The Elfbitten Trilogy (14 page)

     Daniel collapsed under me as the orgasm died away in the wake of the Hunter’s sudden appearance. His aura rolled through the room, hot and angry, lashing at our exposed skin. I looked over my shoulder, trying not to cringe under his power because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing it was affecting me. When I looked at him, I felt the bite on my shoulder tremble, as if afraid of him. He was terrifying and beautiful, the anger making his face something terrible to behold, and his magic was swirling and wild around him so that it lifted his long auburn hair on a wind I couldn’t feel. He was breathing deep and fast, making his nostrils flare like a bull, ruining the beauty of his face.

     I started to lift off of Daniel, but he gripped my hips, holding me down. I brushed a hand over his face and smiled at him and whispered, “It’s okay, I’m okay.” Reluctantly he eased his grip on me and let me slip off of him so that I could stand.

     Once I was steady on my feet, I spun around to face the Hunter. My hands were at my sides, fingers spread wide, and tiny sparks of power were snapping and flashing from the tips of my fingers. I felt the wind of my power swirl around me much like the Hunter’s, my blond hair lifting from my shoulders. I could almost see the light shining out of my eyes as I watched the Hunter, who hadn’t moved since ripping the door off of the hinges. It lay pathetically off to the side, splintered beyond repair. The thumping music of the club leaked into the room, but I could hardly hear it over the rush of blood in my ears.

     “I called you,” the Hunter finally said.

     “I know.” I inclined my head.

     “But you did not answer me.”

     “No,” I shook my head slightly. “I did not.” His skin ran red with anger and his fingers flexed, almost as if he was fighting from making fists of his hands, as if I would feel any more threatened by that. He was dressed almost identically to the way he had been the other night; he was shirtless, with dark blue jeans hanging from his hips, but he was barefoot. I tried to remember if he had been barefoot when we met, but I hadn’t noticed either way.

     “You are marked by me,” the Hunter said, his rough voice pulling me out of my head and back to the situation at hand.

     “Yes, thanks for that,” I snapped, the tiny sparks of light at my fingers shot out with my anger, singeing the carpet under foot.

     “You are marked by me,” he repeated. “You come when you are called.”

     “I am no beast,” I said through gritted teeth, picking up my hands so that he could see my angry magic as it traced up my wrists. “I answer no man’s call.”

     “You will answer to me.” His voice was calmer and I knew that was as much warning as I was going to get. In the next moment I was knocked to the floor; the carpet bit into the skin of my knees as the bite on my shoulder flared to life. Like a poker pulled from a fire, the mark on my shoulder seared my body, arching my back and making me clench my teeth. Desire rippled through my body and I longed to go to the Hunter, to wrap my body around him and taste him on my lips.

     I saw Daniel move out of the corner of my eye, only to be knocked back down on the couch with one wave of the Hunter’s hand, his magic slicing through the room easily. Daniel grunted with the impact, but he had distracted the Hunter enough to release his hold on me. Instead of rushing him, giving my advantage away, I threw my hands up, unleashing my power. The room was suddenly full of angry, wild lightning, striking out at the Hunter, throwing him back through the doorframe. He landed on his ass, giving me time to scramble to my feet.

     Standing with my feet hip width apart, I faced the Hunter, my fingers crooked into claws, digging the power of my magic into his skin. When he pushed up to his hands and knees, I saw the blood running along the crevasses of muscles and veins, dripping down to pool on the carpet. When he was on his feet again, I slashed out with one hand, slapping him in the face with my power. His head snapped back and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

     “You,” he pointed past me at Daniel, his face contorted with pain as my magic ate at him, “you have broken my hold over her.” Daniel struggled to his feet behind me and when the Hunter flexed his fingers, readying the shot of power he would have leveled at Daniel again, I shifted and threw another bolt of power to the Hunter’s stomach. He doubled over, howling in pain. He managed to clench his fist and the bite on my shoulder ripped through my body, the puncture marks reopened, and blood oozed down my chest and over my breast. I screamed in pain even as the sweet, swelling sensation began to build between my legs.

