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Sassy Ink 3
The Hunter’s Curse
Christina Benjamin
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
Also by Christina Benjamin
About the Author
Chapter 1
Etti
“Hey, the newlyweds are back!” Marc called, greeting Etti and Grey when they breezed through the doors of the Painted Wolf. “I thought you guys were staying longer?”
Grey balked at the question and Etti couldn’t blame him. The start of Grey and Etti’s marriage had been rocky, to say the least. Their honeymoon was a disaster—no sex and no progress on breaking the hunt’s curse their daughter had inherited. Etti sighed and rubbed her heavy belly in answer to Marc’s questioning look.
She couldn’t believe it’d only been a week since her wedding. She’d completely popped at this stage in her pregnancy and everything agitated her. Etti returned from New Orleans grumpier than ever. The lack of sex and the fact that they’d spent most of their honeymoon trekking through the sweltering heat of Louisiana did nothing to help curb Etti’s level of aggravation.
They were supposed to stay a few days longer, but Cali, Etti’s friend and favorite shifter nurse, recommended they come home with Etti’s due date approaching. Cali hadn’t wanted them to go to New Orleans at all, but the honeymoon had served as an opportunity for Grey and Etti to sniff around for Esme, the so-called witch, who was the key to keeping Etti’s new little family safe from the hunt, a blood-thirsty pack of rogue shifters hell bent on killing her child.
Wes popped his head out of his booth, tattoo needle still in hand. He smirked at Etti. “You look . . .”
“What?” Etti snapped, her scowl daring her best friend to say what he was thinking.
Perhaps Wes’s new shifter instincts were working well for him, because he wisely decided to keep his thoughts to himself and merely said, “I was going to say you look nice.”
“No I don’t. I’m pregnant, swollen, tired and hangry. I’m a walking nightmare.”
Wes laughed. “Grey, I never thought I’d say this but I sorta hope baby Izzi takes after you. You’ve got one moody she-wolf on your hands.”
“Don’t I know it,” Grey mumbled.
Etti turned toward her handsome mate, Greyson West. “What was that?”
His steel grey eyes studied her timidly. Grey scratched the back of his dark brown hair nervously. “Nothing, babe.”
Etti sighed. She didn’t mean to be so snappy, but she was no longer in control—hormones had hijacked her brain.
“Why don’t you relax and put your feet up?” Grey suggested.
“I don’t want to put my feet up unless it’s time to push this baby out of me!”
“Not too much longer, babe,” Grey soothed, massaging Etti’s lower back in a way that made her groan out loud.
Etti was due in a week and had lost all sense of modesty at this point in her pregnancy. Her ankles were the size of her calves, she peed when she sneezed, nothing she owned fit and she refused to wear hideous maternity clothes. They were not befitting of a badass shifter that owned a tattoo parlor.
Etti was excited to be having a baby with her sexy mate, but she was having a hard time adjusting from her old life as a motorcycle riding chick who was used to doing things her own way.
Everyone at Etti’s baby shower had told her pregnancy was the hardest part and things would get easier after she had the baby. But Etti had doubts. The females giving her parenting advice didn’t have a pack of rogue shifters hunting their child.
Etti absently rubbed her belly like she did every time she worried about her daughter.
“Is she kicking?” Grey asked, moving to put a hand on Etti’s belly.
He accidently brushed the underside of her swollen breast, which was easy to do these days since they were so large they looked like they belonged in Hustler. She hissed at the pain Grey’s innocent touch shot through her, pulling away from him.
“Sorry,” he murmured looking dejected.
She reached for his hand and squeezed, hoping to make him understand she didn’t mean to be such a bitch, she just had no idea how much pregnancy would change her body. It was like every cell was working against her. Etti never imagined her boobs could get so big or hurt so bad. And to make matters worse they were so sensitive she snapped at Grey every time he tried to come near her—something that made their honeymoon less than pleasant.
“How did things go?” Wes asked, his tone turning serious, which was very un-Wes-like.
“As expected,” Etti scathed.
“It was mostly dead ends, “ Grey added.
“Well, that’s because you need to talk to your parents like I told you,” Wes retorted, directing his I-told-you-so attitude at Etti.
She scowled. If she wasn’t so pregnant and tired she’d rip Wes a new one. Apparently turning into a shifter hadn’t altered his talent for picking on her like she was his little sister.
Grey seemed to catch Etti’s simmering anger. Shifters had a keen sense of smell, able to scent the moods of others, especially their mates. But Grey had been exceptionally good at reading Etti’s moods the past few days. Perhaps she was just getting worse at hiding them. Or maybe she was finally starting to learn what it was like to have a trusting and open relationship. The concept was new to her thanks to her horrible upbringing.
