Kiss of Darkness

by Loribelle Hunt

  He returned less than two minutes later with three computer bags. She took hers, he handed Gia’s over, and one by one they teleported away to one of the safe houses. The farthest one she could think of.

  Chapter Nineteen

  They were early, but the quad leaders, Robert, Ingrid and Jordan, were waiting for her when they arrived. The safe house was a small three-bedroom ranch and she looked around the crowded living room where the section and squad leaders had gathered to receive their orders. One of them would have to fill her old quadrant command. She mentally reviewed the list of possible replacements Gia had given her. It was just another detail that needed to be dealt with that evening.

  “Thinking about who’s taking over for you?” Jordan asked softly at her side. Busted. He’d been her best squad leader, the most obvious choice for quadrant leader in her place, but he’d gone to another quad before she’d been promoted. Even if he took her old position, she’d be left with a quad vacancy. He knew her almost as well as Gia and Dupree.

  She grinned at him. “Who would you choose?”

  He cocked an eyebrow obviously surprised she’d solicited advice, but studied the small knot of tense bodies that made up the southwestern contingent at the meeting tonight.

  “Lance.”

  “Really?” She was surprised. The other hybrid was a bit of a hothead. Not a great quality in a leader and one she reluctantly admitted to sharing. But Gia had made the same recommendation and Winter had half decided to appoint him to the quad on that endorsement alone.

  “Newly bonded. To a lupine. He’s calmed down a bit.”

  “Ah.” A detail she should have known, and had probably been told. Gia was nothing if not thorough.

  She caught Dupree’s signal from across the room and nodded in response. The small room they were going to hold the meeting in was ready.

  “Let’s go,” she told Jordan and noticed the other members of the quad already entering the short hall. She paused as she passed the men from the southwest quad.

  “Lance.” She indicated he should follow her and sensed him fall into step behind Jordan.

  The room wasn’t spacious, barely big enough for the two couches and chairs that were crammed into it, but it would do. No one was sitting when she walked in and she realized with irritation they’d waited for her, because oh yeah, she was the regional commander now. Her new position was going to take a lot of getting used to.

  Refusing to heave the sigh of exasperation that threatened, she went to the chair opposite the door. A tactical move. She didn’t want her back to an entrance. Dupree grimaced, but took the seat she’d avoided, clearly unhappy about not having a view of the door but just as unwilling to share the couch with anyone else. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to avoid grinning. The others sat, except for Gia who stood behind her.

  “Lance is taking over the southwest?” Robert asked.

  “Yes.” She gave Lance a hard look. “Don’t make me regret that decision.”

  “I won’t.” She heard the controlled fury in his voice and nodded, approving. Control was key.

  “Good.”

  “Has everyone checked in?”

  “Yes,” Gia answered, moving to her left. Winter was relieved. Gia’s change of position saved her from constantly having to look over her shoulder, and the knots in her neck and shoulder that would no doubt result from the constant movement.

  “Any progress on the real-estate search?” She had the nagging feeling the safe houses wouldn’t stay secure much longer.

  “We found an estate on the northeast side. Signed a lease on it this afternoon. Between the main house and two guesthouses it’s big enough for everyone in the quad.” Jordan spoke for the northeast quad.

  She nodded. “Anything else?”

  Ingrid looked uncomfortable as she spoke up. “I know a nightwalker who offered me the use of one of his houses. There’s enough room for about half my people if we double up. He said he might have a lead on some other places too.”

  Winter studied the younger woman. Just great. Another one of them wrapped up with one of those damned nightwalkers.

  You too, Ingrid?

  Ingrid’s face was pinched, not really fearful just reluctant. Could we talk about it later? Should I tell him no?

  She was tempted, but it wasn’t like she could refuse the offer. The safety of her people came before her reluctance of further involving them with the other race. Or herself with one in particular.

  “Do it,” she told Ingrid. She turned back to Gia, her urgency growing as she realized how many of them would not be safe tonight or tomorrow or probably the next day. “This is number one on the priority list.”

