Edge of Darkness: A Hunter Legacy Novel (Midnight Breed Hunter Legacy Book 3)

by Lara Adrian

  “Why did you leave?”

  A curse gusted between his lips. “Long story. And an old one, besides. Doesn’t matter.”

  “Now, who’s trying to run away?”

  He felt heat flare in his irises at her challenge. He wasn’t accustomed to anyone standing up to him, not even with words. Yet Leni was willing to clash horns with him, especially when he was attempting to flex his authority or impose his will on a situation like the battle-hardened soldier he’d been brought up to be.

  “We aren’t talking about me, Leni. This conversation was about you, about your unwillingness to accept the facts.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Yes. Like the fact that you are not equipped to take on men like the Parrishes on your own. Or the fact that no matter how long you plan to keep your stake planted in the ground here in this godforsaken corner of the North Maine Woods, it’s not going to bring Shannon back.”

  “Maybe it won’t.” She narrowed a hard stare on him. If she’d been Breed like him, he had no doubt her eyes would be filled with amber fire. He knew she wanted to scream at him, but she kept her voice low and quiet, well out of earshot of Riley upstairs. “So, you think I should pack up and scramble away like a coward? How’s that working out for you, Knox?”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Abbie.”

  The name cleaved into him as sharp as a blade. He couldn’t mask his confusion. His mouth went dry at the sound of Abbie’s name on Leni’s lips. It was disorienting, a feeling he didn’t like one damn bit. “What do you know about her?”

  “Only that you called her name when you came to help me in the ravine.” Leni’s brows knit. “You didn’t know?”

  Fuck. No, he didn’t know that. He’d been jolted by the sight of Leni’s disabled vehicle. He’d dreaded he might find her injured at the bottom of the steep incline—or worse.

  But to call out Abbie’s name?

  Christ, he wanted the floor to open up and take him down. Anything but to see the soft understanding in Leni’s eyes now.

  “What happened to her, Knox?”

  “She died.” He said the words without emotion. Told himself he didn’t feel the anguish gnawing inside his chest. Nor the guilt of how he’d failed Abbie. “There was a bad storm in the Everglades. She was driving in it. Her car broke down on the side of the road. A tractor-trailer collided with her. She was gone before I was able to reach her.”

  Bare facts, delivered in a staccato monotone. There was more he wasn’t saying. Layers he wasn’t willing to peel away from his heart just so Leni could prove her point.

  Had he run away from the pain of losing Abbie? Hell, yes.

  Did that make him a coward? Probably. In Leni’s courageous, too-knowing eyes, certainly.

  Knox started to turn away from her but she stopped him, reaching out to press her warm palm against his cheek.

  “I’m sorry for your loss, Knox.”

  He allowed himself to feel her tenderness only for a moment before he drew away from her gentle touch. “I don’t need pity.”

  “Do you think that’s what I’m feeling for you?”

  God, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know that answer. If it was anything close to pity, he wouldn’t be able to look her in the eyes ever again. If it was something else, something like the unflinching affection he saw gleaming in those melting hazel depths, it would be the flame that would ignite the tinderbox of desire he’d been refusing to let detonate from the moment he first laid eyes on her.

  She gave him a soft, uncertain smile. “Hasn’t anyone ever shown you kindness before?”

  “Yes.” He forced the word off his tongue, biting the syllable hard. “And she’s dead now.”

  Leni let her hand drift slowly down to her side. “I’m not Abbie. I’m not going to break. I don’t need your protection, Knox. And I don’t want to be the recipient of your stoic sense of honor, no matter what you think my Breedmate mark obligates you to do.”

  A low growl built deep in his chest. “Maybe that small scrap of honor is all I’ve got left.”

  She scoffed quietly. “Maybe we’re both trying to hold on to something so desperately because we know if we let go, we’ll see how alone we truly are.”

  She walked past him as formidable as any warrior, leaving him standing mute and vanquished in the middle of her kitchen while her footsteps carried her up to the little boy waiting for his promised bath and a bedtime story.

  CHAPTER 11

  A rapid banging thundered through the house.

