AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you ready to ask your question now?” he asks, his voice smooth and even.
I nod, my brain a mushy mess of confusion. “I guess so.” Why are my legs still shaking and my heart still thrashing while he bounced back so quickly?
I internally sigh, realizing the answer. Because I’m magically weaker than him.
“I really am sorry for what I’m about to ask. I need you to know that, okay?” I wait for him to nod, before continuing, “While I was in the cage with that demon, he pointed out that the only way the hybrids could’ve found my sister’s body was if someone told them her location … And the only person, other than me, who knew where her body was is you.” I bite down hard on my lip as hurt floods Hunter’s expression.
I am the worst person ever.
“You think I told them?” he asks, his eyes huge and crammed with shock.
I shake my head in truth. “No … But I had to ask. I’m so sorry.”
His expression hardens. “Well, just for the record, I didn’t do it.”
I wait for pain to vibrate through my body, an indication that he broke the contract and is lying. But I feel absolutely nothing. Well, except shame.
“Happy now?” His glacial tone could cast a thousand freeze spells. “Or are there any other questions you want to ask me?”
“I’m sorry,” I repeat. “I should’ve known better than to ever think you’d lie to me.”
He nods with his jaw set tight. “Yeah, you should’ve.”
I don’t know how it happens, but the next thing I know, I’m lying on the ground, my entire body convulsing with pain. I think I hear Hunter shout my name, but the agony overtakes me as darkness drags me under.
Chapter Four
“Eva, come on; open your eyes.” Hunter’s strained voice clips through the darkness encasing me. “Come on; I know you can hear me.” His breath dusts my cheek. “Fuck, what have I done?”
I want to open my eyes and console him, but my eyelids are glued shut by some unforeseen force.
I’m so sorry I thought you lied to me.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers, his lips kissing my ear. “I have been lying to you … Not about telling the hybrids about where Ryleigh was, but about other things. Not because I don’t trust you, but because I don’t want you getting hurt … And I don’t want to lose you. I can’t ever lose you …”
My eyes pop open, my body giving a harsh jerk as I suck in a sharp breath.
Hunter sits back, his eyes roaming up and down my body, inspecting every inch of me. When his gaze collides with mine, the storm of worry pouring from his eyes is so overpowering that my breath gets lodged in my throat.
“Tell me you’re okay.” His voice cracks.
I bob my head up and down. “I’m fine. I swear.” I start to sit up, but he places a hand on my shoulder and guides me back to the ground.
“Don’t sit up just yet,” he instructs. “I want to examine you and make sure you’re okay.”
“Aren’t we a little too old to play witch doctor?” I give a feeble laugh.
He doesn’t laugh with me, worry still creasing his brow. “I need to make sure the broken contract didn’t cause any permanent damage.”
Worry seizes my throat. “That’s what the pain was?”
He nods, slipping off his jacket. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking when I nodded.”
What the hell does he mean by “when he nodded”?
I’m so lost. And worried. And on edge. Plus, the pulsating headache from the broken spell isn’t helping, either.
“So, you were lying …? About what?”
Cupping the back of my neck, he slips the balled-up jacket beneath my head like a pillow. “You said you should’ve known better than to think I’d ever lie to you and”—he audibly gulps—“I nodded without thinking.”
I stare up at the shooting stars now blazing across the midnight blue sky as I attempt to process what happened before I blacked out. He’s right; the pain only came when I declared he hasn’t ever lied to me, and then he nodded.
“So … you have been lying to me about something else?”
He smashes his lips together and nods. “But I promise that every single one of them is for a good reason.”
My eyes enlarge. “Every single one of them? As in, you’ve been lying to me about more than one thing?” I move to sit up, needing some space, but his fingers splay across my shoulders, securing me in place.
“Eva, I don’t want you getting up until I examine you,” he says, keeping me pinned to the ground. “I want to make sure everything is healed from the contract breaking before you start moving around.”
I rub my aching chest. “You might want to check my heart first, because it hurts the worst.”
