Hunted by Darkness

by Katie Reus

He lifted a shoulder in what he hoped looked casual. “I was just making a suggestion. You could just run headfirst into a bad situation without knowing anything about what’s waiting for you at this address.”

  She watched him for a long moment, an adorably annoyed frown wrinkling her forehead. “You’re obnoxious when you’re right.”

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  Her mouth quirked up a fraction and he resisted the urge to lean in and nibble on her bottom lip. Because friends did not do that.

  I don’t want to be her friend. I want to be her everything.

  “I can see it in your eyes,” she told him. “You so want to tell me what to do and dangit, you’re right. Okay, let’s go see Finn.”

  Relief coursed through him that she wasn’t fighting him on this, but he kept his expression neutral. Right now getting backup was the only thing that mattered.

  Chapter 2

  Nyx forced herself not to look over at Bo again as he drove. Everything about the male was sexy with a dark edge, but he was off limits.

  At least that was what she kept telling herself.

  A little over a week ago they’d both admitted their attraction to each other, but she’d made it clear that they could only be friends. Like a complete lunatic, she was now disappointed that he was actually okay with it. It was for the best though.

  She had to keep him safe from her family. Both deranged sides. That meant they had to remain just friends. If her family knew that he meant more to her, he could become a target. Now he was just a friend, her boss. Not her lover.

  Her mother was a force of nature who cared for no one but herself and would flay Bo alive just for sport if given the chance. And her father would come after Bo because the arrogant prince wanted to mate her off to some random fae male. She nearly snorted. That was never going to happen, but the fool hadn’t gotten it through his dense head yet.

  Gah, she hated her whole family. Hated, hated, hated.

  The only good thing to come from her family was the powers she’d been born with. As a demigod she could kick ass when she wanted to. Well, sort of. She was still trying to control her powers on a daily basis and it was a struggle.

  “What are you thinking?” Bo’s voice was a balm to her soul as he turned into the open gates to the Stavros compound.

  They were in an exclusive part of the coastal city and the shifter compound was a gated, huge mansion behind an iron fence, lots of acres and thick trees. Made it easy for the wolves to run around whenever they needed to. Which, she imagined, was often. She sighed as the Greek revival mansion came into view, the guilt piling on. “Just that I hate dragging anyone else into this mess.”

  “If it wasn’t for you, Keelin could be dead. You made that deal with that bi—woman to save someone else.”

  “It’s not like she’s part of their pack,” Nyx muttered, looking out the window of his truck.

  “Technically, no, but it won’t matter to them.”

  She knew it wouldn’t because the Stavros pack was incredibly generous. Keelin was a dragon shifter whose brother was mated to a member of the Stavros pack. So they would want to help simply because of that connection. Still, she didn’t like it. Whatever her mother wanted her to deliver, it couldn’t be good. Bringing more people into it could only end in disaster.

  At the end of the long driveway Bo stopped behind a cluster of cars, trucks and SUVs. They’d called ahead, the only reason the gate had opened for them when they arrived, so they were expected. That didn’t help the nerves dancing inside her.

  “The address is a cemetery though. I doubt there’s anything they can do or find out that we don’t already know.” She’d looked up the address online back in his office while he’d contacted Finn. They knew where her mother wanted her to go so she didn’t see the point in coming here anyway.

  Bo just snorted, apparently his only answer, as he got out of the truck. Before she’d opened her door, he was on the other side, holding out a hand to her.

  She blinked at his consideration. She’d spent almost all her twenty-three years sheltered in an alternate realm because of her crazy mother but she’d read a lot on human customs. Bo might not be fully human, but he knew more about this world than her. It touched her that he was being so sweet. Even if it killed her to touch him.

  Because even if she didn’t have her family to contend with, he was way out of her league. She knew the male was a player, had had so many lovers she simply couldn’t compare. Not when her experience was exactly zero.