  Leni jolted upright in the thin light of morning, yanked out of a deep sleep she didn’t even realize she’d been in until every cell in her body was suddenly wide awake. She must have nodded off reading to Riley last night. The well-worn book about a mischievous boy in a wolf suit and an imaginary forest full of wild things slid off her chest onto the twin bed next to her sleeping nephew as she sat up, trying to get her bearings.

  The urgent knocking came again, echoing up from the front door like machine-gun fire.

  Her heart seized in her breast. Oh, shit. What day was it?

  It couldn’t be Travis home already, could it? He wasn’t due for release until tomorrow.

  She scrambled out of Riley’s bed, still wearing her long-sleeved henley, faded jeans, and cushy socks from the night before. Not the way she wanted to go into battle, if that’s what this early morning house call was about, but it didn’t seem she’d have much choice.

  Extricating herself from Riley’s unconscious sprawl, she hurried down the stairs to see who was on her stoop.

  Knox was already in the foyer, about two seconds from yanking open the door as Leni bounded down the steps.

  God, he looked like malice personified. Huge and muscular, yet fluid as a cat in motion. He met her uncertain gaze, dark brows clashed together over grim eyes and a deadly expression. His dark, lethal presence ate up all the oxygen in the room.

  It didn’t help her breathe any easier that he also looked hot as hell, barefoot and dressed only in his jeans. He must have been fresh out of the shower. His dark hair was damp and glossy, his smooth, glyph-covered skin bared from the waist up and glistening with droplets of water.

  Leni tried not to stare, but damn, it wasn’t easy. She had guessed at the size of him when he’d been fully dressed, but her imagination had been no match for reality. Thick muscle bulked at his broad shoulders. Corded sinew wrapped his large biceps and strong forearms. His chest and torso looked as if they’d been sculpted from warm, lightly bronzed marble.

  Although she didn’t want to let her gaze travel any lower, it was impossible to keep from appreciating the hard ridges that defined his abdomen. That eight-pack and the tapered cut of his hips above the waistband of his jeans made her tongue tingle with the urge to lick every honed contour and beautiful glyph.

  Another hard rap sounded on the front door. Then a woman’s muffled voice. “Leni, are you in there?”

  She mentally shook herself back to attention. Thankfully, it wasn’t Travis Parrish waiting outside.

  “My friend, Carla,” she whispered to Knox, exhaling a relieved sigh. “It’s okay.”

  His scowl eased only slightly. That air of danger vibrating around him took a bit longer to fade. He stayed where he was, as if he needed to see for himself that the person on the other side of the door posed no threat.

  Part of her warmed to his protectiveness, however unnecessary it was at the moment.

  Another part of her was annoyed to realize he had no intention of fading into the woodwork to let her speak to her friend in private, at least not until he was good and ready to.

  Leni stepped in front of him and carefully opened a small wedge of space between her and the door.

  “Finally, there you are,” Carla said, exasperation written all over her face as she peered through the narrow crack. She made a quick visual assessment of Leni’s appearance before she shook her head, her shoulder-length brown curls swinging. “I’ve been b
lowing up your phone since around eight o’clock this morning. Why didn’t you answer?”

  Leni leaned her elbow against the doorjamb and feigned a yawn. “I, um . . . I fell asleep reading a bedtime story to Riley. I just woke up. I didn’t hear my phone. I must’ve left it in my purse or something. Is everything okay?”

  Carla tried to look past her, into the house. “Do you know you’ve got a huge dent the front end of the Bronco? And there are pine branches sticking out of the grille. What the heck happened?”

  “Ah . . . it was just a fender-bender in the storm the other night. It looks worse than it is.”

  “That’s good, because it looks like you’ve been off-roading in a Christmas tree farm.” She stomped her boots, rubbing her mitten-covered hands together in front of her face. “Jeez, it’s cold. Aren’t you going to let me in, Rip Van Winkle? I come bearing gossip.”

  Leni swallowed, feeling a tense shift in the air behind her where Knox yet loomed. “What kind of gossip?”

