Unable to take Chase’s murderous stare, I peeked over at Travis. He was zapped frozen beside me.
What the shit. Why wasn’t Travis doing something? Why hadn’t he gone all demon-berserk and taken down this girl? I didn’t get it. He was like a statue with his mouth wide opened, staring at the redheaded girl like he’d just seen a ghost.
I elbowed him in the side.
No response.
Travis picked a hell of a time to check out.
I glanced back at Chase, hoping he had a plan.
“Angel,” he rumbled. “I told you to stay put. Will you never just do what I ask?”
Can you believe this guy? Here I am, worried about him, trying to rescue him and he is scalding me. “Well it looks like you need me,” I said, stating the obvious.
He was talking to me, but he kept his eyes on the so-called hunter. “Do you honestly think I couldn’t have handled one little hunter? Your lack of faith in me is heartbreaking.”
“As touching as this is, will you both shut up before I decide to shoot one of you,” the petite hunter threatened, still poised to kill.
I shut my trap for once and chewed on my lip, trying to devise a plan to get us all out of here without an arrow sticking out of someone’s flesh. Formulating a plan on the spot was hard stuff. I don’t know how the hell Chase did this. He was definitely a more spur-of-the-moment kind of guy.
To make matters worse, my deep thought process was interrupted by the redheaded Pocahontas. “So you are the girl Chase Winters would do anything for…kill for even.”
I didn’t like her tone, or the way she spoke Chase’s name, like she knew him. The tip of my tongue was burning with insults, all of which would probably get him shot, though I was pretty sure he was faster than the arrow.
She pursed her lips eyeballing me. “You are not at all what I expected.”
Chase flinched, drawing her attention back to her mark. He had done so deliberately. Every bone marrow in my body told me so – to take her attention off me. “What does it matter to you?” Chase asked. His eyes were starting to change colors.
This girl had balls, I’ll give her that. “It’s my business to know everything about Divisa’s, including their weaknesses.”
That was it. She’d done it now. I have to say, she wasn’t the brightest hunter in the woods.
“You touch a hair on her head,” he roared. “And I’ll make you wish you had never stepped foot in this town again.”
Again? What did he mean again? He knew her? How was that possible?
“I didn’t believe the rumors. Chase Winters’ Achilles heel…a girl. Never in a thousand years would I have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself. Does your girlfriend here know the truth about you? Does she know what you truly are, mutt?”
I shifted my gaze to him. A moment passed between us as I stared into eyes devoid of any silver. They hardened turning from steel to liquid fire.
Our exchange hadn’t gone unnoticed. “Brilliant. So she does know. Which I’d already figured out. You aren’t doing a very good job protecting your secret. She makes you sloppy. With her you drop your guard, forget what you really are.” The sneer in tone was making me itchy.
Suddenly it hit me. It all made sense. She’d been the hunter stalking us. “What do you want?” I asked, tired of hearing her talk.
Her stance never wavered. She was tight like a sleek panther. “Hmm. The question of the hour. I thought that was obvious…to kill him of course.”
I rolled my eyes. Soooo not going to happen. It was plain that she didn’t really know Chase. “Good luck,” I muttered.
“Angel? That’s your name isn’t?” she asked. “Funny that your boyfriend is half-demon isn’t it?”
I shrugged. “Not really. And he is not my boyfriend,” I added just to clarify.
She laughed confidently. “The mark you have on your hip says otherwise.”
My eyes narrowed at her. This bitch really had to go. How had she known about my mark? I had told no one outside our circle.
“You. Love. A demon,” she said to me. Each word emphasized with hate. “It’s wrong. They’re wrong.”
I wiped my sweaty palms on the legs of my jeans, still trying to figure out how we were going to get out of this. “Umm, love is such a strong word. I am not sure I would say love.”
“Angel!” Chase growled like a grumpy grizzly.
I ignored him. “Like. I like Chase, though there are more days when I dislike him.”
Again he rumbled my name with eyes burning like Time Square, followed by, “This isn’t helping.”
That was a matter of personal opinion. I sort of had a plan here. Really, I did. So I continued to pretend Chase didn’t exist. “Have you met the man? He would drive even the sanest person crazy in a week. Or less.”
I tried to distract her with rambling, hoping that Travis would snap out of his stupor. At least long enough to get her focused off killing Chase and more on what blabber I was spewing.
I know, epic plan.
Problem was, Travis was still thunderstruck and not going to be of any help by the look of it.