The Hunt

by Heather Killough-Walden

  Lily blinked up at them, at once aware two things. One, Dannai and Charlie had been with them minutes earlier, and now they both appeared to be gone.

  Danny, Charlie and their mates – along with a handful of other key players in the werewolf community – had decided to pool together since word had come down from council headquarters that the Hunters were on a rampage. There was safety in numbers.

  As a result, Danny, Lily, Charlie and Tabitha often went out together these days, as they had today. While they were out, Lily’s son, William, remained with family.

  The other thing Lily noticed was the soft fabric beneath her body. She touched it with her hand. Fleece? She looked at the two male wolves standing above her and noticed that neither was wearing his jacket.

  “That was a humdinger, Lil,” whispered Tabitha from where she was kneeling beside her. “You almost fell, but Bruce here caught you.”

  Lily glanced at the wolf, who nodded respectfully and then returned his attention to the end of the aisle. The muscle this time had been donated by council; both men were enforcers, and the ample musculature was proof. As was the fact that neither man strayed from his task of bodyguard for long; their gazes remained trained on the exits and any possible trouble that might walk through them.

  Lily wondered why no one in the store had called an ambulance. Not that she needed one, but it did strike her as odd that she was laying on the floor in the grocery aisle with two very large men standing over her and the manager was nowhere around.

  “Don’t worry; Danny’s keeping any would-be rubberneckers away by making anyone who wants to come down the aisle suddenly have to go to the bathroom.”

  Ah, thought Lily. That made sense.

  “And Charlie ‘accidentally’ bumped into a pyramid of barbeque sauce bottles on aisle three, so most of the workers are doing clean up right now.”

  Lily smiled a little at that.

  Tabitha leaned in then and lowered her voice. “What did you see?”

  “We have to talk to Jesse,” Lily said. “There’s something he needs to know.” Tabitha helped her sit up and Lily handed the jackets back to her bodyguards. They nodded and slipped them back on. One offered her a hand to help her stand. Once she was back on her feet, she turned back to Tabitha. “We also need to talk to Lucas,” she said.

  “Caige?” Tabitha asked, her brow furrowing. “What about? Is it something having to do with Danny?” she asked, her expression suddenly becoming worried. “Don’t tell me that Jason guy is actually still alive.”

  Lily wanted to shake her head. She wanted to deny that assumption, especially since it was of such a lesser importance than the other thing she had to tell Lucas. But she couldn’t – because it was true.

  So she nodded. “Yes,” she admitted. “Jason Alberich is still alive.” And then she took a deep breath and said, “But so is Lucas’s brother.”

  *****

  At the time of Jason’s death – or, rather Jason’s “disappearance,” as they were referring to it now – the coven that Danny and Imani were members of had become a coven without a herald. So Lalura had come forward and appointed one.

  No one was more surprised than Imani when it was her name Lalura called out. Danny had of course supported it unquestioningly, and though there were some members of the coven who had been hopeful they’d be chosen, for the most part, the group agreed that Imani had earned the position.

  She’d had her doubts about Jason, after all. Even while Lalura had been blinded by his definite charms and charisma, Imani had suspected that there was something not quite right about him. Any witch good enough to smoke out a warlock as deeply undercover as Alberich had been was worthy of some kind of respect.

  In any case, it was Imani who was present in the boardroom of the werewolf council headquarters that afternoon as her friends sought audience with the Overseer, because it was Imani who now represented her coven and its interests. She only hoped she could live up to the expectations they no doubt had – especially Lalura’s.

  At the head of a long polished wood table sat a man that Imani remembered seeing several months ago, when she’d been at council headquarters due to the trouble with Jason Alberich and Gabriel Phelan. His name was Jesse Graves and he was hard to forget; a body and face like his were the kinds of things that very good girls were rewarded with at night in their dreams.

  And bad girls were rewarded with at night in real life.

