The Hunter's Curse (Monster Hunter Academy Book 2) by D.D. Chance

Author:D.D. Chance [Chance, D.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781943768745
Publisher: Elewyn Publishing
Published: 2021-01-27T16:00:00+00:00

18

The scene shattered into a million pieces, and then we were back inside Zach’s dorm room in Fowlers Hall. With a snarl of rage and pain, Zach shoved me away from him, sending me tumbling into Liam’s arms.

“I’ve got her! I’ve got her,” Liam said, as if Zach were simply handing me off and not rejecting me outright. I didn’t so much mind the rejection this time. I flopped over onto my hands and knees, my lungs bellowing for air.

“Nina,” Zach moaned finally. “Tell me you didn’t do what I think you did. Tell me.”

I turned back to see him lifting his hand to his face, his very normal-looking face, no longer filled with sunken eyes and charred skin. He looked like he’d just recovered from a two-day bender, but there was no blood, there was no…

“You’re not burned,” I managed, not knowing if that would make any sense to him. It barely made any sense to me.

He slowly shook his head, his gaze turning mournful. “You could see all that. You saw. Dear God in heaven.”

Zach’s door burst open. Tyler rushed in first, striding over to me and pulling me around, inspecting me. I opened my mouth to speak, to reassure him, and a thin wisp of smoke puffed out.

Tyler’s eyes shot wide. “Whoa! Are you okay?”

I nodded, and he half turned to Zach, who paid him no attention. Instead, his gaze was locked on me, fierce and resolute. I stared back just as fiercely, wanting that connection, craving it. I didn’t miss the flicker of heat in those purple-hued eyes. That heat had nothing to do with the scourging fire he’d endured at the demons’ hands…and everything to do with me. In his reflected gaze, I relived my decision to push through the flames and gather him close, the moment where we touched, soul to soul. I shivered as Tyler started talking.

“We all tapped in via our tattoos, but we couldn’t see much. Only that it seemed like Nina reached you and pulled you back from wherever you were. It looked like a lot of fire.”

Zach chuckled grimly, the sound like gravel over crushed glass. “Yeah. There was a lot of fire. It wasn’t real, technically.” He gestured with noticeable weakness to his body, clad in a T-shirt and gym shorts that were soaked through with sweat and striped, charcoal-like stains. “But the body doesn’t always understand the difference between what is happening in the real world and what is happening in the mind. I’ve never spontaneously combusted, but…there’s always a price to pay for work in the darker realms.”

I swallowed, Zach’s words jangling harshly around my skull. A price to pay. The demon had said something about that earlier today. But hadn’t he already paid enough?

Liam stared at Zach for a long minute with narrowed eyes, then rocked back on his heels, and stood. “I think we need to let Zach grab a shower and crash—if you can, now? Can you sleep?”

Zach nodded, grimacing as he pulled his shirt away from his body.

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