Hunting Season (The Gathering Book 1)

by Shelly Laurenston

  She tugged on her coat. “Now I know I don’t have to tell you not to push yourself, right? As a Crow, you’re healing faster than anyone on the planet, but I still want you staying quiet for the next couple of days.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “No buts, Neecy Lawrence! I don’t want to hear it. Didi and the rest of the Crows can handle anything that may come up. You don’t need to fight every battle.”

  “So I’m just supposed to sit here? Doing nothing?”

  “Wow. You do understand me.” Morgan headed toward the door. “But I’m sure this man right here—” she patted Yager’s shoulder as she walked past, “—will be more than happy to keep you occupied for a little while. Right, Will?”

  Morgan walked out, the door slamming behind her.

  Yager looked up to find Neecy staring at him with narrowed eyes.

  “I didn’t tell her to say that, ya know. So get that look off your face.”

  “Is there anyone here that doesn’t know we’re fucking?”

  “Is that really all we’re doing, Lawrence? Just fucking?”

  She tried to fold her arms across her chest, but quickly remembered the left arm tied tight against her body, her fingers close to her throat. She growled in frustration.

  “This is going to make me nuts!”

  He’d never seen Neecy so openly agitated before. He had to admit—he kind of enjoyed it.

  “You leave your arm alone.” He strode to the bed. “It’s to help your wing heal.”

  Neecy looked away from him so quickly, he almost didn’t catch the look in her eye. Panic?

  “What is it, baby?”

  “Stop calling me that!”

  Grunting in annoyance, Yager got onto the bed next to her.

  “Look, let’s get some things straight, okay? I’m going to call you baby, because I like it. And you like it, too, you just keep being difficult.”

  Her head snapped around to glare at him. “How the fuck do you know I like it?”

  “Because when I’m inside you and call you baby, your pussy practically turns into a river. That’s how I know.”

  Neecy stared at him for several seconds, then shook her head. “Jesus, Yager. I was hit in the back with an ax. I look like utter shit. I’m covered in frickin’ bruises and scrapes and open wounds. And you still…”

  “Want you? Yeah, baby. I still want you. Which is why I need you to get better.” He brought his hand up to cup her chin, forcing her to keep looking at him. “You rock my universe, Dr. Lawrence. And I almost lost you.”

  “Yager…” He gripped her chin tighter as she tried to turn away.

  “I’m not letting you avoid this, Neecy. Avoid us. I’ve let you get away with it this long, but not anymore. Life’s too short, baby. So get over your bullshit.”

  She opened her mouth to probably yell at him or tell him to get away from her. But before she got the chance, he kissed her. He’d been wanting to since she woke up, but he knew it had to wait. Now, though, he saw she needed a little reminder of what they did to each other. What they’d always do to each other—drive each other crazy.

  His tongue swept inside her startled mouth and she moaned, her head tipping to the side so that their mouths fit together better. Her free hand lay across his chest, her fingers digging into his T-shirt and muscle. Their kiss went from sweet and warm to hot and wet in seconds, and his inner voice kept yelling at him to stop. She was still recovering. Not ready for him to throw her down on the bed and fuck her until she agreed to marry him. His body, however, just wasn’t listening, and neither was hers.

  But Tye and Didi walking into the room? Well, that stopped it. Especially when Didi yelled, “Good Lord, Yager! How about waiting until she’s off the freakin’ critical list before groping her like a hooker!”

  How exactly did the man keep doing this to her? With only a kiss he could make her all wet and needy. It was shameful.

  She yanked away from him. So fast, she caused a shock of pain to race down her back. But she refused to let it show because Yager and Didi would be all over that.

  “Well, you seem to be doing well, Neecy.”

  Neecy looked at Tye. Not bothering to hide her sarcasm, “Much better, thanks, Tye.”

  His low chuckle made her want to slap his face. Christ, what was wrong with her? She actually liked Tye… usually.

  “So, what do you want?”

  “You are the worst patient.” Didi sat on the bed. “You going to keep being this miserable?”

