Helen’s POV
I stayed frozen but hopeful. I hadn’t been ordered back to our other house, and Justin hadn’t yelled at me for my outburst in public. After a moment, he turned around and rubbed both hands across his face, his head hanging. When he turned back, he stared straight at me and said, “I have a job for you, I guess.”
“You what?” I asked.
“I have a job for you,” he said more confidently.
All of a sudden, fear clawed its way into my throat. By job, did he mean that I was going to be banished back to a cell with the job of staying obedient? Was I going to be chained up again?
I ducked my head submissively. “Whatever you wish, Alpha,” I murmured through numb lips, trying to hold back whimpers at the idea of yet more punishment coming my way.
Justin growled, and tears filled my eyes. What about this response was wrong? What was I doing to upset him? I was trying to be as obed
Helen’s POVPermit me? My insides bristled at that statement. As if this house and my decision to take my own space were somehow his gifts. Then again, Randy pointed out how both of us were at a disadvantage in our social interactions. Maybe he didn’t even realize how bossy that sounded. Besides, even if he wanted to take credit for the idea, in the end, he wasn’t going to interfere with me living alone.“We’re going to give this little experiment of yours a chance to work,” Justin continued. “And in the meantime, I have an experiment of my own. If I agree to let you stay here, will you agree to try my experiment?”I nibbled at my lip nervously. “Can I hear the experiment first?”He huffed. “I suppose that’s fair. Fine, in that case, I have a job that I want you to do, and it has nothing to do with staying in the house. You want to help the pixies, correct?”My breath cau
Justin’s POVWhen I left Helen’s house that night, it was hard to convince myself to leave the front porch. Russo went down the steps ahead of me and waited in the light of the street. I glanced behind me, looking at the window over my shoulder.Inside, Randy was helping Helen clean up after our dinner. It had been odd, having a meal with my mate with essentially two chaperones. Both Randy and Russo stayed for the meal, and the four of us sat around the table talking about stupid stuff like the weather and where it might be nice to take a vacation once things had settled down. It was like pretending all of the other problems didn’t exist.In some ways, it angered me not to be able to be close to my mate. Now that I was calmer about everything, my lycan had decided that perhaps the best course of action would now be to fuck her into submission. He wanted to take our wayward mate and spread our scent all over her body and inside, leaving behind h
Helens POVI was amazed at how smoothly dinner had gone. Perhaps the biggest shock was the fact that Justin had calmly accepted my move into this place. More than that, he’d given me a job to do. It wasn’t quite the same as being able to go after the Huntsman myself. But for the first time, I felt like maybe I could do something useful; maybe I could return the trust that the pixies had placed in me.While it seemed like there was nobody here to watch me, I knew that couldn’t be the case. But wherever Justin and Randy had tucked their guards for me, it was discreet. And for the most part, I felt like I was completely alone.Part of me wanted to run straight to the library and begin my research so that I could give Justin the information that he put me in charge of finding. But a big yawn cracked my mouth and set my eyes watering. If I went straight to the library, two things would happen.First, I wouldn’t be very effective at doin
Helen’s POVI jerked awake, drenched in sweat and heaving for breath. Not that I liked being tortured in the moment, but somehow waiting for pain to arrive was almost worse. I wish you’d just gone back to bloodying me up during my dreams, I thought.I had to find the Huntsman, and I had to stop him.I looked at the clock. It was only 5:00 a.m. I hadn’t been asleep for very long. I was going to have to find a way to get some sleep for real. Surely there had to be a way to keep him out of my head and out of my dreams.Wait. Maybe that idea held something.The Huntsman couldn’t get into my dreams if I didn’t dream. I would just have to find a way to induce dreamless sleep. And then, perhaps, I could get some rest in peace. The only thing I had in the house that I knew would work was alcohol.I went down to the kitchen, and I found a bottle of hard liquor. It was going to take something stronger than wine to knock m
Helen’s POVRusso seemed to sense my thoughts. “I know you’re living alone for the first time in your life, and I thought that it might be lonely. As the luna, it’s perfectly acceptable for you to keep—”“No!” I said, startling myself with the firm denial in my tone. “I refuse to put anyone else in my service. I spent enough time waiting on other people. I’m not letting someone do that for me.”He reached out, putting a hand on my upper arm. “You misunderstand me,” he said. “Julianne is not here to work in your service. I didn't think you would like that. But a similar occupation is to function as a luna’s lady’s companion. She wouldn't be in charge of the chores. She would be here to make sure that someone is helping you as you start out on your own. You can use her as just a companion, if you want or she can take you through the day-to-day stuff that you might not u
Helen’s POVA larger smile took over my face. “Honestly, I could probably use some help. I was up until 2:00 in the morning last night trying to decide how I wanted to decorate my bed upstairs. It took me hours and I didn’t even come to a decision. And all I was trying to pick where sheets and a comforter. I can’t imagine how much trouble it would be to try and decorate the rest of my house or pick clothes for myself. I don’t think I’ve ever picked clothes for myself. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”A happy look shone from her face. “I would love to go shopping with you. I know all the best places and we can find you some really cute clothes. You have a beautiful figure.”“We can’t go too crazy,” I warned. “Our incomes come from the pack and our lands here around the village. I’m not going to drain those resources for my own vanity.”She nodded. “Th
Helen’s POVIt didn’t take too long before we were ready to go and found ourselves in the library. This time the restricted section was not off limits to me and it felt odd to be able to walk in and simply go straight to the book that I wanted. I didn’t think about the fact that when I had originally looked at the book about the Huntsman that the little silver key that had gone with it. I dropped the key who knows where.My stomach sank. How was I supposed to research this man if I couldn’t get it back into the book? Hoping maybe Russo could pick the lock with some sort of fae magic, I went ahead and went straight for the book and pulled it out, setting it on a nearby table which was set up for reading.To my shock, the key was back in its place. That was creepy. Had somebody put it there or did the book draw it back with some sort of magic?I gave a shudder. Either way I didn’t like the idea.Russo and Julianne both h
Helen’s POVI turned my back on the book and looked between Julianne and Russo. “All right, everyone think hard. We have to find a way to figure out what sort of being fathered the Huntsman.”Julianne pressed her lips together and thought. “We could go back in the historical records and see if anything unusual happened in 1893.”“Perhaps that might give us a clue or maybe we can dig through the historical records and trace his mother,” Russo suggested.“There's got to be clues somewhere,” I said. “Let's do both of what you suggested. I think one of the computers is hooked up to the human internet. Russo, are you any good with that sort of human technology? Can you look up the information on his history?”Russo nodded. “I got good blending in wherever I could find a home. Part of that included residing amongst humans for a while. I can handle their internet and their databases.&