Page 21 of Huntress and the Splintered Court
I was on the ground feeling the adrenaline pump under my skin like tiny tingles, when I was suddenly penned.
“Yield!” Trey demanded. If he thought I was just going to lay there while he killed me… Slamming my head forward, I hit Trey’s nose, but I hadn’t been able to build enough momentum to break it. “Bitch!” he hissed but his grip only tightened. “You’ve lost, Isabel. Accept it so we can take you to jail.”
Jail?
Trey held me waiting for the moment I’d surrendered. I relaxed my hands, trying to show I was giving up, but his eyes narrowed not trusting me. “If you try to hit me again…”
“I’m done.”
“Do you concede?” I nodded. “Good. I don’t think Gideon would forgive me if you end up with even a cut on you. Seems he worried over nothing. I thought you might accidentally kill Clive over there. You okay, Clive?” Trey called out as the female tended to the wolf I throat punched.
“He’ll be fine,” the female announced. “But I may need a doctor to set my hand.”
Trey nodded. “Go ahead and tap out after we escort Isabel to jail.”
I was confused. Maybe it was stupid of me to think that even if Trey were Gideon’s Judas, that he’d kill me during a game. Just because he hadn’t didn’t mean he wasn’t the person we were after.
The game lasted for almost an hour, most of which I spent trying to escape jail. Every time a team member would slip into the red team’s zone to free us, I’d be captured again within minutes. I didn’t fight anymore, even as my competitive side was eager to win. Instead I kept my guard up and if anyone tried to attack then I’d fight.
Covered in sweat, dirt, and grass, the pack left the woods and flooded back into the clearing. I staggered noticing Gideon, shirtless, standing before a table that had been set up filled with water and snacks. Did he have to be so damn perfect? The red flag was draped around his neck like a towel. Of course he was the reason we won. Feeling my eyes on him, Gideon turned, his own gaze raking over me taking in the dirt that clung to me. I thought I’d see anger or frustration from him as he realized I fought, but instead I only saw humor.
“You just couldn’t let them walk you to jail, could you?” He handed me a slice of cake and I couldn’t help but let the melancholy melt away and mirrored his delight. It wasn’t everyday a half naked man handed me cake. Delicious. Both the man and the cake.
Trey approached us and I felt my joy briefly dissipate remembering how I fought him in the woods, but he didn’t seem bothered by it.
“And you thought she needed special rules,” he teased Gideon. That was a first. I expected that behavior from Adam but not Trey. The Head Enforcer didn’t linger as he grabbed two waters and headed over to the woman whose wrist was broken from striking the tree.
Gideon raised his brow at me when he noticed me fidgeting guiltily.
“I didn’t break it,” I confessed.
He laughed as he removed his cell phone from his pocket and answered it, putting it on speaker. I hadn’t heard it ring.
“Yes?”
“Sir? There’s a van at the gate stating they have a delivery, but we have nothing on the books.”
Gideon’s brow furrowed. He glanced at me then to Adam, who shrugged. “Go ahead and let them in. We’ll go see what they want.” He hung up the phone. “Be on guard,” he told Adam, who immediately began rounding up a few wolves to head to the front of the house. Then Gideon turned to me. “If I asked you to stay behind?”
“You know better.”
He groaned. “You stay by my side and if I say run…”
I nodded. Gideon rolled his eyes. We both knew I wouldn’t run from a fight.
“Gideon!” Trey bellowed dashing down the drive. Tires spinning out created a screeching like a banshee. The white van never entered the gate.
The doors flew open and two figures dressed in black, covered from head to toe, grabbed two limp bodies and tossed them out of the van into a heap on the hard concrete, just inside the gate. The van was in constant movement and barely missed running over the wolves.
Several of us raced to the end of the drive. I’d seen pictures of the two missing wolves, but given the state of their faces, I couldn’t be sure if this was them. Gideon knelt beside one scanning over his injuries.
“Are these the two missing?” I asked shifting my weight. Gideon nodded. Standing he grabbed me by the elbow and moved us away from the swarm of werewolves that were tending to their broken comrades.
“I need to know what you saw.”
My brow furrowed. I was pretty sure I saw what we all had, but the way his gaze bore into me had me aware he didn’t just mean what Isaw,but what details I picked up. As a hunter I was trained to notice more than even a supernatural being would.
“They were completely covered. Wearing sunglasses to cover their eyes. Very well could have been vampires.”