  “Yes. Any other questions?”

  “Oh, man. You’re in for a time, Yager. Sure you don’t want us to take her cranky fat ass—”

  “Watch it.”

  “—back to the Bird House?”

  Suddenly fear he may send her back to Jersey filled her system and she hated herself for it. She couldn’t stay here and let this man take care of her. It was one thing for her sisters to care for her, they did it for each other. She’d nursed many of them through things as simple as summer colds to the more complex open wounds following knife fights. But, no. She couldn’t stay and take advantage of the man’s hospitality any long—

  “Not on your life, Didi. She stays here.”

  Neecy’s head snapped around. Yager sounded so adamant. Like he was willing to fight Didi on this, and few people fought Didi on much these days.

  “Okay. Okay. Calm yourself. Just trying to let you off the hook. I know how difficult and evil she can be.”

  “I like her difficult and evil.”

  “Ya know I’m right here,” she snapped.

  They both looked at her and then back to each other. “Look, Yager, you wanna keep the evil heifer, be my guest,” Didi joked while standing. If she were any closer Neecy would wrap her hand around the woman’s throat. She didn’t care her leader was kidding. Calling her “heifer” and talking about her fat ass in front of Yager, however, was not cool.

  “Okay. I’ll keep her. I mean, you don’t want her back or anything, right?”

  “Nah. Keep her.”

  Now they were just playing with the piranha. Pricks.

  “By the way, Yager, the Crows have made themselves kind of at home. Until our little Neecy can walk herself out of here, we plan on sticking around. Hope that’s okay.”

  “Sure. You guys are always welcome.”

  “Come on, Tye. Let’s leave these two alone.”

  “You sure that’s okay? I mean, she’s supposed to be recovering, not getting herself all worked up.”

  Neecy felt raw embarrassment as Tye and Didi left.

  “I hate them.”

  “He’s right, though. I need to leave you alone until you get better.”

  She didn’t like the sound of that either, even though he was right.

  “Whatever.” She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

  Yager reached down and pulled the comforter up, covering them both. “Snuggle down, baby.”

  She hesitated for a moment, but her last forty-five minutes of activity was catching up with her. Morgan warned her she’d find herself getting tired quickly, at least for a little while, so she decided not to fight it.

  She slid down and turned on her right side.

  Yager moved up behind her. “Tell me if this hurts.” Then he spooned her. His arm around her waist, his legs pushed against the back of her thighs, and his nose nuzzling the back of her neck.

  The last thing she felt at the moment was pain.

  So she didn’t say anything and, instead, went to sleep.

  Feeling safe and… loved.

  Waldgrave took the ax from his disciple’s hand.

  Without any prompting, the disciple offered, “He fought well. They all did.”

  “Is this all that’s left?”

  “Yes. Those birds of hers came. They ripped him apart in seconds.”

  Too bad. No proper funeral rites for him.

  “And her?”

  “Dead. He split her wing at the base.”

  “And her body?”
<
br />   “The birds took her.”

  Back to her other females. Good. The sight of her torn body would have them mad with bloodlust—making the rest easy.

  Mike stared up at the trees, barely noticing Tye when he pushed his shoulder then handed him a cup of coffee. “Am I the only one freaked out by them?”

  Tye looked up. “As long as we’re taking care of her, we’ll be fine.”

  Mike wasn’t so sure. He found hundreds of crows and ravens watching them a little bit unnerving. Especially when the one woman who controlled them was still recovering. Morgan said she’d be sleeping a lot. What if they decided to go wild while she was sleeping?

  “This is not good.”

  “Don’t be a pussy, Molinski.”

  Of course Tye wasn’t afraid. Tye who had friends many would consider much less than human.

  En masse, the birds suddenly took flight—and headed right into Yager’s bedroom.

  “Bro!”

  Now Tye frowned. “Uh… we better go check.”

  They walked past the women and other Ravens who were eating, talking, or sleeping. Mike liked the fact The Gathering didn’t seem distracted by him in the least. He liked a good challenge. To be honest, the Valkyries were way easy.