  Swallowing hard, she took his hand and tried not to show how that little bit of contact affected her entire body. She swore she could feel his touch everywhere. Tingles of awareness skittered across her skin, making her nipples bead tight against her bra cups. At least he wouldn’t be able to see or detect her reaction. Unlike shifters, he couldn’t scent her hunger for him. Another plus in her favor. Or she assumed he couldn’t. Crap, she really needed to find out. Because if he could scent how much she wanted him…her cheeks heated up at the thought, horror swelling inside her.

  Bo gave her an odd look as he closed the door behind them and even more horror swept through her.

  “Can you smell me?” she blurted out, then wanted to bite the words back.

  He blinked once. “I…you smell good?” It came out like a question, making her feel more foolish, if that was even possible.

  “I just meant, you know, like how shifters can smell everything a billion fold. Can you do that?”

  He shook his head, his amber-gold eyes flashing with something she couldn’t quite define. “No.”

  She didn’t think he’d lie to her. “Oh, okay.” She gave him what she knew was a strained, nervous smile but didn’t care. The relief that punched through her was potent. She tightened her grip on his hand, feeling a thousand times lighter as they headed to the front door of the mansion. Even if they would never be more than friends, she was glad he was with her now.

  The door swung open before they’d reached it. Finn, the Alpha, casual in jeans and a T-shirt, nodded at both of them. His ice blue gaze was reserved as he nodded at Bo and slightly warmer when he looked at her. But not by much, probably because she was a virtual stranger to him. “It’s pretty quiet around here tonight. Got most of the pack out patrolling the city. You hungry? We can do this in the kitchen if you are. You’ll have privacy.”

  She shook her head, food the last thing on her mind. “I’m okay, unless…” She looked up at Bo and realized they were still holding hands. She didn’t want to pull away. Gah, what was she thinking? She shouldn’t let herself fall even harder for him.

  He shook his head once. “I’m good.”

  “My office it is.” Finn pulled the door shut behind them, motioned to a winding staircase.

  Nyx looked around curiously at the interior. To the right was what looked like a game room. A few male shifters were lounging and watching something on a huge television. She didn’t understand the human need for such large TVs, but males especially seemed to love them.

  The walk to his office was quick and when they reached it, she gently extracted her hand from Bo’s. He let out a soft, almost growling sound but when she looked at him, he was staring straight ahead. Maybe she’d misheard, but—

  “You’re here!” Victoria jumped up from a cushioned chaise where she’d been sitting next to her mate, Drake, as they all entered the room.

  “I thought you were in Montana,” Nyx said, stepping into the open arms of the tall wolf shifter, glad to see a friendly face.

  “We were, but you made that deal with your mom and…” She shrugged, stepping back.

  “Victoria has been worried,” Drake said, pulling her into a loose embrace as well. The dragon shifter was ridiculously huge and she knew he was really old. But there was an innocent quality to him, something that resonated with her demigod half.

  “Keelin and Bran wanted to come too, but my mother wouldn’t let Keelin leave.”

  “She barely let you leave,”
Victoria muttered, attempting to smother a laugh.

  Nyx knew it was because their mother loved them, wanted to keep them protected. A pang slid through her as she wondered what it would be like to have a parent care if she lived or died. To her own mother she was nothing more than a replacement for a daughter she’d had millennia ago, but who’d died. She was essentially nothing but a chess piece in her mother’s weird, self-involved world. Nyx kept telling herself to get over it, but…it hurt.

  “The address Nyx’s mother gave her is a graveyard,” Bo said, interrupting them. His words were stiff and while she wasn’t sure why he’d done it, she was glad for the interruption. She didn’t want to think about her childhood or family.

  “We looked it up as well,” Finn said, leaning against the front of his desk. He crossed his arms over his chest. “I haven’t found much on it other than the address and that it’s considered historical. They haven’t had a new burial there in close to fifty years.”

