Stupid instincts.
He moved in a blur of silver and she grunted as he landed on her, both huge front paws coming down hard on her shoulders. She growled and rose onto her back feet to dislodge him. He only tightened his hold on her and did something she really hadn’t anticipated.
He sank his fangs into the back of her neck, his hold strong but soft enough that he didn’t break the skin. She whined and tried to break free, but he refused to release her. He bore down on her instead, using his heavier weight to send her down onto her paws. If she didn’t break free, he would have her pinned on her stomach.
She snarled and twisted her body, whimpering as pain tore through the back of her neck and the scent of blood bloomed in the cold air. Harbin released her and backed off, his shock rippling through her, surprise that she had hurt herself in order to escape him. It was what any cat shifter in her position would have done. It shouldn’t have come as a shock to him when they were trying to make this fight look real.
Her heart whispered that it hadn’t been shock over the fact she had been willing to hurt herself. It had been surprise that she had allowed his fangs to penetrate her neck in the very place he needed to bite to mark her as his mate. She hadn’t even considered that in the heat of the moment, but she felt sure that it took more than a little scratch to bind them as mates. Every lesson she’d had about mating, the teacher had said the male had to fully penetrate the female’s neck with all four fangs. Harbin had barely scratched her.
She used his momentary distraction against him and leaped at him, splaying her front legs as she sailed through the air. He reacted quickly, rising onto his hind legs to defend against her. His larger paws came at her as she landed just short of him, smashing against her shoulders and the side of her head, but she had won this round.
Aya twisted her head as her front legs wrapped around his chest and bit down on the vulnerable underside of his neck, sinking her fangs into his throat and locking her jaw to stop him from shaking her. His heart pounded wildly in her ears as he went down with her on top of him and struggled against her, kicking his back legs and trying to catch her delicate stomach with his claws.
She held on, refusing to release him.
His movements grew weaker and then suddenly stopped, his body going slack beneath hers. He shifted back and his neck slipped free of her teeth, smaller in his human form. She backed off, her eyes darting over him as she breathed hard, senses locked on him and searching.
Searching.
Her heart hitched, pain pulsing through her as no heartbeat reached her sensitive ears.
No.
Aya shifted back, her t-shirt and deep blue jumper offering her little protection against the frigid night, not as her fur had. She shivered, but not from the cold. The ice in her veins was born of fear.
Had she killed him?
Tears formed in her eyes, hot and stinging, and she shook her head, her short black hair brushing her cheeks as she stared down at Harbin where he lay naked and motionless on the black ground, his throat covered in blood.
No.
She couldn’t have killed him.
He couldn’t be dead.
Her hands shook and she balled them into fists, trembling all over as she kept searching for a sign of life in him. He couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t have killed him. Her throat closed, her heart a timid thing in her chest as her ears rang and she tried to comprehend what was happening. She couldn’t have lost him.
Her animal side cried out and she bellowed in response, unleashing all of her pain in the call. Her knees gave out but she didn’t feel the impact with the tarmac as she fought the need to change and run wild.
The need to kill.
It was too strong.
She clutched at herself, afraid she wouldn’t be able to hold her form, would succumb to the raw emotions running through her, rousing her primal instincts. The pain of losing Harbin was too great though, too powerful for her snow leopard side to handle. It fought for control and she wanted to give in to it, wanted the oblivion she knew awaited her if she allowed it to overwhelm her. She wouldn’t remember the things she did, would no longer feel as she was now, hurting so deeply she couldn’t breathe. Her more human mind would be subdued by her animal one and she would be free.
Fur swept up her bare legs.
A dark-haired male appeared in the alley, morphing out of the shadows, his black robes allowing him to blend into the night and his red eyes cold despite the fire that burned in them as he looked down at Harbin and then at her.
The urge to shift in order to escape her pain became an urge to shift in order to protect herself from this male.
The witch.
The tinny scent of magic was all over him, more potent now, as if he had grown stronger since their last meeting.
She bared her fangs at him and rose onto her feet, quickly taking a few steps back to her clothes. She put her jeans on, not to cover herself from his prying eyes but to restore some control over her animal side, hindering it with the tight clothing. It wanted her to shift and fight, viewed the witch as a threat to her mate, one she had to eliminate in order to protect him.
The male’s red eyes edged towards his left.
Aya looked there.
A woman wrapped in a thick black ankle-length coat, the hood up to throw her face into shadow, walked out of thin air, as if she had teleported.
Or perhaps she had been cloaked by the male.
The female pushed the hood back with gloved hands, revealing a spill of golden hair highlighted with silver and a face Aya would never forget.
The huntress.
She might have been there when Aya had last fought the male, the time when Harbin had intervened. They could have ended this back then if only they had been aware that the woman travelled with the witch, shielded from view by magic.
“Aya,” the huntress said, a soft smile playing on her lips that didn’t fool Aya. She wasn’t about to let her guard down and let the woman play her all over again.
Her smile widened, causing crow’s feet beside her green eyes. Time hadn’t been kind to the huntress, the seventeen years since they had last seen each other taking their toll on the mortal.
