Their eyes went so wide I thought they would fall out of their heads. Each of their jaws fell open in shock.
Maisie raised her eyebrow. “Not to be that person, but are you guys really surprised?”
“Yeah, this doesn’t seem like that much of a plot twist if I can be honest,” Simone agreed. “He has always been an asshole to Byrd. Do I need to mention the Friendsgiving trip?”
“Cooper is a raging fuck-nugget, sure, but he was never this bad before. Not like this,” Nat shook her head.
Cole agreed. “He could talk a big game, but he never acted on his bullshit. Oh, shit, Q, is that who shot Byrd?”
I nodded. Then, the anger within me rose even further like bile. “He shot her more when he noticed she could see me and that I was there.”
Cody raked his fingers through his hair. “Fuck me, dude. He’s fucking lost it.”
“Yeah, but why?” Cole questioned. “This is more than something about Byrd being like the ‘monster that killed Dad’ or whatever he was obsessed with before. This feels personal.”
“I don’t know what it is, and honestly, I don’t give a fuck,” I said, my voice dripping with resolve and another promise I was bound to keep with my dying breath, right there with making Lilah suffer and taking Byrd far away from here as soon as I could. “He’s going to pay for it dearly regardless.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to interrupt, and I thought I would get this from context. But, I feel like I missed something? Who is Cooper?” Teddy asked, brows furrowed and frowning with a lot of confusion on his face. Everett, Talli, and the Guardians shared his expression as they were fighting to catch up.
I stiffened further, bracing for what I knew was going to be another wave in this shitstorm. “Hewastheir brother and my cousin.”
Everett’s pupils flared to gold in an instant. “Ah, so I was right. Your family is behind this.”
“I don’t think you heard me,panocha,” I cut him off. “I saidwas. I meant every word I said before. Anyone who hurts Byrd is no family of mine.”
“Yeah, I will believe it when I see it,” Everett snorted.
My nostrils flared. I itched for my dagger to fuck this guy up regardless of who he was to Byrd. I wouldn’t kill him. Another thing I meant before was how I wouldn’t let any of Byrd’s friends or family die on my watch. So, I wouldn’t hurt him too badly. It would be just enough to make him quiet for a while. As I imagined all the different ways I could do just that, my handinstinctively reached for Tina in her holster. When it came up empty, I realized that Cole was still holding her from cutting my clothes earlier. I opened and closed my mouth to ask for her back.Honestly, it is probably for the best in case my instincts make me drive a blade into this asshole.
Nat continued with her line of questioning while I was trying to remember if disemboweling was one of the few ways to kill a shifter. “To hurt Byrdie is bad enough. But, that’s Quinn’s mate. Hurting her means hurting the First Blade and heir to the Huntscommander. He must be out of his fucking mind to do that and break the highest and severest laws we have as hunters.”
“Whatever it is that he wants, he’s willing to hurt anyone who gets in his way,” Cody pointed out.
“Cooper will be lucky to not die from this. That’s the best-case scenario at this point,” Cole added.
“Now, that we can all agree on,” Everett said. “If I have anything to say about it, he won’t make it out alive.”
“You don’t have one,” I declared, glaring his way and wishing I could set him on fire. “He’s ours, and we will deal with him. Trust me, he won’t get off easy. He will absolutely fucking suffer.”
Everett crossed his arms. “That’s big talk given that we have no way to find him or Byrd.”
“Now, I wouldn’t count your griffin eggs before they hatch, future guncle-in-law of mine,” Cody said. Everett’s answering growl rumbled throughout the entire Vault, and Teddy’s attempt at stifling his giggle with a cough failed. I couldn’t stop one side of my lips from rising, grateful for once that my cousin was an annoying ass. He continued like there wasn’t a mythical beast of legend on the brink of turning him into noodles. “That Blood Bitch may be cloaked, but she can’t do that shit to my brother. I can track him down easily.”
Talli raised her eyebrows. “You are quite confident.”
Cody smirked. “No one knows my siblings like I do. Besides, the dumbass has access to the same stuff we do as far as resources. We are one of the oldest and richest hunter families in the world, so we have access to safe houses, transportation, stashes, and so much more all over the country for whatever we need for missions. All of that is monitored and easy to track. We also only have select ones that are designed to hold any supernatural creature for questioning and investigation, so that narrows the list. He would be staying there, too, since they are designed for… well, interrogation, we’ll say.”
“Yeah, but who’s to say he would stay near Byrdie and Lilah? What if one is staying there, but not the other?” Teddy asked.
“I don’t know anything about Lilah, but I know my brother,” Cole replied. “Cooper wouldalwaysstay near his target, as close as he could without compromising the mission. It’s stupid, but calculated. He would always remain within half a mile or so for easy access.”
“Wait, wait, this issogood,” Maisie’s eyes lit up, and I could see the beginnings of a plan forming in her head. “If we find Cooper, we can get close enough to Lilah for me to track her. Her influence may be far and wide, but if you are close enough, you can find her easily because she’ll be weak within a certain radius around her.”
Nat scrunched up her nose. “This sounds like a lot of geometry. Can someone explain this to me like I’m five?”
“It means that those two showed their hand. We can find her. Hell, wewillfind her.”
I nodded at Cody’s words. I was already strategizing our next move, just like the leader I was meant to be.