“Come on, babe,” Grey said, leading Etti toward the stairs to their apartment above her shop. “Why don’t we head up and get settled. It’s been a long day. We can fill Wes in when he’s done working.”
“Cali’s coming over when she’s done at the clinic,” Wes added. “I’ll have her pick up dinner for the four of us.”
“Five of us!” Marc called from his booth. The pale tattoo artist was the only human left at the Painted Wolf, but he didn’t seem to mind hanging out with a bunch of shifters. He’d been pretty good at holding his own too. He even stepped in to protect Etti when Derik, the hunt’s Alpha, showed up at her baby shower.
“There’s six of us,” Etti replied, patting her heavy belly.
“Got it. Dinner for six,” Wes said, flashing a bright smile before disappearing back into his tattoo booth.
Chapter 2
Etti
At least Wes had brought dinner from Al’s, Etti’s favorite pizza place in Blue Creek, before badgering her about what she learned in New Orleans. Etti filled her friends in on everything she and Grey discovered, which was a whole lot of nothing. But Wes insisted Etti’s father was telling the truth about the
witch who could break the hunt’s curse and launched into the story again.
Etti put her hand up to stop him. “I don’t think repeating my father’s story for the millionth time is going to change anything,” Etti muttered between bites. She was chowing down on her fifth slice of mushroom and sausage pizza.
“Well, it won’t hurt,” Cali argued. “Maybe we’ll catch something different, or it’ll trigger something new now that you’ve been to New Orleans.”
“New Orleans was a dead end,” Etti replied. “And I think this whole story is a bunch of bull.”
Wes shook his head. “It’s not, Etti. I know you don’t trust your father and you have every right not to, but you can trust me. You didn’t see his face when I told him I was worried the hunt was going to come after you and the baby. He wants to help.”
“Or maybe he just wants to find a way back into my life so he can try to ruin it again,” Etti stated, grabbing another slice of pizza. “But I’m not about to let that happen.”
Wes stood abruptly. “Jesus, Etti. You act like I don’t know what you’ve been through. I don’t take anything your parents say lightly. But I’m telling you, your father was speaking the truth.”
“You can’t possibly know that, Wes,” Etti shot back. “You weren’t a shifter yet.”
“Fine! Then why don’t you go talk to him and see for yourself. You’ll be able to scent if he’s lying.”
Damn it. Wes was using Etti’s taunt against her. She hated when he did that. She finished her pizza and crossed her arms defiantly, unwilling to concede.
“Babe.” Grey spoke softly. “Maybe we could go talk to your father. Just to feel out if there’s any truth to this witch story.”
Wes plopped down on the couch across from Etti and crossed his own arms smugly. Etti watched Cali place a calming hand on his arm, warning him to cool his temper. It had always been like this between Wes and Etti—pushing each other’s buttons relentlessly, like only family can. Wes may not have been Etti’s family by blood, but that didn’t stop their stubborn rivalry. Each hated when the other was right.
Marc finally spoke up. “If we’re at a stalemate, can I propose something?”
Everyone turned their attention to him. His pale skin flushed scarlet, making his sleeves of colorful tattoos look like they were alive.
He cleared his throat and continued. “We’re running out of time,” he said pointing to Etti’s large stomach. “So why not let Wes tell the story one more time. I’ve only heard it once. And if by tomorrow none of us have any other ideas about how to possibly protect Izzi from the hunt, Etti and Grey can go talk to her parents about how they can help.”
Etti’s eyes narrowed with resentment, but she couldn’t argue her friend’s logic. They didn’t have any better alternatives and they were running out of time.
Grey leaned a shoulder against Etti’s, his warmth soothing her. “We owe it to Izzi to explore every option,” he said quietly.
“I know.” Etti exhaled and faced her friends. “Fine. Tell us everything again, Wes. And if it doesn’t inspire any great new ideas, I’ll go speak to my parents.”
Chapter 3
Wes
Wes took a deep breath. He’d relayed Mohe Blackwell’s story at least a dozen times, but it still didn’t make it any easier to believe. And it definitely wasn’t easy for him to watch his best friend suffer each time she heard how much of her life her parents had stolen from her. Now that Wes was a shifter, he not only could see Etti’s discomfort, but scent it as well.
He’d loved Etti since he was a boy and protected her from her abusive mother once Etti finally admitted what she’d been enduring. When Wes was forced to shift in order to save his life after Derik attacked him, Wes thought his first move would be to fight for Etti—asking her to chose him over Grey.
But the shift had made Wes see things more clearly. He still loved Etti. She was his best friend and always would be. But he realized his love for her was of more of a fierce protective nature, than romantic. Etti was his family and he would always love her that way. Which was why it was so hard for Wes to see the hurt dance across her dark almond-shaped eyes. Her eyes mirrored his own. She was his other half and to help her he would repeat Mohe’s words one more time.
