Hunter Betrayed (15 page)

He cut their connection before she could ask questions. He
couldn’t deal with them at the moment.

In the middle of the sewing factory’s parking lot, Calan
stood with his arms outstretched. He called forth his horse for the first time
in a millennium. From the portal to the Underworld only a Huntsman could use,
his stallion trotted out. The tug of Arawn’s summons followed. Calan blocked
it. He’d deal with his sire soon but didn’t dare risk it while he fought the
temptation of the Hunt.

A visit to the Underworld often resulted in a brawl with his
father. The additional violence on top of what rode him would send him over the
edge. It took every ounce of his control to resist its pull.

Can’t give in. Harley needs me here.
So too did his
siblings and the humans.

The stakes were too high to risk being locked in yet another
prison because he couldn’t control himself. The danger of the Hunt came when it
consumed a Huntsman to the point where nothing else mattered except exacting
revenge on whatever had sent him over the edge. He would become what Harley had
first pegged him, an unstoppable force that destroyed everything in his path.

He couldn’t allow that to happen, not when his personal
heaven was within reach.

Harley stood in Ian’s living room while he prowled. The
description fit better than paced. Coiled energy tightened his muscles. Ian
curled and uncurled his fists. He finally stopped, faced the mirror above the
side table and punched it. Glass shattered. The tinkling noise of shards
hitting the wooden floor resounded around them. Rough pants sawed past his
lips. Blood dripped from his knuckles.

She blew out a slow breath and dropped her gaze to the
silvery blades on the floor at his feet. “I’m sorry, Ian.” The tears spilled
over. She didn’t bother wiping them away. “I should never have—”

Ian leveled glinting hazel eyes on her. “Fucking stop. I am
so goddamn sick of hearing your lame-ass apologies.”

She stepped back and wrapped her arms around her chest. “I
don’t have anything else to give.”

He whipped his head around to pierce her with the hardest look
she’d ever seen from him. She backed up more.

“You need to stop apologizing, Harley. It doesn’t change
anything. Not the rotten blood in your body or the hell that follows you.” He
closed the distance between them. “You did not ask to be fathered by a
monster.”

She knew that and for the first time in her life she had a
way to make up for every death Raul and the other redcaps caused.

“Calan will avenge Cynthia’s family and maybe if we’re
lucky, we’ll find her alive.”

“Don’t feed me any false hope. Cynthia is either dead or
Raul made her into a sluagh.” Ian groaned. “And the worst damn part is our last
words spoken to each other were ones of anger.”

She laid a hand on his arm. “What happened?”

He dug out the antique ring he’d given to Cynthia. It had
belonged to their grandmother and was worth a small fortune. He held it up to
the light, examining it from all angles.

“We started arguing over something stupid, china patterns.”
He grinned but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It turned into a fight with her
demanding shit like a new house and car. I knew it was just the stress of the
wedding and stuff but Trevor’s words kept going through my head.”

Silence stretched. Finally, she finished his statement
because she could guess where the conversation was going and didn’t like it.
“So you asked her about it.”

“Yeah. She didn’t deny or admit to it. She told me that if I
didn’t trust in our love then maybe marriage wasn’t the right choice for us.”
Ian curled his fists. “I turned my back on her and told her we’d talk in the
morning. I left but came back when I’d calmed down. The house was dark so I sat
in my car and—”

The front door banged open with a gust of wind. The scent of
a campfire rushed in with a breeze that scattered papers and knocked the
picture frames from their spots on the mantle.

Calan.

He stepped through the opening. His gaze zeroed in on her.
His nostrils flared and a rumbly snarl curled his lip. She reached behind her
and braced against the wall to steady her shaky legs at the sight of the fury
stamped on his face.

The long fingers that had brought her pleasure hours ago
lengthened. The nails thickened, sharpened and grew into slightly curved
talons. She jerked her attention from the deadly claws to his face. He swept
his gaze over her in an intent perusal that stripped her, penetrated her and
left her raw and open in front of him. He settled his gaze on her face. Desire
softened his eyes but the pointy teeth filling his mouth didn’t match the
hungry look he wore.

