Bound Book 2

Chapter 36 - Hunters

Dmitri

"Well Dmitri, you look better than the last time I saw you," Andrea says, his rich Italian accent unmistakable as I turn around to face him.

"The same could be said about you, my friend." The smile on my face matches his.

The last time I saw him was months ago after we raided one of the hunter's locations in the South. My network of informants came into the possession of a note sent by Mira, telling us the location where Andrea was being held. He was in a bad state. They had been torturing him for weeks and I feared he was on the brink of death. The only thing that saved him was the intermittent blood-taking from Mira, willingly of course. In that state, he was still stronger than most and managed to rip Mira's father's throat out when the old battle axe attacked him. Realizing his daughter's betrayal drove him nearly insane.

We embrace, the years of friendship finding us in a position where words are no longer needed to convey the emotions we feel. There are very few people who I knew as long as I did Andrea and also who knew me as well as he did.

"How does it feel to be a taken man?" I ask him as we walk towards the table I left earlier when I went in search of a whiskey from the bar. I hand him one, knowing him well enough to order two.

"I never thought I'd see the day, to be honest." We take a seat at our table, my eyes darting towards the entrance Sky disappeared through earlier.

She still wasn't back. Raina went in search of her a couple of minutes ago. My repeated comments as to Sky's longer-than-expected absence from the table no doubt irritated her into action to go find her. Me entering the ladies' bathroom may just end in something scandalous as Sky's dress was doing nothing to calm my raging libido. Another repeat of the Spain incident in the back room might well be on the cards for tonight.

"They can't have gone far Dmitri," Andrea chuckles, his eyes darting to the entrance where mine were moments before.

"There, they are coming," he says seconds later, a broad smile appearing on his face.

Raina and Ally appear through the doors followed by Sky. While they are chatting away, Sky is walking quietly behind, her somber expression making me wonder if something happened. Perhaps Mira mentioned something about the hunters to Sky. It is something I wanted to ask Mira about, I just hope she hadn't beaten me to it. With Mira's father having been a seasoned member of The Guardians, as well as quite high up in the chain of command, he might have had insight into their ties with Sky's parents. Information I'm hoping Mira would have been privy to.

As they approach the table, Sky immediately grabs a glass of champagne, gulping some sips down before relief washes over her face. Peculiar, but I leave it, not wanting to put her on the spot.

She comes sauntering over to me, her hand on my shoulder as she takes a seat next to me.

"You okay?" I ask her, still worried something or someone had upset her.

"I'm fine Dmitri," she says, humor in her voice as she gives me a genuinely warm smile.

"Andrea, you remember Sky?" I say, looking back at Andrea as I take Sky's hand in mine.

"Indeed, though as I understand it you do not remember me. I'm sorry. I heard what happened. It must be hard for you," Andrea says to Sky, causing a brief moment of pain to seep into our bond before it dissipates. Lately, she seems to be more comfortable discussing The Incident than she was before. Before I would feel intense pain and fear.

"Thank you. It is hard but I'm getting there. I'm still hopeful that one day my memories will come back like the ones of my parents that have started coming back to me recently. The only upside to breaking the curse it seems." Mira, who has taken a seat next to Andrea, is watching Sky intently as she speaks.

"You have probably already gathered, but this is Andreas' mate Mira," I say to Sky. "Mira, this is Sky, my mate, and the love of my life."

"We unofficially met in the ladies already," Mira says smiling at me, her statement causing Sky's heart rate to increase. Strange. I would ask her later what was going on.

"But to be honest, I have known the name Skylar Morgan for many years. Since I was but a child. You are infamous amongst the Hunters network." Miras words have the blood draining from Sky's face as her eyes dart from Mira to me.

"Perhaps we could leave this discussion for another time," Andrea says, giving Mira a purposeful look before looking between myself and Sky.

"I'm sorry Sky, I didn't mean to upset you," Mira says, giving Sky a small smile.

"Not at all. I forget my name has been circulating in that group. I only today found out that the hunters have been looking for me for quite some time, my parent's death potentially caused by them," Sky says to Mira, her face composed though inside I can hear her heart hammering away.

"Really Sky? I'm so sorry," Ally says, putting her hand over Sky's hand as it rests on the table.

"It's fine. They left me a letter explaining how they had been followed by men wearing a strange symbol, one Dmitri has confirmed as that belonging to The Guardians," Sky says looking at all of us as she talks.

"Considering your ties to the hunters, if there is anything new you could tell me that would shed some light on what happened back then, I would appreciate it, Mira," Sky says, just as one of the servers approaches our table.

"Excuse me, sir, they are ready for you." The server addresses Andrea who gives him a curt nod.

"I'm afraid that's our cue for the speech part of the celebrations. Look, why don't you guys join us at our Villa tomorrow morning for breakfast? The setting will be more relaxed and it will give us more time to talk. You can stay as long as you like. It's about half an hour from here. You know where it is Dmitri," Andrea offers as he stands up, taking Mira's small hand in his as he helps her up.

"Yes, we can get to know each other better and I will tell you everything I know," Mira says smiling.

Instinct is telling me that what Mira has to say might give us resolution to some of the questions that have remained unanswered for far too long. 

Please don't forget to comment and vote!