Primal Desire (Heart of the Huntress Book 6)

by Terry Spear

  “This is useless,” the man said, his voice angered. “I want to discover who her family is and send her home immediately.”

  “What if you drop her off at a hunter club tonight? Someone’s bound to know her, and they can take her home with them.”

  Selena waited for the man to say something. Why didn’t he say something? She relaxed and quit struggling.

  “Unless, of course, you want to keep her.” The woman sounded like she was teasing.

  He released Selena and stalked away from her. “You, of all people, know how I feel about her kind.”

  The door slammed. But a knock followed immediately afterward.

  “Yes?” the woman asked, her hand stroking Selena’s.

  “It’s me, Twilight. I wanted to see how the huntress was doing.”

  Twilight. Selena struggled to open her eyes. Twilight. Who was she and what did the name mean to her? The man had mentioned her too. Twilight.

  She thought a man had bitten her, but maybe…maybe it was Twilight. She…she wasn’t sure, and again she reached for her sword.

  Atreides poured a glass of brandy and joined Basil, Renault, and Colt in the great room. Why meet in a stuffy board room? Sitting on the black leather sofas, Atreides believed in comfort instead of rigidity when he made plans in the city.

  Although usually Daemon made the decisions concerning the vampire clans in this region. Atreides was glad he’d taken Voltan, his bodyguard, and Maison, his loyal friend, with him so Atreides could have free rein. As twin brothers, they were both princes, but having been born second, Atreides was Daemon’s right-hand man, not the man totally in charge. Which meant he often lived his own life doing his own thing, sometimes to Daemon’s consternation.

  “Did you find out anything about the huntress?” Renault asked, his brows raised.

  “She’s an Aquarius.”

  Colt laughed and choked on his brandy.

  Basil shook his head. “And that helps us to get her home, how?”

  “She lives at Rivercrest Apartments. She wouldn’t give us her last name. Catherine gave her too much of the drug, so the huntress was incapable of revealing anything. Was there still no sign of her car?”

  “Nope. We have all the blood bonds and hosts searching for it though too,” Renault said. “Something about her doesn’t add up.”

  Basil chuckled. “Yeah, she entered my club and danced with Atreides.”

  “More than that. She was unarmed the first time she came to the club,” Renault said.

  “Well, she would have to be to enter a vampire club,” Colt said, giving Renault a look as though he thought the observation absurdly obvious. “Or any club for that matter.”

  “Okay, so she armed herself when she thought she’d hit something,” Renault said.

  “Yes.” Atreides downed the rest of his brandy. He was just glad no one had attacked her for bringing a sword into the club the second time. “She searched for something that she thought she’d hit, and so she must have left the rest of her weapons in the car.”

  “Since when does a huntress not wear weapons at all times? I concede she wouldn’t have worn a sword to the club, but why not a concealed dagger underneath that gown, strapped to her leg?”

  Atreides stared at his friend, then nodded. He knew there’d been something wrong about the situation too, when she’d described it.

  “Would she have been banned from carrying weapons?” Basil asked. “Maybe she injured someone in a fit of temper, and she can’t wear her weapons for a time as punishment.”

  “If so, she wouldn’t be allowed to be out running around on her own. Her family would want her protected. Unless… hell and damnation. That’s why she didn’t want to return to her family. She kept saying she would be safe on her own. She has been banished; I would bet anything. Another damned borderline renegade huntress.” Atreides rose from the couch and stared out the patio doors.

  “Hell,” Basil said. “That means we can’t use her to lure the hunters to us. I mean, if she has been banished from hunting, they won’t care what happens to her.”

  Atreides turned and frowned at Basil. “I have no intention of keeping her. I already have the huntress lure who will work with us.”

  “Oh, well, why didn’t you say so?” Renault said. “So who is she?”

  “It’s best if we keep the number down who know about it to the bare minimum.” At least for now. Daemon and Tezra would kill Atreides if they learned of it. They would have wanted to know if Atreides was having trouble of any kind with hunters killing vampires, but he wanted to handle this on his own.

  “All right.” Colt rose from the couch. “So what do we do with the huntress upstairs? You can’t let her loose if a rogue’s still after her, and the ashes were of another.”

  “Maybe it’s a one-time occurrence,” Basil offered. “Maybe he won’t bother her again. If he’d wanted to kill her, he would have. If he wanted to keep her…” He shrugged. “He would have.”

  “He nearly killed her.” Atreides couldn’t contain the anger in his voice. If a rogue began killing huntresses, all the vampires would be in danger of retribution.

  “He took her blood but only enough to make her weak,” Colt said.

  “He nearly killed her,” Atreides growled again. “He hit her on the back of the head so hard she blacked out. That’s why she didn’t remember that she’d even been bitten.”

  His friends all stared at him and didn’t say a word. He knew what they were thinking. Only a really twisted vampire would resort to that kind of violence before taking his victim’s blood.

  “Did he think she would die before she reached us?” Basil asked.

  “He waited until she was close to the club. That makes me think he wants us involved somehow. To make it look like one of the patrons was the renegade? Maybe he has got a grudge against Basil. Or against one of the regulars of the club. The huntress believes he targeted her specifically. What if the hunters won’t protect her from the rogue if he still lives and should he go after her again?”