“I’m glad to see he didn’t hurt you.” The huntress looked down at Harbin where he lay on the ground between them, sprawled out and hopefully only unconscious.
Not dead.
Please don’t be dead.
Aya looked down at him again, monitoring him with her senses, searching for a sign of life.
The huntress stepped closer to him, triggering a fierce need in Aya, an urge to place herself between him and the woman and protect him. She struggled to tamp down that need and stay where she was, sure that she would only place Harbin in danger if she moved to shield him. She would give away the game they were playing, a trap that had been set and she was ready to spring.
She had to stay where she was and keep her head, no matter what the huntress said or did.
It all came down to this moment.
The woman eyed Harbin, a glimmer of sick satisfaction in her eyes. “Two decades… I’ve spent two decades living in the shadows… fearing for my life… but now I’m free.”
The huntress raised her gaze away from Harbin and pinned it on Aya.
“Can you imagine what that was like?” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion that emanated from her in tangible waves. She looked down at her hands before wrapping her arms around herself, her fingers pressing into her arms through her thick black coat. “Slaughtering my friends… killing everyone I knew. All of us lived in fear, and my own fear grew worse with each letter or phone call I received that told me another was dead. Ten years ago the last call came… I was alone… the sole survivor.”
Aya had to bite her tongue to stop herself from saying the woman had brought it all on herself. She might have suffered, but her pain was nothing compared with what Harbin had been through, or what Aya had been through. Aya couldn’t find a single shred of s
ympathy for the bitch who had used him and had killed so many of her kin, and had subjected her and others to torturous experiments.
She schooled her features, hiding her rising anger from the woman and the witch, afraid that the male would sense it in her if she didn’t master her emotions and keep her head. She couldn’t screw things up now, when they were so close.
“I went into hiding out in the countryside, never leaving my home, afraid he would kill me if I set foot outside it.” The woman looked down at Harbin and sneered, her face twisting into darkness. “I couldn’t continue living that way… so I looked for assistance in securing my freedom. I wanted to live my life again… and now I can.”
The male beside the woman smirked, his red eyes glowing in the low light. There was an air of brimstone about him that was familiar now Aya had been to Hell. He must have come from that dark realm, bringing with him information about Harbin that the woman had used to her advantage. She had taken out a contract on Aya, offering it to Harbin’s guild, knowing he would take it and would expose himself, giving her an opportunity to kill him.
The huntress crouched beside Harbin, her green eyes fixed on him, a strange sombre edge to her expression as she studied him.
“I had wanted the kill. I had wanted to deal with him as I should have back then.” Her voice turned distant, as if her memories had taken hold of her and she was reliving them. “I had been too soft… charmed by him… a foolish young woman who had allowed her emotions to get the better of her.”
She lifted her head and looked over Harbin to Aya.
“You know how that feels though, don’t you?” The cold edge to her green eyes chilled Aya and rang warning bells in her head, her heart screaming that the woman was on to her and knew this was a trap, that any moment now the witch would attack her or Harbin when he was vulnerable.
Aya glared down at Harbin. “I was an idiot once… like so many other females. I fell under his spell and he betrayed me.”
The huntress smiled and then sighed as she looked back down at Harbin. “We both fell under his spell… and we have both regretted it ever since. I should have remained detached and professional, but I failed. I couldn’t bring myself to kill him after drugging him… he had been so handsome… he still is handsome… but I suppose that is a weapon he employs to slay many women.”
Aya wanted to growl, not just because the huntress clearly still harboured desire for Harbin even though he wanted to kill her. She wanted to growl because the female clearly intended to finish the mission she had been given twenty years ago by ensuring Harbin was dead.
That fear became a reality as the woman stood and held her hand out to the male beside her. He muttered something in a strange tongue and a blade appeared in the woman’s gloved hand.
“It must have felt nice,” the huntress said in a soft voice, her eyes locked on Harbin as she lowered the blade to her side and then lifting to fix on Aya. “I want to know… since my victory is a hollow one… how does it feel to have killed the person who brought harm to you and your kin?”
Aya’s lips curled into a slow smile.
“I’ll tell you when you’re drawing your last breath.”
CHAPTER 21
“I’ll tell you when you’re drawing your last breath.”
That was Harbin’s cue. He flipped onto his feet and whirled to face the witch and the huntress, bringing his leg around in a fast blur at the same time. His bare heel connected with the right forearm of the male as he quickly brought his arm up to defend himself. Fire flashed in the witch’s red eyes and his left hand shot towards Harbin’s ankle.
Harbin was too fast, shifting his leg beyond the male’s reach before he could snag it, and bringing his other leg up as he dipped his upper body downwards to counter his weight as he took another shot at the witch.
This time when the black-haired male blocked, he put a pulse of power into it and Harbin went spinning across the alley, tumbling head over heel until he crashed into the wall and slid down it.
Aya roared and kicked off, and his head snapped towards her. Her gold-silver eyes were locked on the blonde huntress, her emerging fangs bared on a wicked snarl as she ran at her.
