The Renegade Hunter (3 page)

"I can't read you," Nicholas admitted with bemusement.

"Read me?" she asked with confusion.

Nicholas merely shook his head and tried again to penetrate her thoughts, but again he came up against a blank wall...

which could mean only one thing: She was his life mate. It was a shocking revelation. Some immortals only ever met one life mate in a lifetime. Some found and lost one and then waited centuries, even millennia to meet another. Nicholas had

found his first life mate fifty years ago and lost her a few short months later.

Truthfully, he'd never thought he'd

encounter another. He hadn't thought he'd live that long.

"Oh jeez, not you too."

Nicholas blinked his thoughts away and quirked one eyebrow in question.

"Not me too what?"

"The penis-eye thing," she muttered.

"Penis-eye thing?" he asked with complete confusion. It was a term he had never heard before.

She shifted impatiently, but explained, "Sam is holding a party tonight to introduce my sister Alex and me to some of Mortimer's friends. They're all male, and every single time one of them has been introduced to us, they stop and stare at our foreheads like we've got penises growing out of them."

"Ah," Nicholas murmured, and had to hide the smile that wanted to creep across his face. The desire to smile died as he realized he was actually having it. Nicholas hadn't had anything to smile about in a very long time. Clearing his throat, he asked, "And what happens after they stare at your foreheads?"

She shrugged, managing to look even more irritated. "They wander off without a word and talk to each other. Right now there are probably twelve decent-looking guys in the house all talking to each other while Alex is either standing by herself or is talking to Sam and Mortimer." She pursed her lips briefly and then admitted, "I think they're gay."

Nicholas raised his other eyebrow. "Sam and Mortimer?"

"What?" she asked with amazement and then clucked her tongue impatiently. "No. Sam is my sister, Samantha. She and Mortimer are a couple."

"I see," Nicholas murmured, and then offered, "My apologies for giving you the penis-eye look."

"Hmm," she murmured, and started to turn back toward Ernie.

"What's your name?" Nicholas asked, drawing her attention back to him.

She turned back, but merely arched an eyebrow and pointed out, "I asked you that very thing several minutes ago and you still haven't answered me."

"Nicholas Argeneau," he said quietly, and waited for a gasp of horror, or for disgust to enter her eyes. Instead, she held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you Nicholas Argeneau. I'm Jo Willan."

"Jo," he murmured, and thought it suited her. "Short for Josephine?"

She wrinkled her nose, but nodded. "I hate that name."

"I like it fine," he said, and then added, "But Jo suits you better."

She laughed at that. "You hardly know me. How could you know whether it suits me or not?"

"I know," he said solemnly.

She peered at him in silence for a moment, then shook her head and glanced away muttering, "Must have hit my head harder than I thought."

"Why do you say that?" Nicholas asked, eyes narrowing. "Are you having pain? Double vision?"

"No," Jo said quickly, and then grimaced and admitted, "Well, my vision is acting up. I could have sworn that guy had glowing gold eyes and fangs a minute ago, and just now your .eyes kind of looked like they were glowing silver."

Nicholas relaxed. There was nothing wrong with her vision, but while her lack of reaction told him she had no idea who he was, this comment made it obvious she knew nothing about the people in the house she was visiting. She was an uninitiated mortal, completely ignorant of the fact that immortals walked among them.

Recalling that she'd mentioned a party here to night, he asked, "Why are you at this party?"

Jo shrugged and smiled wryly as she admitted, "Because my sister Sam would have skinned me alive if I'd tried to duck out on it."

"Your sister Sam?" he asked. "You said she was Mortimer's friend?"

"His girlfriend," she corrected, and then added, "They're pretty tight. I'm thinking they'll be announcing a wedding date any day now."

"Ah." Nicholas nodded. Mortimer had found a life mate. Good for him. He'd always liked the man. No doubt this Sam was now trying to find life mates for her sisters to prevent having to leave them behind in the future. It wasn't an unusual reaction from a new life mate, and sometimes it even worked, but that was a rare event.

