then turned to Roman. “Right?”
“About which part?”
“The rogue hunter, villain thing.”
“I haven’t heard of many rogue hunters. Most
hunters who stray, just give up the Lord’s calling. They don’t usually turn
against their own kind.”
Lila frowned at him, wondering if he was dumb.
Leaning closer, she bumped his arm.
“These people don’t like you. It’d help if you’d
just agree with me and play nice.”
“I am playing nice.”
“I misspoke. Just lie, will ya?”
“About what?”
Lila threw up her hands. “Fine, then explain to me
why I need to bring you along, if you’re not really necessary to stop Joaquin?”
“I’m coming along to protect you from the packs of
villains trying to kill you.”
Lila shrugged. “Okay, so that’s why you’re coming
along. Whatever.”
Plopping into a chair, Lila hated the way she felt
about Roman. Her vision never showed anything about Roman. Lila wondered if she
should just ditch him and keep her mind on the mission?
“Wait,” Lila said, recalling a sign from her
vision that she had missed. “I saw a scythe in my vision. Like the Grim Reaper
carries.”
Moving to Sawyer’s side, Lila felt a surge of
excitement, totally forgetting about Roman and his lies and half truths. “Can
you see if anyone knows about a hunter known for using a scythe?”
Sawyer nodded, leaning closer to whisper away from
Roman.
“What does he want?”
“He thinks I can find Micah. I’m not sure how, but
it’s what he wants.”
“And that’s it?”
“What else would there be?”
“He isn’t your mate, is he?”
“Who cares if he is? I’m not looking to settle
down.”
“It doesn’t work like that. If he’s your mate,
then he’s not going to be easy to shake and we both know you’re planning to
shake him.”
“Just look up the info for me, will ya?”
“Fine, but you’re in too deep and you don’t even
see it.”
Lila brushed off Sawyer’s concern then sat next to
Sophie. The blonde was no longer crying or staring at hands or clueless. Lila
felt Sophie’s eyes on her, but said nothing.
“Here we go,” Sawyer said. “There’s buzz about a big
dog rogue who’s killed a few packs in the south recently. They call him the
Reaper.”
“What else is there?”
“Not much. He’s taken out a few packs in Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. They think he was behind a fire that killed a few hunters in
Mississippi too. No one knows much since he kills everyone he runs into.
Sound like your guy?”
“I saw him in the vision and I could pick him out
of a lineup, but otherwise, this could or couldn’t be the guy. The Reaper thing
sounds right though. When was his last attack?”
“Two weeks ago in Arkansas,” Sawyer said then
turned his chair to look at Lila and Sophie. “The thing about these rumors is
that they aren’t always reliable. I mean, it could be the Reaper in Arkansas or just some villain attack. I don’t know if rumors are enough to go hunting a big
dog over?”
“Enough for me. We’ll head out and see what we
find.”
Lila noticed how Sawyer turned to Roman for
reassurance. This created a tight ball of anger in her stomach.
“Is there a problem?” she asked the men.
“You really ready to take on a big dog like this
Reaper?” Sawyer asked. “He’s wiping out whole packs and not newbie hunters
either. One of these packs was the real deal. I’m not sure you’re ready for
that.”
Lila wanted to rant at Sawyer. With all eyes on
her though, she only shrugged.
“The Lord gave me a vision and I’m going to follow
His will.”
“Yeah, well, you’ve been doing this all under a
year and Sophie here hasn’t been doing it at all.”
“And him?” Lila said, thrusting her thumb back at
Roman.
“We all know you’re planning to ditch him, so I
don’t see how he’ll be much help when you meet up with the Reaper?”
“I didn’t know that,” Sophie said.
Lila rolled her eyes and sighed. “Don’t second
guess