The Hunter

by Theresa Meyers

  He cracked open one eye. “The first thing we need to do is get down this mountain. Then we can figure out how to get the Book of Legend reunited.”

  “That’s mighty ambitious. Perhaps we ought to consider taking this at a more manageable pace.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as being able to walk first,” she suggested, her voice tinged with sarcasm as she groaned.

  He chuckled. “You’ve got a point, sweetheart.”

  He grunted as he peeled himself off the snag and struggled down the tangle of wet wood. “Are you coming or not?”

  Lilly took a deep breath and started moving. The wet buckskin britches were growing clammy and tightening as she climbed down to the canyon floor. Colt offered her a hand at the last bit, and she took it and stepped down on firm soil once more. Then he swung his pack off his back and checked on the oilcloth package containing the Book.

  “Looks like the Book made it through all right.” He cast a glance at her, and swallowed hard. “You’d best get out of those britches before we have to cut them off you,” Colt said, as if he’d had the experience to back up his claim. “They’ll only get tighter as the leather dries and shrinks.”

  “Purely suggested with my comfort in mind, I’m sure.” She cast him a flirtatious glance as she wrung out her hair.

  He had the audacity after all they’d just been through to wink. “Of course.”

  That was fine by Lilly. She felt far more comfortable in skirts anyway. She snapped her fingers and materialized a fresh set of clothing for herself, including a cream-colored linen calf-length skirt and fitted jacket, thin cotton shirtwaist, a hardy pith helmet wrapped near the brim with a swath of sheer cream silk, and a sturdy walking stick.

  Colt quirked a brow at her change in clothing. “Planning on another grand adventure so soon?”

  “I have the distinct impression that this kind of thing is your normal modus operandi, and therefore I’m dressing appropriately.”

  “To go where? Deepest darkest Africa?” He smiled as he slung his pack off his shoulder to rest at his feet. “My pa only taught me enough Latin to be able to passably read the incantations he taught me, so would you mind translating that Modus opera-endy?”

  “How you do things.”

  He gave her a boyish grin, which seemed at odds, and yet perfectly suitable, to the shadows on his roguish face. “That about sums it up. Being a Hunter isn’t fancy dress and tea parties, if that’s what you’re sayin’.”

  She couldn’t help but notice how his wet clothing clung to the hard ridges of muscle, and the gleam of moonlit water on his torso. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on Colt. Every hardened, scarred inch of him was earned through hard work. For a moment she considered how he might look with no clothing at all, and her heart responded by going from a trot to a full-out gallop. She shook her head to realign her thoughts more appropriately.

  “Would you like a change of clothing as well?”

  His eyes held a shimmer of suspicion as he paused, his hand flexing around the edge of his gun belt, and considered her offer. And really, was there so much to consider? He was wet as a drowned kangaroo rat. Finally he replied, “As long as you don’t gussy me up and you get me back my hat. Sure, I could go in for some fresh clothes. Just make sure you don’t mess with my weapons or my pack.”

  She snapped her fingers and his wet, heavy denim pants were replaced by dark pants, a fresh white cotton shirt accented with a black ribbon tie at the neck, and his favorite blue and black brocade vest, along with a long brown duster jacket and of course his hat, which she made sure was dried out and free of mud. If possible, he looked even more devastating and dangerous with a bit of polish.

  “I look like Remy or Wyatt Earp.” His sculpted mouth pressed into a line with distaste. “I said nothing fancy.”

  Lilly crossed her arms “That hardly constitutes formal dress. And besides, it looks good on you.”

  “Well, it’s dry.” Colt grumbled out his thanks, but it wasn’t exactly convincing.

  The water had all but disappeared, running in a rush out of the gulch and into some distant arroyo. Only the wetness on the rock walls of the gulch and the thin stream of water running in between the rocks indicated that there’d been any gully-washer at all.

