by Jenna Black
Surely if Hunter had really forgotten to buy condoms, he would have remembered far earlier than he had. Besides, he’d obviously planned his seduction with great care. How could he have shown such attention to detail with the meal and then forgotten something as vital as condoms? Not to mention how strange and evasive he’d gotten about it. She couldn’t shake the impression that he’d been lying to her, and that he hadn’t even tried to be terribly convincing about it.
So what had gone wrong? Why had he stopped?
Maybe she’d done something wrong, something that turned him off. Maybe she’d been too responsive to the touch of his hand, had shown herself to be verging on desperation. Or maybe she’d been too passive, lying back and greedily enjoying the pleasure he gave her without giving back—although at the time, he’d certainly seemed to enjoy her abandon.
Kiera’s throat tightened, and she swallowed hard, refusing to let herself get weepy over this. She’d known from the moment she’d met him that he was trouble, and his mysterious rejection was just a stroke of luck, stopping her from getting too close to yet another man who would trample her heart.
Too bad her heart insisted on feeling rejected instead of lucky.
The phone rang, and Kiera groaned when she glanced at the caller ID and saw her mother’s number. Somehow, Kiera had never gotten around to returning her mother’s last call. The last thing she wanted to do right now was talk to her mom, but if she didn’t answer at this time of night, she’d face the Inquisition when her mom finally got hold of her.
Grimacing in anticipation, she picked up the phone. “Hello?” she said, the tightly controlled edge in her voice betraying her turmoil.
“Kiera, honey, what’s the matter?” her mother asked.
Kiera cursed whatever maternal instinct had caused her mom to call at a time like this. “Nothing,” she said unconvincingly. “Just a long day. Can we talk some other time?”
Yeah, like that had a chance of working.
“You sound terrible. Have you had another close encounter of the weird kind with that new client of yours?”
Geez, that maternal instinct was in overdrive tonight. Just what Kiera needed. “Mom, I don’t want to talk about it. Please give me a break just this once.”
Her mom snorted. “You don’t honestly think I’m going to meekly give up, do you?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Has he touched the horseshoe?”
Kiera thunked the back of her head against the wall behind her bed. She wished there were some force in the universe powerful enough to make her mom back off. Unfortunately, she knew her mom too well.
“Well did he?”
Kiera suppressed a groan. “No, he didn’t touch the horseshoe, but the trap I set was pretty lame.” Heat bloomed in her cheeks as she remembered just how Hunter had distracted her from her purpose.
Her mother sighed. “I have a bad feeling about this, honey.”
“Mom, he’s not a fairy, all right?” It wasn’t fair to be snapping at her mother, but Kiera was too wounded to control her temper.
“I’m coming over.”
“Mother, no!”
“Yes. We need to talk. Too many strange things have been happening lately, and we need to figure out what it all means.”
“I don’t have the strength for it. Not now.” Not ever. “I just want to curl up and go to sleep.”
“That’s too bad. I’m coming over.”
“It’s after ten o’clock.”
“I know what time it is. I should be there in, oh, twenty minutes.”
“Mother—” But her mother hung up the phone before Kiera managed to finish the protest.
****
Kiera had reluctantly changed out of her comfy pj’s into a comfy set of sweats. As she waited for her mother to arrive, she prayed for strength. She felt far too vulnerable to deal with nuttiness right now, and she feared her temper would make her say things she would regret. She really, really didn’t want to hear about how Hunter might be some supernatural being. He was just a very human jerk, one of many she’d been taken in by.
She stood in front of her door, arms crossed over her chest, foot tapping with frustration. Maybe when her mom got a look at her face, she’d finally realize this was not a good time to push.
The doorbell rang.
Even though Kiera was standing within arm’s reach of the door, she waited a few beats, trying to calm her furious pulse, before opening the door. The wait didn’t help any, and she opened her mouth for a caustic remark as she swung the door open.
The words died in her throat when she saw Phantom standing close by his mistress’s legs. The dog stared up at her with his usual baleful expression, and Kiera blinked.
