Dark Hunter

by Shannan Albright

Adrian threw his head back and roared a large rolling laugh that reverberated throughout the room. She blinked in surprise. She’d never once seen any enforcer laugh. Sure, they smiled, chuckled, and even smirked, but never laughed. She found it…disconcerting.

  “Point taken. You will have your hands full with this little hellion, hunter. I don’t envy you.”

  “Little hellion indeed. Yet well worth the extra trouble,” Navar agreed, his pale eyes darkening with hunger.

  “So, since we cannot close The Asp down and you refuse to take a sabbatical, we will need a plan to draw our murderer out into the open,” Adrian mused, his hand stroking his jaw as he pondered the problem.

  “I can be bait. It’s the quickest way to flush him out,” Mari offered.

  “Over my dead body!” The change in Navar happened so suddenly Mari almost took a step back. His body went taut as a bow string drawn back to its limit, and his eyes narrowed to angry slits as he glared at her.

  Her body flooded with heat, moisture pooling at the juncture of her thighs. The man before her had none of the qualities of the gentle lover who shared her bed. Instead a deadly and dangerous warrior stood in his place. “Listen to me a moment before you go all alpha on me, all right?”

  “I will not have my woman in jeopardy.” He let out a low growl, which came deep from his chest, all male protective instinct.

  Dear gods, could a man look sexier? Dominance and aggression seeped from her lover, wrapping around her body in thick chains. His eyes practically glowed as they pierced her to the spot, caught as surely as a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. The danger was there, yet she was unable to move to safety. She’d never experienced it before, but now with his penetrating gaze, she related with the deer on an intimate level. “I can assure you Mari will be perfectly safe if planned properly.” Adrian’s soft-spoken words broke the spell, and she found the power to move.

  Sliding up to her enraged lover, Mari placed a placating hand on one bulging bicep, feeling it quiver under her fingertips as she looked up into his eyes. Keeping her voice low and soothing as if she were taming a wild beast, she said, “Listen to Adrian. We can flush him out and there will be no danger to me at all. You will be there to protect me every step of the way.”

  She could only pray her words didn’t come back to bite her in the ass.

  ****

  Navar led an exhausted Mari up to her apartment above the bar. The silence hung thick between them, and Navar’s anger and frustration poured off him in waves, which he knew scraped across her nerve endings and brought her temper simmering close to the edge. He watched the play of emotions flicker over her face as she fought to keep her frustration under control. The sky showed the first signs of dawn as streamers of gold and blue streaked the sky like long fingers stretching across the darkness above. They climbed the steps off the alley leading to her apartment. The distant sound of a dog barking echoed in the pre-dawn, sounding oddly forlorn. The acidic tang of car exhaust mingled with the rotten stench of garbage from the overfull dumpsters across from the stairs. A brisk breeze whipped his hair away, its chill touching his face with the reminder spring still bowed to winters unrelenting reign.

  Gods, he was tired, clear to the bone. The distance between them was a yawning chasm he had no clue how to fix. A deep-seated dread had settled over him like a steel coat, threatening to drown him with the fear of losing her.

  Mari moved past the small patio where they’d spent many enjoyable hours staring at the sky, nestled close on the narrow wooden bench among potted lantana yet to boom. The key slid into the door with a metallic chink. With her hand on the knob, Mari paused and turned her head toward Navar. Dark brown eyes met his and locked. “Let us put this night behind us for just a few hours. I don’t want to fight, okay?”

  He brushed his finger lightly over her cheek, once again marveling over the softness of her skin. “Believe me, I couldn’t think of a more pleasant way to spend our day, so I agree. We leave off talking about this until later.” The smile she gave him made his chest warm. Something indefinable unfurled deep within him, soothing his sense of foreboding.

  As she turned away from his touch, the beads in her hair clicked together, filling the air around them with tinkling music. After opening the door, she entered the dimly lit exterior. His eyes were riveted to the sway of her hips encased in snug denim. He hardened against the fly of his chinos as he admired her heart-shaped ass and lean legs, remembering the feel of them clamped tight around his waist as he plunged inside her tight, warm core.