  Carla rolled her eyes. “Fine, I guess I’ll tell you before you let me turn into a popsicle out here. I ran into old Willa Barnes and a couple of the other local fat-chewers at the post office this morning. They were talking about Dwight Parrish and how his brand-new pickup ended up in the river a couple of nights ago.”

  Leni nearly choked. “In the river?”

  “Yep. With him inside it. He managed to get out, more’s the pity, but apparently the truck is a goner. It sat half-submerged at the bottom of the ravine down by the falls until Sheriff Barstow got some of the county boys to make a special trip out there yesterday to tow it up.”

  Leni didn’t think for a minute that Dwight’s misfortune was any more accidental than her own plunge into the ravine. And while she couldn’t see Knox, she could feel his cold satisfaction emanating from a few feet behind her. “Did you hear how it happened?”

  “Apparently, Dwight’s telling everyone who’ll listen that he was attacked on his way home from plowing. By a vampire, Leni. Can you imagine? One of the Breed way up here in Parrish Falls? According to Dwight, the only way he escaped getting his jugular torn open was by ditching his truck in the river.”

  Knox’s derisive scoff was quiet, but Carla didn’t miss it. “Is someone in there with you?”

  Shit. Leni wasn’t ready to explain her unusual houseguest—or the circumstances that had brought him into her home. Carla knew about her Breedmate mark, but what would her friend think if she learned Leni had agreed to allow a Breed male she’d only just met into her home? Even worse, one who’d been born and raised a killer.

  She tried to appear calm and casual. “I should go wake up Riley and get some breakfast into him. Call you later?”

  “You’re acting really weird right now, Len.” So much for trying to dodge her best friend’s scrutiny. Carla studied her, her expression moving from curious to concerned. “What’s going on with you? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Sure. Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Well, for one thing, I know how upset you are about Travis Parrish coming home tomorrow. But for another, I just told you there’s a blood-crazed Breed male on the loose somewhere in town and you’ve barely blinked.”

  Dammit. She had never lied to Carla and she hated to start now. Leni shook her head, letting go of a resigned sigh. “He’s not blood-crazed.”

  “What?”

  “Come in here, quick.” She pulled her friend inside and closed the door behind them. “Carla Hansen, meet Knox. Knox, this is my best friend, Carla.”

  His stony expression hardly looked welcoming. He dipped his chin in vague acknowledgment. “The one who watches Riley for you.”

  “You know who I am?” Carla gaped at the huge, half-dressed vampire standing in the foyer. Then she swung a confused look at Leni. “You two know each other?”

  “Knox and I met a couple of nights ago. At the diner.”

  Her brows arched high. “A couple of nights ago. You mean, the night of the blizzard. The night you came to my house to pick up Riley and didn’t mention one single word about meeting a” —her gaze flicked back to Knox for a second— “a new . . . um, friend?”

  Were they friends? Leni hadn’t really considered what to call her relationship with him. After all, it had only been about thirty-six hours since he’d wandered into her diner and turned her life upside down.

  So, why didn’t it feel strange to see him in front of her now, looking for all the world as if he belonged in her house? Why did he seem like the one person who understood her better than anyone else, with the exception of Carla, whom she’d known literally all her life?

  It wasn’t friendship that made Leni’s face heat under the intensity of Knox’s gaze. For all the moments they’d clashed in the past couple of nights since they met, there was no denying the attraction that simmered between them. It crackled beneath the surface of every glance, every word they exchanged, even the angry ones. She could feel that electric awareness now as Knox’s gaze lingered on her. Heat licked through her veins, coiling somewhere deep inside her.

  Based on the astonished expression on her friend’s face right now, Carla seemed to be picking up on the charge in the air too.

  Knox cleared his throat. “You have things to talk about with your friend. I’ll be upstairs.”

  She nodded, but he was already in motion. Silent in spite of his size, he vanished into the kitchen to the back stairwell leading up to the attic apartment.

  The instant he was gone, Carla’s brows shot high on her forehead, her eyes wide as saucers. “Oh. My. God.” She kept her voice barely above a whisper as she hooked her arm through Leni’s and pulled her into the living room. “Did you see how fucking gorgeous he is?”

