Hunting Angel 2 (26 page)

I was finally able to see the girl he’d fallen in love with.

Travis was grinning like a total shithead. “Bow-chicka-bow-wow,” he said in what I guessed was his sexy voice.

I rolled my eyes. “You did not just really say that. It was worse than a catcall from a construction zone.”

Chase bit back a laugh.

Travis’s blonde hair was in disarray like he spent the night on the sofa with someone in particular and very pleased with himself. “So was it magical?” Travis asked.

“Was what?” I played dumb.

“Knocking boots with–” he replied only to be cut off by Emma socking him in the gut.

A laugh bubbled up in my throat. “You are a total biscuit.”

Travis’s dimples winked deeply on both sides of his cheek. “I’ve been called worse.”

“Go fly a kite. Better yet, wait until its storming,” Chase added edgily.

I pulled Chase through the front door, leaving the two lovebirds before Chase and Travis started going for each others throats. It was only a matter of time before things escalated for those two.

Weaving his fingers with mine, we crossed the yard. The autumn sun was beaming down on us, but it wouldn’t have mattered if it had been pouring cats and dogs. Nothing could contain my happiness.

Walking into the kitchen, my mom was hacking away at the cutting board. For a moment all I could do was stare, latching onto the sight of her. She had one of those dumb aprons wrapped around her waist. Her honey colored hair was pulled away from her face and thrown into a sloppy bun. It wouldn’t have mattered how she looked or what she wore, to me, she was just my mom. And I had missed her dreadfully.

“Mom!” I yelled excitedly, letting go of Chase’s hand and ran into her arms.

She was taken aback in surprise, and then her arms wrapped around me. “Angel, what’s gotten into you?”

My eyes washed with tears. “Nothing. I just missed you.”

Her hands combed down my long dark hair. “I missed you too baby. You’re just in time for breakfast.” Keeping her arm around my waist, she looked at Chase standing in the kitchen arch. “Chase, won’t you stay and join us? That is if Angel is okay with it…”

Like he was going to turn down a free meal.

I wiped my eyes with the back of my sleeve, letting a short laugh. “I’d like that.”

Spending the day with my two favorite peeps in the entire world was the best medicine any doctor could prescribe. The three of us hung out, watched old movies, laughed, and ate my mom’s cooking all day.

It was divine.

Some internal mom instinct knew that when I’d walked through the door, I needed my mommy. Yet I was far from ready to let go of my boyfriend.

I think it was safe to call him that after everything.

Again that night I spent another mind-blowing evening sleeping in his arms. My mom none the wiser. The same couldn’t necessarily be said about Devin, but I wasn’t asking and Chase wasn’t saying.

All the same to me as long as he didn’t budge from my bed.

~*~*~*~

“Angel, we have to do this,” Chase stated.

The clan had congregated at the Winters’ house. Packed into their living room was the whole gang: Lexi, Travis, Emma, Hayden, Craig, Sierra, Chase, and I. Everyone wanted in on the action.

We were divided in our usual groups. Chase had me pulled in his lap, arms wrapped around me and had his chin rested on my shoulder. I think it was more of a technical move than him trying some funny business. He was probably afraid I would attempt to body-slam someone.

Emma and Travis were on the couch looking like the wanted to be anywhere but in a room full of people. They were so cute together. It was gagging.

Lexi was stretched on the lounge admiring her painted pink toenails with Hayden perched on the arm. I wasn’t really sure what was going on between them. She hardly ever talked about him as more than just a friend, yet they went out to dinner, movies and other things that would constitute as dating. I should probably get the lo-down on what my best friend was doing with Hayden.

Craig and Sierra sat across from Chase and I. Sierra glared at me with hateful, piercing daggers. She looked ready to tear me to teeny tiny pieces. Thank God there was a coffee table between us.

A week had come and gone since I’d returned from my abduction. Things slowly returned to normal, a feeling of security just started to make itself a home in my heart again. Emma had yet to face her father’s wrath. She had been
camping out
at Travis’s. Wink. Wink. Everyday he drove her to and from school. If Travis had it his way, she wouldn’t have gone at all.

