Hunted by Darkness

by Katie Reus

  Wrong or right, the killing of these monsters let out his aggression in a much needed way.

  Up ahead he saw the shimmering flash of Nyx’s wings before they disappeared into the line of trees. His relief was short lived as he saw the yellow flash of a Koighan fleeing into the woods. Maybe the male wasn’t going after Nyx, but it didn’t matter.

  The male was dead.

  On a burst of speed, Bo gave into his savagery, gave into everything that made him a half-demon. He let the darkest part of himself take over until he was barely in control.

  It seemed as if only a second had passed from the time he exited the ruins to when he flew through the line of trees.

  The male was ahead, racing full speed. A blade was in his hand.

  Bo could see the shimmer of Nyx’s wings through the thick foliage. The other male had to see it too. She was like a beacon to anything and everything in this realm.

  And they were about out of time before darkness fell. The sun wouldn’t set like it did on earth. It would be an abrupt change from light to darkness.

  Closer, closer, the male was almost within reach. Bo reared back, threw the knife with all his force. It made a soft singing sound as it flew through the air.

  The male started to turn, but it was too late.

  Thud.

  It embedded in the back of the enemy’s neck, right where his head and spine joined. Bo slowed a few paces as he reached the fallen male, yanked out the blade and kept running.

  His feet barely touched the ground as he gained speed, jumping over roots and fallen trees. Only when he spotted Nyx standing on her own two feet next to Rory, and Ian and the other female at their rendezvous point, did he allow himself the smallest breath of relief.

  Nyx was safe. Alive.

  His.

  As he reached them he pulled her into his arms, holding her close. He was vaguely aware of the other female making a distressed sound and when he saw her face realized the female thought he was hurting Nyx.

  Not in this lifetime. Not in any lifetime. But he forced himself to loosen his grip and pull back. He was covered in the thick blood of some of his victims and other grime, but couldn’t find it in him to care. “You’re okay?”

  She nodded, looking him over as if making sure he was okay. He wasn’t used to a female other than family caring about him. It was jarring, but he liked it—craved it from her. Probably too much. “The leader’s dead. There weren’t any others?”

  His lips pulled into a thin line. He’d tell her later. Now he just shook his head.

  “We need to go. Now.” Rory scooped up the other female in an oddly possessive way, baring his teeth at his very surprised brother before racing off toward the stream they’d come from.

  “Come on.” Ian fell behind his brother, moving at a fast clip.

  “You want me to carry you?” Bo asked Nyx. “We’ll go faster.”

  Thankfully she nodded. Relief slid through him that she was letting him care for her. The need to hold her, protect her, was overwhelming. Instead of tossing her over his shoulder as he’d done before, this time he scooped her up and held her to his chest. She curled into him, laying her head against him in a way that said she trusted him completely.

  The action and feel of her so close to him soothed the primal need to destroy he’d felt when she’d headed into that camp without his protection. Now she was safe in his arms, he wasn’t letting her go. Soon he’d make her his completely.

  “I had no idea half-demons could move this fast,” she murmured against his chest.

  She sounded almost glad he was a half-demon. Yep, he was going to imprint himself on every inch of her body so that she never forgot the feel of him, the scent of him. He was going to bind her to him in the most primal way so that she’d never want to leave.

  * * *

  “I don’t mind going in first,” Nyx said, frowning at Bo as he tried to completely bar the entrance to the small opening of the cave.

  He just snorted and crouched down before managing to squeeze his big body through the opening.

  Their group was on the side of a small mountain and they had about ten minutes before it was dark. Since it would take about an hour to reach the realm exit—and according to Ian and Rory would be difficult to find at night—they’d decided to find shelter for the evening. She just hoped this cave worked because right now they all needed to recharge. Rory said he’d been in it before and it didn’t have another exit, but Bo wanted to check it out before they all entered. She knew Bo could take care of himself, but she still wanted him to get some rest. After the day they’d had, he needed it and she knew he’d never admit it. The male was too stubborn.

