Memories of Dimitri’s warnings about not wanting to kill me when I begged him to fuck me rang in my ears. Then I recalled the time we first had sex in his kitchen in Russia and how much it’d hurt, like he was about to break me in half.
Mia slowly nodded when the realization twisted my features. “And now imagine you’re watching an innocent woman fall for him and his lies. He claims that she’s his mate and brushes everything under the rug, thinking she won’t ever discover how dangerous and disgusting he is.” Mia reached for me, and I flinched away. She dropped her hand back to her lap and fisted it. “Demon hunters have been searching for him, and he’s been hiding beneath our noses. He killed two of our own this year, and we’ve been watching and waiting for the perfect time to take him down. When we found out about the mating bond between you two, we broke it with a spell shortly before the car accident. Unfortunately for you, this made you have an episode, so you didn’t notice. I don’t want to hurt you, Emma, but I’ll do anything to snuff him from existence.”
I’d had too many episodes to know which one was their spell. Angry tears threatened to spill down my cheeks. I was scared, but my frustration overpowered it. She and the other demon hunters were the reason I’d lost my memories. They had used my mental illness against me, and Mia didn’t look sorry about it.
“You say you don’t want to hurt me, but that’s all you’ve ever done. I remember you talking to me after the car accident. I know you intended for me to die and for Dimitri to follow. So you can’t sit here and lie through your teeth and say you don’t want tohurtme.” I gestured toward her stomach. “Are you even pregnant, or is that a lie too?”
Mia let out an annoyed huff, which added fuel to the flames of my fury. “No, I’m not pregnant. I lied because I had hoped you’d leave him. I didn’t want you in the crosshairs of this, but clearly, you won’t walk away from him.”
I clenched my jaw and raised my chin. “You realize he’s going to find me, right?”
Mia grinned, the lipstick smear still there. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”
My stomach dropped, and I moved away from her, keeping quiet. My mind went a thousand miles a minute as I thought about all Mia had said about Dimitri. He’d slept with women and killed them. I didn’t know if he’d ever tell me, which unsettled me even more. Despite all that, I still loved him and didn’t want him to die.
The scenery outside the window changed, and I immediately recognized where we were. Why in the world would they take me to the cemetery? And not just any cemetery, but the same one where Dimitri said he saw me digging a hole.
“If you so much as look like you’re going to scream, I’ll shoot you.” Mia waved her gun at me as the driver parked the car.
I swallowed hard and nodded.
“Get out of the car,” she said.
My hand trembled as I pulled the handle and opened the door. I shivered when the frosty night air hit me, followed by a gust of wind. Ducking my head, I followed Mia into the cemetery. The driver trailed behind me and still hadn’t uttered a word. I didn’t know which was scarier...Mia or him.
The further we went into the cemetery, the creepier it became. Everyone always said this place was haunted and to never come here after dark. I jumped as the feeling of fingers dragged up my spine and a woman whimpered that sounded right next to my ear.
Mia grabbed my arm and hauled me behind her, forcing me to hurry. When we reached the back, my heart pounded so hard that I feared it’d break through my sternum. I tensed as I heard a whisper, but I couldn’t make out what it said. It had to have been all in my mind. Maybe I was experiencing symptoms.
“Are the others here?” Mia asked the brooding man.
He nodded once and cast his gaze to the side, where I assumed the other demon hunters hid.
My teeth chattered, and I wound my arms around my chest, my hands furiously rubbing my bare skin on my biceps. “Are you going to kill me, too?”
Mia looked unbothered by the cold, even though her black dress was as backless as mine. Her blonde hair fluttered in the icy breeze, and she didn’t so much as shiver, unlike me. “That all depends on you.” Her lip curled as she looked at me. “But to be honest, I find it disgusting that you allowed the demon to touch you, and that alone should be enough reason for you to die. I don’t know if you’re pregnant and that...” She cocked her head. “That would be a problem.”
My mouth went dry, and I took a single step back.
“Over here!” someone called. They sounded like they were across the graveyard.
I turned toward the sound, as did Mia and the driver. They raised their guns, and I stepped back until I was several feet away.
“That didn’t sound like one of our guys,” the driver said.
“Who else could it be, Richard? It’s almost midnight, and no one is out at this time,” Mia snapped.
Richard grunted. “Want me to check it out?”
Mia glared at him, gun still aimed. “Well,yeah!”
“Hey!” another voice hollered, sounding just as distant.
Richard and Mia looked in its direction, guns aimed at nothing.
I took another step back and bumped into a cold gravestone. I glanced at it before I looked at the two demon hunters still arguing about whether they should investigate the source of the noise. Taking a deep breath and holding it, I slinked into the small space behind all the headstones lining the wall. I kept my footsteps as light as possible as I snuck down the pitch-black aisle. Richard and Mia’s voices became muffled the further I got.
A distant howl brought more goosebumps onto my arms and legs. That sound couldn’t have come from a dog or wolf. I felt it was an omen of what was to come, andsoon.
