Queen of Skye and Shadow complete box set : Queen of Skye and Shadow Omnibus books 1-3

by Thea Atkinson

  I didn't dare peek out from beneath the beast to be sure he'd kept going.

  Thankfully, he did. I heard the sound of his footfalls recede as he sped up the path to my lands.

  I waited only until I couldn't hear him anymore before I could push the beast off me.

  Free of it, and stinking with clotted and dried blood and fur, I vomited noisily into the shirt.

  Weak and spent, I staggered to my feet. I could see Hunter's back in the distance as he raced for my paddock. Gentry looked up. I imagined he chewed reflectively as he noted a large man heading for him instead of me. I imagined, that old prissy beast would take one look at the size of who might be hopping onto his back, and would bolt for the hills.

  I felt bad for both of them when they realized I wasn't there because Hunter would use that horse to doubleback on me. And if he turned right now, he'd see me standing in the path, watching him.

  I couldn't wait for my legs to rest or my stomach to quell.

  I pushed into the underbrush and began picking my way through the dense woods. It took at least an hour to make it back to town and I was stinking, hot, and exhausted when I arrived.

  I had one thought: find a place to hole up till nightfall.

  The brothel was the only business that wouldn't care what I looked like or smelled like. And it knew how to keep secrets.

  I charged the door.

  Inside I fell against the panels with my back bracing it closed. My vision took a few seconds to adjust to the difference in lighting and when it did, I was met with three empty tables and two filled with pottery mugs, old fashioned stainless steel goblets, and plastic glasses from the times before that were clouded with age.

  I panned the single room, searching out a place to run to.

  I knew the area to the back led to another part of the building where there were three bed chambers. The best of the whores got their own rooms. The newest and least desirable ones would find a suitable sofa or chair beyond the bar.

  "Skye?"

  I sought out the voice. A feminine one. One I knew.

  Thank God.

  "Sadie?" I said and skated my gaze over the area.

  I found her sitting on one of those sofas just beyond the bar, her jean clad leg flung over the armrest.

  "What's going on?" she said.

  I blew air from my lungs slowly, through pursed lips. I was panting. I needed to calm down.

  That's when her face wrinkled up and she waved a hand in front of her nose.

  "You stink."

  I nodded. "It's been a bit of a day."

  I strode toward her, careful not to get too close to the bar and the waitress who was leaning away from me. Since it was early, the hookers would be sleeping and she was left to clear away things from the night before.

  Sadie unfolded herself from the chair and sat with her hands hanging between her knees, leaning forward.

  "What happened?"

  I knew the look of concern meant she'd get involved and I couldn't have that.

  "Sam is pregnant," I said, finding a place to settle that didn't mean I'd get dire wolf blood on impossible to clean fabric. That meant the floor in front of Sadie.

  She narrowed her gaze as she took me in.

  "Why would you be bringing Sam up when I ask what's wrong?"

  "Because you can't afford to get involved. That's why. You need to be reminded."

  "I'll be the judge of that," she said. "Out with it."

  "Hunter. He saw me."

  "Fuck," she said.

  "Yeah."

  She leaned back in the chair and reached over the armrest to her vest. She pulled out a pistol.

  "Take this," she said. "It doesn't have any bullets, but it might be enough to make a threat wary enough to give you a break. If you don't have time to meet Lance, this should at least buy you some time."

  I reached for it and stuffed it in the back of my pants.

  "Care to explain?" she said.

  I told her about meeting Lance in the woods and the dire wolf. Then I explained how I'd eluded Hunter.

  "But I doubt I've bought myself much time," I said. "He'll figure out I didn't go home."

  "And he'll be right back here in New Denver."

  I didn't have the heart to nod. There was no telling what he'd do, what he'd tear up, looking for me.

  "I should have just left town," I said. "But he'd catch up with me too quick on foot. I need a horse."

  "Gentry?"

  I shook my head. "I didn't make it home that far."

