Releasing the Hunter hn-168

by Vivi Anna

  “I’m going to scalp you alive,” the demoness growled.

  “Hell, no, you won’t.”

  There was a distinctive popping noise, and something round and silver split the demoness’s face. Shrieking, she clawed at her bubbling forehead and scrambled backwards.

  Ivy looked up the stairwell to see Ronan on the top, holding her modified paintball gun. It shot quicksilver-filled pellets instead of paint-filled ones.

  She nearly fainted with relief to see him.

  “Duck,” he ordered.

  She dropped to the stairs as he lobbed two homemade holy-water grenades into the basement. She heard them bounce once, then not only heard the percussion but also felt it as they exploded into a thousand plastic pieces. Holy water exploded everywhere. It even soaked the back of her jeans.

  There was a lot of screaming and moaning in the basement when she turned to look at the damage. Demons fumbled around, shrieking and clawing at their melting and bubbling faces, hands, arms, any place that there had been exposed skin.

  She pushed off the stairs and went back into the room. She picked up a gun that had fallen from one of the demon’s mangled hands and pumped a round into him. He fell silent to the floor. She turned and shot another one in the face.

  By this time, Ronan was down at her side, dispatching the rest. The other humans had jumped into the action, and there were demon parts flying all over the place.

  Ivy ran to where Quinn still sat bound in the chair. She untied his hands from behind his back. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded. “I think I got speared by shrapnel, though.”

  She glanced down and saw a growing blood spot on the denim on his thigh. He pulled open the rip in his jeans to show a small piece of plastic sticking into his flesh. As carefully as he could, he pulled it out and tossed it to the floor.

  “It’s just a flesh wound,” Ivy pronounced, which made Quinn laugh. It was an old joke from their childhood and the many Monty Python film festivals they partook in over the years.

  She helped him stand and he hugged her tight. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “My head hurts, but I probably just have a bump or two.”

  They broke apart, then both turned to look at Ronan. He was busy helping the other captives up the stairs. He paused in what he was doing and looked at them. “There are a bunch of possessed out there that need exorcising. The other two demons ran for it.”

  Quinn limped over to the table along the wall; he picked up his bible, a holy water ampul and his cross. He crossed the room, and then brushed past Ronan as he climbed the stairs.

  When he was gone, when they were all gone, Ivy moved toward Ronan. He stood waiting for her at the bottom of the steps.

  “You saved me. Again.”

  He smiled. “Yeah, you owe me big-time.”

  “They said you were dead.”

  “Lies. As you can tell, I’m quite alive.”

  Tears brewing in her eyes, she moved forward and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his shoulder. She breathed in the now-familiar scent of him and sighed.

  He dropped the paintball gun and wrapped his arms around her, as well. His hands pressed against her back, holding her, possessing her. And she felt right and secure and safe for one of the first times in her whole life.

  “I’m sorry,” she breathed into his shoulder.

  He brought his other hand up to her neck and cradled her head. “Don’t be. It wasn’t you that drove me out.”

  “I know, but I didn’t stop him.”

  He sighed. “I didn’t expect you to. He’s your brother. He’s your kin. Blood will always be thicker than water. I know that all too well.”

  She pulled back then and looked at him. She brought a hand up to his face and touched his cheek. “You’re wrong, Ronan. You have more humanity than anyone I’ve ever known. You are the good guy. You’re the hero of this story.”

  “And what does that make you?”

  She stretched up to his face and pressed her lips to his, whispering against them, “The sexy love interest.”

  He tilted her head ever so slightly with his hand at her neck and deepened the kiss. The kiss was slow, and hot, and wet and the most perfect thing Ivy had ever experienced.

  Until a voice from above ruined the moment.

  “If you two can break apart for a minute, I need your help reviving the townspeople.”

  Ivy looked up the staircase at Quinn, who was standing up top, a deep frown on his face and impatience in his voice.