  “But I’m going to see what I can dig up.” Victoria sounded practically gleeful.

  Not that Nyx was surprised. The female loved history and research and was very good at finding obscure information. Victoria was the one who’d found ancient texts for Nyx on how to control her power. That had only been a week ago though and she was still sifting her way through everything.

  “There’s a name written on the package. A Charlotte Bessey. She didn’t say but I’m guessing it has to be a grave marker.” Which was just plain weird, but totally typical of her mother.

  “So, your mother wants you to leave a package on a grave marker? As a favor for the one she gave you? That’s it?” Finn sounded disbelieving and she didn’t blame him.

  Bo shifted restlessly next to her. “It must be a trap. She shouldn’t go.”

  She resisted the urge to sigh. It didn’t matter what she wanted, she’d given her word. “I have to.”

  “Well you’re not going alone,” he snapped out, fire lacing each word.

  Before she could respond, Drake cleared his throat. “I’ll do an aerial recon of the place tonight. It should be easy enough.”

  “I don’t know…” Nyx knew the male was powerful, could feel the force of his abilities flickering across her skin, but she didn’t like the idea of anyone else being involved. She was still trying to figure out how to make the delivery without Bo. Technically she could use her transportation powers but whenever she did she tended to have disastrous “landings”. She’d once set a gas station on fire, blowing the whole place up. Luckily no one had been hurt, but she could level a city block if she wasn’t careful.

  And now she realized everyone was staring at her since she’d just trailed off. She cleared her throat. “I can just get in and out and be done with it. I don’t think you need to do anything.” It was weird depending on anyone but herself anyway.

  “Drake can do aerial recon and I’ll do on the ground recon,” Bo said, as if she hadn’t spoken at all.

  Drake nodded, his gaze on her. “My clan owes you a debt and we will help you in this. My mother is actually looking into another way to repay you.”

  Nyx frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “She knows of your father’s wish to see you married to another fae.”

  “How…” She turned to look at Victoria, who she’d recently confessed her family issues to—and her friend didn’t look guilty at all.

  Instead she shrugged and smiled. “Your family sucks. I might have let it slip to Arya what they were trying to rope you into and she said she’d take care of it. It’s actually the real reason why she’s not here. She and Keelin are working on a way to repay your kindness.”

  Nyx blinked, digesting the new information. Too many emotions clogged her throat and she had the irrational urge to cry. She wasn’t used to people being so giving. “Okay, we’re going to go back to that later, but for now I guess I should tell you more about my mother. If you’re determined to do the recon?” she asked, looking between Drake and Bo.

  Drake nodded while Bo just gave her a ‘get real’ look.

  Ugh, she didn’t even know where to start.

  “Why don’t you sit?” Finn asked quietly, motioning to a cushy chair next to the chaise.

  “Thanks.” She gratefully took a seat, even as she dreaded the thought of talking about herself. The Stavros pack looked out for each other, loved each other. She didn’t want to see pity in anyone’s eyes.

  But especially not Bo’s.

  Unfortunately there was no way around it now.

  Bo gritted his teeth, hating the stressful vibes of energy rolling off Nyx as she sat. He just wanted to take her away from all this, hell, to deliver the damn package himself. But if he did, it might create some loophole for her mother. Then anything could happen. Her mother had said she would deliver Nyx to another realm, but she might do something worse. No, even though he hated it, Nyx had to do this. At least her mother hadn’t said anything about Nyx going by herself.

  “I don’t know how much you guys know about Greek mythology, but Chaos, my mother, was one of the original Greek goddesses.”

  Victoria nodded. “I did some research after what happened in Montana.”

  Bo hadn’t been there but he knew the goddess had shown Nyx a mental image of where Keelin had been taken by another demigod. Once Nyx had the location she’d been able to transport there with Bran and Bran had saved his female. He hated that Nyx had put herself at her mother’s mercy in doing so. But he wouldn’t expect any less from the female.