“There are no pets allowed in this building,” she told her mother, still looking at Phantom.
“I know.”
Kiera shook her head. “How the hell did you get him past the doorman and the desk clerk?” She could understand if Phantom were a toy poodle or something, but you couldn’t miss an Irish wolfhound. The dog was big enough to be mistaken for a small pony. She finally dragged her eyes away from the wolfhound to meet her mother’s grim face.
“Trust me, sweetheart, you don’t want to know.”
“What the—”
“You’re blocking the doorway, dear.”
Too perplexed to argue, Kiera stepped out of the way. She noticed that Phantom was not on a leash. How could her mom walk through the streets of the city with her dog off the leash? Didn’t she know the poor thing could get hit by a car? Or that she herself could be fined for breaking the law?
“Mom, what is going on?”
All signs of genial goofiness were erased from her mother’s face, and Kiera clearly saw the worry in her eyes. “I don’t know, honey. That’s what I’m here to find out.”
“But . . . but . . .”
“This Hunter Teague—he lives in this building, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“I’d like to meet him.”
“What?” The word came out almost a shriek, and Kiera winced at her own tone of voice. “Why?” she asked, more calmly.
“You’re going to have to humor me on this one. If I’m totally off base, then I’ll keep my silly suspicions to myself and you won’t feel quite so sure I need to be institutionalized. If I’m not . . . Well, we’ll deal with that when the time comes.”
Kiera rubbed her eyes. “I am so not up to this right now.”
Her mom put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “I know. And I’m sorry. But I don’t think this can wait.”
Kiera blinked, yet again. She’d meant she wasn’t up to having the conversation. “You mean you want to meet him now?” she cried.
“Yes.”
“No!”
“Yes!”
Kiera shook her head. There was no way she was taking her mom to meet Hunter, not after what happened tonight. It would be embarrassing enough to see Hunter later, when her nerves had calmed and when her mother was ten blocks away. “Absolutely, positively not. End of story.”
Her mother stood up extra straight, making the most of her height. Her eyes were frosty and determined, and Kiera realized with a start that the green contacts were gone. She’d never seen her mom look so grave, or so powerful. “Kiera Malone,” her mother said in a voice that would have cowed the most unruly school bully ever to walk the earth, “this is too important to fight about. You are going to introduce me to this man, and you’re going to do it now. You can yell at me all you want when it’s over, and if I’m imagining things I will apologize until I turn blue in the face. Now, let’s go!”
Her mother took hold of Kiera’s upper arm and started marching her toward the front door. Kiera tried to dig in her heels, but Phantom head-butted her from behind. She turned a glare over her shoulder as he padded along behind them.
“You can’t drag me there by force,” she grated through her clenched teeth. “You don’t know what apartment he lives in.”
“Nine B
.”
Kiera gaped.
“The nice man at the front desk told me.”
Kiera’s bullshit meter maxed out. “The guy at the front desk let you bring a horse-sized dog into the building and volunteered information about one of the residents? Either it’s time for him to get a new job, or you’re making this up as you go along.”
“Close your front door,” her mother said as if Kiera hadn’t spoken. “We might be gone awhile.” She strode into the hall and hit the down arrow without waiting to see if Kiera would follow.
Kiera considered ducking back through her door and locking it behind her, but she was pretty sure her mom was going to confront Hunter with or without her. At least if Kiera was present, she could do some damage control, maybe eventually rein her mom in.
Bowing to the inevitable—much as she dreaded it—Kiera grabbed her keys, pulled her door closed and got into the elevator.
Usually, even the shortest ride seemed an eternity in the aged beast of an elevator, but this one seemed to pass in a heartbeat. Kiera tried another impassioned plea, but her mother ignored her, striding up to Hunter’s apartment and ringing the bell. Phantom placed himself right at her mother’s side, the two of them blocking Kiera from the doorway.
Moments later, Hunter opened the door.
