The Soul's Mark: HUNTED (The Soul's Mark #2)

“Don’t cry,” Josh said, wrapping an arm around her.

Amelia cringed away from his touch before she could stop herself. Think, a voice in her head screamed as she frantically searched for something, anything to say that would justify the flinch. Megan moaned, just a soft small sound, but Amelia could still make out the name that escaped her lips. Eric.

Amelia looked at Josh, pleading for him to understand. “I can’t stop myself from loving him. We need your help.”

“What did you have in mind?” Cole asked.

“There’s a fair…” the lies she tasted in her voice cut her words short, and she pinched herself as hard as she could to get her dried up eyes to water. Typically, Amelia could cry at the drop of a hat, but of course, when she actually needed the tears they wouldn’t fall.

“Are you actually falling for this crap?” The girl’s voice was just as squeaky as Amelia had thought it would be.

“Stephanie,” Cole said. He pushed her off him and glowered. “Let her speak.”

“I know Mitchell,” Amelia blurted in an excited frenzy. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay cool. “He’s too damned proud and sure of himself to cancel it. It’ll happen, and it’ll be the perfect place to launch an attack. Besides, you can’t expect me to believe that you were just going to leave town without cleaning it up first.”

Cole seemed to consider it for a second. “How do I know I can trust you?”

“You don’t,” Amelia answered honestly.

CHAPTER 29

Cole took his time responding, and Amelia was sure he was deliberately trying to make a point by making her wait. But the joke was on him, because her nerves were so fried that whatever point it was he was trying to make, Amelia was far from cluing in.

Stephanie stood behind him. Her face was wrinkled in a scowl as her apprehensive gaze darted between Amelia and Megan, who had finally stopped moaning and seemed to be coming back to this reality.

At long last, Cole raised his head, and his sterling silver eyes sent a shiver down Amelia’s spine. “We’ll help you kill them, but we do it tonight.”

Amelia swallowed hard. “But…”

“You said it yourself,” Cole cut her off belligerently. “I don’t know if I can trust you, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to give you time to warn those bloodsuckers.”

“I broke the bond,” Amelia protested. “How am I going to warn them?” Did he hear the defiance and challenge in her voice? Amelia was sure it was there, and she forced herself to keep breathing, slow and steady.

Cole arched an eyebrow and snorted. “It’s not broken. I can smell it.”

Smell it? Amelia sat there speechless. Cole held her captive in his gaze, and then he smiled, just a small curve of his lips, and folded his hands in his lap.

“It’s a hunter thing,” Josh explained. “It’s the smell that leads us to a vamps nest. You smell of death.” He patted her hand and gave it a little squeeze. “But don’t worry, after tonight you’ll never have to worry about that again.”

Crap! Crap! Crap! This was so not working the way she had planned. Heat flooded Amelia’s cheeks and sweat broke out across her forehead. It trickled down her back. She just nodded her head and kept her mouth shut, terrified of what would come out if she dared to open it.

“It’s settled then,” Cole said. “We’ll strike tonight in their stronghold.”

Amelia wished the rain would let up. She needed to open a window, get some air, but when she had tried, Josh had barked at her, claiming that the water would damage his precious leather seats.

His scent—although not as wonderful as Mitchell’s—was intoxicating in its own way, continually threatening to clog up her brain. It took every ounce of energy she had to push the charm away and keep herself focused on figuring out what to do.

While the hunters had rummaged around the cabin, grabbing weapons and tools, Amelia had had a few seconds with Megan. They quickly decided that during the drive Amelia would focus on undoing the damper she had placed on the bond, and Megan would work on getting through to Eric. Now that they knew magic was what was screwing with them, it was easier—but far from easy—to counter it.

Cole and Josh had come to the decision that Megan and Amelia needed to be divided until they reached the house, so now here she was, stuck in a truck, in the pouring rain, with a guy that smelled delicious, and she hated to admit it, but he wasn’t at all hard on the eyes.

“You said you were immortal, like you can’t die?” Amelia asked, seriously needing a distraction.

Josh cut her a quick look and smirked. “Everything can die.”

“Doesn’t that defeat the whole definition of immortal?” she asked, trying to only sound curious when what she really wanted to do was scream, how can you be killed?

