Hunting Season (The Gathering Book 1)

by Shelly Laurenston

  “They weren’t being mean, Neecy.”

  “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

  “I’m just saying.”

  Neecy stopped walking and turned to her friend. “I know. I know. It’s just… this is getting complicated. I hate complicated.”

  Arri opened her mouth to respond, but she stopped and turned away, her eyes closing like she stared into the sun. Then a shadow covered them and Neecy thought for a moment that maybe it was Yager because of its size. Somehow, though, she knew it wasn’t because the shadow kept growing.

  Could this night suck any more?

  “Hello, Odin.”

  She watched the god’s one eye glance at her chest and immediately lose interest. “Denise.”

  It always surprised her he knew her name. Simply because her tits weren’t big enough for him to take any interest. But suddenly, he seemed interested. Not in a good way, though.

  “Can I help you with something?” Neecy knew she shouldn’t get what Didi affectionately referred to as “that tone”, but she couldn’t help herself. He pissed her off.

  “Just wondering if you’re enjoying your time uptown?”

  Actually they were in midtown at the moment. “What does that mean?”

  “You and Yager. You must admit this is quite the step up for a one-time drug dealer.”

  Neecy sucked in air to spit in Odin’s face, but before she got the chance, Arri grabbed the back of her dress and dragged her away.

  “Well that was exciting,” Arri muttered as she pulled Neecy into a safe corner behind an enormous potted plant. “I know I like to get into one-on-one confrontations with gods.”

  “Oh, stop whining. It’s not like he would have wiped you from the face of the earth or anything.”

  With a sound of pure disgust, Cassie stormed off. Mike watched her go. “I fucked her, ya know.”

  Of course he did. “Was she any good?”

  Mike shrugged. “Stripper sex.”

  “Stripper sex isn’t bad.” Especially when you were only twenty-seven.

  “Nope. It was fun. I like stripper sex.”

  “Well, this is a fascinating conversation.”

  Yager looked down at Didi. “Hey, beautiful.” He leaned down and gave her a hug.

  “If it isn’t my favorite vicious Viking.” She reached up and gripped both of his cheeks. “And what a cutie little vicious Viking you are!”

  Yager laughed and she patted his shoulder, turning her brown eyes to his friend. “How’s it going, Michael?”

  “Great, now that you’re here.”

  Didi rolled her eyes. “You have absolutely no shame.”

  “None.”

  She leaned back against the bar next to Yager. “So, Yager. What is going on between you and my second-in-command?”

  “At this very moment? Nothing. But—” he smiled, “—give me time.”

  “There’s that Viking glint I love. And to think some of the Ravens thought you might be too nice for this job?”

  “Nice? I’m not nice. Am I nice?”

  Didi shrugged, but before she could answer, Yager cut her off. “Does she think I’m nice?” He felt uncomfortably panicked at the thought. Women never seemed to want a nice guy. They wanted a biker who couldn’t commit. Or the criminal with the heart of gold. Yager never took anything after that bubble-gum incident when he was six, he never rode motorcycles because he liked his skull in one piece, and he would fly Neecy Lawrence to Vegas in a heartbeat if she suddenly walked over and said, “Let’s do it!”

  Shit. Nice was not good.

  “If she thinks I’m nice, then she thinks I’m…”

  “Boring?” Mike filled in helpfully.

  “Shut up,” both Yager and Didi snapped.

  Didi touched his arm. “She does think you’re nice, but that doesn’t matter to Neece. Or the fact that you come from money.”

  “I don’t come from money.” Every cent Yager had, he’d earned on his own. And he was damn proud of that fact.

  “You’re from Long Island.”

  “From Levittown. Not exactly wealth capital of the world.”

  “Well, compared to the part of Brooklyn or Harlem or wherever the hell she was raised, you guys live in the Hamptons.”

  “So what do you suggest I do?”

  Didi pushed off from the bar and stepped in front of him. “Do what Vikings do best.”

  “Invade in our longboats and steal all your women?” Yager and Didi looked at Mike. “What? That’s what that means to me.”