“Come here,” Calan growled. “Need you.”

Her heart raced but she closed the distance between them.
The moment she stepped within arm’s length, he slid his hand around her waist
and tugged her against him. Face buried into her hair, he breathed deeply.

“Harley, my Harley,” he whispered the words into her hair.

Whatever he had discovered had upset him. She wanted to
demand he tell her what he’d found. The urge to calm him stopped her.

She pressed her lips to his neck and nipped right over his
pounding pulse. He sucked in a breath, but the tension in his body didn’t
lessen. With the faintest caress, she skimmed her fingertips across his back
and kissed up the column of his throat to his ear.

A lick to his skin froze him in place. A nibble on his
earlobe and his pent-up air escaped in a rush. She grinned at the implications
of his reaction. The power she’d always sought over her lovers had never been
as immediate and complete as what she had with Calan. Maybe it was a different
sort of control, but it filled her with a sense of importance. She’d calmed the
wicked Huntsman with only a kiss.

He clutched her tighter. “More. Touch me more.”

She kissed her way across his jaw, the stubble tickling and
sensitizing her lips. At the corner of his mouth, she flicked her tongue out.
He parted his lips and turned for her kiss. She didn’t take his offer. Once she
did, she’d want everything he could give her. With Ian a few feet away, it
wasn’t happening.

A hand on her bottom, he lifted her. She automatically
linked her ankles around him and he took the kiss she’d been reluctant to give.

A groan of hunger added to the rough thrust of his tongue
along hers. Head tilted, he delved deeper—stroking, licking and exploring as if
he’d never kissed her before. He swept his hands over her back, along her spine
and into her hair. Held still for his pleasure, he ate at her mouth, feeding
his moans to her and demanding her response in return. She dug her hands into
his hair, mimicking his pose, and gave it to him. It was impossible not to.

The passion he stirred in her spread through her body in a
wave of sensation that left her squirming over the trapped cock she wanted
lodged deep inside her. Her breasts ached, eager for his mouth. Her clit
thumped, begging for his touch. She rocked over his hard length, pushing the
head against the bundle of nerves. Not enough. She needed more. She slid her
hand between their bodies and over the bulge in his pants. He groaned.

Harley, need—

“What the hell did you find?”

Harley jerked at Ian’s barked question, but Calan didn’t
flinch. He continued to worship her mouth and grind his erection against her.

“Dammit, get your tongue out of my baby sister’s mouth and
answer the goddamn question.”

Calan smiled against her lips. He pulled back and she got
lost in the lust simmering in his eyes.

Thank you, flower, for reminding me of what I am.

He shifted his attention to Ian. “I found Raul’s fairy ring.
A female sluagh’s footprints led up to it.”

Ian groaned. The agonized sound cut at her heart. She
covered her mouth. “Oh god, Cynthia.”

Calan closed his eyes. “I can’t say who it was.”

She glanced at Ian. He held his face in his hands. She faced
Calan. “If you smelled something of hers, would you be able to tell.”

A growl rumbled his chest. “No.”

She frowned at the anger laced into that one word. “What
about your hounds?”

“No.”

“But they’re dogs and—”

“Where’s the fairy ring?” Ian cut her off.

Calan peered past her to focus on Ian. “You do not need to
know, human. I will avenge the sluagh’s death and free her spirit.”

“No.” Ian stepped forward. “If it’s Cynthia, the creature
using her body will die by my hand. I will be the one to give her peace.”

Calan raised a brow. “That so?”

“Yeah, that’s so.”

With a gentle hold on her waist, Calan lifted her and set
her to the side. He faced Ian, stance widened and arms crossed. A small smirk
played on his lips. Seeing it worried her, but her attention landed on her
brother’s agonized face.

“Do you wish to join the Hunt for her?”