  “Got it. When I spoke to Mitchell earlier, he said they can put up about twenty also.”

  She nodded. Good. She had every intention of being one of those twenty along with Gia and Dupree.

  “Patrols. Until I say otherwise, four-man teams. And full watches on all the sleeping areas 24/7.”

  If Benjamin had made such an order a week ago, the voices of the quad would have raised in outraged protest. A full watch was six armed patrols working twelve-hour shifts, which translated to twelve hunters not out doing what they existed for if the watches were all day and night long. Some of the smaller squads didn’t have the manpower for even that.

  “We’re gonna have to reorganize some, too.” It was necessary whether they liked it or not. And they weren’t going to like it. “No more isolated squads. I don’t want anyone living in a place with a smaller than platoon-sized unit.” Roughly fifty people.

  That they protested. Of course. There was only one reasoned argument though. From Lance. She should have known he’d give her a headache right away.

  “We’re not going to be able to find places big enough to accommodate that, Commander.”

  “Make do,” she responded harshly before turning to Gia. “We’ll have to build.” Even when they found and eradicated the threat to their people, no one would ever really feel safe in the old places.

  She was nodding, jotting down notes on her clipboard. “That will be easy actually. The Order’s been acquiring land for the last few years.”

  Winter raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t known that. Gia shook her head at the unasked question, her own confusion obvious, and explained.

  “No one knew. I just found out. Gray said the council didn’t even tell Benjamin.”

  “Odd,” Ingrid muttered.

  Winter agreed. It was strange. She could understand the quad leaders not being kept informed, but why leave Ben out of the loop? Rising from the chair, she shrugged it off. She had enough problems without trying to decipher the serpentine movements of the council.

  “Hourly checkins until further notice.” The others stood and she looked around the room, holding each person’s gaze a moment before moving to the next. Then she grinned, not caring if it was just this side of feral. “And happy hunting.”

  She left the room, left the house without a backward glance, glad to be free of the claustrophobic place. Outside she took a deep breath and waited for Gia and Dupree. The man appeared first, hands stuffed in his pockets, for all appearances cool as the day was long. He stopped next to her, but didn’t look at her, instead studying something off in the distance. She wasn’t offended. Anyone who spent any amount of time with Dupree adjusted to his mercurial moods quickly.

  “You gonna ask Mitchell if the squad can stay there?”

  The squad that had been hers as a quadrant commander, technically her personal guard, moved with her in her new role. She’d had no choice but to put them up in one of the safe houses last night. Tonight they would be together again.

  “Yep.”

  “The squad yes. The three of us, no,” he said, delivered in a commanding tone that made her skin itch. If anyone else spoke to her like that, he’d have been in the dirt. But this was Dupree and when he spoke in that demanding tone she knew it was because he thought she was doing something not only foolish
but dangerous. She sighed.

  “You still think we should stay with the nightwalkers?”

  With Marcus. She was afraid to even think his name, as if the action might invoke him, might wake him and jump-start the claiming he’d begun last night. She couldn’t have that. Squeezing her eyes shut, she forced David’s image to rise in her mind. Years, decades, ago she’d joined the Order because the husband she’d loved more than anything had been stolen from her. She’d guarded her heart carefully since then, didn’t want to dishonor that memory, that choice, now over simple lust.

  She was still mostly human. She indulged. Sex was a necessary, enjoyable part of life. Right? Why couldn’t the nightwalker leave it at that? He hadn’t said otherwise, but she knew he wasn’t going to. Wasn’t going to walk away, wasn’t going to leave her in peace with her memories.

  “It’s the safest place,” he said so stubbornly she knew there was something more to it. Just as she knew she wouldn’t get it out of him and she wasn’t giving in.

  “No.” She shook her head.

  “Have it your way.”

  “I will, thanks,” she snapped back.

  A ghost of a smile crossed his lips. “I’m going to check on the squad. I’ll make the necessary arrangements.”