  Didi smiled at Yager as she backed away from him. “You know what I mean, Yager. Persistence is key with someone like Neecy Lawrence.”

  She took another step back and slammed into a seven-foot, ten-inch hard body. She glanced at it over her shoulder and smirked. “Odin.”

  “Darling girl.”

  She snorted and walked away.

  Odin nodded at Yager and Molinski who nodded back, and then he followed two twenty-year-old Valkyries who giggled past him.

  Mike shook his head. “You know, next to that man, I feel damn near saintly.”

  “Bro, next to that man, you’re the freakin’ pope.”

  “You know, you can’t hide here all night.” Arri handed Neecy the beer she’d asked for.

  “Why not?”

  “It’s a potted plant. You’re a mighty Daughter of Skuld… have some dignity.”

  “You know, since we discovered your abilities, you’ve been awfully mouthy.”

  Arri smiled in surprise. “Me? I’ve been mouthy? Cool! No one’s ever called me mouthy before.”

  “Your perkiness is irritating me again.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” Arri stared at her soda. “Ya know, I didn’t think they’d be nice when they found out the truth about me. I thought it’d be different.”

  “Different how?”

  “A burning-at-the-stake kind of thing.”

  Neecy laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself, kid.”

  Arri grinned again and sipped her Diet Coke, leaning against the wall to people-watch. Neecy marveled at how clean Arri lived. No drugs. No drinking. And for a girl from Long Island, she didn’t curse much either.

  “Oh, my gosh! I don’t think that Valkyrie’s wearing underwear.”

  Neecy began laughing and couldn’t stop.

  “Heck, it’s a G-string. Oh, I gotta talk to her. She can’t be comfortable in that thing. I’ll be back.” Arri slipped off.

  Neecy laughed harder. She was enjoying the “freer” Arri. She was a nut.

  “I like you in that dress, baby.”

  Forcing herself not to spin around or spontaneously come at the sound of the man’s voice, “How the hell did you get back there?” She looked over her shoulder at Yager, lowering her wing a bit so that she didn’t block that gorgeous face of his.

  “Well?” she pushed. The hidden little corner she’d buried herself in had an enormous potted plant blocking her from everyone’s sight and kept anyone from creeping up behind her.

  Anyone but Yager.

  “Man, you’re still testy. Why are you so testy?”

  Sighing, “I’m not testy.” She turned to face him. “I just don’t want to be here, but I wasn’t given much choice, now was I?”

  “What are you looking at me for?”

  “I don’t know what you and those bitches have going on, but leave me the hell alone.”

  She turned to walk away, but Yager slid his arm around her waist and pulled her up against his body. “Why do you always run away from me, Lawrence?”

  “Crows don’t run. From anything.”

  “Except me. You run from me.”

  “Get over yourself, Yager.”

  She should have moved faster. Normally she would have. But Yager always threw her off. So when he turned her, pushing her into the dark corner behind the giant plant, she didn’t even stab him with one of her talons.

  “Yager!” She didn’t yell it. It was more like a desperate whisper.

  Taki
ng the beer out of her hand and dropping it into the potted plant, he whispered back, “I missed you.”

  “I just talked to you last night.” She refused to mention the time in her office. Not when she kept waking up all night thinking about it, her hands between her legs.

  Feebly pushing against his shoulders, Neecy did her best to ignore the throbbing heat between her thighs.

  “Not good enough, Lawrence.”

  “Let me go!”

  He didn’t. Instead he leaned against her and dropped his head into the curve of her neck. “Don’t be mad at me, Neecy. I wanted to see you so bad.”

  Christ, how could she stay mad when he sounded so sincere? Especially when his warm breath against her neck sent pulsing shots of lust to her pussy.

  “I’m not mad at you, Yager. My team, however…”

  “Don’t be mad at them either.” His hand gently glided along the front of her dress. “I really like this dress on you, baby. I wasn’t kidding.”

  “I’d like this dress more if I wasn’t forced into it.”

  “Forced?”

  “Yeah. Janelle held me down while the rest of ‘em put it on me.”

