I turn to CK to ask if he is seeing this as well or if it is just me projecting, but Cade interrupts me, pulling me off to the side.
“You have been keeping secrets, haven’t you, Mrs. O’Dell,” he asks pointedly, looking at Cole, who tilts his head.
I flick my eyes from Cade to Cole and back again. “What of it?”
He shrugs. “I am surprised I never sensed it. There again, your presence does seem to take up the whole room,” he says, bringing his eyes back to me. “Is he new?” he asks with meaning.
“He is standing right here,” Cole snaps. “It’s nothing to do with you.”
“Just interested. You have a very strange way of life. It’s very different to see it from the inside than what we were taught.”
“Get used to it,” I say, staring back at Devon and Jess. Sebastian has joined them and is offering his two cents worth by the looks of it. Devon is staring at him blankly and it sets off a red flag. I am about to leap forward, when Cade speaks to me.
“You really dislike the girl, don’t you?” he asks curiously.
“Yes. She went about this arse backwards and I’m not happy.”
He chuckles. “You are very protective of the ones you call yours. It’s admirable.”
“If you hurt my boys, I will make you pay, simple as that.”
“I could always do something about it for you,” he says, taking a step towards them.
I put my hand on his chest. “Cade. No. Threats only.”
There is a lot of bristling going on around me and I realize it is because I’m touching him. I remove my hand and he gives a fixed stare down at me. “Jealous bunch. It is quite amusing actually.”
“Threats only,” I repeat, ignoring his comment.
“She is a threat though. A threat to your happiness,” he says, and I start. Since when does he care about my happiness?
“I’m just saying, we need to define what you think of as threatening.”
He has a good point, but Devon would never forgive me if I let Cade off his charge without good reason. Or would he?
I cast my gaze back to him, but he is already on his way over to me, looking none the worse for wear after Sebastian’s little, whatever that was. He sighs. “I hate this. She wants comfort and I can’t give it to her. I don’t want her to think that I’m happy with what she has done.”
“Then tell her.” I give him a suspicious look but see nothing untoward.
“I have but she just keeps justifying it with how much she loves me and wants to be with me forever.”
“Nico!” Cade suddenly yells, making me jump, and I turn around where, to my utter surprise, I see Nico standing in front of Jess, twirling an orb, not unsimilar to the one that Cade t
wirled at me, only she is in a daze whereas it didn’t affect me.
I look, mouth agape, from Nico to Cade and finally to CK, who couldn’t be more obviously avoiding my gaze as if he weren’t even there.
The room has gone silent, the only noise coming from the slow swoosh of the orb, as it spins in a quick circle followed by a slow one.
“Don’t look at it,” I say and push Devon back into focus, then Cole.
“What the fuck?” I say to CK. “You had better start talking right now.”
Nico, CK, and Sebastian all turn towards me but remain quiet.
CK sighs and fesses up. “Nico is a Hunter.”
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE