Page 131 of The Hunt

With that, I ended the call. If I didn’t, I knew I’d start sobbing my heart out.

Rhett’s hand touched my back, warm and steady. “I’m really sorry about your mom,” he murmured. “I knew she was sick when we were kids, but I didn’t know the rest.”

My heart sped up, and I was suddenly afraid I’d choke on my next words. I didn’t want Rhett to see me crumble. Especially when this whole conversation had started in the first placebecause I wanted to support him through his childhood trauma. Not the other way around.

His hand stayed where it was, and I could feel the heat of it seeping into my skin. "Everly," he said, voice low and soft, like he was afraid of shattering something fragile. "It’s okay to talk about this. I’m not going anywhere."

“I just… I don’t want to make this all about me,” I finally said. “Not after everything you’ve told me tonight.”

“But thisisabout you,” Rhett replied, gently stroking my back. “You’re not being selfish.”

“I feel like I am,” I mumbled.

“No.” He shook his head. “Earlier, you said we’re in this together, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You were right. We’re in this together. That means we can share things. It doesn’t matter where or when,” he said. “My trauma doesn’t override yours, or whatever you’re thinking right now. We can talk about it. I want to be here for you.”

I felt the first tear slip down my cheek as I finally turned to face Rhett again, meeting his gaze. The sight of him—so calm, sothere,despite everything—made it all hit harder. The grief, the anger, the weight of everything I’d been holding back. My breath hitched in my chest, and before I could stop it, the words spilled out.

“When I was seven, my mom went in for a pregnancy scan, and that was when she found out she was sick,” I said. I briefly paused to wipe my cheek and take a deep, shaky breath. “Ovarian cancer. It was already at a pretty late stage, so they told us she probably only had a year to live. She lost the baby she was carrying, too.”

Rhett wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his chest. “That’s rough. Really rough,” he murmured.

“Yeah. It was.” My voice cracked again as I spoke, and I melted into him, finally letting myself break down. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. But he was right—Ineededto.

“It was horrible. So fucking horrible,” I finally went on. “But then… it’s like my dad said. The Wild Hunt bought us extra time. I was so grateful for his new job, because it meant we had all those years with her that we thought we’d never get. I had no idea it came at the expense of so many other people’s lives.”

“That’s not your fault,” he murmured, stroking my hair.

I pulled away a bit, looking up at him. “Do you blame my father for what he did?” I asked in a hollow voice. “Do you think he’s a monster too?”

He slowly shook his head. “Not really. Peter preyed on him just like he preys on everyone else. He took advantage of the situation and basically held the cost of your dying mother’s treatment over his head. That’s beyond fucked up.”

“That’s true,” I murmured.

“Peter and the other Patriarchs are the real problem here. They’re the puppet masters pulling all the strings.” His jaw clenched, and he went on. “They’re the monsters we need to take down.”

“I can’t wait.”

“I know how that feels.” Rhett began to stroke my hair again, his touch slow and soothing. “But right now, you really need to rest. So do I. In the morning, we’ll be able to think better. More clearly.”

I wanted to argue, to tell him I wanted to come up with a plan right now, but I knew he was right. My body felt heavy, every muscle weighed down with exhaustion, and my brain felt like it was running on fumes.

Rhett shifted closer, pulling me into his arms completely. My head rested against his chest, and I could hear the steady thud ofhis heartbeat. My eyelids grew heavier with each breath I took, the tension slowly unraveling from my body.

“I’ve got you, baby,” he murmured, his lips brushing against my temple. “You’re safe here.”

I believed him. For the first time in what felt like forever, I genuinely felt safe… and it was in the arms of a killer.

30

Everly

The soft glowof morning filtered through the curtains, and I stirred, feeling the solid weight of an arm draped around my waist, along with the heat of a body pressed against my back. For a moment, I didn’t move, letting the steady rise and fall of Rhett’s breathing lull me into a fragile sense of peace.

For that brief sliver of time, it was easy to pretend. Easy to imagine we were just a normal couple waking up together, tangled in each other’s warmth, with nothing waiting for us except breakfast in bed and passionate kisses.

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