Addict (Hunter #2)(101)

“You are so cynical,” Matthew replied with a little snarl. “Family is all we have and you’ll see it one of these days. I’m going to do what I should have done hours ago. I’m going to protect the love of my life. Whether he likes it or not.”

His eyes went blank and he fell.

I shot over to try to catch him, but Gray got there before I did. Jamie opened his eyes and shuddered as Gray moved him to the cot.

“Dude, your brother’s an *,” Jamie said with a frown. “And I’m so getting inked.”

“Are you all right?” I knelt beside my brother, looking into his eyes because I wasn’t completely certain Matthew wouldn’t try to trick us.

“I’m never watching The Exorcist again. That was horrible. I could feel his…he was evil, Kelsey. So evil and he doesn’t even know it. I think he thinks he’s normal.” Jamie looked over at Gray. “You are not your brother. You are nothing like him.”

Gray sent him a sad smile. “Many would disagree with you. A demon’s a demon.”

The things Jacob had said to me made perfect sense. “Even a demon has choices. We choose who we become.” I looked back at Bellamy. “I promise no retribution if you let us out of this cage and tell us what Winter is planning.”

“And you’ll kill him? You’ll kill Julius Winter?” The key dangled from his hand.

“You better believe it, buddy.” That was one choice I had no problem making.





Chapter Twenty-One



“So he’s found a way to get the drug into Ether?” I tried to wrap my head around everything Bellamy was telling me as he drove his outrageously outfitted Audi through the snowy streets toward downtown.

Outside the snow kept falling, but we’d made it out of Winter’s compound with no struggle. No giant snowmen had been waiting this time, likely because Winter was concentrating his efforts elsewhere.

“Well, this is really the part where you should remember that you promised not to do that whole playing with my entrails thing,” Bellamy reminded me.

“I didn’t promise anything.” Jamie was kind of itching to hurt someone.

“James,” I warned before turning back to Bellamy. He was driving with Jamie in the seat beside him while Gray and I sat in the back, our hands tangled together. Maybe it was wrong, but after what we’d been through, I needed to have his flesh against mine in some way. I needed to have him close. “Your entrails are safe, Bellamy. Tell me what’s happening.”

“My labs might have tweaked the drug and now it sends shifters and werewolves into fits of rage. Some alphas might be able to control themselves, but no one else will be able to. The drug is in a shipment of beer scheduled to be on sale tonight. It’s Ether’s on tap brew of the night. Winter has a man on the inside who’s making sure everyone gets a taste.”

“It’s going to be a bloodbath. Thank god they can’t get into the residential parts of the building.” Gray’s hand squeezed mine.

“I might have found a way to override the security systems. Not the individual ones, but they can make it to the residential portion,” Bellamy admitted.

And cell phone service was out due to the storm. Winter had covered the place with a blizzard and knocked out cell service for the building. I’d been trying and trying and couldn’t get hold of anyone.

Panic threatened to overwhelm me, and I didn’t hold it back. Marcus needed to know there was a reason to panic if he didn’t already.

“The doors won’t keep out werewolves if they want to get in,” Jamie pointed out. “But how many are we talking about? The king truly is a death machine. He can handle a lot of werewolves. Not everyone drinks beer.”

Bellamy got off the freeway and made the turn to get on to Pearl. “The drug will take roughly an hour to truly set in. By my count, we should be getting there just as things get interesting. And it’s a lot of wolves. And shifters. If the king slays them all, he’s going to have to deal with the ramifications of killing so many of his allies.”

“Beyond that he’ll have to deal with rumors and conjecture from an already unstable alliance,” Gray added. “No one understands what’s going on, and they won’t believe the truth from the king’s Nex Apparatus. There will be many conspiracy theories, including the one where the vampires are trying to thin the were populations.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Donovan had no reason to do that. He needed them on his side.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jamie agreed. “The rumors will be out there.”

“We have another problem.” Bellamy made the turn that would take us to Ether. The winds were whipping up, getting stronger the closer we got. “I’ve done a lot of research on Winter, and there’s something you all should know. He can’t be killed by anyone but demonkind.”

Gray’s eyes closed. “That’s a rumor. Fucker probably started it himself.”

“What do you mean? I can’t kill him? I have no shot at this?” I didn’t like going into something all pessimistic, but it was better to know.

“There are four elemental demons,” Gray explained. “They have the powers of the seasons. Fall can touch you and cause you to age. Winter can obviously freeze. Summer can start fires with his gaze. You don’t want to know what spring can do. The rumor is they can only be killed by flesh of their flesh. Demonkind. Kelsey, you were right. My demon will be making another appearance.”