Cold Hart (Soul Hunters) (Dark Hart Book 2) Read online

She looked so young and happy- innocent even. It was hard to connect her to the woman that had stripped naked in the woods and turned into a wolf.

  “Blueberry.” I cleared my throat. “Please.”

  Her head tilted. “Are you feeling okay? You look a little flushed.”

  “I’m fine.” I was fairly certain that she couldn’t tell I had been thinking about her naked body. “Any chance I can get some coffee?”

  “Sure. Have a seat. Nothing would make me happier than to serve you.” She sounded sarcastic but not annoyed, so I took a seat.

  “Where’s everyone else?” The house was eerily quiet.

  She reached into a cabinet and pulled down a mug with a rainbow shooting across it. “Still sleeping. This is still early morning hours for them.”

  “And for you?”

  “I don’t need much sleep.” She filled the mug with coffee and slid it across the table to me. “Figured I might as well start making some breakfast for everyone.”

  “I gotta say, it’s a little weird seeing you look so domestic.” I quickly worried that I had made a poor choice in words.

  Fortunately, Olivia laughed. “Hopefully you like this version of me better than the naked, wolfy version.”

  “Better than the wolf version, yes. But the naked version…” I let the sentence trail off as I took a sip of coffee.

  “You’re really going to need to get past that,” she said, taking a seat across from me with her own cup of coffee. “In the Moon world, nakedness is just a part of life. It’s too expensive to replace ripped clothes every night.”

  “Tell me about it,” I said meaningfully.

  Olivia laughed again and a thrill ran through my body. “I really want to be annoyed by you,” she confessed, “but you’re just too darn cute.”

  “It’s a curse,” I said, smiling delightedly. “I’m glad we both agree that I’m cute, though.”

  “Shut up and drink your coffee.” She hid a smile by taking a sip of her drink.

  “Livia?” Polly’s tiny voice was barely audible as she entered the room. Her bunny slippers brushed noiselessly over the tile floor.

  “Come here, Polly.” Olivia held out her arms and Polly stepped into them. In one swoop, the little girl was lifted into her lap. “Did you sleep well?”

  The little girl nodded, her blond curls flying. “I’m hungry.”

  “Chocolate chip?” Olivia got up, setting Polly in her seat.

  “And bacon!”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  It wasn’t long before the room filled with the smell of sizzling bacon. One by one, the rest of the kids joined us at the table. Even the mysterious Carrie made an appearance. She was quieter than the other kids, preferring to hide behind her long hair and watch her surroundings through furtive glances.

  Eva joined us at the end of breakfast, but Matt failed to make an appearance. No explanation for his absence was given. I was too focused on eating piles of pancakes to ask. What I found to be even stranger than Matt’s absence was the amount of food being consumed by the little people at the table. It shouldn’t have been that surprising, but I still couldn’t help but be impressed by the vast quantities of meat that they inhaled.

  “Eating human food helps quench the wolf cravings,” Olivia explained when she caught me staring. “Especially protein.”

  “I’m starting to think Kaylie might be part wolf, too,” I said, smiling fondly at the memory of my sister. “She really loves her bacon.”

  “Yeah, but she probably doesn’t turn into a monster when she doesn’t get enough,” Olivia said with a wry smile.

  “You’ve never seen my sister in the morning before she’s had coffee.” I hated the way my chest tightened painfully while talking about Kaylie. She was such an important person in my life, my only remaining family, but I couldn’t think of her without feeling overwhelmingly guilty.

  “How is Kaylie?” Eva asked.

  Feeding time was coming to an end and three of the children had already left the table. Only Carrie and Polly remained, the younger girl chomping on a pancake in each hand.

  “She’s safe,” was all I said. I trusted this family enough to let my guard down with them, but not enough to risk Kaylie’s safety.

  “Is anyone ever really safe?” Eva pontificated. Then just as quickly, she shook her head and smiled. “I’m sure there were Hunters lined up around the block volunteering to protect her. It’s a very loyal community.”

