Haulcon's Revenge (4 page)

“
That is it? Just Haulcon?”

His chin lifted high as he stared down his aquiline nose at her. “Alpha of the South-East Valfs.”

“
Wow. That is some mouthful.” She frowned. “I’m Adair Ellis.”

He gave her a short nod.

“
Help me understand something, Haulcon. If you are some bigwig in your valf community why were you out in the forest like I found you?”
Was it some kind of ritual? Some kind of lure to catch and eat a human?

“
We don’t eat humans.” His growl reverberated off the walls of the cave.

“
Got it.” She raised her hands. “Were you attacked by an enemy clan?”

The heaviness of his sigh reached her and made her heart thump with an echo of pain.

He walked over to the mouth of the cave and stared out. She noticed he kept himself to the shadows and out of the direct light of the sun that beamed in through the opening.

“
Yes. I was placed there by an enemy.” He balled his hands into tight fists. “Unfortunately this enemy was of my people.” Exploding he swung and landed a punch into the wall.

Adair slapped a hand over her mouth trapping her scream inside.

Crumbles of rock rained down on the ground around his large, wide feet. When he lowered his hand, she saw the indentation in the wall where his knuckles had crushed the boulder.

It took some major strength to pulverize the hard rock.

“
How is that possible? Is this a part of a custom…like an initiation?”

Turning he faced her and moved back toward the fire. “No. It was not to be. I need to get back to my people and exact justice. I just needed to ensure I repaid your kindness and that you were all right.”

“
Thank you. But, if you were injured and left for dead by those in your people…and you’re the Alpha…how are you going to just walk back into your clan at all and bring justice.”

“
That is my concern. I will find a way.”

“
Okay.” She shook her head. Men, human or valf seemed too pig-headed to reason with at times, so she just left it alone. “Well. I’m fine now.” She stood and dusted off her backside. “Fully recovered. I think the meal helped. So, I will be on my way before it gets dark.”

“
Are you sure? It would not be right for me to leave you and you become sick and fallout again.”

He was standing too close. His gaze was roaming her features as if he were attempting to discover if she were being honest about her health.

However having him this close to her was doing crazy things to her body again. She could smell the robust scent coming from his body. She would have expected the odor of sweat to be coming from him. However, instead it was more like a woodsy cinnamon blend—natural and erotic.

She forced herself not to inhale deeply. Taking a step back from him, she forced a smile on her lips. “Trust me. I’m as healthy as a cow. So, I will be on my way.” Grabbing her backpack, she slung it over her shoulder.

His hand on her waist stopped her from moving forward. “Well, savior, thank you again for your assistance. I would have surely perished if it had not been for your kindness.”

Heat shot through her body with the speed and accuracy of a blow dart, struck her in the core. Desire bloomed into her sex from the contact of his hand. A moan slipped from her lips before she could stop it.

“
This doesn’t make sense.” A rough growl came from him as his hand slid to the side of her waist, clenching her there. He was pulling her toward him.

Every fiber of her being screamed for her to give in and lean into him. However, she fought against it. It would probably have been easier for her to get her blood to travel in the opposite direction, but she succeeded in moving away from him.

“
Haulcon,” she whispered. Digging her nails into her hand to give her brain something to focus on instead of the imposing man before her, she continued, “I wish you the best of luck in getting back to your clan.”

Rushing away, she didn’t give herself or him time to stop her. In seconds she was through the opening and into the sunlight. It would soon be evening, but if she hurried she could make it back to her car.

She looked from left to right and tried to get her bearings and figure out exactly where she was. There was a path that led from the cave and she assumed that whatever animal used it as its home had worn the underbrush down. However, before her was nothing but thick trees. She walked along the path, hoping it would lead her to the river. She could find her way back by going the opposite direction of the flow of the water. The water led to town, but she had parked at a clearing at the top of a ridge looking for indigenous animals.

A small laugh bubbled up as she thought about the indigenous mammal she had come upon. Haulcon.

Taking a breath, she let the name rest in her mind as she pressed forward. She wouldn’t think about him. She wouldn’t go back. Nope. He had retribution to exact and she had animals to photograph. National Geo Archives was paying her top dollar for her pictures, but without shots there was no money. She liked eating and sleeping in her apartment so she needed to get back to work.

Today was a bust to locate any animals so it was best that she just camp in her car until first light or drive back to the city and tackle it in a few days.

Around her birds sang and animals rustled in trees and behind bushes. She had never been a person who freaked out about things in the dark woods. She loved to camp, but after seeing what had happened to Haulcon by his own clansmen she didn’t want to be anywhere in the woods if they decided to come back to check on him or finish the job.

The longer she walked she started to feel a little light-headed. Taking a moment, she sat down on a boulder in the shade. It wasn’t as hot as it had been earlier. This high up in the mountains the humidity was practically non-existent
. Then why am I sweating like I just ran a marathon?
Sitting in the cool shade she could feel the wetness of her shirt and the streams of water rolling between her breasts and down her spine.

Unzipping her pack, she removed her canteen and took several gulps. She didn’t have much left in it, but thankfully she had a water bottle still in her bag.