  Less than a minute later he called out. “It’s empty.”

  Rory nodded at Nyx and the other female who still hadn’t spoken. They’d given her a tunic, which swallowed her, but she didn’t seem to mind. Nyx didn’t want to think about what she’d been through.

  “You two go first. We’ve got your back,” Rory said.

  Nyx motioned to the female. “You can go first.” When she hesitated Nyx asked, “You want me to go instead?” The female nodded, relief in her dark eyes.

  She couldn’t exactly blame the female for not wanting to enter a cave with a male she didn’t know. Bo was big and scary and even though Ian and Rory were too, Rory seemed to have taken up the role of the female’s protector.

  The opening was small and close to the ground, but she slid through easy enough. The light from Bo’s eyes lit up the small enclosure. There wasn’t much to it. The cave was about two feet higher than Bo and wide enough that they could all rest for a few hours. Any longer though, and the place would get cramped.

  A chill raked over her skin, making her shiver. Bo was at her side and had his arm wrapped around her shoulders before she could blink. She leaned into him, not caring about anything that had happened between them over the last couple of days. At least not at the moment. She just wanted to get everyone in here and hope they were safe until morning. Survival trumped everything at the moment.

  And Bo made her feel safe. Curling up with him and crashing sounded like the best idea she’d ever had. She just hoped the male had finally pulled his head out of his ass.

  When everyone was inside, Ian and Bo simultaneously moved to a pile of rocks as if they’d choreographed the movement and shifted some to the opening, blocking it off.

  “I’ll stay up for first watch,” Ian said, turning to everyone.

  The only light in the cave was from the brothers’ eyes. The combined multicolored glow was dim, but enough that she could clearly see everyone.

  “I’ll take the second,” Bo said.

  Rory nodded at him. “I’ll take the last. We can break it up so that we each take only three and a half hour shifts.”

  Nyx thought that maybe she should be offended that they weren’t including her in the shifts but she really didn’t care because it meant she’d get more sleep. The thought made her feel bad though. “I can easily take a shift—”

  “No,” the three said, practically simultaneously.

  “Is this like a sexist thing?” She’d never really dealt with sexism until entering the human realm. In her mother’s realm and even with her father’s people, power was all that mattered. Gender didn’t come into the equation.

  Ian lifted a shoulder. “Maybe, I don’t know. Don’t care either. You’re not taking a shift.”

  She blinked at his authoritative tone and glanced at Bo who simply nodded in agreement. “He’s right. You need rest. So does she.” He tilted his chin at the female who’d basically collapsed against the hard ground in a sitting position. “And we all need to eat.”

  Since it wasn’t worth arguing over, Nyx nodded and moved to one of the backpacks as the males did the same with theirs. She snorted as she pulled out a plastic jar. The brothers had packed supplies for everyone, but she hadn’t seen what they’d included until now. “Peanut butter? And…beef jerky?”

  “I gave
you teriyaki flavor,” Rory said without looking at her as he moved quietly and quickly to sit directly next to the female.

  “Did you steal this from that chef guy too?” she asked.

  Ian’s wicked grin was answer enough.

  The food seemed a little weird but it would give them energy and calories. Nyx watched as Rory awkwardly held out his jar of peanut butter and a canteen of water to the female. Nyx wanted to ask her so many questions; like what her name was, who the other women had been, where she was from, how long she’d been stuck here. But none of that mattered and it was clear the female didn’t want to speak. Nyx certainly wasn’t going to push her. She was, however, going to make sure she got medical attention once they got back to the human realm. Ophelia, the Stavros pack healer, would see the female immediately, Nyx had no doubt. Or Victoria too, if she was still in Biloxi.

  “You want mine?” Bo handed her his bag of sweet ‘n spicy jerky.

  She grinned, took his bag. “Thanks. You want mine?”

