Page 5 of A Hunter Turned
Archer had gone back to the dragon’s house at the edge of pack territory once he’d ordered the pizzas and finalized the delivery arrangements only to have his ears pick up the gut-wrenching sobs of the little blonde vampire. Growling low in his chest, he quickly turned on his heel and walked away. She wouldn’t appreciate him seeing her in this moment of weakness and his nose assured him that the other two members of her team were currently with her.
Had he been too hard on her of late? Was that why she cried? She thought him an asshole, had been quite vocal on that fact, but what she didn’t know, what she couldn’t understand was that there was method to his madness. If he hadn’t coddled Kelsey, if he’d given his mate a dose of tough love, she might still be with him. So, yes, he had taunted Jamie, not because he disliked her, but because he felt she needed it. Better to be angry than wallow in self-pity. There was strength in anger, purpose, even if only in the need to seek retribution, and he would gladly offer himself up as the little vampire’s punching bag if it meant he could save her where he hadn’t been able to save his wife.
Still, perhaps a bit of amends-making was in order. Just a bit. Just enough to dull the sharp edges without breaking down what had already been accomplished. Jamie Wilson had backbone, she’d proven that, so a little peace offering shouldn’t completely undo her progress.
With that in mind, he entered his house and went straight to the spare bedroom, and the multitude of boxes still stored there after all these years. His wife’s things. He hadn’t had the heart to get rid of them, and now, that weakness on his part might be to Jamie’s benefit.
“What are you doing?”
Turning away from the storage crate he’d just opened, he smiled at his daughter. She looked just like him with her thick mass of dark, almost black curly hair that was too full for her little face and big gray eyes. But his daughter’s soft heart, that was all Kelsey.
“I’m looking for Mommy’s old glasses. The woman you met today? She might be able to use them.”
Cady stepped deeper into the room, the ratty, stained body of her favorite stuffed animal tucked firmly under one arm. She was wearing a pink T-shirt with a rather roly-poly looking cartoon unicorn on the front complete with rainbow-striped mane and tail. Above the animal’s stumpy horn there was a smear of peanut butter that made Archer smile. To complete the ensemble, a pair of pink striped leggings encased his daughter’s little legs, and sparkly pink sneakers on her feet that lit up with every step she took.
“Mommy would have liked that,” his daughter said, peering curiously into the plastic crate. “She wouldn’t have wanted her stuff just sitting here if someone else could use it.”
Archer closed his eyes for a moment as his heart kicked hard against his ribcage.Out of the mouth of babes…Such wise words from one so young, and completely true despite Cady only knowing her mother through the stories he and the others in the pack had shared. She’d still been an infant when Kelsey had left this world, yet she knew the woman who’d given birth to her as if Kelsey had had a hand in raising her.
With a deep breath, he opened his eyes and tousled his daughter’s already rumpled hair. “I thought so too.”
Moving aside a hairdryer, curling iron, and a case of cosmetics that probably should have been thrown away, Archer found the large mahogany jewelry box he’d been looking for. The box itself was old and scratched, the finish worn off almost completely on the corners. It had been Kelsey’s treasure box when she’d been a young girl through her teen years and where he’d quickly shoved her glasses for safekeeping when he’d packed away her stuff.
Bracing himself for the emotional impact that was sure to hit when he opened that lid, he sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor with the box in his lap. Had his daughter not been with him, he would have simply reached a hand in to grab the glasses and hid the box away once more. But with Cady eagerly looking on, her eyes brimming with curiosity, he knew he wouldn’t be getting away with a quick snatch and grab.
Clearing the thickness from his throat, he undid the little brass clasp and lifted the lid. The smell of dried flowers immediately hit his nose as the first tinkling melody ofOnce Upon a Dreambegan to play while a tiny ballerina spun on her toes.
“Oh, pretty,” Cady gasped, settling down close to his side to peer into the box, a chubby little finger reaching out to touch the ribbon on the flowers.
Gently pulling free the carefully dried corsage of white roses, baby’s breath and lavender tied with purple ribbon, Archer showed it to his daughter. “I gave this to your mother on the night of her senior prom.”
“Did she look like a princess?”
Archer had to clear his throat again as he remembered that night, how nervous he had been to meet her parents, how uncomfortable and itchy he had felt sweating in that rented tux. “She did. She wore this beautiful purple gown and had flowers in her hair.” There were pictures of them somewhere he was sure. He’d have to find them for Cady.
His vision hazed with an abundance of memories and he had to blink his eyes back into focus as his daughter asked, “What’s in here?”
Seeing the small, black velvet jeweler’s box Cady pointed at, he pulled it free from an assortment of ticket stubs and movie passes, mementos of their numerous dates as he had courted Kelsey. “This is the box your mommy’s engagement ring came in.”
A ring that had been on Kelsey’s finger when she’d been taken by the vampires, a ring those bastards had stolen.
Little fingers patted his beard. “You’re growling.”
Stifling the sound, Archer quickly buried the memory and smiled reassuringly at his daughter as he put the box back in its nest of memories and quickly snatched up the fabric glasses case that had been the purpose of this expedition.
Sliding the narrow glasses free of their sheath, he held them up for his daughter’s inspection. Hot pink frames with rhinestones and silver swirls down the arms. Kelsey had always worn contacts if she left the bayou but at home, she preferred her glasses, the funkier the design, the better she’d always said.
“Ooh. Jamie will like these. She told me she likes pink, just like me.”
Unable to resist tousling his daughter’s hair again, Archer closed his wife’s box of treasures and stood to put it back in the safe confines of the storage container once more. “The important thing will be whether they help her see better, don’t you think?”
Cady nodded, “But she’ll look pretty too.”
“I’m sure she will.” Not that she needed his wife’s funky glasses for that, he thought. Jamie Wilson was a beautiful woman, even with her current injuries marring her face. The realization when it had come had been a kick to his gut. In the years since his wife’s death, he could look at a woman and note that she was attractive, but he’d never actually been attracted to any of them. Not until now, and honestly, he was having a hard time processing his reaction to the vampire. It was one thing to feel protective, to want to help another living being, it was another thing entirely to fantasize quite vividly about how the woman might show her appreciation once she figured out what he was doing for her.
Jamie Wilson was a vampire, he sternly reminded himself. And even if he could no longer say he hated all vampires after getting to know these three, she and her team’s presence in his territory was a nuisance. One that needed to quickly leave pack lands so he could pretend to forget about her.
“You’re growling again. What’s the matter? Are you worried Mommy will be upset that you’re giving her glasses away?”
