Ripper (Hunter #1)(9)

“Fuck me, you’ve got some nerve. I couldn’t believe it when Sharon told me who was here. I had to see it for myself.” He stormed in to the room.

At first I assumed he was talking to Cassie and I thought I was going to have to defuse a situation with a bad ex. After his next words, I had no doubt as to whom his target was.

“How dare you come here asking questions about Jo? I know who you are, hunter.”

I pushed Cassie away because I wasn’t hiding behind some little college kid. The young man in front of me was stocky, but nowhere close to filled out the way he would be in a few years. His eyes were dark, probably brown, but filled with rage, they appeared black. He was dressed in a flannel shirt and worn jeans. His brown hair was overgrown and he could have used a shave. He was everything one would expect from a werewolf, and a young alpha at that, I would bet.

“Let’s get out of here, Kels,” Liv said, her tone reflecting the thick tension in the air.

“Darren, what are doing here?” Cassie looked around, her eyes wide because she obviously had no idea why everyone was on edge.

Darren ignored her, but then I was betting he usually did. “I tried to convince Mrs. Taylor that this was a mistake. You think I haven’t searched for Jo? You think I haven’t tried to track her? What are you going to do when you find her? Are you gonna shoot her down like you did her father?”

His eyes were rapidly flickering back and forth between his forms. He might be an alpha, but he wasn’t a terribly strong one. He still didn’t have good control of himself. I needed to keep the situation as calm as possible, though what I really wanted to do was throw up that turkey sandwich I’d eaten. It sat heavily in my gut.

“I didn’t have anything to do with that and Mrs. Taylor knows it.” My voice held a calm I didn’t feel. I didn’t even think about going after my gun. It was in my bag, right there in reaching distance. I could have had it in my hand and pointed at the angry wolf in a second, but I wasn’t even tempted. If he’d attacked in that moment, I likely wouldn’t have defended myself.

He got right up in my face and I tried not to flinch. “Maybe you didn’t pull the trigger, but you were there in spirit. You’re always there. I know you call each other and tally up your kills. You hang out in your bars and talk about the carcasses you bagged. Tell me something, do you stuff your prey like some hunters do? I hear you have to get the head to the taxidermist real quick or we’re rude enough to disintegrate before you get your trophy.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Darren?” Cassie stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language.

“Shut up, bitch,” he growled. “This is between me and the hunter, here. You want to try to take me out? You want to test me, or do you just go after prey animals and children?”

I stayed on my feet, but inside I was swaying and telling myself that there was no way he could know. No one knew except me and Liv and Jamie. And my father, but I didn’t count him. Darren couldn’t know what had happened that night.

“Back off.” Liv got between us. Her voice was low, but it was full of menace. “You stay away from her, wolf. Jo’s roomie might be a dabbler, but I promise you, I’m the real thing and you won’t like what I do to you if you so much as lay a hand on her.”

“Traitor,” he hissed at Liv. He glared at me and his eyes made a promise. “This is not the end. Maybe we should start turning the tables on you. See how you like being hunted.”

He backed out the door, careful to not let me out of his sights.

“Holy crap.” Liv let out a relieved breath. “Let’s get out of here. I think you have everything you need.”

I swallowed and was sure my face was perfectly composed. I should be upset that I’d been saved by Liv. Sweet, gentle Liv had to get between me and an angry werewolf. I wasn’t pissed at myself. I was a little pissed at Liv because there was a big piece of me that wanted everything Darren’s twitchy hands had been promising.

“Yes, we’re done here,” I heard myself saying. I turned to Cassie, whose eyes were wide. “If you think of anything else, please give me a call. You can also call me if he gives you any trouble.”

I doubted he would. He’d barely noticed she was there, but I wanted her to feel like she had someone to call.

I felt numb as I followed Liv back to the car. I felt like I had missed something essential in the confrontation with Darren, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I was using my every brain cell to block out the images his words brought back. I drove back to Liv’s school on autopilot, responding to her questions, but not really hearing her at all.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Liv hesitated, getting out of the car. “You could come home with me. I’ll make some dinner and we can crack open a bottle of wine.”

I could listen to Scott bitch about the things Liv did wrong and hear him mutter under his breath about how pathetic I was. No. I had other plans.

“I’m fine.” I decided a little truth was necessary to really sell this particular lie. “Well, I’m not fine exactly. He brought back some shitty memories, but I have to move on.”

“You do,” she encouraged. “You aren’t that person. You never were. You can’t blame yourself for something that happened when you were sixteen years old.”