Rescued By the Mothman (Monster Bounty Hunters #1)

Chapter 12

Clarissa

Rez was right, of course. He healed up within a day. Sable hung around, making phone calls and scanning new CCTV footage on my TV. In between that, he watched me when he thought I wasn’t looking. He was sneaky, but every time I looked at him, his head was in the middle of turning away from me. Of course, I was doing the same whenever he was busy. Watching this huge monster in my home.

The rest of Uncle Rez’s pack had dealt with the troublemakers in town and dragged them kicking and screaming to jail or the hospital. None of them had given up any information about my brother, but they hadn’t had the incentive that the man at my uncle’s house had. I tried not to think about the injured and dead men. The blood. I looked at Sable again. The muscles. Everything about him was solid strength. The first time I’d seen him, I’d felt an aura of violence around him. Now I’d seen what he was capable of. But it didn’t change the longing in my heart. In my body. Especially since I suspected he’d done it because I was in danger. I’d seen the look on his face when that man licked me.

I sat down in my favorite chair and watched the blur of images.

“Anything yet?”

“Nope. He’s being more careful now.”

“Is it always like this when you’re finding someone? Feeling like you are constantly on the back foot?”

“Pretty much, yeah. Eventually you get the opportunity to pounce.”

I wanted to pounce on him. Straddle those thick thighs and feel him under me. But my uncle was upstairs. And I was still wary. I didn’t really know anything about him.

“I heard that you have a bit of a past, Sable?”

Why was that the question I asked? It felt like an accusation. He looked down at his feet for a moment. I felt awful.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. It’s none of my business.”

“No. No, I want you to know me.”

My heart thudded in my chest. He stroked his chin while he thought for a moment.

“The usual getting caught up in a dangerous crowd when I was young. I was rebelling, and I had a lot of anger about my birth parents giving me up. I never really found out why they did. My adoptive parents always treated me the same as their other children. They are wonderful people. But you get all twisted up as a teenager sometimes, y’know?”

I nodded. Even though my own rebellious period had been fairly tame, I remembered the confusing feelings and the hormones.

“Well, that and stupid bravado in front of friends led to some minor petty crimes. Staying out all night. Getting into fights. I gave my parents some headaches.”

I waited. I knew this wasn’t the whole story.

“At some point, the kids I was running with got dragged into some more serious crimes. A friend's older brother was running drugs, buying stolen cars, all sorts. We got suckered into it. Seeing these older guys with all this money, looking cool. We wanted that. Obviously, I was stronger than the humans, so I became the muscle for this group. I did some carjacking. I hurt some people who didn’t deserve it and I got rightfully arrested.”

He sat back in the chair and stared off into the distance, like he’d disappeared in his head back to that time.

“My parents got help bailing me out from a bondsman. Gariss. He’s a grumpy fuck, but he cares. Would never admit that, but he does. He took one look at me and gave me the longest lecture I’ve ever had in my life. Then, when I didn’t listen and went back to my group of friends, he dragged me to the local prison. Physically. He sat me down and made me listen to prisoner after prisoner talk about how their lives had been ruined by crime, and the tipping point when they could have gotten out but didn’t. Then he told me I was at my tipping point. I was in complete control of what direction my life took, and I had to think about it. He told me that the guilt I was feeling deep down about hurting innocent people was the sign that I wasn’t on the right path.”

“He sounds like a good guy.”

“Well, he’s my boss now, so sometimes he gets on my last nerve. But yeah. He’s a good guy.”

“He gave you a job?”

“Yeah. He checked in on me all through the rest of school and college. Then offered me a job. A chance to redeem myself. Does this change how you think of me?”

“Only in that I like knowing you better. I like… connecting with you.”

Our eyes met, and I became lost in them.

The sound of footsteps startled me out of my staring. Uncle Rez started pulling his boots on.

“Right, I’m going home.”

Sable flicked a glance at him and nodded. Uncle Rez nodded back. I crossed my arms.

“Are you sure you’re well enough?”

“Well enough to go and sleep in my own bed and get some peace from you two. I can smell the tension from upstairs.”

He wrapped his arms around me in a big hug. I buried my face in his shoulder, hoping it would hide the blush that was heating my face.

As he stepped back and turned to the door, he froze. I glanced at Sable, who was standing slowly, as though listening to something. Rez sniffed the air. Before I could say anything, a high-pitched squeal rang out. As I clamped my hands over my ears, I saw both Rez and Sable doing the same before falling to the ground. Sable let out a roar of pure anger and pain. He tried to crawl across the floor towards me, before losing consciousness.

Before I could figure out what was going on, a hand clamped a handkerchief over my face that smelled of something awful. Everything went dark.