  She groaned. "Well, you can take mine, I suppose. I'm expecting a pony soon. I'll let her rest up and then take her horse back home."

  I wished it didn't have to be this way, putting her out like that, but it was too dangerous now to stay.

  "Go wash up," Sadie said. "I have a tab here. You can use my barter. We'll work things out when you're clean and more apt to instill some pity."

  I pushed myself to my feet and the waitress, who had been listening reached beneath the bar and pulled out a bar of soap.

  She threw it to me.

  "Down the hall," she said. "The whores all took a bath this morning. The water's cold by now, but there's lots of it still in the tub." She lifted a shoulder as though to add: if you don't mind a harlot's communal bath.

  "It was good enough for the ancient Romans, " I said. "I'll take it."

  She jerked her chin toward the bathroom. "There's a few changes of clothes in the basket by the door. Take what you need."

  I stripped naked before I even closed the bathroom door and eased myself down into the water. I didn't plan to be long, but it felt so good to totally immerse myself and lather up that I laid back in the tub with my hands flung over the sides for a good ten minutes in the frigid water. I washed my hair and braided it while the blood soaked off.

  As I stepped out and toweled off, I eyed the water with regret, thinking the bar wouldn't be able to sell this bath to any other patron. It looked like a crimson tide and no one would want to sink down into it no matter how dirty they felt.

  But I was clean. And it did wonders to clear out my mind as well. I felt much better. Much more able to face what was coming.

  Because I knew something was coming, and it was evident the moment I stepped back into the bar.

  Lance, Gal, Dallas, and Marlin all sat with Sadie.

  "Okay," I said. "This doesn't bode well."

  Sadie swung her gaze to mine.

  "Not well at all," she said.

  -11-

  "What is it?" I said, adjusting the Tshirt that was miles too big and needed to be molded to my waist by a leather vest I'd found with buckles that pulled tight. My throat felt about as constricted as those belts right about then.

  Sadie cleared her throat to speak, but it was Dallas who beat her to it.

  "Hunter has taken a school of children hostage," he said with no emotion in his voice. I knew that meant he took it very seriously.

  I sank slowly down onto the armrest where Sadie sat. She put a comforting hand on my thigh and I let it lay there, looking at the fingers and the way they trembled just a bit.

  "Fuck. I shouldn't have taken the time to soak. I should have just high tailed it."

  "All that would have done was got you caught on your way out of town," Sadie said. "At least laying in the bath kept you out of the streets and out of his sight."

  "And put kids in danger," I said bitterly.

  "Don't beat yourself up," Myste said. "He's bluffing."

  I gave her a side-eye. "Hunter doesn't bluff."

  I blew a frustrated sigh into my palm and I ran my hands over my face. I had to think. I had to fix this.

  "What does he want?" I finally said, although I knew.

  Dallas glanced at Lance and I knew it had been Lance that Hunter had gone to.

  "Well?" I said. "What will he take to let them go?"

  "You," Lance said and stared at the ceiling as he spoke in monotone, an obvious recitation of words he'd heard from Hun
ter. "All I want is Skye. Give her to me, and I will let all these children live."

  I got to my feet, the shock making my feet antsy.

  "Live?" I said. "You must have misheard him. Hunter wouldn't murder children. It's unthinkable even for him."

  Lance's gaze flickered toward Sadie.

  "That's just it, Skye," she said. "He knows now we're harboring you." She pointed toward the door. "Gentry brought Hunter directly here when he rode him back to town. He calls it justice."

  "Where is the justice in that?"

  She shrugged. "You see what's become of him?" she said. "Harboring a fugitive is against the law."

  I'd imagined Hunter had grown obsessive in his pursuit of justice but this was too much.

  I felt like someone had reached inside my chest and used my heart as a punching bag. I didn't need to know how many kids he had or even if he'd make good on his threat. I wasn't worth all that risk.

