Addict (Hunter #2)(76)

If he could do anything about getting back my perfectly normal, not talon-tipped hand, I was going to let him do whatever he needed to.

“Look at that.” Donovan traced the lines where human flesh met what he’d called demon skin. “This is where the frostbite was. You can see the line where Sharpe pushed that combo blood through.”

We were alone, only my uncle and Dev staying behind.

“Your blood and Gray Sloane’s, right?” Dev asked.

“What does it matter?” I couldn’t keep the panic out of my voice. My arm was covered in rough scales. How was I supposed to walk around with a demon arm?

“Do you want me to call Marcus?” The king let go of the arm.

I’d been shielding fiercely. My trainer had taught me well. I could do it on a subconscious level. I definitely didn’t want Marcus to see me like this. At least if he left he would remember my arm all human-like.

“No, she doesn’t need him,” my uncle interjected. “She’ll be fine.” He took my hands in both of his. He didn’t even blink at my claws. “Kelsey, this is normal.”

I felt my eyebrows lift.

“You’re a Hunter,” Zack explained. “Surely Marcus told you that strong Hunters can change their hands.”

Marcus had told me that I might be able to do that one day, if I trained hard. I’d done it instinctively, and there was obviously something wrong with that scenario. “But I was supposed to get a wolf claw. I got a demon hand.”

“Actually, that makes sense,” Zack said. “You have Sloane’s blood running through your body. You won’t have that forever. The next time you change, it should be the wolf in you that comes out. But this is amazing. No one expected this to happen for years. You’re extraordinarily strong, but now I need you to relax and think about changing your hand back.”

“Let me help.” The king’s persuasion brushed on the edge of my consciousness. I opened my mind, allowing him in. His voice whispered in my head, convincing me that there wasn’t anything wrong. My muscles relaxed and I felt my eyes close. The world took on a fuzzy, soft glow.

“Kelsey.” My uncle snapped his fingers in front of me. I was startled back to reality.

I flexed my hand. It was perfectly human again—or perfectly whatever I was. God, it was nice to have that arm back. We’d had a shitty day, my right arm and I. A shitty, shitty day.

The king slapped my back, a gesture of affection from him. “Good work, Owens. Go get some sleep. You have a job tomorrow. I’m going to see if Henri can get anything out of these two.” He lifted the cocooned werewolf, who wriggled, trying to break free. “Dev, get the corpse.”

The faery sighed. “He always leaves the corpses to me.”

Zack gave me a hug before walking into the dining room to find his wife and child. Donovan and Quinn left to take Henri his new subjects to study, and I found myself alone.

“Kelsey?”

“Lee.” He was a sneaky thing.

“Not just Lee.” Liv looked sober now. “He snuck me out, too. He’s a hard-core kid. Are you okay?”

I held up my hand. “Totally normal.”

“Awww.” Lee was terribly disappointed. “The other way was cool.”

I put one arm around Lee and the other around my BFF. Even if Marcus left, I wasn’t without people who loved me.





Chapter Sixteen



I cleaned up and Lisa offered me a new sweater to replace the ruined one. My job was hell on a wardrobe. I waited until Trent came to escort the queen to her home. My uncle had walked Liv back to her place before joining the king and Dev. I walked up with Trent, the queen, my aunt and the children, Lee’s small hand in mine. It was the first time I’d been up to the royal residence. The penthouse was stunning, and I didn’t care. I couldn’t see much past my own misery. Somewhere Marcus was waiting on a plane that would take him far away from me. I was about to be alone again.

I thought about that the whole way down. As we approached my apartment, I was still thinking about the fact that I had to do this all by myself.

“Owens, you want to grab a beer?” Trent asked as we walked out into Ether.

There was a convoluted path to get to the penthouse and back down. It proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Quinn was completely paranoid. We exited Quinn’s office elevator straight into the nightclub. I wasn’t in the mood to party. All I could remember was that I met Marcus in Quinn’s office. It was the first place we had sat together and talked.

“No.” The last thing I needed to do was get drunk off my ass. I would end up hitting on the big were, and I was pretty sure it would embarrass the hell out of him. Alcohol and depression tended to get me in trouble. I look for affection in the strangest places, and he was actually quite attractive. Big and broad, Trent was solid. He was the kind of guy a woman could count on. I mean, if he cared about her. Trent was the kind of man who wouldn’t walk away if he was invested. Not that he was invested in me. “I’m tired. I need to get home.”

I needed to watch Marcus pack. I needed to get ready to be alone again.

Trent wouldn’t leave me alone. He followed me out of Ether as I made my way into the residence wing of the building. The dude took his job too seriously. I tried to explain to him that I’d managed to take out the crazy drug addict all on my own, but he wasn’t having it. He walked with me up to my room. He kept trying to get me to talk, but I answered every question he put to me as succinctly as possible. I wasn’t in a “get to know you” kind of mood.