Page 54 of Silent Secrets

Hunter

Leavingtheballroom,I head to the gym so I can work out some of my irritation. Hadley exasperates the hell out of me and I once again, I let her get to me. I hate it when I let her get to me. I hate that I haven’t been able to push her away. I hate that for the first time in decades I care about someone besides the men that I call my brothers.

No, I won’t let myself go there. I shut off that line of thought, pushing her back into the box where she belongs. Pounding a punching bag helps work out a lot of the tension from my parent’s visit and everything with Hadley. Nothing can seem to rid me completely of it, but I think that’s because of how much I put on myself.

The tension just ratchets higher when Marcos comes in to rub the fact that he’d slept with her in my face. Not that I care who she sleeps with, it’s none of my business. The only reason I care at all is because I don’t want my friends to get hurt. And if I ignore the voice in the back of my head that calls me a liar? Well, no one but me will ever know. Then I stumble on her cuddled between Caiden and Kai on the couch as they watched a movie and I see red.

I want to throw her away, send her back to L’Airid, so she will leave me and my friends alone. But another part of me knows that I’m jealous that I’m not the one cuddled up close to her.

No, nope. Not going there.

I storm to my room, throwing on my headphones and just let myself drift. Any time Hadley comes to mind, I push those thoughts away. I don’t want to think of her. I don’t want to deal with her. Especially not when I don’t have to. It’s bad enough that I have to see her multiple times a day. I don’t need to think about her when she isn’t even around.

When my phone buzzes with a text message, I almost throw it across the room. I don’t want to deal with friends and the way that they continuously go on and on about Hadley. It’s always Hadley this, and Hadley that. When will they understand that I don’t fucking care?

Or at least, I don’t want to care.

But I know I have to check it because if it’s an emergency and I miss it, I’ll be kicking myself in the ass.

Glancing down, I see that the message in our group chat is from Caiden, and I have to fight the snarl that tries to spill from my lips. I just know that it’s going to be about Hadley.

Caiden: 911. Hadley’s room. Kai & I are already here.

I fucking knew it. I don’t want to go and for just a moment, I consider not going. What’s the worst that could happen?

But as soon as I have the thought, I realize all the terrible things it could be and that it could have something to do with one of my friends and not Hadley. I guess I’m going.

It takes longer than it should have for me to make my way there, but my desire to be anywhere that isn’t near Hadley has me slowing down numerous times. The door to her room is partially open, so I head inside without knocking. Glancing around, I don’t see anyone.

“Hello?”

“In the bedroom,” Caiden calls out.

As soon as I step into the doorway, I’m glad that I came—not because I want to see the scene in front of me, but because I need to see this. There is blood everywhere—all over the floor, the bed, the walls. Nowhere has been spared.

My friends crowd around the bed, blocking my view, but I can see that there is something, or possibly someone, in the bed. I don’t want to focus on what the instant dread and fear that rushes through me means, my mind flashing to Hadley and wondering if it’s her body under all of that blood. But with a shake of my head, I push those thoughts away and step closer to look at the wall. Carved into the wall and then traced over with blood is a warning.

You’re not worthy of them. Leave or die.

Well, damn.

All three faces before me are pale and they all look sick to their stomachs, but they step out of the way so that I can see what is on the bed. It had been a cougar, but its body is butchered and dismembered.

I try not to think too much about the relief I feel that it isn’t Hadley laying on the bed before me.

“Why a cougar?”

“Cougars represent leadership.” Kai’s voice is hoarse as he speaks. “If I had to guess? Paired with the warning on the wall, I’d say that someone is warning her that she isn’t worthy of being the Fae Queen.”

A noise from the bathroom makes me think about the fact that Hadley isn’t in the room with us. I spin on my heels with my friends and sprint towards the sound, not even thinking about what I’m doing. Finding her bent over the toilet, emptying her stomach, I rush over to try to calm her down. I rub circles into her back as Kai bends over beside us.

“Angel? Are you okay?”

Hadley doesn’t move, doesn’t even acknowledge that she’d heard Kai’s question. My eyes lift to meet his and I see the worry in them. Glancing over my shoulder, I see the same worry on Caiden’s and Marcos’s faces.

“We need to let Grace know. She’ll tell whoever else needs to know and I think Hadley might need a healer.”

“I don’t want to leave her,” Marcos says as he leans down to run a hand through her hair, frowning when Hadley doesn’t respond to his touch. “Kitten?”

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