She tensed, instincts flaring again. “Ian don’t—”

“Yes.” No hesitation. Ian reached a hand out. “I’m in.”

Calan grasped it and squeezed. Ian’s nostrils flared. Minutes
passed in silence. She glanced between the two men. No emotion showed on their
faces. They didn’t even blink. She held her breath and waited.

Finally, Ian nodded and turned his back, but not before she
caught him pressing a balled fist to his chest.

“What’s going on?” No answer. “Ian, are you, okay?”

Again he nodded.

She stepped in front of Calan. Hoping to keep her voice
calm, she asked, “What did you do to him?”

“I shared with him knowledge of the Hunt. He needs to know
what he’s in for.” Calan grabbed her hand and tugged her against him. “Now,
come with me. Daybreak is less than an hour away. I want to show you something
before it rises.”

He led her across the room. At the door, he glanced over his
shoulder. “Prepare yourself, human, and keep my hounds close. We ride tomorrow at
dusk. Have your final decision made.”

The horse waiting in the middle of Ian’s backyard was a
phantom in every sense of the term. The trees behind it showed through its ghostly
body. Harley froze, mesmerized and repulsed by the skeletal creature. It turned
black, fathomless eyes on her. She got lost in the abyss. It sucked her in,
wrapped around her and showed her an image of herself she didn’t understand.
She stood beside the lake on her property, arms stretched out and head tipped
back. Black streaks bisected her platinum curls. Lighting flashed. Her scream
echoed in her head.

Within one heartbeat and the next, the picture disappeared.
She jerked backward. Calan linked his arms around her waist, stopping her
tumble.

“Be calm, Harley. This is my horse, Death.”

She settled against his hard body, the press of his erection
and the comforting scent of a campfire chasing the unsettling image from her
mind.

“Death?” She tipped her head back. “You named your horse
Death?”

The sight of his lifted lips curled her toes. Dear god, the
man could turn her on with only a smile. Did he realize the power he had over
her?

“My sire named him actually. Each rider is given a horse
from Arawn’s stable. Death is bonded to me.” He pressed his hand to his pec,
where the living tattoo marked him as a Huntsman.

“I’ve never ridden a horse.”

The smirk on his full mouth faded. He tensed. “Does he
frighten you?”

She peered over her shoulder at the big animal. It watched
her with its fathomless eyes. She swallowed hard. The horse did scare her. She
got the impression it could see into her soul. Her tainted soul. She swallowed
hard and faced Calan. The careful way he watched her, as if expecting her
disgust, stopped her from telling the truth. “No.”

“Good.” Calan settled his hands on her hips and massaged.
“Get on, Harley. I grow impatient.”

“What is that you want to show me?”

“A warehouse.”

His flat tone sent a chill down her spine. “What’s in it?”

A tic developed on his jaw. “You’ll see.”

“Just tell me. We’re wasting time that you could be using to
hunt Raul.”

He worked his jaw and shifted his gaze to the woods
surrounding Ian’s house. “The night wanes and unless I pass him on the street,
I won’t sense him.”

“But I thought you said—”

“I know what I said, but I won’t find him.”

“What do you mean?”

The hard look had returned to his eyes. “I’ve bonded my body
to yours, Harley. As my mate, you are safe from the Hunt.”

The conversation she’d had with Raul repeated in her head.
Trepidation settled over her. “And what does that have to do with Raul?”

“The redcap is partially bonded to you. So that means the
Hunt is blinded to him and his sluaghs also.”

She gasped and covered her mouth to muffle the sound.

My blood. Oh god. I really have endangered everyone.

Calan helped Harley off his steed’s back. She’d remained
silent on the ride to the warehouse near Cynthia’s home. He’d tried to get her
to talk about Raul, but she’d only shaken her head. She’d needed a moment to
deal with the news he’d delivered. Calan had given it to her. The time had come
to face the implications of her past, however. For both of them.

Nine years had gone by without Calan knowing Harley’s fate.
He wanted the knowledge of the life she’d lived. What she’d done. If she’d
loved the males she’d accepted into her body. How Raul had hurt her. There
would be no secrets between them. They would close the gap.

