Page 28 of Exes, Hexes, and Strategy
No. They didn’t have many rules, did they? As far as Nina was aware, the only rule they held true was to never Turn a witch. A rule, that for a time, had left her hating what she was. If she hadn’t been born a witch, she would have eagerly petitioned to be made into a vampire so that she and Rafe could have spent an eternity together instead of having to settle for one mortal lifetime. She’d never shared that particular gem of truth with him. As there was nothing he could do, there had been no reason.
“We have time,” Rafe assured her before kissing her forehead. “We’re safe here. By the time I face my father, I’ll have a solid plan.”
Nina nodded against his shoulder, squeezing him a bit tighter. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing him again, but keeping him might still prove impossible. Regardless, she would love him for as long as she could, while she could, and leave the hurdles of their future for another day.
Chapter Seventeen
Vincent DeMarco let out a bellow of rage and threw his laptop across the room. Not satisfied, he then swept the contents of his desk to the floor and threw a heavy, antique paperweight that lodged into the wall. No one came into the office to enquire about the noise. No one would dare lest they wished to risk Vincent’s wrath being turned on them with murderous results.
Word from his man in New Orleans had come through. Images of Raphael with that witch getting into his car, them walking together on a busy street, smiling at each other, dancing together at a nightclub, and then, the two of them going into a hotel. His man had also confirmed that they’d checked into a single room and had spent hours together inside before they’d returned to the Hunter training facility.
Intolerable.
Buzzing his secretary, he barked, “Clear my schedule. Immediately.”
The man’s voice quivered with trepidation. “Sir, you have the Japanese dignitaries arriving tonight.”
Vincent gritted his teeth. He wanted vengeance, his blood sang with the need to kill that witch in front of Raphael for what the two of them had done, to punish his son for his weakness, and to destroy her for her audacity, but this deal had been in the works for too long and was too important to jeopardize.
“Fine,” he bit out. “Ensure nothing else is scheduled after their departure.”
“Right away, sir.”
That done, Vincent picked his phone up off the floor and called the assassin. The man answered with, “I’m not seeing the remainder of my funds in my account, DeMarco. The job’s done. What’s the holdup?”
Vincent’s lip curled in annoyance at the disrespect being handed him, but as he still required the man’s services, at least for a little bit longer, he swallowed the sharp retort on his tongue, saying instead, “I need you for one more thing.”
“Extra work will cost you more.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get your money,” Vincent sneered.
And soon Vincent would get satisfaction.
∞∞∞
Rafe was having a hard time keeping his temper in check. It was the first night of their mock hunt and he definitely wasn’t getting along with the other vampires on his team. Nina, and the cat shifter, Sierra, had pretty much been sidelined, any suggestions they made, those other three assholes spoke over or outright ignored, as for Rafe, his ideas were met with snide comments like,“Oh, yes, let’s listen to the Born because the Born are always right,”or“You’re not the leader here, Born.”
Honestly, it was a good thing he wasn’t armed. When the question of weapons had been raised, Cam had pointed out that for this hunt, their targets wouldn’t be resisting or fighting back once caught, so weapons weren’t needed. All they needed to do wasfindtheir target, yet here they were with dawn rapidly approaching and they had nothing to show for it. Well, nothing but a headache after hours of listening to those three morons pontificate about why the next place they checked was sure to bethe one. None of them had been the one and the entire night had been a giant waste.
“I hope we don’t get a failing grade,” Sierra was saying worriedly to Nina as they made their way back to the transport that would be bringing them back to the school now that their time was up.
Nina put her arm around the other woman in commiseration just as one of the three stooges rudely remarked, “Well, maybe if you had actually been useful, you wouldn’t deserve a failing grade.”
His temper snapped. Before he even realized what he was doing, his fist had flown into the vampire’s face, connecting with the guy’s nose to send him reeling backward. The other two vampires quickly came to the defense of their friend. Rafe took a punch that would surely blacken his eye but before he could retaliate in kind, there was a horrible sounding scream and a mountain lion was standing between him and his target, claws flashing as she swiped at the air in front of her in a warning. Sierra was protecting Rafe, while Nina… Rafe shook his head. He didn’t know what Nina was doing, but the look on her face was ferocious and the vampire she’d gone toe to toe with was quaking in his boots, eyes wide with fear, and sweating so badly his face was dripping.
Holy shit! Was she pulling the water out of the man’s body?
“That’s enough.”
Cam had joined them. Proof of just how closely they were being monitored during this hunt.
Rafe immediately went to Nina, and not caring who saw, pulled her into his arms. “Are you all right?” he asked. And then, to be sure, he leaned back so he could examine her properly, look for injuries. Her pupils were dilated, her lips slightly parted, and it didn’t look like she even realized he was there.
Worried, he stroked a hand over her hair. “Nina? Are you hurt?”
She shook herself. “I didn’t know I could do that,” she said with awe, her voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes flicked to his. “He was going to attack you, and I…” she let the sentence drift off to swallow hard, and Rafe tucked her head against his shoulder, his hands sweeping over her back in soothing strokes.
“It’s all right.” And because it bore repeating, “It’s all right.”