  “Give us a few minutes, okay, Quinn? We have some unfinished business to take care of.”

  Quinn made a disgusted noise, then said, “Jesus, Ivy, can’t you save it for later?”

  That made her laugh, and taking Ronan’s hand in hers, she mounted the stairs with the cambion right beside her all the way.

  Chapter 26

  It took the three of them over four hours to exorcise everyone that needed it and to carry out and burn the dead demons. They dug a ditch, filled it with the bodies, salted it, did the last rites and then burned the lot. Fixing the town was going to take weeks, months even. Time Ronan didn’t have or was willing to give.

  When it was done, the three of them sat in the kitchen and drank whatever alcohol was available. Quinn had a beer, Ivy some scotch and Ronan had vodka on ice. After the fourth one he was starting to feel calm and controlled.

  They hadn’t talked much, but after an hour of straight drinking, Quinn broke the awkward silence.

  He held out his beer bottle toward Ronan. “I misjudged you. I’m sorry for that.”

  Ronan clinked his glass to the bottle. “I’ll take it.”

  They both drank, then Quinn said, “If Ivy thinks you’re good people, then I’m inclined to listen to her.”

  “For once,” Ivy interjected.

  Quinn smiled. “Yes, for once.”

  “Which means, I guess I have to listen to her when she says that you’re not such a bad guy.”

  “Yup, I guess you will.”

  They all clinked their respective containers, and then downed whatever was left in them. Ivy grabbed the scotch bottle and poured more into her glass.

  “I have to say, I’m happy they didn’t get a chance to torture me to get info from you, Quinn.”

  He nodded. “Me, too.”

  “Do you think you would’ve told them where the key was?”

  He shrugged. “Probably.” He looked at her, and Ronan could see the love there for her. Quinn would’ve gone to hell and back for her.

  Quinn started to chuckle. “It’s ironic, really. The whole time they’re asking for the key and it was right there in front of their faces.”

  Ivy frowned. “What? What do you mean? Where is it?”

  He reached across the table and hooked a finger into the chain around Ivy’s neck. He tugged a little, and the heavy silver cross she always wore close to her skin popped out from her T-shirt. He let it go and smiled.

  She looked down and wrapped her hand around the cross. “Are you serious?”

  He nodded. “I had the key encased in silver and fashioned as a cross.”

  Ronan looked at the necklace, just as surprised as Ivy. It was very clever on Quinn’s part.

  “I had it the whole time?” Ivy asked incredulously.

  “Yup. I thought, what better way to hide it than in the open? Who would’ve thought to look for it around your neck?”

  She dropped her hand and leaned back in her chair. “And here I went and brought it right to them.”

  “You didn’t know, Ivy. It’s not your fault. How could you have known?”

  “Was this the real reason you left?”

  He nodded. “One of them. I thought it would be safe with you, especially if I wasn’t around. And especially since I disguised it so well.” He shook his head. “I just didn’t expect you to come find me after three years.” He touched her on the shoulder. “You’re a persistent one, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, t
oo persistent, obviously.”

  “The good thing is the key is safe and so are you. That’s all that matters now.”

  She smiled at him, then took a hefty swallow of scotch.

  Quinn lifted his drink toward Ronan. “Thanks to you, that is. You saved the day, my friend.”

  Ronan filled his glass again and downed the whole thing. He set the empty glass on the table, his hand slightly trembling. Ivy reached across the table and covered it with hers. She looked at Ronan with that way of hers. There was a twinkle in her eye that made his gut clench.

  “Now that that’s been taken care of—” She stood and grabbed his hand. “Ronan and I need to have a little chat.”

  Quinn shook his head with a half smile. He nodded toward the back hallway. “There’re clean sheets in the room down the hall.”

  Laughing, Ivy pulled Ronan down the hallway to the room. She kicked open the door and pulled him through. Before he was even fully in the room, she pounced on him, pushing him up against the back of the door. She kissed him hard, her hands everywhere at once.