It just figured that fate would play its normal nasty tricks and make her his own. Jo's sister Sam certainly wouldn't be pleased about it if she knew who he was, and Jo's being his life mate would bring neither of them joy since Nicholas

couldn't claim her. Well, he could, but he wouldn't. It would mean subjecting her to life on the run as he was; always hunted and always hunting.

"I guess I should thank you for saving me."

Nicholas peered down into her solemn face. Her eyes were wide and a beautiful brown that would probably turn golden were she turned. Her nose was tipped up and adorable and her lips were over full, swollen as if bee stung. They were kissable-type lips, sweet and soft-looking, and without giving himself time to think better of it, he reached out to catch her by the arms and lifted her up slightly even as he bent his head to claim her lips. He'd intended it to be a quick kiss, all he would allow himself. However, the moment their lips met, an explosion went off inside his body. It was as if little fireflies were doing a frenzied dance through his bloodstream... and she wasn't fighting him or pulling away.

Nicholas couldn't resist deepening the kiss. Slip ping his tongue out, he urged her lips apart to taste her fully... and was lost. She was as sweet as he could have wished, her mouth opening for him fully, her breath carrying a hint of lime and tequila. She was a margarita drinker, he thought. Nicholas had tried the drink fifty years ago when he was eating and drinking and never forgot the flavor. He'd enjoyed the sweet tartness of the beverage. He enjoyed it now as well as he kissed Jo.

It was her moan that brought Nicholas back to his senses. He was in the middle of enemy territory with a temporarily disabled rogue just feet away and a party full of enforcers just inside the building behind him... and he was stopping to kiss a life mate he could never claim. Nicholas had never realized he was such a masochist. This was like tasting the frosting of a cake he could never eat, he thought unhappily, and slowly eased and then broke the kiss. When he lifted his head, Jo's eyes were still closed and her lips still slightly parted and damp from his kiss. He was hard-pressed not to kiss her again, but resisted, and when she opened her eyes, he growled,

"Consider me thanked."

A small smile curved her lips, and then Jo reached up to caress his cheek, saying, "Surely saving my life is worth more than one little kiss?"

Nicholas's eyes widened at the invitation, and he didn't resist when she drew his head down and pressed her lips to his once more. This time Jo was more than quiescent in his arms, this time she was the aggressor, pressing her body against his even as she urged his lips apart with her tongue. Nicholas managed not to respond for half a second, but then gave in to what he wanted rather than what was smart and unleashed the passion exploding inside him. His hands slid around her, one at her back pressing her closer, the other sliding to her bottom, cupping her there and lifting her slightly.

This time when Jo groaned, he didn't end the kiss, but deepened it further still, trying to devour her with his mouth. She responded in kind, her arms sliding around his shoulders, fingers digging into his skin as she kissed him back.

Jo had a lot of passion in her, a hunger to match his own, and Nicholas was actually considering carrying her off with him after all and fully tasting that passion when a blinding light suddenly hit his eyes. It had the same effect as a bucket of cold water would, and Nicholas and Jo broke apart at once. He turned sharply toward the first beam of light, but before he could even consider making a run for it, a second beam flashed on to his left and then another to his right. The one that suddenly came on at his back was completely superfluous.

"Nicholas."

"Mortimer?" Jo said uncertainly.

Feeling her bump up against his arm, Nicholas glanced down to see that she'd raised a hand to shelter her eyes from the light and instinctively moved closer to him. Frowning, he growled, "You've made your point. I'm surrounded. Now turn off the damned flashlights. You don't need them to see and you're just blinding Jo."

The lights weren't shut off as requested, but all four of them were lowered to point at the ground.

"Are you all right, Jo?" Mortimer asked, moving close enough to catch her arm and draw her away from Nicholas.

"Yes, of course. My head hurts a little, but Nicholas saved me before anything too bad happened."

"Nicholas saved you?" Bricker asked, and Nicholas grimaced at the surprise in the man's voice.

"Yes, from that blond guy." Jo gestured behind Nicholas, and all flashlights and eyes turned to where Ernie Brubaker should have been, but all they found was a bloody knife lying on empty ground.