Strangely, his eyes fixed immediately on Phantom, skimming over Kiera and her mother as though they were hardly important. Even more strangely, Phantom’s hackles rose and his lips pulled away from his teeth.
Hunter’s face went deathly pale as he met the wolfhound’s furious gaze. “Well,” he said. “Damn.”
Kiera looked from him, to Phantom, to her mother. The grimness was back in her mother’s face as she put a hand on the door and pushed it farther open. Hunter didn’t resist.
“May we come in?” Kiera’s mother asked, in a tone that said it was not a question.
Hunter held his hands to his sides, palms open, and backed slowly into the apartment. Phantom stalked forward, stiff-legged, snarling.
“What is going on?” Kiera asked yet again, following her mother into the room and closing the door behind her. “This is all way too weird for me.”
Hunter finally wrested his attention from the snarling wolfhound and met her eyes. He opened his mouth as if to say something; then his shoulders sagged and he shook his head. “What can I possibly say?” he asked himself in an undertone.
“Oh, you’ll be saying plenty, mister!” her mother growled. “Sit down and keep your hands where I can see them.”
Something dark and dangerous stirred in Hunter’s eyes, something that sent a chill down Kiera’s spine. Phantom gave a sharp bark of warning. Hunter glowered at the wolfhound and curled his lip in disdain.
“Really?” he said. “You think you can take me?”
Was he actually talking to the dog? It sure looked like it. And it certainly didn’t look like he was kidding around, either.
“He has help,” her mother said.
Kiera felt sure she must be dreaming, because her mother was now holding a small silver gun pointed at Hunter’s chest.
Hunter looked back and forth between the gun and the dog, then held his hands out to his sides once more and moved to sit on the love seat. Phantom, still bristling and snarling, parked himself right in front of Hunter.
“Please, be my guests,” Hunter said, jerking his chin toward the couch while keeping his hands still. “Have a seat.”
Kiera would have remained on her feet, futilely trying to figure out what the hell was happening, except her mom guided her toward the couch and she was too stunned to resist.
Hunter had recovered from his original shock and now wore a faint, mocking smile on his lips. He lounged on the love seat as though perfectly at ease, but Kiera was certain it was all an act, a mask to hide whatever he was really feeling.
“Would you be so kind as to call off your dog?” he asked, his voice betraying nothing but amusement.
“Not just yet,” her mother said. “First, tell us who you are.”
“Why don’t you ask him?” Hunter drawled, indicating Phantom. “He seems to recognize me.”
“Excuse me,” Kiera interrupted, “but am I going insane or having a nightmare or something?” No one paid the slightest attention to her.
“I have a good guess who you are,” her mother said, “but I want you to tell my daughter the truth.” The gun glinted menacingly in her hand.
If Hunter was intimidated, be didn’t show it. “What makes you think she’ll believe me?”
“You know,” Kiera interjected, “I’m sitting right here. It’s not only not necessary to talk about me in third person, it’s downright rude.”
Hunter sighed and finally ended his staring contest with her mother, turning to her. “Sorry. This is fairly . . . awkward.” There was a flash of some emotion in his eyes, but he quickly turned back toward her mother and put his mask back in place. “Please ask the . . . dog . . . to back off. It’s hard to think with him slobbering on my shoes.”
Phantom let out an indignant bark and lunged. Kiera’s mother called him off at the last possible moment. Kiera was amazed he actually obeyed when his eyes looked so blood-crazed.
“Good doggie,” Hunter said, and Phantom started toward him once again.
“Stop it!” her mother commanded, and Phantom halted midstride. “Keep taunting him like that and I won’t be able to stop him from tearing your throat out. Now start talking. Who are you?”
“My name is Hunter Teague—that wasn’t a lie.” He turned to Kiera once more, and the mask slipped. In his eyes, she saw something she could only describe as misery. “I’m so sorry, Kiera,” he said, face tight with strain. “For everything.”
“Tell me what ‘everything’ is,” she said, her voice shaking.
