Huntress Rescued

by Eva Brandt

  We were dragged in a circle of almost corrosive lust, unable to escape, losing ourselves in one another. But at that moment, as they moved in and out of me, I didn’t mind.

  After that, it was so easy to surrender to them, to let go, to forget. Their heat melted away any resistance I might have tried to put up. Their hold on me tightened so much it felt like they were trying to absorb me into their skin. Every inch of me was alive with their passion and strength. And I could already feel that we were building up to something momentous, something that would change us forever.

  And then, Ulysses pressed his hand to my back and something snapped inside me. I wasn’t ready for it. The overwhelming surge of ecstasy propelled me into an orgasm so sudden and earth-shattering that I almost blacked out.

  If I didn’t, it was out of sheer stubbornness, and the desire to drag them along. My determination paid off. As my muscles tightened around Ulysses and Xander’s dicks, they let out twin, almost agonized groans. With two more thrusts, they came inside me, pumping me full of their spunk.

  At the same time, Byron tugged on my hair so hard I probably lost a few strands. He buried his cock all the way into my throat and stilled, his massive body tensing as he followed us over the edge.

  I could do nothing but ride it all out—or at least, that was what I tried to do. I ended up spluttering and choking on Byron’s spunk, too inexperienced with this sort of thing to swallow every drop.

  But I still did my best, and when Byron tried to pull away, I held onto him, wordlessly telling him to stay with me, to not leave me.

  I didn’t want this moment to ever end. I wanted them to be inside me like this forever. Nothing else mattered except this, except them.

  They allowed it, but only for a little while. All too soon, they pulled out of me, and the explosion of passion between us faded into a more comfortable afterglow.

  A part of me still felt a little robbed, but when they curled around me, that need faded to a distant corner of my mind. “You’re ours, Genny,” Xander whispered fiercely. “You’re our mate.”

  I was. I believed that. I belonged to them, and through that, through them, I could start over.

  The past didn’t matter. With my werewolves, here at the Brooks pack, I could have a future I believed in. And no one would keep me from it.

  Chapter Nine

  Reader, beware. The magic within these pages is your birthright, but make no mistake. It can easily lead to your destruction. The path you tread upon is as treacherous as the shadows we summon.

  It is no coincidence that demons aplenty perish at the hands of petty mortals or even in the claws of the betrayers. Our power should suffice to protect us. But we’ve failed and countless nests, dens, lairs, and covens have fallen.

  Remember, oh, reader, that a demon’s heart is the key to their power. Pour your anger and your hatred into these pages, and you will never die.

  - Marius Rossi, 6th Grimoire of Marius, Unknown Date of Creation –

  * * *

  Daimon

  They were stealing her from me. Those idiotic werewolves had dared to touch what was mine.

  I stared into the pool of shadows and trembled with fury as I took in the images summoned by my scrying spell. I’d expected my soulmate to have an unfortunate reaction to the ritual and I’d fully intended to go after her to finish the job. But I hadn’t seen this coming.

  With the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Kade gliding up to me on silent footsteps. He peered into the shadowy pool, and then turned toward me, throwing me a small smirk. “It looks like you should have killed them when you had the chance,” he said. “I mean, what did you expect? Of course they’d take advantage of her while she’s at her most vulnerable.”

  Fire trickled over my skin at Kade’s callous, smug words. I knew he was right, but that didn’t make it any easier to hear. “Shut the fuck up, Kade.”

  He took a few steps back, chuckling. “Now, now. Don’t take your failure out on me. I’m not the one who left his soulmate behind at the mercy of a pack of betrayers.”

  I wanted to rip his throat out for his defiance, but unfortunately for me, I was stuck with him. We’d been friends for decades. It was just very easy to forget that when he taunted me like this. But I had to remember that he wasn’t like others of his kind. He might be a werewolf, but he was on my side.

  “Clearly, I made a mistake,” I told him, “but you’re not helping by taunting me.”

