Hunted (39 page)

I'd
thought we were past this, but I couldn't let our final conversation
end on a sour note. "I'm really sorry about Tristan, Cindi. I
promise that I never consciously did anything to lead him on."

"I
know. We actually talked for a couple of hours this morning. He told
me the rest of his side of the story. Kind of funny to know now that
I would have had a better chance with him if I hadn't joined the
cheerleading squad. I guess that's good though. Teams and clubs help
segregate people out so that likeminded people are all together.
Having a cheer squad means that all of the self-centered, spoiled
brats are all in one place so that guys like Tristan can avoid them
more easily."

Now
I was angry. "Stop that. Don't let them define who you are. Miss
Winters isn't like that and I don't think you are either, at least
not deep down. Give Tristan some time and maybe he'll come around. He
saw you stand up to Jackson just like I did. Not a lot of girls would
have the guts to come running into the house like that and then hit a
vampire with pepper spray."

"No,
he's pretty head over heels for you still, Adri. It's okay, I don't
begrudge you having won his heart."

"Cindi,
I'm…well, I'm not coming back, not for a long time, maybe
never. I don't want him to sit there and pine for me. It wouldn't be
fair to him, especially not considering that there's someone else I'm
interested in."

"Yeah,
he told me you'd said that to him too."

"It's the truth. Just give him time, Cindi. He's a lot better
guy than I ever realized, and the two of you have a bond now that he
doesn't share with anyone else in the school. If you honestly, in
your heart of hearts, don't want him then that's fine, but otherwise
it would make me really happy to know that the two of you eventually
got together."

It
was obvious by the silence that she wasn't ready to agree to anything
yet, but I figured that was a good sign. If she was still conflicted
then it meant that she did still want Tristan. Eventually that desire
would trump her regret over having treated me like crap for the last
few weeks.

"Adri…will
you at least call us from time to time?"

"I'll
try. I don't know what the future will bring or what Taggart will
decide is too dangerous, but I'll really try to keep in touch."

Taggart
was walking back over to me and I could tell by his manner that our
ride was almost here.

"I'm
sorry, Cindi, but it looks like I'm going to have to go. I love you.
Tell Mom and Dad that I love them too."

"I
love you too, Adri. Be careful out there."

She
hung up before anything else could be said, but I'd heard the tears
in her voice, so I knew it wasn't out of spite.

A
black SUV pulled up as Taggart took the burner phone from my hands
and wiped it down with a white handkerchief. A couple of
rough-looking guys got out and handed Taggart the keys to the SUV.

"You
two know your job?"

The
taller guy, the one with the chin piercing, nodded. "Yeah, we
take your car back the way we came. The rest of our payment is
waiting for us in Marshal."

Less
than a minute later all of our things had been moved to the SUV and
Taggart had dropped my burner phone on the side of the road.

As
we drove away I knew two things. First, leaving my family was the
hardest thing I'd ever done, but in a way I was glad that I was
leaving them rather than the other way around. With all the crap that
had happened it was still nice to know that they were back there
waiting for me to return to them someday.

Second,
as soon as I had a chance to recover from the last few days, as soon
as I put five or six pounds back on, I was going to start trying to
contact Alec again. Nothing short of death was going to stop me from
finding him.

—The Story Continues in
Ambushed
—

Curious how all of the pieces of the Reflection Universe fit
together? Check out
the
Reflections Reading Order Diagram
on
my blog.

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Acknowledgments:

Once again, this book wouldn't have ever seen the light of day. My editors, RJ Locksley and Amy Jirsa-Smith, did great work cleaning up typos and mixed metaphors. Once they had finished pummeling Hunted into shape, it went out to my beta readers who helped make sure that I didn't introduce too many new errors while fixing the issues that RJ and Amy identified. In no particular order my beta readers are: Mom, Dad, Shalese, Matthew, Mark VanderDoes, Mimi VanderDoes, Kim Allred, Chris Beijk, Janine Anderson, Janelle Gordinier, and Heather Tucker. Thank you all for your assistance!

A big thanks to Brittany Gale who was kind enough to read through Hunted and make sure that I didn't go too wrong when it comes to life as a cheerleader—thanks, Brittany.

My wife, Katie, continues to be the glue that holds the Murray household together. She is the first person to see each new book, she provides great feedback as to what does and doesn't work with the plot, and then she pitches in to do my covers around all of the other responsibilities that she has. Thanks, Katie.

About the Author:

Dean Murray is a prolific author with more than 27 titles across multiple pen names and more than 480,000 copies of his work currently in circulation.

Dean started reading seriously in the second grade due to a competition and has spent most of the subsequent three decades lost in other people's worlds.

Things worsened, or improved depending on your point of view, when he first started experimenting with writing while finishing up his accounting degree. These days Dean has a wonderful wife and two lovely daughters to keep him rather more grounded, but the idea of bringing others along with him as he meets interesting new people in universes nobody else has ever seen tends to drag him back to his computer on a fairly regular basis.

Keep up to speed on Dean's latest
projects at
deanwrites.com
. If you
want to interact with readers who love the series as much as
you do, please consider checking out the
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Dean's Forum
.

Something powerful is stirring in the darkness. Something so ancient that even
creatures who've been alive for hundreds of years have long since discounted this new
threat as nothing more than myth.

Normal humans will be caught in the crossfire, but then that's always the way of
things. Geoffrey has no memory of his past life or any idea how to survive in the
violent, dangerous world in which he's trapped. Despite his best efforts, he's about to
find himself in the middle of a conflict that threatens to sweep away everything,
and everyone he's been fighting so hard to protect.

Adri Paige is too busy dealing with the emotional fallout from losing half
of her family to deal with boys. At least she thought so until the two most
intriguing guys in her new school take an interest in her.

Both boys are gorgeous and blessed with obscene amounts of money.
They should have the emotional depth of note cards, but instead display
undercurrents she doesn't fully understand. Rumors the pair destroys peoples'
livelihoods seem ludicrous until she gets caught in the crossfire and her family
almost loses their home. She's increasingly unsure either boy is really human,
and their rivalry is rapidly turning deadly.

The invitation to join the secretive Guadel should have been the fulfillment of dreams
Va'del didn't even realize he had. When his sponsors are killed in an ambush a short time
later, he instead finds his probationary status revoked, and becomes a pawn between
various factions inside the Guadel ruling body.

Jain's never known any life but that of a Guadel in training. She'd thought herself
reconciled to the idea of a loveless marriage for the good of her people, but meeting
Va'del changes everything. Their growing attraction flies against hundreds of years of
precedent, but as wide-spread attacks threaten their world, the Guadel have no choice
but to use even Jain and Va'del in their fight for survival.

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