Hunter's Blood Special Edition (Cursed by Blood Saga) (21 page)

Rissa put the foil wrapped dish on the
small, corner table to the right of the door, and linked her fingers over her
belly. “I hope so, Lily.”

Lily pulled her friend into a hug.
“It’ll be fine, you’ll see.” She closed her eyes, silently offering up a prayer
for Terry and whatever cosmic strings she could pull.

Sean came back in, wiping the snow
from his feet, a small pink bundle in a snowsuit riding on his hip. “Look what
I found outside,” he said, picking frozen white lumps from the faux fur
surrounding the puffy pink hood. Strawberry blonde curls peeked out from
beneath the brim, and a pair of big blue eyes stared at the two women from
above the scarf encircling the tiny face. “She ambushed us with snowballs the
minute Jack and I opened the trunk.”

“Stephanie! What are you doing out of
bed and outside this early young lady? Where’s nanny?” Rissa scolded, taking
her daughter from Sean and putting her down in front of them. She squatted down
and unwound the little girl’s scarf, unzipping the top of her coat, letting the
pink hood fall backwards.

“I had a nightmare,” Stephanie said, her
eyes moving between her mother, and her uncle.

“A nightmare, huh? So you decided
throwing snowballs at Jack and Uncle Sean would make it all better?”

A flash of tiny little white teeth in
an impish grin showed for an instant. “Just Jack, but Uncle Sean kept getting
in the way.”

Lily bit the inside of her cheek,
watching as Rissa pressed her lips together for the same reason. But Sean
laughed aloud, even as Rissa shot him a look.

“But why did you sneak out? You know
you’re too little to be walking around the Compound by yourself. Nanny was
right there, you could have woken her up.”

“I didn’t want Nanny, I wanted you!”
The little girl’s face dropped. Her small body tensed, and her eyes widened
with fear. Trembling, her dread was so palpable Lily’s senses went into high
alert.

“What’s the matter, honey?” Sean
asked, glancing down at her.

Stephanie looked up at her uncle
again, this time her eyes like saucers. “The lady…she’s coming.”

Rissa and Lily exchanged looks. “What
lady?”

“The lady in my dream. She hurts
people, and she smells bad too, like in the hospital where Lily helps Dr.
Volkmann.”

Sean leaned over and scooped Stephanie
into his arms. “It was just a bad dream, munchkin. There’s nothing to worry
about.” But over the child’s shoulder, Lily’s gaze caught his and locked,
concern etched into her eyes. Stephanie was psychic, even more so than she.
Could there be more to this than just a simple nightmare?

Stephanie leaned back in Sean’s arms,
her little cheeks pale. “She won’t go outside in the snow. I think she’s afraid
of it, so that’s why I went outside.”

“
Shhh
, it’s okay, honey. No one
is angry with you for going out in the snow,” Rissa cooed. “As long as you’re
safe, that’s all that matters.”

“No, mommy, you’re not listening! Lily
was in my dream too, and the lady hurt her.” Stephanie turned back to Sean, her
eyes pleading and much too intense for one so young. “She has to stay here with
us, Uncle Sean! Don’t let Lily go away!” The words spilled from her lips, and
she started to cry, her knowing look melting away with each tear.

Rissa took her from Sean, and sat her
down on the stairs, wrapping her arms around her daughter’s tiny shoulders.
“Lily’s fine, Stephie…see? She’s right here with us,” she said pulling her in
closer. “It was just a nightmare.”

Stephanie cried even harder. “No! The
lady wants to hurt people, and she wants to hurt us! She’s coming here. I know
it.” Her blue eyes searched from her mother, to her uncle and back again. “You
don’t believe me, do you?” she said, her eyes wet and puffy, and her nose
running.

Sean squatted down, resting his hand
on Stephanie’s arm. “Of course, I believe you. But you don’t have to worry,
because Jack will take good care of Lily while she’s visiting her friends in
New York, and I’ll be here to take good care of you.”

Stephanie hiccupped. “You promise?”
Her eyes searched his, as if trying to decide if she believed him or not.