  He arched a brow. “If you want my help, Daimon, all you have to do is say ‘please’.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and glowered at him in silence. Kade let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, fine. Sheesh. Looks like you have no sense of humor today. If you want my opinion, I think you should try a more discreet approach. Your soulmate might have had sex with those werewolves, but they didn’t claim her. As long as that is the case, the bond between the two of you is still stronger, and you can take her back at any time.”

  A discreet approach. Kade was probably right, but I’d lost my taste in things like that after my first millennium of life. If there was one thing I enjoyed at this point in my endless existence, it was causing as much chaos as possible.

  On the other hand, I still believed in my first assessment of my soulmate. If I pushed her too far, too fast, the situation could spiral out of my control more than it already had.

  So what could I do? No matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t come up with a method to destroy those shifters without permanently shattering the incipient bond between me and my fated mate.

  “If you have any ideas, Kade, I’m all ears.”

  Kade offered me a small, almost gentle smile. “I have a few, although they might involve some tricky bits of magic.”

  His eyes glowed brightly in the dim light of the room, but it didn’t startle me. If anything, it reassured me. It was at times like these that I was reminded that my horde was the closest thing Kade had to a pack. His family had turned on him once they’d learned of his more unusual interests. According to them, werewolves who dabbled in the Lost Arts were too dangerous to even live. But here, he was accepted. I knew he wouldn’t betray me.

  The interesting thing about Kade was that, since he wasn’t a demon, he had access to magic that was different from mine. Demonic magic tended to be very destructive, whereas witch magic—which Kade had learned—was neutral and could be used for any purpose.

  “I know that your instinct is to go there and burn that lair to the ground,” he said, “but the Alpha would feel you the moment you set foot on his turf. It would be better to make her come to you.

  “Those werewolves have a lot of secrets and far more vulnerabilities than they realize. I can help you hit them where they’re weak.”

  As Kade gave me the details of his plan, I slowly began to relax. Yes, I hated the fact that the werewolves had touched my chosen bride like that, but in the long run, they would be irrelevant for her, unfortunate and minor footnotes in her life.

  It would take a little fiddling, but I was up to the challenge. And I was sure that, eventually, she’d understand what I wanted and that I was the only person who could ever make her happy.

  * * *

  Imogen

  The day after my rescue, Ulysses gave me a clean bill of health and I was allowed to move in with my lovers. Byron took me to the quarters he shared with Xander, keeping a possessive arm wrapped around my shoulders as we made our way through the werewolf den.

  Unfortunately, Xander and Ulysses couldn’t be with us. Even if the vampires had been wiped out, there was still a lot of work to be done, so my lovers couldn’t spend as much time with me as they wanted to. Xander had an important meeting today, and in his absence, Byron was going to keep an eye on me.

  After what seemed like forever, we got to Xander’s quarters. As the Alpha, Xander had a pretty large section of the underground cavern to himself. Xander had explained that this was necessary, since it wasn’t at all unusual for Alphas to take more than
one lover.

  The concept had made sense to me at the time. I wasn’t so happy with it when Byron revealed what it meant for my future.

  “This is going to be your room,” he explained when we finally stopped in front of a more secluded part of Xander’s cavern. “Ulysses, Xander, and I are right next door, so if there’s anything you need, you can tell us.”

  I looked around at the bedroom in a mix of caution and surprise. The furniture was very different from what we’d used in my previous home. I’d expected more basic, utilitarian things of werewolves, but I was only partially right. While everything here was very sturdy and clearly meant to withstand a werewolf’s strength, there was a quiet artistry in the carved lines too, something I found beautiful.

  Even so, I felt a strange restlessness swirling in my gut. I wanted to believe it was just because I was unused to the idea of having a home in an underground cavern, but I knew better.

  I shot a look toward Byron, who was standing in the doorway, eyeing me with an unreadable expression. “You all share a room, right?” I asked. “Why can’t I stay with you?”

