The Unlikeable Demon Hunter (Nava Katz #1)(70)

I grabbed his wrist, bracing for the worst. “Did you find him?”

Drio glanced down at my hand on his arm. “You dare to wear the hamsa?” he growled in a low voice.

Dread sat in my gut like hot lead. Drio might not like me but he wouldn’t joke about me being Rasha. “Don’t you know who I am?”

“Problem?” Rohan asked in a silky voice, joining the party. He was not a happy camper.

Leo, however, was ecstatic for about the thirty seconds she fangasmed all over him once recognition kicked in.

Rohan bestowed a rock fuck grin on her and said, “Always pleased to meet a fan.”

That did it. I let my magic out in full force.

Ordinarily, I’d have loved making the boys’ jaws drop in shock at my amazing abilities, but the fact that my powers were news to them meant that they had no clue who I was.

I wrapped my arms around myself, a million worst-case scenarios of how this could have happened flashing through my head. Trembling, I started up the drive, needing more than ever to get my fellow Rasha onboard with saving Ari.

Rohan attempted to stop me but I burst into full crackle. “I will go psycho like you’ve never seen if you don’t get yourself, Drio, Baruch, and Kane into the library this very second,” I said.

That’s when Rohan saw the ring. He grabbed my hand, barely flinching at the electricity scorching his skin. He tugged on it but of course, it didn’t move. His hand clamped on my wrist, he dragged me up the driveway without another word.

“Wait for me!” Leo called out.

Reality slowed down into a slow motion “Noooooo.” I yanked free of Rohan and sprinted for Leo before she could try to step over the ward and be repelled off of it, visions of Drio dusting my best friend dancing before my eyes.

“Rohan is highly overrated,” Drio said. “Allow me.” He took her arm, escorting her onto the premises, as I stumbled to a stop. Did he know she was a PD and was toying with us? Or had he inadvertently saved her?

Leo winced, her eyes widening in comprehension, but she regained her composure in an instant, flipping her hair as she assured Drio it would be her pleasure. Not that she had a choice. Drio may have sounded player personified, but the set of his shoulders assured me that neither Leo nor I were going anywhere until they had answers.

Brilliant. A goblin, a Rasha, and two amnesiacs walk into a house–I couldn’t begin to imagine where this joke was going to end. Or at whose expense.

So long as it wasn’t Ari’s.





19





Rohan led me all the way around the house and in through the back door to the kitchen, presumably so I wouldn’t see anything I shouldn’t. I tried to explain that he was wasting valuable time, but he wasn’t inclined to listen.

They really had no idea who I was. How was this even possible?

How could I be so easily erased?

The mean little voice inside my head scoffed. Not that hard, Nava. Other than to Ari, weren’t you pretty much incidental to everyone anyway? And he wasn’t exactly feeling the love either, was he?

Shut. Up.

Once they had us corralled in the middle of the room, Rohan leaning casually against the back door and Drio lounging in the doorway, blocking our escape, I was ordered to start talking.

“Baruch and Kane,” I said. “Where are they?”

“Here. You are who?” Baruch barked at me, lumbering in past Drio. The color drained from Leo’s face and she scooted back a few steps. Not surprising. With their height difference, Tree Trunk could drop kick her across the yard. Or snap her in two.

I squeezed her hand. “Get Kane,” I insisted. After me, he was the most invested in Ari’s well-being.

“He’s busy.” Rohan’s pose didn’t change. “Now, who are you?”

“I’m Nava Katz.” They guys exchanged a look at my last name. “Look, I know who took Ari.”

“Why should we listen to you?” Drio asked.

“If you don’t believe that I’m Rasha after seeing my power, maybe this,” I pointed upstairs, “will help convince you.”

“Power?” Baruch asked, but Drio had already allowed me to pass.

I led everyone up to my bedroom, showing them my stuff which was helpfully strewn across the room after my earlier phone search. “Rasha. I live here. See?”

“Lucky,” Leo sighed. She snapped her mouth shut as all three guys conferred identical expressions of barely veiled annoyance on her.

Drio poked at a lacy blue demi-bra.

I smacked his hand away. “I’ve been here training with you guys for almost a week. The Brotherhood thought Ari was the initiate all this time but when Rabbi Abrams did the second ceremony, it turned out it was me.”

They watched me blankly.

I straightened up with steel-spined determination. Remember me or not, all they needed to do was help me get my brother back. “Ari is my twin. You sent me to go pursue a lead,” I said, fudging the truth, “and I was ambushed by a bad guy.” Emphasis on the last two words.

“Nava is so hush-hush with her new job,” Leo joked. “I’d tell you but I’d have to kill you.” She broke into a snorting laugh.

I face-palmed.

“Thing is, you’ve seen her power,” Rohan said. “What do you know about that?”