  Nodding in relief, he took hers and sidled up next to her. She noticed Ian had moved and was eating by the rocked-off exit, quietly watching Rory with what looked like…concern. She wasn’t sure though. And she wasn’t going to worry about it.

  As she chewed the jerky, she laid her head against Bo’s shoulder. She liked touching him. It grounded her. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she murmured. Clearly the male could take care of himself, but that hadn’t stopped her from worrying about him. She didn’t think anything could do that.

  “Right back at you.” A shudder seemed to go through him. “It was difficult to let you go. And I’m not questioning your ability to protect yourself,” he tacked on quickly. “Especially not after what you did to the Koighan leader.”

  She looked up at him, half-grinned. That male had deserved the death he’d gotten, had probably deserved worse. “It was grosser than I’d imagined.” Seeing him pretty much explode had been, well, there were no words for it. It was like something out of a science fiction movie.

  “He’s dead?” the female asked, the first words she’d spoken.

  Nyx looked over at her, surprised by the soft southern accent. “The leader? Yes.”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks and she set down her jar of peanut butter. “Good.” She turned away from them then and simply laid down on the rocky ground.

  Rory whipped off his tunic and rolled it up into a makeshift pillow before sliding it under her head. He looked so confused, as if he didn’t know what to do. But there was a simmering anger under the surface she could see clearly in the way his eyes had brightened.

  Appetite gone, Nyx closed up her jerky bag. She wished she could leave the cave and finish off the rest of the monsters from that camp. None of them deserved to live. She glanced at Bo. “You want to get some sleep before your shift?”

  He simply nodded and stretched out, using the backpack as a pillow before pulling her own backpack close to his. He patted the ground next to him. As if she’d consider sleeping anywhere else. Not after everything they’d been through. For tonight, she would shelve everything and just sleep next to the sexy, sometimes frustrating male. She needed to feel his warmth against her, needed to know he was alive and safe.

  “I want you to sleep next to me,” he murmured, his voice almost unsure.

  Eyelids heavy, she turned around so that her back curved against his stomach and chest. She wasn’t surprised when his arm snagged around her and pulled her closer. “I wouldn’t sleep anywhere else.” A sense of peace rolled over her as his grip tightened. Being with him calmed her in the best way possible. Made her feel safe, wanted, protected.

  He’d managed to clean off most of the blood when they’d raced through the stream and change into a clean tunic, but they were all filthy. And she didn’t even care.

  With the exception of everyone’s breathing, the cave was mostly silent. Rory hadn’t laid down yet, but seemed to be humming with energy as he hovered near the female. He looked so damn lost. Ian was casually leaning against the wall next to the blocked-off entrance, quietly eating his jerky.

  Even though she and Bo didn’t have privacy, she didn’t care. There was something that had been on her mind and after today, she trusted Ian and Rory to overhear their conversation. “I’ve been thinking about something,” she murmured.

  “What?” Bo’s grip tightened just a fraction.

  “It can’t be a coincidence that we ended up in the same realm your half-brothers live in. Technically I guess it could, but…I don’t believe in coincidences that huge. What if the person the trap was set for wasn’t me?”

  Bo’s breathing was a steady rise and fall against her back. “I thought about that too.” His voice was just as quiet as hers had been. “But I can’t imagine why someone would want to send me here to meet my relatives. If anything, if we ended up becoming friends, it just strengthens us. Not sure how that benefits anyone looking to harm me.”

  “Not even your father?”

  He snorted and so did Ian, a reminder she didn’t need that the others could hear their conversation. “It’s probably a disadvantage to him for us to become friends.”

  “Hmm, yeah.” That made sense. Frowning, she closed her eyes, trying to figure out why whoever had sent them here—and she was leaning toward it being her mother because it was the only thing that made sense with that stupid package delivery—and why. She couldn’t imagine why her mother would have sent Nyx here though. Unless she’d just wanted Nyx to suffer or die? That thought…hurt. No matter how much she tried to tell herself she hated her family.