Sean smiled. “Pinky promise,” he said,
and held up his little finger, waiting for her to do the same. Slowly she
raised her hand and linked her tiny finger with his.

He gave her a brilliant smile. “That’s
my girl!” he said with a wink, pulling her into a hug. But over her pink
thermal clad shoulder, he looked at both women one glance telling Lily she was
no longer the only one concerned.

Lily hadn’t said a word through the
whole exchange, instead gently probing the little girl’s mind, looking for any
nuance to show her it was nothing more than a dream. Problem was, Stephanie’s
dream didn’t feel like a dream. It felt more like a vision—but there was no way
she was sharing that little tidbit with Sean at this point. They had enough
real problems to contend with, without adding tilting at windmills to the list.
In the meantime, she made a mental note to keep her guard up and her senses
open.

Outside, Jack beeped the horn, and
Sean picked Stephanie up, tossing her into the air and catching her before
helping Rissa to her feet. With both safely on the ground, he turned toward
Lily. A thousand unsaid words passed between them, and he slid his arm around
her shoulders. “You’re sure about this? We can always bring the bags back
upstairs.”

Lily tilted her head and glanced up at
him, her heart skipping a beat in the process. He was everything she wanted and
more.
So why was she doing this?
Indecision reigned, and she opened her
mouth, but no words came, so she just nodded.

Now wasn’t the time to let hormones
and heartstrings sway what they both knew was the right thing. Lily blinked
back the apprehension she knew shined alongside her determination. In the past,
she may have been reckless in her decisions, either flying by the seat of her
pants, or flying off the handle. After losing Terry, her selfishness had
changed to an all-consuming anger and a need for revenge. She wanted to shred
whatever it was that made her feel vulnerable. But things had changed again,
and she blinked back her fear not out of denial, but so as not to give Parr the
advantage.

Fear wasn’t a weakness, and it didn’t
mean she was losing her edge, it simply meant she had finally found a reason
worth fighting for, even if it had to be done at a distance— for now. Sean was
her reason for fighting. Her only reason.

They walked arm and arm to the car, as
Rissa stood on the porch with Stephanie and waved. Sean stayed at the edge of
the drive as they pulled away, and as she watched his face, her heart squeezed
in her chest. She glanced across the gravel and grass to her friend, and the
little girl she had wrapped in her arms, and prayed Sean would find a way to
end this mess, and soon.

Chapter Three

***

Jack Cochran pulled Lily’s Mustang up
to the light at West 50
^th
Street and 12
^th
Avenue. The car
idled while they sat in traffic adjacent to the Manhattan Cruise Ship Terminal.
“Looks like New York’s winter cruise season is in full swing,” Lily commented,
looking at the crowds heading toward the departure terminal at Pier 90.

Leaning back in his seat, Jack
stretched. “Why anyone would want to take to the sea in the middle of February
is beyond me.” Rolling his shoulders, he flexed his fingers, letting the blood
flow back through his joints before dropping his hands back onto the steering
wheel.

“You okay?” Lily asked, taking a sip
from her coffee. They had been driving for hours, and traffic hadn’t cooperated
at all since they’d hit the interstate outside of York, Maine. Making a face,
she turned from side to side looking for a place to spit. She rolled down the
window and leaned her head over the edge of the glass, but with a traffic cop
standing not ten feet from the car, she thought better of the idea. With no
other choice, she scrunched her eyes and swallowed, putting the cup down in the
holder between the seats.

“Okay…what was that about?”

“Nothing. The coffee tastes like it
was made with vinegar,” she answered with a grimace, wiping her mouth on the
cuff of her jacket.

Jack shook his head. “I told you the
coffee didn’t smell right back at the rest stop.” Giving her a sideways glance,
he smirked. “But that’s what you get for trusting that bulb in the middle of
your face, instead of my finely tuned instrument.”

Shooting him a look, she huffed.
“Bulb? Really?” Rummaging in her small leather backpack for a mint or a piece
of gum she mumbled, “…and Rissa wonders why you’re still single.”

“I heard that, and for the record, I
do just fine with the ladies, thank you very much.”