  Then she dropped to her knees, her fingers on the zipper of his pants. Slowly, she drew the zipper down, then tugged his pants down his legs. His erection strained against the cotton of his shorts. She rubbed him through the fabric, driving him mad with each stroke.

  He banged his head back on the wall as she slowly, agonizingly drew him out. Her hand wrapped around him, she tickled the tip with her tongue.

  “Damn, woman, are you trying to kill me?” he cursed under his breath as she licked him over and over, teasing him until he was as hard as steel.

  “I see I’ve found your weakness,” she said between licks.

  He dug his fingers into the wall behind him. “Yeah, you.”

  She looked up at him beneath the hood of her lashes. It was a surprised look, a solemn one. He hadn’t meant to say it out loud but she’d driven him to it. Everything about her drove him insane with desire. Lost to more emotions than he wanted to feel. But there it was and there was nothing he could do about it.

  Gripping him tight, she slid him into her mouth. He watched as she stroked him, soft then hard alternately. He could feel the light scrape of her teeth on his sensitive flesh and the gentle teasing of her tongue. It was enough to drive him over the edge.

  “Ivy,” he panted.

  “Don’t talk,” she said around him. “Just feel.”

  Ronan reached down, grabbed her under the arms and hefted her to her feet. Wrapping a hand in her tumble of hair, he spun her around and slammed her up against the wall. He kicked out of his pants and shorts and nudging her legs apart, settled in between them.

  He put his other hand down between them and undid her pants. He tugged at them until, finally, she helped him out and shimmied out of them, kicking them across the room. He slid his fingers under the waistband of her pretty panties and yanked, rending them in half. He jerked a little harder and was able to get them all the way off. He tossed the torn lace over his shoulder.

  Growling low in his throat, he moved in and crushed his mouth to hers. The kiss left him light-headed, unstable. Ronan trailed his hands down her back and molded the firm cheeks of her ass, and then he picked her up. Ivy spread her legs and wrapped them around him. Gripping her tightly, he nibbled on her bottom lip, nipping and teasing, and made his way over her chin to her neck. The taste of her skin tingled in his mouth.

  He nuzzled in between her legs, pinning her against the wall with his body. With the warm, wet heat of her center pressed against his erection, he thought he’d died and gone to heaven. Finally, he’d made it.

  His muscles, from feet to head, trembled with desire, a ferocious, insatiable hunger. He needed to be inside Ivy now. The waiting was ripping him to pieces from the inside out.

  He licked the side of her neck and nibbled on her ear. “I can’t hold back for much longer.”

  “Then don’t,” she panted.

  Her body quivered under his touch. He could feel the beating of her heart next to his, hard, fierce and frantic. All the things he felt for her and more.

  One hand balanced her against the wall. The other he moved down between them and gripped his shaft tight, to guide him to her. Moving his hand up, he sought her. She was deliciously hot and wet and ready. Control fraying at the edges, he buried his entire length inside her with one swift thrust.

  * * *

  Gripping his shoulders hard, Ivy held on as he drove her up, reveling in how strong he was. Every nerve ending in her body sparked to life as he moved, slowly at first, then picked up his pace before finding a fiery tempo that sent shivers from her toes to her scalp.

  She moved her head and found his mouth, diving her tongue between his lips. She kissed him with the fervor and passion that bubbled up inside her. She was ravenous for him.

  He pounded between her legs as they kissed. With each thrust, Ivy thought she’d go insane with pleasure. It didn’t just ripple over her skin but surged through every inch of her body like a rush of electricity or a mind-numbing drug.

  Streaking her hands down his back, she held him tight as he pushed her close to the edge of orgasm. Shifting his stance, he gripped her butt cheek tighter, pressed her hard against the wall and buried himself so deep she swore she could feel him in her chest.