  Gods, he would never get enough of her. He craved the honeyed taste of her lips, to sip the nectar between her legs, so sweet his need bordered on addiction. She turned to face him. A single light from an end table cast her in a warm yellow glow. Shadows and light played over the delicate bones of her face, enhancing the exotic upward tilt of her eyes, her small straight nose, and high curve of her cheeks. Her full lips curved, and eyes the color of brown sugar roamed over his body with a carnal appreciation. His body responded with the tightening in his balls and the insistent throb of his cock, his hunger escalating to a fever pitch.

  The small room with its modest furnishings melted away, his entire focus on the woman before him. He moved on the beige-carpeted floor, making no sound and sidestepping the couch and heavy cedar end table without a glance, his focus intent on Mari. He felt the stirring of hunger within him rising to the surface. Her eyes widened as if she sensed the predator he kept leashed. She stepped back against the wall leading to the hallway and the bedroom beyond.

  He stopped a hair’s breadth from touching her and breathed in her alluring scent. His eyes closed in bliss as her fragrance hit his bloodstream like a shot of adrenaline. His heart hammered in his chest. Her warmth caressing him, a low rumble rose from his throat as he leaned in and closed his eyes on an inhale. Her tantalizing scent of arousal nearly unhinged him. He fought for the control not to throw her down on the carpet and have her beneath him. With a shuddering breath, he pulled himself from the edge enough to open his eyes and take in the utter beauty of his woman.

  He gently palmed her face as his gaze dropped to her soft, parted lips. “By the gods, you are beautiful.”

  Her arms twined around his neck as she rose to her toes, her lids at half-mast as passion blazed in the dark fathomless depths of her eyes. “I want you, Navar. Right here, right now.”

  Her husky demand brought a shudder of delightful expectation to mix with the sweet pain of his arousal. He bent down and claimed her mouth in a deep kiss. If his woman wanted him with such impatience, who was he to deny her?

  Chapter Six

  Mari’s head spun as the pure sexual heat of Navar’s kiss lit her up like a Christmas tree. Pleasure shot up her spine to the base of her brain, electric sparks firing off all her nerve endings at once. Her mind turned off, subjugated by the primal desire driving her body. She rubbed up against him. His arousal, hard against her stomach, made her growl. Too many clothes separated them. She needed skin on skin, to climb up his glorious body and impale herself on his hard cock. She’d never wanted anything as bad as she did Navar at that moment.

  Navar shifted, cool air flooding the area where he’d been. She cried out in protest, only to be cut short as he swept her legs up with one arm and cradled her close to his chest with his other. With determined strides, he moved through the hallway before dropping her onto her large bed. She bounced once on a gasp before Navar’s body came down on top of her, effectively pinning her to the mattress.

  Not that she cared as long as they got skin-to-skin and soon.

  With an impatient snarl, she fisted her hands in the material of his shirt at his back and tore it in half. With a deep chuckle, he rose to his knees above her to remove the ripped cloth from his arms. Mari made a sound of appreciation, her gaze caressing the expanse of his golden flesh stretched taut over slabs of muscle. His dark nipples pebbled as she watched, and his flat stomach rippled with defined abs. Her eyes wandered down to
the dip of his belly button where a strip of dark hair trailed to the waistband of his pants and the impressive bulge beneath his zipper.

  One dark eyebrow rose in challenge as he eyed her form-fitting T-shirt. With a wicked grin, she hooked her thumbs under the edge of the cotton and arched her back before lifting the shirt up and off. Her bra quickly followed, leaving her bare to his inspection. A shiver of expectation traveled up her spine, hardening her nipples. Gods, if he didn’t touch her soon, she’d go mad!

  On cue one large, warm hand reached down to cup her breast, his thumb flicking the sensitive peak and sending a current of pleasure streaking down her body to pool between her legs. She arched into his touch, needing more contact, yet he denied her, his fingers trailing down her torso to the waistband of her jeans. Moving back, he grabbed her legs and pulled her to the end of the bed before divesting her of both shoes and jeans with ease.

