He came back so often to visit the house, it never lost the scent of the outdoors that followed him when he breezed inside. Whenever he returned, he lifted her into the air and spun her around while she laughed.
And like this home, it had smelled of love. It wasn’t a scent she could fully describe, but it permeated the air here and made her eyes sting with tears. For a minute, she was ten again, back in her small manor with its thick, wood-beam ceiling, small crevices in the walls that the wind always made its way through, and packed dirt floors covered with rushes.
She would have given anything for one more minute back in that love-filled home before everything fell apart because ofher.
“Brie?” Asher asked when she remained staring into the house and looking like she’d seen a ghost. She’d paled considerably, and her lips had compressed into a thin, pale line. He rested his hand on her shoulder. “Brie?”
Brie shook her head as his voice jerked her out of the past and back into the present.
“What?” she demanded more harshly than he deserved, but the concern in his eyes unnerved her.
What unnerved her more was that she stopped as she started to shrug off his hand. She welcomed the comfort of his touch, craved it, and relaxed beneath it. She shouldnotget any closer to this man, especially when death loomed on the horizon for him, but she couldn’t stop herself from wanting more.
“Are you okay?” Asher asked. “Should we leave?”
“No, I’m fine. We’ve come this far, and we have to finish this.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded and finally shrugged off his hand. It slid down her arm before falling to his side. Disappointment shone in his eyes, and when his fingers twitched, she thought he might try to touch her again but restrained himself.
“What does the stone look like?” he asked.
“It’s ah…. it’s… violet and about the size of an apple.”
“And hopefully not too tough to find.” Unable to stop himself, his fingers brushed hers and gave them a gentle squeeze. “I’ll be back soon.”
With that, he slipped inside and made his way through the dining room, into the living room, and to the set of stairs by the front door. If the stone was in this house, he doubted it was in one of the common areas. If one of the kids found it, they would hide the treasure from their parents, which meant it was most likely in one of their rooms.
CHAPTERTWENTY
As he climbed the steps,Asher kept his back against the wall to see more of the upstairs space when it was revealed to him. His feet didn’t make a sound on the carpet, and though cold air blasted from the vents above him, the AC was quieter in the house than outside.
It was still too noisy for his liking, but there was nothing he could do about it. When he was halfway up the stairs, parts of the upper floor came into view through the rails of the banister running along the upstairs hall. He saw an open door from where he stood but not what lay beyond it.
The hall wasn’t completely revealed to him until he arrived at the top. Once there, he poked his head around the corner and spotted a closed door at the end of the hall.
There were two more doors at the other end of the hall; one was opened while the other was closed. Beyond the open door he’d seen from the stairs was a full bathroom.
Deciding that the door at the other end of the hall was probably the master bedroom, he went left. He poked his head into the bathroom and discovered it was definitely the kids’ space with its animal toothbrushes, superhero towels, and mermaid shower curtain.
Judging by the fact one toothbrush was blue and the other pink, he assumed a boy and girl lived here. Stepping away from the bathroom, he continued toward the open door, where he looked in on a cream-colored room with yellow curtains and a pink canopy bed.
While there was a possibility the girl had the stone, the magazines and comics inside the fort suggested it was more likely a boy’s place, which led him on toward the closed door. Grasping the knob, he knocked in case the kid was inside and hadn’t heard the doorbell.
When no one responded, he turned the knob and poked his head inside. He was greeted with a room that was a cross between a kid and a young adult starting to mature toward a teenager.
Pictures of superheroes decorated the walls, but cars and a couple of photos of women and bands had started to infiltrate the comic and movie posters. A computer sat on a cluttered desk, clothes were scattered around the floor, action figures lay haphazardly in the corner, and a video game controller lay on the floor near the TV.
Two guinea pigs poked their heads out from under the shavings they’d buried themselves in before vanishing again. A small turtle terrarium sat near the twin bed, which was covered with an assortment of comic books and graphic novels.
Stepping further into the room, Asher left the door open so he could hear if someone entered the house. He despised invading this kid’s space and going through his things, but he forced himself over to the closet. Hopefully, he’d get lucky and find the stone fast.
Opening the closet doors, he jumped back when a pile of clothes cascaded toward him. It looked like a bomb had gone off and thrown the kid’s clothes in every direction but on the hangers where they belonged.
His roomneverlooked like this as a kid; not only would his mother not have tolerated it, but hunters were raised in a world full of discipline and routine. Their strict regimen made them good fighters, kept them alive, and extended into their homes. No form of chaos was allowed in their lives.
Gazing in dismay at the clothes spilling around him, cluttering the floor and piled into the corners with forgotten teddy bears, he didn’t know where to start with this mess. Before tearing into the chaos of this closet, Asher decided to check the window again.
