Dark War Chronicles Box Set One

by A. L. Kessler

  "Well, I don't suggest you wait until the full moon. In fact, the moment she finds out that the paranormal world is real, I say you dump it on her then. It's only fair." Orion grinned. "You also owe me a new television."

  Coran snorted. "Yeah, yeah, come on, I'll buy you a beer. I'm not willing to face either of them right now."

  "You think Tegan can handle things if something happens?" Orion asked, his eyes sliding to the door.

  "Man, when are you going to stop worrying about her? She's trained to fight and she's got a temper to match any Irish woman in my clan." Coran shook his head. "She'll be fine."

  Orion sighed. "I know, I just, I can't help but still see her...as she was."

  Images of what Tegan was like during their time at the Circle and after her torture filled his mind. A broken and scared woman. "Which is probably why Lucius doesn't let you date her. Now, stop moping and come have a beer." Coran went to the side of the house and jumped over the gate, using one arm as leverage to lift his body over. Orion rolled his eyes and flashed himself to the other side.

  "Show-off." Coran paused for a moment, thinking he heard footsteps near the townhome. At this time of day it could have been anyone. He pushed his paranoia aside as he followed Orion down the street.

  Chapter Seven

  Renee tapped her pencil against her book and the long table serving as a desk in her lecture class. Not a word of the professor reached her ears while she gazed past him at the chalkboard. The boys hadn’t gotten home until late the night before, after both her and Tegan had crashed on the recliners. At some point during the night Coran carried Renee to his bed. She decided that she could get used to waking up in his bed next to him; however, she could do without him following her to class.

  The man in question sat next to her, pretending to take notes and audit the class. Renee suspected he was actually doodling on his pages instead, but it didn't matter. She tried to pay attention to the lecture, but her mind kept returning to the dream she’d had. Lying in bed with Coran, his hands tracing over her bare skin and his lips devouring hers in a feverish kiss. Yeah, that's what she wanted to think about, not some stupid math problem.

  In her dream she recalled a tribal tattoo scrawled across his chest. Her fingers traced it until she’d memorized the black marks. Without actually having seen his naked chest, she counted herself crazy when it came to the dream. It seemed so real until she woke up to Tegan running around the house screaming about being late. Renee blinked a few times when the professor wrote a formula on the board. Taking a few notes, Renee's gaze slid towards Coran and she sighed.

  What she wouldn't give to make the dream a reality. Nibbling her lip, Renee moaned as she tapped her pencil against her notebook and closed her eyes. She swore she could feel his lips brushing against the most sensitive parts of her body. Her face heated and her body tightened in all the right places. She put her head down on the desk and cursed herself quietly.

  Coran raised a brow when Renee's head hit the desk. Her face flushed and he couldn't help but wonder what she had been thinking about. He could smell the arousal on her, but doubted the math problem was the culprit. His body stirred with the scent and he had to keep himself from groaning. With the way her smile lit up her face at the sight of him when they’d woken together this morning, he’d almost taken Orion's advice. Though he’d second-guessed it when he wanted to call her Trisha. Renee had the same loving, caring look in her eyes. He recalled the dream that had plagued him since he had met Renee. The feeling of her fingers tracing over his tattoo, her hot breath against his skin, the way her tongue licked and explored his body.

  His cock stirred with the memories. Coran glared down past his notes and between his legs, trying to command it to stay down. No luck. But he had other problems to deal with right now, like Lucius sending Kassity after Renee. Coran would hate going against the vampire he owed his life to, but he was willing to do anything to keep Renee from being killed. He needed to think of a way to get the stone from her and keep her safe, hopefully back in her human world without uprooting her too much. Fate hated him. He glanced up when the door at the front of the classroom busted open and people flooded in.

  Renee lifted her head off the desk and turned to Coran. "They all have animal shadows." She whispered.