“Yeah, you’re a real charmer. Why
don’t you work that magnetism and slide us on over to the curb at the next
light? I should take it from here. After all, this
is
my neck of the
woods, right?”

His lips curled into a smile, even as
his hands curled tighter around the wheel. “I don’t think so. I’ve seen the way
you drive, and Sean made me swear I’d get you there in one piece.”

The light changed, and Jack eased the
car forward, but hit the brakes as a gypsy cab cut across two lanes of traffic
aiming for the exit. With an aggravated sigh, he added, “He didn’t, however,
say anything about
me
arriving in one piece.”

The cop standing on the brick medium
next to the crosswalk blew his whistle. “Move it, buddy! Whaddaya waiting for,
an invitation from the Mayor?” he shouted, waving at Jack to get going.

Leaning on his horn, Jack maneuvered
around the cab that half blocked his lane. “
Jesus Christ!
Who designed
this city? Gridlock my ass!” He rolled down the window. “It’s called a signal,
you asshole!” he yelled at the cabby, slamming his hands down on the steering
wheel. “This is crazy! I can’t believe you choose to live here
and
own a
car! I mean, really, what the fuck?”

If Jack didn’t relax, he’d steer them
straight into Battery Tunnel, merrily on his way to the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway instead of Lily’s apartment on Jane Street in the West Village. She
smiled to herself at the thought of Jack trying to navigate their way back from
there.

Chuckling, Lily glanced over as he
flipped another driver the bird. She froze.
Holy shit! His knuckles were
hairy. Like, furry hairy!
“Um, Jack?” she choked. “I think we need to pull
over somewhere.”

He shot her a look. “Why? In this
traffic, are you nuts? Are you all right?”

Lily bit the inside of her cheek.
“Um…yeah, I’m fine, but it’s not me I’m worried about.” Lily’s eyes flicked
from his face to his hands, and then back again.

Annoyed, Jack’s eyebrows knit together
in a confused frown. His eyes tracked her curious gaze to his hands, and his mouth
spread into a huge grin. “Lily, your face! Ha, ha, ha...Holy crap do you have a
lot to learn about shifters! What, did you think I was going to phase while
behind the wheel? I can just see the tabloid headlines—
NYC Traffic Gone to
the Dogs.”

“Well, what did you expect me to
think, when your hands look like they’re growing a pelt?”

“The unflappable, Lily Saburi, freaked
out by a set of hairy knuckles. Makes me wonder what we’re in for over the next
few days when the moon is completely full. It’ll be fine, family fun, don’t you
think?”

Lily crossed her arms in front of her
chest. “Not funny, Jack. If this a preview of the way things are going to be
while we’re thrown together, then you’d better get used to driving with one eye
open, ‘cause I’m going to blacken the other one shut.”

Jack smiled, his eyes crinkling at the
corners. “Come on, Lily, you cut your teeth on things way hairier than my
knuckles. Trust me it’s nowhere near a sign of things to come. But you have to
understand that between the stress of the drive, where the moon is in its
cycle, and your scent, my nature was bound to manifest in some way. After all,
I may be in control, but I’m not immune.”

“My scent? Oh no, not now, not you
too.” She slumped back against the seat, leaning her head back.

“I thought Sean talked to you about
this?”

Lily shot him a look, but at her
pained expression, he laughed even louder. “Don’t worry I’m not going to start
humping your leg or anything. It’s just the moon is waxing, and the closer it
gets to being full, the more I sense things. But you’re fine, trust me.”

Even less sure about this, than before
they left the Compound, Lily didn’t say a word. She exhaled quietly and turned
her eyes back toward the traffic. A half hour later, they pulled onto Lily’s
Street, only circling the block once before finding a parking space.

“I’ve got to check in with Sean first,
and then I’ll bring up the bags. You know how he is, he made me promise to call
the minute we arrived,” he said, walking around toward the trunk. “I’m sure he
wants to fill me in on what’s going on back home, as well. Parr has to be
having a field day now that you left. I don’t trust the bastard. It sucks how
fine a line Sean has to walk these days. It’s not right. Not for an Alpha.”