Page 92 of Hunted in the Shadows
I didn’t look back at him, holding up a hand for him to be quiet. He cursed, his stance shifting impatiently. Both hunters’ gazes burrowed into me, making my skin crawl—even if it was protective, not predatory.
“The Fae will be most pleased to have found their visitor. You are… different from them.”Aureline swam closer, her matted black hair clinging to her skin as she lifted a hand toward me, a single clawed finger extended.“That mark on your face… Did hunters wound you, too?”
A clawed finger traced down my side. Gentle, but sinister all the same. I muscled down the instinct to flinch away from her touch. “No,it’s—”
I felt air rush behind me. Heavy steps rattling the dock.
“Don’t touch her,” Jon growled.
“Jon, wait!” I screamed.
He looked down at me, expression blazing. He wouldn’t listen—he was going to pull the trigger. Aureline hissed, baring her teeth with a sharp flash of her tail. She slammed her tail into the dock—forcing Jon to stagger to regain his balance. Jon’s attention flicked upward only for a second—but a split second was all Aureline needed. Her hiss became a haunting melody.
No, no, no—
This time, I saw the moment his eyes locked with the siren’s with excruciating clarity. Horrifying, and yet I couldn’t look away. Jon’s stare glazed over, expression slackening. Aureline’s song surged, and Jon crashed onto his knees like a dog yanked by a chain. I took a staggering flight out of his way. His gun plummeted into the water, vanishing from sight.
“Jon,” I breathed, too horrified to scream. It was too fast, too frightening to form anything more coherent.
He gripped the edge of the dock, leaning over the water to peer down at Aureline like she was everything he’d ever wanted. In a sudden, fluid motion, Aureline lunged upward, seizing Jon’s jaw in a bony hand. Her voice re-entered my mind like a sigh.
“I’ve never seen one like this,”Aureline said, her expression as dreamy as her distorted features allowed. Her thumb stroked his cheek.“Look at all the colors in its eyes.”
“Jon!” Cliff surged forward.
“No, wait!” I shouted, frightening tears blurring my vision. If he shot, the siren might take Jon with her.
If he didn’t, she might anyway.
“I’m not fucking waiting,” Cliff barked. “Get out of the way.”
It had to be nearly impossible to shoot something you couldn’t look at directly—but if anyone could do it, it was Cliff Everett.
“She’llkillhim!” I hissed, turning over my shoulder.
Aureline’s clicking purr drew my gaze back forward. She was still smiling at Jon’s vacant expression, a cruel game flashing in her gaze.
“Do you want to come with me, my darling?”
“Yes,” Jon answered, his deep voice a drone.
My stomach knotted, the single syllable like a blow.
“Let him go.Now,” I barely recognized the growl of my own voice.
I cast a spell toward the water, creating ice around Aureline’s waist in warning. I gave her a steely look, promising that only a flick of my finger could force the ice to close right through her soft skin. She flinched at the cold pressing on her, mouth twisting in what was the closest thing to resemble a pout.
“I won’t warn you again,” I said in a low voice.
Without taking her dark, iris-less eyes from me, she unfurled her grip from Jon and sank lower into the water. He sagged, gasping and gripping the dock, left staring at his own distorted reflection in the brackish water.
“I will take you, Mistress. If you keep your morsels in line.”
I redirected the thread of ice in my palm, letting it coil like a shimmering, frozen serpent. The water around Aureline surged back into motion.
“If they try to hurt you, I’ll freeze their hearts,” I promised sweetly.
Her willingness to believe me was almost unnerving—what sort of fairies did she normally interact with? She trusted me enough to turn her back on the three of us before disappearing under the water. The tell-tale ripples of movements led along the shore, slow enough to track.