     “No,” Daniel yelled just before he seized me around the waist. He was still mostly naked with his pants hanging open as he held me against him. I could feel the warmth of his body, the swell of his chest pressing into my back, the soft cushion of his cock pressed into my ass, and I closed my eyes. I drank in the feel of his body around mine, the hard, muscled bands of his arms around my waist. I could see his honey brown eyes over me as he pushed his cock inside of me, feel the press of his round hips into my thighs.

     “No!” the Hunter growled as the thoughts of Daniel pushed back his power and the bite mark on my shoulder began to lose its power over me.

     “I am not yours,” I finally managed to speak now that the bite mark was little more than a nuisance on my shoulder.

     “You will be,” he warned and took a step towards us. I called up the wild, feral magic Daniel and I had been building over the last two days and felt it rip through my body. Bolts of lightning flashed and sparkled all over my body, but Daniel was unharmed by it so long as he held onto me, lending his will to me.

     “Never,” I said and flung my hands out in front of me. A thick bolt of lightning shot out from my hands, flashing in white, blue, and purple as it struck the Hunter in the middle of his chest. He cried out in pain, trying to invoke his power over me again, but only the merest flicker of desire brushed over me before it died away again, quicker this time. I watched with satisfaction as he fell to his knees under the weight of my power.

     “Now,” I said, finally able to take a full breath, “you will tell me how to break this bond.” I made a fist out of my hand and the lightning striking the Hunter swirled around him in an angry cocoon, gripping him like a boa constrictor. He struggled on the ground, trying desperately to free his arms from his sides to brace himself to get back to his feet. I started to move forward toward him, wanting to bend him to my will, but Daniel held me back, which was probably a good idea.

     “Answer me!” I yelled, bending forward and pulling Daniel with me as I spat at the Hunter. The force of my anger opened a cut on his cheek, the blood running down his face to join the rest on his chest. He grunted against the pain, but otherwise kept silent, concentrating on breaking my hold.

     “I’m going to try something,” Daniel said to me before he pulled his arms from around my waist. I nearly stumbled, not realizing how much he had been holding me up as I let my magic tear through my body, lashing out at the Hunter. I heard Daniel zipping up his pants and putting his belt back on before he stepped around me. I dared not take my eyes off the Hunter.

     “What are you doing?” I asked.

     “Just keep concentrating,” Daniel responded, walking slowly over to the Hunter still struggling on the ground.

     “Don’t you dare touch me, human,” the Hunter said, spitting out the last word as if it was the worst curse he could think of. I felt my face tighten with anger and flicked my wrist, sending a particularly nasty bolt through the Hunter’s groin, earning an angry roar from him.

     “Release Taryn from your hold and we’ll let you go,” Daniel said calmly, now only a few inches away from him.

     “She is mine,” he said before he spit in Daniel’s face. I cursed and crooked my fingers into claws and slashed at the air. The Hunter’s back arched and he cried out in pain as the lightning bolts carved down his back in answer to my anger.

     “Have it your way,” Daniel said, shaking his head, sounding almost sad for him. Daniel fell back into a fighting stance; he bounced on the balls of his feet and picked his hands up in front of him, keeping them loose and open. I almost forgot that he was a fighter, but when he picked up his right leg and swung it around, his booted food striking the Hunter in the shoulder with a sickening thud, there was no mistaking the power behind his kick. The Hunter grunted in pain and fell to his side. I knew if he had been on his feet, Daniel’s kick would’ve landed on the Hunter’s hip and he would’ve crumpled.

     Daniel danced back, shaking out his arms to loosen the muscles in his shoulders, before darting forward and following the Hunter to the ground. I watched his fist sail through the air and slam home in the Hunter’s face, shattering his nose, adding more blood to the mess. The Hunter roared in anger and frustration; his magic lashed out at me, the bite on my shoulder made me lose a little of my concentration, and allowed him to free his hands from my hold.

     The Hunter grabbed for Daniel, but he was too quick for him and Daniel landed two more blows to the Hunter’s face and body before scrambling out of the way. The Hunter pushed from the ground and tried to give chase, but he wasn’t able to divide his attention between the two of us and I felt his power falter. I screamed my fury and lashed out at him just as he made to strike Daniel and once again he was blown off of his feet and through the doorway into the club. I was no long conscious of my actions; the feral magic had been released and was now in control of my body.