  Yager stood up straight, his eyes looking off blindly. “My God, woman. The visual. Was there porn music in the background?”

  Feeling her anger slide away, Neecy hit his shoulder. “No!”

  “Any kind of inappropriate touching?”

  “No!” She giggled as he leaned back down and kissed her neck and bare shoulder.

  “That’s so disappointing.”

  “You’re a pervert, Yager.”

  “Nope. Just a typical male.”

  “Clearly.”

  “Does that really bother you?” He pressed Neecy against the wall with his body, his huge erection rubbing against her thigh. He felt so good against her. Man, she could really get used to this.

  Neecy’s hands gripped Yager’s shoulders. She needed to get control of herself right now or she was going to be in big trouble.

  “You look so good tonight, Neecy.” She looked up into those steel grey eyes and saw nothing but warmth and caring. What the hell? How could this stay completely unemotional if he kept looking at her like he cared?

  See? You can never trust men to do what you need them to do.

  His mouth lowered to hers and she panicked, blurting out the first thing that came to mind that didn’t involve sex. “What is the deal with your hair?”

  Stopping abruptly, Yager gazed at her. “What?”

  “Your hair… do you ever comb it?”

  There. Now all she needed was to see that knowing little smirk that would tell her it was all a plot to get the girls wet and ready for him. Then she could dismiss him as nothing more than a walking, talking vibrator.

  Instead, he looked a little embarrassed. “I keep forgetting.”

  “What?”

  He shrugged. “I keep forgetting. I get out of the shower and I always mean to comb it then I get sidetracked by something else. Like tonight, it hit me what was wrong with the code I’d been working on and I decided to try and fix it before coming here.” He grimaced. “Does it look really bad?”

  No, no, no! This wasn’t fair! He wasn’t artfully cute and adorable. He was cluelessly cute and adorable. Damn him. Damn him to the very pits of Helheim!

  Neecy dug her hands in his hair and pulled his head down until their mouths touched. They both moaned as their tongues connected and teased.

  Yager pulled her impossibly closer, his hard cock practically burning a hole in her dress.

  Pulling back a bit, Yager rasped against her lips, “Let’s get out of here, Neecy. Now.”

  “No.”

  “Why? You know we’ll have more fun alone.”

  “Forget it. Remember what I said, no relation—” Before she could finish, he kissed her again. Harder this time. More demanding. It suddenly got dark and she wondered why. She realized her wings had folded around them, shielding them from everybody else.

  Christ, even her wings were betraying her.

  He leaned back from their kiss and she burst out in a desperate whisper, “Forget it!”

  “Damn difficult female,” he muttered as he kissed her neck.

  “I am not… and those better not be teeth I feel, mister! Another hickey and I’m gonna kick your ass.”

  So distracted by his teeth, Neecy didn’t know Yager’s hand had snaked up under her dress until she felt his fingers dip inside her panties.

  “God, Yager. Stop!” she cried out in a desperate whisper.

  And he did. Although he didn’t move his hand away.

  Panting, she looked up into his handsome face. “Yager.”

  “Let me, Neecy.” He gave her the warmest smile she’d ever seen and her heart lurched. “I love watching you come.”

  “We can’t. Not here.” His thumb grazed her clit and she jerked. “Yager!” She slugged his shoulder.

  “I wanna see you tonight.”

  She shook her head. “No. I can’t.” She wouldn’t. Trouble, trouble, trouble. It oozed out of every one of Yager’s goddamn beautiful pores.

  His fingers teased her clit and she closed her eyes, working hard to stay in control—and failing miserably. She wanted him. Again.

  Could she possibly be a weaker female?

  “I wanna see you tonight, Neecy,” he persisted. “I wanna fuck you. I wanna slide inside you and feel your tight pussy take hold of me.”

  Holy shit.

  “I need to taste you again. On my fingers. On my tongue. I need to hear you whisper my name when I’m inside you. Then I want you screaming it as I make you come and come.”

  “I… I…” Desperately she tried to get out the words to tell him to stop. To back off. To go to hell. She couldn’t. Not with those big fingers of his stroking her just right.

