The Hunt: Complete Edition

by Anne Marsh

  He smiled softly and she really, really disliked the sympathetic look he shot her. “I do need you to hand over the necklace, Miu, but that’s not all I’m going to need.”

  “Take off the mark,” she repeated. “And then let me see my sister.”

  “You opened a Doorway.” He shrugged lazily. “Yes, I know about your mysterious arrival in Shympolsk. I have eyes everywhere in the city. And besides, how else could you have traveled here from the Valley in so little time?”

  “So you know I can control the necklace.” Jafar had been right all along. She examined the thick shadows behind Lierr, knowing Jafar was hidden somewhere among them. She had to pull off her part in their scheme. Get Lierr to hand over Lore before actually giving him the necklace.

  He’d moved silently closer to her. “Let’s complete our deal, love. You give me the necklace.” He held out his hand, palm up. “I release your delightful sister.”

  He nodded his head toward one of the rooms where girls entertained customers. His bodyguards surged forward, dragging a reluctant Lore with them. Miu eyeballed her. Lore was minimally clad—Miu would have expected no less from Lierr. He’d had her hands tied, leaving all of her glorious curves on display. Even from where she stood, Miu could see Lore’s eyes, and it was obvious her sister was spitting mad. The bodyguards holding her were doing their damnedest not to look down at all the lush flesh on display. “I’m not sure you’re returning her in one piece, Lierr.”

  “She’ll be fine.” At his signal, the guards forced her sister into a carriage that had pulled up just outside the garden.

  “And they’re taking her to—?” she asked delicately.

  “To wherever she wants to be taken.” He smiled coldly down at her. “That’s my end of the bargain kept, love. Now yours.”

  She hesitated. Could she pull this off?

  “Miu,” Lierr said warningly. She didn’t have to look down to know that the dark markings on her forearm were glowing a warning red. Blood red. “We can do this simply.” He didn’t voice the other half of his threat. He didn’t have to. Delicate ripples of pain pierced her forearm.

  A warning.

  A reminder.

  She knew she had no choice but to carry out her end of the scheme she and Jafar had worked out. Lierr was planning to use the necklace for some nefarious purpose of his own, and she’d long since come to agree with her Cat that the necklace was better off—safer— deep in the catacombs where it could be well guarded.

  She reached up and removed the circlet, slapping the still-cool metal down on the table before her.

  “Take it,” she said.

  “My thanks.” His fingers closed around hers. Heat roared up her arm.

  He spoke the ritual spell, a set of unbinding words in an unfamiliar tongue. Miu fought not to stagger at the power rushing along her arm, through her body from where they were connected. The tea garden wavered and she would have fallen if Lierr hadn’t pulled her up against his hard body. Funny, she thought dimly. She hadn’t really been convinced that Lierr had those urges.

  The power shifted and she looked up. Something was happening to Lierr. Something grotesque. As the power rippled outward from the necklace, Lierr’s face looked as if it were cracking, melting before her eyes. The features rearranged themselves and the handsome face grew harder.

  “Surprise,” he said softly. “Although I did think you’d figured it out earlier.”

  Dumbly she stared up at him. Lierr’s new face was harsher, starker, and unabashedly saturnine. He still had the same liquid eyes, though now they blazed with an unfamiliar violet light.

  “Contract’s complete,” she said.

  “Not quite.” Regret flashed in his eyes.

  “One hundred thefts,” she countered. “Done. Delivered.”

  “Well, yes,” he said. That was regret she heard coloring his voice. “But now I need something else from you. Something that has nothing to do with our oh-so-convenient contract.”

  Lierr put his arm around her shoulders, immobilizing her against his much larger body. He stroked her hair away from her throat, fastening the necklace around her. Familiar weight settled on her skin.

  “No.” She put up a show of objecting. Lierr knew her well, knew she would not go along with his demand willingly. Act convincingly, and he wouldn’t guess that she and Jafar had planned this. Once the Doorway opened, Jafar would leap out of hiding. There would be no time for Lierr’s guards to react. She, Lierr, and Jafar would step through the Doorway, right into the temple. At least, that was what they hoped.