  "That is not good." He grabbed her hand, trying to weigh his options. If he stormed towards the front and out the door he'd never make it through the shifters down there, but there was another door a few rows behind him. If he moved quick enough he could make it, but he would draw attention. He met the eyes of a shifter in the front of the room.

  The shifter smiled at him and grabbed a girl at the end of the first row, tossing her to another male. The girl screamed and Coran knew he had to take his chances.

  "Time to run." He whispered to Renee, dragging her out of her seat and out the back door. She stumbled a moment, but regained her footing and they flew out the door and started down the hall. "Fuck, I wish we drove today."

  "What the hell is going on?" She asked, running behind him.

  He growled when he glanced behind them, spotting three of the shifters after them. "They are forgetting the rules and interfering in human lives.” He dragged her out the emergency exit, setting the alarm off. People began flooding out of the classrooms. He smiled. "That should buy us some time."

  "What do you mean they are breaking the rules?"

  "Not now Renee, right now I need you to run." He pulled his phone out of his pocket with his free hand. He hit the speed dial and growled when Orion didn't answer. "Come on, you stupid ass." He shoved the phone back into his pocket before dragging her down an alley a few blocks away from the bar. He pressed her against the wall, his body up against hers, giving her a moment to breathe.

  Her body shook against his and she struggled to catch her breath. After a few moments she pushed him away. "Who were those people?"

  "They were others who want that stone, things are getting a little crazier than I thought they would. You sure you don't want to hand it over?" He asked with a forced laugh, wishing she would just give in.

  She shook her head. "It's mine, it was sent to me for a reason."

  "Yeah, yeah, and it's shiny. Woman, you're worse than a Valkyrie." He shook his head and growled when the wind carried the scent of their assailants to him. "Come on, time to run again. We just have to make it to the club and then we'll be safe. I've got a car stashed there; we can drive back to my place." He grabbed her hand again, his heart melting a touch when she wrapped her hand around his, welcoming it this time. Leading the way he headed down the alley, hoping his instincts were right about being safe at the club.

  Voices and the pounding of footsteps followed him. They came to a fence and he growled. "Damn, when did they put this up?"

  "It's chain link, I can climb it easily." Renee moved in front of him. "I take a left to get to the club, correct?"

  Brave woman. "Yeah, the moment you get over the fence you run. I'll keep our three little shifters busy." The words flew out of his mouth before he could stop them.

  "Shifters?" She climbed up and flipped her leg over the top. She started her descent on the other side, jumping half way down.

  He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Run, your life depends on it." He slipped her his keys, phone and wallet through the links. "Use the side entrance and don't wander around the club. Stay in the office."

  She nodded and he squeezed her hand when she took the items, trying to reassure her before she took off running. He took a deep breath and turned around, grinning when the three shifters rounded the corner. "Well hello boys, glad to see that you are interested in a game of chase. How can I help you?"

  "I heard there was an immortal protecting the stone. I didn't believe it, thought all of you bastards stayed in Europe and didn't like the war going on over here." The tallest one stepped away from the other two. His spiky hair gave him a punk appearance, but his eyes gleamed the yellow of a cat.

  Coran laughed.
"Well, sometimes we get bored. I thought that most cat strains were almost extinct. I know you're not panther, the last clan here was killed. You don't have an accent of any sort, so you're not from across the sea. So you're what? Tiger? Leopard? Lion? House cat?"

  The male in front of him snarled. "None of your concern."

  "Well, it is if you're going to try to stop me." Coran grinned as he dropped back into a fighting stance. "It's been a long time since I've gotten to fight."

  Spiky Hair came forward and with a flick of his wrists both hands turned to claws as he rushed Coran. Coran flipped him over and into the chain link fence, his own hands turning into claws, slicing through soft flesh and gutting the cat in front of him. He dropped the body and turned to the other two. "You want the woman, you have to get past me."

