Page 119 of The Hunt of Night

“Raiden is struggling,” I mutter, refusing to let go just yet.

“The vampire?” Jake clarifies, and I nod in his wife’s embrace before she leans back, holding me at arm’s length.

“What does he need?”

“He needs blood, but he’s refusing to ask for it. So I need something to tide him over,” I state. Janie nods, but it’s Jake who speaks.

“Give me two minutes,” he insists, plating the steak from the grill before disappearing into the walk-in fridge.

After a beat, Janie turns her attention to me again. “I could sense you were here. I could hear your conversation with Jake. If I did…” Her muttered words trail off as I nod.

“Then others did, too.”

“Yeah, and Dalton is out there,” she mouths, pointing over her shoulder to the main dining area, and I curse under my breath.

“We haven’t got much, but hopefully, this will help,” Jake states, bustling back into the room with a bag in his hand.

“Thanks for this,” I murmur, unsure what it is I’m even grateful for, but I am nonetheless.

“Always,” Janie states, patting me on the arm.

“Thank you,” I repeat, unable to show my gratitude enough. “I’m sorry I’m not doing anything, or not enough, at least,” I add, earning a deathly glare from Janie.

“You are. I swear it. You are, but you need to go,” she insists, nudging me toward the back door, and I nod.

Jake waves as Janie guides me to the door, but before I step outside, her hand tightens around my arm.

“How’s Addi?” she asks, and I immediately smile. A knowing look washes over her features as she peers into my eyes. “You love her.”

“I do not,” I say with a scoff, and she cocks a brow at me, daring me to deny it again. Fuck that. “I came for some bloody meat, not a therapy session,” I add with a grumble, and Jake snickers from across the room.

“Oh, I’m far from qualified to deal with your fucked up shit,” Janie adds with a grin, and I huff, highly aware of the truth in her words.

“Thanks.” I reach for the door handle again and she pats my back.

“You’re welcome.”

“When you want to talk about losing your balls to a woman, I’m here, man,” Jake hollers. I mutter my thanks at the same time Janie calls out her protest.

“Thanks.”

“Hey!”

Janie pulls me in for a final hug, cursing her husband out as he chuckles in the background.

“I miss you. Stay safe,” I whisper, squeezing her extra tight, and she hums.

“I miss you too.Yoube safe,” she retorts.

She releases me all too soon, it feels. I give myself a beat. Just one before I nod and slink out into the night.

I take a deep breath, exhaling slowly before I move, but I don’t make it a whole step before movement in the shadows halts me.

“Surely you know I’m going to be aware of my disgraceful son’s arrival on my compound.”

I look up to meet eyes so similar to mine, it hurts. “I didn’t assume otherwise,” I state, my tone bored while my body tries to uncoil from the surprise of his sudden arrival.

My father assesses me, breaking me down without a word like he always does, and my gut twists when he finally speaks. “I have a job for you.”

---