Dark Hunter (5 page)

She held up the blood
-smeared letter, her lip lifting up in a sneer. “It’s the Preservation Society. They are behind this.”

They mystery of the PS at the end of the scrawled message was solved. He’s heard about the human movement against all dark breeds, but thought very little about it. In all his countless years of life, he’d fought those who would see his kind destroyed. Different name, same hate-filled rhetoric. Some things never changed.

Her voice held no emotion when she spoke. She could have been reciting a grocery list for all the feeling it showed. “I have to call Marcus. He needs to know about this. And the body…Anya needs proper burial.”

A surge of jealousy arose from the depths of his being, shredding his insides, a raging beast demanding release. To find and kill this Marcus to whom his beloved turned.
It is I she should turn to, and no other.

Something must have shown on his face since her brow
furrowed.

“There is nothing between us
, so get over it,” she snapped. “Marcus is the leader of the Las Vegas enforcers. A little over a month ago, the Preservation Society came in here, killed my bodyguard, and held some of my patrons and me hostage. Two of Marcus’s men were also held captive here and tortured until Marcus showed up with his team and released them.”

Guilt overrode Navar’s protective streak. Another had seen to her safety while he sat idle at the damned sidhe court. “The very idea that you were subjected to such danger and I was not there…Gods
damn, I want to tear them apart with my bare hands.” He ended on a savage snarl.

Her small hands cupped his face, the touch cool and so delicate, reminding him of a bird’s wings brushing over him. A deep calm poured into him, erasing the tension in his neck and shoulders before flowing down through his body and easing the anger to only embers.

“You are here now, and for me, that’s all that matters.”

By all the gods, he didn’t deserve such a fine woman of worth, but he would never let go regardless. He would spend the rest of his life working to deserve the love he found shining in those exotic, dark eyes. “Call this Marcus if that is what you wish.”

Chapter Five

Adrian stood by the body in silent contemplation, long blond hair swept back into a tail at the nape of his neck, the silken length hanging to his waist. Mari studied the sidhe enforcer, peacekeeper, and Marcus’s right hand. That was the extent of what she knew about him. Of his kind, the children of the Tuatha de Danann, she knew only a handful of fables.

A fact
that made her uneasy.

Standing a few inches taller than Navar’s six-foot-four, he cut an impressive sight. With his perfectly sculpted face, proud straight nose, and full, sensual lips, he looked more like an angel than sidhe. Lean and fit, his body reminded her of a thoroughbred, all long, toned muscle without the bulk. She could see why many women would go for him, yet next to Navar, he paled in comparison.
Navar held an aura of raw sensuality and brutal masculinity wrapped in one powerful package. His dark good looks screamed sin.

She pulled her thoughts back to the here and now, wondering what Adrian made of all of it. Damn, she wished Marcus had come.
She could read his reactions a hell of a lot better than the cool and calm enforcer in front of her. Unfortunately, Marcus had just left for Atlantis so she would have to make do with Adrian’s help.

“It would seem the victim was overpowered by brute strength. Not easy for a human to do to a vampire. In addition, her wounds are incredibly deep, showing again great strength not many but a breed would have.”

“So what are you saying one of our own did this?” Navar snapped, his eyes narrowed on the man and his body rigid with tension, aggression pouring off him in waves.

Adrian spared him a quick glare before continuing. “I am only stating the facts as they are before me. You are the ones who asked for help. I’m merely offering it to you.”

“So in your opinion this couldn’t have been done by a human?” Mari cut in, heading off a testosterone-fuelled scene.

Adrian turned his golden stare on Mari, pointedly ignoring Navar. “I would not rule them out entirely, though it would be highly improbable. There are a few human males who have the strength for this kind of damage. But it takes many years of intense training with a sword to accomplish it. Another thing I find odd is the message left. Signing it PS would naturally lead one to believe the Preservation Society the authors of this mayhem. From my experience, this is not the usual way they work. They are much more apt to take the credit and not single out one breed when they can kill many.”

“I don’t like this, especially since they seem to have Mari in their sights.” Navar’s voice rumbled with a low growl.

