Hunter Hunted

by Arthur, Keri

  She nodded. I immediately did so, and a heartbeat later her magic surged, wrapping a far stronger web around the other woman. Francesca didn’t say anything; her body was slumped, her expression grim. The reality of her sins was well and truly kicking in, I suspected.

  “Right,” Anna said. “I’ll take this one back to headquarters. Do you want to secure the premises? We’ll need to send a team back to do a more thorough examination of both her workrooms and her records. It’s very likely this is not the first time she’s provided gray magic to those willing to pay enough.”

  “You’ll let us know if you find out anything more about the three men she sold the charms to?” Aiden asked.

  Anna nodded and roughly hauled Francesca to her feet. Anna might be the smaller of the two, but what she lacked in height was more than made up for in muscle. “As long as you return the favor, Ranger.”

  “I will.”

  She nodded again and then, with a twinkle in her eye and a quick, “Have fun you two,” she left.

  Aiden glanced at me. “Is there something I’m missing?”

  I grinned. “You know all those potions that cascaded over us earlier?”

  “It’s kind of hard to ignore them given the wretched stuff is all I can smell.”

  “Yeah, well, they were mostly lust and sexual empowerment potions.” I glanced at my watch. “And we probably have another half hour or so before they truly start working.”

  He looked amused. “I don’t actually need lust potions when I’m around you. Besides, do those things actually work?”

  “Done properly, yes. And, given the sheer amount that tipped over us, let’s just say things could get very hard and heated very fast.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  “Then we’d better hurry up and get out of here.”

  He grabbed the tape out of the recorder and the photos he’d printed off. Once the rest of the building was secure, we headed back to the truck.

  “It’s just over half hour to Argyle from here,” he said, as he reversed out. “And you’ve still got your overnight bag at my place, haven’t you?”

  “Yes, but we really could be pushing your self-control.”

  “I think we’ve already established I have none where you’re concerned. Besides, it’s not just me that was hit by that muck.”

  “No, but you shielded me from the worst if it.”

  “And in payment for being chivalrous, I’m going to be hit by a gigantic wave of uncontrollable lust? How wonderful.” He paused, his expression thoughtful. “Will it help the situation if we wash it off quickly enough?”

  “Yes, as most love and lust potions are designed to drink. It’s only thanks to the volume that fell on us—or you—that it’ll have any effect.” I studied him for a moment. “Why?”

  “Because there’s an old swimming hole not far from here. It used to be quite popular before the farmer got shitty about the sheer number of people using it and fenced off the entire area.” His glanced at me, his eyes twinkling and his desire becoming more evident. “But we can climb over the fence easily enough and it’s a warm enough night for a swim.”

  “Are they any critters in this water?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “That depends on what sort of critters we’re talking about.”

  “You know—fish, yabbies, snakes, eels—slimy things that bite, basically.”

  He laughed. “I daresay there’ll be yabbies, but they generally don’t make a habit of feeding on toes.”

  “That’s not comforting.”

  “It’ll be fine, I promise.”

  I harrumphed. He laughed again and hit the accelerator. Ten minutes later, we were pulling off the road into a well-treed area. The fence was a six-foot wire mesh thing that was certainly designed to keep people out.

  “Isn’t what we’re about to do basically breaking and entering?”

  He walked around to the back of the truck. “The farmer’s a friend. He’ll understand.”

  “I hope so.” I studied the fence for a moment then added, “I am not going to get my butt over that very easily.”

  “I’ll boost you.”

  He slammed the back of his truck down and locked it up. He had a picnic blanket, a towel, and what looked to be a fresh shirt and a pair of tracksuit pants all slung over one shoulder. My overnight bag was slung over the other.

  “Do you carry half your wardrobe around with you or something?”

  “A good ranger is prepared for any eventuality.”

  “Even seduction on the banks of an old watering hole?”

