Hunter

by Jacquelyn Frank

  Sure enough, she was right. He didn’t know how she knew, but he could sense his coven mate entering his outer rooms. Tatyana hadn’t even met Kaia yet, so how could she sense the other witch’s arrival? He figured it must be because of Tatyana’s bond to him.

  “Soap. Bubbles. You’re naked.” Tatyana reached for a canister on the edge of the tub and knocked it over, spilling bath gel into the water in a huge glob before Hunter could snatch it up and right it. As if she had timed it perfectly, the water jetting out of the sides of the tub began to froth up a fat blanket of bubbles. The bathroom door opened moments later to admit a short, pretty Native American woman. She was dark-eyed and buxom, an exaggerated hourglass figure making her look cuddly and sexy all at once. When Kaia saw Hunter holding Tatyana in a growing pile of bubbles, she smiled and flashed deep, charming dimples at him.

  “Hunter! Blessed be!”

  “Blessed be, Kaia.”

  Kaia hurried across the room and knelt beside the tub, smiling at the couple. “And blessed be to you too, little sister. Your brother worries for you.”

  “It’s his job.”

  Hunter snickered at the blasé remark and the weary, dismissive wave-off that accompanied it.

  “She’s not all ... here,” he warned Kaia.

  Kaia narrowed her eyes on her patient. “She is more there than you think. I see she talked you into joining her?”

  Hunter looked sheepish. “Was that bad? She wouldn’t let go and I figured it was best not to fight her ...”

  “No. This is very healthy. She wasn’t raped, and this behavior indicates she doesn’t feel violated in her own mind either. She feels like she was merely beaten. It is as though ... she never doubted your arrival.”

  “I barely made it in time to keep him from ...” Hunter closed his eyes and kissed Tatyana’s temple fiercely. “I never expected Asher hated me so much that he would do something like this.”

  “Braen,” Tatyana murmured.

  “Is there ever an explanation that can justify why any man does this?” Kaia asked.

  “To split up the coven.” Tatyana blew at the froth of bubbles building up in front of her, wincing when her chest protested the deep breath. She lowered her voice in affectation of a male. “ ‘The whole point is to keep them guessing, now isn’t it?’ ” she said mockingly.

  Puzzled, Hunter tried to get a look at her face.

  “Dimitre’s pissed,” Tatyana remarked. “Really pissed. Annali knows how to make him calm. Ryce is all kinds of upset. Oh, but Asher is finally back, which is good. He doesn’t hate you, you know.”

  “Kaia, she’s rambling,” Hunter said worriedly. “She keeps doing that.”

  “Yes, I see that. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t saying something important. Here. Let me heal her a bit, check out the damage.” Kaia reached out as Hunter shifted Tatyana closer to her. Gentle hands with long, elegant fingers touched Tatyana’s face, seeking the damage done by the trauma she had been through. “Poor thing. Asher really did a number on her. I just don’t understand what could possibly have—”

  “No. Aren’t you looking?” Tatyana complained.

  “Yes, sweetheart, we are,” Kaia assured her. “Hold her head, Hunter.”

  Hunter did as instructed just as Tatyana’s eyes slid closed and her body went lax in his hold.

  “Is she okay? She seemed really altered,” he asked.

  “She was seriously concussed. Bruising and a little bleeding can do that. He destroyed her ribs on that one side. She’s lucky she didn’t puncture a lung. Hunter, I cannot believe Asher McBride would attempt to rape an innocent girl. And even if he were going to, why would he do it under his own roof? Knowing witches were all around him?”

  “Kaia, I can’t talk about this,” he told her stiffly. “If I do ... I feel like my head will explode. All I want right now is to take care of Tatyana. I don’t want to try to understand the way hatred can warp someone’s mind.”

  “Asher doesn’t hate you!” Kaia protested. “He’s come to terms with Amber’s death! He no longer blames you for it. The only thing he still feels hurt over is that you ... well, you know.”

  “Then why did he target Tatyana? He knew she was my lover, that’s why. You don’t think he wanted to do this to get back at me for sleeping with Amber? How am I supposed to understand any of this?”