  They picked their way through the flotsam and jetsam of the flood and climbed out of the darkness of the gulch into pale moonlight. Before them spread the wide expanse of the desert floor. The rocks of the mountain behind them, rust-colored in the daylight, rose up like stacks of silver bars. The crescent moon was sinking in the western sky, still bright white against a sky that was growing blue with pre-dawn light.

  Tempus waited for them, just where they’d left him, brass hooves glinting in the waning moonlight. Colt peered out over the immense darkness of the desert. He took the winding key from his pack, unstrung a section of the leather hide covering, and wound the beast. He then secured the hatch and cover back in place and strapped his pack to his horse. When he saddled up without so much as a hand to help her, Lilly gave him a sour look. “You could have helped me mount.”

  He tipped back the brim of his hat to reveal a twinkle in his blue eyes that made her distinctly aware he’d seen her in far less than she was wearing now. “Thought you weren’t comfortable riding my monstrous machine,” he said smoothly.

  “I’m not. But neither am I a fool. We’ll get to where we need to get the Book faster if we both ride.”

  He gave her a wicked smile. “I’d be happy to give you a ride.”

  Heat crept hot and fast into her cheeks. She was certainly succubus enough to know precisely what his tone implied. Worse, she’d been thinking about it too.

  He pulled her up to sit atop his lap in the saddle. “You’ll be more comfortable up here than riding behind,” he said by way of an explanation.

  Lilly would have debated that point as she rearranged her skirts, since there was a very firm ridge at her posterior, but she didn’t think it would make matters any better to mention it.

  “And you’ll need to take off that hat, otherwise I’ll be hitting my chin on it,” he said, giving her pith helmet a tap.

  With reluctance she removed her headgear and settled it on the pommel. “Better?”

  “We’ll see.” Colt flipped the GGD switch on Tempus, and the clockwork inside the mechanical horse began to click and whirr. He lifted his head, stomped once, then started moving forward.

  Letting her ride up front on his lap had to be just about the stupidest thing he’d ever done. With every step forward Tempus took, the soft curve of Lilly’s bottom shifted against his shaft, making it both exquisite torture and a pleasurable pain.

  They rode on through the desert in companionable silence as the sun rose, an orange fireball riding the ridge of the mountains. The desert spread out in a wash of tans and reds before them, punctuated only by the cactus, short bushy scrub, and spindly junco that looked more like thorny tall sticks than anything else.

  Her sweet voice broke the stillness. “How long do you think it’ll take us to get to Bodie?”

  “About four days.”

  She twisted, her hair a cloud of ruby-colored flame in the morning’s rays, and gazed at him. “Isn’t that cutting things a little close?”

  “As long as Remy and Winn show up with the other portions of the Book of Legend, it should all work out just fine.”

  “Hypothetically,” she said, turning back to face front.

  “Now who’s being the pessimist?” he jibed.

  “And then what?”

  Colt shrugged. “Well, if we manage to close the Gates, then Rathe won’t have a hold over you any longer. You’ll be free and can go find your sister, just like I said.”

  An awkward silence stretched between them, filled up with all the things that he wanted to say but found himself too tongue-tied and distracted to express without mucking it up.

  Lilly sighed, the movement brushing her small shoulder blades over his chest, making Colt
wince. “But I’ll still be a demon and you’ll still be a Hunter,” she said softly as she deflated against him. Colt shifted his hold on the reins to one hand and wrapped the other tightly around her middle, splaying his hand over the soft curve of her hip.

  “Do you really think that matters to me at this point?” he said near her ear, his voice rough. He caressed the soft shell of her ear with his mouth and inhaled the unique feminine scent that was all Lilly. Damn, even there she was softer than silk and sweet-smelling.

  “It has.”

  “Hmm,” he said as he moved his lips lower, tasting the tender hollow just beneath her ear. “Things change.”

  Her head tilted slightly, giving him better access. The pulsing rush under his skin increased. “Colt?”

  “Mmm,” he responded between slow, soft kisses against her nape.