The anguish in his face deepened. “My mother is the Queen of Air and Darkness,” he said. When he saw Kiera’s blank look, he clarified. “She’s the Queen of the Unseelie Court.”
Kiera wanted to dismiss this as nonsense, but the sense of portentousness that hung in the air wouldn’t allow her to. “Those are the bad guys, right? The Unseelie Court? Goblins and bogles and things that go bump in the night.”
He closed his eyes in evident pain. “Yes.”
“What do you want with my daughter?” her mother demanded.
He opened his eyes and raised his chin. “My mother sent me here to seduce her.”
Kiera gasped at the pain that lanced through her heart. The idea was just too ridiculous to believe, and yet . . . And yet a part of her had known all along that his pursuit of her hadn’t made sense. A part of her that had warned her he was bad news and she should stay away. If only she’d listened!
“I never wanted to hurt you,” Hunter continued, “but I’m my mother’s son, and my will is not my own. I’m sorry.”
He started to rise, but Phantom put him back in his chair with a snarl.
For the first time in her life, Kiera thought she might actually like the dog. Her mother shifted closer to her on the couch and slung an arm around her shoulders, glaring at Hunter. She was still pointing the gun at him with her other hand.
“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t let Phantom tear your crotch out,” she said, her arm tightening around Kiera’s shoulders.
Hunter ignored her, still watching Kiera. “Turns out I’m a sorry excuse for a seducer. In the end, I couldn’t go through with it. I couldn’t hurt you like that.”
His earlier rejection took on a whole new meaning in light of what she’d just learned, but it didn’t make her feel any better. “It’s a little late to worry about hurting me, you prick!”
He stood up, incurring another growl from Phantom. He narrowed his eyes at the dog. “Bite me,” he snapped, and quickly crossed the distance to the sofa, where he knelt on the floor in front of her. Phantom lunged and sank his teeth into Hunter’s leg as he knelt. Hunter ignored him, the only sign of pain a tightening of his features. Kiera’s mom pointed the gu
n directly at Hunter’s head, but he paid no more attention to that than he did to Phantom.
“I’m sorry,” he said yet again.
This had to be some kind of bizarre dream. Kiera shook her head as if trying to clear the cobwebs. Her mother was sitting quietly beside her, arm still around her shoulders. Hunter knelt at her feet, practically groveling in his futile attempt to apologize. And Phantom continued to growl, teeth buried in Hunter’s calf, as blood welled around the wound.
“Doesn’t that hurt?” she found herself asking.
“Yes,” he answered, “but I don’t care. Not now.” He reached for her hand, trapping it in his own before she realized what he was going to do.
A part of her mind said she should be recoiling, shouldn’t let this lying imposter touch her, but it seemed too much trouble to resist. He didn’t say anything, just clasped her hand in what she supposed he meant as a gesture of comfort. His face grew paler, and his palm was clammy in hers. Kiera frowned. Much though he probably deserved to suffer . . . “Mom, can you make Phantom let go?”
“I don’t know that I want to,” her mother answered in a glacial voice.
“Please?”
Her mom hesitated a long moment then finally called Phantom off. As an added bonus, she finally lowered the gun, though she didn’t put it away. The dog reluctantly let go, his muzzle now stained with Hunter’s blood. Kiera’s stomach threatened her with dire consequences should she look at the blood for another moment, so she forced her eyes away. She sat up straighter on the sofa, and her mom took the hint and gave her a little space. Kiera focused on Hunter’s face, seeing the pain etched into his features and knowing that very little of it was due to the bite wound. There was still so much she didn’t understand.
“Why?” she whispered, unable to force more sound from her throat.
He opened his mouth to answer, then seemed to think better of it, flicking a glance at her mother. “Does she know who her father is?”
“I’ve told her. But she doesn’t believe me.”
Kiera shook her head. “Oh, no. No, no. My father is not king of the fairies.”
“Finvarra is the High King of the Daoine Sidhe and the King of the Seelie Court, not king of the fairies,” Hunter said, as if that made everything better.