  Maybe Lance and Sadie were right. Maybe I did care. And if I did, I'd never be able to live myself if I put those children at risk.

  "That's it," I said and headed for the door. "He can do what he wants with me."

  I should have known he'd take it to the extreme. I didn't want to turn myself in, but there was no alternative.

  I made it as far as the door before Myste stepped in front of it.

  "We knew you'd say that," she said. "But you aren't leaving. At least, you're not going to turn yourself in to Hunter. Not yet."

  My fists clenched at my sides. "You would let him execute those kids?"

  "That's just it," Marlin said from behind me. "We aren't going to let him harm one hair on their heads. But we aren't going to let him harm you either."

  I snorted. "Then he'll harm you all," I said.

  Sadie stood up. "We'll fight."

  I faced her. "You should know better, Sadie. You've heard the stories. He won't stop. You can't win. I know how he thinks."

  "Then use it against him," Lance said. "Help us use it against him."

  They were talking foolishness. There was no way to use anything against Hunter. He didn't feel. He didn't care. All he wanted was justice. No matter what it took or who it hurt.

  I swung back to Myste. "Get out of the way."

  The quiver on her back poked up behind her shoulder.

  "Just hear us out."

  "There's no time," I said.

  Marlin was the one who came forward. "There is time. He gave us till Sundown."

  "Us?" I said with scorn. "You're one of 'us' now?"

  He swung the wires of his ear buds. No music wafted out and I imagined he'd worn the battery down.

  "I have someone I think you should meet. Meet her, and then, if you still feel the same, you can turn yourself in. No one will stop you."

  Myste fidgeted. I thought she believed I'd refuse.

  But I wasn't going to. It was obvious they thought I had something they needed. And there was one thing I could count on from Hunter. He kept his word.

  Right down to his vow to track me down.

  I sighed. "I'll go, but you can't just sit here idly waiting for some magic to happen," I said. "Hunter is a man of his word."

  Lance advanced on me, Gal on his heels.

  "What should we do?" she said.

  I didn't need to think to answer.

  "You need to find a way to get those kids out. If things go south, they need an escape."

  Lance nodded. "We'll work on it."

  I heaved a sigh and turned to Marlin. "OK. How far is this place?"

  He smiled. "You know it well," he said. "It's in Old Denver."

  Myste flung her cloak over me and passed me her quiver.

  "He'll think it's me going looking for you," she said.

  I accepted the quiver and slung it over my shoulder. I had no idea how to use it, but I hoped it wouldn't matter. Marlin stoppered up his ears again with the ear buds and pulled his beanie down over his ears.

  "Let's go," he said a bit too loudly.

  Old Denver turned out to be in the same building I'd run to when I'd found him lying dead on the steps of the library.

  "This is where you want me to meet this mysterious stranger?" I said, kicking at the book that lay face up, an obvious discard from my last visit. It skittered across the asphalt until it fetched up against a heaved up slab.

  He mosied over to pluck it from the ground. One toss into the air and it landed back in his clutches neatly.

  "Twilight?" he said and turned the book over in his hands to show me the cover: a black thing with a red apple.

  I shrugged. "Sometimes a gal needs an escape into something light."

  He scowled at the back. "Meet up with a real vampire and then tell me how light it is."

  I sighed heavily. "Want to tell me why we're here?"

  He pursed his lips.

  "Not here," he said and pointed in the direction of the deeper city. "In there."

  I peered along the direction of his finger. "How far?"

  I shuffled in my boots. Remembering the last time I'd run off into that direction.

  "There's wild things in there," I said. "It's not safe."

  He shrugged. "Just respect the natural things, and they'll respect you."

  "It's the unnatural things I'm worried about."

  He shoved my shoulder, making me stumble.

  "The things that are there won't bother you if you have business there."

  "And there is?"

  "I think you know the building. An old mega mall. You need to seek out the great darkness within and find the lake."

