Addict (Hunter #2)(44)

My brother snorted and gave me a “what the hell” look. “I’m not some hotshot demon hunter. Don’t look at me.”

“Well, I’m still in training,” I huffed in explanation. “Should I maybe cut his head off?”

“Do you have any idea how long it takes to grow another body, you bitch?” Kall growled. He was slurring his words. I wasn’t sure if that was from the alcohol he’d consumed earlier or the fact that his neck bone was sticking out.

Jamie’s eyes didn’t leave the back door of the club. “Decide fast, Kels. Someone could be out here any minute. We don’t know Scott won’t turn us in.”

There was only one thing to do. I couldn’t leave him lying there. “Fine. We take him with us. Get his feet.” I picked up his hands and his head hung precariously.

“Nice,” the demon said. “I can see your hootchie.”

Jamie neatly stepped on his balls as he went to pick up the demon’s feet.

“Thanks, bro.” Gosh, I’d missed Jamie.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Jamie said with a grin as we loaded our should-have-been-dead body into his truck.

Kall, who turned out to be a complete wuss, complained the entire time. He didn’t like being stuffed into the trunk of an SUV. I thought it was extremely roomy myself, but there’s no pleasing some people. If Gray had been driving me and my victim home, Kall would have been exposed to the elements. The snow fell fast and hard, coating everything. It made cool patterns on the windshield as Jamie quietly pulled out of the alley and began to make his way back to the West End.

Ten minutes later, Jamie pulled into the alley behind Ether. It was almost four-thirty in the morning and I still needed to figure out what to do with Kall. It was times like these I wished there was a Hunter loop. I could see the post in my mind.

This is Kels101 and I’m new to the group. Has anyone had to deal with a demon who won’t die? He also won’t stop talking. I doubt I’ll be able to get him up the laundry chute, so I need options. Please help.

Yeah, there’s no loop for Hunters since as far as anyone knows, I’m the only one. There was only one place for me to turn. I got out Jamie’s phone to put a call into Marcus. He’d told me the academics were there for consultation. I’d had my first little hiccup. It was time to turn it over to smarter people.

“Um, Kels.” Jamie’s face had scrunched in that way it used to when we were about to get into serious trouble, and he pointed to my side window.

I turned and saw Donovan standing there, arms crossed and lips turned down. Trent stood next to him, shaking his head as though his disappointment was too much to contain.

“I told you she was up to something,” the tattletale werewolf said.





Chapter Nine



I gotta admit, my first instinct was to tell Jamie to hit the gas, but the truth is Donovan would have just flown after us. Sometimes it’s better to go ahead and rip that bandage right off no matter how much the sucker’s going to hurt. I rolled down the window. “I can explain everything.”

Donovan’s lips rose slightly as though he was trying to contain his amusement, and my chances of survival went up tenfold. An amused Donovan was a Donovan who likely wasn’t going to throw me in a prison cell. “I look forward to the explanation, Owens.” He nodded to my brother. “She drag you into this, James?”

Jamie shrugged and turned off the car. “I was already involved, Your Highness. I’ve been working the case for a month or so.”

Donovan took that news with his usual stoicism. Trent, however, was sniffing the air around him.

“Kelsey, come on. Get out of the car. What the hell did you get yourself into?” Trent pulled the door open, and I found myself outside fast.

The big were lifted me up like I weighed nothing and sat me down. My feet sank in the snow covering the alley. The stilettos were open toed and the chill immediately got to me. The minute I was on my feet, Trent was all over me. He sniffed my hair. His hands started to push the coat off my shoulders. He started to run his nose along my skin. I did what I would have done to any man who got handsy.

I punched him straight in the face.

“Fuck,” Trent cursed as he held his nose and took that all-important step back. Blood dripped from the offended appendage. “I think she broke my nose.”

I contained my gleeful giggle because he sounded like he had a horrible cold. I totally broke his nose.

Jamie was out of the car and pushing at Trent. He was in full-on big brother mode for the second time that evening. “I’ll break more than your nose if you touch my sister like that again, you prick.”

Trent’s eyes widened and he looked as innocent as he could ever look. “I wasn’t trying to hit on her. I was trying to get her scent. Damn it, Owens, that hurt.”

Donovan chuckled as he watched the scene with an air of amused fascination. “I hope the CC cameras caught that. It would warm Z’s heart to see that exchange. Your dad used to do this thing where he sniffed every inch of her at least once a day.”

“He was her dedicated guard.” My father had been the queen’s personal bodyguard. It made sense that he would need her scent around him. “Trent’s a pervert.”

“I am not.” He tried to push his nose back into the proper position. “I’m trying to do my job. I’m a wolf. I live by my nose. Your uncle would have done the same thing.”