Page 53 of Hunted in the Shadows
For the first time, true shock washed over her. “He… That should have killed him. Or turned him. How the hell is he alive?”
“Well, I—” I faltered, looking down at my hands. Though no magic coursed through my palms, the moment I’d touched Jon’s wound was forever seared into my mind. That sacred, fated contact between us. The thought of heavily charged magic drew my attention to the pulse of the gem shard in my pocket. I closed my fingers around it as though I could choke its aura. “I couldn’t let him die.”
“You healed him,” Gwen breathed, letting out a rush of air. “Nowthatmakes sense. See, Hannah would call Nowak a burdened soul. But me—I’d just call him a sorry bastard who can’ttell the difference between love and guilt. Once he considers his debt paid, he’ll leave you high and dry.”
“Fuck you.” The words leapt from my mouth without a single pause to consider their consequence—along with a hard line of frost that cut through the air.
I had conjured the magic impulsively, barely feeling my lips move around the spell. The glistening icicle whistled well past Gwen’s head, and I swiftly released the shard in my pocket, but the damage was done. I’d shown aggression toward her, just like any monster she’d ever hunted. Renewed tension crackled in the air between us as she regarded me cautiously.
Jon makes me feel alive,I wanted to snarl at her.That’s worth everything to me. Every single risk.
Another voice surfaced in my mind—a new, sickening caution.Even if he’s killed an innocent?The question cut like a jagged blade, stinging in its uncertainty.
I tensed, prepared for Gwen to reach for her weapon in retaliation.The familiar, crushing hand of anxiety—the tiny hope in my chest that I would see Jon and Cliff emerging from the misty path at this opportune moment—was only a brief companion this time. In its place, a smoldering determination surfaced. I had hunted werewolves and ghosts alongside seasoned hunters. My magic endurance was stronger every time I trained, my spells more elaborate, the duration focused and sustained. And now, I carried a shard to amplify it all.
If she hurt me, I would make her regret it tenfold.
The silence settled heavily as the last flecks of frost fluttered to the ground. Gwen’s face was set in an inscrutable expression as she sized me up. Her fingers twitched closer to her hip, where the handgun Cliff had loaned her was tucked away. I could feel her indecision warring within.
“I had hope for your kind. Thought you might be different than the other bastards out there,” Gwen said. “Now? I know better.”
A long, gut-wrenching scream split through the air, drawing us apart. I took flight immediately, conjuring defensive spellwork to both palms. The sound came again, clawing its way through the trees—from the direction of the outpost. The faint roar of other voices followed, inspiring a sickening dread to squeeze my chest.
Jon. Cliff.
I flew to the edge of the dilapidated walkway, scanning the horizon. The misty silhouette of the buildings in the distance had not changed, butsomethinghad happened.
“Relax,” Gwen’s voice came directly below me, and I turned to see she had followed me to observe. “It’s probably just some skirmish. There’s always some kind of bullshit going on between a few trigger-happy assholes.”
Her tone was so readily dismissive, it ignited something feral in me. “That didn’t sound like askirmish. Someone’s hurt.” I faced her, my heart drumming. That dread persisted at the edges of my senses, pulsing. If something happened to Jon and Cliff because I didn’t act—
“I’m going after them,” I announced, steeling my resolve.
“Jesus, you’re a little martyr, aren’t you? I told you, it’snothing—”
“I didn’t ask you to come with me.”
I started forward, only to have Gwen step into my path. “Your scary boyfriend told you to stay put,” she reminded me in a heavy breath.
“And you always do what you’re told?” I asked, my cold smirk a silent challenge.
The scream had turned into a faint sob, carrying across the water. I strained to make out any familiar tones, a trace of Jon orCliff’s voice in the distant chaos. My mind raced with possibilities, each darker and more dreadful than the last.
There could be more than weakened monsters housed here. There could be other fairies out there.Or even—
My eyes slid back to Gwen, my insides churning.
A trap.
“Did you set them up?” I asked, my voice a hoarse thread.
“What? No!” Gwen’s eyes widened, and she recoiled a step back. But I was done listening. I strengthened my spellwork, frost climbing up my arms, mist clouding behind me that made leaves crackle and freeze on the ground.
“Get out of my way,” I said.
“Sunshine, you’ve got to fucking reel it in.”
I didn’t have time for this. If something had gone wrong, Jon and Cliff didn’t have the luxury of waiting.