  Oh, she remembered him all right. However, if she recalled correctly, at the time, he’d been an enforcer. And not just any enforcer, but a Sentinel. In fact, he’d been Charlie’s Sentinel, and if the stories were true, the two of them were very close friends. Friends with benefits, one might say.

  Imani was a tad jealous of Charlie in that moment; a sentiment that only deepened the moment Jesse Graves opened his mouth and addressed everyone in the room. His voice was like melted chocolate – like audible sex. Crappola, Imani thought. That man is F-I-N-E.

  “Thank you all for coming. You’re all well aware that Lily Kane has been our seer for a while now. And by this time, I’m also sure most of you know she’s had a vision of such importance I felt it necessary to share the information with those it might concern, even laterally.” He looked at each of the people in the room as he spoke. Daniel Kane was there beside his wife. Tabitha sat on the other side of him. Beside her sat James Valentine, Lily’s guardian and Tabitha’s fiancé. On the other end of the table sat Imani, who had been given the rather prominent place at the table in direct acknowledgement of the important role she now played for her coven.

  To Imani’s left sat Danny, and beside Danny sat her new husband, Lucas Caige. On the other side of Caige sat his old boss and one of the most powerful alphas in the room, Malcolm Cole. Beside Cole sat Charlie, of course, and then there was Jesse Graves again, heading up the table in his place of Council Overseer.

  She looked up at him to find that his amber gold eyes were settled on her. Her heart did a small flip in her chest, which she was certain every wolf at the table would be able to hear, and she felt her face grow warm.

  “I’m going to hand the reins of this meeting over to Imani Zareb, whom you all know. As herald, she now speaks for not only her coven, but for every magic user the council deals with.” His eyes glittered as he relayed the information, and never once did they leave her own. “She will help us to understand the significance of Lily’s vision.” He nodded at her, just once, and Imani managed to nod back.

  She cleared her throat. “For thousands of years, the females born within your race have been born without the benefit of an active werewolf gene,” she began. She was very proud of herself when her voice didn’t waver at all. “They do not possess the strength, speed or healing abilities of their brothers. They are also never born as dormants – or, at least, they were not until Charlie.” She gave Charlie a nod of respect, and the werewolf smiled in return.

  She continued. “However, Charlie appeared to be a very special anomaly and the wolves everywhere have resigned themselves to believing that such a thing will not occur again.” She paused and watched as the women at the table glanced at one another.

  Tabitha spoke up. “It won’t happen again… will it?” she asked. This was an important question for Tabitha. Imani reasoned that out of everyone at the table, it was Tabitha who stood the most, if anything, to gain by a change in this curse.

  “Actually,” said Imani. “It might.”

  There was an immediate reaction at the table. Every werewolf there began to shift in his or her seat. “This is where Lily’s vision comes in,” she went on. “According to what Lily gleaned from what she saw, thousands of years ago, a warlock cast a spell on the werewolf race. This spell sucked much of the magic out of the werewolf civilization – and placed it in the warlock’s hands. A curse fell over you,” she explained. “Your women were born powerless in almost every way because that power was stolen, and it has been handed down from the thief t
o his son and his son’s son and so forth – for the last forty centuries.”

  Each of the werewolves at the table began to talk at once then. The questions came furious and fast and Imani was wondering who to attempt to answer first when Jesse Graves suddenly cleared his throat at the end of the table. “That’s enough,” he said. He didn’t have to raise his voice. Something in it carried across the tension-filled air in the room and quieted the tongues of everyone there.

  Imani looked at Graves. He looked back.

  “The herald hasn’t finished telling you everything,” he said calmly. “Let the lady speak. When she’s done, you can ask your questions one at a time.”

  Imani was suddenly incredibly grateful that her skin was dark enough to hide a good flush, because she felt herself blushing furiously. Regardless, she steeled herself for what she had to say next and went on.

  “The ancestor of that warlock is now the very same man who has been sitting in the throne of warlock king for the last hundred years. His name is Malachi Wraythe.” She took a deep breath and continued. “Malachi and his wife, who is currently the Akyri queen and who has been prisoner to Malachi for as long as he has been king, have a daughter. Or, at least they had a daughter.”