Emma was entirely different person. One I actually liked. One I could actually call a friend. Since we both had overbearing, overprotective badass half-demons as boyfriends, it brought us closer.

I was blown away by her transformation though. It was hard for me to imagine what she went through at the hands of her dad. There was softness to her round face. Her body was still disciplined and totally banging (that I was completely jealous of), not from dancing but a brutal workout regimen. That was one thing that had stuck. She had offered to train me, and I had regretfully declined. Then Chase had piped in and how he thought that it was a bad idea, which in turn so made me want to say yes.

Some habits die hard, even for me and I hadn’t been brainwashed for a year.

During this meeting, everyone talked at once; they talked over each other until Chase took charge. Through some unknown method to me, they had gotten wind that the hunters were going to be storming the Winters’ house. Soon. And by hunters, that included Emma’s dad as the leader. I doubted my escape sat well with totally-lost-my-marbles Mr. Deen. That and his daughter was missing.

“Angel, we have to do this,” his words came back to me.

I understood that he had to do something – some form of retaliation or it would just be the same shit different day. Or different hostage. “I know. I just wish it could be different.”

“Look princess,” Sierra sneered. She was back to being my #1 hater. “Why don’t you stop wishing and let us handle the dirty work. Actually, why are you here?” She leaned back and propped her spiked heels on the coffee table straight at me.

I totally took that as a threat. She was ready to stake me with her Louie Vuittons. What I would give to be able to ripe the redheaded locks from her head.

“She is coming with us,” Chase stated before I could slash her with a witty rebuttal. His hand feathered out on my stomach, causing my muscles to jump under his touch.

“You’re joking. Please tell me you are joking. She will just get in the way. I am not getting shot with arrows because of her,” Sierra went again, flapping her yap.

I had the overwhelming urge to sew her black cherry mouth shut. The idea made the corner of my lift.

Chase’s fingers flexed on my belly. “She goes. Or you go without me. I am not leaving her behind, and I am sure as heck not going to let her out of my sight. Not for one second. End. Of. Story.” There was absolutely no room for argument in his statement.

“You’re pathetic,” Sierra hissed outraged. Her eyes deepened, beginning to loose their hazel color.

“But at least he’s consistent,” Craig added, opening his big trap beside Sierra.

That last thing we needed was division. It was no secret how the rest of the group felt about me, but it didn’t sting any less. Their refusal to let me be a part of this was putting a major dent into my becoming a badass…uhh something. Hey, a girl could dream.

“Before her, you actually had balls,” Sierra taunted.

Chase stiffened behind to me. I could feel the muscles in his legs tighten. “Save it for the field big guy,” I whispered for his ears only.

Lexi, always the voice of reason in an otherwise heated group. “You guy knock it off. It makes no sense to argue amongst ourselves. We need a plan to stop them now, before it’s too late.”

Finally. Someone who got the seriousness of our current predicament.

And then things got…interesting.

Tactical maneuvers where tossed around like hotcakes. Papers were strewn around the room with stick figures, chicken scratch, and the worse drawings in history. It looked like a football playbook, and I didn’t understand a word of it. Through most of the bantering I just sat back and absorbed in wonder at the inner workings of this odd group. We were all brought together with a common goal, to survive and get rid of the hunters.

Yet that didn’t mean there wasn’t strife in the room. Trust me, there was plenty.

“We kill them. What else is there to discuss.” This was Craig’s big idea. With muscles the size of pythons, he was more brute strength than brains.

Emma who had been twirling one of her many large hunting knives, stabbed into down into the coffee table. “Let’s get one thing straight or I blow your plans straight out to the water. No one harms my dad.”

I might not exactly get why after everything Emma’s dad put her through, she was still protecting him. Maybe it was because he was her father and she was harboring some kind of hope that he could change. I was realist. The man I saw was not going to be swayed easily from his beliefs. I didn’t know how he could be saved.

“What do you expect us to do? Just let him walk away?” Sierra provoked, not the least intimidated by Emma’s little display.

“We could compel them,” Hayden suggested. Lexi smiled up at him, clearly thinking she liked his idea.