  I had a hard time reading her tone. “It is. My parents had some good friends.”

  “You’re sure that you can trust the people that are watching your sister?”

  “I’m not sure of anything anymore,” I said. “I’m still not sure I can trust you.”

  Olivia flinched, preparing to scold me, but Matt’s voice stopped her.

  “Good. You shouldn’t trust us. You don’t even know us.” He took a seat next to Eva. “That being said, I have information for you about Violet.”

  “Did you get ahold of her?”

  “In a way.” Matt’s eyes seemed to grow cold. “It turns out, she’s actually just a few towns away.”

  “I want to see her,” I said immediately.

  Matt sighed. “I can’t take you to her. I need to stay here with Eva and the kids. But I can give you directions to where you can find her.”

  “Fine.” I hadn’t been looking forward to spending more time with Matt anyway. Olivia might trust him, but I had my doubts about the real motives of their Were orphanage. “Where do I need to go?”

  “We.” Olivia gave me a hard look. “Where do we need to go?”

  Part of me had just assumed that Olivia would want to stay with Matt and Eva, at least for a little while. And an even bigger part was pleased that she wanted to come with me.

  “I’ll write it down,” Matt said reluctantly.

  We stayed with Eva in the kitchen while he went into the other room to compile our directions. Polly finished eating and skipped away while Carrie remained. I could feel her staring at me, but every time I glanced in her direction she quickly looked away.

  Eva and Olivia kept up a steady conversation and didn’t even notice Carrie leaving the table. At the doorway, she glanced back at me and gave an almost imperceptible nod of her head that I knew meant she wanted me to follow her. With a lame excuse about needing to get something from my car, I followed her onto the front porch.

  “You are a woman of few words,” I said, feeling a little strange being alone with this young teen. “What’s up?”

  Carrie frowned at me, arms crossed stubbornly over her chest. It was a pose very much like something Kaylie would’ve used when she was about to pick a fight.

  “You need to leave. Now.” Carrie’s words fell flat.

  “That’s the plan. As soon as Matt gives us the directions to find Violet.” My eyes narrowed. “I thought that you and Olivia were close. Why are you so eager to get rid of her?”

  Her lips pressed together in a thin line and her shoulders slumped. “I don’t want her to go, but she needs to go. Both of you do. It isn’t safe to stay here.”

  “Why?”

  “Matt means well. He really does. But he doesn’t trust Hunters. Olivia was different because she’s one of us, too. But you’re not.”

  “What are you saying?” My stomach was already twisting into a knot.

  “I heard Matt on the phone. He wasn’t talking to Violet.” Her voice lowered. “I don’t know for sure who was on the other end of the line, but he definitely told them that you were here. And he told them to come soon because you are about to leave.”

  I didn’t know what any of that meant, but it didn’t sound good. “Do you think he could’ve been talking to someone that would want to harm me?”

  “I do.” She nodded furiously. “Matt has some friends that aren’t very open-minded. They live in a pack not far from here, and they recently lost a pack member. He was killed by a Hunter.”

  “Matt thinks it was me?” My eyebro
ws shot up.

  “He might.” She shrugged. “Wouldn’t you kill a Were if you saw one?”

  She was right. I hadn’t even known until recently that not all Weres were monsters. If I ran into one on a hunt, I would’ve killed it instantly. Matt had to know that.

  “You’re right. We need to go now.” I wondered if it was already too late. “Can you distract Matt and Eva while I get Olivia?”

  “Sure.” Carrie grinned. “I’ll just fake a hunger attack.”

  “Hunger attack?” I asked and then immediately understood. “Right. Good.”

  Carrie turned out to be quite the actress. She told Eva that she wasn’t feeling well, which apparently was code that she had the urge to rip my throat out because she was whisked away in a hurry, Matt following close behind.

  “Liv. We gotta go.” I grabbed her arm the second they were gone. “Now.”

