Get Down to Business

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Present Day


As soon as Mary Anne released me, another body entered the kitchen and I quickly blinked and reigned myself back in. Turning, I found the big brown eyes of my childhood best friend staring at me. 

She somehow looked exactly the same and yet completely different as she did the last time I saw her on that fateful Selection day. Her deep brown, nearly black, hair adorned her head in those effortlessly flawless curls she'd always had. Her brown skin was splattered with freckles left over from the summer. 

"Hi," Samaria spoke, shifting on her feet, unsure. 

I greeted her back, "Hi." 

Her eyes drifted to Mary Anne, "Do you need any help with that?" 

She didn't even wait for an answer, and instead joined my foster mother in assembling small sandwiches as they both left the iced tea to steep in the pitcher. I stood across from them on the other side of the island counter as they worked, noticing each and every time Samaria's eyes would flicker from the sandwiches up to me. 

"You and Jordan are mates," I spoke up, the idea having been nagging at me every since that tidbit of information had been unceremoniously dumped on me. Then again, my return was unceremoniously dumped on them. 

Sami froze before fully looking up at me and nodding. She licked her lips, opened her mouth and then closed it, then did it all again before she finally said, "Jordie and I... we got super close after you-- well, after we thought you'd been dragged to your death. We grieved together and supported each other through it and when I turned 18, it really wasn't all that big of a surprise to find that he was my mate." 

I nodded and offered her the best smile I could muster, which wasn't much, "It makes sense. You'll make a great Luna." 

A light blush covered her cheeks, so I turned back towards Mary Anne who was already looking at me like she was trying to figure me out. 

"You and Alpha Rhodes seem close," She simply said, but I could tell she meant more by it. 

I shrugged, "He's my best friend." 

Pursing her lips, Mary Anne just nodded, but I could tell she thought that it might be otherwise, that perhaps there was a relationship between Conrad and I, and maybe that was the real reason I had been spared from the sacrificial Selection. 

But the truth behind the Selection was a pack secret I had no ability to divulge, not only due to my loyalty to the Ravage Pack and Conrad, but also because he had laid down the law using the authority of his Alpha tone to forbid anyone from every speaking about the Selection apart from what it is believed to be by outsiders. 

"Alright, all set," Mary Anne declared, and I followed her and Samaria out and back into the dining room, where Conrad, Jordan, and Alan were all seated, waiting. I scrunched my nose at the realization that the men had been waiting for the women to come out of the kitchen with food and drinks and bit back the urge to barf. 

As I sat back down, Alan smiled at me, "Adelaide, it's great to have you back." 

"Thank you." 

His smile wavered a bit at my curt yet polite tone, but it faded altogether when he looked at Conrad. My guess was that he still didn't forgive him for stealing me away, even if I was alive instead of murdered on a fictitious sacrificial altar. 

"So, you said you could help us with this hunter issue?" 

Conrad nodded, his careful stoic and serious mask never dropping once, "Yes, my pack and I have dealt with plenty of hunters over the years. You were describing them earlier, please continue." 

"They seemingly come out of nowhere, and their scents are all strange. At first they smell human, but then it just seems tainted or off I suppose," Alan began explaining. He took a steadying breath before continuing, "these hunters recently have been of a completely different nature. They're stronger and faster than any human, nearly as fast as one of us." 

These were all things that we already knew, that we had been expecting to hear, and yet the reminder of these things was enough to make me feel a bit numb inside. The memories threatened to burn so bad that I opted to feel nothing at all. 

"These hunters... have you noticed any markings on them?" Conrad asked, a careful question, not giving anything of ours away until we could be positive that we were dealing with the same group of hunters. 

At his question, Alan looked a bit confused as his brows drew together, but it was Jordan who answered, "Yes. They've all had a tattoo of two crossed arrows on their necks." 

It's them, Conrad's voice reached me over mind link. I didn't respond, and knew I didn't have to. He confirmed it to me if only to give me an extra moment to brace myself. 

"We have experience with this specific species of hunters," Conrad began, and was quickly interrupted by Jordan, who never missed a thing. 

"Species?" 

Connie nodded grimly, "Yes, species. They don't smell completely human because they aren't. They're enhanced with strength and speed and stealth, all with the design to kill all werewolves. They kill for sport and are merciless, sadistic." 

"You sound as if you know them well," Mary Anne piped up. 

Conrad glanced at me, just quickly and out of the corner of his eye, but it was enough to tell them everything as he said, "We have a personal history with this group." 

"Addie?" Jordan asked, because seriously, could he not just let one thing go for once in his life? He continued, "Did something happen?" 

I saw his eyes flicker to the scar above my brow, white and ugly, courtesy of one of many little intimate moments between that bastard hunter and I. My gaze hardened on him, "Just drop it." 

Addie, Conrad murmured in my mind and I looked at him as he said again, maybe it would be good for them to know

Just fucking drop it, I shot back at him. 

He narrowed his eyes at me, and I glared right back, folding my arms over my chest as I sat back into my chair. Conrad knew damn well that I would sit here like this until he was the first to crack, because I simply refused to be the first to cave. 

"If you have experience," Alan interrupted our little pissing match, "then perhaps you can help us put an end to them." 

That got Conrad's attention, "I'd be delighted." 


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