  “Slowly,” she advised. “Listen to your instincts. The bond saved her, and it will save you, too.”

  “By the Lady, Kaia, I don’t think I have it in me to wade through mystic bullshit right now.”

  “All right, honey,” she mollified him. “Let’s bring her back to bed. I’ll heal her some more. I can’t do it all the way because ... I need to use a lot of magic if I’m going to save Asher’s life.”

  “He’s still alive?” Hunter demanded. “And you’re going to let his victim suffer so you can spare him?”

  “Hunter,” she chided softly, “we have no idea what is really going on here. We can’t ignore the fact that he went missing for five days and within minutes of entering this house behaved in a way that was completely out of character. Then to jump out of a window? Something is very wrong with all of this.”

  “What’s wrong is you all trying to make excuses for him! I don’t believe this!”

  Hunter angrily reached for a bath sponge and used it to quickly bathe away all removable traces of Tatyana’s ordeal. The rest would be up to Kaia. Together they got her out of the tub, dried her off gently, and carried her back to his bed. Hunter dressed in a pair of pajama bottoms before going to the bedside to help Kaia. Together, they used all the magic they knew to help Tatyana heal.

  Dimitre ran both hands back through his golden hair in frustration.

  “Annali, I don’t even know this man! How can you tell me to leave her up there with him?”

  “Doesn’t my judgment help you with that in any way? You have lived Ryce’s past memories of Hunter on one occasion. In a way you do know him.”

  “Yeah, and I watched him decapitate a man with his bare hands. Not a very comforting image, babe.”

  “Kaia’s up there, too. This isn’t my idea. Tatyana begged me to keep you away until she was ready for you.” Annali moved closer to him, adding her body warmth to her argument.

  Dimitre cupped her shoulders with impatient hands, rubbing at her arms. “I’m not used to letting others take care of her. I’ve done it since the day she was born.”

  “I know, darlin’,” Annie soothed him softly. “But this is your family now, and you need to trust us.”

  “Like I trusted Asher?” he bit out.

  “I don’t know who that was, darlin’,” she said, “but I guarantee it was not the Asher you and I know.”

  “That’s like the neighbors of a serial killer who always say ‘he was such a nice boy’ in interviews,” he grumbled.

  “Yes, but there’s magic involved in our world and that makes all the difference.”

  Dimitre relented finally. He could feel Tatyana through the special bond they had always shared, and her pain had faded already. She was calm and resting. Calming himself, he wrapped his arms around Annali and pulled her tight and close, kissing her warmly. He hadn’t seen her in a week and relief was finally catching up to him as his worry for his sister was cautiously relegated to a secondary place in his mind.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her softly. “Ryce told me things over the phone ... and I’ve been worried about you.”

  “What things?” she asked, her supple body going suddenly stiff, sending him on alert.

  “That you were attacked by Belladonna Coven. That you threw yourself in front of the Blessing Tree. That you faced down their High Cleric. Was there more than that I should know about?”

  Annali sighed deeply and Dimitre knew that there was.

  “It’s just that Braen, Belladonna’s High Cleric, used to be Evan’s protégé back when they were Hawthorn Coven. It’s not the first time he and I have met,” she added quietly. “A fa
ct he took great delight in reminding me of.”

  “Ah babe, I’m sorry,” he said roughly, hugging her close as he struggled with the spike in his temper. All of this time he had thought Annali’s offender had paid for his sins against her. Now, to find out there was another who had yet to pay, it was difficult to see past the haze of red fury.

  “Don’t,” she whispered against his ear, when she felt the tension that whipped through his strong body. “One day he will face his crimes. Don’t poison yourself with hate from now until then. He has no power over us unless you do.”

  “That isn’t the only reason,” he said fiercely. “Braen wasn’t at his coven the day you say Gracelynne was attacked. If he has a history of violence toward women, how can I not suspect him of it?”

  “It was very likely him. He is powerful. I can’t imagine who else could pull it off.”

  “Then that means she was probably raped, Annie,” he said.

  “Yes. Probably,” she agreed with a catch to her voice.

  She went still in his arms all of a sudden and Dimitre knew she had just come to the same conclusion he was reaching.