  “If I were just a human girl, would you still find me alluring?” She wriggled in his lap and he kept himself as still as he could, which on a moving mechanical horse was nearly impossible. He blew out a slow, steady breath.

  “Definitely.”

  He left it at that. There was no point telling her that somewhere between entering the dynamic machine inside the cave and trekking soaking wet out of the gulch, Colt had discovered one critical thing his pa had never mentioned.

  Sometimes the rules just didn’t apply.

  There were times black faded and white became spoiled. Times when you had to listen to your gut, your heart, and not your head. Times when science and reason didn’t hold the answers and intuition did. And right now his gut was a huge throbbing ache, and the only thing that seemed to make it any better was the same thing that made it worse: the woman he held in his arms.

  Demon or not, she’d wormed her way into his heart in a way no other female had ever done before. And it wasn’t just the chemistry between them burning like a lucifer to kerosene. It was her keen mind, the sweet curve of her cheek, the way she looked at him that made him feel like he was more than just a man. He was somebody.

  He’d spent so long hiding in the shadows, blending, he’d become as dismissible as imagination and as fleeting as time. His brothers, his horse, and Marley were about as normal and stable as his life got, and that wasn’t saying much.

  Hell, to put it simply, he craved more. More of whatever it was that Lilly offered him.

  The day wore on. Hot stretches of desert floor dotted with cactus, scrub, and jonco scented with the smells of hot rock and creosote turned into hills. Hills gave way to steep, rocky trails ending in cooler brown flat-topped mesas bristling with little junipers and pines. The sky stayed a vivid cloudless blue. No matter how many times the words were on the tip of his tongue, Colt couldn’t seem to master them enough to verbalize. What could he possibly say? He had nothing to offer her. No future. She couldn’t even live among normal folks for long without her demon powers beginning to infect the relationships around her. Sooner or later the men wouldn’t be able to resist her and the womenfolk would be hateful. He wanted to protect her from that. He wanted to give her the normal peaceful life that had been snatched away from her as a little girl.

  They leaned forward as Tempus took a zigzag dirt road up the mountains and Colt gripped the reins tighter.

  “What do you want from life, Lilly?”

  She shook her head, her curls rippling across his cheek, teasing him in the slight breeze. “I want to matter to someone.”

  Her words were simple, but they hit him like a punch in the gut. She was just as lost, just as battered as he was. She mattered, dammit. She mattered to him.

  “You do.”

  Her laugh was hollow, brittle and fragile, revealing the depth of her emptiness inside and making his heart contract. “I want to matter not just for what I can offer or do for another person, but just because ... well, just because I’m me.”

  “You matter to me.”

  “For the moment. But there’s no future in it, for either of us. You know that.”

  He stiffened, rejecting the idea. “What I know is that there’s no predicting the future, prophecy or no prophecy. We’re going to go into this together, side by side, and by the end of it you’ll be free. Trust me.”

  She turned, gazing up at him, her green eyes bright with yearning, and placed a dainty hand against his cheek and said two words that stripped him down to his bones. “I do.”

  Colt kissed her hard and fast, letting all the things he couldn’t say flow into that one kiss that slanted his mouth across her soft willing one. He slipped his arm beneath her legs, lifting her from her position on his lap and settling her across it instead. She was warm and soft beneath his hands.

  “You’re tired and so am I. We deserve a rest.”

  “But what about getting the Book to Bodie?”

  “There’s only so many miles we can travel in a day, sweetheart. One night’s rest isn’t going to end the world.”

  “You’re certain?” she hedged, gazing at the sickle of moon already visible in the growing twilight that changed the high desert mountains from shades of red and brown to hues of purple.

  “New moon ain’t until a few days from now.” He splayed his hand over the curve of her hip, and her stomach quivered. “Besides, we deserve a chance to celebrate finding our part of the Book.”

  Lilly looked up into his rugged face. Colt wasn’t just handsome, he was devilishly so. His dark hair was clean and slicked back, making his strong cheekbones and the hard line of his nose more pronounced. The blue of his eyes sparkled with wicked intentions. Her heart bucked.

