Hunted by Darkness

by Katie Reus

  “We’ll see if they’re trustworthy.”

  She sat on the countertop and leaned back against the mirror. The adrenaline she’d gotten earlier was gone and she was feeling jittery. “Is your father…does he…is he…” Okay, why had she started this conversation? She wasn’t even sure what she wanted to ask anyway.

  He turned away, letting the jets spray his face. Then he turned away from her completely, giving her a full shot of his backside. “My father is a monster. He raped my mother and Cynara’s. No doubt he did the same to the mothers of the two males downstairs. I can’t tell what their other halves are, but they’re not full demons. They couldn’t be in one of these realms if they were anyway. I won’t judge them based on their lineage but I won’t trust them either. I told them you’re mine because it’s something they’ll understand. They’ll think twice before attempting to touch you. Not that I plan to stay here long, but for the time being, you will act as if you’re mine.”

  His words were like a slap to all her senses. Hurt filtered through her. He’d said she was his to protect, which she appreciated it. She just wished it wasn’t an act. “I didn’t hear a question in there,” she murmured.

  He turned back to look at her, fire blazing in his gaze. “I’m not asking. I will keep you safe, Nyx. No matter what. I need you to be—to act as if you’re mine.”

  Annoyance flickered through her. He didn’t need to tell her twice, jeez. She got it. This was all part of his act. “I will,” she snapped more harshly than she’d intended before she changed the subject. “Do you think we’ll be able to get out of here?” She’d grown up in another realm but had been able to leave when she’d wanted. Which hadn’t been often until she’d turned twenty-three. Since she couldn’t use her powers here she wasn’t sure how that worked. She was pissed that they were here at all, knew it had to be her mother’s doing. But she wasn’t going to worry so much about the why of it, as simply getting out of here. Nyx had completed her part of the bargain. Now she just had to get out of here alive and the score with her mother was even.

  “Yes, we just have to find a door.”

  “Maybe your—Ian and Rory will be able to show us to one.”

  The growl Bo gave her was low and deadly. She wasn’t afraid that he’d hurt her, but the sound sent shivers down her spine. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t like you saying their names.” There was no denying the possessive quality to his words.

  She blinked. She knew he’d wanted her to act as if she was his, but they were alone and he wasn’t acting at the moment. Of that she was certain. She didn’t know how to respond to that, but she knew that she liked it. Even if it did only serve to confuse her. The mixed signals he was throwing her way were out of control. Before she could think of a suitable response, if there even was one, a low hum filled the air.

  Tensing, she slid off the counter as he jumped from the shower, barely taking the time to turn the water off.

  “Stay here,” he ordered, yanking the bathroom door open.

  That wasn’t happening.

  Ignoring him, she trailed after him into the bedroom then hallway. She might not be a warrior but she still had power. If anything, she could just bring this house down on any intruders’ heads. Besides, it was better if they stuck together.

  “Nyx,” he snarled as they reached the stairs.

  “Save it! We’re a team so freaking deal with it.” For all she knew his half-brothers were planning to attack them. They needed to stick together.

  “Stay behind me then.” Frustration rolled off him but at least he wasn’t fighting her.

  “I don’t like this new caveman attitude.” Well, she liked it when he was being sexy about it, but this was different and it annoyed her. She still fell behind him as they hurried down the stairs. The humming, almost whining sound abruptly stopped as they reached the empty entryway.

  “The attitude isn’t new. You’re just seeing it for the first time.” He reached behind him, his big hand landing on her hip as they slowly entered the hallway.

  She liked the feel of his fingers flexing against her, loved the possessive way he held her. She wasn’t sure what to make of his statement though.

  Ian and Rory were talking nearby, the tone of their conversation casual. As they reached the entryway for a kitchen, all conversation stopped.

  She peered around Bo to see the brothers sitting at a table eating some sort of raw-looking meat. Yuck.

  Rory eyed Bo warily, shoved a pile of folded clothing across the table. “Look, I’m okay with occasional naked days but I don’t know you so put on some fucking clothes.”