"Christ," Nicholas muttered with disgust. He'd known he should have checked to be sure he'd hit the heart. Instead he'd-Nicholas caught himself, shook the self-recriminations away, and shifted his thoughts to what was important now. His eyes slid over the four men surrounding him: Mortimer, Bricker, Anders, and Decker. His gaze halted on Decker. "His name is Ernie, he came for your woman and her sister. He's probably fled, but you'd best get inside and stick close to them until you're sure."

Decker nodded and turned away at once, but Mortimer stopped him by saying, "Take Jo with you."

"But I don't want to leave Nic-" The sudden halt to her words and equally abrupt blankness to her expression told Nicholas that one of the men, probably Decker, had taken control of her. He understood the need, but it still bothered him that he did. Nicholas didn't comment, however, but merely watched silently as Decker led Jo Willan away, knowing it was probably the last time he'd ever see her. It was a sad reality to acknowledge, and he felt heartsore and weary when she disappeared around the corner with Decker.

Feeling every one of his five hundred and sixty years, Nicholas turned his gaze to Mortimer. "You need to cut back the trees at least twenty feet from the driveway outside the gate and inside. You need to stop the vehicles between the closed fences for inspection rather than inside both gates, and you need to check under and all around the vehicle instead of just inside before you let them past the second gate. The rogue came in on the undercarriage of the catering truck, slid out, and ran into the trees while Bricker was talking to the driver."

Mortimer didn't look pleased at his lecture, but merely asked, "And you?"

"I had to improvise when I saw that Ernie had got in. Ernie Brubaker," he added. "He's one of Leo's immortal sons. I've been tracking him in the hopes of finding Leo's hideout and followed him here."

"And how did you get in?" Mortimer asked again.

Nicholas shrugged. "Fortunately, the cleaning truck pulled up right after he got in. I rode in on the back bumper of the van and slipped off into the woods inside while Bricker was checking the driver."

Bricker glanced to Mortimer and then back to Nicholas and asked, "Why?"

"Why what?" Nicholas asked quietly.

"Why would you risk coming in here?" he explained.

"Ernie," Nicholas said simply. "I knew you weren't aware he was in here and I thought I'd best run him to ground before he got to one or both of the girls."

"You expect us to believe that you risked coming in here to-"

"Believe what you want," Nicholas interrupted grimly.

"Why not just call?" Mortimer asked.

"I didn't have my phone," he admitted grimly and then glanced toward the house as a small army of enforcers came hurrying around the corner. Eyebrows rising, he asked dryly, "Jesus, is there anybody on the streets tonight?"

Mortimer ignored him and moved to meet the men. He started giving orders.

Within moments the enforcers had spread

out in all directions, some returning to the house to stand guard there, the rest heading off to begin searching the grounds. Mortimer then turned and made his way back to where Nicholas waited with Anders and Bricker.

"You'll be our guest tonight, of course," Mortimer announced quietly, and then smiled slightly as he added, "We won't take no for an answer."

"Ha ha," Nicholas muttered bitterly.

Mortimer gave up any attempt at humor, his expression becoming solemn as he added, "I'll call Lucian once we have you locked up."

"You have somewhere to lock up rogues here?" Nicholas asked with interest.

Mortimer gestured toward the building at the back of the property. It was a large structure sided with corrugated metal, Nicholas noted as Mortimer said, "It used to be an airplane hangar. It holds our SUVs now, and we built an office and three cells as well. You should be comfortable enough."

"Great," Nicholas muttered, moving forward when Mortimer gestured with his gun for him to do so.

"We put up the brick wall and fencing too," Bricker announced as they urged him along the side of the house. "And furnished the place. It's been a busy summer."

Nicholas merely grunted. He knew this wasn't the first house the enforcers had inhabited. They'd been in the other one only a couple of weeks when trouble with Ernie's father, Leonius, had made them pack up and move to a new location. It made him wonder if they'd decide to move again now that one of Leonius's sons knew the new location. He doubted it though. They couldn't keep the location a secret for long, and couldn't move every time their whereabouts were discovered. He supposed that was why they'd gone so hard on security... and if they listened to the advice he'd given them moments ago, they should be safe enough here. Not that it should matter to him, he supposed. Once Lucian was called in, he was a dead man.