Page 119 of The Hunt
“There were nights he would wail in his sleep. I’d hold him through it all then spoon-feed him oatmeal in the morning. I didn’t go to school those days because I was so terrified that when I came home, he wouldn’t be there. That I’d be alone. Maybe I won’t break you. Maybe I will. But I absolutely will break someone when I give in to this thing eating me from the inside because I’m so hungry that once I start, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop until I’m bloated with the energy of everyone near me. And when I am? When I come back to myself? I’m not sure I’ll be able to live with myself. So I’m damned either way.”
Speaking my deepest, darkest fears helped ground me enough to pull away and look at Fenris. His eyes were closed, but I could feel his pity.
Placing a hand on his chest, I stole it from him.
“Go home, Fenris. Go to bed.”
His form shimmered as he shifted. As soon as he disappeared, I called Jenna and started walking.
“I found him at the tree. You’re right. He’s not acting like himself. But I made a deal with him, and he’s heading home to go to bed.”
“Thank you so much. Do you want me to come find you?”
My hunger twisted inside of me at the idea of Jenna seeking me out.
“No, I can follow my tracks out again.”
“Are your teeth chattering?”
I grimaced. “A little. I’ll be fine once I’m in the car.”
“We won’t forget how you helped.”
Shivering, I said goodbye and hurried back to the parking lot. All I needed was the peace of Fenris’s cabin, a nap, and some chocolate to take the edge off of my hunger.
However, I didn’t stop shivering even with the fire roaring and chocolate in my belly. Tiredly, I sat in the chair and stared at the flames.
My breathing slowed, and I gave in to sleep’s welcoming embrace.
Lost and alone, I restlessly walked amid barren trees. The feeling that I needed to find something drove me to keep moving even as my middle cramped. The pain grew with each step, and my gaze desperately searched the branches, but I didn’t know what I was looking for. I cried and held my stomach, so hungry and desperate for relief.
My phone rang, waking me with tears in my eyes. I wiped them away and looked at the name before answering.
“You have three seconds to tell me what’s really going on with you before I fury my ass to Uttira and shake it out of you.”
“Uh? Hello?”
“Don’t you hello me. Your mom called me, Eliana. She told me some of what’s been going on. Mrs. Quill stopped feeding you? Adira’s been manipulating the hell out of you? The brownie masturbated in your mouth? That’s the kind of shit that friends talk about.”
The rage left her tone.
“Aren’t we still friends? Did you break up with me when I left?”
I choked on a laugh through my tears.
“Your mom admitted that she’s been messing up, too,” Megan continued. “She told me about the gifts she gave you and how the mermaids are bullying you to the point that one of them cut you. Why didn’t you tell me it was so bad?”
The hunger and pain still rippling through me was nothing compared to the ache the sound of her compassion evoked.
“I thought I could be like you and deal with it. But I didn’t. I screwed up, Megan. I screwed up so bad that I’m pretty sure you’re going to drag me to hell the minute you see me.” The pain in my middle grew. “Ashlyn’s missing. I asked some druids to do a spell to get rid of my mom, but instead, Ashlyn disappeared because she was there with me. She’s been missing for over a week now.”
I wasn’t sure she could understand me through my crying.
“Start from the beginning and tell me everything.”
“After Mom slipped two boys in my bed, I knew I couldn’t deal with her helpfulness on top of Adira’s manipulations. I tried asking Mom to leave, but she wouldn’t. I know she loves me, but sometimes it’s too much. She wasn’t helping. She was making it worse. I was talking to Ashlyn about it at the Roost, and some druids overheard. They said that they knew a spell that would place Mom outside the barrier. They said they’d used it before and promised that no one would get hurt. I believed them. And with Mom’s invitation to Uttira only temporary, it sounded like a good idea. Once she was out, she wouldn’t be able to get back in.
“So last Monday, they cast the spell in the aquatics bathroom. I was there to speak my Mom’s name as part of the spell. Ashlyn didn’t trust the druids and came along to support me even though she thought the spell was a bad idea.”
