Huntress

Chapter 87

The fallout of our discoveries was immense. I didn't know much about the supernatural world as I had barely dipped my toes in, but when we returned to the royal's vacation cabin, the phone calls didn't stop. Ryder was on his phone often and though he would leave the room to take the calls, he never withheld information when I asked.

The alchemist had confessed. In fact, they had never gone extinct at all. Ryder explained to me that reproduction was incredibly hard on them and most supernatural species. While the shapeshifters had been given pre-determined mates and had relative ease reproducing with humans, the same could not be said for the others. So, the alchemists aged and passed away without having children rather often. The gene pool was getting smaller. It had been easy enough to make the last handful of them seemingly disappear for a few years while they worked on their potion and poisons. Just another ploy to point a finger at the werewolves.

They wanted to kill out all the shapeshifters. Werecats had been the first victim. Werewolves the second. Lord only knew if they had progressed to working on the killing of vampires. Once the vampires were gone, the power would have gone back into the remaining species. The ability to shift, the chance at predestined mates might have been given to the remaining species. And even if it didn't, at least those that they had been envious of would be long dead.

The little alchemist that seemed so frail and damaged had been none of those things. And the shimmering that I had seen was no reaction to stress.

I had avoided the refreshment table. Others had not. They had not seen the glamour that the fairies had placed around Nigel in an effort to make his statement more believable. Anyone who had consumed food or drink at the event had been subjected to a potion of sorts. When they heard the sweet man talk, they hadn't been in control of their emotions. They believed when they should have questioned. Their hearts ached when they should have been doubtful.

Ajax and Keiko had not fought as hard as they should have, under the spell like everyone else. But they couldn't have put up more of a fight in a room filled with glamoured individuals. They would have been suffocated by accusations.

The ripple in the supernatural world was tangible. With two species working together, things that should have been impossible became reality. Glamouring other species should have been inconceivable. But there it was, a consumable potion made with fairy magic and alchemist know-how.

Max the vampire stopped by once or twice. I can admit to being so stricken that I didn't really process his visits too much. But I knew that he was on our side and knew that he had made statement after statement to help push our case.

I do recall the way he looked at me though. He cocked his head to one side and asked, "I was astonished to hear that they survived. How did you not kill them?"

I shrugged absently. "Didn't seem worth it at the time."

"Really? I would have gladly spent a few hundred years in a jail cell if it meant killing someone like that. When I went back to give a few statements to Adrienne, I debated doing it myself."

It seemed easier to give up hundreds of years when one actually had the opportunity. I had given up so much of my life. I had dedicated day after day to them through everyday tasks. I hadn't eaten a meal without thinking about the effect on a hunt. I hadn't skipped the gym without berating myself. I hadn't gone to bed at night without thinking of my parents.

"You can live in anger forever, if you let yourself," I mused. "I guess, for me, I just needed to move on."

Another knock at the door paused the conversation. Whatever the vampire was going to say next died in his mouth. I just sank into the overstuffed chair and listened to Ryder at the door.

"Milo, uh, hey," Ryder blurted.

"Can I come in?" the hunter asked.

I jerked upright immediately, watching the man who trained me slink into the room, eyes down. Then, in a flurry of movement, Max rose to his feet. His eyes were wide, lips parted.

"Well," the vampire cleared his throat. "Best be on my way. Seems like you two still have a lot going on."

He rushed out the door, leaving Milo to gawk after him.

"Do I even want to know what he is?" the hunter asked in a hushed whisper.

"Probably not," I sighed.

I should have gotten up to hug him. We had gone through this together, even though it was separate. I had been through the process every step of the way. He got thrown in the deep end at the finale. But regardless, what we had dedicated our entire beings to had turned out to be nothing but a sham.

Still, I remained seating, my body feeling so heavy.

"I feel like I should apologize, but I also feel like you two need to apologize," Milo said, brow furrowed. In fairness, mild confusion in this scenario was entirely fair.

"What are we apologizing for?" Ryder snarled.

I held up a hand to quiet him. Still so defensive, still so deep in all of it. not that I could blame him. We had seen each other do awful things. We had been through awful things. It was only natural at this point. But Milo was not at the head of all of this.

"I'm sorry that I tried to choke you. I'm sorry that you were my contact point in all this. You didn't deserve a lot of the things that happened to you and that's not fair. I could have handled many moments a lot better. But, I'm also really grateful that this is all done and part of me doesn't really care how we got here."

Milo blinked at me, then nodded once. "Right, well, that about covers it then. I'm not going to say that any of it was okay, but I'm sorry too. You've always been a fabulous hunter and I would have trusted you with my life in the field, but when I really needed to show you that trust, I didn't."

"How could you?" I said around a yawn. "Everything you believed was a lie. I fought it like hell at the beginning too."

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Right, well, where are your beloved royals?"

"On their way," Ryder gritted out. I wished that I could wrap my arms around him, let him lay his head against me like all those times when the mate bond was still intact. I could have soothed so much away. I could have sped up his healing. But now, neither of us could accelerate anything. We had to work through this disaster on our own time.

"Ajax and Keiko are coming from the facility they were held at. Keiko's mom is flying up their daughter Clementine, but you got a little while before the big family reunion."

Milo relaxed a little after that. He settled himself on a couch for a little while and even cracked a joke at Ryder's expense. Ryder didn't seem to notice, the glare on his features remaining the same.

"There's a cure," I blurted a moment later, almost an afterthought. or perhaps something more repressed. Because there was a cure. But I had been too early for it. The cure that could have taken away my wolf-drain...and left me mated to Ryder. And now, I was just a human, helplessly in love with a werewolf.

"For wolf-drain?" Milo asked.

"Yes, the alchemist said as much when we were at the conference together, but so much happened that I kind of let it go," I explained.

Milo dropped his head into his hands, pressing his fingers into his temples. After he completed two circles, he said, "Jesus Christ, this is all so much to take in. I feel like I don't even understand the words you're saying. Like how can an alchemist even be a real thing? Or those other things – night howlers – like what is that?"

"Wind howlers," I corrected automatically. "But there is a cure, Milo. We can still save so many people. We can go to Cassey and treat her. your family can be treated. Armond and Dawn aren't talking now that they aren't being actively tortured, but the alchemist is squealing. He told the council a list of names he believes were targets to their potions. We can help everyone. No more feeling helpless."

Unless it was feeling helpless about those who couldn't be helped. Those that it was already too late for.

But, just because I couldn't get my parents back didn't mean that life stopped for everyone.