Heart of a Huntress

by Crista McHugh

  Yuan closed the door behind her, leaving Lana alone with her thoughts. After hearing her friend’s descriptions of how the werewolves would crawl back to the house naked and exhausted when the sun rose, she began to question whether or not this was the life she wanted to live. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and wondered what she’d look like if she shifted into a wolf. Could she handle surrendering control of her body to the full moon every month?

  The floorboards creaked outside her door, alerting her that the other members of the household were waking up. Her thoughts turned to Byron again. She hadn’t seen him in four days, and the urge to be near him almost choked her like a vise. She opened the door and peered out into the hallway, hoping everyone would be fully clothed.

  The smell of dark roasted coffee called to her from the kitchen. It was her first time venturing out of her room since she arrived, but she felt like she already knew her way around the ranch house. She jerked to a stop when she saw Greg pouring himself a cup.

  He set the pot down and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Good evening, Lana.”

  She gave him a shy grin and lingered in the doorway. It was one thing to wake up in her boyfriend’s house with only him there. It was an entirely different thing when he shared a house with over a dozen other men. “Good evening, Greg. Have you seen Byron?”

  The small werewolf’s mouth angled down for a moment. “He’s up at Eddie’s cabin.”

  “He’s not here?” Her heart sank into her stomach. Had he suddenly come to his senses and realized a relationship with her was a total mistake?

  Greg shook his head. “Your scent just about drove him mad the first night, so a bunch of us ran him up into the hills just so he could have some peace. He hasn’t come down since.” He grabbed a cup from the shelves above. “Coffee?”

  She nodded and pulled one of the barstools up to the center island while she mulled over his words. Did the pack not accept her because she wasn’t like them? Did they see her as a threat to their leader?

  Greg handed her a steaming mug of black coffee and studied her for a minute. “How much has Byron told you about the mating process?”

  “Very little. He just told me I was his mate, and that’s it.”

  He cursed under his breath. “Figures. He’s trying too hard not to influence your decision.”

  “Considering it’s only been a week since I found out what Byron is, I’m having a bit of a hard time processing it all, especially when you throw in the fact I’ve only spoken to him once during that time.”

  Greg cocked a brow. “Would you be willing to hear the truth from me?”

  She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I’d rather hear it from Byron, but since he’s avoiding me…”

  “He’s avoiding you because he thinks it’s the noble thing to do, even if he’s a fucking idiot. And I’m his best friend, so I have every right to say that.” He pulled a stool up to the counter and sat across from her. “He wants this to be your decision, even though it’s slowly destroying him.”

  Icy fear trickled down her spine. “If you think our relationship is a bad thing—”

  “No, that’s not it at all. I’m thrilled he’s found his true-mate. Most of us will never experience that in our lifetimes. It’s your hesitation to take the next step that’s the problem. Or should I say, Byron’s hesitation to complete the mating process is what’s going to be his undoing. He’s the Alpha, the leader of the pack. He can’t be driven to distraction by you and still maintain order.”

  She closed her eyes and tried to push the image of Byron suffering from her mind. “You’re talking in riddles. Just come out and say it, Greg.”

  “Fine. If he doesn’t turn you soon, it’s going to eat away at him until he’s just a shell of the man he once was.”

  She winced like he’d just slapped her in the face and called her the Yoko Ono of the pack. “Greg, I know if I was like him, things would be easier, but I’m not sure I want to live that kind of life.”

  When she opened her eyes, a snarl was still lingering on his face, and his eyes were glowing amber. “Then you’re willing to slowly kill him?”

  Her pulse hammered in her ears, and the huntress inside her warned her to back away before he attacked. “No, but I don’t think my refusal to become a werewolf will be as devastating as you imply.”

  A string of cuss words exploded from Greg’s mouth, and he grabbed the counter in a white-knuckled grip. “Suit yourself.” The two words came out in a low growl. “But I warn you—I won’t stand back and watch my best friend suffer.”