  “Indeed.” He touched my spine and lightly pressed me forward. “I used to come here a lot when I was a teenager.”

  “Oh, yeah? And how many seductions happened here?”

  “A few.” He grinned and cupped his hands. “I’m a ranger, not a Boy Scout.”

  I snorted and placed my foot into his hands. He boosted me up easily, waited patiently while I rather awkwardly clambered over the top and dropped down onto the other side, and then followed me over. He was decidedly more graceful than me.

  He caught my hand and then led me forward. We were soon deep within a forest of beautiful old gums, but the area wasn’t silent. The hum of cicadas filled the air, and magpies sang melodiously in the distance. We walked up a slight incline and came out of the trees. The swimming hole was oval shaped, fed by a spring on one edge and draining into another on the opposite side. The water was dark, which indicated depth, and the bank a mix of green grass, wildflowers, and dirt.

  “This is very pretty,” I said.

  “Which is why it was once such a popular seduction spot.”

  We walked down to a thick patch of grass, where he dropped the towel, blanket, and the clothes he was carrying. “Do you need help stripping off?”

  I ignored the wicked twinkle in his eyes and began pulling off my clothes. “You’re the one that majorly stinks right now. How about you just get into that water ASAP, before the full force of the potions hit and you get the mother of all boners?”

  “Not a bad thing—”

  “It is if it lasts days.”

  “And could it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Moving as ordered, then.”

  He hastily undressed, then ran for the water and dived in. I stopped close to the water’s edge and warily dipped a toe in. “It’s damn cold!”

  He grinned. “I’ll warm you up quickly enough.”

  I snorted and went as deep as my ankles. A shiver ran through the rest of me. “I’m not a fan of cold—” The rest of my sentence ended in a splutter as he swept an arm across the water and sent a huge wave over me. “Damn you, Ranger—”

  He laughed. “I’ll do it again if you don’t get in.”

  I dived in and swam over to him. “You still smell. Dunk under a few more times.”

  He did so. Once the stench was all but gone, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. He caught my waist, drew me even closer, and deepened the kiss, his mouth hungry against mine.

  “Condom impossibility is the one problem with seductions in water,” he said eventually, his words little more than a harsh rasp. “Are you protected?”

  “Yes.” I raised an eyebrow. “Are you clean?”

  He grinned. “As a whistle. I’m a very careful werewolf.”

  “Good, because I’m a very careful witch who doesn’t want anything nasty.”

  “You’ll get nothing more than a good time from me,” he said. “A promise I make in the full knowledge that you could probably send a curse my way that would totally end my sex life if I was stupid enough to lie.”

  “You’d better believe it, Ranger.”

  He laughed again. I wrapped my legs around his waist and felt him slide deep inside.

  “This is getting to be something of a habit,” I murmured, as I began to move ever so slowly.

  “What is?” His voice and expression were as distracted as any woman could want.


  “Me having my legs wrapped around your waist.” Pleasure grew as his thick heat slid deeper and his movements became more demanding.

  “And this is a problem why?”

  “It’s not, it’s just that maybe we should aim for a bit more variety.”

  “Why do you think I brought the picnic blanket? I intend to make a full evening of it.”

  “The bugs will be out and biting later.”

  “They won’t be the only things,” he muttered. “Now will you just shut up and concentrate, woman?”

  I laughed and did so—both then, and the multiple times that followed on the picnic blanket. We might have washed the potions off, but they’d still had enough time to work some of their magic on us both. Not that I was complaining any—not when I had three years of abstinence to make up for.

  As dusk began to settle in and the bugs started to bite, he propped up on one arm and said, “I’m hungry—for food this time, you’ll be relieved to hear.”

  “Good, because I think I’ve worn off all the energy from my Christmas lunch, and I need a refuel.”

  “I’ve stocked my fridge, so I can make good on my promise to cook for you.”

  “Can you actually cook?”

