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Chapter Eight
Skylar
Xander slammed on the brakes and I flew forward despite my attempts to brace myself. The seatbelt held me in, cutting into my shoulder. Before I could recover from that jolt, the car behind us slammed into us, sending me forward again.
The sound of cars crunching into each other reverberated through the early night air. Horns blared and people screamed. From the mirrors, I could see the damage behind us. Dozens of cars stopped on the highway, mangled and wrecked. Guilt slithered through me. We’d caused a lot of damage just now.
The truck behind us had severely damaged the back of the car and I wasn’t even sure if we could still drive in this condition. But Xander said he had a plan and I trusted him to try it. Whatever it was.
I held my breath and watched Xander. His knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel. We waited. My heart pounded so loudly I was certain he could hear it.
Ahead, the cars that had previously had us blocked in turned around, going to the wrong way on the freeway. All three cars parked facing us.
My chest tightened. We were about to be facing off against a half dozen hunters.
The car doors opened and I watched as people I’d worked with stepped from their vehicles. A tiger shifter, two mages, a bear shifter, and a hunter I’d never seen before faced us.
“Um, Xander?”
“Hold on,” he said just as he gunned it. We drove right into the side of the car. I winced against the crunch of metal against metal as Xander plowed through, pushing forward. We were free from the barrier and shouts were replaced by gunshots as we sped away.
I screamed, ducking lower in the seat to avoid any stray bullets that might find their way inside. Xander drove into the shoulder, flying past the pickup and the other cars that had stopped in the mess. The sound of sirens blared and I knew the hunters would be getting out if they could. I twisted in my seat to look behind us. Our rear windows were still intact, none of them had hit our car. It made me wonder if they were trying to bring me in alive.
Flashing lights appeared in the distance, growing smaller as we put more distance between us and the hunters.
“Friends of yours?” Xander asked.
I turned so I was facing forward again. “I’m not the partner type.”
“You knew some of them, though?”
“Yes,” I said.
“So which one of us is on their list?” he asked.
I pulled my phone from my back pocket and fired up the secure database. When I entered my password, I got the black screen of death. “Fuck.”
“What?”
“It’s on me.” When a hunter was kicked out of the guild, they were locked out of everything, including our database. When I tried to log in, I got a black screen then kicked back out to my home screen on my phone as if the app never existed in the first place. “I’m out. They must have revoked my guild membership.”
I slumped down in the seat. This was bad. So bad. Not only was there a bounty on my head, I was also unemployed. I had one skill. I didn’t even have a high school diploma to try to get a human job. My dad did a rudimentary home-schooling program with me but I couldn’t exactly add that to a resume.
“I’m so sorry,” he said.
“It isn’t like I was going to pick up any jobs right now, anyway,” I said, mostly trying to make myself feel better. “Though, I am curious what the hit on me is worth.”
“Is it normal for teams to work together like that?” Xander asked.
“No.” He had a point. I didn’t need to see my name on the list to know what it said. “It has to be big. And I’m guessing they’ll get a bonus if I’m alive. Otherwise they could have shot us down when they had us cornered. They didn’t want to risk hurting me.”
“Can’t be many bounties like that,” Xander said.
“There aren’t,” I said. “It’s very unusual. It’s something I’d expect to see for a foreign diplomat or someone who had power and money.”
I tensed then looked over at Xander. “They know I’m part demon. That’s the only thing that explains this. They’re either worried I’m going to unleash something on them or they think they’ve got a diplomatic issue here.”
“Who let the cat out of the bag?” Xander asked. “Shelly?”