Starting now.

He led her across the lot, opened the door and ushered her
inside. Her gaze zeroed in on the fairy ring.

“Here? He’s had a damn fairy ring right in our hometown?”

She didn’t wait for the obvious answer. She stormed into the
building, hands flexing and releasing at her sides. With quick strides she
circled the mushroom border, an expression of rage twisting her features. He
extended his mind to hers. A wall met him. An actual brick wall. He felt the
roughness of the blocks under his mental fingers.

She’d blocked him.

“Harley.”

Her limbs trembled and her pace quickened. He rushed
forward. Bringing her here had been a mistake. Without their complete tie, he
couldn’t touch her mind unless she allowed it. Her refusal of his assistance
made it harder for him to help her through her anger. He should’ve anticipated
her reaction to the ring. He’d been too focused on uncovering the reason why
she’d sought out other men instead of him, the one who’d worship her for
eternity.

In the face of her anger, it had been a damn selfish reason
and one he regretted.

“Harley, stop.” He stepped into her path.

She cut him an irritated look. Her nostrils flared and she
promptly sidestepped him to continue her looping. On the next pass, he grasped
her wrist and tugged her tense body against his. She didn’t resist but didn’t
relax into his embrace either.

“Flower, let me in.” He pressed his lips to her ear.

She shook her head. He pressed kisses to her neck, her jaw
and finally licked the seam of her lips. She pushed against his chest. “Calan,
st—”

He slid his tongue between her parted lips and led her in a
slow, drugging kiss. On and on, he twined their tongues. Finally, she linked
her arms around his neck.

The wall separating them came crashing down.

He swept through her in a metaphysical caress, easing her
tension and spreading warmth into her. She moaned in response to the sexual
push he gave and kissed him harder. He probably should’ve felt bad for
influencing her, but sex offered a Huntsman a safe way to alleviate their
pent-up rage. It’d do the same for Harley. Their struggles weren’t all that
different, simply flip sides of the same battle.

Lust built the longer they kissed. His cock lengthened and
ached for the cushion of her body. He wanted to love her. The warehouse with
Raul’s fairy ring and display of Harley’s pictures wasn’t the right place for
it. He broke their kiss and cupped her face between his hands.

“Do not block me, Harley. For both of our sakes, I need to
be able to touch your mind and comfort you the way you have done for me. We
need each other.” He brushed his lips over hers once more. “Understand?”

“Yes. It’s just that…” She leaned back, putting enough space
between them to motion toward the portal to the fairy realm. “This has been
here for a while, hasn’t it?”

The mushrooms grew with each passing year. Some of the older
ones he’d seen had stood as tall as a man. “Several years at least.”

She pushed away from him and knelt next to the ring. “Ian
owns a company that does security work for the government and sometimes
personal protection cases. At least that’s the side of it that makes money. In
truth, he uses all the contacts he’s made to protect me.”

“I’m glad. I’d like to know how he managed to keep you out
of harm’s way.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “He hasn’t. I’ve moved every
time I’ve drawn the notice of one of the fairies’ creatures. What he has done
is kept detailed records of sluagh kills and has the profiles of at least two-dozen
redcaps. When word reaches him of murders that fall into either category, he
investigates and searches for their fairy rings. He burns any he finds.”

Calan tensed. “That’s dangerous. As a human, he wouldn’t
know of the danger he was in until the monsters revealed themselves.”

“I know. He feels it’s his duty to protect as many people as
he can, but he could never find the fairy ring close to our home. He’d always
suspected there was one. Too many locals had disappeared over the years and the
types of murders in the neighboring cities suggested sluagh activity. It drove
him nuts.” She swept her gaze over the dirt floor. “Raul is smarter than I
thought.”

His heart skipped a beat. He mimicked her pose and tugged
her away from the ring. It wouldn’t cloud her mind during the daylight hours,
or afterward for that matter. Her fairy blood made her immune to its influence.
Humans, on the other hand, were lured into the rings by illusions.