  Leni exhaled a laugh. “I have noticed that, yes.”

  “What’s he doing here?”

  “Well, last night he put in some new locks on the doors and windows. Right now, I imagine he’s upstairs in the attic apartment finishing drying off after his shower was interrupted.”

  “Do you realize how nuts that sounds? Where the hell did he come from?”

  “Most recently? The Interstate over by Medway, according to him,” she said, amused as she recited one of Knox’s cryptic answers. She had to make a little light of the situation, because it sounded nuts to her too. “He told me he’s been on the road for the past several months, going nowhere in particular. Apparently, he’s got brothers living in a Darkhaven down in Florida.”

  “Brothers?” Carla wiggled her brows. “Do you suppose they all look like him? If they do, please tell him I and my virgin carotid will happily volunteer as tribute to any one of them.”

  Leni groaned. “You’re awful.”

  She laughed. “I’m lonely. I’m withering on the vine up here in the frozen North. And so are you, Len.” She tilted her head. “Or are you? Don’t think I didn’t see the way you were looking at your unusual houseguest just now.”

  “The way I was looking at him?”

  Leni wanted to deny it, but Carla’s shrewd gaze narrowed. “Holy shit. Have you broken your nearly six-year drought with a hot stranger you just met? And a Breed male, besides?”

  “No. Of course, I haven’t.” Leni shook her head. “No way. With Riley under the same roof?”

  “But you want to.” Her face lit up with conspiratorial enthusiasm. “Holy hell. Yes, you totally do!”

  “Shh.” Leni felt her cheeks go red. “It’s not going to happen. And keep your voice down, for God’s sake.”

  “Does he know about you? About what you are?”

  “Unfortunately,” Leni replied. “I tried to keep it from him when he rescued me from the bottom of the ravine and pushed the Bronco back onto the road. But after we picked up Riley and brought him back to the house, Knox saw my Breedmate mark. Let’s just say he wasn’t happy about it. Then again, he wasn’t happy about a lot of things by that time.”

  Carla stared. “Okay, we’re going to circle back to the point about you pissing off two-hundr
ed-and-fifty-plus-pounds of smoking hot vampire in just a second. First, let’s unpack the part about him rescuing you from the bottom of the ravine. What are you talking about?”

  Leni sighed, catching her lip between her teeth. “It’s kind of a long story.”

  “Girlfriend, school has been out for two days and I’ve just discovered my best friend has a vampire handyman bunking in her attic. I’ve got nothing but time.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Knox felt Leni’s presence even before he heard her footsteps outside the old garage in back of the house that evening.

  She let herself in without asking, bringing with her the scent of crisp snow, nighttime forest, and the sweeter fragrance of her freshly washed hair and skin.

  He didn’t know how he could have missed the fact that she was a Breedmate when he first met her in the diner. Every woman born with that symbol on her body possessed her own unique blood scent. Leni’s was cedar and rich cream, an intoxicating mix that complemented the strength and warmth of the woman herself. It called to his senses like a siren’s song, and he greedily breathed it in as she approached.

  “It’s cold out here,” she said, her voice husky and soft. Every fiber in his body lit up with awareness as she joined him in the back of the dimly lit outbuilding. She wore a pale gray sweater that looked as soft as a kitten and a pair of black leggings that clung to every inch of her long legs before disappearing into her untied snow boots. “Is that the faucet from the attic bathroom?”

  His nod felt as tight as the rest of him. “Yeah. Just making a few small repairs around the place while I’m here.”

  Today alone he had replaced several broken tiles in the shower, sealed some bad weather-stripping in the dormer windows, and tacked down a few loose floorboards at the top of the attic stairwell. At the rate he was going, he’d have Leni’s entire house refurbished before the end of next week.

  Not that he expected to stay that long.

  A few days at most.

  Less than that if he could help it. Since she’d made it clear that persuading her to leave wasn’t going to go well, he would have to come up with another solution if things went south with Travis Parrish. One that didn’t require Knox to be in close proximity to the woman.