  “Yes, love.” He bent his head to her ear. “Unfortunately, I’m afraid I need a moon daemon to make the necklace work for me. You see, when I still had my poor Pho, she never had any problem whatsoever with the damn thing. Opened Doorways like a dream. She and I could move anywhere we wanted.”

  He’d been partners with Jafar’s Ifrit?

  “Pho insisted, of course, that she wear the necklace, and I was perfectly willing to let her. The necklace was crafted for female power and, though I could force it to do my bidding, I would have run the danger of shattering the stone. So I let Pho wear it and I just made sure I kept close tabs on her. Very close tabs.” A small, dark smile curled his lips. “Call the moon, Miu. Open the Doorway. It’s time I went home.”

  ***

  Lierr had spent the last four decades suppressing his natural appetites, making do with backstreet whores and tea-garden girls. When he pulled Miu’s soft, curved body against his own, he had to remind himself that sex really wasn’t important.

  Not in the grand scheme of things.

  And if he’d waited this long, he could wait just a little bit longer. Once Miu transported him back to Qaf, he’d be able to satisfy every urge. Including the desire for revenge that had eaten away at him every second since Pho had died. He might not have loved the beautiful little bitch, but he’d been fond of her in his own way. And they’d been partners—so letting an Ifrit lord get away with her death was unacceptable. The lord had to pay, even if it took everything Lierr had and then some.

  Gasping, as he tightened his arm inexorably around her throat, Miu called down the moon as if she were opening a tap. At first just a small thread of light and then more, rushing faster as the bright strands poured from the sky. Knowing his unwilling assistant too well for comfort, Lierr tightened his grasp around her. Miu would leave him behind if she could. He’d always admired her stubbornness; it was a quality that had made her an excellent thief. Too bad he’d have to break her now. He almost thought he would have finally given her the independence she’d coveted for so long; they really were kindred spirits.

  But revenge was—when you got right down to it— well, revenge. He couldn’t release Miu and have his revenge, so he was going to have revenge. And then he’d take whatever was left of Miu. It would have to be enough.

  Again, he spoke in the language of Qaf, reciting the spell that would direct the opening of the Doorway to form a portal between this world and his own.

  A glow lit up about Miu and, just like that, a Doorway shimmered into existence. Through the hazy surface, he could make out the familiar outlines of Qaf. Home. Even if his fellow Qaf dwellers had done their level best to wash their hands of him all those years ago.

  He was going back.

  Miu twisted in his hold, a horrified look on her face.

  “Done,” she spat. “That’s the end of our deal. Let me go now, Lierr, or I let the Doorway close.”

  He looked down at her, smoothing an errant lock of hair behind her ear. “Let the Doorway close,” he said pleasantly, “and you’ll regret it. I’ll simply make you reopen it. After.” Since her fingers twitched on the stones, she clearly understood the implications of his threat.

  Good.

  “Bastard,” she accused. “You’ve got what you wanted.”

  “And now I should let you go?” His eyes swept regretfully over her face. It really was a pity to take her to Qaf, but without her he wouldn’t
be able to reopen the Doorway on his own. He’d be trapped there, until he found a Caller willing to overlook his very unfortunate status with the Qaf council. Since he rather doubted he was going to find such a Caller—the council kept very close tabs on them for a reason—he wasn’t going to run the chance of losing Miu.

  “Yeah.” She glared up at him. “Thought you were a man of honor, Lierr. We had a deal. You’re bending the rules and trying my patience.”

  What did she think she could do? Knowing Miu, she had a half-dozen backup plans. Unfortunately for her, she’d learned everything she knew from him. Which meant he was at least one step ahead of her.

  He pulled her toward the Doorway.

  “A man of honor.” When she dug in her feet, he simply scooped her up and strode toward the dark, waiting shadow that separated this realm from Qaf. “You’re forgetting, my dear. I’m no man.”

  She hissed something extremely uncomplimentary about his parentage. Her accusations could have been true, for all he knew; it was certainly true that most Ifrits were hardly discriminating in their choice of sexual partners.