Most often they saw people dancing who would then invite the
unsuspecting person to join them. Other times, they saw someone in distress,
beseeching their help. No matter what captured their attention, the end result
was the same. Once a human stepped past the ring of mushrooms, they tumbled
into the fairy realm and became a slave to the owner of the ring.

“Be thankful your brother never ran into a sluagh or
redcap.”

“I made him a dagger, so at least he had something to fight
with if he had.” She gave him a wan smile. “If I lost Ian to them, I would’ve
killed myself, no matter what promise I made.”

“You love him that deeply.” A stupid question maybe, but he
needed the answer. Although he’d invited Ian to ride the Hunt, Calan hadn’t
decided if he’d let him. Once the human accepted a horse, he’d be bound to it
and the rider who invited him for eternity. Such a commitment was not accepted
or extended lightly.

“With all my heart. Ian and my vow to you are the reasons
I’ve lived so long.” She reached forward and laid her hand on his chest. “It
hasn’t been easy, Calan. Every day the temptation has grown and so has the
guilt. Everywhere I go, people die. I’m a menace to everyone, more so now.”

He covered her fingers with his and stroked her knuckles
with his thumb. “They would kill and torture whether you lived or not.”

She chuckled. “You sound like Ian. That’s his favorite
argument. He even has the statistics to support it.”

He treasured the lighthearted smile and hated that he had to
erase it. The sooner he got it over with, the better. “Do you notice anything
different about this circle?”

She held a hand out to hover over the nearest mushroom.
“It’s not diseased.” She scrunched her brows and glanced at the skylights.
“Why, because it’s out of the direct sun?”

“No. Raul has fed from you and you still retain your
goodness. The ring will remain healthy unless you succumb to the chaotic
madness that destroyed the Seelie Court.” He tipped her chin up. “How did he
get your blood?”

She choked on a sob. “It was a couple weeks after you saved
me. I was on my way to find you and…”

Her voice trailed off. His first thought centered on the
knowledge that she had tried to keep her promise. The second chilled him.

“Raul stopped you,” he spoke the words she hesitated to say.

She nodded. Tears filled her eyes.

“What happened?”

“I stupidly fell for an illusion he created. I saw a young
girl on the side of the road crying. She had a suitcase and…” She groaned. “I
pulled over to see if I could help her. God, I was so damn naive.”

A growl crawled up his throat. Raul had played on Harley’s
goodness.

She skimmed her fingertips across his back in a soothing
caress. He savored her touch. Here she was, recalling a difficult time, and
still she sought to comfort him. He pulled her closer.

“Raul was waiting, wasn’t he?”

“Yes.” She rested her cheek over his heart. “I should’ve
expected it. You’d left me with the knowledge of the tricks they played. I just
hadn’t really believed anyone would do that. I…I didn’t have much experience
with people.”

He thought back to the first time he’d spied her. She had to
have been close to nine. Her goodness had been a beacon to him. It had confused
him. He’d sensed the taint on her soul but there hadn’t been any evidence of
its damage. For years afterward he’d pondered why. He’d never come up with a
plausible explanation. Her words gave him one.

“Your mother knew what had raped her.” She had to have.
Normal people didn’t ring their homes in protective circles of iron spikes.

“I believe so. Whether he’d told her or she’d guessed, I
can’t say but she used the knowledge to protect me. Unfortunately, she did so
by isolating me from the outside world.” She sighed and lowered her voice. “I
grew angry and bitter as I got older. Finally, I started sneaking out. Within a
week, Raul found me.”

He pressed his lips to her hair. “I’m sorry, flower. I wish
I could’ve saved you from the pain and sadness you’ve experienced.”

She clutched him tight. “Me too.”

He held her in silence for a long moment but he wanted the
rest of her story. He suspected whatever happened made her change her mind
about returning to him. “When you got out of your car, Raul attacked you.”

