Wild Hunt - Kali Argent Page 0,74

arm around her tiny waist and pulled her close. “Kitten, this is my sister Evelyn, but you can call her Evie. The pain in my ass over there is Jasmine,” he added, pointing to her. “Her friends call her Jazz.”

“Don’t lie to the poor girl.” Jazz snorted. “Everyone knows I don’t have any friends.”

Deke rolled his eyes at her. “Ladies, this is Roux Jennings…my mate.”

“What?” his sisters screeched in chorus.

“Way to bury the lead,” Jazz chastised. “Jeez, brother.”

“I know it’s rare, but I have to agree with Jasmine on this one.”

Both females converged on his mate, pulling her into welcoming hugs and smothering her with sisterly affection as they welcomed her to the family. For her part, Roux looked like a frightened rabbit that might bolt at any moment. As the hug went on for far longer than propriety dictated, however, she gradually relaxed, and when Evie invited her to join them for lunch, she easily accepted.

Deke watched the trio disappear up the steps and into the cottage without a backward glance. He didn’t think they’d forgotten him, but he clearly wasn’t their priority anymore, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Damn, it was good to be home.

~

After an entire day of searching, Mackenna’s hope had faded.

No one she’d spoken to—and she’d asked a lot of people—had heard the name Jessica Juarez. Apparently, there were a few different Jessicas, Jessies, and Jesses who called the camp home, but none who matched her friend’s description.

The chances of finding Jess in Olympus had been slim, but that hadn’t diminished Mackenna’s quiet optimism. Or she’d just been in denial. She knew how unlikely it was that her friend had even survived the Purge, let alone the long and dangerous road from Cuna Mundo to Olympus.

She had just wanted so badly to be wrong.

“I’m sorry, baby.” In the hallway outside their room, Cade took her hand and pulled her close for a slow, lingering kiss.

“No.” She sighed and leaned into him, resting her brow against his shoulder and closing her eyes. “It was stupid.”

“Hey.” He tapped the underside of her chin with his index finger, coaxing her head up. “None of that. Having hope isn’t stupid.” He kissed her temple and hugged her close. “In a lot of cases, hope is all we have. I’m just sorry it wasn’t enough this time.”

“I think I always knew, even before we went to the ranch.”

She just hadn’t wanted to believe it. Instead, she’d put herself and her mate in danger, almost gotten him killed, and all because she hadn’t been able to accept the truth. It had been reckless, selfish, and yes, stupid.

There was a hint of a smile playing over his lips as he swept her hair back over her shoulder. “Not knowing is the hardest part.”

Yet, it was as common as breathing now. Most of the people in Olympus probably had at least one friend or family member who had disappeared in the past couple of years. Worse, they might never know what had happened to them. It wasn’t something anyone really talked about, but it had to be in the back of their minds.

In movies, whether the world ended because of zombies, plague, war, or alien invasion, the hero’s journey always focused on survival. Part of that survival sometimes involved a desperate search for a loved one, usually a spouse, child, or both. Everyone else the hero had ever known—parents, siblings, cousins, friends, and so on—were immediately and outrightly presumed dead.

Had that happened after the Purge? With so many dead, had people stopped searching and just assumed their loved ones were gone forever? It sounded so bleak, but she also kind of understood it.

“We don’t have to do this,” Cade said, interrupting her thoughts. “If you’re not feeling up to it, you can stay in the room, and I’ll go scavenge us something to eat.”

“No, I want to go.”

Fresh fish and hand-cut fries from the diner at the edge of camp sounded amazing. She’d even heard rumors about slices of chocolate cake as big as her head, and comfort food seemed like the perfect antidote to a disappointing day.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Mackenna smiled as she took his hands and began pulling him down the hallway, her boots scuffing over the teal, low-pile carpet. The flooring was obviously cheap, and it had probably been outdated when it had been installed, but it was clean, and it appeared to have held up fairly well over the years.

The wood paneling on the lower half of