Addict (Hunter #2)(5)

I stared at the girl in the mirror. She seemed slightly foreign to me. I sometimes didn’t recognize the vibrant face that stared back at me. This girl looked well taken care of. She smiled readily and laughed often. She was a woman who joked with her lover and didn’t hesitate to jump him when she felt the need. My dark-brown hair was thick and for the first time in my life cut into something fashionable. I had playfully pushed Lucia out of the way to apply my mascara this morning. She’d shoved right back because Marcus was right about the single, tiny bathroom in my house. I’d begun to actually give a crap about properly applied makeup. I still didn’t wear much, just mascara and some lip-gloss, but it made a difference.

Things were going to change now that I was back in the States. I didn’t get to simply be Marcus’s protégée. For months he’d coddled and protected me even while we trained. For months I hadn’t worried about anything but when dinner was or how my meditation sessions were going. I’d let the world slide away, and here I was back in it.

Sighing, I realized I was going to have to change again. I had to find a way to balance this happy, carefree woman with the Nex Apparatus I was going to become.

I had to find a way to live with the fact that I hadn’t talked to my mother or Nate or Liv in months.

Or Gray Sloane. Yeah, I really tried not to think about him.

Pocketing my gloss, I headed back out to pick up my enormous bag of food and caffeine. I nearly ran into the dark-haired Brit.

“Excuse me,” I said with a smile.

“Not a problem, love.” He stepped back, gallantly giving me space. “I think you shocked the staff with your order. They’re busy trying to replace the biscotti.”

“Probably should have called ahead, but you never know when the urge for biscotti and scones is going to hit, do you?” I asked, flirting a little.

He was an attractive man with well-formed lips, and he obviously had a flair for fashion. Unfortunately, he was also setting off my gaydar. It was perfectly fine to flirt with a boy who liked boys.

“I’m happy to find a place that properly brews tea. If I don’t order iced tea, I get a sad bag shoved in lukewarm water.” He shuddered at the thought.

“We’re not big on hot tea here,” I admitted. “And that’s a shame. I developed a taste for Earl Grey while I was in Italy.”

The man smiled, but suddenly it didn’t seem so friendly. “Yes, but then I’m sure Marcus Vorenus would only spring for the best for his mistress. Tell me something, Ms. Atwood. Does the king know you’re f*cking his former patron?”

In the dim light of the hall, his eyes seemed the slightest bit red. I was really going to have to work on the whole integration thing. At least depressed Kelsey wouldn’t have spent time flirting with a freaking demon.

“It’s Owens. My name is Kelsey Owens.” If he thought I would run screaming from the coffee house, he was in for a surprise. I really wanted that chicken salad sandwich.

His lips quirked up in a semblance of a grin. “Ah, you’ve embraced your long-lost papa. That is sweet. He’s practically a saint to the royal family, you know. Does it bother you that he thought of the queen as his daughter when his actual daughter was treated so poorly? The queen gets everything, doesn’t she? She had your father’s love. If she’d wanted it, she certainly could have had your lover. If the queen crooked her finger, he’d be in her bed in a heartbeat. He’d forget you the minute she glanced his way. Do you really think he’d be with you if he wasn’t obliged to train you? Your own brother thought you should be in a cage. Marcus Vorenus is only doing his job, which is to keep you firmly in control. The minute the king is satisfied he has you in his grips, Marcus will fly right out of your life. No man stays with you.”

It was like he stared into my soul and pulled out my deepest fears. He’d summed them up neatly—I was unlovable, unworthy. I was jealous of Zoey Donovan-Quinn. Marcus leaving scared me more than I wanted to admit. I took a deep breath and tried to let those feelings go. They weren’t worthy of spending time and energy on. Another thing Marcus had taught me. “What do you want, demon?”

The demon crossed his arms over his well-made chest and glared down on me. “I want a woman with some constancy. Is that too much to ask? This is why I have no interest in the fairer sex. A good man falls madly in love with a woman. He offers her everything he has. He proposes marriage, a family. What does she do? Oh, she runs off with the first Italian billionaire to come along.”

“You’re Gray’s brother,” I said as the pieces fell into place. It made perfect sense. Gray mentioned his older brother was an empath, and no one unattached to Gray would care that I’d left him.

The demon’s eyes flared briefly. “I’m rather surprised he mentioned me. He doesn’t like to admit he has a family…until we’re useful, of course. It doesn’t matter. He is the only brother I have and I care for him.”

My expression must have registered my extreme doubt.

“I’m perfectly capable of loving people,” the demon said. “Demons are fully functional when it comes to emotions. Believe me, love is absolutely the most destructive force in the world for some people. All of the truly horrible acts I’ve committed I did because I loved someone.”

“Did Gray send you?” I have to admit, there was a place deep in my heart that I’d locked away, and it flared to life at the thought of Gray reaching out to me.