  “Greg, pull yourself together.” Pete loped into the kitchen. “We want her to join the pack, not be scared away from it.”

  Greg’s features relaxed, but the yellow glow didn’t fade from his eyes. “Right.” He picked up his cup of coffee and turned to the back door. “I’ll be in the shop if anyone needs me.”

  Lana let her muscles relax as the door banged shut behind him. One more reason to consider running to the Foundation and begging for her old job back. Yes, she might love Byron, but if she had to face this kind of hostility from his friends, she wondered if it was worth it.

  Pete poured himself some coffee. “Don’t mind Greg. He’s always been a little overprotective of Byron.”

  “Is what he said true?”

  “About the mating process? Yep. Byron’s already bonded with you. He’s waiting for you to complete the bond.”

  “Meaning?”

  “You need to become one of us, ideally. As long as you’re a normal human, you’re holding back a part of yourself from him. It won’t kill him, but it will definitely drive him batty. And if you leave him…” His voice trailed off as he stared at the mountains outside the window. “Well, I don’t want to think about that.”

  “If I left, would it kill him?” Her voice quivered at the end of her question. So far, this mating process seemed far more complicated than she cared to admit. Whatever happened to boy meets girl and they slowly fall in love and get married and have a couple of kids? Why did this love story have to involve her getting bitten and growing hair all over her body once a month?

  “Listen, Lana, I shouldn’t be the one trying to make up your mind. Either you love him enough to take the next step, or you don’t. I can’t read your mind. All I know is that Byron is crazy for you, and if you want to find him and finish this discussion with him, he’s in that cabin over there.” He pointed to a distant dot on top of a hill.

  She stared at it, an intense longing filling her. Yes, she needed to be having this conversation with him, not his friends. “How do I get there?”

  Pete tossed her a set of keys. “Take Byron’s Jeep and follow the road up.”

  During the entire bumpy ride, her mind warred with her heart. She refused to bow down to their threats and pressure and become a werewolf, but at the same time, she couldn’t imagine anyone being more perfect for her than Byron. Maybe there was some truth to this whole mating thing, but her common sense warned her to take her time accepting it.

  When she entered the stuffy one-room cabin, her common sense flew out the window. Byron lay stretched across the bed, the sheet barely covering his groin. Her mouth watered as she stared at his naked flesh. Some kind of primitive need engulfed her. She longed to feel his bare flesh against hers, to taste his skin, to join with him physically and emotionally.

  By the time she crossed the room, she’d shed her jeans, underwear and tank top. She was working on her bra when he stirred in his sleep. A smile played on his lips, and he murmured her name. Desire rippled down her body and settled in the pit of her stomach. Even while sleeping, he seemed to want her as much as she wanted him.

  She crawled into the bed and kissed him. The salty taste of his sweat filled her mouth as her tongue grazed his lips. He moaned and opened his mouth for her exploration, gripped her elbows to keep her close to him. She increased the tempo of her swirling tongue, slowly waking him up with each flick until the evid
ence of his arousal pressed against her thigh.

  “Lana, what are you doing here?” he asked when she finally ended the kiss.

  “What do you think?” She bent over and nibbled on his ear. Dear God, he tasted so good. Her lips traveled lower, and her tongue traced the thick corded muscles of his neck. An intense hunger filled her with every inch of his skin she savored.

  His grip tightened on her arms. “I’m trying so hard to stay in control, but when you tempt me like this…” He hissed as her teeth grazed his nipple. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?”

  “I think it’s rather obvious.” She straddled him and lowered her hips until the tip of his erection brushed against her slick folds. She bit her lip to keep from impaling herself on his cock, fighting the rising need to have him fuck her hard and fast like he had in the shower last week. Damn, she wanted him more than she realized. “Funny, I thought an Alpha would prefer to be on top.”