  She sat up quickly, giving him no time to react. Her hands were a blur of movement as she removed the offending pants. His eager cock, free of the material binding it, sprang up in an impressive arc, the flared head weeping a clear bead of moisture. She gripped the base of his cock with one hand and flicked out the tip of her tongue to capture it. He hissed a curse as she continued to tease him with delicate nibbles and swipes until his fingers speared into her hair and his hips jerked forward demanding more. Happy to oblige, she sucked him deeper into her mouth, drawing hard on his massive length while her tongue stroked against the sensitive underside.

  He gasped as her fingers found his sac, lightly kneading, as she began sliding up and then down with a slow rhythm guaranteed to drive him crazy.

  “Enough or this will end before it begins,” he ground out before dragging her higher on the bed. Instinctively she wrapped her legs around his lean hips, her core rubbing against his thick length shooting sparks of sweet bliss to her nipples and down to her clenching womb. His breath grew harsh as it caressed her cheek.

  “Give me all you got, Navar. I need to feel you deep inside me now. Don’t make me wait.”

  His response came on a growl as he guided himself home with a mighty thrust. She threw her head back with a whimper and closed her eyes against the overwhelming pleasure of being filled so completely by him.

  “Open your eyes, akasha. I want you to watch as we come together as one.”

  Her lids lifted, her gaze caught in the dark stormy blue-gray of his stare. Her incisors lengthened, aching with the need to sink them into his flesh, a compulsion she barely controlled. She saw a flash of his sharp white fangs as he postponed into her with firm strokes, his muscular butt tightening as he thrust into her.

  Not enough. She needed more of him, deeper. Her orgasm balanced on a fine edge, so close yet not nearly there. Her body quivered with the primal need roaring through her blood, knowing what she needed, yet too fearful to demand the claiming to bring them completely together. Instead, she concentrated on what she could have. “Harder. Please, I need more…deeper,” she pleaded as her head thrashed from side to side.

  He promptly complied with a harsh growl, grinding his hips against hers as they both strained toward climax. “Be my consort, akasha. Let me feed from your vein as you feed from mine.”

  So he knew?

  Her heart stuttered at the sudden revelation. He knew,

  She stilled in his arms, her gaze narrowed on him as her passion burned down to embers. “How long?” she demanded, her voice a raspy whisper.

  “From the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew you were the other half of my soul.”

  “And you didn’t say anything?”

  “I thought I had the luxury of time on my side and could ease you into the idea of binding yourself to me.” A note of bitterness flavored his words.

  “Yes.”

  He frowned, cocking his head at an angle as if deciphering some intricate puzzle. “Yes?”

  “Absolutely yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” She laughed, holding him tighter to her. “I wondered how I would tell you.”

  “So you knew also?”

  “Not until the first night you came back into my life,” she admitted.

  “Gods, so much precious time wasted. But no more,” he vowed as he started moving within her once again.

  She met him thrust for thrust, her passion roaring to life with every slow circle of his hips, sparking across her skin and setting her body on fire from the inside out. Pressure built low in her belly, coiling tight as he stroked against the sensitive bundle of nerves. So close, almost, one more thrust and…She reared back, spine arching as her orgasm boiled to the surface. With a whimpering cry she struck, whipping forward to sink her fangs deep into his shoulder. The sweet, heady flavor of his blood filled her mouth, and she swallowed with deep pulls. His blood hit her bloodstream and detonated. She dimly felt the sharp sting of Navar’s bite at her throat before pleasure blinded her to anything but the explosion deep within her body.

  On a scream of her second release, she fell deep into Navar’s memories.

  Tall fronds and grass lined a swiftly moving river rushing through a pass of sheer rock walls bleached by sun and wind. They reached high against a cloudless cobalt blue sky. She felt wind in her hair as her arms and legs pumped harder, fear and dread pressing heavily on her chest.

  No, not her chest…

  Navar.