One blond brow rose as the
enforcer seemed to contemplate Navar with cool calculation. “Indeed, this seems to be the case, and I would suggest closing The Asp.” He lifted a hand to cut off Mari’s protests. “Only until the culprit is found and the danger to you is removed.”

Mari folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes on the two men, irritation rising at the thought of the lost income and worse, the idea she would allow anyone to make her run and cower. Well, fuck that. She’d never run from anything in her life, and she wouldn’t start now.

“Not an option. I refuse to close The Aspand that’s final.”

Those blond brows dipped low, almost touching his perfectly straight nose, and she could hear Navar’s low curse.
Well, too damn bad. This is my business and I’ll run it as I see fit.

“Bad move, if you wish to survive. You need to disappear while I find out who wants you dead,” Adrian said.

“We. Until
we
find out who it is. I am far from helpless in protecting my woman, and hunting killers is what I do,” Navar corrected, his pale stare unwavering in its resolve as he pinned the sidhe with a glare.

“You are a hunter, yes? You are familiar to me. Have we met before?”

“Until recently I was the royal hunter for the sidhe queen.”

Adrian nodded in recognition, a new respect shimmering in those golden, otherworldly eyes. “Ah, very well then, I apologize for the slight. I did not know the queen had released you. Not an easy feat when she sets her mind to keeping her retainers. Mari is in very good hands indeed. Your reputation precedes you. Even on this side of the veil, you have been a topic of much conversation.”

“I will do everything in my power to protect her, even lay down my life if it comes to that.” Navar’s words rang in the still air, spoken as an oath.

“Marcus will be relieved to find out Mari is well protected. I know
, after the incident with the Preservation Society, he has been concerned for her safety. Someday you must tell me how you secured your release.”

Mari blinked at the two men, feeling left out of the loop
in the XY-chromosome chat.
Males. Can't live without them and can’t kill them.
Irritation spiked into the red zone, her patience threadbare for the bullshit. Placing her diminutive self between the two towering males, she gave them both a fearless glare and fisted her hands on her hips.

All conversation stopped as they stared down at her with surprise. Good, now she had their attention. “I’ve been alive since the time of Cleopatra. I didn’t survive all those centuries by being a fucking weak female. I can fight, strategize, and I damn well have enough intellect in this ‘girly’ brain to figure out what I need to do to save my own hide, thank you very much. Now, if you don’t mind talking
to
me, not about me, it would be appreciated and might save your ball sacs from relocating somewhere north on your body. Are we clear, boys?”

Adrian threw his head back and roared a large rolling laugh that reverberated throughout the room. She blinked in surprise. She’d never once seen any
enforcer laugh. Sure, they smiled, chuckled, and even smirked, but never laughed. She found it…disconcerting.

“Point taken. You will have your hands full with this little hellion, hunter. I don’t envy you.”

“Little hellion indeed. Yet well worth the extra trouble,” Navar agreed, his pale eyes darkening with hunger.

“So, since we cannot close The Asp down and you refuse to take a sabbatical, we will need a plan to draw our murderer out into the open,” Adrian mused, his hand stroking his jaw as he pondered the problem.

“I can be bait. It’s the quickest way to flush him out,” Mari offered.

“Over my dead body!” The change in Navar happened so suddenly Mari almost took a step back. His body went taut as a bow string drawn back to its limit, and his eyes narrowed to angry slits as he glared at her.

Her body flooded with heat, moisture pooling at the juncture of her thighs. The man before her had none of the qualities of the gentle lover who shared her bed. Instead a deadly and dangerous warrior stood in his place. “Listen to me a moment before you go all alpha on me, all right?”

“I will not have
my
woman in jeopardy.” He let out a low growl, which came deep from his chest, all male protective instinct.

Dear gods, could a man look sexier? Dominance and
aggression seeped from her lover, wrapping around her body in thick chains. His eyes practically glowed as they pierced her to the spot, caught as surely as a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. The danger was there, yet she was unable to move to safety. She’d never experienced it before, but now with his penetrating gaze, she related with the deer on an intimate level. “I can assure you Mari will be perfectly safe if planned properly.” Adrian’s soft-spoken words broke the spell, and she found the power to move.

