Page 43 of Hunt Me

“You would think he would choose a more menacing name,” Luka commented.

“His name is not important,” Matilda said flatly. “There is a murderous hybrid on the loose.”

“Fret not,” he responded, shepherding her to the dining hall. “I’ll have my men searching for him. It would not baffle me if he returned to Moonshire and is currently under Prince Lykaon’s protection. However, I have more pressing concerns than a treacherous lowlife who was too much of a coward to handle me himself.”

“True. But have you considered that I might be biding my time for the perfect opportunity to end you?”

“Nay. You would’ve done so by now.”

“‘Tis not too late.”

Luka glanced down at her, the corner of his mouth lifting.

“No,” he murmured. “It is not.”

His gaze lingered on hers a moment too long, silently challenging her.

“Well… perhaps I may be able to change your mind.”

***

“I suspect you are enjoying your meal,” Luka commented. His betrothed was sprawled out in her dining chair, looking as stuffed as the turkey she attempted to devour on her own.

“I think I’ve overdone it. Goodbye, cruel world,” she mumbled as her eyelids lowered.

Luka loudly cleared his throat, catching her attention. “I’ve heard that it is ill-advised for humans to go to bed on full stomachs.”

Matilda cracked an eye open.

“You have?” she asked with a lopsided grin.

“Yes. It is called indigestion. Have you ever heard of it?”

“I’m familiar, and it’s a pain in the ass.”

“So I’ve heard. We should avoid such an ailment at all costs.”

“What do you suggest, Ki—” she paused when he gave her a stern look. “What do you suggest, Luka?”

He politely dabbed at the corner of his lips with a dinner napkin before standing from the table.

“Hunt me.”

“Excuse me?” Matilda asked in stunned disbelief.

“You heard me. Hunt me, huntress.”

She didn’t have time to reply before Luka’s wings sprouted from his back and he shot out of a nearby window.

With a heavy sigh, she rose to her feet.

“This vampire is insatiable,” she complained, dropping her cape onto her seat. She snagged two carving knives from the table and stormed to the window, where she spotted the vampire king swooping through the air.

“I have demands, vamp!”

“Let’s hear them.”

“No biting!”