She dragged in a shaky breath. “He dragged me into the woods
and he…”

His anxiety spiked. “Did what?”

She shook her head and slipped out of his embrace. Her back
to him, she wrapped her arms around her chest. “He gnawed and sucked on my
ankle, as if I were a juicy fruit or something.” She shivered. “God, Calan, the
sounds he’d made sickened me. I used the distraction to stab him in the heart.”

“With your dagger?”

She peered over her shoulder. “Of course.”

“Why didn’t you finish it?”

She lifted trembling hands to her face and pressed them to
her eyes. “There was so much blood and I just wanted to get away. He…” She cleared
her throat. “He hurt me.”

He turned her into his arms and gently pried her hands away.
Tears collected on her lashes. A terrifying idea took hold. “What did he do?”

She buried her face in his shirt. “Nothing.”

He glanced over his shoulder at the display of pictures.
Raul was obsessed with her. He’d watched her for years. Calan focused on one of
Harley sleeping naked on top of her bed. Raul had gotten close to her while
she’d been unaware. Partially bonded to her or not, he would’ve hungered for
her power. He hadn’t taken it. She would be dead if he had. No, the redcap
wanted to mate her. He hungered for her body as well as the strength he could
get from her.

Why? Because he’d enjoyed it before?

Calan prayed he was wrong. It would kill him to know his
beautiful mate had been violated. “Tell me.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She shoved at his chest. He tightened
his grip and she relented. “I got away.”

Anger gripped him. Harley had suffered and he hadn’t been free
to protect or even comfort her. “Tell. Me. Now.”

“Why?” She tensed and pierced him with narrowed eyes. “So
you can embrace your rage?” She shook her head. “No. I won’t give you a reason.
It happened nine years ago. I lived.”

The look in her eyes told him the truth. He had to be sure. “Raul
raped you, didn’t he?”

She swallowed hard. “Almost.”

A roar tore from his throat.

She wrapped her arms around him. “Calm down, Calan. I
stopped him. It’s okay.”

His body shook from the power rushing into his muscles. He
fought the downward spiral and focused on Harley’s small hands caressing him.

“Skin,” he rasped.

She shoved his shirt up and ran her fingers over his back.
The anger subsided, not the need for revenge. “He will suffer, my mate.”

“Good, make him hurt for me.”

“He’s obsessed with you. He’ll try again.”

“He won’t.” She tipped her head back. “He needs me to come
willingly to him.”

“Yes, but once he realizes you won’t mate him, he’ll steal
your power by soaking his cap in your blood and breaking his tie to Dahm. And
unless you ingest his blood too, he won’t have to answer to a fairy master.” He
peered over her head at the back corner of the room. A growl rumbled his chest.
“We cannot allow that to happen. Blinded from the Hunt, he’ll be near
impossible to stop.”

He returned his attention to her. Not soon enough, however.
She followed the direction of his stare and gasped.

“Oh god.” She shoved away from him and approached the sick
display of photos. A few feet away, she stopped.

“He’s been watching me for years. He told me he had. I
didn’t realize…” She reached a trembling hand out to the picture he’d stared at
not long ago. “I endangered every lover I took too. I hadn’t meant to. I
thought I was being so careful, meeting them during the day, running
afterward.”

She stepped backward and stretched a hand out to him. He grasped
it and pulled her against him. Her pain beat at him, but so did his own. “Did
you desire them so much?”

She snorted and turned in his embrace, wrapping her arms
around his waist. “No, I used them. Every last one.”

He swallowed around the lump in his throat. “Why?”

With soft back and forth motions of her cheek, she caressed
his chest. “I was horny and lonely. Selfish reasons, I know. I couldn’t help
it, though. Every night I’d masturbate thinking about you.” She leaned back and
met his eyes. “Your eyes haunted me. I couldn’t let you go.”

“I left a piece of me with you when I shared my knowledge
and strength so you’d be able to find me and not fear what I am. I’d planned to
explain everything and finish binding myself to you when you returned to me.”