Page 123 of Hunters and Hydrangeas

What am I going to do? I can’t wait for him. Jameson is angry enough he’ll kill me as soon as he’s satisfied he’s destroyed the data on my phone.

I pull a hair pin from my hair, holding the base of it in my hand. I can do it. He’s only a few steps away.

But my feet aren’t obeying my command. They’re frozen in place, refusing to move.

Sensing the change in my stance, Jameson turns. His eyes fall on the hair pin before I can hide it, and his eyes flash.

My feet move this time—several steps back.

I drop the hair pin and hold up my hands, showing him that I’m unarmed.

“You want to prove I’m a monster?” He stalks forward, his expression slightly unhinged. “You want to see what kind of monster I can be?”

He holds the candlestick like a baseball bat. I sense the moment he’s going to swing it and barely manage to duck, trying to run past him. He drops his makeshift weapon and grabs my arm, roughly yanking me into his chest.

There’s a commotion outside the door, followed by a crash that sounds like metal banging against metal.

Noah.

My spirits bolstered, I scream and fight, but Jameson is stronger than I am. With his free hand, he roughly grabs my head and forces it to the side, exposing my neck.

But I’m not allowing it, not again.

I rip an arm free and gouge the vampire in the eyes, just as Noah taught me.

Jameson yowls and stumbles back. While he’s bent over, I pull another hair pin from my hair and jab it into his arm.

He screams, jerking away.

The door bursts open just as Jameson falls on the floor. Fighting the sedative, his movements are growing slow.

Noah barrels into the room, gun trained on the twitching vampire. Then he looks at me, his eyes wide. “You did it.”

I don’t know if it’s the sheer, unadulterated shock on Noah’s face or the relief that I’m still alive, but I sink onto the floor andlaugh.

But quickly, my laughter turns into tears. Noah pulls me up and into his arms as several NIHA hunters swarm into the room and surround Jameson.

“Piper, you did so well.”

“You got the recording?”

“All of it. Daniel had it going straight to a computer in the intel room.”

“The castle has an intel room?” I ask stupidly. “Tomas didn’t mention it.”

Noah laughs, his face crinkling with belated worry. “Yeah.”

Blinking back tears, I look at the hunters as they pull Jameson off the floor and cuff him. “I thought you couldn’t do anything to him right now?”

“The committee gave us approval to take him into custody. Thankfully, all the heads of the lines are gathered. They’ll take a vote later and decide his fate. I assure you, it won’t be favorable.”

I sink against Noah.

“You did so well,” he says again, hugging me fiercely. “Are you thinking of a career change? Do you want to be a hunter now?”

“Never,” I breathe, laughing. “You’re on your own from now on. Take me to my garden. I’m done.”

He chuckles. “We have to get through the nominations first.”

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