  I regretted the words even as I said them. I sounded like a spoiled brat. They’d already done so much for me, saving me from the demons and from my angry family. Even if I was their soulmate, that didn’t mean I had the right to insinuate myself in every part of their life.

  “You can, Genny,” Byron replied softly. “In fact, we hope you will. But it’s tradition in the pack for females to have their own quarters, even when they’re mated. It’s not something they use until… further along the line.”

  I stared at him, not understanding what he was talking about. “So… It’s just a private area in case we need space from one another?”

  “Something like that, yes. But obviously, you’re more than welcome to stay with us.”

  He smiled and my stomach did a funny leap. It was difficult to cling to my apprehension when he was looking at me like that, with such affection. From the moment we’d met, he and the others had protected me and given me so much. It couldn’t possibly last, but as long as it did, as long as I could have this, I wanted to stay as close to them as possible.

  “Well, then, your room it is,” I told him.

  “Great,” he said, beaming at me. He shuffled me out of the first room, through a large corridor, and into a second bedroom. “I was hoping you’d say that,” he continued. “I took the liberty of having some clothes brought here for you.”

  The words reminded me of what had happened between us in the healing chamber. After seeing us together, everyone in his union must have guessed it, if they hadn’t already known before.

  My first meeting with werewolves other than my soulmates hadn’t exactly gone great. How had the rest of the pack reacted to my presence while I’d been in the healing chamber?

  These thoughts had troubled me before, but today, I couldn’t suppress them any longer. “Is this really okay, Byron?” I asked him. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but… I’m a huntress. You guys are werewolves. Isn’t your pack angry?”

  Byron’s gentle smile didn’t falter. “I assure you, no one is judging you for what happened between us. I won’t lie. There have been people who’ve made more unpleasant comments about you. But they’ll get accustomed to you in time. They have no choice.”

  I didn’t know if I believed that, but there was no point in arguing with him about it anyway. Even if I’d wanted to leave—and I didn’t—I had nowhere to go. No one else would care about a huntress who was no longer human, who didn’t even know what she was anymore. The other shifters in Xander’s pack might not approve of my stay, but my soulmates did.

  With that in mind, I threw Byron a small smile. “You’re right,” I told him. “I’m sorry. I’m just very nervous about all this.”

  As I spoke, I rummaged through the wardrobe and extracted a simple outfit from inside. The skirt showed more skin than I was used to, but I didn’t mind. Byron seemed to like what he saw, although he didn’t comment on it.

  “I know you’re nervous,” he offered instead. “But we’re here for you. Take all the time you need. You’ve been through a difficult experience and everyone understands that.”

  That, I definitely didn’t believe. But I didn’t get the chance to tell him that. All of a sudden, Byron’s breath caught and his eyes widened. “Fuck.”

  “Byron?” I asked hesitantly. “What is it?”

  “There’s another werewolf on our turf. An enemy. I have to go, Genny. Stay inside, okay?”

  “Wait! I can help!”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re still healing and not in a good position to fight any battles right now, especially not against werewolves.”

  “But, Byron…”

  “It’s nothing you should worry about. This sort of thing happens all the time. Just be safe. That’s the only thing we need.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but before I could say anything, he pressed a brief kiss to my lips and rushed out of the room. I was left standing alone in the middle of their—or was it our?—bedroom.

  Staring at the stone walls, I struggled to suppress a frustrated scream.

  This was one of the things that had started to bug me since my arrival. Now that I was no longer a huntress, what role would I have? What would I do with my life? Having a relationship with Xander, Ulysses, and Byron was great, but I couldn’t spend every single second of every day with them. I was a person with my own responsibilities, not just the Alpha’s mate.

  I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted blood. This was really not the time to think about my insecurities. My soulmates had gone to hunt down an enemy werewolf. Byron had said it wasn’t a big problem, but if that had been true, he never would have left me here on my own.