  “Wait,” Danny interrupted. “The Akyri queen was Wraythe’s prisoner?”

  “Yes,” Lily said. “In my vision, she was in a warded chamber under heavy guard and wore some kind of strange black diamond collar.”

  Danny visibly paled. “Black diamond?”

  “You know of the dominating significance through personal experience,” Graves said, his deep voice rumbling across the table. “Queen Olivia was under Wraythe’s command in every sense of the word.”

  Silence filled the room. Danny shifted uncomfortably in her chair and placed her hand to her stomach. It was an unconscious gesture, but one that did not go unnoticed by everyone in the room. Lucas put his arm around her and kissed her on the head.

  Imani went on. “The daughter that Wraythe and Olivia had was what you now know as an Offspring. Charlie, you’ve now dealt with the infamous race twice in your meetings with the man you only know as Seth.”

  “Yes,” Charlie said, nodding once.

  “What you don’t know is that Offspring go by another name amongst themselves.” Here she stopped and looked to Lily, whose beautiful gold eyes were shimmering under the chandelier lights hanging from the office ceiling.

  “Indeed,” said Lily. She turned to regard the others. “They call themselves vampires.”

  Again the response at the table was instantaneous and rather loud. This time, all Jesse had to do was straighten in his chair and the clamor quieted. James Valentine cleared his throat. “Vampires,” he said. “As in blood-sucking, garlic-hating, stay-out-of-the-sun vampires?”

  “More or less,” Imani provided. “I doubt garlic has any effect on them. You know how myths can be twisted. However, the sun may very well be a factor.”

  “Yes, in my vision, it was daylight, but the sun was a moon. I’m guessing that they can walk in daylight but with the help of magic,” said Lily.

  “It makes sense,” said Imani. “Offspring are the children of magic users and beings who are basically composed of magic. It stands to reason that a good deal of their makeup would be magic as well.”

  There was a silence then that stretched for several long seconds. Finally, Malcolm Cole took a deep breath, leaned forward, and rested his folded hands atop the table. “Provided this is all true, what does it have to do with the reversal of this magic-stealing curse you speak of?”

  Imani regarded him. Malcolm Cole would be the one to ask about reversing the curse. He’d had to live under one for far too many years himself.

  “The vampire-slash-offspring information is collateral actually,” Imani admitted. “You need to know it; we need to be aware of everything these days. What is important is that Wraythe’s daughter was the vampire princess and she was very powerful. She was also very spoiled,” she said. Now she took another deep breath and noticed that this time it shook. She glanced at Graves. He was watching her steadily.

  Almost imperceptibly, he nodded his encouragement.

  It was enough. “Isabel Marie Wraythe was notorious amongst her kind for getting everything she wanted. I’m not talking about stereo systems and Lamborghini’s,” she said. “No. Her tastes were indeed aesthetic, but her desires ran a lot deeper than the material.”

  Now she looked at Lucas Caige, whose rare handsome visage and glittering dark eyes were sculpted by mystery and slightly tainted by a history of pain. It was Lucas whom she addressed as she said, “Fifty years ago, Isabel caught sight of something – someone – she decided she wanted more than anything. With the help of her father and his men, she got what she wanted, and for the last five decades that man has been her prisoner. Until yesterday, that is, when he and Queen Olivia both managed to escape Wraythe’s estate.”

  Imani watched the knowledge flash before Caige’s eyes. There was a progression of awareness that went from nothing to vague hope to realization and then to a cacophony of emotions so vivid and intense, only a gaze like Caige’s could have contained them.

  That’s it, Imani thought. He knows now.

  Beside Lucas, Danny turned toward her mate and it was clear from her own expression that the truth had dawned on her as well. However, before either of them could speak, the Overseer reclaimed the floor.

