Everyone got quiet. I watched Addison and Sierra exchange glances when they saw Micah. That was weird. Their dads didn’t know him by his face, we’d checked.
A man stood and crossed his arms, “I’m Dante. You must be Micah.” Micah nodded, “Yes, Sir.” Gunner laughed, “He’s pissed about calling him Sir.” I said, “It’s a good move though.” They knew that. Dante nodded, “My recruits seem to think you could help us with our cause.”
Micah lied, “I would be honored.” Danta replied evenly, “Sure. We will accept you if you take off your shirt.” Micah tensed, “I didn’t come here for some weird shit. I’m out.” He turned to leave, but there were people blocking his path. Micah snorted and easily took two of them down. This wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped. I was ready to head in if needed though.
Micah warned, “You can’t keep me here if I don’t want to be here. Let’s get that straight.” Dante laughed, “No one is going to harm you or mark your skin with a Hunter's mark at this time. That’s a personal choice. I just want you to take off your shirt.”
My hand was on the door handle as I got ready to bolt out of the car. I was one second away from taking action when someone asked, “Micah? Is that you? Oh my gosh…it is!” That was a woman’s voice. I yanked the laptop back into my lap.
A beautiful girl, probably fifteen, with black hair and red lipstick gracefully strode into frame. She had the most interesting shade of green eyes I’d ever seen. She ran over and touched Micah’s arm. I asked, “What did she put on him?” Gunner answered, “I don’t know, but it didn’t hurt him. He knows she did it too.” We all did because his eyes jolted down. He was still staring at it, and I couldn’t tell it was there.
She squealed, “it really IS you! How are you? Is Dante being dumb? I mean… he usually is… so I’ll just consider that question answered. Ignore him.” Dante asked, “You know this guy, Ashley?” Ashley nodded, “Obviously, since I said his name.” I snickered and Harper and Gunner were as well.
She turned to Micah, “Saying your name makes it obvious… I’d say don’t judge on his lack of intelligence but you kind of should… so… take that how you will.” This was entirely too amusing. Harper asked, “Is he really going to let her talk to him like that?” I replied, “It looks like he is.”
Ashley waved, “Anyway, Micah’s fierce. What’s your kill count up to Micah? I feel like it’s got to be in the thirties…. maybe forties…. it’s upper thirties for sure.” Gunner asked, “How does she know that? He has killed that many rogues.” I knew that, but I didn’t know how she knew.
She boasted, “He’s impressive you guys, and you KNOW I'm not often impressed… since not one of you has EVER impressed me.” Gunner gasped, “Holy shit!” I asked, “Did they recruit someone with Fairy blood? This is the most entertaining op I’ve been on. It was headed to a bad place, but she turned it around.” Harper said, “I think she does.”
Ashley continued, “He could beat ALL your butts, so easily… it’s kind of sad… you should work out more… not that it would help… he’d still beat you, but it could be less tragic for you.” The face I was making had to be comical because I was shocked. My dad sent me his feelings wondering if he should be concerned. I let him know he shouldn’t.
Ashley asked, “What are you doing here, Micah?” Micah said, “Hey, Ashley.” I silently prayed Dante had given the right name for this girl. “I was thinking about joining your cause, then shit got weird.” Ashley crossed her arms and sighed, “Dante, what did you do? Why are you even here? Where’s Nate? You know we hate it when you show up. Well…. ‘We’ could be strong word…I mean me. I definitely do, but I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in that.”
Dante answered, “I heard we had a new recruit, and wanted to meet him personally. Especially when I heard his name was Micah. There’s a Micah mated to one of the Conners brothers.” Everyone stiffened. Ashley rolled her eyes, “Yeah, sure Dante that’s logical. Like a mate of the Conners would just stroll on up in here.”
She shot Micah a sly glance saying, “That’s like the WORST idea of all time. Also, Micah is near the eighty-seventh most popular names for boys dating back to biblical times…so…that’s a horrible reason to be weird…about a name. There are over three thousand boys and two hundred girls name Micah every year ON AVERAGE. Do you know how many people are named Ashley?” He cut her off, “Spare me your statistics.”
She waved, “Seriously, Dante, you are paranoid. Go back to Nashville and whatever hole you crawled out of. No one here likes seeing your rat face….you’re surprisingly unattractive for a supernatural.” I raised an eyebrow.
Gunner said, “That girl has some balls on her.” I agreed, “Yeah, she’s also evasive as all get out.” Harper snorted, “Probably because she can’t lie.” I was currently going to agree, this girl had Fae blood. Dante finally said, “You can’t speak to me like that.”
