Page 78 of Huntsman
“Then trust my judgment when it comes to the Huntsman. He’s not in league with Poison. He doesn’t need her help in coming for me, and he’s had plenty of opportunities before now to finish what she started if they were partners.” Like when I was unconscious for hours on his pullout couch. Only more proof that his vow to kill me is a little suspect. “Yeah, he… interests me.Probably more than is healthy. But I’m not dickmatized, Tera. Far from it. If anything, I see him too clearly. And this isn’t about him. It’s about me. About my actions and the danger they’ve now put you and the others in.”
“No.” There’s a thud like a fist or another body part connecting with an object. “I know what you’re about to say and fuck no. So don’t bother,” she grits out.
“I will bother and I will say it,” I murmur. “When she can’t get to me, Abena will come after the next-best thing. She’ll go after the ones under my protection, the ones I care about, to draw me out. And after what happened tonight, all the gloves will be off. I humiliated her. I exposed a weakness in her armor by infiltrating the obodo and getting so close to her. She’s coming for blood, and if she can’t get mine, she’ll settle for yours to make an example of you to others who would dare to sympathize with me. You know that, Tera.”
“I’m not leaving you,” she states firmly, stubbornly.
“Yes, you are. And that’s not a suggestion, that’s an order from your olori.” It’s not often when I have to pull rank on the women who aren’t just my kapteni but my sisters. But we haven’t faced times like these either. “I need you to get in touch with Nef, Kenya, Doc, and Maura and let them know what’s up. Tell them it’s code white.” It’s our signal that the shit has hit the fan and we need to separate and go to ground. It’s a DEFCON 1 situation. “I’ll call Penn’s parents and tell them to get her moved to one of my safe houses, where I’ll have a full medical staff waiting on her. Same with Sienna.”
“Eshe…”
“Got it, Tera?”
A long pause that seethes with anger and frustration. I hate that she’s angry with me. But I’d hate it more if Abena or Ekon hurt her—or worse—because of me.
I’d turn into a bloodthirsty, vicious creature they’d have to put down… but not before I took out half of fucking Boston with me.
And if it were Malachi?
These streets would run red, the gutters overflowing with a sea of crimson.
That’s how I’m coming behind mine.
“Got it,” Tera finally says. Then: “How can I reach you? On this phone?”
“Probably not.” I sink my teeth into my bottom lip, loneliness already creeping inside a chest cavity cracked wide by despair. For a long moment, I let the chasm pour in, allow myself to choke and gasp on that dark sense of isolation. “I’ll find you.”
Her breath is heavy, deep, as if she’s trying to control the air pushing in and out of her lungs—and failing.
“Three days, olori. Three days before we come find you. We’re having that meeting next week. And we’re finishing this. Together. So: Three. Days,” Tera vows, and then she hangs up.
I lower the phone, sightlessly staring at the black casing. A heaviness, like a huge black boot, presses down on my sternum. I grind the knuckles of my free hand between my breasts as if the twisting motion can unlock my chest wall so I can reach inside and snatch this pain away.
My aim in storming the obodo was to protect my sisters from any more harm. And in my recklessness, I placed them in even more danger. I fucked up. And now… I know only one way to shield them, to draw fire away from them.
My mother once told me that to be oba meant to walk alone.
I now know what she meant.
Deliberately, I shove past the ache and dial Nef to get Penn’s parents’ number. Twenty minutes later, I have their promise to move Penn and Sierra out of Mass General and Nef’s assurance she can loop the security cameras to conceal their movements. Kenya and Maura are going to guard them until they’re underway to the safe houses and then get ghost themselves.
“You finish checking on your people?”
I glance up, meeting his bright blue eyes, then lower to the acres and acres of taut golden skin stretched over wide shoulders,deep chest, and corrugated ladder of abs. And that V just above his hips calls to me, begging for my lips and tongue to map all that delicious territory…
Shit, my body might be exhausted and bruised, and my spirit and pride are in tattered pieces, but I’m conscious. And as long as my brain has activity, I’ll want this man.
“Yeah.” I set the phone on the soft-gray double sink, staring down at it. Grinding the heels of my palms in my eyes, I heave a sigh. “I warned everyone about tonight’s… events and told them to go underground until further notice. Tera argued but she’ll listen, and the others will, too. I…” I swallow, dropping my hands to my lap. “I’m more worried about them moving Penn safely and without detection. She and her parents are the most vulnerable right now. Shit.”
I shoot to my feet and pace the confines of the bathroom, thrusting my fingers through my hair. Malachi watches my restless, agitated movements, and his silence balances on my shoulders, weighing me down with heavy condemnation.
“Say it,” I snap, jerking to a halt in front of him. The self-directed anger is nearly a physical burn, and only pain will extinguish it. Mine. His. Doesn’t matter. I need to… hurt. “Just say it, gotdammit. You told me so; you were right. If I hadn’t run up in there tonight, I wouldn’t be here. My family wouldn’t be hunted like animals, flushed out in order to trap bigger game—me. You wouldn’t have had to put your or Jamari’s life on the line to save my ass. I was reckless. Selfish. Just thinking of my revenge. Only thinking of myself. Say it, dammit,” I hiss.
He remains quiet, those gray-blue eyes never moving from my face. They probe my eyes, and I don’t flinch from the invasive inspection. I want him to see my fury, my pain… my shame. I don’t deserve to bow my head, to hide. Every insult, every judgment he passes on me, I accept.
“Take a shower,” he finally says, and turns to walk away from me.
No.
