Liam parked on a dirt landing at the forest’s edge, and we all exited the Bronco.
“Doc, you and Olivia stand by the car, but keep it running in case we need a fast escape.” Mostly for me, he added, “Stay aware.”
Doc acknowledged Liam’s request with a dip of his chin, then went back to his drawings. He stopped on a page and studied it, while I studied him. What was he looking for?
Liam grabbed my bag and lifted it over my head, distracting me from Doc’s odd behavior. He pulled out the gun Nikki had been training me with. “You remember how to use it?” He held it up, showing me again how to put one in the chamber, and then handed it over.
“Yeah.” My voice trailed off. My eyes were fixated on Pepper. I wanted to reach out and hug her, to tell her to be careful and to listen to every word Liam said. But at the same time, I wanted her to know that I believed in her, that I trusted her, that I was proud of her for last night. For so long, I had acted like her mother, thinking that was what she needed. But now I’d finally realized that what she truly craved was a sister. Transitioning from one role to the other took some getting used to.
Pepper stared off into the trees, her body language completely relaxed.
The air rushed out of my lungs as I stood there, lost in a whirlwind of unsettling thoughts. What if Fenton attacked her? What if this entire encounter was nothing but an insidious ploy designed to ensnare his next meal? Crippled by a potent mixture of panic and anxiety like a flurry of restless wings in my stomach, I hovered in frozen indecision. Nonetheless, in that crucial instant, like the heart-pounding second before a roller coaster dipped into a thrilling plunge, I drew in a steadying breath, summoning my wellspring of courage, determined to confront whatever lay ahead with unwavering resolve. After all, what other choice did I have?
A hand reached out and grabbed my shaky one. “I’ve got her.”
Liam jolted me back to life like a defibrillator. If Fenton did try something, I knew Liam would put a silver bullet in his heart.
I nestled the gun between the waistband of my jeans and my black bodysuit, securing it the way Liam taught me, and nodded, trying to appear confident.
“I know you’re mad at me . . .”
“No. I was just scared.” I glanced at Pepper, then back to Liam. “She’s pretty incredible, huh?”
Liam leaned in, cupping the back of my neck. “So are you.”
I finally met his eyes, the lightest blue I’d ever seen them. My own reflected in his widened pupils. His gaze dropped to my lips, making the butterfly wings inside flutter for a whole new reason.
He pulled me in and kissed the top of my head. The skin tingled where his lips touched as if he’d branded me with a reminder of himself. He turned to Doc, who now had a pencil in his hand, sketching wildly. “Stop doodling and pay attention.” Doc’s head snapped up. “Do not leave her, for any reason. I don’t care what you hear or think, you stay right by her side.”
“We’ll be fine,” Doc concluded, then went right back to his sketch pad.
Pepper pushed Liam out of the way. “You don’t get all the sappy moments. My turn.” She wrapped her arms around me and whispered into my ear, “It’s going to be okay. Fenton’s not what they think he is. He won’t hurt me. And if he tries, I have Liam-freaking-Hunter as my bodyguard. Hell, I saved him last night.”
I sniffled, fighting back tears as I pulled out of her embrace. “When did you get so grown up, huh?” I mussed her blue hair. “Go on. Go get us the intel we need to put the bastards who killed those innocent campers and hikers in the ground.”
Pepper saluted me. Her crooked grin all but made me laugh.
“Let’s go.” Liam waved to Pepper to follow him.
“Liam”—I rocked back on my heels as he turned around—“Pepper better not be the only one to come back in one piece. You hear me?”
Liam chuckled. “If I do die, I’m haunting your ass.”
“Funny.” I tightened the satchel strap at my shoulder, securing it in place. “I’ll burn your bones, and you’ll never stand a chance.”
Liam smiled, a real one, a rare one. My heart fluttered in my chest, beating against my rib cage. “You better. A good hunter would never let me become a monster.”
The double meaning hung in the air as he and my sister disappeared into the depths of the forest. There was a part of Liam that felt responsible for his mother’s transformation. Not that I believed that at all. How could they have known she wouldn’t end her own life, allowing herself to become the enemy? Still, I recognized the heavy burden Veronica’s choice placed on her family. Even now, as her fate approached its inevitable conclusion, it had to be incredibly hard on all the Hunters.
Doc sucked in a breath. “Olivia,” he wheezed, panic-stricken.
“What?” I twisted to meet his pale face.
He held up his sketch pad, but before I could piece together what he’d drawn, the click of a gun’s safety froze my limbs.
“Bloody hell.” Doc’s words were a mere whisper. “Don’t move.”
Cold metal stung the side of my cheek, and I sipped in a pitiful breath.