  Nyx tried to hold back a laugh, but couldn’t. She pressed her face against Bo’s back to partially smother it. Awareness flared inside her at the skin to skin contact, the reaction so sudden it took her breath away. It certainly didn’t help that she was pressed up against his very naked, very muscular body.

  “We heard something when we were upstairs. I thought the house might be breached,” Bo said, taking the clothes.

  “Oh, we have shutters on the windows. They automatically close when darkness falls.” Given the raspy voice, Ian had answered.

  Well that was certainly something Nyx was grateful for.

  “We have some food for both of you but we weren’t sure what fae ate,” Ian said as Bo started to put on the same harem-style pants the other two were wearing. Next he pulled on a black tunic with intricate gold stitching at the end of the three-quarter sleeves. As the daughter of a goddess she knew quality when she saw it and it was luxurious material.

  “Thank you for the clothing and the hospitality,” Nyx said when it was clear Bo wasn’t going to say anything. “And I eat regular food just like humans and shifters and…whoever. As long as it’s cooked,” she tacked on.

  Ian grinned and stood. “I’ll fix you something. Why don’t you two sit? I think we can put the twenty foot rule on hold for a meal. Right?”

  “Yes,” Nyx said before Bo could respond. She could feel the tension in his body, knew he wanted to say no, but these two were related to him and she was pretty good at detecting monsters.

  “You’re very amiable.” Bo’s voice was tight as he led her across the kitchen. He placed himself in between her and Rory as they sat at the high-top four-seat table. The table set was quality too, real teak wood. She’d lived in another realm long enough to know that they could get any sort of luxuries just like in the human world, especially gods and goddesses. They just willed stuff into existence and it was usually better quality than that of the human world. She just hadn’t expected the same thing in a Hell realm and it made her even more curious about these two.

  Ian shrugged as he opened a vintage-looking refrigerator. Retro she thought the word was. “We’re curious about you. And you seem to hate our father as much as we do so you get points for that. So how’d you guys end up here anyway?”

  “It wasn’t on purpose,” Bo said, his posture stiff.

  When it was clear he wasn’t going to expand, Nyx decided to. Maybe they’d know something. “We were in a cemetery and when we were standing at a gravestone, we were transported here. Like…” She started to say that it was like when she transported herself but thought better of it. “It was like being in a whirlwind. Then we landed in those ruins.”

  “Ruins which are complete rubble now, I hear,” Rory said. “How’d that happen?”

  “None of your fucking business.”

  Nyx winced at Bo’s rudeness. She cleared her throat. “So, do you know what could have made us end up here?”

  “A trap,” Rory and Ian answered at the same time.

  Okay, so there was no doubt about it. Either her mother or the person she’d been dispatched to deliver that package to had been the culprit. Deep down, Nyx figured it was her mother and the knowledge pierced her deep.

  “She will pay for this,” Bo said, his gaze snapping to Nyx’s. It was full of fire and anger.

  Nyx just shook her head once, no
t wanting to talk about her family. Not ever, but definitely not in front of strangers.

  “So…where are you guys from?” Ian asked, returning to the table with two plates. He gave Bo one with raw-looking meat that didn’t seem to disgust him. She realized she’d never seen him eat before, not really. Maybe this is what half-demons ate.

  Ian placed a plate in front of her that looked like a gourmet meal of grilled lamb, sautéed vegetables and a small side salad. No way could he have whipped this up in the last couple minutes. Feeling uneasy, she eyed it, then him. “You just had this ready?”

  He snorted and sat in front of his own meal. “Hell, no. I can transport stuff from the human realm. There’s this jackass chef I take food from all the time.”

  Bo’s lips twitched at his half-brother’s admission.

  “So stuff just disappears from his kitchen randomly?”

  “Yep. He deserves it, trust me.”

