“Grim, that’s not—”
“No!” I growled. “Take your fuckin’ money and shove it up your ass.”
His eyes narrowed in anger, and he said with clenched teeth, “Fine, asshole. Have it your way.”
I needed this to be done, I needed to get away from this witch that was driving me mad in more ways than one. I leaned forward again. “If you ever come near my daughter again, I will end you, witch.”
He sighed. “Whatever, hunter. I’m not going to hurt your daughter. I know you hate me or whatever, but I’d think that by now you’d know I don’t hurt innocents. I try to help everyone I can—even you, asshole.” He stood up and slammed his hands on the table. “You’d think after two months, you’d know that. Especially since you… you feel it, don’t you? This…” He waved between us. “This thing… you feel it.”
It wasn’t a question, but even if it was, I wasn’t about to answer it.
When I didn’t respond, he huffed and shook his head. “Whatever. Your silence is answer enough. I’ll see you around, Grim.” He walked away and through the front door before I could reply. Not that I wanted to.
What had he been talking about? Did I feel what exactly? This… weird feeling when it came to him? The fact I couldn’t stop thinking about him? Or the fact that whenever he was near, I wanted to be closer to him, and whenever he left, it left me feeling strangely hollow. Was that what he meant? Because I did fuckin’ feel it, but it didn’t mean anything. It couldn’t. He was a fucking witch, and I promised myself a long time ago that I’d never get involved in witch affairs again, that I’d never let one get close to me.
With a sigh, I took a sip of my water, stood, and walked out the door to find my next mark. I pushed thoughts of Basil Ellwood out of my mind, even if doing so made my chest hurt.
Chapter Seven
Basil
Stupid fucking asshole hunter. I was only trying to help. Maybe I didn’t go about it the right way, but I needed to fucking help him and his kid. It was like this feeling inside of me that I just needed to help them. I hadn’t been lying when I said I felt a pull to that man, and I could see it in his eyes that he felt it, too.
I honestly didn’t want to think about what that meant because Hiro Grimsby hated me. Absolutely hated every fiber of my being.
And wasn’t that just the worst feeling in the world.
I was used to being a disappointment; I was used to being yelled at; I was used to getting into trouble; I was used to being disliked. But I wasn’t used to being hated. Maybe a lot of people didn’t like me very much, but for someone to dislike me enough to hate me, for them to hate me enough that I actually disgusted them… well, that was just about the shittiest feeling in the world.
My phone rang as I got into my truck, and when I saw who was calling, I answered with a “Yo” thrown in.
“Hey, Bas. Your brothers and I were talking, and we think we should train tomorrow. Are you up for it?” Nikolai asked through the phone.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Great… did you take care of that Grim guy?”
I sighed. There was the true reason for his call. As if I didn’t already have one father figure up in my business all the damn time. Not that Nik was a father figure, because freaking ew, but he liked to pretend he was. “Yeah, I just met with him. Everything’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
“I can’t help but worry about it, Bas. That’s kinda my job.”
I sighed again. I supposed that was true. Nikolai and his twin brother Talon were the guardians of the Three, also known as the babysitters of Jorah, Thayer, and me. I loved them to death, but they didn’t need to be so nosy all the damn time. “Whatever, Nik. I’m fine, okay? I’m coming home now to get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Alright, Bas.” Because he’s an asshole, he made kissy noises into the phone.
Rolling my eyes, a reluctant smile spread over my face. “You’re an idiot.”
“At least I made you smile—I can hear it in your voice.”
I sighed. “I promise I’m fine.”
“Okay, I believe you. See you tomorrow.”
“See ya tomorrow, pretty face.”
He snorted before hanging up the phone.
Even though I was confused and pissed by the whole Grim situation, Nik’s phone call actually made me feel better. Yeah, it was annoying as hell to have basically zero privacy from my family, but at least I knew they all cared about me, at least I knew they had my back. Unlike Grim, who from the looks of it, didn’t have anyone. Ugh. I can’t even go two minutes without thinking about him.
Thinking about who? Jorah asked in my head, clearly overhearing my thoughts. Perfect example of never having privacy.
I sighed. No one. Nothing.
You okay, big bro?
Yes, Jor, I’m fine.
He didn’t respond, but I felt a little of his concern through our bond. There was really nothing I could do to help with that.
When I got home and settled into bed, I sighed and tried to push thoughts of an angry hunter out of my mind— it didn’t work.
Hitting the ground with a huge “Oomph” coming out of me wasn’t exactly pleasant.
Thayer’s laughter at my pain made me flip him off, but that only set him off more.
For some reason, Grim’s face flashed in my mind’s eye, but I pushed it away. Now was not the time to worry about that asshat of a hunter. I needed to concentrate, so I pushed away thoughts of his gorgeous face and those damn dimples I wanted to see again. Dammit!
Stifling a sigh, I rolled to my side and sat up. Grayson—Nikolai and Delaro’s other viramore—held his hand out to me and helped me to my feet, saying, “I’m sorry. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Gray,” I said, brushing myself off. He grimaced, so I waved him off. “Go beat up on Jorah or something.”
His lips twitched into a small smile before he nodded and moved down the line.
We were training, which meant that we not only trained our magical abilities, we did hand to hand combat as well. It was good to have, at the very least, defensive capabilities in case we’re ever in a situation that requires more finesse than our overbearing magic allows or on the off chance that we can’t use our magic. Which was highly unlikely, but you never knew. Especially with that witch serial killer still on the loose.
Toby—Thayer’s viramore—came over to stand in front of me, making me groan as I said, “Now I have to fight you?”
He chuckled. “Yep.”
I grunted. Grayson was an ex-Warrior of Tempest, so he was a motherfucking badass that could take down just about any opponent. But Toby was a damn hundred and twenty-something-year-old vampire that had been training and fighting since he was a teenager. Vampires were hella fast and strong, and Toby was hella talented. To say we were being trained by two of the best warriors in Brinnswick was probably an understatement.
Which was really great. Except that it meant I got the shit kicked out of me every damn time we trained. Which was a lot.
Toby grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll take it easy on you.”