  Both of them came at him, one shifting completely and the other only shifting his hands as Spiky Hair had. Coran took a moment and called on his beast, his eyes never straying from his attackers. A tingling spread over his body as the change started and his wolf instincts took over. His spine curved with the wet sound of snapping bones and muscles, turning into a creature that was half man, half wolf. His face lengthened into a snout and his eyes turned amber, refocusing on the shifted cat who pounced. Coran's first guess had been correct, the males shifted into tigers. The one fully shifted tiger caught Coran's thick wrists and Coran shook him off, throwing him into a brick wall just as the other one reached him.

  The claws scraped across his chest, leaving thin lines of blood in their wake. He glanced down at the wounds and then to the shifter. Catching the man's wrist in his clawed hand, he could feel the pads of what would be paws press against the skin of the shifter. Without a thought, Coran snapped the man's wrist and threw him into the other wall. Claws dug into Coran's shoulders when the tiger landed and slipped off his back to the ground, crouched for another attack.

  Coran growled at the thought, but let his wolf completely take over, in a flash and explosion of fur he shifted into full form. He matched the cat in size and snapped his jaw at the feline, flashing teeth. With a jump he pinned the tiger down with his jaw locked around its throat, tearing it out. The taste of blood brought his instincts closer to the surface. The other tiger snarled behind him; it must have taken advantage of Coran’s distraction and shifted. The moment silence came Coran turned and caught the tiger by the throat mid-jump, slamming him back to the concrete, motionless and dying in a pool of blood. With all three shifters dead, his human side was certain Renee would be safe; at least until the enemy had a chance to regroup. He bounded over the fence and headed toward the club still in full wolf form, hoping no one would shoot him on sight.

  Renee watched the minutes tick by on the plain clock hanging on the office wall. She turned Coran’s phone over in her hand, wondering if she should call Orion or Tegan. Her mind kept going back to the worst-case scenarios in her mind. Something made a sound from further into the club and Renee jumped. Looking around, she tried to figure out the best place to hide. The only thing that stood out to her in the office was the desk. Sighing, she tucked herself behind the thick wood and waited. The door to the office creaked as it opened. She took a deep breath and waited. Once the footfalls got close enough she stood, grabbed the stapler, and threw it at the person, only to realize too late that it was Coran.

  And he stood there in nothing but a pair of gray sweatpants. He caught the stapler with ease and raised a brow. "Really, that's all you could think to throw?"

  She gave him a tiny nod and her eyes froze on the tribal tattoo on his chest. The black lines and intricate curves matched the ones in her dreams. Her hand rose involuntary to trace the lines, but she stopped it at her side. "I'm sorry? Yes, closest thing for me to throw." She shook her head. "And why are you in sweatpants?" The wolf shadow behind him seemed clearer and coated in blood, and she worked to push the image away.

  "I had to fight off the attackers. They ripped my shirt and well...I split my pants hopping that damn fence." He glanced down and kicked at imaginary dirt.

  She wasn't buying it. "You called those guys shifters, why?" Anger started to bubble up in her; she was tired of people hiding stuff from her.

  "You misheard me, don't worry about it. I need to get you back to the house." He spun and she gasped at the sight of claw marks marring his back.

  She lifted her hand to his back and lightly traced the jagged edges. He froze and a shiver ran down his back. "What the hell happened to your back?" She studied the dry blood, trying to decide what kind of animal made those claw marks.

  He cursed and turned back to her. "Fight, I told you. Come on." He held out his hand to her.

  "You're hiding something, something big. I know you are." She rubbed her eyes. "But I'm tired and I want nothing more than to go back to the house and take a nap. Eventually I have to go back to the school and collect my stuff." She took his hand and her anger calmed.

  "I'll worry about that." He met her gaze and then pulled her to him and kissed her head. "Things are getting worse and now they know that you go to school there." He led her back out the side door, locking it with the keys she returned to him.

  She followed him a block south and into a parking garage. He pulled out the keys and led her to a tiny sports car. "I pegged you for a fancy car kind of guy."

  "This isn't mine, it's Orion's and he barely uses the thing. My cars are in the high security parking garage near the house." He flashed a wicked grin at her and opened the passenger door.