  “Once a rapist, always a rapist,” he spat. “And who else would have the power to overtake Asher like that? If that is really what happened.”

  “Oh, Sweet Lady,” she breathed. “We let him in. He used Asher’s body to cross the protection wards and we just let him in. Your sister said ... ! But, how did she know?”

  “Know what?” he demanded.

  “She knew! She somehow knew it was Braen. She said to Hunter ‘I know you’re afraid you’re like him. You’re nothing like him.’ Dimitre, Hunter is Braen’s biological brother. He’s always struggled with proving himself better than his darkly magicked family. Somehow she knew Braen had got past the wards and possessed Asher to do it.”

  “Do we know what kind of witch she is yet?”

  “No. But with this kind of stress, I have a feeling we are going to find out.”

  Tatyana awoke again the next morning. She knew it was morning because the sun shone brightly enough through the window to give her a ringing headache. She groaned and rolled over, surprised and delighted when she found herself landing against a large, hard male body. She was full of aches, pains, and bruises, not to mention the memory of a harrowing encounter the day before, but it all faded away the moment she realized Hunter had stretched out beside her in bed and kept her company all night long. He was wearing loose black pants, like cotton pajamas, and was bare-chested. She was extremely naked. She was beneath the covers, he was above.

  Tatyana smothered a giggle. It was such a puritanical thing for him to do, considering they had made love and bathed together the day before. It simply told her more about how caring he was and the lengths he would go to see to her comfort while keeping most of his chivalry in play. She stipulated ‘most’ because she supposed he might have slept in a chair or elsewhere entirely if he were really going to try to be a gentleman. Then again, she liked that he was just honorable enough ...

  The rest was very much male instinct and proprietary behavior. Something else she seemed to like ... on Hunter at least. It was like the first time she had awoken beside him. He had been untamed that morning, overcome with his passionate self. Honor had kicked in just in the nick of time. Just enough, but not too much. Although, she was very interested in seeking out that untamed side without honor making an appearance.

  “I feel you thinking at me,” he murmured before he opened his eyes.

  “Yeah?” she countered. “What am I thinking?”

  “I am never sure if I want to know,” he said with a wry chuckle. He turned his head, looking her over carefully before drawing an arm around her and hugging her close. “Are you okay? Do you mind me holding you today?”

  “It doesn’t hurt,” she assured him.

  “No, I meant ... because ...”

  “It still doesn’t hurt,” she said as she reached to hold him. “You stopped it before it reached that point for me.”

  Tatyana reached over to kiss him gently on the mouth. He tucked a hand into her hair at the back of her head and held her as he let her touch him at her own pace. He had to admit, it felt really good to feel her kiss again. Yesterday had seemed to turn on a dime from fantasy to nightmare, and he barely knew how to react this morning to all of it. Yet, she seemed relaxed and comfortable with what she was doing.

  “How do you do that?” he asked softly, stroking back her hair as it fell over him. “How do you adapt from one crazy moment to the next and make it look so ... easy?”

  She smiled a little, drawing her lip between her teeth a moment. “I think it all goes back to that big family thing. It’s controlled chaos. Things are happening nonstop. If you fall apart over one thing, you can’t manage the next one. The only thing that truly affects most of us is if one of us is seriously hurt. Believe me, all of this was harder on Dimitre than it was on me. It was harder on you, too.”

  “Are you kidding? When I saw you on that bed, heard what he was saying to you, I just...” Tatyana felt his hands close spasmodically around her head, her shoulders, and then her arms. “I wanted to kill him. For the first time, I felt this uncontrollable desire to kill someone who wasn’t a warlock, and to take inconceivable joy in it.” Hunter saw her eyes go wide. “It sounds monstrous, I know. I’m sorry.”

  “No, no, I’m just trying to figure out ... who wasn’t a warlock?”

  “Asher.”

  “Well, of course not. He’s one of your coven mates,” she snorted. “What does he have to do with yesterday?”

  “Right, angel,” Hunter said slowly, giving her an odd look. “You met him right after we had ... umm ... after the bathroom.”

  “Uh, no, I didn’t. I’ve never met Asher.”

