Hunter Betrayed (14 page)

Calan backed up with his mate. A few hundred feet away, he
stopped dead in his tracks. The mark of the Hunt on his chest tingled and the
knowledge Riesa fed him chilled him.

His beloved hound had failed him.

Ian is alive.
Harley repeated the words over and
over. It didn’t ease her anxiety. Something had happened to him.

She pressed the SUV’s gas pedal to the floor. It didn’t
accelerate quickly, but the engine hummed on the straight road doing seventy.
She eased her foot off the gas for the worst of the winding drive down the
mountain. “Are you sure he’s—”

Calan rested his hand on her thigh. “Yes. Ian is alive.”

She risked a peek at him. “He’s suffered, hasn’t he?”

No answer. That in itself was one. Not wanting to argue, she
focused on driving. The scenic mountain road spilled out onto a busy two-lane
highway. She merged with traffic and fell into the slower pattern that kept her
from Ian.

“This is taking too long.” She cut him an irritated look.

“Would you rather risk the humans seeing my horse when it’s
not necessary?”

No, she wouldn’t. “Can’t you cloak us or something?”

His weary sigh added to her anxiety. “The power of the Hunt
is limited to darkness. Some abilities I can still call upon during the day. That
is not one of them.”

“You told me you didn’t sense any redcaps or sluaghs close.
I believed you. It was the only reason I spent the night with you.”

He jerked his hand back. She regretted her words but didn’t
retract them. She hurt, dammit. Ian was everything to her and she’d endangered
him so she could fuck the man of her dreams. If Calan hadn’t been curled around
her body all night, he might’ve caught Raul.

“I told you the truth. My hounds didn’t smell the taint of
darkness anywhere. They’ve been hunting by my side from the moment I matured.”

“It is possible they’d forgotten—”

“No.”

She peered at him. The stony look matched the punctuated
word. Dammit, if Calan would give her answers, she’d get them on her own. She
hit the button on her phone to speed dial Ian. It rang once.

Trevor’s voice filled the car. “Hello?”

Thank goodness. She’d gotten his voicemail every time she’d
called this morning. “It’s me. What happened?”

“Hell, that’s what happened.”

“What are you talking about?”

Someone yelled for him. She couldn’t make out who from the
muffled sound. “Look, Harley, I don’t have time to talk. Just get out to
Cynthia’s place. Now.”

The line went dead.

“What did your dog say?” She’d asked him several times
already. Only growls had answered her, but she couldn’t help asking again.

Calan turned his head and stared out the window. “She smells
death but can’t get close enough to see more. Your human police arrived minutes
after a young woman ran screaming out of the house.” The grinding of his jaw
sent a shiver down her spine. “But Riesa didn’t pick up any trace of darkness.”

At a stoplight, she faced him. “That’s impossible. If Raul
or his sluaghs killed Cynthia’s family, your dog would’ve scented them.” She
frowned and tacked on, “Right?”

He ran his fingers through his shaggy hair. “Right. The chaotic
darkness leaves its mark on the earth. It fades, as smells do, but with my
hound sitting there all night she should’ve not only scented the owner but seen
him. Even Dahm couldn’t have hidden from her senses.” He turned in his seat. “It
is possible a human committed the crime.”

As much as she wished it, she doubted it, not after Raul’s
threat. The light turned green and she drove. She’d find out soon enough. Raul
would’ve left his signature all over the kill if it had been him. He’d want her
to know what disobeying him meant.

The part of town Cynthia’s parents lived in had two
sections. The middle-class homes with small yards and cars parked along the
curbs dotted the outermost area. Interspaced among them were a few pizza
joints, mini-marts and offices. The poorer family homes circled the cul-de-sac
at the very end of town. It butted up against the section of woods separating
the town from the abandoned sewing factory that had once supported many of the
local residents.

While Harley had never been inside Cynthia’s home, she knew
where Ian’s girlfriend lived along the curved road. Even if she hadn’t, the
strobe lights and police tape would’ve pointed out the location.

She slowed the car to a crawl then finally hit the brakes. The
sight of body bags being loaded into the coroner’s van triggered a lifetime of
memories. She’d seen too many murder scenes and it sickened her to know she had
inadvertently caused the one before her. Ian could recite his statistics all he
wanted. They meant nothing to the tragedy she knew had played out behind the
walls of the older home.