  “What exactly did you have in mind?”

  His gaze shifted to the cluster of buildings on the ridge above them. They were getting closer to Prescott. “A special little dinner for two.”

  As Lilly gazed at the enormous crystal and gas jet chandelier sparkling overhead in the coffered silver lobby ceiling of the Silver Swan Hotel, she briefly wondered exactly what the desk clerk at the long walnut counter had thought when Colt had checked them in without any luggage. She’d never worried about seeming inappropriate before. What was it about being around Colt that made her conscious of her every movement and emotion?

  She kept trying to reason out her strange reactions to him as they climbed the wide, sweeping staircase to the second floor.

  Situated at the end of the hallway, the little engraved brass plaque on the door of the room they’d been given read HONEYMOON SUITE. Lilly put her hand on his bicep, which flexed beneath her fingers.

  “Are you going to carry me over the threshold?” she teased.

  Colt pushed the door open, gave her a devastating smile, then swung her up into his arms like she weighed the same as a feather pillow. Lilly gave a little squeak of protest. She hadn’t thought he’d seriously take her up on her jest.

  But somehow, having his arms around her felt absolutely right. For the first time Lilly felt cherished. And that was an altogether different sensation than being protected. Someone could protect you and still not touch your heart. This reached down into the deepest parts of her and stirred the remnants of her soul. She’d never felt more human than she did right now. Or more loved.

  Colt had spared no expense. Gleaming brass gas lamps topped by elegantly frosted glass shades and dripping with long cut crystals at the base lent a soft yellow glow to pale green watered silk and gilt crown moldings along the walls. A small settee with deep-buttoned cushions of forest green brocade and an elaborately carved edge, and two matching wingback chairs accented with black tassels sat around an elegant little tea table of cherrywood topped with white marble before the large white marble fireplace. A polished silver tea set and a cut crystal vase of fresh flowers both flickered with reflected firelight. The small sitting room had one door leading to the bedroom. Clearly the suite was the nicest the hotel had to offer.

  He set her down gently on the thick carpet and closed the door behind them with a soft click. Lilly rubbed her arms at the unexpected chill that invaded her body once she was no longer in h
is arms.

  “How did you get them to give you this suite?” Lilly asked.

  “I told them we were newly wed. They couldn’t very well refuse the honeymoon suite then, now could they?” His heart-stopping smile warmed her all the way to her toes. His appreciative gaze lingered, creating a trail of heat almost like a physical caress. Her skin suddenly felt a size smaller. She turned away, for the first time as a succubus not certain how to respond. A honeymoon was something she had no right to. Something she’d never anticipated she’d have.

  Lilly chided herself for her foolishness. After all, she was a succubus, not some milk-water miss fresh out of the nursery with not a clue to what a man wanted from a woman.

  Lilly ran her fingers over the pale green moiré silk on the walls as she slowly walked around the sitting room. The problem was, she’d never had her soul at stake, and certainly not her heart. With Colt she feared it would be both.

  If she let herself truly indulge all the desire he stirred in her, he might be able to get her soul back from Rathe, but Colt would never return her heart. ’Course if she hadn’t been trying to con herself, she’d have admitted the truth; he’d had her heart in his back pocket all along. From the moment she’d laid eyes on him within the circle he’d conjured in the dark desert night, she’d been helpless to resist the yearning that smoldered inside her.

  Lilly glanced through the open door into the adjoining bedroom. The elegant curves of the brass headboard and footboard made the wide mattress, covered in dark green velvet and heaped with colorful pillows sporting an impressive array of tassels and lace, look even bigger. She jumped a little as his hand came to rest, warm and heavy, on her shoulder.

  “You hungry?” His voice rumbled all the way through her, making the coiling sensation curl into an even tighter spring.

  “Absolutely famished.” She didn’t tell him her hunger had nothing to do with food.

  “I thought you might be.”

  “We could go downstairs and eat,” she offered halfheartedly.