  Getting to Yager’s room was simple. But getting inside was another matter altogether.

  “Should we knock?” Mike asked.

  Tye shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t want to startle anybody, if ya know what I mean.”

  He knew exactly what Tye meant. So, silently, Mike eased Yager’s bedroom door open.

  Then he stared. So did Tye.

  They were everywhere. Just sitting there. Yager was out cold in his bed, but Neecy sat by the window. One enormous crow on her shoulder rubbing her head against Neecy’s cheek. A giant raven on her knee. Neecy reached over and rubbed her index finger over the bird’s head.

  Mike and Tye looked at each other. After a moment, they turned to Yager. They waited and, suddenly, he snapped awake. They knew Yager would sense their presence. It was part of their training.

  Yager’s eyes immediately focused on them and, a few seconds later, the birds that had invaded his room.

  His eyes grew wide as he surveyed his room while slowly sitting up.

  “Uh… baby? Is everything okay?”

  She nodded without looking at him. “Sure. I was just thinking I wanted to see them, to thank them. And they came.” She smiled. “Like they always do.”

  “That’s great, baby.” Yager slid off the bed, very careful of where he placed his big feet. “Neecy. I’ll be back in a sec.”

  She nodded as the raven gripped her index finger with its talons.

  Stepping very carefully, Yager walked across his bedroom and followed Mike and Tye out into the hallway. He closed the door behind him and then all three men let out huge breaths.

  “That didn’t happen. And we’re never discussing it again.”

  “Good plan,” Mike choked out.

  “What ya got there, princess?”

  Arri, kneeling on the living room floor, gasped in surprise as Liar-Mike Molinski snatched Neecy’s cell phone out of her hand. She’d pulled it from Neecy’s torn and blood-encrusted jeans, going through the last incoming and outgoing calls, when Molinski took it from her.

  He dropped onto Yager’s couch, his inhumanly large feet up on the fine leather.

  Growling, Arri reached over and tried to grab the phone back. Without much effort, Molinski held it from her grasp simply by holding it over his head and moving it around.

  “Come on, sweet cheeks. Tell me what’s going on.”

  “Give it!”

  To her utter horror, Molinski held the phone in one hand—and still out of reach—while he used his other hand to hold Arri at bay—by pushing back on her forehead.

  Suddenly she felt eight years old again and the school bully had once again singled her out.

  “Tell me what you’re doing and I’ll give it back to you.”

  “I don’t have to tell you anything!” She tried to force Molinski’s hand off her head, but it was useless. Not surprisingly, he was seriously strong.

  Seconds away from bursting into frustrated tears, another hand reached over her and snatched the phone from Molinski’s grasp. Arri looked up in time to see Janelle ball up her fist and punch Molinski over and over again in his stomach. By the sixth hit, she pulled away then suddenly swung back again, nailing Molinski right in the groin.

  “Ow! You Amazon bitch!” He doubled over and turned away from both women, his head buried in the couch cushions.

  “Here.” Janelle tossed her the phone and Arri caught it, almost dropped it, caught it, dropped it, and crawled after it as it skipped across the floor.

  She didn’t even have to look at Janelle to know the woman probably rewarded her with one of her patented headshakes. She seemed to save those only for Arri.

  When she finally got her hands on the phone, Arri found herself kneeling in front of Delia.

  “Whatcha doin’?” Delia asked.

  Arri took a deep breath, working really hard to put those frustration tears right back where they belonged. She’d cried enough in front of these women. “I found Neecy’s phone in her clothes. I was checking the incoming and outgoing messages from Friday night. Thought it might tell us something.”

  Delia stared at her in surprise. “Good move, Arri-girl. Find anything?”

  “Yeah. You called her.”

  Delia blinked in surprise and glanced between Arri and Janelle. “That night? No, I didn’t.” She shrugged at Janelle. “I was waitin’ for the fireman to call.”

