"That bloody hag!" I swear as I glance to the entrance and see my whole family standing by the open double doors. I throw the cigarette and walk to them.
"Look who's in a good mood, today," chuckles Jez when he sees my frowned face.
I ignore him and turn to face my mother. "I just sign some papers and I go?"
"And attend the meeting, of course." She casually answers before turning on her heels and entering the institute.
I mutter some swearings and follow my family to what I expect to be a three-hour long waste of time. We walk silently on the polished hallways and my parents and my brothers shake hands and salute all the hunters we pass by. I keep my eyes on the way ahead and manage to avoid all the poseurs that come my way. I stop and Jonty bumps into me. I try to turn on my heels and get the hell out of that place, but my brother catches me.
"Blimey, Addy! Is just a meeting, don't throw a wobbly now!" Says Jonty and I just bite my tongue because we're too close to them to be able to explain my brother why I was running away from here. But nonetheless, he finally sees Thomas in front of the double doors of the meeting room and catches my hand tightly.
Jez falls in step with us and I'm surprised by their reactions. I know my brothers can't stand supernaturals and now that Thomas and I have a history, but I never told them how messed up my relationship with the Elf is. But I did appreciate the way they hid me between their tall figures, helping me avoid Thomas completely. Just as I walked inside the meeting room, another familiar face caught my eyes: Thalia was standing next to Yannis Timmons, again, and chattering with his parents. When my family was finally seated, all the conversations stopped and people started gathering around the round, giant table in the middle of the room.
"Thank you for accepting our invitation," speaks my father and I keep myself from rolling my eyes. Like I had a choice.
"As you know, we're preparing for the most daring mission since the Salem witch trials. The preparations are almost ready and the mission's unforeseen delay," I swear I could see everyone in the room staring at me when my dad pronounced that word. But I kept myself chuffed and scorged everyone around. "Will only give us time to triple check everything."
"Now, we will like to welcome our two guest, Miss Thalia Yancy," as my mother says the Lycan's name, everyone applauds her. Yannis had his arm wrapped around her waist and the blonde slightly thanked, before silence was installed again. "And Sir Thomas Lane, who will assist us in our mission."
"Why?" I find myself loudly asking and everyone in the room gave me grave looks. Especially my mother, who was ready to choke me to death for interrupting her.
"Sir Lane was a vital informator on the insides of the Darachs' MO and agreed to act as the middle-man in case things go astray again, Adeline," she speaks with venom dripping out of her viper tongue. "While Miss Thalia will come with you to Sydney to..."
"No, thank you," I cut her off and I see my mother's face reddening with anger. "I don't need any help," I say, pissing her off even more.
"If you say so, than why don't you go alone in Hy-Brasil?" Speaks Will's wanky cousin, Aileen, and I just shrug. "Are you afraid, Adeline?"
The smirk on my face immediately made her regret her words. "I'm not and you know it very well. But are you brave enough to go to Hy-Brasil, even with a partner?"
She doesn't say anything, but I can't gloat of my sucess too much, before my mother ruins my mood again. "Let's go back to our adult talks, ladies and gentleman." I roll my eyes and stop myself from listening to her. I catch Thalia watching me and I held her gaze bravely, before I hear my name again.
"Adeline and Jeremy are our best shot at infiltrating their base," says my father and I see another hunter silently scoffing.
"Don't you agree, Landon?" I ask him and his eyes scan me, amused.
"Having our mission's fate in your hands?" He asks and puffs again. "I'd rather have the Elf sent there, than you."
"I can go, too," says Thomas, looking at me with a mischievous grin on his lips.
"Won't be necessary," replies Jez. "I'm still having a hard time finding your purpose at this meeting, having you on the field is competely redundant."
I high-five my brother under the table and Jonty gives him a nod. The Elf isn't affected by my brother's words, continuing to shamelessly stare at me. I may not be able to survive the whole meeting...
"Enough!" Says my mother and everyone goes still. She calms down for a second, massaging the bridge of her nose. "We'll take a ten-minute break."
Before she can dismiss us, I got up and exit the meeting room. But I stop on my feet when a familiar pair of green eyes wait me behind the closed doors.
"Asher?!" I whisper-yell and run to drag the Lycan out of the building, before the hunters could see him. We walk to the corner shop and I see Hayder's car parked there. But it was nowhere in sight. The hunters flooded the front yard, but luckily no one was seeing us here.
"Are you out of your mind?" I ask him, throwing my hands in exasperation. "You can't just walk into a hunters' building whenever you feel like it!"
"You didn't answer your phone," he explains and I frown before checking my phone and seeing the dozen missed calls I had from an unknown number.
"Hayder told you where I was, you had no reasons to worry."
"Actually, when I heard that you're here I got worried." He draws a look to the hunters standing a few metres from us and we both spotted my mother, the only person monitiorising us. "I taught she was trying to take you away."
I giggle at his assumption, because it was indeed true. My mother is trying to get me home, but I'm agreeing with her. "I'm more feisty than I appear," I tell him and he also laughs. He probably already figured that out.
"You need to go back?" He asks and I shake my head. I was planning to leave even before he appeared. He catches my hand and I walk away from the institute, but he didn't flinch from the spot. His hands tightens around me and a unhuman growl leaves his mouth. I immediately realised what happened and try to drag him away from there.
"Please, let's go," I ask and he looks at me, anger flooding his now red eyes. "Asher, let's go." I say again, looking back at Thomas, standing at the top of the stairs and challenging Asher through the chuffed look on his face.
I clench my teeth and almost want to beat him up myself, but when his eyes fall on me, I shudder. Those black, lifeless eyes I've seen only once before: when he was sentenced to the Wild Hunt. Realisation hits me and I cup Asher's in my palms and force him to look at me. "I have a better revenge than breaking his bones, just trust me." He cools down a little, but still doesn't seem ready to leave things unresolved. So I rise on my tip-toes and kiss him, slowly and enchanting.
His hands catch my waist and deepens the kiss, our lips dancing in their own unique, soul-uplifting way. I giggle when his hands dive a tad down and entwine our fingers together. "Now you want to leave?" I ask and he nods. We walk silently to his car, but I can't help but look back to the institute. Thomas was still there, watching us with hatred spilling from every pore of his body. I watched his eyes turn back to their normal blue when the hunters went inside, his figure losing among theirs. A single person stayed on the porch as our car passed by. My mother was looking at me, and gave me a light nod before walking back to the institute.
What is the hag planning now?