Page 50 of Cursed by Death

He pursed his lips and dipped his head slightly, acknowledging that he’d heard me. He didn’t look like he liked anything that I’d said, but that was really his problem and not mine.

“Great,” I muttered sarcastically. “I’m going to go get ready now.”

I carried my coffee upstairs with me and did just that.

But I did it thinking about Rally and if he was going to demand I enter into a monogamous relationship with him. He’d just come into my life and I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him just yet.

But, make no mistake, I absolutely would walk away from him if he tried demanding such things from me.

I didn’t think I was heartless, just incredibly realistic.

Chapter 26

Fox wasted far too much of my time arguing with me about who would be driving. Why did it seem like only Hunter didn’t seem to take issue with me being the one behind the wheel?

Eventually I’d simply had enough of his bullshit and just got in the driver’s seat of the Bentley. He got in the passenger seat because I believed he had finally got the message. Either he quit arguing and got in or I’d leave him behind and he could walk. Since his job was to guard me I didn’t think It’d suit him to be left behind.

He’d have to be the one who explained the situation to Rally. Rally seemed very good natured but he was a bit intense where I was concerned, so who knew how he’d react to Fox failing to do the job he’d been given.

That made me think. Just what exactly were Fox’s orders where I was concerned.

“So, Foxy,” I said in a pleasant voice that would compel him to answer me. The stoic and silent guard thing he could do would only serve to piss me off at the moment. “What exactly did Rally tell you before he left? Just to watch over me until he comes back, or what? I told him I didn’t need a babysitter and I meantit. It’s no offense to you but having you follow me around all the time would totally go against my vibe. I’m a loner at heart and I’m always going to be.”

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, Ruby, but being Rally’s mate means you’ll more than likely always have a guard or two with you from here on out. You’ll probably get assigned your very own guards, whoever Rally thinks will be a good fit for you. You would have had one sooner if he’d have thought you wouldn’t have fought him on it or made a big deal. Please, though, I ask of you not to shoot the messenger.”

I gripped the steering wheel almost to the point of causing me pain. His words made me want to shoot someone but I wasn’t about to take it out on him. He wasn’t the one responsible for this news, as he’d said, he was simply the messenger.

Rally and I would be having yet another conversation because this was unacceptable to me.

I hadn’t lied when I said I was a loner. The thought of always having a person in my shadow made me so uncomfortable it wasn’t even funny. I needed my alone time, I was used to it. I was used to my peace and quiet.

Did having people in my life now mean that peace and quiet were now a thing of the past to me? I thought back on it and realized I hadn’t gone a day being all by myself since Thomas died. And I had not been miserable or once wished for alone time by myself.

Maybe I wouldn’t absolutely hate the lack of freedom after all. Then again, maybe I’d snap tomorrow, kick them all out of my life, and change the locks on the doors so they couldn’t get back in. I could hide out in my basement for months and they’d all have probably gone away by the time I reemerged back into the world again.

That thought wasn’t as appealing to me as it would have been just last week.

I mean, where would Ginger and the baby go? I wanted to be able to watch her as she lived her life, find happiness and maybe even love again, and I wanted to watch her son grow up. I could be his rich aunt Ruby and not so secret fairy godmother.

It was crazy how much my life had changed in such a short period of time. And it was frightening how much I preferred this new life to what my old, lonely existence had been.

I wasn’t going back to the way things used to be, even if Rally and I didn’t work out. I mean, for fuck’s sake, Ginger was moving into my guest house, I wasn’t going to lose her if I decided not to be with the Prince. And Detective Rowans had absolutely zero ties to the wolves, I knew that no matter what he wasn’t going anywhere.

That last thought made me relax just a little bit. When had I become that comfortable with the man that the thought of his friendship alone was enough to stop me from spiraling out? I ought to be afraid of that, perhaps even afraid of the man himself due to my reactions to him, but I was not.

“I’m under the impression that you knew these hunters from a previous lifetime. How?”

I wished Fox had just kept his stupid mouth shut because this subject was actually worse than the previous one.

“A previous lifetime,” I muttered sarcastically. “Yeah, it was definitely that.” At least it felt like that’s what it had been. I had no intention of talking about anything that had happened to me and I had experienced in foster care with Fox. I didn’t think we’d ever be good enough friends for that.

For the rest of the drive I ignored Fox and he thankfully took the hint, remaining silent while staring out the window.

I realized I didn’t really know anything about the man and if my nerves weren’t shot I might grill him on the way home. If I was going to be expected to spend a bunch of time alone with the man then I wanted to know more about him than his name, thefact that he was a wolf and one of Rally’s personal guards. Then again, if he was good at his job then I didn’t really need to know anything else about him. I’d yet to actually see any proof of him being any good though and I wouldn’t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes. You just couldn’t take someone’s word on that kind of thing.

The house we pulled up in front of looked like it was abandoned. The windows were busted out. The overgrown grass was littered with garbage. And there appeared to be a homeless person sleeping on the floor of the porch. He was either asleep or he was dead. He had two tied off plastic grocery bags clutched to his chest and he appeared to be wearing fingerless gloves.

In fact, he looked like he was dressed in winter gear from head to foot with a thick winter hat complete with a dirty fuzzy gall on top, a raggedy looking scarf, a puffy jacket with large holes in it, and big clunky winter boots.

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