  "This woman has a lot more than just us interested in her." Cody's voice came from behind Danielle. "We should take her into custody now." He jumped over the couch and landed next to her.

  Danielle shook her head and turned to her partner. "We can't. Like you said, there is too much surrounding her. There's a wolf protecting her now and he knows what I am. Any move we make towards her would be seen as threatening."

  He put his feet up on the coffee table and laughed. "A wolf? He'd be easy enough to deal with. Just kill him."

  "I think he's working for someone, so before I just kill him, I need to make sure I know whose toes I'm going to be stepping on. Despite the fact that we're Hunters, we still have rules we have to follow. Killing someone who hasn't done harm is against our rules."

  Cody snorted. "You really think he hasn't harmed anyone? He's a wolf, he's probably the one who has been eating people."

  "No, that's a cat, remember? The Masters are handling that because it's already killed so many." Absentmindedly, she checked the firearm at her waist. "So you don't touch the wolf. Who else is interested in her?"

  Unlacing his boots, he sighed. "There are two other people in that townhome. One is a woman, human as far as I can tell. Not too tall, I'd say a few inches shorter than Renee. Pure white hair, has to be dyed. Rockin’ body."

  "Human you say?" Danielle raised a brow. She recalled seeing a woman like that inside a local vampire bar. "Was she wearing sunglasses?"

  "How did you know?"

  "She’s a bartender at The Disappearing Act. I've seen her there before, it's a big vampire hang out." She shook her head. "I don't like the idea of Renee being near her, she's probably a donor."

  Cody grinned. "Can I kill her?"

  "Blood thirsty tonight are you? No you cannot kill her. Who was the other person?"

  He kicked off his boots. "You're going to laugh. He's a stripper at a local club. Can't tell what he is."

  "Great, an unknown." She ran a hand through her blond hair and stood. "Why are you taking off your boots?"

  "Because I'm done for the night?"

  She laughed. "No you're not. I need you to go back out there and watch them. I need you to make sure that Renee doesn't leave that house without the wolf."

  "Seriously? I'm not a baby sitter. She should be in Hunter custody." He snatched his boots up from the floor and started to put them back on.

  Danielle tried not to lose it. She counted to ten in her head and wondered if all Skilled were this hot headed. "
Orders are orders Cody, you will not go against them." She repeated the silent mantra to not kill her partner.

  "Or what? The big bad boogieman of the Hunters will skin my mark? That hasn't happened in nearly twenty years. They wouldn't dare do it to someone they still consider a novice." His cockiness was really starting to irritate her.

  She swore her eye was twitching. "Bold words for someone who has never faced judgment. Come on Cody, just work with me here, okay? Don't go against orders." Yet as he tied up his boots, Danielle knew this wasn't going to end well. Why did she have to have the renegade partner? Only a couple years younger than her and almost ready to graduate to the Elite level, Cody had always been hot headed and Danielle would be lucky if she managed to survive the remaining year with him.

  He pulled at the laces on his combat boots. "I won't do anything stupid. I can handle myself on the field, and if I run into something I can't handle I'll come back or call you."

  "Thank you." She relaxed and went back to her computer on the coffee table.

  He glanced over her shoulder. "What are you working on?"

  "There's a rumor that there's an Original vampire in the area. I'm trying to see if I can locate him. If he's still sleeping we can take him out before he wakes. The Hunters cannot afford for them to wake."

  Cringing at the pictures of the old cemeteries he pulled back. "So they believe those old myths? The Council?"

  "Yes. Even though our records are lacking on them, every myth has a kernel of truth." She clicked through a couple more pictures. "One of the Masters sent me these. He was out in the field and wanted to see what I thought."

  He checked his weapon before holstering it. "There are many places for a corpse to hide here. If they believe the Originals are real, what do they think about the Father of all vampires?"

  "The mystical ancient thing that is supposed to tip the scale in the favor of the vampires?"