The male turned his head and looked at Aunt Jess with a scowl on his face. "Damn it, Jess," he snapped, and she raised an eyebrow. He huffed and moved a hand through his hair before he shook his head and grimaced. "Does he know?" He looked at her again.
Aunt Jess scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Of course, he doesn't," she said. She shifted, and a slight grimace appeared on her face. "This is not the time to move, Baby Girl," she mumbled, and I had a feeling that she was talking to her child. "And not pressing on my bladder."
"That is the reason why you shouldn't have done this, Jessica." He narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth as if he was a wolf and not human. "I am sure that your m- husband is worried sick about you, and he has no idea where you are at."
Aunt Jess scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Please," she said. "My mate knows where I'm at. Yes, he is worried sick about me, but he knows where I am at."
The male raised an eyebrow in question but stayed silent.
"Your boss sucks at checking for things," she said. She shifted again and sighed when she caught his confused look. "I would tell you what I mean, but I don't want that out in the open where he has ears."
He nodded, and a pained look appeared on his face. "Do you really not consider me your brother any longer?" he asked. His voice grew softer, and he stared at her with gray eyes that looked so much like hers that it wasn't funny.
Her gaze softened, and she looked like the female that had taken me under her wing and not the fierce warrior that she was moments ago. "I do," she said, her voice turning soft and soothing. She studied him and cocked her head. "However, I can't tell you why I said what I said because, again, I do not want his ears to hear what I have to say." She gave him a pointed look, her eyes saying something that her voice was not.
The male, her brother, sighed and nodded, looking forlorn while he studied her and tried to pick up her meaning. Realization filled his eyes when he figured out what she wanted him to do, and he nodded. "Hang on," he said. He closed the door that held us prisoner and locked it before placing a small rectangular device on the door and pressed a button.
A red light appeared on the rectangular device before it let out this steady eeeeeeeeeerrrrmmmmm while it turned on and processed whatever information it had stored into the system. It blinked, once, twice, before it turned green and went ding! with the steady hum stopping.
The male looked at Aunt Jess and raised an eyebrow but stayed silent.
She lifted her head and looked around, her gray eyes taking in the sights of this damp and moldy cell. "Hello?" Aunt Jess asked, and I raised an eyebrow in question. She looked at me and winked before she lifted her head again. "Hey, Dickface, can you hear me?" she asked, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. "Come on, Turd Muffin, come back here and fight me, Bitch." She paused and cocked her head, listening for any sound. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," she said, and her brother snorted, amused.
"Kitty?" her brother asked and raised an eyebrow, and she shrugged her shoulder.
"It sounded better than saying: 'Here chicken, chicken, chicken," she replied. She sighed and leaned back until she was slightly comfortable with her bulging belly protruding out in front of her. "What about you?" she asked and raised an eyebrow.
"Roger made sure that I was protected," the male said. He cleared his throat and shifted on his feet, and I had a feeling that he was a little uncomfortable underneath Aunt Jess's hard gaze. "He had set a device that his ears won't hear anything that I have to say or do." He moved a hand across the back of his neck and looked sheepish. "It's why I was able to watch over you some."
Aunt Jess studied him before she nodded. A look of sadness appeared on her face, and for the first time, I saw a lost girl instead of the other two people I was used to seeing. "I still don't like it that you knew about me, but I didn't know about you, Nik," she said, her voice cracking slightly.
The male, Nik, ducked his head and looked guilty. "I know," he said, "but because you have both genes tha-"
"I know," she said, interrupting him. "You all didn't risk it." She sighed. "Was the car crash part of their plan to get me?" she asked, and he nodded. She slowly nodded and bit her lip while she thought something over. "Jonah is actually dead, huh?"
Nik grimaced and nodded. "Ya, he's dead," he said. He cleared his throat and shifted on his feet while he looked down. "He had neither the hunter gene nor werewolf gene that could be activated or passed down, so he was useless to them."
Aunt Jess cocked her head while she studied him, and he didn't meet her gaze. "But Dad was a Hunter," she said, and he shrugged. "What else was a factor in his death?"
"The car hit the passenger side first if you remember or not," he looked up, and Aunt Jess nodded in confirmation, "and he was seated behind Mom with you in the middle and me behind Dad."
"I know that," she said. She frowned and narrowed her eyes, and Nik didn't meet her scowling gaze. "Why are we still alive, and he isn't?"
Nik shrugged. "All I can say is that you saved my life, Jess," Nik said. He looked at her, and his gray eyes were filled with pain and tears. "That is why I am still alive today. You saved me." His voice cracked, and he shook his head while he took a deep, shuddering breath. "I have no idea how you did, but you saved me. You made sure that nothing could hit me and shoved me out of my seat and the car before the wreck got too bad." A tear streamed down his cheek, and I didn't need to look at Aunt Jess to know that she was crying, too. "And I never got the chance to thank you," he said. "If you hadn't..."
"...you'd be dead too."