Emma shook her head. “It won’t work. At least not with my dad, and probably not with the others either. There are injections he takes to counteract compulsion. A cocktail of Mother Earth’s finest, except I don’t have a clue what is really in them.”

Sierra flipped her bold red hair, leaning forward on the edge of her seat. “How can we believe her? I surely don’t trust her. She could be leading us all into a trap for all we know.”

I wasn’t the only who wasn’t a welcomed addition to the group. Sierra wasn’t capable of making new friends.

Emma stared directly into Sierra’s disdainful glare, challenging.
Catfight
. “I was forced the injections for a year. It works. Ask Chase. He knows.”

All eyes were on Chase. He nodded. “I can’t compel her. She is telling the truth.”

There might have been a few gasps. Chase admitting he couldn’t do something was pretty gigantic. It was like saying the grass wasn’t green.

“Then we are back to killing them,” Craig said, leering in a creepy way that made me think he just wanted to kill something. Anything would do.

I shivered and Chase wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

“No!” Emma stated forcefully. “Travis and I have been talking and we think…”

Chase did not like where this was going. His body went ridged beside me and his heart rate accelerated. I could feel his distress coming in loud and clear. It was overwhelming.

“…that Angel could take care of him.”

Sierra laughed.

Chase growled.

I was like, “Me?”

“No!” Chase bellowed at the same time. “Absolutely. Freaking. Not.”

“Wait. I’m confused. Why would Angel be able to help?” Hayden asked.

I tried not to be offended that they all thought I was so useless and pathetic, but even I wanted to know the answer to that question. Why me?

“Travis, not another word. Do you hear me?” Chase threatened.

“Chase, it’s the only way.”

In a flash, he was up in Travis’s face, and I felt my butt hit the couch. “It’s out of the questioned. We’ll find another solution.”

“Will someone please tell me what the hell we are even arguing about for the love of everything that is holy,” Sierra yelled.

Chase jerked his head toward her, eyes ablaze. “Nothing that concerns you.”

“Think about it Chase. She is probably the only one who could compel him. She can try it out on Emma,” Travis rushed, trying to reason before he lost his head.

Chase closed his eyes and dropped his head into his hands. I swear I could hear him counting under his breath.

My ability to compel those who can’t be compelled seemed to be what got Chase’s boxers in a wadded bunch. Travis and Emma wanted me to compel her dad.

“Why the hell would you think Miss. Sassypants could compel anyone?” Sierra demanded loudly.

“She can’t,” Chase countered, lifting his head.

“Chase,” Travis pleaded. “It is the only way to keep her safe. Keep us all safe.”

He slammed his fist down on the table, standing to his full six-foot two-inch formidable height. “It is out of the question. I’m done discussing it.” Then he promptly stormed out, slamming the front door behind. The house rattled under impact.

Chapter 26

I sat in a room full of half-demons and one hunter. All of them were staring at me. Shifting under their curious and puzzling gazes, I stood up without a word and went after shitbrick. I’d rather deal with him than all their questions.

I found him with his hands in his midnight hair, pacing up and down the driveway. Messy and windblown, he looked fabulous. Lines of strain creased the corner of his cloudy eyes.

He was troubled.

And if I had to guess, he was torn in half.

His hand clamped and unclamped right before one of those fists slammed down onto the hood of Emma’s car. Chase was on the verge of going twenty-one flavors of crazy.

“Goddammit Chase. Can’t you use something else as a punching bag? Not my car?” Emma spat from behind me on the porch. I hadn’t heard her come out after me. Emma and I might be friendly, but Chase and her…not so much. They didn’t trust each other. Truthfully, I think Chase harbored some resentment against Emma and the part she had in my kidnapping. It hadn’t mattered that she was also the reason I escaped.

He turned his caramel eyes on her snarling, and she took a step back. “Jeesh. Fine,” Emma relented, learning when not to push Chase’s demon switch and hightailed back into the safety of the house.

Now I was the one on the receiving end of his rage.

Joy
.

Jaw set, he said, “You are not doing it. You got that. I forbid it.”

“You forbid it?”