Cali squeezed Wes’s hand and he pulled strength from the intimate connection they shared, rubbing circles in her palm with his thumb to thank her for being there.
Wes cleared his throat before he began. “Esme Devereux is the woman responsible for keeping the Blackwell family alive and hidden from the hunt. She cast a cloaking spell over the family to keep them hidden from the hunt so that Etti Blackwell would live long enough to one day bear the Fin-Malédi—a child that would break the curse of the hunt and free generations of witches that have lived in fear of the lawless wolves.”
“Nice to know my parents kept me alive just to be an incubator,” Etti interrupted.
Wes gave her a mournful look, but continued. “Mohe told me that Esme, the witch that cast the spell, is still alive and living in New Orleans protecting her coven. He believes she could be persuaded to extend her protection to Etti’s child since it is in her best interest to help the child until she’s of age and can break the curse.”
“We’ve been over this, Wes. If Esme is in New Orleans, she doesn’t want to be found,” Etti replied.
Grey nodded. “We left Etti’s name at every voodoo shop in the French Quarter. We asked around about Esme, hoping word would get back to her that we were searching for her. But so far, nothing.”
“Maybe your family knows of a special way to contact Esme,” Marc offered.
Etti sighed. “Okay, let’s just say best case scenario, I talk to my father, we find Esme and she’s willing to help us. But that would still mean we have to keep my daughter hidden for eighteen years until she’s of age to break the curse.”
“Maybe not,” Cali offered. “Shifters consider females to be of age at their first bleeding.”
“That’s still a long time,” Etti argued. “My parents kept my whole life a secret from me trying to protect me from a curse that caught up to me anyway. I lived a sheltered, lonely life, thinking there was something wrong with me. I will not do that to Izzi.”
“We won’t let that happen, babe,” Grey murmured, reaching a protective arm around Etti’s shoulders to comfort her.
Wes could see her fighting back tears as her dark eyes glimmered. He hated seeing Etti upset and wished there was something else he could offer his friend. “We won’t know what Esme can do unless we find her,” Wes urged.
Etti’s eyes met his. He saw so much sadness and fear in them. Wes was the only person on earth that knew all Etti had endured in the name of her parents’ protection. And even still, he feared there were things that she’d been too ashamed to share with him.
At least she’d recently opened up to Grey about how abusive her mother had been. But nothing she could ever tell Grey would make him understand the pain and fury Wes had felt when he first saw the welts and bruises that covered Etti’s back.
Ama Blackwell had beat Etti every time she stepped a toe out of line. Wes knew now it was because her mother feared that Etti would shift and attract the attention of the hunt. But Etti still grew up strong-willed and stubborn. When Ama saw she couldn’t control her daughter with physical abuse, she began drugging her without her knowledge to kill the wolf that lived inside Etti, never letting her know of the powerful shifter heritage that ran through her veins.
There were days when Wes didn’t know how Etti had survived it. But one thing was for sure, he would never allow that to happen to another person he loved. Especially not Etti’s child.
Wes rested his elbows on his knees, exhaling in frustration. He hated feeling so helpless. He hunched over until his head was in in hands. Cali ran a soothing hand against a sliver of exposed skin on his lower back. It instantly filled him with a steadying calm. No one but Wes noticed Cali’s intimate gesture. And that was another thing fru
strating him. He wanted to tell the world he’d found his mate. His bones practically sang with joy when he was with Cali. But she’d told him now wasn’t the time to share their plans to mate and marry—not with Etti under so much stress already.
“There has to be a way,” Wes grumbled to no one in particular.
“That’s all Mr. Blackwell shared with you?” Marc asked.
“Yeah. He said when Etti was ready, he’d be there to help her with whatever she needed.”
“That’s what he said to me when he showed up at the shower,” Etti replied.
“So he has to know more,” Grey pressed.
“But why not just come out and say it?” Marc questioned.
“Because nothing’s ever simple with my family,” Etti grumbled.
“We’ll find a way,” Cali said, ever the optimist. “But for now, why don’t we let you get some rest.”
Wes and Cali climbed into his old white pickup truck ready to leave Etti and Grey’s apartment. Cali had stuck around after Marc left to check Etti and baby Izzi’s vitals. She only agreed to go home when Grey promised he’d get Etti to bed so she could relax and take some of the taxing stress off her body.
Wes started the engine and glanced over at Cali. He loved the way she made him feel—hungry and breathless all at once. He could die a happy man if all he got to do was gaze at her beautiful body for the rest of his life.
“I like it when you look at me like that,” Cali said not even turning her head.
“Like what?” he teased.
Sassy Ever After: Sassy Ink 3: The Hunter's Curse (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 1
