Page 164 of The Hunt

I groaned with delight at the heavenly scent wafting through the kitchen. “It smells amazing.”

She grinned. “I bet you never would’ve picturedmeas a domestic goddess, right?” she said, pushing a box of crackers over to me.

“Honestly, I’m kind of in awe right now,” I said as I opened the box. “You’re over there making gourmet appetizers while I’m over here considering cereal a culinary achievement.”

Nikki laughed. “To be fair, you’ve had a lot more on your plate than me for a while now,” she said. “College, and then straight into work.”

“You work too.”

“Yeah, but it’s just part-time. That’s the way I like it now.” She let out a contented sigh. “I guess I needed a really long break after… well, you know.”

“Yeah, I get it,” I said softly. “By the way, how are things with Ari?”

The two of them had been inseparable since Ari carried her out of the manor, put her on a boat, and sped to the nearest hospital at breakneck pace. He’d stayed at the hospital while doctors performed emergency surgery on her, and then he’d delivered flowers to her every day while she recovered.

As if that wasn’t romantic enough, he’d also gone and broken the jaws, noses, and legs of Jordan Prince and Matt Treska after she told him what they’d done to her. That might not be some people’s idea of romantic behavior, but after all the shit Nikki had endured in her time with The Wild Hunt, she considered it to be the absolute pinnacle of romance.

She glanced in his direction, smiling faintly. “Honestly… sometimes it still gets to me that he was one ofthem,” she said. “But then I remember everything he’s done for me, and also the fact that he never actually killed anyone in the Hunt, and suddenly things are okay again.” She paused briefly and shook her head. “I wish I could stop having those shitty thoughts, but I just can’t help it.”

“No, I get it. You went through a ton of trauma when you were involved with the society. It’ll take a long time to process it all,” I said. “And Ari understands, right?”

“Yes, of course. I tell him everything.”

Like many of the younger Wilders, Ari had avoided a prison sentence after everything went down. His family’s high-powered legal team argued that he’d been under the undue influence of the older Wilders and the Patriarchs—including his own father—and got swept up in their schemes after years of brainwashingand lies. Coupled with a lack of concrete evidence tying him directly to any of the murders, he’d walked away with probation and mandatory counseling instead of prison time.

Rhett got lucky too.

Just before the SWAT teams descended on the island that night, one of the tech guys—who was aware that Rhett had been instrumental in taking the society down—deleted every bit of footage from that year’s Hunt which showed him killing someone, including all eight of the Patriarchs in the ritual clearing.

I knew he felt the occasional pang of guilt over narrowly avoiding punishment, because of his strong sense of justice, but I also knew he’d much rather be out here in the world with me, keeping me safe from everything instead of rotting in prison with the Wilders who hadn’t evaded lengthy sentences.

On top of that, I knew he’d do it all over again if it meant saving me.

He’d doanythingfor me.

“Anyway, enough about me.” Nikki dipped a cracker in the cheese and looked at me with raised brows. “How’s your dad? Have you talked much lately?”

I shrugged lightly. “We talk at least once a week. But it’s still pretty weird between us.”

“You haven’t forgiven him?”

“I have for the most part, because I know why he worked for the society,” I said. “It was all for Mom. He loved her so,somuch, and he also wanted her to have more time with me when I was growing up. So… I understand. But it just weighs on me, you know? The fact that every extra year we got with her cost forty-nine other people’s lives.”

“Yeah, that’s rough.” Nikki paused to take a bite and swallow. “I think about it too. All the people that had to die so I could live four years ago. My therapist said it’s survivor’s guilt.”

“Oh, you’re doing therapy?”

“I have been for a while. Ari suggested it, and it does help a bit,” she replied. “But seriously, when it comes to what we went through… there isn’t enough damn therapy in the world.”

“That’s probably true.”

Nikki grabbed another cracker, this time offering me one too. “But hey, look at us. We’re still standing. Still here. That has to count for something, right?”

I nodded and took the cracker from her hand. “Yeah, it does.”

“And we’re not just surviving—we’re actually living,” she went on, her tone brighter now. “You’ve got Rhett. I’ve got Ari. We’ve got stable jobs, and right now we have this amazing vacation house. So life isn’t perfect, but it’s good. It’sreallygood.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “You’re right. And this cheese log alone is worth celebrating.”

---