  “What? Why?” Olivia was dumbfounded. “We don’t even have the directions.”

  “There aren’t any. Just trust me on this.” I tried to pull her toward the door, but she resisted.

  “We can’t just sneak away while they are upstairs.”

  I faced her and grabbed both of her arms. “Please, Olivia.” I gave her my most earnest look. “Please trust me on this.”

  She must’ve seen the desperation in my eyes because she nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  We made it to the car quickly and I had just turned over the engine when Matt appeared at the door. He stood with his hands clutching the frame, mouth open like he was about to say something. Then he saw the fear on Olivia’s face and his mouth closed.

  As I pulled away from the curb, loud engines revved behind us. I stole a look in the rearview mirror and saw a herd of motorcycles coming up quickly.

  “Tighten your seatbelt,” I said, pushing hard on the gas pedal.

  We blasted through the intersection, narrowly missing a semi. The bike closest to us had to spin out to avoid crashing into it.

  “Who are these people?” Olivia turned in her seat to get a better look.

  “My biggest fans,” I joked, quickly filling her in on the conversation I’d had with Carrie. “Looks like they are all about the vengeance.”

  “But you didn’t kill their pack mate. You’ve been with me this whole time.” She kept her eyes on them while I focused on the road.

  “I know that and you know that.” I jerked the wheel hard to the right at the last minute, hoping at least some of the bikes would miss the abrupt turn. “But they don’t know that.”

  The sudden move made Olivia’s head snap back around to the front. “We just lost two of them. But three are still behind us.”

  It took a few more sharp turns and running of red lights, but eventually we were able to shake them from our tail.

  “I can’t believe Matt turned us in.” Olivia bit hard on her lip, staring straight ahead. “He could’ve gotten us killed.”

  “I’m sure he had his reasons,” I said even though I didn’t believe it. Matt had taken one look at me and judged me as nothing more than a murderer of his kind. “I doubt he thought they would hurt you.”

  “Maybe not, but he knew they wanted to hurt you.” She looked over at me with her dark, sad eyes and I felt a twinge in my chest. “I can never go back there.”

  It was completely against my nature, against anything I’d ever felt before, but I suddenly wanted to comfort her. Unlike most guys my age, I had been so focused on hunting that I hadn’t spent much time thinking about girls. Aside from the occasional hook ups, Kaylie was the only girl I had ever grown attached to, and the sibling bond doesn’t really count. Olivia was stirring feelings inside of me that I didn’t understand, but that also weren’t unwelcome.

  Before I could stop myself, I reached over and grabbed her hand. I heard a faint gasp of surprise, but she didn’t pull away and eventually her fingers threaded between mine.

  “It will be okay,” I whispered, mostly to myself.

  Being chased by a Were motorcycle gang had been frightening enough, but the feelings I was developing toward Olivia were downright terrifying.

  CHAPTER THREE

  We drove for a few hours with no destination in mind. I wanted to be sure we didn’t have any biker Weres still following us. After our awkward bonding moment, Olivia made herself busy researching where we might go next. She knew of a few places that Matt and Eva had lived at different times and there was a good chance that one of them might also be where Violet was shacking up.

  “Freemont might be a good bet,” she said after nearly an hour of silence. “Matt lived there for almost a year and he used to go back every couple of months after he moved away. There had to be something there that brought him back.”

  “Freemont? Alright.” It was as good of a place as any to start. “That’s pretty far. I vote we stop soon and rest for a few hours.”

  Olivia said, “I’m onboard with that plan.”

  We came across a small town about ten minutes later and got a room at its lone motel. After dropping our bags on the beds, we walked down to the corner for some food and drinks. The bar was surprisingly busy and it was nice to be surrounded by normal people for a little while.

  “I used to want to own a place like this,” Olivia said quietly over our first round of beers. “Small town, quaint watering hole. Normal.”

  “You would get along well with Kaylie,” I said with a smile. “She always wanted to be one of the locals, too.”

