Page 95 of Hunter

“What’s gone, Hunter?” Anna asked, her voice rising with concern.

“Hey.” Jax appeared, strolling into the room. His eyes went to Anna then to me, his ease replaced by caution. “What’s up?”

“They’re gone!” I roared, grabbing the drawer and yanking it so hard it flew across the room, smashing to the floor and splintering into pieces.

“Brother!” Jax yelled, looking at the drawer that was only inches away from Anna’s feet. “What’s gone? Why are you so freaked out?”

“I put them in the drawer!” I insisted, turning toward Anna. “When you gave them back, I put them in the drawer. Now they’re gone.”

“Gave what back, Hunter?” Jax snapped with frustration.

“Oh, God …” Anna’s eyes grew round, and her mouth parted with understanding.

“What?” Jax snapped, looking between us. “What is it?”

“The tickets,” Anna revealed. “Theuntraceableflight tickets.”

“She’s taken them!” I snapped, the hole in my chest burning with anger, angst, and fear. “She’s taken them, and she’s taken Adair, and now she’s gone. I’ve been downstairs for hours. She could be halfway to Fiji by now!”

“Brother, calm down!” Jax said, squeezing my shoulder. He turned toward the girl standing in the doorway, her eyes wide with shock and confusion. I hadn’t even noticed her there. “Go get Wolf now,” Jax ordered, and the girl fled out of sight.

I grabbed Jax by the scruff of his shirt and yanked him forward. “Didn’t you fucking hear me? She’s gone! I can’t fucking trace those tickets, Jax. It’ll be near impossible to hunt her down. There’s no way to catch up with her now. She. Is.Gone.”

“Brother—”

“Maybe not,” Anna interrupted.

We both turned to look at her, her blue eyes sparkling with that devious glint she always got when she knew something we didn’t.

“I’ve got an idea. Follow me.” Anna raced to the doorway as Wolf filled it.

“If this is about what you did to my fuckin’ shower—”

Anna didn’t even hesitate as she kicked him hard in the shin, ending Wolf’s annoyance with a shout of pain.

“Bitch, what was that for?”

“You were in my way.” She whipped back around toward Jax and me, both of us watching her from the doorway in stunned silence. “What are you waiting for?” she snapped. “We’ve got a girl to catch.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Mallory

“It’sbest if you part with us here,” I advised, lifting my one travel bag over my shoulder.

My mother stood next to her car, the same minivan she had often ferried me around in as a child and teenager. It even still had the ‘My daughter went to Columbia’bumper sticker on the front. She had bought it prematurely, considering I ended up dropping out halfway through my degree to run away with Adair.

I smiled at her, and she smiled back. Even through the darkness of the early hours of the morning, I could tell her face hadn’t changed even the slightest in the four years I hadn’t seen her.

“I can’t believe you’ve been so close this entire time, and I haven’t even seen you. I didn’t even think you would be with those biker boys that are always causing trouble around town. You should have called,” my mother chastised.

“I know, Mom, and I’m sorry.” I felt small and fragile within my mother’s space. She was hurt, and understandably so. I had run off four years ago, telling her only that I had gone to travel before the baby was born. Even worse, I hadn’t contacted her in all that time, aside from when Adair had been born and a few postcards now and then so she wouldn’t file a missing person report. If it wasn’t bad enough, when I had finally come back home, I had avoided her for months, thinking only of when I could run away again.

The only reason she found out about me was she knew the doctor who had saved me from my close encounter with a coma. It was there she had learned the truth about Noble, about Hell’s Runners, and about Hunter. She hadn’t cried—she was strong like that. Instead, she had quoted thousands of Bible passages at me, prayed for my sins to be absolved, and tried to convince me to baptize Adair. I had truly missed her and her forceful Christian ways.

“I’d call, but Hunter could trace it,” I said.

“Are you sure?” my mother asked, brushing my hair behind my ears. The touch was soft, reassuring. It made me want to throw myself into her arms and cry like I had all throughout my childhood. Instead, I held on tighter to Adair, who was blissfully sleeping in my arms as I ignored their growing ache.

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