(Cole’s POV)Brielle almost didn’t leave my side, watching me cook the omelet but studying our every movement inconspicuously. Yet this was something we had mastered for years, and living with Kione, Ichiro, Aarush, and Xian helped a lot because, with humans around, there was always a need to stock the kitchen with food.“Mmm…” moaned Xian as she entered the kitchen. “Aarush, I need coffee -” The petite woman, still in her lab coat, stopped as she saw Brielle. She placed her car key in the cupboard and opened the fridge, getting bottled water.“Hi,” greeted Brielle, wanting to break the silence between them, maybe as women.“Coffee?” Aarush asked, giving me the plates from the cupboard and getting her a cup.She half-smiled at her but returned her attention to me. “If the company’s not giving me enough funds for my research, I’m resigning, Cole.” She started the conversation as she took the plates from me. “What’re the plates for? Who is she?” she asked in an unfriendly tone.She took
(Brielle’s POV)“You kissed me first, remember?” Gen repeated Cole’s question, laughing hard when we returned to Grandma’s house. She and Bryce told everything they had seen inside, and it didn’t surprise me when she played a video recording of their short tour in the living room.Giles glanced and scoffed at me. “You kissed him?” he asked, but his eyes were now focused on the dagger he was sharpening after not finding anything unusual from the video.“You told me to distract him,” I said, leaning on the couch and fixing my eyes on Cole’s gorgeous face on the screen as Gen replayed the video. “It’s my only way to stop him.”After seeing us last night, Giles suspected his connection to Raven, and this morning, he woke us up, plotting a scheme that I continue my act as someone who was too interested in him. He didn’t trust that I could do the task alone, so he asked Bryce and Gen to accompany me and pretend we were jogging and seeing their place.If Giles didn’t ask me to see Cole this
(Brielle’s POV)“Brielle, just tell me if you want to cover your whole body with it because hand wraps wouldn’t be enough,” Gen teased and looked briefly at me, one corner of her mouth lifted as she continued to wrap her hands with a boxing bandage.They discovered the basement training area this morning and wanted to kill time while waiting for nighttime. Still, no one wanted to be my boxing opponent; all four had excuses of wanting to mind their time training alone.Maybe the boys, even Gen, are afraid to fight with me because if I beat them, it will be difficult to accept that their ‘princess’ is as strong as any of the hunters in the group. Winning against the men would be hellish to accept, so they all had their excuses.Wrapping my hand with the elastic wrap, I was quiet and looked furious as my lips pursed, not looking at anyone. I let Gen think I was upset because the guys were ignoring me, but partly I was angry with my conversation with Grandma.She sounded like she favored
(Brielle’s POV) “Brielle,” Cole whispered my name, his hands grabbing my shoulders, but I continued to kneel before him. I swallowed hard because I had never done this in my life, but this would buy me time to come up with a way to stop his magical hands from undressing me, and I had to think fast about how to escape from his room. “Umm… Brielle,” he said, not sounding nervous, but his tone was something else I could not comprehend. I craned my neck to look at him, seeing him shaking his head at me like stopping me. Before I could tease him that he was being a coward, the door opened wide, and Cole had to place his hand on my head, tapping lightly to bend my head down. “Gosh, Cole!” growled Xian, entering the bedroom without bothering to knock. “I’ve been loo-” she stopped. Even without seeing her face, I knew her eyes were pinned on me. My hands groped the floor, pretending to look for something. “She lost her earring,” Cole said. She scoffed. “Last time, she lost her hairpin,
(Brielle’s POV)Like the way Cole held my hands, he rose to his feet in a hurry, leaving me on top of the dead vampire that attacked us and walking away. I was panting and shivering as my eyes followed his direction, and then I realized he was not running away but only hiding among the trees.“Are you okay?” Gen asked, still panting after running in my direction and helping me get up when she reached me.My legs wobbled, but I knew it wasn’t because of the surprise attack but at how I killed the vampire. No… It was not me who killed the creature, but Cole, using my dagger while holding my hands to strike it to death as if teaching me how to kill it.Giles knelt, checking on the dead creature and taking the dagger from its chest to return the weapon to me.Bryce clucked his tongue as he looked at me. “So unfortunate of him to have you as his meal tonight, huh?” he chuckled, bending his one knee to pick up the plastic container I was holding a while ago. “Looks like Barbie here did not
(Brielle’s POV)I wasn’t okay!Those were the words I wanted to scream at everyone in the room. I could hear Gen asking Aarush if we could have a copy of the files, and though he looked in doubt when Lucilla returned to the room, she only nodded.“Give them what they want,” I heard her say as she walked toward the cabinet, pulling a drawer and getting a flash drive. She looked nervous as she glanced at me before giving the small device to Aarush, then walking to the far end of the room.“Which file do you need?” He asked us, moving the mouse and looking at Gen.She moved closer and leaned her body, enticing him with her low-cut blouse while pointing her index finger from the first video we watched until the following few files, but Aarush seemed not bothered about it.He focused on copying the files to the flash drive, and when he was done, he smiled, ensuring to focus on her face as he gave the electronic device to her.Gen lifted the corners of her mouth, hiding her disappointment,
(Brielle’s POV)Grandma was sitting in her rocking chair on the porch when we returned home, but her eyes only flickered on the blood stain on my shirt, not asking anything and just pursing her lips. I stopped to kiss her on the cheeks and entered the house without telling her what had happened since she did not ask how I got the stain.She was used to it already with grandpa and daddy returning home, looking worse than my situation, but as a wife and a mother, she was not allowed to ask what happened. When I was young, Dad would scold me for constantly questioning what happened to them, and I wouldn’t say I liked it whenever they would remind me it was the rule. Couldn’t we worry about the people we love?Now that I was a huntress, I still didn’t understand it, doubting that I could hold myself from asking my future husband or children about what happened to them whenever they returned home hurt.We found Adam and Giles in the living room, getting ready to track Monty in the possible
(Brielle’s POV)When I reached the Kirkwood residence, I was surprised to see that the gate was closed. I peeked at the mansion, and as usual, there were lights on the first level of the house, assuring me there were still people inside.I held onto the metal picket fence, mounting quietly as I stepped on the middle rail and carefully lifted my leg and foot on the sharp top rail of the gate to cross on the other side. I made a graceful jump on the ground and wandered my eyes to my surrounding, checking right away where exactly the surveillance camera was.If they were watching the videos, catching me would be better.I walked to the driveway as if relaxing in the park until I reached the main door. Unlike the tall metal gate, the door was slightly ajar, and I only needed to push it wide open.“Dinner!” I heard Aarush in a loud voice coming from the kitchen.Quietly, I walked toward where he was, and just like this morning, he was busy preparing a meal but only for one. My eyes narrowe