  “As long as you want nothing fancier than steak, eggs, and chips, yes.”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  His phone rang, the sound sharp and loud in the serenity that surrounded us. “Sorry,” he said, and reached for it.

  I walked back into the water and quickly washed off. I had a vague feeling I wasn’t going to get that steak. Not in the immediate future, anyway.

  He listened for several minutes, then said, “Be there in thirty. Keep the area secure until then.”

  My heart was beating a whole lot faster. Even though part of me really didn’t want to know, I said, “Another murder?”

  “Another skinning.” He climbed to his feet. “These bastards certainly aren’t wasting any time.”

  And obviously it had happened in an area that the wild magic—and Katie—wasn’t patrolling. I had no doubt she would have come for us otherwise.

  I grabbed the towel and quickly dried off. “Isn’t this your night off?”

  He nodded. “Byron’s on call tonight, and that’s not why I was called. With Ashworth still in hospital and Chester not picking up his phone, I’m afraid you’re it.” He hesitated. “That sounds bad, but you know what I mean.”

  “I do.” I grabbed clothes out of my overnight bag and hurriedly dressed.

  “We’ll have to stop at my place on the way through,” he continued. “I can’t go to a crime scene dressed in track pants.”

  “You have before.” When he’d first met—and arrested—me, in fact.

  “Because stopping to change could have been the difference between life and death. That’s not the case here.”

  Which was true enough. I gathered my clothes and his in the towel while he folded the picnic blanket. Then we headed back to his truck.

  The trip back to his house in Argyle was done in silence—with the siren screaming, there was little point in conversation. He quickly changed then continued on through the spa town of Rayburn Springs but took the road that led to Newstead and Maldoon rather than Castle Rock.

  We made a right turn miles out of Newstead, and the road quickly changed from bitumen to stone. Aiden didn’t slow down, even as the road began narrowing and the farmsteads gave way to true bush.

  Eventually the flash of lights broke the deepening darkness of the night. Dust was settling around the nearest one, suggesting it hadn’t been here long.

  Aiden parked near the two ranger vehicles and then climbed out. I did the same and followed him across. Ciara was just grabbing her gear out of the back.

  “Bryon down at the site?” Aiden asked.

  “Yeah, keeping it secure,” she said. “There’s a few foxes about in this area.”

  Aiden grunted and continued on. I fell in step beside Ciara. “I wouldn’t have thought foxes dumb enough to enter a werewolf reservation.”

  “They generally do keep out of pack compounds, but the reservation as a whole is fairly large, and there’s certainly plenty of them in the areas that ring the reservation’s boundaries.”

  “Has Byron said anything about the kill?”

  “Just that they’ve grabbed the pelt.” Her gaze came to mine. “Are you going to be okay with this kill?”

  I nodded. “I know what to expect this time.”

  “Good.”

  We continued on in silence. Up ahead, light glowed, throwing the man who stood within its circle into shadow.

  The wolf’s skinless form lay in the middle of that bright circle. A silver dart was embedded in his shoulder, the metal gleaming in the harsh light. I swallowed heavily, keeping my eyes on his front leg rather than the rest of him. The bracelet stood out starkly against the bloody muscles of his leg. Very obviously, it had been deliberately left behind. Maybe they simply figured that now that we had one of them, there was little point in them retrieving any.

  It also meant they were totally sure we couldn’t identify them through either the witch or the security cameras. And that, in turn, meant the man who’d so confidently stared into the camera had to have been wearing some form of disguise, whether it was magic or not.

  I took a deep breath and forced myself closer. This wolf looked smaller than the other two and, when I got around to the leg side, I saw why—it was female rather than male. Which, for some weird reason, just made me angrier.

  I took another deep breath and then squatted next to her body and studied the charm bracelet. The twin spells woven through the entwined threads were strong, but certainly nothing I couldn’t undo. And though I doubted the witch had, in any way, layered in any sort of trap, caution nevertheless stirred through me. I wasn’t about to do a Chester and arrogantly assume everything was as it seemed.

