Page 101 of The Spider Queen
“He’s not old,” he supplied. “He’s ancient.”
“Ancient?”
Hunter cocked his head to the side and his eyes drifted away from mine. “I can’t say anymore. He wants to be the one to tell you…”
“What if I die before I learn the answers?” I griped.
He smiled, but it was sad. “As if I’d let that happen.”
“Promise me something, Hunter.”
Hunter clutched my hand. “Anything.”
“I have no idea what’s going to happen in the coming days. I have no idea what’s going to happen with Thane. But I need you. I trust you. In a way I don’t trust anyone in the world. Will you be there for me?”
I stared up at him, pleading with him, my expression apologizing for what I’d just done to him. I had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time I flew out of control.
“I promise.”
I snuggled against his shoulder. After a moment, he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer.
Thane had used me as a vessel. Through me, he’d unleashed his fury at Hunter.
“Could I have killed you?” I whispered.
He paused before answering. “Probably.”
I sent out a blast of ire through my mental connection to Thane. I didn’t know if he could feel it—trapped as he was at the moment. But when I came face to face with him again, I’d show him my anger.
“Raise the slat,” Hunter commanded.
I leaned over and revealed the window. I expected to see clouds, but saw nothing but green down below. In the midst of what had transpired, the plane had begun its descent.
“Dublin?” I asked.
“Dublin,” Hunter confirmed.
“I wish we had time to explore.”
“Me too. But this is not a vacation…” he trailed off, not needing to finish his sentence.
I was eager to free Thane and confront him in his human form. I needed it, I realized—to question him in reality, not while he was trapped in his prison and not while he took a spider’s form.
I wanted to challenge him as an equal. I wanted to look him in his handsome face and—
Handsome?
What the fuck was I thinking?
I pulled my gaze away from the view outside the window and glanced at Hunter.Hewas the one who was handsome.Hewas the one who was human.
He was everything I could want. He loved me and I loved him.
So why was I thinking about Thane? A picture of him formed in my mind. Those lips. God, thoselips.
They made me ache.
Hunter looked at me in confusion a moment before his expression ironed out. “There are some things you cannot fight, Poppy.”