  “Lord Wraythe’s daughter was killed in that escape,” he said gravely. “And now Wraythe wants revenge. He has gone to the Vampire King with a proposition. He will give the king the power he took from us four thousand years ago in exchange for one promised favor.” He waited, letting the incredibly pregnant silence fill the board room. “The death of Byron Caige.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “The Mark”

  “I don’t understand,” Katherine sighed. She dropped her hands where her elbows rested on her bent knees and peered at Byron over the short flames of the small camp fire they’d made. “You’ve been tainted by this blood for fifty years,” she said. “But you’ve never been burned by the sun until now?”

  The crackling of the fire filled the silence until Byron replied.

  He shrugged, his gaze shifting from the fire to her. “I was living on the warlock king’s magical estate grounds. Think about it,” he said softly. “The wards, the spells…. When we left, the entire mansion and its grounds were on fire and once we’d stepped past its boundaries, there was no sign of the blaze. Not even a hint of smoke on the air. I was constantly surrounded by magic. There were probably wards over the estate to protect Isabel and her guards from the effects of the sun, so why would I ever notice?”

  Katherine thought about that for a moment and then stood and paced to the opening of the cave twenty feet away. The sun was in the western sky now; it was five twenty-seven in the afternoon. Kat stopped at the opening, just out of the sun’s reach and then glanced at her watch. Five twenty-eight.

  “I want to try again.”

  “Don’t,” Byron said. Kat jumped at the sound that had come from directly behind her. She spun around and looked up. He was so tall, he towered over her. “Don’t do it,” he told her. Before she realized what he was doing, he’d wrapped his hands around her wrists. The hold was gentle but firm. She swallowed hard. “If the effects of Isabel’s blood are permanent, Katherine, this will never go away,” he said, raising her right hand so that she could once more see the red blistered line across her knuckles. “It will scar.” He lowered her hand. “How many scars do you want?”

  Katherine didn’t have a response for that. She wasn’t supposed to. Instead, she stared up at the insanely gorgeous werewolf standing over her and tried to simply hold her ground. His touch was so warm, his presence nearly overwhelming. But there was a hollow darkness beneath his eyes that hadn’t been there before. At least she’d never noticed it until now.

  “Using that… power of yours drains y
ou, doesn’t it?” she asked softly, thinking of all of the things he’d done to get them both out of Hunter headquarters.

  Byron didn’t answer. Instead, he slowly raised the arm of her uninjured hand and pressed his lips to the inside of her wrist.

  An electric buzz thrummed through Katherine’s arm and across her chest, hardening her nipples against the inside of her t-shirt. She clamped her mouth shut, afraid that he would hear the instant tremble in her breathing. It didn’t matter, though. She knew he would hear the jackhammering of her heart regardless.

  “You smell good,” he told her, closing his eyes and inhaling slowly. When he spoke again, his fangs were fully elongated. “Like promise.”

  “I’ve heard… ” Katherine broke off, swallowed, and started again. “I’ve heard that’s what a lot of alphas think a dormant smells like.” There was no conscious thought behind what she was saying. Byron’s nearness was playing tricks on her and her mouth was simply spitting things out unfiltered.

  Byron chuckled softly and opened his eyes. They were glowing again; a bright platinum that took her breath away. “I can imagine,” he said, offering her a purely depraved smile.

  Katherine had no time to wonder how things between them had shifted so quickly into the state it was in now. A day ago, she’d wanted to kill him. And now she wanted…. What?

  “If you so badly want to mark up your body, little Kat, I can do it for you,” he told her then. “And it won’t hurt nearly so much.”

  Kat’s stomach did a flip and her heart skipped a beat. Instant warmth flushed across her stomach and spread lower. She tried to step back on pure reflex, but Byron’s grip on her wrists tightened, and he used the hold to pull her forward, stopping her retreat.

  “That way leads only to pain,” he told her, his gaze flicking to the open cave entrance just over her shoulder. At once, Kat understood. She’d nearly stepped out into the sunlight. Byron was ruining the effects of twenty years of self protective training in the course of seconds flat.