Hunter Betrayed (5 page)

Calan heard the torch’s crackle minutes before the sinful
fragrance of oranges and spice reached him.

Harley.

He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Several
hours had passed since he’d spoken to her. He’d almost given up hope that she
would come to him.

The click of her heels resounded in the hallway. He focused
on the stairs leading into his cell. Anticipation held him taut. Nine years
he’d waited for her. In that time, he’d experienced a range of emotions from
disappointment to hatred, but he’d never let go of the longing. He’d left a
piece of himself with her. He wanted it back. Whether he kept the woman he’d
given it to remained undecided.

Dirty white boots appeared on the first step. Shapely legs
covered in a clingy black material came next. Another step revealed flaring
hips that gave way to a small waist he could probably span with one hand. The longing
he’d always carried for her turned into lust, a burning desire he couldn’t
deny.

His pent-up breath escaped in a shudder. A tremor shook the
dainty hand curled at her hip. The response, along with the heavy evidence of
her arousal in the air added to the sexual tension tightening his limbs.

Full breasts that strained the confines of her shirt rose
and fell with her rapid breaths. He should’ve coaxed her the remaining distance
but couldn’t form words. The sight of her pebbled nipples pushing against her
thin top shut his mind down. Getting her naked and filling her became his only
thought.

She reached out, braced a hand against the wall and took the
last step.

Her gaze latched onto his.

His heart stopped.

Dear gods, the fuzzy image he’d held of her didn’t do her
justice. She was the most beautiful female he’d ever seen. A thick knit hat
covered her blonde hair, but the wayward strands escaping its confines were
nearly white and shone in the flickering light of the torch she carried. It
cast a glow over her and enhanced the angelic image she embodied. Dainty
cheekbones, a small nose, plump lips and a chin with a tiny cleft made up her
face.

She had the body of a goddess, but it was her eyes that
stripped him raw. Seeing the dark, sensuous and turbulent blue orbs against her
pale skin tore a groan from his throat. Her gaze dropped to his mouth. She
licked her lips.

The fairies were known as the fair race because they were
the most beautiful of all the nonhuman species. Before Dahm had turned his back
on the honorable laws of his brethren, he’d been as captivating as any of the
males of the Seelie Court. As the taint of chaos had spread, his soul and body
had reflected the monster he’d become.

Calan hated the male but couldn’t stop the wave of awe he
felt in the presence of his nemesis’s offspring. Yet, as much as her physical
presence affected him, the pureness that emanated from her attracted him more.

She’d remained pure, for the most part at least.

“My god,” she let out a nervous laugh, “you’re gorgeous.”

“No, not gorgeous. I was bred for war.” He swept his hand
down his chest. “This body is merely a reflection of what was required to
fulfill my purpose.”

She tilted her head and studied him with narrowed eyes. Her
gaze caressed his skin and left a trail of heat in the wake of her perusal. Her
blue eyes widened as her attention focused on his groin and the straining
length there. She swallowed hard.

He wished she’d move closer so he could wrap his hand around
the tender column of her throat. He wanted to feel the wild beating of her
pulse against his palm. As if she’d heard him, she took several steps into the
room, but stopped too far away for him to touch her. He curled his fingers.

Patience. He refused to send her running. He’d waited too
long for her and freedom.

“And your purpose is to stop the fairies?”

Voiced as a question, but he heard the acceptance of the
truth in her tone. Had she realized what it meant for her? He pushed the
thought away. If he finished binding his body to hers, it wouldn’t matter. The
Hunt would be blinded to her and she would escape its wrath.

“Yes. My sire purposely switched places with a human king
for one year and one day so he could spill his seed into women chosen to bear
and rear the Huntsmen.”

She took a single step closer. Her intelligent eyes scanned
the space, a replica of his bedroom in the fortress he’d once called home. All
the furnishings fit the position he’d held and none reflected the era in which
he’d lived. They were magically created to meet his needs.

