Twilight Hunter

permission.” She pointed a finger at Jace, while she glared at Alejandro. “But he does.” She dropped her arm back to her side. Her face screamed fury. All the bastard had to do was push her one more time, before the atomic bomb inside her went off—Jace could see it.

“Jace has never shifted. He needs to learn, and I need the pack’s approval in order to teach him.” She drew a deep breath, and he could sense her gauging their reaction. “It’s the only way. We can’t do this on our own.” The silence that followed after her words faded was deafening.

A small grunt came from the other side of the crowd. A small woman with a long mop of curly auburn hair emerged, shoving through the sea of people. “I vote yes. If Frankie thinks he’s our only chance, then I trust her.” She smiled, and it practically illuminated her heart-shaped face.

Oh, shit. Jace knew that face. He’d seen it before, though only in pictures. He shot David a sideways glance. David stood paralyzed, his eyes locked on the woman. It had been years since Jace’s best friend had seen the woman he loved. Yet there she stood, plain as day. Looking exactly the same as all the pictures David ever showed him.

What the hell? She was a werewolf? Why had David never told him? At least that explained why David had been so understanding about his own mixed blood.

Allsun turned her head, and her eyes widened as they fell on David. Abruptly, she turned and pushed her way back through the crowd. David followed her as fast as he could with his injured leg.

* * *

DAVID FOUGHT DOWN the massive lump that had lodged itself in his esophagus. His stomach flipped, and the taste of vomit itched at the back of his throat. Five years. Yet there she was, waltzing into his life again and filling up what he’d grown to think was a permanent hole in his heart.

Anger clenched at his insides as pain shot through his leg. But he didn’t care, he pushed through the pain. He had to see her. She was the only one in the world who truly mattered to him.

Someone bumped into his shoulder, slowing him down. Shit. She... Oh, damn. She was bolting for the outside door. He watched as she shoved her way through the crowd and ducked underneath the arms of anyone who got in her way. She slammed the back door open and ran full speed into the alley. Despite his leg, he trailed not far behind her.

The cold night air hit him hard as he stepped outside. Allsun was here. He could smell her sweet vanilla perfume. He limped down the alley and found her sitting, eyes closed, behind a Dumpster. A small calico cat sat curled in her lap.

“Allsun? What are you doing?”

She opened her eyes and peered up into his face. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m petting my newest cat and getting my ass soaking wet from the snow.” She glanced down at the animal again.

Not bothering to take as much care as he should, David sat down in the snow beside her and ignored the sharp pain in his leg. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said. He reached out and brushed back the curls from her face. His fingers trailed across her cheekbone and down her neck, and she relaxed at his touch. “But I’m glad to see you, gorgeous.”

“You never did know when to let sleeping cats lie.” She stroked the stray feline sitting in her lap. “You never let things go.”

“What are you talking about, Allie?”

She finally looked at him. Gold starbursts encircled her pupils—a stark contrast to the green of her irises. David could spend his whole life gazing at the stars in her eyes.

“Following me here. Tracking me down after all this time.” She hoisted the cat onto her chest and stood, turning her back to him. “It’s been five years, David.”

He rested his head against the concrete wall of the alley. “One thousand, six hundred and ten days.”

She paused, then faced him. “What?”

“That’s how many days I’ve had to live without you.” He stared down at his Harley-Davidson boots. “More than four years. Almost five, but not yet.”

She gaped. “Don’t. Just don’t. Okay?”

“Don’t what?”

She squeezed the cat tighter. It let out a low-pitched grumble of a meow. “Don’t pull any of your overdone romantic lines on me. I’m not sixteen anymore,” she said. She cradled the cat and walked several feet away from him.

“They’re not lines.”

“Damn it, David. Why are you here? Why now? Why search me out now?”

He frowned. “I wasn’t searching for you.” He used his crutch for leverage and pushed himself off the ground, then followed her down the alleyway. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I’m just as floored as you are.”

“You seriously expect me to believe that?”

“It’s the truth, Allsun. I gave up looking for you a long time ago. I thought if you wanted to come back, you would.”

“You’re right. If I’d wanted to, I would have.”

He cringed. Her words stung, and he could tell she knew it. She’d always known how to cut straight to his heart.

“Let me guess, you’re here chasing demons?” Her jaw tightened into a hard line, and a sour look crossed her face.

“I’m helping the pack catch the killer who’s been ripping women to shreds.”

She rolled her eyes. “How very admirable of you.”

“I wasn’t trying to sound admirable. I’m just telling the truth, Allsun.” He followed her farther down the alleyway. The cat’s glowing yellow eyes peered over her shoulder, gleaming in the light from the street.

“You can’t blame me for thinking that. You always wanted to be the hero.”

“You know it wasn’t about that.” He shook his head. She did know that. She was just hitting him where it hurt again.

“There are a lot of things I don’t know about you, David.”

His hands clenched into fists at his sides. She could push every emotional button he had within a matter of minutes. He stared at her back. Her long curly hair cascaded over her shoulders in waves. It had only reached her chin the last time he’d seen her.

“The first time I’ve seen you in nearly five years and you’re already bringing that up?” He exhaled the breath he’d been holding and held back all his frustration. “We can’t even greet each other without arguing?”

She stroked the cat. The animal purred and pushed its face into her neck. He would have loved to nuzzle his face into that crook, run his lips over her collarbone. Silence lingered in the air, leaving a stale taste in his mouth.

“You were in there as a pack member. What are you doing mixing with the werewolves, Allsun? You’re not one of them.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Fine. You don’t want to talk to me, I’ll leave.” He strode back toward the club, then paused at the door and clutched the handle.

“I’m with them because I needed company,” she called.

He turned around. She was standing at the end of the passage and watching him.

“I’m sure you heard my mom died,” she said.

He nodded. “I visited her, after you spread her ashes.”

Allsun sighed. “After that, I was lonely. I couldn’t find any other faeries in the area. Not even other half- bloods. The werewolves were the closest thing I could find. Frankie lets me hang with the pack. She says all supernaturals are distant cousins.”

David’s lips lifted in a half smile. He’d known Frankie wasn’t all that bad. She would be good for Jace. “That was really nice of her.”

Allsun nodded. A moment of silence passed again.

David cleared his throat. “I miss your mom.”

“Yeah, me too.”

He could hear the strain in her voice.