  She felt his fear and determination, experienced the same heavy urgency to reach the village of domed huts made from reeds and mud, his family, friends. Everything he called home, now gone. A sharp stab of grief nearly immobilized him as he stumbled to a halt. The sound of screams pierced the air as smoke billowed in thick, black plumes.

  Too late. He could not salvage what had been set into motion. Rage burned through his body, drowning out the grief as he railed at his gods, gripping his bronze dagger in his fist. Eyes burning with unshed tears, he watched helplessly as the place of his birth and his people succumbed to the flames. His legs gave out and he fell hard to his knees upon the rocky ground.

  “I can give you vengeance.” A soft voice sounded behind him.

  He snarled, turning quickly with dagger ready only to stop in confusion. A woman stood within the shadows of the thick foliage. Wrapped in linens of vivid red and indigo, nothing of her form could be seen. Only her eyes, a striking verdant green, could be seen of her face. Her voice, cultured and precise, spoke of royal blood.

  “How can you, a noble woman, give me the vengeance I demand?” he sneered. “Leave here if you value your life.”

  “Do not be so blind, young Navar.” At his surprised gasp, she pressed on, “Yes, I know your name. Do not dismiss what I offer you so readily.”

  Intrigued despite his better judgment, he lowered his dagger. “What can you offer?”

  “Life without end and vengeance against those who harm… A just cause, would you agree?”

  “Immortality belongs to the gods. I am but mortal,” he scoffed.

  “As close to immortal as a man can come. You can be killed if you lose your head or silver finds your heart. The light of day will not be your ally, making you weak and vulnerable to your enemies. The moon will be your sun, the night yours to command. I offer you a way to achieve the vengeance you seek.”

  “If I accept, what price do you wish for such a gift?”

  “Ah, very shrewd. You are all that I hoped you would be.” The woman chuckled, eyes sparking with approval. “I have need of your intellect as well as your inherent strength, both physical and moral. You will be trained and educated as a protector of all breeds the humans hunt, and when the time is right, you shall become one of us. You will take a very serious vow, one you cannot take back. If for any reason you do not answer the call for aid, you will be hunted down and put to death. The vow is one of blood so we shall know if you do not keep your word. Do you agree to this, young Navar?”

  The woman wavered, poised for a brief moment before scattering into fragments as if blown like leaves by a great wind. Image after ima
ge solidified before blending into another with blinding speed. The overwhelming sense of ages passing threatened to crush her under the strain of too many centuries for her to comprehend. One stark fact remained—most of the memories dealt with battles fought and won at far too high a cost. She felt his deep sense of loss as his comrades, companions, and friends fell to the violent savagery of human slayers. The deep ache of isolation, the cost of lives he cared about was too great a burden for any heart to bear.

  Salvation came from an unlikely source as the moving snatches of his life came to an abrupt stop…on her!

  Surrounded by slayers he fought to get to Mari, but there were too many of them, overpowering even his great strength. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of silver reflected off an upraised sword and knew a moment of profound regret. He would not be able to protect her as he’d sworn to do.

  The sword’s downward arc ceased, hanging midway as strong hands tugged him free and arranged another body in his place. A chill coursed down his spine as his gaze landed on the replica of himself. The complete void of sound and the frozen scene before him unnerved him. It seemed as if time itself stopped. He turned, ready to defend himself against the new threat. Even without his weapon, he would not waste his only chance to protect his woman.

  “Be at ease, vampire. We do not seek to harm.”

  He jerked his head toward a voice filled with such innocence that his breath caught in his throat. A small being approached him, delicately boned and inhumanly beautiful. The fact that the pale-haired female held no weapons herself, yet was accompanied by tall warriors who bristled with them, gave him pause.

  “I thank you for your timely intervention.”

  “There is little time to dally. We are in dire need of your expertise.”

  “I cannot leave my woman in the hands of slayers, lady.” He declined, mindful to show respect to the sidhe, for he’d heard tales of their viciousness.

  “She will be unharmed, I assure you. Enforcers are but a few paces away and will see her safely under their care. Now, I call on your blood vow to come to our aid, or do you wish to be hunted and put to death?”