“Do you have a car here we can use?” asked Liam.
“Yes, just ask the staff and a car will be brought up for you. You are not prisoners here, you may come and go as you please. I just ask for the respect of keeping your time with me,” she answered.
“Does the staff realize what we are?” asked Cassia curiously.
“Yes, the staff has been with this family for centuries and have seen all manner of things. They stay with us from generation to generation. Mother protects them, and if you find yourself hungry, I ask you do not touch the staff. We have a nourishment if you need it, and I ask that if it’s only the thrill of the hunt you seek, then go to the city. Besides, I’m sure you have noticed you can’t smell their blood or hear their heartbeats. You couldn’t get to them before me, so no point in trying,” she warned.
“Does this Mother person protect you too?” asked Hunter.
Sawyer laughed at this. “Obviously, Hunter, you don’t understand the extent of my power. I need no protection.”
Once again Hunter felt stupid. She had meant to send a veiled threat to Sawyer but ended up sounding dumb. She was really starting to dislike her.
Liam could sense it was starting to go sideways for Hunter, and he knew her temper. He put a hand on her arm and said, “Well, maybe it’s time we all retire for the evening.”
Lucas, who knew that Hunter was getting angry, agreed with his brother. They needed to get her out of there before she got started.
“Oh, I don’t know, I think it would be fun to watch your girlfriend continue to make a fool of herself, Liam,” Cassia said, baiting her.
Hunter snapped as Cassia knew she would. “I hope it is one of your brothers! You three are heartless savages, and it would serve her right to be stuck with the three of you for centuries!” she yelled at Cassia and then turned it on Sawyer. “You can’t go around stealing people’s boyfriends and acting so innocent. I hope you get what you deserve!”
Cassia stood and leaned across the table. “If you ever speak to me like that again, I will make sure you’re not around to see how this turns out,” she said threateningly.
Hunter sat back. She knew what Cassia was capable of, and not even Lucas and Liam combined could stop her if she came after Hunter. She bit back a reply and sat silently. You could have heard a pin drop while they all waited to see if she dared say anything back to Cassia.
Finally Sawyer stood and broke the silence. “I believe Liam is right, we could all use a break tonight. Tomorrow we all need to meet in the morning in the foyer. Mother has requested to see you four. You ladies are invited to come along if you want to see the fae realm, please meet at 8:00 a.m.” With that, she started from the room and up the stairs.
Everyone followed so they could retire to their rooms for the night, and Sawyer veered to the left elevator that Cassia was riding with her brothers. Before the doors closed, she waved across to the other elevator and said “Good night,” but the doors closed before anyone answered her. She hit the button for the sixth floor.
Curiously Cassia asked, “Do you occupy the entire sixth floor?”
“No, it’s mostly filled with storage. My rooms are not bigger than yours,” she answered.
When the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor, Hunter was in a seething rage.
“Good night,” she said, mocking Sawyer’s voice. “Can you believe her? She is so fake, I can’t stand her!”
Brexley touched her arm and said, trying to calm her down, “Take it easy, you’re here for Liam, and this will be over very soon.”
Lucas made a beeline for his room. He was in no mood for Hunter tonight and closed his door on her shrill voice. He took a deep breath and leaned back against his door, trying to absorb everything that had happened today.
Liam told Brexley he would take it from there and led Hunter to their room.
“You need to calm down, Hunter, you’re only on day one and you’re going to make this next two months miserable if you don’t get a handle on yourself,” he said desperately.
“I can’t help it, Liam! I’m not going to sit back and watch her try to take you away from me. She acts like she’s so perfect and can tell us all what to do,” she said and then clung to him.
“I love you, Hunter, so stop worrying and stop making problems. She doesn’t have to let you stay, and I can’t do this without you,” he said soothingly.
Liam needed her to stop talking and calm down. His head was spinning, and he needed to process everything he had learned today. His brain was on overload, and she dropped that last-minute bomb about the fae realm in the morning. Lucas was in his room, and he wished he could go talk to Liam. He realized at least he had the benefit of being alone and didn’t have anyone ranting at him while he tried to think. They both jokingly called her Hurricane Hunter because her temper was like a force to be reckoned with. It was what had attracted Liam to her in the first place. He called it passion, and Lucas called it drama. She was impulsive and reckless, just like Liam, which made sense. Liam would fall in love with himself if he could. Hunter was the next best thing.
Agnes had made the mistake of thinking the change would punish Liam. All it had done was make him a more powerful predator. He was just as careless with women as he had always been, and nothing would change that. When they had gone to kill Agnes, she had just stood there resigned to her fate. She was a pretty young girl when she had been changed, and even though she had survived the change and being driven from her homeland, she had not survived Liam’s cruelty. It had been sad to see this girl who had survived so much be broken by his brother. All her fight was gone, and she didn’t even try to fight them when they attacked her. Lucas had been sickened by what they did to her, even more than by what they had done to their entire family. At least they had been crazy with bloodlust when they did that, but with her, he knew it was wrong.
He made his mind turn to thoughts of Sawyer. She was beautiful, and when she had shown them the energy around them, she had become more beautiful to him. He didn’t think she knew that the energy made her shimmer in perfection, and he knew every time he looked at her, he would always remember her that way. He also thought it looked like the energy flowed from her instead of toward her, but he wasn’t sure. He knew one thing though, whichever one of them was lucky enough to be her soul mate would have a lifetime of happiness. He then let his thoughts drift to the image of the way the ocean air had blown through her hair.
Julius and Marcus did not have the burden of trying to deal with Hunter. Cassia had gone to her rooms. She knew they needed to talk about things that were not about her. They sat across from one another, a bottle of whiskey on the table between them. They calmly sipped their drinks and voiced their thoughts of the day. It was something they had learned as soldiers. After a battle or before one, they spoke and found the other would notice things they hadn’t. It was standard practice now to sit and speak in this way.
“Well, what are your thoughts on our host?” asked Marcus.
“She seems fearless and beautiful, I like her spirit,” Julius answered speaking freely. He only ever spoke candidly with Marcus.
“She is indeed an amazing creature,” Marcus agreed.
“Her powers were truly incredible. I have lived a very long time and never seen anything like it,” Julius stated.
“It makes me wonder how many fae we have met in our lifetimes and assumed they were merely witches,” Marcus speculated.
“Yes, and why have they become folklore? We know now Astrid was one, but how many more do you think there are?” Julius questioned.
“Perhaps