  “Thanks.”

  He was gone before she even finished the word. She hissed her irritation and went in search of Gia who was inside whispering in a corner with Ingrid. They both shut up when they saw Winter. She sighed. What now?

  “Anything I need to know about?” she asked dryly.

  Ingrid pressed her lips together and Winter knew she was holding in a laugh.

  “Not really,” Gia answered. “I’m going to the office.”

  The downtown building was the official front for the Order’s regional investments and holdings, and it also housed their lab in a secret underground complex of rooms. Gia had all three laptop bags. “I’ve got a list of contractors so I’ll see how soon we can get the plans drawn up and break ground.”

  “Okay. Take a couple people with you. I don’t want anyone alone.”

  “Sure. I’ll catch up with you and Dupree later. At Mitchell’s?”

  “Yeah.”

  With a nod of good-bye to Ingrid, she was gone.

  “Well, that was quick,” the other woman muttered. It was obvious she’d wanted to continue her conversation with Gia. Winter was curious, but she didn’t push Ingrid to talk to her. If it was something she needed to know, they’d bring it to her attention when and if it was necessary. Besides she was pretty sure it had to do with personal relationships with nightwalkers, and it had always been her policy not to micromanage the lives of her people unless they were in danger. As much as she distrusted the walkers, she didn’t sense any danger so she let it go and excused herself.

  “Y’all be careful,” she warned the remaining quad leaders before teleporting to the lupine pack’s lair.

  She reappeared in the yard and walked up the front porch steps, not really surprised to see two guards lounging against a rail, their relaxed poses belied by the feral glints in their eyes. One of them nodded at her, the other spoke.

  “Go on in, Winter. He’s waiting for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  She went inside and jogged down the steps that led to most of the pack’s living space and went searching for Mitchell. He wasn’t in the gym, their usual meeting place, or any of the other common areas. She let her senses flair out and felt him upstairs in his living quarters. The guards could have told her. Gritting her teeth, she went back up.

  He was waiting in front of the French doors when she walked in, back to her and staring outside, his hands resting on his hips. She shut the door behind her, the soft click ringing through the quiet air, and he turned his head to look at her over his shoulder.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey yourself.” Tilting her head to one side, she stepped forward to join him. Something was off. His attitude was too indifferent and it felt forced. Standing next to him, she mimicked his pose, not doing what she really wanted to do and study his profile. Figure out what was wrong with him.

  “What’s up?”

  He shrugged. “The usual. Night’s coming. Patrols will start soon. Same shit, different day.”

  Okay, now she was getting worried. It was unlike Mitchell to be anything but insufferably cheerful. With her at least most of the time.

  “Yeah.” She paused. Should she call him on it? No. It wasn’t worth the headache right now. A lousy attitude to take with a friend, but she was feeling overwhelmed as it was. “About the patrols. Gia said you mentioned hooking up?”

  He nodded. “Dupree’s around here somewhere. He and Baron are setting up teams and dealing with sleeping arrangements.”

  Thank God. “Cool. We can all double, or triple up, if necessary.”

  He finally turned and looked at her. There was absolutely no expression on his face, no inflection in his voice when he spoke. “No. We don’t have the space and you already have an offer from the nightwalkers.”

  Anger filled her. Pure and simple and totally human. None of the demon’s rage infected it, magnified it. She wasn’t sure if she was happy about that under the circumstances.

  “I’m going to kill Dupree,” she snarled, but softly, the words almost inaudible.

  Mitchell’s brows drew together. “Why?”

  “Why? He isn’t responsible for this? You just decided one of your oldest friends isn’t welcome out of the blue?”

  “Not out of the blue.” He cocked an eyebrow. “But it doesn’t have anything to do with Dupree.”

  “Care to explain that?”

  He shrugged and turned back to the window. “Ask Marcus.”

  Scratch that. She was going to kill Marcus. Dupree could live for a little while longer. Mitchell on the other hand…

  “Explain that,” she snapped.