Cynthia’s family had died because Harley had led Raul here.

“Harley?”

She glanced at Calan. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

He touched her with teasing mental fingers and yanked her
anxiety away before she could shove him out. She breathed a sigh of relief he
captured with his mouth. The soft brush of his lips to hers infused her with
strength. He pulled back and held her trapped in his gaze. “You’re not, but you
will feel better once you hold your brother in your arms.”

She nodded, knowing he spoke the truth.

“Turn around and drive back to the last intersection. I’m
going to get out and meet up with my hounds. I want to sweep the area myself.”
His brows pinched. “Make sure. Something isn’t right.”

She backed up and double-parked next to a pick-up. “Make
sure of what?”

He shrugged in answer. The way he worked his jaw, however,
suggested he had a guess. “Go immediately to Ian and reach for me if you feel
in any way threatened.”

He peered past her. She followed the direction of his stare
and caught a flash of white and red between a tarp-covered boat and someone’s
garage. His hounds crouched in the shadows. A surge of protectiveness rose. She
hated seeing them lurk as if they were the evil ones.

“Can’t you alter their image?”

“No. Glamour is a fairy skill.”

If the bite to his words indicated his feelings, the fact
annoyed him.

“Too bad I can’t use it.” Riesa reminded her of a Doberman
on steroids. Harley would like to see the hound be able to walk around without
frightening everyone with her blood-colored eyes and red ears.

Calan opened the door but reached for her hand. He pressed
his thumb to her left palm, the one with his circle. “You will. You’ll be
powerful, a fitting mate for me.” He raised his gaze to hers. “I’ve changed my
mind, my Harley. I won’t stop you again from completing our bond.” He cupped
her face and brought her mouth to his for a deep, possessive kiss he ended too
quickly. “I won’t lose the one female who has managed what no other has been
able to do.”

He didn’t tell her what that was or give her a chance to
respond, not that she knew what she would say. Another brush of lips and he
slipped out of the car. The slow amble he took toward the boat wouldn’t draw
any unusual attention. He looked as if he belonged here. The clothes, the
sunglasses he’d slid over his nonhuman eyes and the mannerisms he’d obviously
picked out of her mind helped him blend in. Sure, he was taller and more
muscular than most men. Still, nobody would peg him as a demigod and a rider of
the Wild Hunt.

He might not use glamour the way a fairy could, but he had
his own. It just so happened he oozed sexuality to cloud the minds of those
around him. She shifted in her seat and silently cursed herself for thinking
about Calan naked when Ian needed her. She ignored the thump in her clit, threw
the SUV into drive and headed back to the scene of the murder she’d
inadvertently caused.

Don’t think about it now. Later, wallow in guilt later.
She took a deep breath of wood-scented air, the last remnants of Calan’s
presence, and parked behind a police cruiser. Ian turned his back on Trevor and
strode toward her, his hands fisted tightly and a murderous glare on his face.
Her heart skipped a beat.

He opened the passenger door and climbed in. “She’s fucking
gone.”

Bile rushed up. She swallowed it down. “Raul killed
Cynthia?”

He dropped his head against the seat and pinched the bridge
of his nose. “No. She’s gone.”

“As in, disappeared?”

He nodded.

The knowledge didn’t ease the rolling of her gut. Gone
didn’t mean safe. Actually, it might mean an outcome a hell of a lot worse than
death. She blew out a rough breath. “Tell me what happened.”

“With the exception of her younger sister, Allie, all of
Cynthia’s girlfriends who slept over, along with the rest of her family, were
killed.” He glanced at her and the pain reflected in his eyes stabbed her in
the heart. “Cynthia’s bed was empty and the back door was hanging wide open.”

“Oh god.” She covered her mouth with a trembling hand. “Raul?”

Ian squeezed his eyes shut. “It didn’t look like one of his
murders. No missing pinkies or tongues.”

She peered through the window at the house where Ian had
spent his holidays over the last few years. The idea forming in her head
sickened her.