  It sounded a bit mean, but she was starving. Even though she’d only had breakfast a couple hours ago, the transportation to this realm, then the running, fighting and use of her chaos powers had drained her. Before she could take a bite, Bo slid her plate over and inhaled deeply. When he was satisfied that it wasn’t poisoned, or she guessed that was what he was doing, he moved it back to her.

  “We live on the Gulf Coast of the United States,” Bo said, answering Ian’s earlier question.

  Bo picked up the half-full carafe of water in the middle of the table, smelled it, then poured them both a glass.

  “I’m from Ireland originally,” Ian said, confirming her earlier thoughts.

  “Are you full brothers then?” She’d assumed they were half-brothers.

  He shook his head. “We’re half-brothers. Rory is from Scotland. We have different mothers and we only met about fifty years ago.”

  Only? She flicked a glance at Bo, who hadn’t touched his food. She’d heard talk at the club and knew he was about eighty, though he didn’t look to be over thirty years old.

  “How old are you?” Bo asked.

  “I’m a hundred and one and Rory is ten years older.”

  “I’m eighty,” Bo said after a moment.

  Everyone was silent as they ate, eerie howling sounds from somewhere outside the fortress made Nyx a little nervous. She might be able to create the ultimate chaos but this was a strange, dangerous place and they had no idea where the door was to get out of this realm. She wasn’t even sure how big the realm was. If it was as expansive as earth, who knew how long it could take them to escape.

  “If you can transport stuff from the human realm, can you transport us out?” Nyx asked Ian, thinking of the male’s powers.

  He shook his head and from Bo’s expression he’d already known the answer. “No, it doesn’t work like that. But I know where a few doors are. It’ll take you maybe a day to get to the nearest one.”

  At least that was something. When another howl sounded way too close for her comfort, she asked, “Why do you live here?”

  Ian lifted a shoulder. “We have properties in the human realm but…life is simpler here for us. We spend the majority of our time here.”

  Rory just grunted in agreement with his half-brother.

  A chorus of howls filled the air and she shivered.

  “They smell you.” Rory’s voice broke through the silence.

  She looked up to find him and Ian looking at her—and Bo glaring at Rory.

  “Me?”

  The male nodded once. “They won’t be able to track you here, but your scent is affecting some of the night creatures.”

  “I smell?”

  “You smell…” He flicked a glance at Bo, who was growling. “You tell her then.”

  Bo’s jaw tightened, but he looked at her with a rawness on his face that completely undid her. “Like roses and sunshine. It makes them want to kill you or eat you or…” He cleared his throat, not needing to finish because she knew what he meant. “It’s very enticing.”

  Appetite lost, she set her fork down. Great, monsters in this realm thought she smelled like a snack. That should make it easier for us to escape, she thought sourly. Almost instantly the carafe and glasses broke, water slushing everywhere until Bo or Ian, she wasn’t sure who, fixed them, but not before some of the water spilled onto her jeans and the floor.

  “Sorry,” she muttered, moving to clean it up, but Bo stopped her and quickly wiped it up.

  She ignored the look that passed between the other two males as Bo moved back to his seat. He squeezed her knee reassuringly, easing some of her tension. Even though she was terrified she’d somehow get Bo killed because he’d gotten trapped here with her, she was still glad to have him here. In that moment she realized there was no one else she’d rather have by her side.

  That scared her more than anything because Bo was the one male she shouldn’t want.

  Chapter 7

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me Cynara is Bo’s half-sister.” Finn frowned at Victoria as he parked in the gravel lot outside Bo’s club.

  “Apparently we’re all keeping things to ourselves,” she murmured, shooting Drake a glare before yanking her door open.

  She heard her mate sigh as he slid out after her. “I just wanted to keep you safe. We didn’t know what might be at that cemetery.”

  Now two of her friends had been sucked into…somewhere. Another realm, Finn and Drake seemed to think. Drake was pretty certain it wasn’t Hell because it would have created a different kind of opening. And things would have escaped. Or tried to anyway since Drake would have incinerated them—or Finn would have beheaded them. Probably a bit of both.

