Read Online A Fae in Fort Worth by Amy Armstrong - Free Book Online Page B

couple of years older than us. She was distracted a lot, talked about settling down in one place, maybe starting a family. They’d only been seeing each other for a few months and I thought she was being premature, but she loved him, said she knew he was the one.
    “They found a place together in Henderson, Nevada where Evan grew up. The Council had offered him a position at the training school there so he quit hunting and took the job. I went out there with them because Jenna was still undecided about whether or not to quit and I didn’t have anything else going on. It was as good a place as any to hang my hat.”
    Mitch turned to stare across the room and a frown creased his brow. I didn’t know what was coming but I sensed it was bad.
    “There wasn’t a lot of action in the city,” he said at last. “A couple of vamps passing through on their way to Vegas, but mostly it was low on supernatural activity. We’d been there about two months when Jenna and I got a tipoff about a nest of vampires that had moved in.
    “We did a lot of recon work and found out where some of them were staying. We killed a few over the course of a few nights, but we hardly made a dent in their numbers.”
    “Didn’t the Council send anyone to help?”
    Mitch shook his head. “Everyone was busy. Our handler told us to hang tight, said they’d send in reinforcements as soon as they could, but I didn’t want to wait. It had been so quiet and I’d been restless. Guess I’d been missing the action and the thrill of the hunt.”
    I reached down and took hold of Mitch’s hand, but I don’t know if I did it to offer him support or to brace myself for what was undoubtedly coming next.
    “I pushed her to patrol more, to take more risks than we normally would. One night we found a few vampires in the city, but instead of staying to fight, they ran. It didn’t even occur to me at the time how off that was.
    “We chased them out into the desert. Jenna wanted to turn back, but I convinced her we were safe. It was nearing dawn and I figured if we could draw them out into the open the sun would take care of the rest.”
    “It didn’t,” I surmised.
    Mitch swallowed a couple times before he spoke. “It was a trap. There were at least a dozen of them out there. We fought off as many as we were able, but we never could have won. A few of them held me and made me watch as they passed her around, playing with her before they killed her.”
    I drew in a sharp breath and squeezed Mitch’s hand tighter.
    “They were all laughing and joking, thought what they’d done was hysterical. When they were distracted, I broke free from the ones who’d been holding me and I ran. I ran away like a damn coward.”
    “Mitch,” I whispered, but he wasn’t done.
    “I ran back to the city and went straight to Jenna’s place. I told Evan what had happened and he flew into a rage—said he hated me for leaving her out there all alone, for not bringing her body home to him. He told me that Jenna had been pregnant, but I swear to God, Ash, I hadn’t known. I never would have let her come with me. If she’d told me…
    “Evan lashed out at me and I let him. He hit me and I didn’t defend myself, I didn’t hit him back. I let him keep on hitting me until I ended up in the hospital. I deserved everything he could dish out and more. I wanted to hurt. I wanted to pay for what I’d allowed to happen.
    “Two days later, when my injuries had healed enough to allow me to fight, I checked myself out of the hospital. I was intent on killing them all or at least taking out as many as I could before they killed me, but I was too late. The Council’s team had already been in. They’d killed the entire nest. If I’d have waited one more fucking day the team would have been there—they’d have helped us. She never would have died. But I wouldn’t wait. I’d been overly confident—cocky. Jenna and that little baby growing in her belly are dead because of me. I