     The wind of my magic swirled through the tiny office before I chased after the Hunter. I screamed wild and loud as I launched myself at the Hunter, no longer worried about being practically naked and what skin on skin contact would do to me. My body was surrounded in uncontrollable lightning that was lashing farther out from my body as I cleared the doorway. My knees sunk into the Hunter’s stomach. I clawed savagely at his face, the light in my eyes reflected back on his bloody face, and finally I saw a flicker of fear pass through his eyes. I was vaguely aware of the press of bodies around us and that the music had stopped, but nothing could tear me away from rending the Hunter powerless over me.

     “Enough!” Andre’s voice echoed through the entire building like the chime of a church bell, reverberating through our teeth and bones. I froze, my nails still buried in the Hunter’s face when Andre’s power ripped through the club and struck at us. The Hunter, who had been trying to fight me off, collapsed against the cement floor. Invisible hands grabbed me and pulled me off of the Hunter, setting me back on my feet, out of arm’s reach of the Hunter.

     “I will not have bloodshed in my club.” Andre’s voice sounded like it was coming from the walls and inside my head all at once. I cringed under his power. The Hunter scrambled to his feet. His eyes were wide enough to show the whites around the grey and he looked around for the source of Andre’s voice before he spun on the spot and ran. I tried to scream for him to stop, tried to reach out to catch him, but Andre’s power held me frozen. I seemed to be the only one frozen. Oh, when I got my hands on that vampire, I’d rip his head off!

     “None of that,” Andre’s voice said in my mind, soft and dangerous as the purring of a wild jungle cat. I realized only I heard that last comment. I knew the Hunter was gone, the sensation in the bite mark died away so suddenly I had an image of the club door slamming closed in my mind. I slumped in Andre’s power, all the fight going out of me as disappointment and frustration waged war through me. I didn’t have to pick my head up to know that Andre had stepped through the crowd and was standing in front of me now. I realized that I was grinding my teeth, so I assumed he’d given me back the ability to speak.

     “Gods damn you, Andre,” I growled at him. His pale face hovered close to mine and I couldn’t help but remember what his lips and teeth felt like on my body. He smiled slowly, flashing a bit of fang, letting me know he could sense my arousal.

     “Yes, Taryn,” he rolled my name in his mouth, “I believe that’s already been done.”         

     “How could you let him get away!” I demanded, struggling against his magical hold, wanting to strike out at him.

     “You shed blood in my club, that is not allowed,” he replied calmly.

     “What are you talking about? He bit me the other night and you didn’t do anything about that!” I didn’t think I needed to point out the fact that he had shed my blood as well. Since it turned out that he was the owner, I didn’t think the same rules applied to him.

     “You allowed that.”

     “I didn’t know what I was allowing.”

     “Nevertheless,” Andre shrugged, dismissing my protests, “you allowed it. What you were doing here was committing violence. I cannot allow that.”

     “Andre, he was trying to control me, like some mongrel dog!” I stared into his pale eyes, searching for some understanding, but vampires had their own rules that made little sense to the Fae and humans alike.

     “I understand,” he said, but I didn’t believe it. “But that does not mean you can break the rules of the club. This is a safe place,” he paused before adding, “for everyone.”

     “Andre,” I lowered my voice to a whisper, “we were together, couldn’t you just let me be? I just wanted to break the bond.”

     “Taryn,” he said softly, taking a step forward and reaching out a hand to brush my hair back away from my face. “He would never tell you how to break the bond, especially after you defied him.”

     “But,” I choked on the word and felt tears spring to my eyes as Andre’s words sunk in. I couldn’t be tied to that monster. I had thought he was sweet and flattering, but really he just wanted to add me to his brood. I couldn’t live my life wondering when the bite would take over and I would black out and lose days of my life and wake up with who knows who.

     “If I release you and promise to tell you what it is you need to know, will you calm down?” Andre asked. Both of his hands were on my face now, holding it up to look him in the eye. I nodded, rocking his grip on me. Andre leaned in and pressed a light kiss to my lips. His lips were cool, telling me he hadn’t fed yet. I felt the bonds of his magic fall away from me and I stumbled forward, Andre helping me catch my balance.