Huntress

Chapter 80

"What the fuck did he even mean when he said that?" Ryder hissed through clenched teeth.

We were back at the royal's cabin after frantically fleeing the building, our hands shaking as we tore out of the parking lot. Thankfully, Ryder was a more level-headed driver in these situations and he got us home safely. It had been two hours of numbed silence.

Then, everything came crashing down when Noah – Ajax's right-hand man – spotted us tearing down the driveway. He greeted us chipperly, then remembered that we had left as a group of four. Then he saw how pale and shaken we were. Ryder dumped out the entire happenings of the conference in one go, awkwardly, reeling backwards, surging forwards as he recalled details.

I had never been so grateful for Noah in my life, not when he carried me around the house, not when he kept Keiko in check and kept her from straight up killing me in the beginning. As Ryder vomited more and more information onto the poor man, he grew more and more serious. When Ryder finished talking and slumped against the porch, Noah had absorbed everything he needed. He called Keiko's mother to sort out the situation with Clementine. He contacted Hades. He booked a flight to get himself to Denver so he could get on top of logistics. He made time to hug us both tightly though, promising that we would be okay. His reasoning was that we would be okay because we always were.

Ryder looked like he wanted to melt into the earth and never resurface after that, but I grabbed his hand and tugged him inside the home, away from prying eyes. The anxious energy refused to let me be still. I tried to calm myself down by brewing us two cups of tea, but neither of us touched them once they were steeped, both of us pacing around the office.

Now, it was just me and Ryder replaying everything all over again.

"I don't know what he meant," I admitted. It might have been an off-hand comment. It might have been nothing at all. Or, it could have been an admission of guilt. And there was a chance...a chance that the mate bond that we had lost could have been kept intact. "Do you think that we were on to something? Do you think that the alchemists have something to do with this?"

"It's a little hard to discount it now," he sighed. I don't know what he was looking for, but I didn't stop him when he riffled through the drawers of Ajax's stately desk. All I could really focus on was the lines of exhaustion bracketing his mouth, the dark rings under his eyes.

"We shouldn't have left. We shouldn't have ran out of there like we did! We could have cornered him and demanded answers!"

"We did the right thing," Ryder countered. "We were in a room filled with people who were doubting our integrity. Even if we did last more than a few minutes without everyone tearing us limb from limb, there wasn't much more we could do. No one would believe us if we started accusing the people who accused us. We get framed for slaughter then we turn around and point a finger at them? It sounds suspicious."

"The whole thing is suspicious!" I said. I felt like I was getting hysterical. "And they didn't even give Ajax or Keiko a chance to defend themselves!"

"How could they? If I called the police and said that you killed dozens of people, I'd like to think that they would want to hold you and question you for at least a couple hours." He slapped a desk drawer shut, the stress and shock transitioning into something darker. "And honestly, who fucking knows? The werewolf community it huge. If one of them made the choice to go after alchemists and sirens, we would never know."

I fell into one of the massive arm chairs, all energy leaving my body in one big push. I was defeated. I just wanted this to be over. I just wanted to wake up in my own bed and to live a life that didn't involve beings that defied science, illnesses that couldn't be explained, mate bonds that could be broken.

"Are you okay?" Ryder asked gently when I scrubbed my eyes with the backs of my hands.

"Fine, I think. The stress is getting to me. my eyes are hurting and doing weird things. I felt like when I was looking at Nigel, the alchemist, it was like he was...shaking or something."

Ryder stilled immediately, his head jerking up from whatever he was searching for. "What do you mean?"

I tipped my head over the backrest and stared at the ceiling. "He was just uncomfortable to look at sometimes. That's all. But it was probably just the stress or something. I'm fine, Ryder. Really."

He stared hard at me for a moment, those mercury eyes alight with something ugly and danger, a mix between concern and rage. Then, in a blink, it vanished. "No, that's not possible. There were no fairies at the meeting. You're right, it must have just been something stress related. You didn't sleep good last night and we've both had a fair amount of screen time recently."

We both melted a little after that. It was done. Whatever was in motion was already happening. There was nothing we could do about it. We picked up the teas we had forgotten about. They were long cold now but it was the least of our concerns. Ryder sat in the king's seat. I sat across. Numbness crept into our bodies, always waiting to take the front seat.

I couldn't understand how this was getting more tangled. I couldn't understand how the alchemist could appear and cause such a great stir. When I heard that there had been an alchemist at the event, I had been almost certain that our prayers would be answered. Everyone had been, though Keiko reeled us all back in.

Ryder let out a heavy sigh, flipping through whichever book lay on Ajax's desk. I just crossed my arms on the desk, resting my head in the crook. The clock on the wall ticked on and on. I closed my eyes, wishing that the world would stop spinning, just for a second. Just so I could get my legs under me. Ryder flipped the page. I wished my life was different for the thousandth time. A slurp of tea. Cup on coaster. Flip of a page.

Something wafted into my hair. I lifted my head and blinked my blurry eyes. A photograph lay before me.

"Oh, sorry, it must have slipped out," Ryder murmured.

I jerked my hand up to stop him when he reached out to retrieve it.

Because I knew these people. Some of them, I had met only just today. Max was in the photo. So were several other creatures, all of them impeccably dressed. There was Ajax and Keiko. His arm was wrapped around his queen who looked as stone-cold as she had today.

And on Ajax's left was a couple I knew well.

I just didn't know her with gazelle-like horns poking from her hair. And I didn't know him with pointed ears.

"Ryder," I croaked out, slowly turning the photograph so it faced him. My index finger was jammed down on Armond's throat. "These are the people that I used to work for when I was at the café. These are the people who led the werewolf hunters."

"You're sure?" he whispered.

"Yes."

"Where are they now, Georgia?"

"I don't know. But Milo will."

~~~Question of the Day~~~

Did you discover or rediscover any hobbies during the pandemic?