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“Hey,” Corey said, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand. “Have you asked him yet?”
“Asked who, what?”
“Asked Gunner to bite you?”
“To…bite me?” she asked, baffled. “What are you talking about?”
“We had a plan, remember? You can just pay him for the bite, and then you’ll be safe. You’ll be invincible. Derek can’t touch you if you’re a shifter. No one can.”
“That’s…” She winced and shook her head. “That’s not the plan.”
“You have twenty-thousand dollars.”
“Corey! Stop!”
“Gunner likes you, right? A bite is easy. I’ve been looking it up on the internet. He just has to bite you, and then you’ll turn into a bear whenever you want to.”
She was so shocked, Hallie just stared blankly at her cousin. That wasn’t why she was spending time with Gunner. He wasn’t some part of a plot, but this conversation made her feel gross.
“I like Gunner enough to never ask him to do that,” she murmured, standing.
“Hallie, I’m scared.” Corey lifted the letters in her fist. “This is terrifying.”
“I’ll take them to police tomorrow, and I’ll order some cameras for the house tonight.”
“So we can have a thirty-second warning before your ex skins us?” Corey asked.
But Corey didn’t need to be scared. Hallie was already one foot out the door. This wasn’t her problem, or Gunner’s problem. Hopefully someday she would be able to come back here and find happy moments again, but the timing was wrong now. She sighed patiently and gathered the letters. “I’m going to the police station before my shift in the morning. You don’t have to worry. I’ll fix everything.”
Corey sat back in her seat, eyes boring into Hallie. “I’m sorry this is happening.”
Hallie loved her cousin so much. So much. She shrugged and forced a smile. “It’s just another day in the life. I’ll fix it.”
She was glad Corey wasn’t a shifter who could hear lies, but from the pursed-lip stare Corey offered her, she thought her cousin might just hear the lie in her tone anyway.
Hallie strode for her and hugged her tight. “I love you, cuz.”
Corey clung to her, hugging her tightly. “I love you too. Police station first thing. Want me to come with you?”
“No, you have work, but I promise I’ll go. I’ll send you a selfie from the station so you know I’m following through.”
“Good. Post that shit to your social media that he’s so worried about. Maybe crazy-pants will get the hint that he could actually get arrested and leave you the fuck alone.”
“I will,” she promised, but she knew in her heart that wouldn’t deter Derek. Nothing would. She was his greatest hunt. He would never stop until he was dead. Hallie was the first person who had ever told him no, and he wouldn’t let it rest.
Hallie kept the forced smile plastered to her lips as she told her cousin goodnight, and all the way to the bathroom, and all the way through washing her face and brushing her teeth. A smile with tears in her eyes, because she was already plotting and planning. Her suitcase was still packed in her bedroom closet.
She forced the smile until she closed the bedroom door behind herself, locked it, and lay on the bed. She only let it slip as she stared up at the slowly-spinning ceiling fan.
Only then did she allow herself to fall apart.
She was happy here. Derek ruined everything.
****
Gunner squinted at the glowing phone screen. The text had come through in the middle of the night, but he’d had the phone on silent.
Sebastian Kane, the ID read. Something’s happening.