“A sluagh kill?” Not that they matched any one cookie-cutter
slaying, but they all ended with a major artery being cut so the creature could
drink of its victim’s blood.

“Some struggled, but all had a single slash over their
throats. No other visible wounds other than the bruising that I saw. The cops
kicked me out before I could examine the rest of the house.”

She met her brother’s deadened eyes, the pain replaced by
acceptance, and asked the only thing left. “You think it was Cynthia?”

He shrugged. “Her bloody handprint was on the table along
with my ring.” He reached down, shoved his jeans up and pulled out the dagger
she’d made for him, the one that could kill redcaps and sluaghs. He caressed
the black blade in a slow swipe, cutting his forefinger on the sharp edge. The
scent of blood filled the car. “If it was, I’m going to find Raul and cut out
his goddamn heart.”

* * * * *

Calan stared at the evidence before him and cursed a sting
of swear words he’d picked out of Harley’s mind. A perfect circle formed out of
large, dome-shaped mushrooms sat in the middle of the storage building’s dirt
floor. Unlike most he’d seen, these were healthy and plump, not red-topped and
diseased. It appeared to be several years old and defied all the rules.

“A fucking fairy ring.”
Hidden out of sight from my
hounds.

Leading up to the edge of it, the impressions of small feet
showed the path the sluagh had taken to return to its home, the realm that
still existed in the Underworld even if there weren’t any fairies left to
occupy it.

He pivoted on his heel and surveyed the rest of the
building. Along one wall, a large map hung with an assortment of colored
pushpins decorating it. Next to it, hundreds of frozen images were neatly
arranged. Some had crumpled corners and wrinkles, others had been printed on
special paper and in different hues. They showed various landscapes and
seasons. The clothing style changed, but one thing remained the same in all of
them.

They were all of Harley—naked, fully clothed, sleeping under
the golden rays of the sun, fucking other men. All of
his
mate.

Every last one.

The growl started deep in his chest. He focused on one
picture—Harley on her knees, sucking some human’s dick with a look of pure
rapture on her face, much like the one she’d worn last night when she’d been in
a similar position with him. Calan let a nail grow into a sharp talon. He
sliced the male’s image then desecrated each of the others. It didn’t appease
the rage. He wanted their blood for daring to touch what belonged to him.

Harley had been his from the moment he’d left his mark on
her. She should’ve felt the connection to him, even if she didn’t understand
it. She should’ve longed for him, needed him, fucking sought him out.

But she hadn’t.

She’d stayed away for nine unbelievably long years. In that
time, she’d given her body to the males shown in the pictures displayed on the
wall before him. How had she been able to touch them, let alone find release at
their hands?

She doesn’t need to return my devotion. Love and
commitment cannot be forced.
She could still walk away exactly as he’d
suggested she could in the traditional binding vow he’d given. It was the
ultimate sacrifice a mate could make—eternal commitment without a guarantee of
it being returned. Yet, every one of her caresses and kisses suggested she’d
loved him as long as he had her.

His growl turned into a roar that shook the building. The
wooden beams groaned. The earth moved under his feet. Electricity sparked in
the air around him.

Riesa whined and pulled him back from the edge. He peered
over his shoulder. She approached him, head lowered and tail between her legs.

Calan dropped to his knees and opened his arms to receive
her nuzzle and lick. “It is not your fault, Riesa. You can’t smell the chaotic
taint when it is masked.”

At his bitter, raw laugh, Riesa cowered more. The sight
bothered him but he couldn’t help it. The irony was too much. The great leader
of the Wild Hunt was linked to a redcap through his mate. Somehow, Raul had
ingested Harley’s blood. It was the only explanation for his ability to hide
from Calan’s hounds.

As Calan’s mate, Harley was blinded to the Hunt and so too
was the redcap bound to her.

“He’ll die, slowly and painfully.” The vow didn’t help. Rage
still gripped him.

The ground trembled. Calan clenched his jaw and reined in
his power. He dragged up the memory of making love to Harley. It helped chase
back his rage but not wipe it out. Only her touch would soothe him completely.
He couldn’t think beyond his anger to decide on the best way to eliminate Raul
when Calan couldn’t sense his presence.

Calan opened his mind to hers.
Be ready for me, Harley. I
need you.