  Gasping from the fierce assault on her flesh, she dug her nails in and raked them across his skin, happy when he cried out in pain and pleasure. Moaning loudly, she urged him on as she bucked and writhed against his body. He didn’t disappoint but rammed into her harder and faster until she couldn’t breathe and sweat dripped off them both.

  She was so close to climaxing that every nerve and muscle in her body clenched. She felt faint and her eyes rolled back. She dug her fingers into his shoulders and bit her lip. She was there, so there. And it was going to be explosive.

  Ronan nuzzled his face in her neck, and hefting her up, he drove hard between her legs. He shouted out her name, again and again, until she could feel him empty himself into her. Clamping her eyes shut, she cried out at her own orgasm.

  They stayed like that, linked together, up against the wall, both breathing hard. Ivy could barely think past the heat of her body and the insistent throb between her legs. All her muscles felt like they’d melted into goo. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stand if Ronan set her back on her feet.

  Thankfully she didn’t have to worry about that because he lifted her up, and turning, walked across the room with her straddling his waist, drew out of her and dumped her on the bed. He stepped back and looked at her with those penetrating eyes of his.

  “Just give me a minute and we can try that again.”

  Laughing, she sat up, pulled her T-shirt off and tossed it onto the floor. “I’m ready when you are.”

  With a smile on his beautiful mouth, he tore at his own shirt, tossed it to the side and jumped onto the bed, wrapping his arms around her and rolling her onto the mattress. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  Chapter 27

  For the next two glorious hours, they made love. Ronan didn’t know he had that much stamina, but he figured it was because of Ivy. She pushed him to his limits in so many ways.

  As the sun set, they lay on their sides in the bed under the covers, and he snuggled up against her back, spooning. He’d never been a fan of the spoon until now. He liked that he cradled her into his body, one hand pressed to her belly holding her tight, and could look down at her face while he played with her hair. He liked that he could see the twitch of her lips every so often when she thought of something amusing.

  She was doing that now.

  He ran a finger down her cheek. “What’s funny?”

  “How ironic life is.”

  “Yeah, who would’ve thought we would’ve ended up here together?” He tucked a stray hair behind her ear, and then pressed a light kiss to her head. “I thought for sure you would’ve tried to kill me more times than you already did.”

  She chuckled. “I only tried once.”

>   “True.”

  “I may have thought about it a few times, though.”

  He laughed, and then tugged on the strand of hair he’d been wrapping around his finger over and over.

  Sighing, she wriggled closer to him, her rear end brushing up against his groin. It didn’t take long for Ronan to become aroused. She was like that to him. A drug. Just the softest touch of her could pump him full of adrenaline.

  He nibbled on her ear. “You better stop that, or we’ll be going for round three. Or is it four?”

  “Four,” she murmured, then yawned. “Save it for later. I’m too tired.”

  He chuckled. “I never thought I’d see the day when Ivy Strom was too tired for anything.”

  “Yeah, well, don’t get used to it. It’s been a long week.” She closed her eyes, then grabbing his hand from her belly, she brought it up to her chin, tucking it there. “Give me about ten hours of sleep and I’ll be good to go. Wherever you want to go. We should go on a holiday. We’ve both earned it.”

  “Sounds good,” he whispered against her ear.

  “I hear the Caribbean is cool.”

  “I like that.”

  “You’ll be here when I wake up, right? We’re going back home, together.” She yawned again. “Besides, I need a place to stay. My safe house was destroyed. Your apartment is pretty big.”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty big.”

  “Good, then that solves that problem.”

  Ronan had so many things to say, but he couldn’t find the words to say them. He was a coward, plain and simple. For all his bravado, Ivy scared him in so many ways. She was stronger than him, inside. She had the fortitude of a steel giant. And the loyalty of a platoon of soldiers. He lacked all of that. His shame made his gut roil.

  She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him, a soft, sleepy smile on her beautiful face. “You’re my hero, Ronan. You keep saving me.”

  His throat constricted but he managed to say, “It’s because I like you so much.”