Releasing the Hunter. Vivi Anna

keep it busy for a few minutes,” Ronan offered as he studied the revenant’s guts on the ground.

      “I need to get the valerian from the truck.”

      “Go. I’ve got this covered.”

      Ivy sidestepped around the confused revenant and rushed out the front door. She ran down the lawn and to the truck. Her bag of herbs and roots was behind the cab seat. She unlocked the truck and rummaged around for her bag. She found it, opened it and grabbed a small plastic bag of the herb. Stuffing it into her pocket, she ran back to the house.

      When she walked into the house, the revenant was in a few pieces on the living room rug. One severed arm still moved.

      She shook her head. “A little overkill, don’t you think?”

      Ronan shrugged. “Best to make sure.”

      She stomped over to the headless torso of the revenant. She opened the plastic bag, took out a pinch of valerian root and shoved it down into the open neck wound. The squishy sensation on her fingers made her head swim and her stomach flop over unpleasantly. She wiped the residual blood and gore onto her pants.

      Within a minute, all the squirming pieces of the revenant lay still.

      “We should burn the body,” Ivy said as she prodded the torso with her boot.

      Ronan nodded. “I know a good place to do that.”

      “Yeah, I bet you do,” she muttered under her breath. But she knew he heard her and she didn’t care.

      “I just saved your ass, lady, so I suggest you be nicer.”

      She cocked one eyebrow. “Please. I didn’t need your help. I would’ve taken care of it by myself.”

      “Before or after it had eaten your leg for a midnight snack?”

      She smirked. “Whatever. Let’s just find a garbage bag, get the pieces together and get this done.” She looked around the room. “Obviously, Sallos knew we were coming. He might have other traps for us.”

      Ronan disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a hefty orange garbage bag. “Found one under the sink.” He knelt down and started to fill the bag.

      “We should hurry. That shot you took probably woke the neighborhood. Cops will probably be here soon.”

      She picked up the arm and shoved it into the plastic bag.

      “You can’t just say thanks, can you?” He stuffed another piece inside. “It’s obvious gratitude is beyond your intellectual scope.” When the bag was full, Ronan tied it off.

      “Can we just move it along?” Ivy didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t want to feel gratefulness or anything for this cambion. The less she felt for him, the better.

      “Yup, no problem.” He hefted the bag over his shoulder. As he walked it swung and hit Ivy in the side of the head. It had enough impact to send her sprawling over the sofa. she had no doubt in her mind that he’d done it on purpose.

      Balling her hands into fists, she followed him out of the house, down the front steps and to the truck. After he swung the bag into the back of the truck, she rounded on him. She poked him in the chest with her knuckle.

      “Listen to me. I told you this was my way or the highway. So either do what I say or you can get lost. I don’t need your running commentary about what I am doing or not doing.”

      He regarded her with his lips twitching. She didn’t like how he was looking at her. As if she was an amusement to him. “Do you ever relax?”

      “No,” she sneered. “Relaxing gets people killed.”

      “You know what else gets people killed? High blood pressure.”

      Grinding her teeth, she spun on her heel and jumped into the truck. Ronan got in on the other side. She started the truck, put it in gear and drove away from the house.

      Under her breath she counted to ten slowly. When she reached ten she looked over at Ronan and asked, “Where are we going?”

      “Inner East Bay, down by the harbor.”

      “Once we do this, then what? What’s your next big idea?” She opened her window a crack. She felt like she was suffocating. Ronan’s presence was crowding on her. He was a big guy and took up a lot of the space inside the cab. “Sallos knew we were coming. How?”

      Ronan rubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin. “I don’t know. Maybe because he knew what you would do next.”

      “So this is my fault?”

      “He obviously made you the second you walked into that club. You don’t exactly fly under the radar, Ivy.”

      “What about you? Maybe he made you,” she suggested. “Or I know, how about, you’re working with him, so he knew we were coming because that was the plan.” She thought about his stolen car. Maybe that had been the reason, so it would be easy for him to hook up with her. Except as a hunter she’d stolen plenty of vehicles. It was part of the game.

      Cocking his head, he regarded her. “I know there’s a brain in that pretty head of yours. So maybe you should use it. What you’re proposing is just ridiculous.” She hated the mocking tone in his voice.

      Without a thought, she yanked the steering wheel to the right and pulled up onto the curb. “Get out.”

      “What?”

      “I said get the hell out of my truck.”

      “You’re being overdramatic, don’t you think?”

      That was it. She had enough of his lip and they’d been together for only two hours. She balled up her fist and punched him in the side of the face. The force was enough to snap his head back. She had the satisfaction of seeing him bump the other side of his head against the door.

      He turned his head back to her, then rubbed at his jaw where she’d clocked him. “Feel better? Got it out of your system? Can we move on now?”

      She nodded. “Definitely feel better.”

      “Good, because we need to keep moving. A cop just pulled up behind us.”

      Ivy glanced in her rearview mirror. He was right. A police cruiser had just pulled onto the street where they were parked. It would be very bad if he found their big bag of body parts in the truck bed. She suspected that even she wouldn’t be able to talk her way out of it.

      She put the truck back in gear and pulled out onto the street. The cop car followed her. She kept glancing in the mirror, holding her breath, hoping she didn’t see the flashing lights come on.

      After they drove another four blocks, the cruiser put on his signal and turned right. Ivy let out the breath she was holding.

      Ronan rubbed at his chin again. “You punch pretty hard. Not like a girl at all.”

      She swiveled in her seat to tell him a thing or two, but the smile on his face had her biting back the words. She couldn’t help the grin that lifted her lips.

      “Aha, I knew you could smile.” His eyes sparkled in amusement. “There’s a running rumor out there that it would never happen. That it couldn’t.”

      She shook her head, but she couldn’t help the laugh bubbling out of her. “Well, I’m happy to bust that rumor to hell.”

      “Yeah, I wonder what other rumors we can bust along the way.”

      Her smile faded then and she turned back to the road. “Keep dreaming.”

      Although his words bothered her, it was the lusty gleam in his eyes that worried her more. Because truth be told, the butterflies in her stomach had not stopped fluttering since setting her eyes on him in the back alley. And that was always a sign of bad things to come.

      Ronan made