“I already asked the ladies to gather information from their patrons. You might ask Rhys to talk to his little baby mama to work her club since she’s taking my business away,” Enzo replied, chuckling as Rhys made a strangled noise in response. “Nymphs bring in more clients, and Nyx has refused to allow the few nymphs Remington Silversmith added to her house to outsource. After all, Remi has allowed all outcasts to join her and Nyx.”
My eyebrows lifted at that news. “Remington knows she has to be declared an official house by vote, correct?”
“I don’t think Remi knows the rules nor cares what they are,” Rhys grunted, pushing from the desk beside me. “I will head to the Sanctuary and see what I can learn. If you need me, Xari, call. I’m only a town away and can get here quick enough to help you. Your father is my friend; know that you are among the select few I actually care about.”
“Thank you,” I said, allowing him to hug me quickly before the others followed suit, all heading out for the night. With a quick glance toward my father’s office, I dismissed the command center staff to allow them what sleep they could get before the funeral rites began.
I didn’t relax until I was inside my apartment, settling into the small desk covered in a thick layer of dust. I’d figure out who branded me and attacked us, and I would make them pay. But first, I had to figure out what the hell was covering my ribcage and why it was there. I could feel it pulsing, which strangely comforted me, even though it shouldn’t. Firing up my computer, I placed my phone beside it and eyed the kitchen cupboards.
It was going to be a long night. It was my first inside the apartment that I would have shared with Micah. We hadn’t been able to be within it together, and I was glad I’d chosen the smaller one, since I’d be in it alone now. I’d left the guild on the day it was to have been ours, choosing the life of a nomad hunter to escape seeing my ex with the woman I’d once considered my best friend.
I hadn’t planned on coming back here, but plans changed, and shit happened.
Chapter Five
I’d searched the endless chatter from the Underworld, which was the term we used for the underground world of immortals from the Otherworld, of which our kind originated, and it made sense to refer to us as such. Like us, most beings inside this realm were half-breeds—castoffs of full-bred creatures that couldn’t be bothered to accept the ones they made or created.
Scanning the last page of intel gathered, I shut down my computer and went to wash out my mug. At the sink, I rinsed it and placed it onto the drying mat, frowning at the details my father had gotten perfect.
Xavier Anderson still surprised me with how thorough he was sometimes. He’d remembered that I loved chamomile tea but needed cubed sugar to appease my sweet tooth, even before bed. He had food bought for the apartment that was fresh and quick to prepare meals. He’d even added the vitamins, along with the assortment of herbs I’d taken since I was little. Then, without warning, tears unleashed, and the uncertainty I felt at his disappearance hit me all at once.
My legs gave out, and I slid to the floor, sobbing as the knowledge that he could be dead slammed into my mind. Wrapping my arms around my middle, I cried until I couldn’t anymore. Everything ached, and the stitches Bali had placed where the wolf had clawed my side itched, causing my fingers to scratch at the red, raw skin until they untied, and I pulled them out.
Pushing from the floor, I walked into the bathroom, stripping out of the top to stare at the welts left behind. My wounds were healing, but angry purple bruises covered my neck, shoulders, and middle. I was sure that if I stripped myself bare, I’d find even more bruises.
The wisps of ink seemed to slither over my side. I wanted to scream in frustration that I did not know what the hell they were. The internet had revealed nothing that looked even remotely close to the design or thin tendrils of delicate and beautiful black markings. That, too, pissed me off. It wasn’t just beautiful—it was intricate and feminine.
Glancing at my tired reflection, I took in my sandy blonde hair and soft lime-green eyes. The welt on my cheek stood out starkly against my bronzed skin. I looked exhausted, and the bags beneath my eyes had bags of their own packed. Undoing the braid I’d quickly platted earlier, I freed my waist-length hair, combing through it slowly. After brushing my teeth and using the bathroom, I entered the bedroom.
On the dresser was a photo of my mother, heavily pregnant with me, held in the arms of my father. It was the only picture I had of us together since she’d died giving birth to me. Her long blonde hair was a softer color than mine, with darker highlights mixed into it. Her emerald green eyes were darker, and her skin tone was lighter in comparison to mine.
Beside that picture sat one of me, my dad, and the entire guild on the steps of this building. Every year on the anniversary date of the opening of the guild, we’d gather and take a photo. It was the one day we didn’t hunt and celebrated living.
In the snapshot, I stood between Micah and Meredith. The two people who’d betrayed me the most in my life. I’d caught them fucking on the kitchen counter beside the cake I’d been coming home to taste for our wedding. But instead of getting married, I’d packed a bag of my things and walked away from the only home I’d ever known.
Shoving away the pain of those memories, I slipped into bed, switching off the light. Within moments of lying down, I sat up, sensing that I wasn’t alone in the darkened room. Turning the light on, I gazed around as the hair on my neck rose and my stomach sank with fear. I pushed the blanket off, fully intending to leave the bedroom, when something collided with me.
I opened my mouth to scream, but a hand covered it, and I growled, bucking against the weight pressing down on it. I spread my legs for balance and gasped at the pressure held against my lips. Power was rushing through the room, causing the light to flicker, adding to the horror of what was happening.
I struggled against the hold, needing to get air into my lungs. The moment my mouth was free, I gasped, taking in air and fighting to get the scream from my throat, but I was flipped over, and my face was pushed into the pillows. Fingers slid against my scalp, gripping my hair painfully as a hand skimmed over the spot on my side.
I froze in place, sensing the creature’s touch as it caressed the marking. The chuckle that sounded beside my ear was silken, dark, and masculine as it pressed against my stomach. Closing my eyes, I fought against the uneasiness mingling with something sinister growing within me. Lips brushed over my shoulder, and I jerked away, only to have more pressure applied against my body.
I muffled words through the palm of a hand, but if it understood the threat, the intruder chose to ignore me. The body against mine was warm, sending heat along my bare flesh. Squeezing my eyes shut, I focused on forcing myself to project away from where I was pressed into the bed.
It took a lot of effort to slam my consciousness away from my physical body. From the corner, I looked as if I was fighting myself on the mattress, alone. There was no one inside the room with me, nothing I could sense or see.
My body went slack on the bed, and panic ripped through me until the male slammed me against the wall. I slowly blinked, realizing that he had fucking caught my projected image, which wasn’t a solid form, not entirely. It was more of a ghostly form that could see, hear, and feel.