  “Okay, good. Gah, I don’t really know where to start but in a nutshell, she’s pretty much ageless. Not exactly immortal because she can be killed, but for the purpose of this conversation she’s immortal in the way we all are. Only more powerful.”

  Everything could be killed, Bo knew.

  “Tens of thousands of years ago she was…borne into existence. She mated with another god and they had, uh, children, but not in the way we would think of it. They created them into existence, just not… It doesn’t really matter. One of her daughters, Nyx, died. Was killed.” She swallowed hard, pain flickering in her blue eyes before her expression fell into complete neutrality.

  “After that the gods and goddesses stopped creating children—what humans would consider deities more or less—so very long ago. Even before they retreated from this realm. But some of them still sleep with non-gods whether it be humans or fae or whoever happens to please them at the moment.”

  “Not dragons and demons,” Bo murmured.

  She looked faintly surprised, but nodded. “That’s true. The gods and goddesses are afraid of dragons and they simply don’t like demons. Though I think they’re afraid of some of them. Anyway, my mother wanted a daughter to replace Nyx 1.0, as I like to think of her.” She let out a bitter laugh, the sound grating against every part of Bo. “So roughly twenty-four years ago she sought out a fae prince who she found suitably attractive and then nine months later she had me. Unfortunately for her I’m nothing like the original Nyx. I am one of her greatest disappointments.” Her voice cracked on the last word.

  “Then she’s a fucking moron,” Bo grated out. He didn’t like the pain rolling off Nyx. It offended every bit of his demon and human side.

  Nyx half-smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “My point is, she’s incredibly powerful and while I’m her blood, her daughter, she cares very little what happens to me. You are all strangers, less than nothing to her. I don’t think it’s wise for anyone else to be involved.”

  “Well too fucking bad. Let’s just get this argument out of the way now because we need to get a few things straight,” Bo snapped, unable to control his anger any longer. It was as if she didn’t think she was worthy of people helping her and it was starting to piss him off.

  “We’re helping you. And if they won’t,” he jerked a finger at Finn and the others, “I’m with you no matter what. So fucking deal with it,” he snarled, his demon scraping at him, telling him he needed to pull back on his ange
r, but he didn’t listen. She needed to know that she was important to him. That she mattered.

  Nyx popped up out of her seat, a mix of too many emotions on her face as she stalked toward him. In that moment he was barely aware of the others in the room. All he saw was Nyx in her fuck-me boots and body-hugging dress stalking toward him like a warrior. It was beyond hot. When she poked him in the chest with one finger, he got hard. Completely inappropriate timing, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He was aware of her saying something, but all he could see was her lips moving.

  Nothing else came into focus except her luscious, kissable mouth. He wanted to devour her. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her close, much to her surprise if the yelp she let out was any indication.

  “I’ll bind you to me so that you can’t transport without taking me with you, so don’t even think about it. And if you do anyway, I’ll hunt you down. Count on it. There’s nowhere you can go that I won’t find you.” His words were a soft promise.

  “You are a maddening, frustrating…” She trailed off, looking around when she realized all the objects on Finn’s bookshelves and desk were shaking. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry,” she muttered.

  He tightened his grip on her wrist, getting her attention. “You don’t apologize for who or what you are.” He didn’t bother looking at the others and wasn’t surprised when her gaze snapped back to his.

  The fire in her gaze was in full force now. She grabbed his shoulder and he saw her intent a second before he realized what she was doing. It was as if he’d been sucked into a vortex of rushing wind and a kaleidoscope of colors.

  A crash of glass and furniture rained down on them as they transported into the middle of his kitchen. Using his own powers, he paused everything midair before shoving everything back into place.

  Nyx was breathing hard, her blue eyes spitting fire. “We might be friends, but you don’t get to talk to me like that.”

  She was so insanely sexy. Seeing her stand up to him made the lust he felt for her burn even hotter.