“It probably damaged his standing a little, but he was too well-liked, too strong, too good of a fighter, and possessed the best bloodlines. He wasn’t going to lose his leadership over little old rebellious me.”
“And you were supposed to marry Mateo?”
“I was.”
“I’m sure he saw it as a blow to his pride too.”
“I’m sure he did.”
“So, he probably doesn’t like you.”
She gave a small snort of laugher. “Probably not.”
“Is he a lot older than you?”
“About twenty years. He was married for a while, but she died in labor, and so did the child. He’d been widowed for almost two years when I came of age.”
“And he saw you as a way to one day rule the compound after your father died.”
“And I’m sure the elders saw him as a way to make sure the second-best bloodline in the compound joined with the first. It was a good way to ensure their continued safety since my father had no son.”
“So you ran away because of Mateo?”
“I’m sure Mateo and many others saw it that way, but I would have run away from anyone. I was eighteen, I wasn’t in love, and though I was raised to be a proper little hunter wife, I didn’t want to be. I had no idea what lay beyond those walls, but it had to be better than simply existing to be a wife and mom.”
“Was it?”
Elena fiddled with her napkin as she contemplated this. “Not in the beginning, but it is now, or it was before my father died.”
“What did you do after you ran away?”
“Our compound was still in Mexico then, so I made my way across the border and into Arizona. I did so at night and under cover of the stars. Being a hunter helped with that a lot, as it required speed and stealth. I’m naturally good at both. Once in the US, I assumed everything would be easier, but I was a stupid teenager then. It took some time, but I learned how to survive.”
“How?”
Elena lifted her pizza and took another bite. She chewed and swallowed as she tried not to recall those lonely nights spent too scared to sleep because someone might try to kill or rape her. She was a hunter and, therefore, stronger than humans, but she didn’t know how to fight then, and she couldn’t take on a group of them.
“By doing whatever I need to,” she finally said.
Logan studied the beautiful, enigmatic woman across from him. The more he learned about her, the more of a mystery she became. He’d considered Kadence a bit of a rebel, but she’d always planned to return to the compound to marryhimafter getting her revenge on Joseph.
Elena had forsaken everything she grew up knowing. She’d struck out and into a world that was a giant mystery to her. Hunter women weren’t as sheltered as they used to be, but they were still far more sheltered than most human women.
He was very curious to learn more about what happened when she left the compound, but the look on her face said she wouldn’t discuss it.
“What about you, Logan Paskin?” she inquired.
“What about me?”
“How did you become a vampire?”
“A vampire turned me. My alternative was death; I chose life.”
“You chose life as a being who survives on blood.”
Logan shrugged. “That’s only a small facet of my existence. I’m also a being who gets to wake up every morning and enjoy life.”
“And do you enjoy your life?”