  The building was massive but I'd never been farther than the first few steps when Dallas had found me, and I doubted he'd been any deeper.

  "There's a lake in there?"

  "An underground spring, actually, that grew into a lake. It was a small thing until the ceiling collapsed in and the wild reclaimed most of it."

  I nodded although I wasn't really listening. All I could think was he wanted me to go into that dark and dank place and for what reason? He'd not been the least bit clear and I wasn't foolish enough to just mosy into a dangerous place because someone said I should.

  "And you're coming with me, right?" I said. "Because it's pretty damn dark in there and I could end up falling onto one of those splintered girders and kill myself."

  "More likely you'll meet up with a golem."

  He tossed the book onto the library step and yanked his beanie down further past his ears. The wires threaded a line down his shoulders into his shirt pocket.

  I eyed him suspiciously as I thought about the last time I'd seen him here in this courtyard.

  "Is that what spooked you enough to make you deadly comatose last time?"

  He rubbed his belly, putting me in mind of the Buddha.

  "Let's just say I didn't respect him the way I should have."

  I groaned. "So, you're not coming with me?"

  He shook his head. "I can't. She wants to meet you alone."

  "Fuck," I said. This was turning out to be more than I expected and I was already wasting time. "This is ridiculous."

  "Just go. Open yourself to the waters. She'll meet you when you are ready."

  It was clear the best I was going to get from him was esoteric cliches.

  "And you?" I said, a faint note of accusation tainting my tone and I didn't care to soften it.

  He squatted onto the step and pulled out the music box from his pocket and tapped it twice on his knee.

  "I shall be waiting and listening to Nautical Disaster."

  I gave him a sharp look, intended to deliver exactly what I thought of his little joke.

  "That's what you're calling this journey of mine?"

  He looked up surprised and then laughed. "I hadn't thought of that," he said. "No. No, it's a song by a group I discovered on this music box."

  He pulled out one ear bud and held it out to me. I shook my head.

  "If it's an omen, I don't want to listen."

  "Suit you
rself," he said. "But it is a pretty sweet tune."

  He promptly shoved the bud back beneath his beanie and lay back on the step with his knees propped up. Apparently, the discussion was over.

  "Try not to die," I muttered before I turned toward the street. If I was going to do this, I'd best get to it.

  I knew it was a good walk at a brisk pace at best. Last time, I'd run it in ten minutes and scalded my lungs with dry heaving air for my trouble. This time, I jogged, and while I didn't feel that awful presence at my back, I didn't exactly feel alone either.

  I told myself it was just nature. That I had to respect it. The last time, I'd been uninvited. This time, I had an invitation. That had to make a difference, right? There were no dire wolves watching me from behind broken down cars. Just a few birds. A squirrel, maybe. Certainly, there were no dark fae or nymphs or golems tracking my every movement with malicious intent.

  At least it was still daylight and that meant that if I could find my way past the gloom where the ceiling still held, I might get to an open area with a lake in the middle of the reclaimed building.

  That's what I told myself as I picked my way through the dark once I gained access to the building. I went in the same EXIT door as before, but this time, I pushed deeper into the building, casting a look upward at the open sky where the roof had come down in places, and using all my senses to pass through the darkest of areas where it wasn't.

  It was difficult, painstaking work. I never felt alone as I moved cautiously down a staircase made of metal slats that was rusted in most places but at least kept most of its treads. I told myself that whatever eyes were watching me, that I was being respectful. I belonged. I had business there.

  It was unnerving to say the least. I'd rather a demon I could face. A man I could fight. Not this incessant and constrictive sense that I could do one thing wrong and bring on heaven only knew what kind of retaliation on my head.

  It felt like an eternity before the air grew humid. I followed my nose and the sounds of water lapping against earth and was relieved when I entered what looked like a grotto but must have been a shop at some point in the basement. Here the ceiling was wide open and I could see all the way up several floors. The skeleton of the mall was clear from the bottom and must have been something in its day.