  Her taunt had the desired effect. He flipped her onto her back in one fluid motion and plunged his cock into her. A shudder tore through her body, but she wasn’t sure if it was from him or her. The boundaries between them seemed to blur when they were joined like this.

  He closed his eyes, and a sigh escaped his lips. “You feel so good, Lana.”

  “Not half as good as you feel.” She wiggled under him. “Of course, there’s a way you could feel much better.”

  He opened his eyes and combed her hair from her forehead before pressing his lips against it. “I thought I was the Alpha here. Let me just enjoy you for a few more seconds.”

  He inhaled deeply and she remembered Greg’s comments about her scent driving Byron crazy. She breathed in through her nose, capturing the smells of sun-baked earth and leather that rose from his skin. Her sex clenched around him, and he groaned and shut his eyes again.

  His face tensed as he slowly withdrew from her. “I want you so much, Lana.” His lips grazed hers. “To hold you, to possess you, to make love to you every night until we both collapse.”

  She dug her nails into his shoulders while he slowly slid back into her. This bordered on pure torture. She needed to satisfy the growing hunger building inside her. She needed to come in his arms. But a craving more powerful than even her desire called to her. A craving that both terrified her and thrilled her. She wanted to be ravaged in every sense of the word by him, to have him mark her and claim her as his.

  “Lana, what are you thinking?”

  The worry in his voice only fed the hunger. “That you’re being entirely too tame with me.”

  She caught his lips and plunged her tongue into his mouth, exploring its hot recesses until he responded and began moving inside her. Sweat prickled along the back of her neck as his strokes quickened. Tension coiled in her womb. And yet, she still craved something more. Something she couldn’t name, but it called to her inner huntress, far more primal than her civilized mind could fathom.

  He ripped his lips from hers and jerked to a stop. The feral glow in his eyes stirred a slurry of emotions within her—desire, fear, pleasure.

  She nipped at his neck. “Don’t hold back, Byron,” she whispered in his ear.

  Pain laced his voice. “Lana, I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “I trust you.” She caught his bottom lip with her teeth and sucked on it.

  He groaned and the intense ferocity returned to his lovemaking. His cock rammed into her over and over again, slamming to the hilt each time and rubbing against the exquisitely sensitive spot inside her pussy. Her consciousness faded as she came closer and closer to the precipice. Her mouth moved across his skin, peppering his flesh with tiny nibbles before lapping her tongue over it. Her nips seemed to encourage him to continue his frenzied pace. The violent shock of her orgasm nearly ripped her apart. Instead of crying out, she sank her teeth into his upper arm.

  He slowed and whimpered as her inner walls continued to clench around his still-erect cock. “Lana, what are you doing?”

  When she relaxed her jaw, she glanced at the teeth marks on his skin, and a warm glow spread through her. She’d marked him. He was hers and no one else’s. “I love you, and there’s no one else I want to be with.”

  “Are you sure?” The yellow glow in his eyes intensified. He made no effort to hide his emotions from her now. They sat raw and hungry on the surface, all for her. He loved her and was waiting for her permission to complete their bond as mates.

  Any doubt she had about their future vanished right then. She tilted his head down to the fresh scars on her neck. Klaus had taken her by force. Now, she wanted Byron to cover the scars with his own bite. The bite of a lover, a bite that would mark her as his. “Please,” she begged.

  She braced for the pain, but instead he gently kissed her. “I love you, too, Lana.”

  The brief moment of gentleness disappeared as he moved inside her once again. His mouth claimed hers, his kisses growing more aggressive to match each stroke of his cock. The boundaries between them blurred like they had before, only this time, she didn’t need to meet his gaze. His heart pounded in time with hers. Their bodies moved in perfect harmony.

  A whimper rose in the back of her throat. The primal need that she’d been feeling ever since she arrived at the cabin raged against its restraints, demanding to be unleashed. The image of a wolf with his fangs bared flashed in front of her just before Byron’s teeth pricked the surface of her skin.