  Janelle shook her head. “You and your thing for firemen.”

  “Hello? They’re hot.”

  Arri opened the phone, found the last incoming message in Neecy’s caller ID, and handed the device to Delia. “Isn’t that your number?”

  Delia stared at it. “I don’t get it. I didn’t call her. Really.”

  Janelle walked up behind Arri, grasped her under her arms, and easily lifted her to her feet. “Then how does her phone have you calling at that time?”

  “How the hell should I know?”

  Arri had a good idea, but before she could say it, Molinski barked from his huddled position on the couch, “They cloned it, you idiots!”

  “Shut up!” Janelle screamed it so loudly, her voice even dropping a few octaves, Arri was ready to bolt out of the room. But when she turned back around Janelle had the prettiest grin on her face. She winked at Arri and said to Delia, “You know what? I bet they cloned it, Dee.”

  Delia grinned right back, both of them thoroughly enjoying torturing Molinski. “You’re absolutely right, Janelle. You’re so smart.”

  “Bitches,” Molinski muttered from the couch.

  Janelle gave Arri a quick affectionate head scratch before stepping away from her. “And if they could clone your number—”

  “They’ve been listening to us for months… at least,” Delia finished.

  The realization of what had been going on for quite some time hit both women hard. Their smiles faded as Janelle’s head dropped slightly. “Holy shit.”

  Delia closed the phone with an angry snap. “We are such dumbasses.”

  Arri folded her arms in front of her chest. “We didn’t know.”

  “Didn’t know what?”

  Tye walked into the room and Arri watched in fascination as Janelle’s punky, tough colors dramatically shifted as soon as Tye appeared. Of course, his did, too, once he realized Janelle was standing there. Their colors swirled near and around each other, still testing but, unlike Neecy and Yager’s, they hadn’t quite begun to flow together. Still, Arri knew it was only a matter of time.

  Delia, unaware of the growing tension between Tye and Janelle, held up Neecy’s phone. “The Hunters, we think they’ve been monitoring our calls. Cloning our numbers.”

  Tye shrugged his enormous shoulders. “Makes sense. But don’t worry about it. I know somebody
who can get all of you new phones, new numbers by tonight. I just need a list.”

  Nodding, Delia tossed Neecy’s phone back to Arri. She almost had it, but it slipped out of her hands, flew across the room, and binged Molinski right in the forehead as he sat up.

  “Ow!”

  As habit, Arri immediately went to apologize, but Tye’s giant hand gently covered her mouth. “Why do I bet he somehow deserved that?” he muttered softly into her ear.

  Arri looked up at him and nodded.

  “I don’t want any more soup. And if you don’t make a move, I’m going to chop all your pieces in half.”

  Yager looked up from the chessboard sitting between them on the bed. “Don’t rush me. When I play chess I take my time. I savor the game.”

  Growling out, “Again with the savoring? What is it with you?”

  Rolling those gorgeous steel grey eyes, Yager looked back at the chessboard—and stared.

  She glared at the top of his head. She’d been staring at the top of his head for fifteen minutes now.

  No. If she looked at the top of his head much longer, she was going to start ripping his hair out. And she really liked his hair.

  Neecy allowed her gaze to wander around Yager’s bedroom. So far, the only part of the house she’d actually seen. Yager wouldn’t let her leave. He brought her food, water, magazines, books. Anything she wanted, he made sure she got. He only let Morgan, Didi, and a few of the Crows at a time in to visit her. He insisted on shoveling soup down her throat like it was some kind of cure-all.

  Yager’s bedroom in his Long Island home was as beautiful as his City apartment. And just like his other bed, the frame was big, stainless steel, and perfect for fucking in. But, no. Yager wouldn’t touch her except to hold her when she slept. She’d initially thought maybe he’d lost interest, seeing as her entire body resembled one big, bloody bruise. Then she’d realized he kept disappearing into the bathroom to take showers. Lots and lots of showers. He had to be the cleanest man on the planet.

  She had the distinct feeling those showers were mighty cold.