“I’d take his advice, kiddo. Moving could be very bad for your health.” The unfamiliar, syrupy-sweet voice held an edge that sent shivers up my spine. “Now why don’t you enlighten me. Who are you? And even more important, who are you to my son?”
“Son?”
The woman chuckled. “Yes, the boy who just ogled you for the last three minutes, more concerned about your safety than the hunt. Because I don’t know him very well anymore, now that he’s practically a man, but I sure am interested in learning.”
“Veronica,” I breathed at the same time Doc said, “You don’t want to hurt her.”
“Nice to see you too, Harold. Interesting picture you drew. Guess your premonition was a little too late, but at least you sketched me to perfection. Dare I say I look good?”
I cringed. Doc had been envisioning Veronica for years now, but he could never figure out her location in the vision, so he’d hid it from the Hunter family. I had stumbled upon the picture once and swore to him I’d keep his secret. The background must have popped into his head while we were driving, and he finally figured out the rest of his premonition. No wonder he was worried about Agent Hunter. He knew Veronica was still alive.
“What do you want?” Leaves crunched under Doc’s feet.
“Stay right there, or I will kill the girl.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, hoping to control my trembling lip. From everything I knew about Veronica, she meant what she said, a formidable woman who didn’t throw out empty threats. Doc must have agreed, because his noisy movements stopped and all I heard was the whistle of my own breath through my shrinking airway.
“Toss all three of your weapons over there.” Veronica pointed with her free hand to the spot she wanted, her fingers wandering into my peripheral vision.
I watched Doc remove the gun from his back.
“Slowly, Harold,” Veronica warned.
He placed it on the ground, then kicked it farther away. Then he repeated the action with his ankle gun and his knife. When the enemy was someone you once trusted, you couldn’t hide much. I hadn’t even known Doc carried a blade. But Veronica did. She knew all the hunters’ secrets. This wouldn’t be good for any of us.
The gun left my cheek as Veronica rounded on me, still pointing the pistol at my head. “Can’t say I was expecting this, but Liam’s always been a bit of a wild card. He gets that from me. And here I thought I would just be observing, but you know what they say about curiosity.” She stepped into my personal space and grabbed the gun in my waistband. “I’ll be taking this. Thank you.” She walked backward until she stood a couple arm’s lengths away.
My mouth opened as she came into view. A cascade of golden curls framed a face dominated by the piercing blue eyes she’d given Jac and Liam. She moved with a feline fluidity that belied her newfound lupine nature. Her fitted jeans accentuated her sculpted thighs, while her white long-sleeved shirt clung to her chest, a vibrant contrast against the backdrop of a brown leather jacket reminiscent of Liam’s signature one. Yet, it was the striking resemblance to Jac that left me slack-jawed. Anyone could’ve easily mistaken them for twins.
“What’s your name?”
“Leave her alone.” Doc’s tone, calm and collected, opposed my wildly beating heart. How was he keeping it together? My insides were one tug away from unraveling.
She pouted her bottom lip. “Oh, you’re no fun. I’m trying to get to know the girl my son’s enamored with.” Her eyes hardened as they moved to meet mine. “Answer the question.”
What harm would come of her knowing my name, anyway? A resourceful woman like her could find out on her own, regardless. “Olivia Davis.”
She swayed the gun around. “Olivia Davis, huh?” She tilted her head. “Are you a hunter?”
I pressed my lips together, refusing to answer.
She tsked. “Silence is just plain rude.” She switched her mark and aimed the gun at Doc’s head. “Three seconds to speak, Olivia Davis, or you can explain his death to Beth and the twins. Three. Two . . .”
“I guess. Okay?”
She repositioned the pistol back at me. Sweat dripped at the nape of my neck, pulse jumping. Sure, we’d been in tough spots before, but I’d never been on the receiving end of a loaded gun.
“You guess? How don’t you know? It’s really a yes-or-no question.”
“I just started this hunter thing, okay? We’ve only been training for a couple months. But if I’m being honest, and since you have a gun pointed at my head and I have nothing to lose by telling the truth, I’m not all that experienced yet. So, I don’t know if I have the proper title.” My exhale blew my hair off my face.
She shook her head. “My son fell for a sorta hunter. Now that is baffling. And do you love him?”
I sucked in a breath that did little to tame the bubbling acid rising into my esophagus. Did I love Liam? Gun to my head, such a complicated question had such a simple answer, yet I couldn’t bring my lips to move.
“Don’t make me ask you again.” Annoyance slipped into Veronica’s timbre as she stepped into my space. The tip of the pistol touched my forehead, and I swallowed. “Well?”
I pulled my shoulders back and lifted my chin, the gun indenting my skin. Unflinching, I looked straight into the eyes of the woman who’d broken Liam’s heart and answered.
“Yes.”