  A multitude of sensations exploded within her all at once. The sting of his bite throbbed through her body in time with waves of bliss that pulsated from her womb. They crashed together near her heart, making her breath hitch. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, and she clung tightly to him. His scent washed over her and became as familiar as the sound of his voice. Deep inside her, his cock twitched to its own beat, drawing out her own orgasm.

  She floated in a haze of pleasure and pain while listening to Byron whisper that he loved her over and over again. As the sensations waned, a sudden peace filled her. Her heart called out to him, and his answered. Instead of being terrified of having this level of intimacy with another person, she embraced it. No more keeping herself isolated from the rest of the world.

  When her vision finally cleared, Byron’s face loomed above hers. The tenderness glowing from his hazel eyes nearly took her breath away, and the lines of worry she’d seen etched in his face every time he made love to her were noticeably absent.

  “Is that all?” she asked. “Did it work?”

  “We’ll find out next month.” He left a trail of kisses down her throat, lingering just above her left breast where he’d bit her. A rumble of laughter vibrated through his chest. “You surprised me. I never took you for the biting type.”

  She traced the teeth marks on his arm. “Perhaps we’re better suited for each other than we first realized.”

  “I knew from the moment I knocked that stake out of your hand that I’d found the perfect girl.” He slid his finger along her jaw and his smile faded. “The past four days have been pure torture for me. You have no idea how tempted I was to break your window and crawl into bed next to you, even when I was trapped in a wolf’s body.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “Besides the fact that Greg, Pete and a few other members of the pack chased me up here? Maybe it was because I knew I’d lose control and force you to change.” His expression darkened. “I’m sorry, Lana. We can’t turn back now, but—”

  She shushed him by placing her finger over his lips. “The past few days have been torture for me, too. Now we don’t have to worry about being separated every full moon.”

  His grin returned and he rolled over onto his back, taking her with him. “I still wonder how I was lucky enough to deserve you, my love.”

  His heartbeat sang in her ear like a soothing lullaby. She wished she had a better answer for him other than they were just meant to be together, as corny as that sounded. In his arms, she’d discovered her new home. Whatever the future brought, sh
e’d welcome it as long as he stood beside her as a friend, an ally and a lover.

  Want more tales from the Kavanuagh Foundation?

  Then look for

  Angelic Surrender.

  The Kavanaugh Foundation, Book 2

  Heaven doesn’t want him. Hell is afraid of him. She can see right through him…

  If the abrupt appearance of Will Vassago on her couch is any indication, knowledge of Anjali’s rare ability to see past demons’ disguising glamours has spread far beyond the Foundation. One thing that hasn’t changed since she accidentally touched him two years ago—his unnerving affect on her hormones.

  Officially, Vassago needs Anjali’s help to find an escaped Skinwalker demon. He’s also got some not-so-official plans for their down time, but if her sensitive gift reveals who he really is—a fallen angel—any chance to fan the embers of desire between them will be lost.

  Anjali tries to get their assignment over with before she loses control entirely. With every encounter, the unquenchable fire in her body burns hotter. And Vassago is startled to realize when he almost loses her to the rifts of Hell he has already lost his heart.

  Then they discover the Skinwalker is only the tip of the iceberg. If they can’t get a lid on the situation, Manhattan will suffer a fate worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, and not even Vassago’s celestial sword will protect Anjali from the Angel of Death.

  Warning: Contains an OCD demon hunter, a naughty angel with voyeuristic tendencies, bedtime wrestling over who gets to be on top and a very inappropriately used sari.

  Turn the page for an excerpt.

  Angelic Surrender

  The smell of brimstone singed Anjali’s nostrils, and she quickened her pace. Heavy breathing and pounding footsteps echoed down the nearly deserted street behind her. Logan had better kick it up a notch if he wanted to keep up with her.

  The scent seemed to call to her like a child’s taunt on the playground. I dare you to catch me if you can.