  Hunter sat up, slid back against the headboard and drew her close.

  “Tatyana, take a look at yourself. You’re covered in bruises. You met Asher in a really bad way yesterday,” he reminded her, his brow furrowed with worry. Kaia said she had healed the concussion as well as Tatyana’s broken bones. What was wrong with her memory?

  “Hunter,” she mimicked his tone, “I never met Asher. I encountered Braen. Remember? He cornered me in that room, beat the shit out of me, and tried to rape me. You’re the one who stopped him, for God’s sake. You watched him leap out of the window and get away. Why would you think Asher did this? Asher doesn’t hate you. Think about it. Braen is the only one who would benefit from hurting me to get to you. He was trying to split the coven. I guess he figured if he ... if he attacked me and left no clues as to who did it, you all would tear each other apart looking for a culprit among yourselves.” She shuddered and snuggled closer to him. “I’m so glad he didn’t succeed. This is a very special place.”

  “Honey?”

  “Mmm?”

  “What does Braen look like?”

  “Black hair, like you. Black eyes. Nasty scar on his face. He had a tattoo I didn’t notice the first night, right here.” She indicated a point low on her chest. “Some kind of knife with symbols on it”

  “An athamé. It’s a power symbol.” Hunter touched her face gently. “Angel, we have to get up. Think you can come with me to see Ryce?”

  “And Dimitre. He’s waited long enough. First, I need to make sure I look only half like hell, instead of completely. Dimitre having a freak-out is never a pretty sight.”

  “I can imagine,” he chuckled.

  Dimitre hadn’t slept well. Granted, the reason was two-fold, he thought with a small smile as he reached to stroke the back of Annali’s neck before bending to kiss it. The kiss made her scrunch up her shoulder and laugh, reaching back to push him away.

  “I’m trying to concentrate,” she scolded him.

  “I’m trying to kiss you. Why do we always do what you want to do?”

  She scoffed out a laugh. “I’m not even going to dignify that with an argument.”

  “Because you know it’s true. For example, I wanted to see
my sister. You said no, so we didn’t see her. Then, I wanted to go to sleep, and you jumped me like I was some kind of Thoroughbred.”

  “Dimitre!”

  “Eww. TMI, brother dear. Too much information.”

  Dimitre whipped around, an actual flush burning across his face as he met his baby sister’s eyes. They were sparkling with her usual impish mirth, making him feel the sudden suffocating realization that he hadn’t seen her in far too long.

  “Tat!”

  She ran up to meet his step forward, flinging herself into his arms and hugging the hell out of him. She felt his fear and his worry in every nuance of his embrace, his breath drawing in raggedly as he kissed her bruised cheek. Dimitre could smell makeup on her, heavy foundation, and knew she was hiding more than she was showing. Tatyana only wore eye makeup as a general rule. She had hated the feel of foundation on her face since she’d been very young. He was surprised she even owned any.

  He set her back down on her feet and put her at arm’s length. Her pretty jewel jade eyes were gleaming with tears and she even sniffed. She wasn’t much of a crier, but she was sensitive as hell whether she liked to show it or not. Looking at her bruised face just about wrecked him, but if she had worked so hard to minimize the effect, then she was also working to minimize his reaction to it.

  “You look like you went ten rounds with Tanya Silvada, that bully who lived down State Street when you were twelve, remember?” He cocked a grin at Annali, taking brief note of the tall, dark-haired male standing beside her whom he knew was Hunter Finn. “When Tatyana was twelve, this new girl on the block thought to make a name for herself by picking on my little sis. She must have thought beating up one of the popular girls would earn her some points in whatever crowd it was that she was looking to get in with.

  “She didn’t do her homework, though,” Dimitre noted with a chuckle as he looked back to his sister. “Tanya didn’t bother to find out Tat was the baby in a family of big brothers who had been wrestling with her since she could first grab on to them. Tat came home looking like shit after that fight. She walked in the door and my mother damn near had a heart attack. So Tat says ... ‘Oh, relax, Mom. It’s not like she broke my nose or anything. Oh, by the way, I got suspended. And, umm, you might be getting a call from Tanya’s mother, because I broke her nose.’ ”