  “Ahem,” Renault said, a slow smile appearing, “I’ve got plenty of room at my place.”

  Basil waved his hand in the direction of the club. “There’s enough room at my house next to the club.”

  Colt shoved his hands in his pockets. “I have plenty of room at the ranch. And more than enough cowhands who could offer additional protection.”

  Atreides wasn’t ready for any of them to keep her. She belonged with her hunter kind. They needed to protect her. “We need to find her family.”

  “And if we can’t do that?” Renault asked.

  “I’ll take her to a hunter club and drop her off.”

  “I’ll go with you. It wouldn’t be a good idea for one vampire to be seen with a huntress like that,” Renault warned.

  “I’ll go too,” Basil said.

  Colt nodded. “The four musketeers. Though I didn’t live that long ago.”

  “All right, it’s settled. We locate her family, try to find out which apartment she lives in, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll find a hunter club and someone there can take care of her.”

  Atreides knew that was the best plan he could come up with, but he couldn’t shake the uneasiness he felt. He was certain it was the controlling aspect of his personality, that only he would be able to provide her with the utmost protection, no other. Which was ludicrous. She belonged in the hunters’ care.

  By the time night had fallen, and they had exhausted all avenues of searching for Selena’s identity, having found there was no such place as Rivercrest Apartments, Atreides had no other choice, but to take her to a hunter club.

  Vampires escorting a huntress to a hunters’ dance club wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but he wouldn’t trust the job to blood bonds, who could easily be manipulated by the renegade vampire, should he show up.

  With the beat of the music blaring into the parking lot, Atreides and his friends parked before Selena got out of the van and walked to the hun
ter club. The drug still seemed to be affecting her as she was quiet and reserved, having not spoken a word all the rest of the day and on the drive over. He wondered then if she had been ostracized because she’d been banned from wearing weapons and had isolated herself from her kind. Although she’d had her unsheathed sword in hand when she’d reached their club.

  Then she straightened her shoulders and gave Atreides a tight smile and shared the same strained expression with his friends. “Thank you,” she said. “And…Basil, maybe some day I’ll take you up on that dance.”

  Over Atreides’s dead body.

  Basil gave her a toothy grin, not caring about the dagger of a look Atreides gave him.

  She left the van, walked across the parking lot, and slipped inside the brick building, disappearing from their sight. Atreides couldn’t account for the strange feeling of foreboding that surged through him.

  “Are we ready to go?” Basil asked, since Atreides didn’t make a move to drive them away from the establishment.

  Atreides stared at the door of the club, waiting for her to reappear in the event she wasn’t intending to stay and thought he and his friends had left. When she didn’t leave, he nodded.

  “Yeah, she’ll be all right. She’s with her kind.” And he had no business feeling anything but relief. So why did he cast another look back at the club?

  Because he hoped to see that she did not leave the club without some protection this time. On the other hand, he hoped to see her standing there, smiling at him like she had done when she’d danced with him, the damned bewitching vixen.

  Basil looked back at the door. “She’s not coming out. If you’re worried, we can sit here and watch for a while.”

  “Sure, we can observe the place and see who she leaves with and find out where she ends up,” Colt offered, “just as a precaution.”

  As if Atreides wanted to see her end up at some hunter’s place. Yet, he planned to do just what Colt suggested.

  Atreides started the engine, then turned the van around and parked where they had a better view of the main door. And waited, hating that she might be in there all night—dancing with a bunch of damned hunters—like she’d danced with him last night.

  Chapter 7

  Selena hadn’t looked back to see if Atreides had remained watching the door, ensuring she didn’t slip out into the cool dark night alone. Since he was a vampire and eager to get rid of his “charge,” he probably wasn’t still there. Even so, she didn’t want to look back in the event he was observing her, and make him suspicious, as guilty as she was feeling.

  But this was such a bad idea—entering a hunter club. Nearly worse than entering the vampire club last night. Plus, here she was carrying a sword, really not cool and not legal.

  The hunters were so busy drinking or dancing or conversing, she halfway thought she might be able to slip by them and make her way out the side door without anyone noticing. Dream on.

  Gazes shifted in her direction—at first interested to see who the new huntress was who’d arrived at the crystalline joint—crystal chandeliers dripping from above, flashy colorful lights reflecting off the black-mirrored walls, the place appearing even larger than it was because of the mirrors.

  Many had been watching the half-dressed huntresses and hunters shimmying to the beat on clear platforms high above.

  Several hunters glanced her way, and disdain etched across expressions and the hard looks and dagger-like stares sent a chill racing across her skin. Then gazes shifted to the unsheathed sword clutched in her fist. She imagined she looked a bit dangerous, maybe even a little unstable.

  At first, no one spoke, and then the whispers began, which turned into taunts.

  Hell, she hated that she’d had to kill the hunter, but he hadn’t given her a choice. He had been in the wrong, a rogue, and would have killed an innocent vampiress.

