Hunter by Night (7 page)

Theresa perched on a bench near the front door of the vampire hospital and peered into the dark, ceaseless downpour. Eamon Junior nuzzled against her collarbone, finally asleep, bundled in a fuzzy knitted blanket from one of the soldiers’ mates. Her son had been conceived on a night like this: full moon, pouring rain, a rare night when her mate wasn’t on patrol and the power had gone out. Nothing to do to pass the time but make love. That night may as well have been a century ago.

The lab had finished with Eamon’s tests, thanks to whatever strings Xander had pulled. Thank God. Little Eamon was finally fed, finally content.

Her, on the other hand? Her body trembled and her ears rang, a sign that she’d overused her powers. She needed to get herself and her baby home. She needed sleep.

The torrent poured relentlessly, though, and Eamon had been through an awful ordeal. She hated to take him out in the cold and wet that would surely wake him, into the parking lot that from her current vantage point appeared to stretch the distance of a football field. She’d parked all the way at the far end. Why hadn’t she thought to bring an umbrella? Perhaps she and Eamon could just rest here for a little while.

“Theresa.” Xander’s voice silenced the echoes between her ears.

She glanced up. Xander stood above them in the alcove’s purplish lighting, wet from the rain. Cast in shadow with his short, dark hair plastered to his forehead, he showed a fierceness that Theresa hadn’t seen before.

“The woman at the checkout desk said you’d just left, but I couldn’t find you in the parking lot.” He let out a breath and sat down next to her. “I was worried.”

She frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“I just met with the king. They’ve called a bunker at the estate. Nobody’s to go in or out.” He shook his head. “You’ve been busy with Eamon so you wouldn’t have heard. The magical security around the perimeter went down.”

“Oh, no.” Her head shot up. Her eyes met his. “Aren’t they going to evacuate? What about everyone else?”

He shook his head. “It could be just as dangerous, trying to move so many residents. We’ve got the ability to close off the inside tunnels, so that’s what we’re doing for now. Nobody is allowed outdoors on the grounds without authorization. Which means I can’t let you go back. It isn’t safe. Don’t leave, okay?”

Her heart flopped desperately. She was so tired. “But what about Eamon? I have enough clothes and supplies for him to last the night, at best. We’ve already been here throughout the last day. I haven’t slept, Xander.” How had she never noticed the vividness of his eyes before? So deep and green, like emeralds. Goodness, her muscles ached.

His fingers wrapped around hers. They had both been widowed, had become unlikely friends of sorts, but in the months since, they’d hardly spoken. Theresa had been consumed by motherhood. Xander had rejoined the fight to keep their vampire kind protected from wizards. Now, with his hand on hers, it was like coming home. The familiarity in his touch nearly melted her, and she hardly thought before she leaned toward him, cradling Eamon’s fuzzy head with her other arm. “What are we supposed to do?”

Xander leaned close to her ear. “I’m going to take you out of here, okay? You and Eamon,” he whispered. “I’ve got Flay paired with Anton for the remainder of the night while Tyra guards the king and queen,” he continued quietly. “Right now my job is to take care of you and Eamon. Everything will be fine.”

She nodded. Damp clothes and wetter hair clung to her cold skin. At that moment she nearly would have paid someone to let her sleep there on the stone bench that had turned her right hip numb. She couldn’t bring herself to argue.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s find your car, find a place to get you some clothes, and go get some rest. I’m going to take you into DC, find a place with electricity, and keep an eye out while you and Eamon recharge. Word has it that something big is going down, and I want you guys far away.”

She had been so proud of not needing any help since Eamon Senior had been killed. When Xander had said he needed to leave guarding her and the baby to return to fighting, she had let him go and tried not to miss him much. Had insisted to herself that it was only the hole in her heart left by her mate’s passing that had made her want him to stay.

Now… having him go out of his way to help her like this made her so warm inside. But was he doing it out of duty, or because he wanted to? Was it awful that she cared?

Best to stick with duty. The king and queen had both been very upset about Eamon’s death. That he’d fallen while rescuing the queen from being kidnapped had hit the queen especially hard. And protecting the next generation of vampires was important due to their dwindling numbers.