  “Does my demon form…disturb you?” Bo asked a few minutes later, his voice so quiet she almost didn’t hear him.

  The question surprised her, but she didn’t have to think about it. “You’re the most magnificent, beautiful being I’ve ever seen,” she murmured, her words drowsy. Even the creepy animal cries from outside the cave barely phased her. She was too exhausted to be worried.

  “I don’t think males are supposed to be beautiful.” She could hear the smile in his voice now.

  “You are, something I think you already know.” She reached back and patted his hip once, ignoring the feel of his erection against her back. Even if it pleased her that he was affected by her.

  He covered her hand with his bigger one, slid his fingers through hers and tucked their hands in front of her stomach, keeping her close to him.

  Sighing, she closed her eyes and forgot about everything else except for the way Bo was holding her. Whatever had happened between them before, whatever had scared him away from her, they would work out. She had to believe that.

  * * *

  Rory couldn’t stop the energy humming through him as he stared up at the ceiling of the cave. He’d tried sleeping, but he couldn’t do it. Not when he scented the pain rolling off the quiet, nameless female curled up into a ball on the ground a foot away from him. He’d put another tunic over her as a makeshift blanket when she’d finally dozed and hated that he couldn’t do more for her.

  The scent of her emotions and her unique scent, it was doing something strange to him. As a half-demon, half-shifter, he had naturally heightened senses, but this was different than anything he’d ever experienced.

  His wolf was clawing at him, demanding he do something for the female. Something more than a pathetic covering. In this realm he was more in control than the human realm, but even so, his wolf wanted out.

  Now.

  He wanted to hunt and destroy.

  They’d be leaving in the morning and it would be too late then. Now, when the Koighans were weak and without a leader he could destroy them all. Eradicate them completely from this realm. They wouldn’t have gone far from their encampment considering the time of day they’d been attacked. Some might still even be there.

  Didn’t matter. He’d be able to scent them.

  Quietly he pushed up and looked around the cave. Bo was keeping watch by the entry and the others were all sleeping.

&nbs
p; Moving on silent feet he hurried to his half-brother, crouched down. “I need out.”

  Bo’s eyes flashed brighter, his expression of annoyance so similar to Ian’s it took Rory off guard for a moment. “Out of the cave?” The underlying question was “are you crazy?” Maybe he was.

  “I need to hunt down the rest of the Koighans. I need to do it for her.” He wished he knew what her name was. “She won’t be able to move on if…” He couldn’t finish the words, could barely talk. It didn’t matter that the leader was dead, they all needed to die. His brother had told him what condition those two other females had been in; one even taking her own life instead of being rescued.

  Bo was silent as he watched him. Then to Rory’s surprise, his half-brother simply nodded and hefted up one of the stones. As soon as he did a rush of fresh air filled the cavern. “We leave at daybreak.”

  He nodded and stripped, leaving his clothes in a pile inside the cave. For this hunt, he was shifting to his wolf.

  As his natural instincts to hunt kicked in, his wolf completely taking over, the only thought he was aware of was that he would avenge his female. Those males would all die for what they’d done.

  Chapter 12

  Even though she wasn’t particularly hungry, Nyx scooped out some peanut butter from her jar with a plastic spoon. They’d be leaving soon and she’d need all the energy she could get for the exit. She’d already put her tunic back on, covering her wings. As soon as Rory returned—from wherever he’d disappeared to—they’d be heading out.

  “Are you from the human realm, uh, Earth?” Nyx asked the female who was quietly eating beef jerky.

  She nodded. Her blonde hair had come slightly loose from the braid during the night and she had dark circles under her eyes.

  “That’s where we’re going soon.”

  The female’s dark eyes lit up with something that looked a lot like hope before she quickly masked it. She just tore into the dried meat and kept chewing.

  Nyx wished there was something she could do to alleviate the woman’s suffering. She was a demigod but absolutely useless. “I’m Nyx, by the way. I know we weren’t technically introduced.”