  The Ballan witch had received some training, because the patterns here were textbook spells and obvious even to me. There were three spells in all, one thicker than the other two. That was the control vein—and it meant one of the hunters had to be wearing the command bracelet. Given the spell on such a bracelet had to be powerful enough to compel, Ashworth should be able to sense its presence if the hunters ever came near him. Hell, even Belle and I should feel it.

  I reached out and, without actually touching the woven leather itself, carefully untwined the first thread from its brethren. Once I’d deactivated it, I repeated the process with the other two. As the magic died, I pushed to my feet and said, “It’s safe.”

  “Thanks.” He tossed me his keys. “Do you want to head back home? I’ll get Ciara to drop me off when we finish here.”

  I hesitated, and then nodded. “I’ll park your truck around the back of the café. If we head to bed, I’ll drop the keys in the power box at the back.”

  His smile was almost wistful. “It’s sure not the way I’d hoped to be spending the evening.”

  “Definitely not.” I nodded at Bryon and Ciara and got out of there. Reversing his truck was a five-point maneuver as the road was narrow and lined with trees, and I didn’t want to hit either them or the two SUVs.

  “Why are you home?” Belle said, the minute I walked in the back door. “What’s happened?”

  “Our hunters happened.” I dumped Aiden’s and my clothes in the washing machine, filled it with powder, and turned it on. I couldn’t let them sit in the basket because they’d stink the entire café out in a matter of hours. “Aiden’s at the scene now.”

  “That man’s work ethic is commendable, but there are other rangers in this place. He should try leaving them to it more often. You want a coffee?”

  I nodded and followed her behind the counter to make myself a couple of ham and cheese toasted sandwiches. It certainly wasn’t steak, eggs, and chips, but it was better than nothing—and all I could be bothered cooking at this hour.

  “We did at least find the witch,” I commented. “She’s currently
in RWA hands, being interrogated.”

  “Did you get much out of her beforehand?”

  “Only that she charged a thousand a bracelet, and that she made ten of them.”

  “Which proves she’s not part of an underground gray magic ring, because she would have known that the going rate for death—which is what those bracelets actually provide—is a whole lot higher.”

  I shoved my sandwiches into the press. “And how, pray tell, do you know that?”

  She grinned. “Been doing a little covert research via Google and fell down the rabbit hole of links. There’s some sick fuckers out there, let me tell you.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me.” The sandwich press began to sizzle as the cheese started to ooze. I grabbed a plate, slid the two sandwiches onto it, and then turned off the press. “The one thing I do want to know is, how are the hunters getting these bracelets into the hands of their victims? I wouldn’t have thought they’d randomly accept one from any old stranger off the street.”

  “No.” Belle followed me across to the table, placed the two coffees down, then snagged half a sandwich and sat on the other side. “There’s plenty of weekend markets around. Maybe they’re selling them there?”

  “But they’ve only ten—”

  “Unless they’ve hit up more than one witch.”

  “That’s possible. The ones I visited today might not have had the skill or power to create command bracelets, but I daresay there are plenty of others who could.”

  “And there’s no saying that they’ve bought them all in Victoria, either.” She picked up her cappuccino and took a sip. “If you’re going to hunt werewolves, I suspect you’d better get in and get out quick.”

  “That’s possibly why our hunters weren’t afraid of being seen on the cameras. Aside from the fact they were disguised, they’re not actually intending to be around long.”

  “More than likely.” Belle reached for another sandwich but I slapped her hand away. “Damn it, woman, I haven’t had dinner and I’m starved.”

  She chuckled. “I won’t ask what caused this starvation factor, because it’s very evident in the contented swirl of your aura.”

  I grinned and didn’t deny it. “I might go talk to Ashworth tomorrow and see what he knows about control bracelets. There might be a way we can track them—aside from sensing the magic when it comes within range.”