But when Theresa looked into Xander’s intent eyes, she thought of the comfort he promised and wished just a little that he was taking her home.
Really
taking her home. That he would stay with her there, the way he had when Eamon was first born. Was that so wrong?

***

Fire burned in Alexia’s lungs and her muscles screamed for mercy, but she stayed right on Lee’s heels, ignoring the clumps of mud that flew from his boots to hit her favorite Kikgirl pants. She felt like she was on one of those Warrior Runs—only amped up to the max because they were running from actual bad guys—and God only knew how much adrenaline and vampire blood charged through her body.

“Holy shit, Lee.” He glanced back and tightened his hold on her wrist but didn’t respond. “Lee,” she hissed.

“Shh.”

They zigzagged around trees and jumped over mossy logs. She wanted to ask what the hell they were running from, because she couldn’t see or hear anything. But holy cow, did she have a whole lotta rocket fuel in her zoom all of a sudden, and keeping up with Lee was super easy.

“Are we going to run all the way to the hospital?”

“Until I feel like we’re clear of the threat, we need to keep moving. Hopefully I’ll find a vehicle I can borrow.”

A spiderweb clung to Alexia’s face.
Ew. Gah.
She brushed at the cloying strands and pushed forward even as surprise plucked at her eyebrows. “You’re going to steal a car.”

“Borrow.”

“Hmm.”

Alexia bit her lip. Ish, did she get the entire spiderweb off her face? She rubbed her mouth again. From getting licked by Lee to attacked by a spiderweb all in one night. Talk about your sexy times.

“Somehow I find it surprising that my taking a vehicle to get us to safety would bother you, Lexi.” He slowed slightly, allowing her to catch up.

“I find it surprising that
you
would steal. You’re so by the book.”

He halted, pulling her to his side. “Yes, well I’m also so very fond of not dying in the woods.” He raised a gun she hadn’t noticed in his other hand before and fired, backing to a large rock face as he did. “You telling me you’d rather I uphold some human law even though we’ve got guys shooting at us?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“Uh-huh.”

Coulda been wrong, but it sounded a lot like he chuckled. Lee. A chuckle.

“Whatever you do, Lexi, keep touching me, understand? I’ve got my shields up. Not much they can throw at us that will hurt you, so long as we stay in contact.”

Alexia thought of Lee’s power as some sort of force field. Very sci-fi. She suspected that was the source of the electric prickles and shivers that danced along her skin where he touched her. She’d
hoped
it was lingering sexual chemistry, not that she should.

She glanced down at his gun. “Do you have another one of those?”

“Seriously?” He exhaled and squeezed the trigger smoothly once, twice, without any change in his expression.

She huffed in frustration. She’d dated guys with gun collections and even taken the odd firearm refresher. “I know how to use a gun.”

Lee raised a hand, which she took as a sign for her to shut the hell up, and that only pissed her off more. Still, she shut up anyway because she was definitely down with that whole not dying plan.

A soft click caught her attention in the dark over her left shoulder, and another over her right. Holy crap. In all, she made out roughly five of them. Lee had skills, but they had to be outnumbered here. “Lee, they’re all around us.” And why hadn’t they attacked? Lee had already shot two others. They were lying in wait for something. She shivered.

“I know,” he whispered. “I’m going to count to three and step forward. I want you to glue yourself to my back. Do you understand? Do
not
let go.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“No matter what. Don’t you dare let go.”

“I’m cool,” she whispered. Only she wasn’t. Not really. Honestly, she’d kept it together. She’d followed his lead, and she’d been pretty damn proud of herself for handling what was unarguably an extremely stressful situation without flipping her wig. But all at once, Alexia fought the urge to flee and the inability to draw the stifling night air into her lungs. Hot, fat raindrops pounded incessantly down the back of her neck. Her hands went to his sides and dug into the lean flesh for dear life.

There were a lot of guys in those trees. As badass as Lee was, Alexia didn’t see a way out.

He put his hand over hers. “Stay with me. We can do this.”

She pulled in a shallow breath. “Okay.” She had to trust. She was a goner if she ran. That much she knew.

“They haven’t attacked yet because they think they have us outnumbered. They probably don’t yet realize you’re human. They’re trying to get us in one piece and keep our hearts intact to steal our powers,” he whispered.