  “I’m an Ifrit.” Saying it made everything seem so much more real. He had succeeded. He was going home. And he was—finally—going to have his revenge. He closed the distance between them and the Doorway. Gritting his teeth, he pushed his leg through the thick, dark curtain of air. Painful awareness tingled along his nerve endings. He could feel long dormant desires awakening. Stirring. Yes, his sexual appetites were going to come back with a vengeance once he was exposed to Qaf’s lunar pull again.

  “Ifrit bastard,” she growled, fighting against his hold. Her hands smashed up toward his unprotected throat and he fought back a snarl of his own. His right hand wrapped around her throat, seeking for the pressure points that would incapacitate her. Finding them, he pressed. With a choked cry, she collapsed in his arms.

  “Sweet dreams, little thief,” he whispered, cradling his burden in his arms. Unhesitatingly, he stepped through the dark sheet.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The bastard had taken the bait.

  Jafar struggled not to burst from concealment too soon. Watching Lierr wrap a fist in his mate’s hair and expose the vulnerable column of her throat took more control than he’d thought possible. He’d wanted to leap toward the pair, rip his mate from the other male’s arms. None of which was part of their plan to trap the thief master.

  Mentally, he stalked Lierr, testing for weaknesses in the male’s defenses. He’d surrounded himself not only by human guards, but by powerful mazhyk. Logically, Jafar understood that Miu had to go through all the motions of reluctantly cooperating with Lierr. He was too well protected and Jafar didn’t like the odds of success if he were forced to confront all of those guards at once. To say nothing of the mazhyk the thief master might be wielding.

  Lierr bent his head and whispered something to the struggling Miu. Edging closer through the shadows, Jafar moved up behind him. He was still too far away to hear what was being said. He forced himself to wait, not knowing how Miu’s scheme was going down. He had to wait until the Doorway opened.

  And then the entire plan went to hell in the proverbial hand basket. The Doorway opened, all right, but through it, Jafar could make out not the familiar tunnels of the catacombs, but the distinctive reddish glow of Qaf.

  Hell, he never should have let his Miu come with him on this fool’s mission. Neither of them knew enough about how the necklace worked to really control it.

  With a savage growl, Jafar leapt from his hiding place. Already, Lierr was moving toward the open Doorway, his long stride eating up the ground with each step. Miu was draped in his arms, limp. Jafar reminded himself that her position was part of the plan—as was his reaching the pair before Lierr took her through the Doorway. But something had gone terribly wrong. It seemed fairly certain that Lierr had either traveled by Doorway before or understood the way the necklace worked far better than they. Obviously, he’d done something to direct the portal so it would open in Qaf. Whatever happened, Jafar could not let Miu go through that Doorway with Lierr.

  Now he cursed himself as twice a fool for having agreed to her plan in the first place. Preparing to attack, he launched himself into a smooth, lethal run. Straight for Lierr.

  Lierr spat a low curse and mazhyk lit the tea garden. Jafar didn’t need to feel the blast of heat from the Doorway to know where Lierr wanted to go. Hell. The bastard was an Ifrit. He glowed darker with each step toward the open Doorway.

  “Stop,” Jafar barked, knowing that Lierr wouldn’t, but hoping against hope. With Lierr possessing Ifrit mazhyk, the fight would be closer than he’d anticipated. Sighting his target, Jafar threw his first blade. Aimed for the heart.

  Cursing, Lierr threw up a shield of hot air with the flick of a wrist, then swung his armful of Jafar’s female around to use as shield. This was the part where Miu was supposed to resuscitate. She did, coming alive in the other male’s arms in a lethal whirl of arms and legs.

  Lierr subdued her easily, and with too much pleasure. “I’ll enjoy teaching her what an Ifrit demands of the female in his bed. And there’s not going to be a damned thing you can do about it.”

  “Want to bet?” Jafar growled, taking a step forward. He sensed rather than felt the guards across the tea garden drawing their blades.

  “Right. She’s your mate.” The Ifrit cocked his head and stared at Jafar. “I should be concerned about that bond you’ve got between the two of you.” He shrugged. “No. Not really. I’ve heard that the male can feel every touch, every stroke the female feels. That true, Jafar? If it is, you’re going to feel me fucking her every day for the rest of your life.”