The large, high bed was as soft as the finest down and the
wardrobes contained an endless supply of garments to match the current period.
On the table next to the deep, cushioned chair, a pitcher of wine and bowl of
decadent food offerings never emptied. Everything he’d coveted stood just out
of reach, another torment. The same could also be said of the woman before him.

“So you weren’t created out of love either.”

Her statement redirected his thoughts back to Harley and the
fate she never asked for. “You know that—”

“That my mother was raped by a monster?” She quirked a brow.

He inclined his head. “A fallen fairy named Dahm fathered
you.”

“Condemned me, you mean.”

He shrugged, the only response he could manage. He didn’t
want to speak of what her future would entail if he didn’t bind himself to her.
Although with each passing second, his anger over her breaking her promise
lessened. So too did his doubt over wanting to save her. He didn’t want to
simply use her to gain his freedom.

Gods, he just wanted to hold her close.
Never let her go.

She glided to the wall, the sway of her hips a wonderful
sight, and slipped the torch into the empty holder. “Why?”

The question could’ve meant a number of things. His fate
rested on his ability to convince her to willingly pick up the key from the
pillow on his bed and unlock him. He couldn’t risk alienating her by answering
incorrectly. Many of his responses wouldn’t please her.

“What do you mean?”

She peered over her shoulder. “Why are you here?”

“Because I tried to prevent Dahm from taking over the human
world. I succeeded in stopping the gateway to hell from being opened but was
captured in the process.” Her lips parted on a gasp. When he’d shared his
knowledge with her, he hadn’t told her everything. There hadn’t been time. “Dahm
is the only fairy roaming the earth. His brethren are imprisoned. Imagine what
would happen if they too could move freely among the humans.”

She shook her head. “There has to be more than one.”

“No, flower, there is only Dahm.”

She wrapped her arms around her chest. “Don’t call me that.”

The change in subject didn’t surprise him. The topic she’d
latched onto did, however. “Why? It’s a pleasant nickname.”

“It makes me feel beautiful.” She dropped her hands, balling
her fists at her sides. “I feel the taint festering in my body. Every day it
grows. Soon I’ll be as monstrous as Dahm.” She advanced on him with quickened
strides. A few feet away, she stopped and scrunched her nose. “Am I right?”

He reached for her. His fingers fell short of her chest and she
didn’t close the scant distance. He let his hand drop. “You’re still pure,
flower.”
Mostly.

She groaned. The agonized sound cut at his heart. “But not
for long.” She took one more step closer. “Am. I. Right?”

He grabbed her arm and tugged her struggling body against
his. She shoved at his chest, but he wouldn’t allow her to slip free, not now
that he held her soft curves close. He slid his hand down the length of her
spine to her rounded bottom and pressed her against his straining manhood. She
stilled.

“Keep embracing that rage and you’ll spiral into the
darkness you’re fighting.”

Her chest heaved. Each exhale pressed her breasts into his
hardened muscles. After a moment, she fisted his shirt and clung to him. “I
don’t want to be like them.”

He lifted her with a hand on her bottom. She gasped but
grabbed his shoulders to steady herself. He held her gaze and asked the one
question that had bothered him for years. “Then why didn’t you return to me? I
promised to save you.”

She turned her head. He nudged her with his chin until she
focused on him. She sighed. “I was afraid.”

“Of me.”

She snorted. “Of everything, Calan. My family had just been
attacked by monsters and you show up as a disembodied pair of eyes. I wasn’t
about to believe a ghost.”

“Do you still think I’m a ghost?”

“You’re changing the subject.”

Yes, but the lust darkening her eyes suggested it wasn’t an
unwanted aversion. With the conversation steered in a different direction, he
wanted to explore it.

“And you’re avoiding my question.”

She slid her hands over the rough material of his shirt to
the leather twining at the neck. Her gaze dropped to the stitching. With
trembling fingers, she undid the binding. The fabric parted, revealing the
upper V of his chest. She skimmed her fingertips over the contours of his
muscles and settled her palm over his heart. Her skin met his and tingling
awareness spread. He dragged in a rough breath of oranges and spice.