  Again with the shrug. “He made it more than clear you’re his and he won’t take kindly to interference.”

  She threw her hands up in the air and paced across the room. “You have got to be kidding me! You’re gonna blow off fifty years of friendship because of something a nightwalker said?”

  He faced her and she knew she wasn’t going to win this fight, didn’t have a chance. His eyes were sad and resigned, but also determined. “It works different for us, remember? You’re his. The sooner you accept that the better.”

  Oh, she didn’t think so. No way in hell was she giving control of her life to someone else and like lupines, nightwalker males had a reputation for uncompromising dominance. One they’d earned. But the only way to deal with this would be to go directly to the source. They were going to have this out once and for all. In a flash she was gone and once again standing in the foyer of the nightwalker Lord’s home.

  Chapter Twenty

  He’d been alarmed when he first woke, but it quickly passed. Marcus felt the bond between them, not yet strong but secure enough that Winter wouldn’t be able to break it. He let his mind open, reaching out to test his surroundings. He, Kadall and Marelle were the only ones in the house. He hoped wherever Luke was he was in control. The last thing he needed right now was his twin going ballistic. Since Luke’s mate had shut him out last night that was a very real possibility. He reached down the path that connected them and received assurance that Luke was fine. Only then did he turn his complete focus to Winter.

  He knew she was all right. He was always in her mind, but knowing and seeing were two different things. She was in some kind of meeting, thinking. Always thinking. Working scenarios in her mind, trying to trace all the twisted paths of possibilities behind the demon attacks. She’d reached the same conclusion he had. It was almost certainly a hybrid feeding information to the demons. Someone who’d gone rogue or was so close to it there was little difference. What she couldn’t figure out was who—names, faces, backgrounds ran continuously through her mind and he felt her frustration. She didn’t know, really know, enough of them to make a
n informed guess. Buried under all that was worry. Worry about those she was responsible for. Worry about her own limitations, the risks she posed to her own people.

  She saw herself as a liability. She was afraid she wasn’t strong enough or fast enough or smart enough. She didn’t see what everyone else saw when they looked at her. What he saw.

  She was magnificent.

  He shut his eyes, reveling in the scent of her, the feel of her in his mind. Even though she didn’t want this, didn’t want a bond with him, she was there. Had been there for weeks. He felt her trying to re-erect the wall she’d managed to put up just a couple of days ago and laughed. It was much too late for that.

  She was also a pain in the ass.

  She knew he didn’t want her leaving the house when he couldn’t follow and ensure her safety, but did she comply? Hell no. She rushed foolishly out into danger just to avoid him, to avoid what was between them. Then she tried to block him. It was his right to have complete access to her mind. He would be a bit more forceful in his explanation next time.

  His stomach growled. Rising, he grabbed the first pair of clean jeans he could find and dressed in a hurry. Downstairs he could smell cooking food and went straight for the kitchen. Jerking to a stop as he entered, he cleared his throat.

  Turning to face the doorway and thereby shielding his mate from Marcus’s sight, Kadall lifted his head from Marelle’s breast, but kept his hands firmly gripping her ass. Marcus arched an eyebrow, waiting as Kadall struggled against his instincts, struggled to contain the snarl Marcus knew he’d be feeling, not to mention contain the power of a mind that wanted to snap out at the intrusion, the possible threat. Restraining the urge, Kadall swept the woman up in his arms and edged past Marcus in the doorway.

  He entered the kitchen shaking his head. Kadall should be beyond that kind of struggle, the bond between him and his mate strong enough, the claiming long ago complete, that he should be able to maintain the civilized veneer they all wore even when interrupted like he’d been. Marcus didn’t make it habit to interfere with mated pairs, but he’d have to speak to Kadall, get to the root of this new development. He couldn’t afford to have a senior soldier so unstable at this point in the game. Maybe he was simply feeling Marcus’s and Luke’s struggles. God knew the energy level in the house was off the scale.