  Miu sank her teeth deep into Lierr’s wrist.

  “Oh, not nice, love,” Lierr growled. A thick fist came up, snapping Miu’s head back. This time, Jafar knew, she wouldn’t be coming out of it anytime soon.

  Jafar shifted with a roar of rage. Pheromones were a red wash of color obscuring his vision. He gave the beast full rein. There was no time to stop and negotiate—he didn’t think Lierr was in any mood for it anyway.

  Pausing, Lierr smiled. “See me off, now, will you, Jafar? Did you know Pho was my lover? Once again, here I am with a female of yours and, surprise, surprise—turns out she’s not yours at all. I hear darling Pho had you wrapped around her finger, wanting her. The big, tough Guardian who couldn’t believe— couldn’t accept—that the female he wanted didn’t want him. All she wanted was what you could give her: access to the temple. My Miu here is cut from the same cloth. She doesn’t really want you, Guardian. No, what she wants is your necklace—so that she can please me.”

  Lierr’s voice told Jafar that Lierr had planned this setup from the very beginning. It was no accident that he’d sent Miu down into the catacombs, to the necklace and the Doorways Jafar had always guarded. He concentrated on ignoring the sharp bite of shock. Miu wasn’t Pho, although the taunting sneer on Lierr’s face claimed otherwise.

  “You chose a female over the Guardians all those years ago. And now you’ve done it again. Slow learner, aren’t you?”

  “Miu is not Pho,” Jafar said through gritted teeth.

  Miu wasn’t Pho. Logically, he knew this. But on the surface, the two females shared the same story: both had been intruders in the temple, intent on personal agendas, and both times he’d let them go free.

  Lierr shot him a look. “Are you sure about that, Cat? From where I stand, there are a whole lot of similarities. Guess who she’ll choose—the master to whom she pledged herself as a child, or you, the male she’s been fucking on the side?”

  This was where Miu was supposed to roll free. Clearly, she wasn’t going to be doing so anytime soon. Lierr snapped his fingers. Large male bodyguards slipped out of shadows around them as Lierr stepped through the Doorway, taking Miu with him.

  Rage poured through Jafar, struggling to break free of his skin as his Cat snarled in anger. Lierr had taken his mate.

  Launchi
ng himself through space, he aimed for the rapidly closing Doorway.

  ***

  Returning to consciousness was like swimming up through layers of thick, heated water that threatened to pull her down to some unseen bottom. Cracking an eye, Miu examined her surroundings and found her situation just as bad as she’d anticipated. Lierr had not only pulled her straight through the Doorway and into Qaf—he’d taken her afterward to a whole new part of Qaf. Instead of the hot sand plains that surrounded the cliffs on all sides, the damn male had dragged her into one of the shadowy caverns.

  Now, he pressed his face against the side of her neck, tracing a hot, damp pattern on the exposed skin. She shoved at his arm, her head still swimming from his blow.

  The bastard had hit her. Hard.

  “Rise and shine, love.” Sharp teeth nipped at her throat. “We’re home.”

  No. Home was in another realm altogether. With Jafar. She forced the panic from her mind. She wasn’t supposed to have wound up in Qaf. She was supposed to have been back inside the temple, with Jafar. Ready to hand Lierr and the necklace over to the Amun Ra. So, once again, things weren’t going according to plan.

  A hard finger stroked down her cheek. “I’m growing impatient.”

  Woozily, she opened her eyes all the way.

  His dark eyes watched her. “You have heard stories about the Ifrits, love?”

  “That women run screaming from them?” She smiled sweetly for his benefit, but her mind was racing.

  “I’ll have you screaming, all right.” He dropped her onto something soft and she immediately shoved herself upright into a sitting position. Flat on her back with Lierr in the room seemed immensely unwise, and the massive bulge in his groin had her rethinking the word immense.

  His eyes followed hers. “I’m looking forward to it,” he said lightly. “I think you’ll find I have some unfamiliar sides.”

  “Save it,” she suggested, scooting to the edge of the bed. Somewhat to her surprise, he didn’t stop her. Merely stood over her, looking smugly amused.