  After all the research she’d done on Hell in the months after Drake’s escape, Victoria agreed with his hypothesis.

  “I’m mad at you but we’re going to shelve the argument until later.”

  “It’s my fault,” Finn said as they strode up to the door of what looked like a warehouse on the outside.

  “Uh uh. None of this ‘I have a penis so we must stick together talk’.”

  “Please don’t say penis around me,” Finn muttered, yanking open the door.

  “Penis, penis, penis,” Victoria chanted as they came face to face with one of the male bouncers. A ghoul named Malloy who Victoria had seen more than once manning the door or running security.

  The male’s lips quirked up before he nodded to the interior of the club with his chin. “Pretty quiet this early. Bo’s not here though if you’re looking for him.”

  “We know. We’re here to see Cynara. Is she working?”

  The male nodded, his previous amusement fading as he fell in step with them. “She hasn’t done anything wrong.”

  “Didn’t say she had,” Victoria spoke again. “This is about Bo. He’s in trouble and we just need to talk to her.”

  He jerked to a halt, the concern that rippled off him real. “Bo’s in trouble?”

  “Maybe.”

  “What about Nyx? Does she know? Is she okay?”

  “She’s with him.” Now Finn took over the conversation. “You’re coming with us too. Where’s Cynara?”

  “Back room grabbing stock. Hold on.” He spoke quickly into an earpiece as he guided them to the nearest bar. There were only three vamps sitting there, but when they saw Finn they slid off their seats, gave a respectful nod and hightailed it across the dance floor to one of the roped-off booths.

  Yeah, vamps tended to be afraid of Finn. Ironic considering his mate was one.

  “She’ll be here in a sec. Should I close the bar? What do you guys need from us?”

  Finn glanced around taking in the flashing lights, music, scent of sweat and sex—and the close to fifty people, all who had supernatural hearing. “We need privacy.”

  Translation: no one needed to overhear their conversation.

  “Let’s take this to Bo’s office then,” Cynara said as she stepped out from a swinging door behind the bar, a tray of bagged blood in her hands. She set it on the bar top an
d motioned to a server to take over.

  Once they were all in Bo’s small office, Cynara shut the door behind them. The beautiful purple-haired, purple-eyed half-vamp, half-demon jerked her chin at the door once. “This place is insulated. What’s going on?”

  Considering Victoria couldn’t hear anything from the club, she believed it.

  Finn flicked a glance at the security guy that basically promised death if any of this conversation left the room, before looking at Cynara. “About an hour ago Bo and Nyx were in a local cemetery when they were sucked into a portal of sorts. Drake and I saw it happen. We’re pretty sure they’re in another realm but we’re not sure where. I know it’s a long shot, but we wanted to talk to you since you guys are close. Do you have any knowledge of realms or anything that might help us find them?”

  Cynara’s fangs extended, her already bright eyes flaring star-bright for a moment before she got herself under control. “Bo’s been to different realms before, but he prefers this one. Regardless, he would never take Nyx to another realm. Never. He cares for the female.”

  Drake, Finn and even the ghoul snorted. The male didn’t just care for her, he was obsessed.

  “Do you know anything about traveling to and from realms? Maybe have an idea where they were sent?” Victoria gave her the name of the cemetery in case she knew where that portal led to.

  But Cynara’s frown deepened. “I didn’t know there was a portal in the city so I have no idea where it might lead to.” She glanced at Malloy. “We’ll ask around though. We’ve made a lot of contacts over the years. Maybe someone will know something. I’m surprised you don’t though,” she said, looking back at Finn.

  As Alpha of the territory, if there’d been a well-known portal he should have known about it. Which made Victoria think it might be a temporary opening. If there was such a thing. Her research was a little fuzzy so far. “Could it be a temporary opening? Triggered by something?”

  Cynara blinked suddenly. “Yes. It definitely could be. I didn’t even think of that but…crap, yes. And if it was a temporary portal, I can’t even follow them.” She let out a short, colorful curse.