There was no one telling her when to eat, what to wear, or how to behave on the streets. There was no consistent food, and she often went a day or two without eating.
From the day she was born, people she knew surrounded her. They were constants in her day. On the streets, she didn’t know anyone, and she’d been far too trusting. She’d lost money, food, shelter, and dignity before she smartened up and stopped putting any faith in others.
But, for some reason, she was considering putting her faith in Logan. Maybe it was because she was scared and hurting right now, but she believed she could trust him. Or at least she wanted to believe it.
“You’re okay,” Logan assured Asher as he ran the cool cloth over his friend’s forehead. “You’re going to be okay.”
Elena couldn’t make out the jumbled words the hunter uttered, but the vampire chuckled. “Yes, you’ll have some sexy scars to show the girls.”
Elena turned her attention back to the food when a flicker of amusement ran through her. She was trying not to like these two, but she kind of did.
Chapter Nine
“So,what’s your plan after this?” Elena asked before biting into her pizza.
“Now, we’re going to have to return to Ronan and tell him we failed in our mission,” Logan replied.
“What exactly were you asking my father for?”
“More help against the rising threat of the Savages. We were looking for hunters and vampires to join us, but the vamps who once lived here have moved on. They were developing a working relationship with your father, but they decided to head further south when the number of Savages increased in the area. So we came in the hopes of getting more hunters to help us fight.”
“And my father told you no.”
Logan didn’t miss that she hadn’t asked it as a question. She was fishing for reasons why he might have killed her father. He pushed aside his annoyance of her continued distrust and smiled.
“No, he’d agreed to send fifty fighters back with us.”
Elena set the pizza down to stare at him from across the worn, wooden table in the corner of the motel room. On the TV set before the two double beds, a rerun ofLaw & Order: SVUplayed. The sound was down so low she couldn’t hear what Benson was saying to Stabler, but she wished the two of them would screw already.
The room wasn’t bad for a roadside motel. Pale oranges and pinks colored the walls; it was a familiar motif throughout many of the motels in the southwest. When she was on the streets, whenever she saved up enough money to get a room, she would. A bed, hot water, and security for the night were still some of her favorite things in life.
A wagon wheel hung in the center of both beds. The white comforters on the beds were fluffy, clean, and smelled of lavender and bleach. Though the furniture was worn, it wasn’t ratty or lopsided, and the table didn’t wiggle when she moved. The chairs weren’t the most comfortable things she ever sat in, but what wooden chairs were?
Asher had fallen back into a fitful sleep. Occasionally, he’d mutter something and stir restlessly before settling down again.
Sitting across from her, Logan stretched out his long legs and rested his hands on his belly. He stared at the TV as if he were watching it, but she sensed most of his attention was on her.
“Will Ronan punish you for failing in your mission?” she asked.
When his eyes met hers, she almost regretted her question when she saw the exhaustion in them.
“I know what they raised you to believe about vampires because I was raised to believe it too,” Logan said. “I used to feel the same way you do about them, but we’re not all monsters. It may not be something you want to believe, or maybe it’s something you’re struggling to believe, but you know it’s true. You know what the Savages smell like, and you have to have heard about what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Elena carefully wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin before setting it down. “I know little of what goes on in the compound. I left home when I was eighteen, and I’ve only been inside it three times since then. That includes tonight.”
Logan was taken aback by her words. “Why did you leave home?”
“Because, to me, living on the streets was preferable to marrying Mateo at eighteen.”
Logan quirked an eyebrow at this revelation. He’d always known that not all hunters were thrilled with the matches the elders created for them, but he’d never heard of a hunter running away because of it.
“You ran away to avoidmarriage?” he asked incredulously.
She grinned at him, but it was not the smile he wanted to see from her. This was more of a grimace as she kept her lips together while doing it.
“Shocking, isn’t it? Especially since I was the daughter of our compound’s leader. My father saw my desertion as a blow to his power. If he couldn’t control his headstrong daughter, then how could he control the others? I’m sure there were more than a few who also believed the same.”
“But he didn’t lose control of his compound.”
