Maybe that’s what was driving me to dig up the past now, to find out the details of the mission I’d been on when I’d met that girl.
I took another hit off the cigarette and ground it out beneath my boot.
If I found out I’d killed that girl—well, then maybe I’d finally accept my fate. Embrace the cursed blood in my veins.
But if she was still alive…
Maybe there was redemption for me after all.
4
NICK
I SOMEHOW MANAGED TO SLEEP A FEW more hours, and when I got up, Cas was staring at me from across the room.
I scrubbed at my eyes, trying to scrub away the dregs of last night. I had a headache so fucking huge, it felt like my eyeballs were trying to pop out of their sockets. “What the hell are you looking at?”
“You were growling in your sleep,” he answered.
“Bullshit.”
“I thought you were turning into a werewolf. ’Course, at least as a dog, you’d be easier to house-train.”
I grabbed an empty beer bottle from the dresser and lobbed it at him. He deftly plucked it from the air and grinned. He was always so disgustingly pleased with himself.
“I’m so badass.”
I ignored him as I made my way for the door.
“Put some clothes on!” he yelled. “Anna doesn’t want to be assaulted by your junk.”
I looked down at my boxers and turned back around, throwing on some pants before I headed downstairs. Anna and Sam were already up, dressed in their running clothes.
“You guys heading out, or just coming back?” I asked.
“Heading out,” Sam said. “You want to come?”
One thing that helped clear my head was running.
“Give me five minutes?” I asked, and Sam nodded.
Exactly six minutes later, we were facing the woods behind our house. I’d thrown on a T-shirt and baggy sweatpants, along with my running shoes. I preferred training with as many disadvantages as I could come up with, so I always overdressed, and rarely wore sunglasses. The clothes were easy to run in, but in less than a quarter of a mile, I was sweating buckets. The day had promised to be a hot one, and zero cloud cover made the sun merciless. The more scenarios I was prepared for, the better.
When we rented this house in the woods, we’d gone out and mapped a running route that took us through dense forest for over seven miles. It was uneven terrain, the path barely worn enough to give us clear access to the forest. Every few feet, branches were clawing at my face and threatening to blast out an eye. Anna, the shortest out of all of us, had it easier. She raced through the forest like a ghost.
We came back to the house somewhere around ten AM. Anna called the shower first, so Sam and I hung out in the backyard to spar. We’d tossed our soaked T-shirts onto the porch to make it harder for either of us to get a grip on the other.
Sam swung with a left hook that I dodged easily enough. I caught him with a right to the ribs, and he hunched over, blowing out a breath.
“Fuck,” he muttered, holding his side.
As much as I liked Anna, I liked Sam better without her. For one, he cursed more. And two, he was a lot more vicious.
“Come on, pretty boy,” I said. “Is that all you got?”
He straightened and smiled, but his eyes were burning with a promise to do me bodily harm. I’d like to see him try. He was a better technical fighter, but I was more explosive, even hungover. When I hit, I hit hard, and although Sam hid it well, I could tell he was hurting.
We circled each other. Sam cut left, then switched at the last second, catching me off guard. He landed a blow to my face, cracking my jaw off-kilter, and I staggered back, spitting blood to the dirt.
His smile grew wider.
“All right,” I said. “Now we’re talking.”
I didn’t pause, didn’t want him to catch his breath. I went in fast, threw one, two, three punches that Sam deftly blocked. He swung for my face again, and I ducked. When I came back up, he caught me in the nose.
“Son of a bitch,” I said, feeling the blood already pouring down my throat.
“Come on, pretty boy,” he mocked. “Is that all you got?”
I laughed. “You’re such an asshole sometimes. If Anna only knew how ruthless you really are.”
He threw an uppercut. I blocked.
“Anna isn’t delusional,” he said. “She knows I’ll kick your ass just for fun.”
I laughed again and rocked back for a kick to his knee, but he was gone before I could land it. A second later, his arm was around my neck, his other arm moving into place for a choke hold.
I grabbed both his wrists and flipped him over my back. He landed with a thud on the ground, and a ragged chuckle escaped him as he rolled onto all fours.