  Olivia’s face softened for possibly the first time since we had met. “You really miss her, don’t you?”

  “I worry about her.” If Kaylie had been away at school, or traveling the world like she had always wanted, I wouldn’t feel the same as I did right then. I still might have missed her, but I would’ve been comforted knowing that she was happy. But that wasn’t our reality. Kaylie was alone, grieving the loss of her family. There was nothing comforting about that fact.

  “What would you do if you weren’t a Hunter?” Olivia asked.

  It seemed like a question that should have an easy answer. Most people could pretty easily name their dream job or lifestyle. But it was something I’d never let myself dwell upon. It was a life I knew I could never have.

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly.

  She shook her head disapprovingly. “That won’t cut it. You’re gonna have to do better than that.”

  “But I really don’t know,” I protested. To appease her, I put on my best thinking face and tried to imagine a different life for myself. “Alright. I would be a teacher.”

  “A teacher?” Her head tilted skeptically. “What age group?”

  “Kids. My brother’s age.” I smiled when I thought of Jack. “And I would have a family and a nice house where we would live our entire lives.”

  “A home,” Olivia agreed wistfully.

  It was one dream that all Hunters had deep down- a place to call home. The nomadic lifestyle was lonely and chaotic. Constantly living on the road meant you never truly had a place that you could call yours.

  “Who knows, maybe someday we can be neighbors,” I joked.

  “I’ve heard about this Were pack that formed this little town. They all live in this group of houses right by each other, like a family. When I was younger, I used to think about running away and joining them.”

  “Why didn’t you?” Aside from the fact that it sounded a bit like a cult, I could see the appeal to living in a safe, supportive community.

  Olivia concentrated on finishing her beer before answering. “I met Matt and Eva. They were good to me, helping me when no one else could. And even after I was better, I stayed because I thought we had a bond. Guess I was wrong.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said, feeling guilty that I had managed to destroy Olivia’s most important relationship. “I think Matt thought he was doing the right thing. He probably thought you were in danger with me and was going to have those guys take me away from you.”

  “They were going to kil
l you,” she said hotly.

  She had a point.

  “I could use another drink,” I said. “You?”

  Her dark hair flowed as she nodded her head vigorously. I caught its faint floral scent and breathed in deep. This girl was certainly having an effect on me.

  “What?” she asked, nervously tucking her hair behind her ears when she caught me staring.

  I had no good cover story. “I was just thinking that you might be growing on me, Silver. You’re not annoying me as much lately.”

  “You are such a charmer,” she teased, her cheeks turning pink. “I bet you tell all the girls that they aren’t that annoying.”

  “Nah.” I brushed away her suggestion. “You’re special.”

  “Special?” She laughed. “I’m not sure you meant that as a compliment.”

  “I never was very good at flirting with girls,” I confessed. My embarrassing admission could only be blamed on the empty beer bottles in front of me.

  Olivia’s mouth formed a circle of surprise. “Flirting?”

  “I think you just proved my point.” I gave the waitress a grateful smile when she interrupted with another round. For some reason, I didn’t feel like quite as big of an idiot when I had a drink in my hand. “What is the dating world like for Weres?”

  “Weres don’t really date,” Olivia said with a meaningful frown. “They mate.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “The just hook up all the time?”

  “Sort of.” She took a small sip. “Being a Were, it’s hard to explain, but you get these urges. All the time. Torturous hunger, unbearable thirst, and occasionally, irresistible lust. It’s not like normal hormones.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.” If you asked me, normal hormones could be irresistible enough.

  “That’s how most Weres behave. But for a select few, they get lucky and find their Blood Mate.” At this, her eyes seemed to grow cold. “Humans call it a Soul Mate, but that doesn’t really work for us.”

  This was more information about Weres that I had never heard before meeting Olivia. “It doesn’t sound that different from the human world. Some people just hook up, and a few people actually fall in love.”