Ashley snorted, “I think I just did... so I’m pretty sure that I can.” I was certain she could, because she’d been disrespecting his authority since she stepped into the room. A fact he’d done nothing about. Ashley fake juked at him saying, “What are you going to do about it? Oh yeah, that’s right... nothing.” He jumped back while I gaped at my screen.
Harper said, “Damn. She’s got some serious attitude.” I blinked rapidly trying to think of what to say. Finally, I managed, “He’s scared of her. He jumped back five feet thinking she’d hit him. No wonder she doesn’t respect him. What the hell is going on?” Gunner replied, “That’s a good question.”
Dante was turning purple he looked so pissed. He also looked quite embarrassed. He tried to save face saying, “I’m not leaving until he takes off his shirt.” Ashley rolled her eyes and looked directly in Micah’s eyes and blinked twice. That was a sign to any Hackura to trust them and everything would be fine. That the person in the room had their six.
Harper shouted, “WHAT THE FUCK?! How does she know we do that?!” I answered, “I have no idea.” I called my dad on my backup phone. He answered, “Yeah.” I asked, “Do we have any partial Fairy Hackura’s old enough to be on missions I don’t know about?” He answered, “No, and you’d know. You’re the Commander. Why?” I answered, “Because I’d swear I’m looking at one. I’ll call you later.” He muttered, “Please do and explain all that.” Yeah, I’d have to.
Ashley encouraged, “Go on Micah. If he tries to make a move on you, we can both kick his butt. Easily. I mean I’ve done it… like thirty seven times… not like, actually thirty seven times. Ok…it’s actually forty-five…I was lowballing it for some reason…To be fair, I’ve had to.” Harper said, “That seals it. She’s definitely a Fairy. I’ve heard that ‘to be fair’ shit so much it’s crazy.”I replied, “But she said thirty-seven and her voice squeaked so high I knew she was lying.” Harper reasoned, “She could’ve estimated then done the math.” True.
Ashley waved at Dante saying, “He’s a bit of a pervert. Though… most guys are. I mean I swear, what’s up with the grabby ‘I’ll own you’ or ‘let me fuck you’ crap? Honestly. Oh I can’t forget the time honored ‘I’ll possess and tame you’ rhetoric. It’s like people forget women have standards.” My jaw dropped yet again. Or maybe I’d never closed my mouth since she started talking. This is where having a wolf would be nice. I could ask said wolf.
Ashley sighed, “I’ve had to ask a few of these guys if their pick up lines actually work for them. I mean obviously, they have some reason to think they would. It’s not like any of them are god’s gift to women or anything so… I don’t understand how it wor….”
Dante shouted cutting her off, “ASHLEY GRIFFEN WILL YOU STOP RAMBLING FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!” Thank you for the last name. I said, “Gunner.” He replied, “All over it. Running a quick background.” He paused then groaned, “Holy shit.” I asked, “What?”
Gunner explained, “She’s a Werewolf, not a Fairy. She’s fifteen years old and from Missouri. Her parents and older brother died. She does have one surviving brother. She was sent to an aunt in Black Path after her parents were killed.” I asked, “What Aunt?” He answered, “Stephanie McCann. I had to dig for that though.” I questioned, “How did the family die?”
Gunner clicked his tongue, “Break in. Ashley was shot too. She woke up in the hospital and was already in Nashville. That’s how I found her aunt. She signed Ashley out into her custody.” I asked, “Why did the pack keep the brother and not her?”
Gunner answered, “I don’t know that yet. He was old enough to keep her though. If I had to guess, he blames his sister.” I sighed, “Let’s look into that. Grief can cloud your judgement, but that’s cold. I’d never let anyone take Aubrielle or Tenley from me. Or any of my brothers.”
Micah had decided to cooperate and took off his shirt. The guys who brought him in hit each other smugly. Huh? One guy said, “See? I told you he was cool, Dante.” Ashley snorted, “If we are being technical, I believe I said he was cool. He’s killed more Werewolves than you’ve ever thought about killing. He could also snap you all like twigs. Seriously, you all want to fight Werewolves, and you can’t lift twenty pounds... it’s sad... honestly...”
Dante yelled, “SHUT UP, ASHLEY!” She glared at him.Harper announced, “She knows him. How does she know him?” I answered, “I don’t know. Gunner, how sure are you she’s a Werewolf?” He said, “Both parents are wolves. I’m looking into their lines, but I haven’t found even a dash yet.” Harper said, “Micah will know if she is or not.” That was true.
He’d been around Fairies with a dash of Fae blood, all the way to full blooded at Haley’s partial practices. Dante stood and walked over to Micah. He moved his head to the side and studied his neck. He looked pissed off and I realized he was looking for his mark, and they didn’t see it.