Acid rose in Lexi’s throat. So these were wizards then, not the guardian whatchamahoozits they’d run into earlier. She knew wizards—the vampires had been fighting against them for years.

For only a second his hand tapped hers. “Not happening, okay? Here we go. On three. One… two… three.”

She stepped in time with Lee away from the rock face, her muddy, red Doc Martens following behind his black military boots. The charge of his shield got stronger. She sensed so in the hum of her blood and the electric buzz over her skin.

Lee rotated them both clockwise, firing on the nearest wizard. He narrowly missed clipping the guy’s shoulder. It angered the wizard into advancing on them, and the others followed suit. Not for the first time, Alexia thanked her lucky stars for good bladder control. The icky, nauseating nastiness of five wizards surrounding them made her gag. Her fingers dug harder into Lee’s sides.

“Hang tight, Lexi.”

Oh, she was hanging, all right. Her hands gripped Lee’s sides. The rest of her trembled. She couldn’t stop, no matter what assurances she gave herself.

Lee stood completely still. He was so calm that she might have wondered whether or not his heart was still beating, but her ear pressed against his back. The steady
glub, glub
offered limited reassurance. Was he confident enough to be so calm, or just insane?

All at once Lee turned them both toward a wizard who threw out what looked like a long, white rope of electricity. Not unlike a sizzling bolt of lightning, only way hella scarier up close and personal.

The shaft of light flew right at them. Alexia’s heart stopped. They were toast. They were so fucking going dow—

Only Lee grabbed the beam of light.
Actually
managed to grip hold of the end like it was a handle or a rope or something.

And then… Oh, holy shit.

Pain screamed through Alexia’s body. One look up at the intense concentration on Lee’s face, the strain of his muscles against her hands, and she had the source. What she didn’t know was why. What in God’s name was he doing?

Come
on, Lee. Let go.

But he held on to the beam of light, his arm straining with the effort. The others around the perimeter shot projectiles, but they couldn’t get through whatever bubble Lee had built around them. Without warning, there was a rumble and a boom. If Alexia hadn’t been standing in the center of it, she’d have thought it was more thunder overhead. It came from Lee.

With a blinding flash, the rope of energy scattered outward in a burst of white flame.

In a knee-jerk response, Alexia wrapped her arms tight around Lee’s waist and buried her face in his back. She stayed that way even for a moment after he slumped and put his hands on his knees. “Is everything okay?” His body expanded and contracted against hers, but no answer came. “Lee?”

She looked up. Oh, cheesus. The wizards lay dead on the ground. The whole evil-assed lot of them. Burned. Ashes. So were some of the trees that had been unfortunate enough to bear witness to Lee’s display.

Her ear at his back told her that his heart maintained that reassuring
glub, glub
, albeit at a faster gallop. Still, the reassurance was there. Minimal, but there.

He gripped her hand. “We need to g—”

A large, dark oval appeared across from them in the woods. “Uh, Lee?”

A man stepped out. He bore a striking resemblance to Tyra’s mate, Anton. Only his eyes conveyed such evil intent that she could practically feel the knife sliding between her ribs.

Lee’s hand tightened around hers. His back expanded against her front with the force of his inhale. “Petros.” That name. Anton’s brother.

The wizard leader.

Before she could blink, Lee took aim with his gun.

“Oh, come on, Commander.” The wizard grinned and held his arms wide. “I’m here to make a deal.”

That
tidbit shocked Alexia enough to make her stick her head farther around the side of Lee’s body, but Lee brought his arm down and pushed her head back again.

No way in hell would Lee deal with an enemy. That would be like making a deal with the devil’s fucked-up cousin. The ugly one with the meth addiction and a penchant for stealing candy from old ladies. No, Lee would sooner drown a box full of puppies and babies. He’d rather kill—

“I’m listening.”

What. Thah. Crap? Alexia’s fingers clenched.

Across the way, Petros stepped into a patch of watery moonlight. He gazed up to the sky, head tipped back, unconcerned about the rain or what Lee might do while he wasn’t looking. If the creep had henchmen lurking off to the side, Alexia couldn’t see them. Finally, Dr. Weirdo took a deep breath and stepped forward. “I thought you would. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all.”