  He leaned in and kissed her forehead. A sweet, innocent kiss. Heartless bastard! Why was he doing this to her?

  “Yager—”

  “Come for me, baby,” he whispered against her ear as his fingers circled her clit. “I wanna feel you come.”

  He kissed her, his mouth hard against hers, which was good. Because she came, all right. Came all over his vibrating hand.

  In fact, his mouth on hers was the only thing that stopped her from betraying their little full-body corner clutch to the entire party.

  Finally, after she sagged against him, he pulled his mouth away and slid his hands out from between her thighs.

  “God, you’re amazing, Neecy.”

  She didn’t know why, but she found that statement funny. She chuckled as she leaned into his big body, letting him hold her up. “Thanks, Yager.”

  “What’s so funny?”

  “I have no idea… and are you sucking your fingers?”

  She looked up to find Yager with two of his fingers in his mouth. He shrugged. “Can’t help myself.” He grinned. “You taste so good.”

  Neecy laughed harder. Only I would get mixed-up with a geeky alpha male.

  He kissed her cheek. “Come home with me tonight.”

  She finally pulled away from Yager. “I don’t know.”

  “At least think about it.”

  Think about it? The man gave her a rocking orgasm in the middle of some crappy Valkyrie party, what else exactly would she be thinking about?

  “That I can do.”

  His grin was huge and infectious. “Good.”

  “Now, go away.”

  “How easily I’m dismissed. I feel like a gigolo.”

  “You wish.”

  “Yeah, I do.” From behind, Yager grabbed her around the waist, giving her a hug and quick kiss on the neck. “Later, baby.”

  “Yeah. Later.” Taking a deep, shaky breath, Neecy turned to face Yager and instead found him gone.

  “How the fuck does he do that?”

  “Ow, Neecy!” Spinning back around, Neecy found Arri behind her, shielding her eyes.

  “What?”

  “Could you be an
y pinker?”

  Neecy didn’t get pink. Red, maybe. But she was too brown for pink anything. Then she realized Arri was in no way talking about her skin color.

  Damn aura-reading, Underoo-wearing Crow! “Oh, shut the hell up!”

  Delia crouched down in front of the man, his weapon in her hands. “Nice gun.”

  He turned his face away, but she grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. They’d secured him to a chair in the back of an autobody shop, using one of Delia’s handcuffs from her collection.

  “There’s a lot of ways this can go.” Her grip tightened on his face and he cringed in reaction. “But in the end, you’ll give me what I want.”

  They’d used one of the smaller Crows as a lure. That always worked with men. So gullible. So freakin’ stupid. If she didn’t like cock and a big muscular ass so much, she’d totally go gay. Or at least make the effort. But, like her mother and her mother’s mother, she was cursed to love dick.

  “Is this going to take long? I’m so hungry.”

  “Can you not wait five minutes, Sherri?”

  “Not when I’m hungry.”

  Delia rolled her eyes. “Anyone got a protein bar for Ms. Impatient here?”

  “I do,” one of her teammates offered.

  Delia turned back to her prey. “Where were we? Oh, yeah. You were going to tell me everything you know, or…” Delia glanced down at the other Hunters at her feet. Her girls hadn’t left much of them, but what remained was damn impactful. And once she was done with this one, she’d open a mystical doorway and shove their remains through it.

  Removing the blade from the sheath strapped to her calf, she pushed the point against his Adam’s apple.

  “Talk now… or feel pain for hours.”

  The Hunter stared at her for a long moment, closed his eyes, and dropped as far forward as his bonds allowed. It wasn’t far, but it was enough to impale himself on the blade.

  Delia blinked, the Hunter’s blood dripping down across her hand. “Well this can’t be good.”

  Sherri squatted down beside her, half the protein bar already gone. “Aw, man. I hate zealots.”

  Yager stared up at the ceiling. This was it. He wasn’t coming to these stupid things anymore. He couldn’t be more bored if they trapped him alone in a room without a TV and no furniture.