Hunted (The Tinder Chronicles) (10 page)

He frowned at me, but
after a few moments said, “Yeah, ok.”

 “It sounds like you
know some of these hunters. Do you have a way of getting in touch with them?”

“I have phone numbers
for a few of ‘em, and I’ll bet each one has the number for a couple more. We’ll
probably be able to get the word out to most of the people on this list.”

“I want to arrange a
meeting with as many hunters as possible,” I said. “The vamps are organizing,
and we should, too. Maybe we can convince the hunters to start working in
groups, or at least pairs, since that’s what the vamps are doing. That’ll improve
our chances of survival.”

“Good idea.”

“It’d also be useful to
swap information. Maybe someone’s heard about the vamps’ leader, the
bloodsucker that made this list and that’s getting them to work together. If we
take him out, things might go back to normal.”

Lee climbed up onto the
bed and rested his head on a pillow. “Ok. We’ll start making calls first thing
in the morning.”

“It
is
first
thing in the morning.”

“Not to our kind it
ain’t. Most hunters would’ve been out all night, and will just be climbing into
bed. They wouldn’t be too receptive to anything we had to say right now, so
let’s just give it a few hours.”

“Ok, you’re right.”

He held his arms out to
me. “Come here, Tinder. You look as wore out as a flat tire on the side of a
highway.”

“I’m way too tired to
fuck right now, Lee.”

“I didn’t say anythin’
about fuckin’. Just come here.”

After a moment’s
hesitation, I climbed up onto the bed and let Lee hold me, my head on his chest.
It felt really good. It felt…
normal
.

What the hell had I
been thinking, letting myself get close to Bane? To a damn
vampire
? I’d
let lust and animal attraction take the place of logic and common sense, not
once, but twice. God I’d been an idiot.

Thinking about him was
upsetting, so to distract myself I asked, “Do you really think the other hunters
on that list will take us seriously and agree to team up? Or are they just
going to dismiss us as a couple dumb kids?”

“Hunters are a pig-headed
bunch, that’s for sure. But they’ll listen to you, Tinder.”

“What makes you say
that?”

“Because you’re a Reynolds,
and a Sousa. Both sides of your family are legendary, no other hunter can boast
that kind of lineage. I mean, hell, you’re the closest thing we got to
royalty,” Lee said.

“Oh, come on.”

“I mean it. You’re the
real deal, Tinder. If anyone was in a position to step forward as our leader,
it’d be you.”

“Yeah, I don’t think
so. I’m no leader,” I said.

“Not yet, but you could
be. I really believe that.”

After a while, Lee
drifted off to sleep, still holding me. I tilted my head up and watched him,
resting a hand on his chest, his heartbeat steady and reassuring beneath my
palm. I’d always kept Lee at arm’s length, afraid of getting too attached to
him. Maybe that was because I’d already lost way too many people that I cared
about, and I knew I’d inevitably lose him, too.

But maybe I should stop
pushing him away. Lee was already a friend, probably more than that, despite my
efforts at keeping a barrier between us. He obviously trusted me. Hell, he’d packed
up and left his home without so much as a single question, just trusting that I
knew what was best. And he believed in me, he even thought I had it in me to be
a leader. Maybe Lee should be a part of what little future I had ahead of me.

And Bane should remain
firmly in the past.

****************************

End
of Book Two

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for reading!

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Tinder Chronicles will continue.

For
more by Alexa Land, please visit:

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