brown but were currently the amber of her wolf and narrowed on Jamie. Arms crossed over an impressive bosom, she snarled, “You’ve done something to our alpha, manipulated his emotions.”
Incensed at the accusation, Jamie drew herself up, shoulders stiff, but before she could defend herself, another of the pack stepped forward. “You need to leave. You’re not welcome here.”
Growls and snarls accompanied that statement, and Jamie may not speak wolf but she got the message, they were all in accord. They wanted her gone and were fully prepared to attack should Jamie not immediately accede to their demand.
Rage nearly blinded her. Jamie felt her fangs distending and her fingers tightened on the grip of the knife she’d palmed, and what do you know – she didn’t feel a single twinge of pain. Either alpha blood was so potent it had thrown her healing into overdrive while she’d slept, or she was too pissed off right now to feel anything more than her anger.
If she didn’t step back, one of Archer’s pack was going to end up with a knife in the throat, and Jamie likely chewed to pieces in retaliation. Neither outcome would be well received and would most likely lead to Hunters squaring off against the pack. Taking a deep breath before she did something that might be irrevocable, Jamie offered them a tight, closed-lip smile. “You want me gone? Fine. I’m gone.”
Taking a risk, she turned her back on them to stride angrily toward the back edge of pack territory where the vehicles, including her team’s SUV, were parked. The entire time, she was braced for an attack. Only once she was enclosed in the rig and had driven out of sight of all those glowing amber eyes did she relax.
She’d need to text Archer. He and Cady had planned to stop by after they’d eaten dinner. She’d ask for a raincheck and then let him know what was up. Absently rubbing at her sternum and the feeling of heartburn just below, Jamie wondered how he would handle things. After all, those women were part of his pack, and their dislike of her had been made abundantly clear. How could he choose her, a vampire he barely knew, over a community bound to him by ties of both blood and love? Shit. She hated ultimatums, hated even more that she appeared to be on the losing side of this one. After all, when Kane had proved a threat to the pack, Archer hadn’t hesitated to kick him to the curb and she’d be a fool to think she’d fare any differently simply because of what they’d shared. One night, no matter how special she’d thought it, wouldn’t stand against a lifetime of obligation. Archer was alpha, and in this decision, it was his alpha heart that would guide him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jamie was mumbling angrily to herself as she dragged a fry through a puddle of ketchup and stuffed it in her mouth. The nerve of those women. Manipulating Archer? She wasn’t one of the Born capable of using an allure. Besides, that little trick of distraction only lasted while the human in question – or shifter in this case – was looking right at the vampire. Nor was she capable of compulsion, another trick that a very small minority of the Born possessed. Turned vampires didn’t have tricks, not really, and even if she did, she wouldn’t use one to lure some guy to her bed. That was just gross.
A loud scoffing sound escaped her throat and Jamie ignored the curious eyes of the other patrons in the little bar and grill where she’d finally landed after an hour of aimlessly driving around in circles. Grabbing another fry, her mind whirled with all the things she wished she’d thought to say at the time.
“Jamie?”
Jerking her head around, she spied a familiar face. “Efrem?” Wondering if he too was going to tell her to get lost, Jamie narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
The juvenile waved toward a burly-looking teen with dark skin, and an abundance of beaded cornrows braided tight to his scalp, who was currently grinning and clapping hands with an older version of himself behind the bar. “We had an away game. Jamal’s giving me a ride home but he wanted to grab something to eat first.”
Jamie noted the tired lines of the boy’s face and guessed, “You’re not hungry?”
Efrem shook his head, his sandy-brown hair falling into his eyes and he impatiently swiped it back. “It’s been a long day.”
Jamie nodded, feeling exactly the same way despite her only having risen a short time ago. Too much had happened in that time, her emotions running the gambit. From bubbly and giddy with love, to angry, and then despondent, those few hours felt like days.
“I’m almost done here,” she said, waving at her plate. “Just let me pay my bill and I’ll give you a ride home.” And screw those women if they had thought her leaving on demand meant she’d stay gone. If Archer wanted her out of his life, he could tell her so to her face. That very reasoning was why she hadn’t gone into detail about the altercation with the wolves in a text message. She’d simply asked for a raincheck on the meet up with the excuse that she had some errands to run and left it with a ‘ttyl’ which she fully intended to collect on.
Archer’s response had been a ‘Looking forward to it,’ followed by a kissy face emoji that had nearly broken her heart. God, she didn’t want to face what was coming when he chose his pack over her.
“Just let me grab my gear out of Jamal’s car.”