Sliding up to her enraged lover,
Mari placed a placating hand on one bulging bicep, feeling it quiver under her fingertips as she looked up into his eyes. Keeping her voice low and soothing as if she were taming a wild beast, she said, “Listen to Adrian. We can flush him out and there will be no danger to me at all. You will be there to protect me every step of the way.”

She could only pray her words didn’t come back to bite her in the ass.

****

Navar led an exhausted Mari up to her apartment above the
bar. The silence hung thick between them, and Navar’s anger and frustration poured off him in waves, which he knew scraped across her nerve endings and brought her temper simmering close to the edge. He watched the play of emotions flicker over her face as she fought to keep her frustration under control. The sky showed the first signs of dawn as streamers of gold and blue streaked the sky like long fingers stretching across the darkness above. They climbed the steps off the alley leading to her apartment. The distant sound of a dog barking echoed in the pre-dawn, sounding oddly forlorn. The acidic tang of car exhaust mingled with the rotten stench of garbage from the overfull dumpsters across from the stairs. A brisk breeze whipped his hair away, its chill touching his face with the reminder spring still bowed to winters unrelenting reign.

Gods, he was tired, clear to the bone. The distance between them
was a yawning chasm he had no clue how to fix. A deep-seated dread had settled over him like a steel coat, threatening to drown him with the fear of losing her.

Mari moved past the small patio where they’d spent many enjoyable hours staring at the sky, nestled close on the narrow wooden bench among potted lantana yet to boom. The key slid into the door with a metallic
chink.
With her hand on the knob, Mari paused and turned her head toward Navar. Dark brown eyes met his and locked. “Let us put this night behind us for just a few hours. I don’t want to fight, okay?”

He brushed his finger lightly over her cheek, once again marveling over the softness of her skin. “Believe me, I couldn’t think of a more pleasant way to spend our day, so I agree. We leave off talking about this until later.” The smile she gave him made his chest warm. Something indefinable unfurled deep within him, soothing his sense of foreboding.

As she turned away from his touch, the beads in her hair clicked together, filling the air around them with tinkling music. After opening the door, she entered the dimly lit exterior. His eyes were riveted to the sway of her hips encased in snug denim. He hardened against the fly of his chinos as he admired her heart-shaped ass and lean legs, remembering the feel of them clamped tight around his waist as he plunged inside her tight, warm core.

Gods, he would never get enough of her. He craved the honeyed taste of her lips, to sip the nectar between her legs, so sweet his need bordered on addiction. She turned to face him.
A single light from an end table cast her in a warm yellow glow. Shadows and light played over the delicate bones of her face, enhancing the exotic upward tilt of her eyes, her small straight nose, and high curve of her cheeks. Her full lips curved, and eyes the color of brown sugar roamed over his body with a carnal appreciation. His body responded with the tightening in his balls and the insistent throb of his cock, his hunger escalating to a fever pitch.

The small room with its modest furnishings melted away, his entire focus on the woman before him.
He moved on the beige-carpeted floor, making no sound and sidestepping the couch and heavy cedar end table without a glance, his focus intent on Mari. He felt the stirring of hunger within him rising to the surface. Her eyes widened as if she sensed the predator he kept leashed. She stepped back against the wall leading to the hallway and the bedroom beyond.

He stopped a hair’s breadth from touching her and breathed in her alluring scent. His eyes closed in bliss as her fragrance hit his bloodstream like a shot of adrenaline. His heart hammered in his chest.
Her warmth caressing him, a low rumble rose from his throat as he leaned in and closed his eyes on an inhale. Her tantalizing scent of arousal nearly unhinged him. He fought for the control not to throw her down on the carpet and have her beneath him. With a shuddering breath, he pulled himself from the edge enough to open his eyes and take in the utter beauty of his woman.

He gently palmed her face as his gaze dropped to her soft, parted lips. “By the gods, you are beautiful.”

Her arms twined around his neck as she rose to her toes, her lids at half-mast as passion blazed in the dark fathomless depths of her eyes. “I want you, Navar. Right here, right now.”

Her husky demand brought a shudder of delightful expectation to mix with the sweet pain of his arousal. He bent down and claimed her mouth in a deep kiss. If his woman wanted him with such impatience, who was he to deny her?