“I can’t do this. Take me home.”
He frowned. “Why?”
What excuse could she use that he’d believe? She couldn’t tell him she’d agreed to lead hunters to his haven in direct violation of her promise to grant him immunity. “I-I need to return the weapons I borrowed. Before someone…” She trailed off as she noticed the line of cloaked figures blocking the other end of the alley. A sinking feeling in her chest warned her of what was coming, but somehow, it was still a shock when the tallest in the group walked forward and the moonlight landed on his features.
Great-Uncle Ezra.
“You have done exceptionally well, my dear,” the old man said. He snapped his fingers and an enormous silver wolf appeared from behind him.
Felicity had seen hunter werewolves before. Her own brother had been forced to endure the curse to assist the family in tracking vampires. But the creature before her was more gruesome than any nightmare. Patches of its fur were missing, its eyes glowed a sickly green, and wisps of smoke drifted up from where a thick, silver collar was wrapped around its neck.
“Surprised to see us?” Great-Uncle Ezra rifled the wolf’s fur. “I would have come sooner, but William had a difficult time tracking your scent.”
William. Her cousin. Charles’s twin brother.
“No,” she whispered. “Please tell me you didn’t…” The saliva vanished from her mouth. Great-Uncle Ezra had done the same thing to William that Uncle Ethan had done to Vincent.
The old man opened his arms. “Your mission is complete, Felicity. Come. Take your proper place among us.”
She should have been thrilled. This was what she’d wanted for six years.
She took a step forward, then halted. What was she doing? Her past was stained with blood, but that didn’t have to be her future. As she opened her mouth to refuse, Jonathan grasped her wrist. “Was this your plan all along?”
“It’s not what you think.” She had started out prepared to betray him but had changed her mind.
He shook her once before dropping her arm with a scowl. “I shouldn’t be surprised. Well, you have your answers, Miss Sorrow, and I am free of your wretched artifact. I see no reason to continue our association.” He reached his hand beneath her cloak and withdrew the dagger from her bandolier. It happened so quickly that she didn’t have time to react.
“I’ll be taking this,hunter,” he said.
Then he vanished, leaving her feeling as if she’d been plunged into a snowbank.
Chapter Twenty
Jonathan wiped sweatfrom his brow as he placed the last of the artifacts onto the only remaining space on his dining room table. It had taken several trips to carry everything from the Sloan House after breaking the warding spell with his blood, but his strength and speed had been bolstered by fury.
Not at Felicity. He’d known all along that she’d never be able to guarantee him immunity. The person with whom he was angry was himself for putting her in such a difficult position. When she’d looked at her great-uncle in that alley, he’d seen the longing in her face, and he’d known he could not force her to choose between him and her family.
So, he’d made it easy for her.
He took a cigar from his pocket and popped it, unlit, between his lips. She was still a hunter, no matter what had come between them. He had been the one who had been distracted by the way she’d made him feel.
He chewed the end of his cigar and tried to banish her from his thoughts. With the crucifix removed and the codex in his possession, he no longer needed her. Helena was already hard at work translating the ancient text, having promised to inform him the moment she found anything that might ease his symptoms.
“Quite a collection you’ve gathered,” Seraphina said.
He looked up to find his nest sister examining the artifacts. As usual, she wore a black, long-sleeved blouse that buttoned all the way to her neck and a black skirt that brushed the floor as she walked. She flipped her long, black braid over her shoulder and picked up a tenth-century ceramic vase shaped like a satyr’s head. “We should catalog these.”
As she scrutinized the piece, he remembered how Felicity had carefully organized the items on tables in the museum. She would be heartbroken when she realized what he’d done. Her face appeared in his mind, lips twisted in dismay, eyes shining with tears.
She’d never let him get away with robbing her.
In a day, perhaps two, she’d seek him out, and because he’d been foolish enough to bring her to his haven, she’d know exactly where to start.
What would he do when she arrived at the door with her hunter family in tow?
“We have to leave,” he said.
Seraphina curled her arms around the vase as if the satyr were a dance partner and spun in a circle. Her braid swirled with her like a scarf.