“Eva …” A heavy amount of remorse weighs in his tone as his hand finds my cheek. “What I lied about … I did that to protect you. And to protect our friendship. If you knew everything I’ve done … what I’m still doing … you’d probably hate me.”
I shake my head. “The only thing I could hate you for is if you did put my sister in harm’s way. These lies … do they have anything to do with her?”
“Not entirely... But that doesn’t make it any better.” He moves his hand away from my cheek, sits back on his heels, and stares out at the road in the distance. “I’ve been lying to you for years. What kind of friend does that make me?”
“The normal kind, probably.” I turn my head to look at him. He seems so haunted, so broken, so unlike the Hunter I see every day. Does this pain have anything to do with what he’s keeping from me? “Besides, if you can deal with me possibly being a hybrid, then I can get over you telling me a few fibs.”
“Me being able to deal with that is part of the reason I’ve been lying to you,” he admits, turning his head toward me. If possible, his expression conveys even more guilt. The sight sends my heart thundering in my chest.
“What do you mean, it’s part of the reason? Wait … Have you known I might be one?”
He steadily carries my gaze, but his hands tremble. “I have.”
And just like that, my heart goes from being wounded to being completely shattered.
Chapter Five
I don’t know how long I lie there, staring up at the sky, wishing on every single shooting star that what he just said was a lie. Sadly, I think this might be the first time he’s ever been entirely truthful with me.
No wonder he hasn’t mentioned anything about the demon saying I was a hybrid. He already knew!
“How long?” I finally manage to choke out.
He kneels in front of me, his gaze locking with mine. “Before I answer that, I want you to know that our friendship”—he motions between us—“is real.”
“How long?” I repeat, ignoring him.
While I want to believe he’s been my BFF this entire time, I’m unsure what to believe anymore.
He closes his eyes and inhales shakily. “Since the day I met you.”
Quite possibly the worst answer in all of witches’ time.
A lump swells in my throat. “So, from the day you met me, you’ve known that I’m part demon?”
“Not the entire time... There was a while where they weren’t sure what you are.” A drop of panic creeps into his tone.
I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. “Wait, just how many people know this about me?”
He hesitates, his eyes skimming the fields around us. “Eva, I really think we should go somewhere private to talk about
this.”
“Fine,” I lie. Like hell I’m going anywhere with him, not right now, not ever. “But you have to let me up in order to do that.”
He gives me a suspicious once over. “Fine. But I still need to examine you first.”
“Okay. I’ll wait.”
I lie perfectly still as he taps his wand against his palm, causing the tip to pierce the darkness with a pale orb of light. Then he gradually spotlights the light across my face, down my neck, my chest, my abdomen, and my legs with his head slanted to the side.
Despite how much I want to despise him at the moment, my body reacts to his attention. My skin erupts with blistering heat and restlessness stirs inside me, begging me to move.
Finally, I can’t take it anymore.
“I think that’s enough.” I nudge the wand away from me. “I’m sure I’m fine.”
He studies me momentarily before reluctantly nodding. “Yeah, I think you’re good—”
Without waiting for him to finish, I push him back, roll onto my stomach, and spring to my feet. Then I take off in a mad sprint.
“Eva, don’t!” Hunter shouts, chasing after me.
Quickening my pace, I barrel down the desolate driveway and toward the street. While it’s not that late, not a single vehicle is around, which is typical for this area, since nocturnal creatures mostly populate this side of town.
“Goddammit, Eva! Stop running!” Hunter yells over the sound of his hammering footsteps. “It’s too dangerous for you to be running off on your own, especially around here.”
“How do you know it’s dangerous?” I throw over my shoulder. “Is that part of another one of the lies you’ve been keeping from me?”
When he doesn’t reply, tears sting my eyes. Was anything real? Was everything a lie?
“If you’ll stop, I’ll try to explain what I can,” Hunter pleads as he races after me.
Conflicted over what to do, I continue to run toward the end of the driveway. Once I reach the edge of the road, I veer right. My legs ache as I move swiftly down the side of the street, heading toward where the fields shift into boarded up warehouses and older, rundown homes.
