Page 124 of Hunted in the Shadows
The spectral plane had not felt so cavernous and lonely in a long time. Jon’s absence carved out a crucial part of this place. The cape-like sleeves of my ivy-colored top fluttered as I wrapped my arms around myself tightly—as though that might appease the ache in my chest.
I imagined Jon balking out there in the motel room, perhaps even refusing to join me. He could have no misunderstanding. I had made my sentiments clear when I snapped at him, laying down beside the spectral rune on the bedspread. I had whispered the spell without waiting on his hesitation.
Cliff’s expression in that moment was cemented in my mind, too, though I wished I could forget how his eyes had lowered, realization clicking uncomfortably between us. Without words, he chose to be an ally to us both. Pissed at Jon, but not nearly as much as he should have been. A selfish part of me wanted Cliff to befurious,wanted him to be on my side and mine alone.
I took a tentative, restless step across the horizonless void of the plane, periwinkle mist swirling in my midst. Time was different here, I reminded myself. Hours could be only a few minutes in the real world.
I ground my back teeth. He didn’t deserve those minutes—not when his betrayal had come to fruition in amatter of seconds. He owed me this.
Just then, something shifted in the air. It was subtle—not even a sound to mark the change. Perhaps entirely imperceptible to anyone else. I felthim, and I couldn’t decide if it was romantic or pathetic that I knew the instant when he occupied space near me.
I bolstered my courage before I turned. Jon looked like himself again. The damage from the morning’s bloodbath was cleaned and healed—the ice slash, bullet wound, and all. He was in clean clothes that only accentuated how achingly handsome he was. His dark hair was tousled, but it looked like he had combed his fingers through it to push it off his face. The vine restraints in Veloria had left angry bruises along his ribs and neck—but here, his skin was wiped clean, an even olive tone that almost glowed.
“Sylvia,” Jon breathed, his stare catching mine.
I craned my neck to hold his stare as he closed the space between us—though there was a primal part of me that wanted to look away, to look anywhere else. He was only a head taller than me here, but this time, it felt like more. My composure was like a thread stretched past its limit.
When Jon reached to pull me into his arms, that thread snapped. Red flashed in my vision, and I tore from his grasp. My hand cracked across his face. He flinched like it hurt, but I roiled at the knowledge that he couldn’t feel the physical sting of the contact.
“Fuck you,” I said.
He didn’t seem at all shocked, but the words stung where the slap could not. The longer I looked up into his face, the more my grief seeped into the anger. Around us, the spectral plane blossomed with deeper hues of pink—scarlet mist that swept in like a heavy fog from my fractured heart.
My voice dwindled into a soft croak. “Jon, how could you do that to me?”
His expression twisted with shame. His eyes swept over me and shuttered. “I’m so sorry,Sylv.”
“You trapped me,” I said, each word gritted out like poison.
“I know.”
“I thought we were in this together—ateam. No matter our differences.”
“We are!”
“But you don’t trust me.”
“I trust you with my life,” Jon said. “I’m not so sure I trust you withyours.”
He eased closer. I stepped out of reach from his arms—those arms I craved so dearly. “What am I to you, if I’m not an equal?”
Jon’s jaw squared. His gaze flicked briefly to the charged mist around us, the luminous colors casting a glow across his skin. “Don’t talk like that, Sylv. That’s not—”
“Would you have caged Cliff?” I interjected. “Would you have done something like that tohim?”
“Maybe!” Jon fired back, waving a hand. “If the situation called for it. You werehurt. Flightless, wounded… You could barely fucking stand on your own two legs. You were in no shape to fight.”
I flinched at the force behind each word—at the truth there. But fire still roared in my chest, aching to burn him. “If the situation called for it,” I echoed snidely. “Years ago, did thesituationcall for getting Luke killed? Tell me, did he know he was bait, or did he figure it out when he was being ripped apart?”
“How did you…” He paled, shuddering out a breath that let me know I’d hit my mark. His lips pressed into a thin, bitter line. “Gwen.” But instead of anger, regret, and sorrow flooded his expression. “It was a job gone wrong, Sylv. I was younger, stupider. I thought I knew more than everyone around me.”
“That hasn’t changed one bit,” I muttered.
“Maybe,” he said softly. “But Luke was a hunter, and hunters go into every job knowing it could be their last. You… you didn’t sign up for this life. You’ve nearly died because of me—because ofus—too many times. Out there, I saw it was about to happen again.”
Jon’s gaze softened. He studied me, then took a calculated risk and drew closer again. He cupped my face in one of his large hands, fingertips pushing through my chin-length locks. The slight tremble to his grip made me falter, made me seek his gaze again.
“I know you’re as selfless as you are stubborn.” His deep voice quavered. “Nothing I or anyone said would’ve stopped you. I didn’t want to grab that iron, but I had to make a choice. An awful choice—toprotect you.”
