Ripper (Hunter #1)(104)

“I didn’t give her anything,” Gray said.

“It would taste like peppermint,” Dev pointed out.

I turned and looked at Gray. “It was Syl.”

“Kelsey, I didn’t tell him to do that,” he said, practically begging me to believe him.

I took a deep breath and reached out for his hand. I couldn’t…wouldn’t believe he would knowingly do that to me. He loved me. I knew he loved me. “I know, baby.” I turned back to Quinn. “Am I pregnant?”

“No,” the faery said, “But it wouldn’t have taken him long. And you didn’t answer my question. What did your father promise you for impregnating a Hunter?”

“Answer the question, Lieutenant. Don’t bother lying. We know you met with your father.” Dan gestured for a man to come forward. It was the guy with the Northeastern accent. He walked forward, several black and white photographs in his hand. When he held them up, I saw a picture of Gray in the T-shirt and sweats he’d worn the morning after we’d first made love. He’d gone jogging and stayed out for a long time. Now I could see plainly he’d met someone.

The man in the picture with Gray was powerfully built and dressed fashionably in a pinstriped suit. There was a vague resemblance between the men. They had the same build, the same nose, and similar strong jawlines. There were several pictures and Trent held them up for all to see. In one, the two men were arguing, but as the photos continued, Gray seemed to calm down and listen. In the last picture, Gray and his father were shaking hands.

“What do you do, Trent, follow me around?” Gray growled.

Trent shrugged. “It’s a hobby. Stop stalling and answer the question. What did he offer you? You should know that I have tapes of the conversation. I could let her hear the whole thing.”

Why wouldn’t I want to hear it? It was plain on Gray’s face that he didn’t want me to hear it. Panic threatened and I could feel the beast…no, she’s a wolf…I could feel her starting to twitch again. I turned to him and stared into those deep blue eyes. I loved those eyes.

He closed them like he couldn’t bear to look at me anymore. “An extra thirty years.”

Donovan whistled. “That’s impressive. He must want that child very much.”

“He thinks you’re planning a war,” Gray replied and I heard the pain in his voice. “He thinks you’ll break off contact when the vampire/demon contracts expire.”

“It’s a good plan,” Quinn admitted. “He takes out a demon hunter and perhaps gets one of his own to train. Maybe he could even convince Kelsey to play for your side. She would be extremely effective at killing vampires. It’s a good call. Tell me, what were you planning to do if she didn’t get pregnant?”

“I’m not on their side. I wouldn’t fight beside my father. Never. As to the rest of it, I’m gonna find a way out,” Gray stated with implacable will.

“There is no way out,” Daniel argued.

“No way out of what?” I practically screamed. I was sick of all these men standing around talking about me and my future like my opinions didn’t matter. I was invisible to them except as a pawn with which to hurt each other. I turned to Gray because he was the only one who mattered. I put my hands on his waist, needing to touch him, to reassure myself that we were together. “What are they talking about? What do you mean your father offered you thirty years? I don’t understand any of this.”

His breath hitched. His hands framed my cheeks and he stared for a long time, as though he was memorizing my face. When he spoke, his voice was like gravel. “I’m on a contract, Kelsey. I’m a legacy. My mother agreed to have me in exchange for money and power. Father chose her because she had certain psychic abilities he wanted bred into his son. I’m his second child. My half brother is an empath, but he doesn’t have prophecy powers.”

“What does it mean?” I held on so tight. I didn’t want a family history. I wanted him to tell me it was all a mistake and we could leave and fly to Vegas and get married. If we’d done that in the first place instead of trying to make his vision come true, we would be married and making love right now.

“It means I was allowed thirty-five years on this plane before I have to go to the Hell plane and reside with my father permanently.”

My hands fell to my sides as my world crashed down around me. “You’re going to Hell?”

Gray’s hands grasped my shoulders and he shook me lightly, but I could see out of the corner of my eye, Nate, Jamie, and Zack on their feet. “I am not going to Hell. I’m going to get out of it.”

“You were going to marry me and leave me alone after five years?” My heart hurt and I couldn’t look at him anymore. I hated the fact that everyone was watching us. We were entertaining them.

The wolf inside me howled.

“No, he wasn’t going to do that,” Quinn said with growing certainty. “The marriage was his ace in the hole. If he couldn’t get you pregnant before his contract was up, he lost his chance. But if he married you…”

Donovan took up the train of thought. “Marriage is a contract. You vow to live with your husband. He was going to take you with him. Demonkind would honor the contract and you would be forced to follow him.”

Jamie cursed as he rushed Gray, his fist reared back. Gray did absolutely nothing to avoid the blow or defend himself. He took Jamie’s punch full on and staggered back from the force.