  Some of the hunters hadn’t see it that way. She had murdered one of their kind while defending a vampire. Even though the League had mostly exonerated her, several hunters still felt she’d been a traitor to take the vampiress’s side in the confrontation.

  “This club is for hunters. Not for the likes of you,” a man growled.

  She didn’t even know him, but it seemed everyone knew of her.

  Another looked her up and down as if he’d like to have sex with her, even if he had no other use for her. She gave him a killing glower back.

  Which made him smile. “Hell, I don’t know what all the difficulty is,” he said out loud. “She looks good enough to eat. Keep her unarmed and naked in bed, is my motto.”

  “And if you had a kid by that abomination?” another man said, shaking his head. “You would have to destroy it before it became just like her.”

  Then she saw Daniel. Oh hell, if he saw her, there would be hell to pay.

  She’d tried to slip through the crowded club before anyone stopped her and forced her back out the front door. Although it might not matter if Atreides had already left. Surely, he wouldn’t sit there any longer than had been necessary. He’d dropped her off, and then he and his friends would be gone.

  But it was impossible to move about the club in the slinky red dress with her reputation and remain unnoticed. Still, she’d almost succeeded to reach the side door until one of the women—superior huntress Candy Kline—caught sight of Selena and instantly leaned over and spoke to Selena’s brother. Daniel’s head whipped around as if he’d just been told a vampire was coming in for the kill, and he’d better prepare himself.

  Selena turned her head away and reached for the knob to the side door, not about to put up with Daniel’s hateful words, if he thought she intended to stay, and he was going to ensure she didn’t.

  As soon as she twisted the handle, his hand grabbed hers, and he jerked the door open, then shoved her outside. As if, damn him, he was trying to prove to the hunters in the club that he would show her who was boss.

  She whipped around and growled, “Go to hell, Daniel. I wasn’t planning to stay.”

  He fisted his hands, his face reddened with anger. “What the hell do you think you’re doing here? Carrying an unsheathed hunter’s sword into a hunter club? And you aren’t even supposed to be armed. What’s the matter with you? You don’t belong here, damn you. Don’t you ever show your face in here again.”

  “I hadn’t intended to, you prick.” She spun around and meant to stalk off, but he grabbed her arm and whirled her around to face him.

  “I asked you what the hell you were doing in here.”

  “It’s none of your business. Don’t you dare touch me again,” she growled low.

  This time when she turned and stormed off, he didn’t make a move to stop her. Her head was pounding, her whole body hot with anger, and she felt she could have taken him out, forget that she was supposed to take down rogue vampires—when she wasn’t on restriction.

  Damned hunter ego that he had to act as though he was taking out the club’s trash—her.

  The door squeaked open, and she thought Daniel was returning to the club, but instead she heard Mack say, “What did you go and send her away for? I wanted to dance with her.”

  “The hell that’s all you want to do with her, Mack.”

  Neither spoke a word, though she knew they were watching her. Had to be because the door didn’t open again so that they could return to the club.

  “Where the hell is your car?” Daniel hollered.

  “Go to hell, Daniel,” she shouted back, still not looking in his direction. She turned down another street, hoping to get out of his sight before he decided to question her further about the fact her car was nowhere in view and ask again why she’d visited the hunter club, armed with an unsheathed sword.

  Atreides stared in disbelief. Not only had a hunter tossed her out of the club, but he’d manhandled her in such a violent way that Atreides had wanted to kill the bastard himself. He’d felt the tension in the van rise as his friends watched the confrontation unfold. His teeth had immediatel
y unsheathed, and he suspected his friends’ teeth had also. The others had been just as irritated as Atreides was.

  What Atreides couldn’t believe was that, despite the hunter recognizing she was without transportation, he’d let her go, not caring for her safety in the least. What the hell was wrong with the two hunters?

  A brunette poked her head out of the club’s side entrance. “Aren’t you coming back inside, Daniel?”

  The huntress was nearly out of sight, and the man nodded. He started back into the club, but the other named Mack stood watching the huntress still. “Coming, Mack?” Daniel asked.

  “Yeah, hell, Daniel. She’s not that bad.” Mack joined him, and the door clunked closed.

  “Damn, where the hell does the huntress think she’s going, alone and on foot? Does she have a death wish after what happened to her near our dance club?” Atreides growled to his friends as they watched from his van. He started the engine, intending to follow her, to learn exactly where she was living and with whom.

  “Follow her. If we have to, the three of us can take care of her if someone threatens her,” Renault said.

  She would only need Atreides’s protection, he wanted to growl back. And he was already following her. His fangs were still fully extended, and he was gripping the steering wheel so hard, he wished they’d been around the hunter’s neck. As soon as Daniel had shoved Selena, Atreides’s blood had sizzled with barely controlled anger.

  Atreides was torn between wanting to thrash the hunter and shake some sense into the huntress for not telling him what kind of trouble she was in. Not that it should have mattered to him, but…

  “Where the hell is she going?” Colt asked, echoing Atreides’s dark thoughts.

  Atreides drove slowly down the street, ready to jerk the van to the curb if anyone attempted to get close to her, and he would change his mind. But he’d never expected what happened next.