Page 29 of Gone Hunting

The barest hint of a smile tugs at his lips. “It’s not like that, Aric.”

“Could have fooled me,” I mutter.

He rubs his jaw, appearing to choose his words carefully. “This isn’t going to make sense to you. I can barely make sense of it myself. But since I met Celia, I’ve been attracted to her.”

“I’ve noticed,” I reply, my tone sharper than I intend.

“Not like you are,” he says, surprising me by staying relaxed. “I’m attracted to her, because of you.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I’m not sure myself,” he says, maintaining his composure. “It’s as if my wolves and I have to keep her safefor you.”

Now, I’m just confused. “You don’t want her for yourself?” I ask.

“Like you do?” he asks, smiling. “No. And I think anyone who does would be foolish to try to take her from you.”

I bow my head, ashamed of the way I treated my friend. “I’m not even sure Celia likes me.”

“Trust me, Aric, she does.” He clasps my shoulder. “Let’s go inside and talk about what’s next.” His expression grows grim. “My parents left this morning to join the hunt. I didn’t tell them about Celia.”

I’m not surprised Gem kept quiet about Celia. He never runs his mouth about anything. And then there’s Liam.

I think we’re done until I catch his darkening expression. “Is there something you’re not telling me?” I ask.

Gemini releases a weary breath. “The pack’s been instructed to capture anything unusual and kill it if it fights back.”

“They’re assuming whatever they find might be the cause of the dark magic,” I guess. Gem nods. “But Celia didn’t cause any of it.”

“I’m not saying she did. But darkness did accompany Celia’s arrival. With skinwalkers and other malevolent entities rising, people andweresalike are scared. We need to be careful. When fear brews, wrong assumptions are made about those who are different.”

And Celia is different.

We step inside. Liam and Celia stand quietly beside each other as Koda robotically serves eggs and leftover steak. They heard the last bit of our conversation, at least where Celia is concerned.

Mom’s dress is too big on her, but the color brightens her skin and eyes. She looks feminine, beautiful, and more vulnerable than I wish she was.

“We’ll fix it,” I say, not bothering to sugarcoat what we talked about.

“Yeah, we will,” Liam agrees.

“Let’s have breakfast first,” Koda says, his shoulders strained.

We eat in silence. Aside from a few glances she shoots my way, Celia keeps her head down. She doesn’t strike me as a shrinking violet, but I think if she had the choice, she’d leave now and not look back.

“I think I should leave.”

I was right.

“No,” we reply at once. Well, except for Liam, who is on his fourth round of eggs.

“Celia, we’re young and strong,” Koda says. “We’ve been trained to hunt and kill and bring our opponent down.” He pauses. “We had our asses handed to us yesterday. Five of us plus Gemini’s wolf and we barely made it out alive. From what I heard in town this morning, these things are everywhere.” He stabs a piece of steak and lifts it to his mouth. “No way would you stand a chance on your own.”

Liam jumps to his feet, the motion so fast his chair topples over and slams onto the floor. “Magic,” he says. “This whole thing is about magic.” He points at Celia. “I say we take her to Mimi.”

The wolves and I toss our forks, groaning, Gemini going as far as covering his face.

Celia blinks back at our sour expressions. “Who’s Mimi?”

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