“Not a ghost. You’re real. I’m glad too.” She leaned closer.
“I’ve fantasized about you for years and this…” She pressed her fingertips to
his cheek. “This face is more captivating than any I could’ve imagined.”

The rightness he’d experienced nine years ago returned,
stronger than before. He wanted Harley and he’d have her. “Kiss me.”

She shook her head.

“Harley.” He waited until she met his gaze. “Kiss me.”

Hesitantly, she pressed her mouth to his. He nudged at the
seam of her lips with his tongue. She parted them and he slipped inside. Her
flavor hit him. She tasted of candy, a delectable treat he could easily become
addicted to. He moaned and kissed her harder. After a long moment where he led
her into passion, she dug her fingers into his hair, grabbing sections of the
short strands and tugging him closer.

On a whimper, she linked her legs around his waist. Her heat
pressed against his stomach. He automatically arched his back to line his
erection to her sex. Her small stature and his tight bonds prevented him from
experiencing her tempting warmth along the length of his shaft. It didn’t dim
the lust consuming him. The scent of her arousal and her squirming body
intensified it.

He took control of the kiss, needing her wild. She’d beg for
his manhood to fill her dripping center. He wouldn’t settle for anything else.
Their teeth banged as the melding of their mouths grew wicked. He swallowed her
moans and fed her his. Quicker, deeper he stroked his tongue with hers. She
tightened her grip on his hair. Her nails bit into his scalp. The sting pushed
his lusts higher.

More. By the gods, more. He nipped at her lips. Blood
flavored the kiss, blood that held the tang of pure chaos. It was her taint, a
curse from her father and the reason she was turning into a monster.

He turned his head, breaking the kiss. The evidence of the
stain working its way through her body and soul, infecting her slowly and
steadily, killed his runaway desire.

She eased back. The weight of her stare forced his lids
open. Tears welled in her eyes, yet her expression remained neutral. “You can
taste it, can’t you? It’s not just me.”

He nodded. “It acts as a disease. Dahm became infected when
he turned his back on the strict laws of the Seelie Court and opened himself up
to the chaos. It gave him strength, power, everything only the highest level
gods could achieve, but he was never meant to harness the uncontained raw
force. It corrupted him.”

She swallowed hard. A single tear trailed down her flawless
cheek. “And he passed his infection to me.”

Unable to lie to her, he met her gaze and let her see the
truth in his eyes. More drops added to the twin paths over her skin. She shoved
away from him and fell back on her rear. He stretched an arm out toward her.
She stared at it as if he would use it to strike her down. She scooted farther
out of reach.

The desolate look on her face brought his rage to the
surface. The ache in his jaw warned him how far gone he was. He fought the slip
into his Huntsman form. The sight of his alternate shape would likely send her
running.

“Be calm, Harley.” He reached out to her with his mind as
he’d done earlier today. She shoved him out.

“Don’t try to pacify me.”

“I’m not. I’m trying to help you.” At her narrowed eyes, he
sighed. “Giving into anger will quicken your decline.”

She pushed into a crouch, rocking on the balls of her feet,
then stood as tall as her petite body would allow. She raised her chin. “I’ll
kill myself first. I will never become like them.”

“You’ve matured. It’s too la—” He snapped his mouth closed,
not soon enough. Her eyes widened. She took a backward step.

The thought of her leaving him sped his pulse. He strained
against his bonds and stretched his arm toward her.

“Don’t leave me.” She froze at his words. “Please, don’t
condemn me to suffer here when I could be hunting Dahm. Don’t you want me to
stop him before he rapes another woman and gets her with child?”

Her eyes turned to saucers, wide and brimming with moisture.
He hated seeing the terror and sadness in them, but he couldn’t allow her to abandon
him.

“That’s right. While I hang here, unable to carry out my vow
to protect humanity, Dahm is creating more babes who will suffer the fate
you’ve been handed. Your sisters and brothers are dying as we speak.”

“They’re going to die anyway!” She strode closer but stopped
just out of reach. “Once I release you, you’ll carry out your purpose. You’ll
kill Dahm then sweep the world and pick off each of his tainted creatures,
including his children…including me. Won’t you?”