  This was stupid. Ulysses had already said I was mostly fine. There was nothing stopping me from going to investigate. I wouldn’t interfere if there was an actual attack already taking place, but looking around wouldn’t hurt.

  Decision made, I headed toward the exit of the bedroom. I was halfway there when a male figure manifested in front of me.

  Instantly, I froze in my tracks. My muscles seized and my brain stopped working properly. I was utterly paralyzed.

  Daimon Rossi smiled at me, his eyes glinting a bloody crimson in the mild lighting of the cave. “Hello, lovely. What a cozy new residence you’ve managed to acquire. I hope you don’t mind me dropping by for a visit.”

  His words snapped me out of my trance and I managed to take a step back. “You! What are you doing here?”

  The demon laughed. “You didn’t think it would be so easy to get rid of me, did you? I told you before. You belong to me. You’re my soulmate, my future bride. Nothing you do will change that.”

  “You’re wrong,” I said, clenching my fists. “I only belong to myself. And I’m not your soulmate. I’m in a relationship with… someone else.”

  What I actually wanted was to tell him the truth about what my werewolves and I had done the day before. But I stopped myself at the last moment. This demon seemed obsessed with me, and drawing his wrath onto Xander, Ulysses, and Byron was a bad idea.

  As it turned out, I didn’t have much say in the matter. “Ah, yes. Alpha Brooks, his broken not-quite Beta and his pet Omega. What a winning combination you’ve found. I’d congratulate you, but you’re only using them to get your mind off other, more important things.”

  Anger burst through me, chasing away my shock and dread. “You don’t know anything about us. Fuck off.”

  “Oh, I don’t think so, lovely. After all, I think we both know it’s not what you really want.”

  And then, in the blink of an eye, he was standing in front of me. He gripped my wrist and pulled me into his arms. As he crushed his lips against mine, my thoughts scattered and my fury dissipated like smoke in the wind.

  As he thrust his tongue into my mouth, I melted into his embrace and surrendered to his do
mination. He growled into our kiss, and the sound made my stomach flutter and my core throb with heat.

  Daimon noticed my reaction, because how could he have possibly missed it? He broke our kiss and bit my ear, whispering, “You’re such a slut, lovely. You just want to be fucked, don’t you? Your body craves me and you’re trying to use those werewolves as replacements. But don’t worry. You don’t have to settle for second best. I’m here now.”

  A voice at the back of my mind insisted that I shouldn’t be accepting this, that it was wrong. I wanted to defend my werewolves, to tell him they weren’t a replacement. But my vocal cords wouldn’t obey me, not anymore, and I didn’t have the strength to fight Daimon off.

  He slid his hand over my back, down to my ass. My skirt was short enough that it was easy for him to reach skin. When he brushed his fingers over my thigh, a jolt of energy swept over me. I gasped into our kiss, biting down on his lower lip.

  The sharp flavor of demonic blood exploded on my taste buds, and my world started going even fuzzier. Snarling, he pinned me against the wall and lifted my leg, already reaching for my pussy.

  In one single, sharp motion, he tore off my underwear. As his fingers made contact with my labia, I almost came on the spot. Every inch of him was alive with a strange power. When he touched me like this, so intimately, it felt like he was already inside me, making love to me, claiming me.

  “It feels good, doesn’t it?” he murmured. “It’s supposed to. It’s supposed to be this way. Just you and me, my beautiful bride.”

  I wasn’t his bride. I wasn’t. I didn’t belong to him. I should be fighting him off, clawing his eyes off, spitting in his handsome face.

  But I did no such thing. Instead, when he slid one single finger into my needy pussy, I moaned. “Yes. Yes, please.”

  He reached for my breasts and squeezed of my nipples, making me arch against him as a new wave of sensation coursed through me. I was so close now, so close to coming I could practically taste it.