“
Maybe I should have stayed in the cave a little while longer.” She allowed her gaze to travel back down the faint trail that led to the hideout about a mile back.

It was getting darker and the shadows from the trees longer. She needed to get moving. Slipping her bag onto her shoulders, she rose. When she did a wave of nausea hit her.

Plopping back down she took in a few deep breaths.
Damn, what is wrong with me?

“
How much blood did he take?” She felt her neck again. Still she could not locate any type of bite mark, but she knew he had bitten her and drank from her. It was common knowledge that the valf were blood drinkers. The tabloids always showed grotesque pictures of victims of valf attacks.

Between the filth rags and the news, people remained wary of the illusive beings.

“
Maybe I should have listened.” Was it possible that he would come after her to
feed
more? Maybe she would end up on the cover of a tabloid.

That would be ironic in some ways. As a freelance wildlife photographer, tabloids were always attempting to get her to find the valfs and take pictures. The kind of money they had offered her for a good clear picture, especially of one attacking a human, was an insane amount. But exploitation of anything or anyone wasn’t her cup of tea. Heaven knows she could use the money with all of her student loans and bills. She had a decent saving account saved up, but she didn’t want to tap into it if she didn’t have to. Her plan was to one day buy a house.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself up from the rock and started out again.

Just get to your car.
She kept saying those words over and over again.

Even as she repeated it like she was grabbing an imaginary rope that would lead her to safety, her mind conjured up images of Haulcon. Not of him stretched out between the trees or nude in the cave…but of him pressed against her. His teeth sunk deep into the flesh of her neck and feeding from her.

In her memory she experienced the firm pull of his lips and how his tongue glided across her neck, tasting her. Her legs buckled beneath her. She lost her footing and fell to her knees. The impact of her joints striking the dirt made her whimper. Or maybe it was the need her body experienced thinking about Haulcon.

Go back.

Quivering, she glanced over her shoulder. The words sounded like they came from somewhere outside of her. She saw no one.

Go back.

She was shaking badly now. She felt so ill, she wasn’t sure how she didn’t bring back up the pit-roasted rabbit he had fed her. Crawling to a tree, she sat at the base. In slow progression she got her pack off her back and removed a granola bar. She wasn’t hungry, but it was filled with dried fruits and nuts.

Her hands were so unsteady that she couldn’t get it open until she gripped it between her teeth and she was able to tear the package. Sighing, she shoved it toward her mouth and took a big bite.

While she ate the bar, she pulled her knees to her chest and closed her eyes. All she allowed herself to think about was chewing, breathing, regaining her strength and praying for her body to line up.

By the time she finished the bar she felt a little better. She drank down half of her water bottle and then rose.

“
Come on, Adair, you can handle a little queasiness.”

As soon as she was on her feet and took the first step, a black cloud seemed to obscure her vision as a pain shot through her heart. The pain was so real she glanced down to see if she had been struck by an arrow, but her orange shirt was just wet with sweat, no blood.

Rubbing the spot, trying to calm the ache, she looked around the forest. She could hear the subtle sounds of water—rushing water. She wasn’t close to it, but if she could hear it then she could reach it.

Haulcon. Haulcon. Haulcon. Haulcon.

It was as if her heart was whispering his name with every beat.

Placing her hands on her ears she refused to listen.

“
I must be going insane,” she mumbled and forced herself to march on. One foot after the other she kept moving as the darkness encroached on her. She didn’t care. Even if it took all night, she would find her way. There was no way her life was going to be dictated by a man she barely knew and had just met. Especially a man that lived off her blood. Nope. It wasn’t going to happen. She needed to be as far away from him and his kind as she possibly could.

Chapter Three

Haulcon heard several things all at the same time—birds calling out to their mates, small animals rustling through the trees, a twig snapping, a rock skidding across the dirt and heavy breathing. As if someone had been running.

But that didn’t make much sense considering how dark the woods got at night.

As he turned, something else struck him; a distinct scent that reminded him of hibiscus at midnight. It was that smell he had been fighting against the past hour he had been on his journey home.

“
Haulcon?” his name came out of Adair’s lips on a moan. Not a sexy, sensual sound to heat a man’s blood, but one of pain. Agony.

He watched her step through the brush, her face clammy and pale as sweat poured down her face. As a dark-skinned black woman that washed-out color wouldn’t have been easy to manage, unless she was ill. That is precisely how she appeared. Sick, as if she were coming down with Ebola or something.

“
Haulcon?” Struggling, she called his name again as she looked from left to right, as if she knew he was somewhere close by but she was unclear where.

For a few more moments, he watched her from behind a large bush. He had not been following any kind of path, but moving by complete instinct to reach his clan. Now, he had this distraction of the human female to contend with.

Even though he had fought the urge to go after her from the moment she had walked out of the wolf den, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do at the moment. Every step away from her had been brutal, but he had made it. His reaction to her was insane. Pure madness. This attraction he had to her didn’t make any sense. The fact that she had seemed to locate him, when her path had led her toward the south fall and the river and his was leading him deeper into the woods to an area that humans never journeyed to.