“You’re bloodsucker is consider an immortal.”

He had a point. Amelia couldn’t deny that, but for most, it was impossible to kill a vampire. Come to think of it, the only things she knew for sure that could kill them were decapitation (Amelia could thank Erin for that), fire, or a stake through the heart.

They turned off the long dirt road from the cottage and onto a two-lane highway, following closely behind the truck that held Megan and tailed by the twins, the kid, and Stephanie. Between the nonstop rain and the thick fog, Amelia couldn’t see much more of the other vehicles other than their headlights and taillights. And she couldn’t help but be glad that they hadn’t brought her car, because she knew she would have been a nervous wreck and probably would have driven the whole way at a crawl.

“Sorry,” Josh said, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen on them. He reached over and rested his hand on her leg. “I shouldn’t have snapped like that.”

He had snapped? Amelia had hardly noticed. She almost laughed out loud at the apology. Once she got her giggles under control, she asked, “So what’s so special about Meg and me?”

“You’re the Caldwell girls,” he said, as if it was a given and everyone knew it.

“And…” Amelia pushed, rolling her hand in a please explain kind of motion.

“You’re all that’s left of the first coven.”

“So…”

Josh shot her a hard look and held it so long that Amelia ended up pointing to the stormy road ahead, unable to make her voice work. After another long second, he finally looked back at the road and asked, “What’s with all the one word questions?”

Amelia didn’t let his question hang in the air, and she shot him one of her own. “Why couldn’t Meg and I go in the same car?”

“Why do you think?”

“If you guys are so strong, then why are you scared of us being together?”

“We aren’t.”

“Seems like it,” she said knowingly.

Josh laughed. “Keep it up, sweetheart, and I’ll charm you again until we get there.” His tone was patronizing.

Amelia almost begged him to do it. If he thought he was charming her, then she’d be able to focus on contacting Mitchell. She had gotten in a few words here and there, but so far, she hadn’t had much luck. Instead, she sighed and said, “Sorry,” in an attempt to keep up appearances.

Rapidly, the air became too thin and too hot. Amelia stole a quick glance at Josh. His whole body was tense, gripping the steering wheel way too tightly, and she could see the slight ripples of his skin.

“So…you and me, huh?” she asked, hoping to clear the air between them and get him to relax, because she seriously didn’t think she could handle seeing him as a skeleton again.

He sighed, long and loud. “Yup, once this mess is over.”

“You get that I’m going to age and die, right?”

“Yup,” he answered, not even bothering to glance her way.

“Wow, don’t sound too heartbroken over it or anything.” Amelia tried to sound hurt, but her voice sounded more bored than anything.

Josh shrugged. “It’s your destiny, and you’ll come back.”

“I’ve heard that before,” Amelia said with a strangled laugh. “Hence the whole soul’s mark and Mitchell.”

“That’s not destiny,” he snorted. “That’s just a screwed up curse. Your destiny is to help create a new breed of immortals. You were meant to be more than a walking blood bank.”

“What’s the point?” Amelia snapped. She was seriously getting sick of running into crazy supernatural men who claimed that they were her destiny. Especially since she had finally made peace with the first one, and frankly, she would give anything to be cuddled up in Mitchell’s arms right that very moment.

“What do you mean?” He raised an eyebrow in her direction.

“Why make a new kind of immortals?”

“Because.”

Amelia noticed the clenched jaw and the rippling shudders, but she couldn’t stop her next statement from pouring out snidely. She obviously wasn’t going to get anything useful from him, and so far, her only plan was to flirt. She had to face it; she sucked at the whole flirting thing.

“You don’t know why, do you?”

“Enough questions,” Josh growled, and an overpowering scent of cotton candy mixed with honey suckle filled the cab.

Amelia sighed, not from the heavenly scent, but grateful for the small talk to have finally come to an end. She let her eyelids drop, and tried to mimic the way she had seen Megan look on the couch. After a few moments, Josh turned on the stereo and started tapping the beat on the steering wheel.

Meg? Amelia called in a whisper, and she almost laughed out loud, because no one else could hear them.

A hum shifted through her brain, and the voice she heard in return made her heart soar. Amelia, love, where are you? Are you okay?

Mitchell? Megan’s voice broke through, and Amelia realized that she must have been projecting.