His focused leaped to the huntress and the darkness he expected to rise and overwhelm him as it did whenever he crossed paths with a member of Archangel didn’t come. Instead, calm rushed through him, clarity that filled him with a sense that he could fight and keep his head throughout the battle, and he knew it was because of Aya. Her presence soothed him, tempering the darkness and his memories, holding them at bay. His eyes darted to her, and every male instinct he possessed said to intervene and protect his mate, but he had a problem.
He slid his silver gaze back to the witch that stood between him and the fighting females.
The male neatened his snug black robe, smoothing the looser tails over his black trousers, and calmly lifted red eyes towards him. The emptiness in them warned Harbin that this wasn’t going to be an easy fight, because the witch was already drawing immense power from the well of magic inside him, giving himself over to it and preparing himself for the coming battle. Harbin had watched the bastard fight before and knew some of his moves, but he wasn’t going to let his guard down and think they were the only ones the male had in his arsenal.
He wasn’t going to take his eyes off the witch until he was down for the count. Only then could he go after the huntress. If he attempted an attack on her now, the witch would use that opening against him and he would be the one down for the count instead.
He had to trust that Aya could keep the huntress occupied until he had dealt with the witch.
They had dealt with the witch.
A familiar ripple of power ran down Harbin’s spine and he picked himself up, not taking his eyes off the witch as his backup arrived.
Something soft hit him in the back. “At least have a little modesty.”
His lips quirked at the sound of disgust mixed with disappointment in Hartt’s voice. It wasn’t the first time his boss had come armed with more than weapons, aware that Harbin was going to be naked when he arrived. It wasn’t the thousandth time. Hartt had started to sound unimpressed after the tenth, and Harbin was never growing tired of hearing the elf say the same damned thing to him each time he brought him something to wear.
He stepped backwards over the pair of black shorts, kicked them up and caught them, all without taking his eyes off the male witch.
Aya grunted as she tackled the huntress, knocking the female back a few steps, into view beyond the male.
Harbin casually tugged the shorts on, but there was nothing calm about him. He was buzzing with a need to plough through the witch to reach the huntress, and finally have his vengeance.
He couldn’t risk it though. He had already placed Aya in enough danger by making her play bait, he wasn’t going to turn the witch’s focus towards her when she was having enough trouble dealing with the huntress. The bitch had drawn a small compact crossbow and was firing it like the bolts were going out of style. Several zipped past him, and one shot towards the two males at his back.
Fuery’s growl was nothing short of vicious as he caught and snapped one of the small metal bolts in half.
The witch’s red eyes shifted to the elf and narrowed, a flicker of recognition dawning in them.
Harbin waited, aware that things were about to take a turn for the worse. The male’s face twisted into dark lines and his red eyes brightened, and the scent of magic in the air grew stronger, gaining a sickly edge to it that had him wanting to back away and find some clean air to breathe.
Death.
His eyes widened as the air shimmered between him and the witch, shifting like a heat haze at first before shadowy figures grew in the centre of the ripples, taking form and becoming solid as the male muttered beneath his breath.
Clones.
Their milky blue eyes glowed eerily in the low-lit alley.
Three on three didn’t sound too bad, although it did give
the witch the upper hand.
Harbin’s stomach dropped. Fuck.
The two clones stepped aside, breaking apart and revealing another two.
Five on three didn’t sound so good.
The huntress shrieked and Harbin looked there, his eyes landing on her retreating back as she sprinted into the shadows, clutching her right arm.
Aya went after her.
Harbin took a step forwards, driven to follow his mate and the female.
All Hell broke loose.
The clone on the left attacked him, swiping his hand through the air, long sharp nails aimed straight for Harbin’s throat. Harbin leaped back at the last second, barely dodging the strike, and ignored Hartt’s unimpressed muttering.
He held his right hand out to his boss and looked back at him as they edged in unison away from the clones and the witch, gaining some space. Hartt brought his left hand up in front of him and Harbin’s twin short curved black blades appeared in them. They were his, but he had left Hartt as their owner, aware that the elf could only teleport items that belonged to him. It was handy at a time like this when they were working together or Harbin had to call on him for assistance, meaning the elf didn’t need to leave his side to bring Harbin’s blades to him.
Fuery remained in the space between them and the witch. He stared at the clones, his black eyes cold and emotionless, not showing the hunger that Harbin could feel in him. The excitement. The elf’s ears grew pointed, flaring back against the tied top half of his overlong blue-black hair. The silver clasp that held it in place flashed under the street lamps as Fuery launched forwards and the golden light chased over the black scales of his skin-tight armour.
His long black katana twitched at his side, skilfully shifted into an attack position, the point facing his enemies and both hands gripping the hilt. He growled and leaped, swung hard and grinned as he came down on top of the clone on the far right. The clone tried to dodge but wasn’t quick enough, and Fuery’s booted feet hit him hard in the chest, sending him crashing onto the tarmac.
Fuery kicked off, somersaulted in the air and landed in a silent crouch behind the witch.
Marked by an Assassin Page 23
