Page 77 of Hunted in the Shadows
“Your dad was a fucking asshole,” I said, after pulling together my thoughts.
This pulled an appreciative chuckle out of him. “Well, maybe he did have a point along the way. Look at me—violence is all I’m good for. At least now I’m killing things that actually deserve it.”
My throat felt so tight, I could barely swallow.Stars,I wanted to be human if only so I could cup his cheek this very instant, force him to look back at me until he believed what I knew of him.
“Gwen told me you ran from this life once,” I ventured.
“I was young. Moment of weakness.” Cliff smirked, reaching for the flask. “Don’t pity me, Sylv. I’ve made peace with a hunter’s death.”
“But what aboutliving?” I persisted softly, leaning forward. I thought of how Jon lit up when he allowed himself to contemplate another future. “Jon and I are impeccable companynaturally,but… Don’t you ever think about a family?”
His laugh was deep and full now. “Can you imagine me with a couple of kids and a mortgage? Don’t waste your worrying on me. This is my choice, and I’m good with it. Saving people beats the hell out of going to some stuffy Ivy League university to land a job as a corporate tool.”
I pursed my lips, sipping at my whiskey. It was nearly drained, to my surprise.
“What about you?” he asked.
“Me?”
Cliff nodded, studying me. “You want that? Family, kids, the whole nine yards?”
My stomach flipped a little, but my head felt buzzy and light. Whiskey was delicious and I couldn’t remember why I ever gave Cliff a hard time for nursing a glass.
“You’re asking hard questions,” I pouted.
Cliff shot me a goading smile. “Are you tipsy already?”
“Duh.” I rolled my eyes at him, but I thought hard, trying to picture it—wings heavy and flightless, a baby in my belly. “My mother asked me so much over the last few years, I got used to saying ‘no’. But now… I’m not sure anymore. Maybe with the right partner, someday.”
“You miss it? Elysia?”
The sound of my home village on Cliff’s lips still sent a shiver down my spine—equal parts pleasant and chilling. “I don’t know. I miss parts of it. Probably not as much as I should. Not as much as I miss my family.”
He nodded, shadows in his gaze. Another gulp from his flask before it was finished and he let it drop in the grass beside him. “Yeah, I get that. You miss what you wanted it to be.”
“I wish I knew for sure if Mother will be waiting at Aelthorin when we finally arrive. I keep imagining arriving after all this effort, all this time… Only for the village to turn me away in disgust because of this thing.” I leaned the cap against my knee and drummed my fingers against the traitor mark unfurled over my cheek.
“You remember what you do to the people who fuck with you?” Cliff asked, a little too matter-of-fact for my taste. “You kill them.”
He looked like he was kidding, but I knew him well enough to know he wasn’t.
“That can’t be the only solution,” I chuckled.
“But it is the most effective.”
I snorted. “A fine introduction—‘be nice to me, or I’ll kill you.’”
“Works for me,” Cliff said.
My answering smile must’ve betrayed my dread. Something gave in Cliff’sexpression the way it so rarely did, and his hand shifted, sweeping me up in a sudden embrace to his neck.
“Hey—don’t worry right now,” he said, his deep voice resonating into my bones. “It’ll be fine.”
I nearly protested—you don’t know shit that it’ll be fine—but I felt so deliciously safe in his grasp, his body heat radiating into my bones, that I didn’t have it in me. I melted against him, letting my wings fold and relax. He smelled familiar, like cedar andwhiskey and the cheap shower gel provided by the motel. It all amalgamated into a masculine scent that was uniquelyhim.
I felt pleasantly numb, my head buzzing. My anxieties had been cast across the meadow. I shifted in Cliff’s grip, taking him in. Under the hem of his dark tee, tattoos crawled up the strong curve of his neck. Not for the first time, I wondered what it would taste like if I gave that tribal swirl a gentle bite, sinking my teeth into his skin.
Stars, where hadthatthought come from?
