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He laughed, but not like anything was funny. “Is your mother even dead? Or was that just something to say to get close to me?”
Now she froze. “She’s dead. She died on an assignment to kill a Water Elemental.”
He told himself not to care. He’d fallen for this more than once already.
His father had once told him he needed to learn to cage his compassion, that others would use it against him, that it would cloud his judgment and hide what needed to be done.
But he couldn’t help it. He heard the pain in her voice. No, he recognized it.
“What happened?” he said quietly.
“She was stupid. She faced him on the water.”
Her eyes were hard when she said it. The derision in her voice was almost potent. “So you’re here on a vendetta,” he said without judgment. He couldn’t really criticize—he’d come here for the same thing, once.
“No, I’m here because it’s my job. I thought you’d understand that.”
Hunter didn’t have anything to say to that.
Her expression turned fierce. “I still don’t understand why you’d be living with them. I’ve heard just how badass your father was.”
Hunter went still. “You don’t know anything about my father.”
“I can imagine what he’d think about you living with a pack of Elementals he’d been sent to kill.”
Hunter’s hand tightened on the knife—but she was right. He had to look away.
“Did the Merricks kill him?” she asked. “Did they somehow convince you to—”
“No,” he snapped, feeling his throat tighten. “No. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“So tell me.”
It took him a minute to make sure his voice would remain steady. “When we came after them, the car was crushed in a rock slide. My father and uncle were killed.”
He felt her eyes, and he met them, holding her there, daring her to say . . . anything. He wasn’t sure what would push him over the edge.
Her voice dropped. “Michael Merrick is an Earth Elemental.”
Hunter glared at her, hard. “I know. That was my first thought, too. I came here to finish the job.”
“And you couldn’t follow through.”
It was so close to the truth that he flinched. He put a thumb against the edge of the blade, just a bit, letting the pain steady him. “They aren’t the only Elementals in town,” he said. “Their parents made a deal with the others, that they wouldn’t turn them in to the Guides if the Merricks kept out of trouble and didn’t use their abilities. Then the others spent years harassing the Merricks in an effort to make them reveal themselves.”
She snorted. “Some deal. They used their abilities last night.”
“The deal is over. When my dad couldn’t . . . when he couldn’t finish the job . . .” He had to swallow. “Another Guide came. He almost killed them. He caught Chris and Nick, but . . .”
Hunter stopped. She was going to misunderstand this, too.
“But what?”
He slid his thumb along the edge of her blade, harder now, feeling the sharpness, knowing it could draw blood with a little more pressure. “I helped them escape.”
“Did you help them kill him, too?”
“He’s not dead!” he snapped. “I still don’t understand why you want my help if you think I’m nothing but a traitor.”
