by Cynthia Eden
“Take their hearts?” Gray repeated.
“Yes, take them. As in, cut those bitches out. You take the hearts, and they stop.” She headed for the door. “Oh, one other thing. Don’t let them get near any shadows. If they’re on the run and they slip into the shadows, they’re gone.”
Gray rushed to keep up with her. “How the hell do we keep them away from shadows…in a graveyard…at night?”
“I’d suggest using a light. A very, very bright light.” She exhaled and squared her shoulders. “Okay, let’s do this.”
No. Not yet. Harrison strode to her. There was one thing he wanted to do, all right. He grabbed her. Spun her to face him. His mouth crashed down on hers. And her mouth—it greedily opened and met his with a wild, fierce passion.
After a moment, he pulled back. “You don’t die.”
“Not planning on it.”
“They don’t get you.”
Her lips curved in a slow smile. “How could they? I have you watching my ass.”
Chapter Eleven
“I didn’t realize you were fucking her,” Gray said as his hands tightened around the vehicle’s steering wheel. They were in his massive truck, a beast Gray had always ridiculously loved. “I mean, sure, you two were sharing the suite, but I didn’t know you were, um, together, not until I saw her wearing your shirt in that bedroom and the bed was wrecked and——”
“I’m in the rear seat, not a million miles away,” Elise announced, voice vaguely amused. “I can hear you.”
Gray took a hard right. “No wonder you were ready to rip my head off when I aimed the gun at her. You’re involved.”
“What we are…it’s none of your damned business,” Harrison snapped back. He wasn’t going to be forgetting what Gray had done anytime soon. The hunter had crossed a line, and there would be no going back.
I’d told him that I would help his daughter. I swore I’d get her back, yet he still went after Elise.
“I’m sorry,” Gray sounded miserable as he braked the vehicle. “Sorry this shit happened, sorry—”
“Save your apologies,” Elise ordered him. “Could you just tie me up already? The longer this takes, the longer those jerks will get twitchy.” She shoved her hands into the front seat.
Harrison pulled out a rope and twined it around her delicate wrists. Not too tight. He didn’t want to hurt her. He made sure to use a special knot, one that looked secure but really wasn’t. “To get out, just jerk the rope back toward you.”
“Got it.”
He turned to stare at her. “I’ll have my eyes on you the whole time.”
He caught her smile. “That’s because you just can’t take your eyes off me.”
Harrison knew she was trying to lighten the mood. But did she know…she was right?
They exited the vehicle. Gray immediately pulled Elise toward him and jabbed a gun in her side. Yes, that shit was for show, but Harrison didn’t like it. He stepped forward, moving toe-to-toe with the other hunter. “You get a twitchy finger around her, and I’ll put a bullet in your brain.”
Gray’s mouth dropped. “But…but—”
“But nothing. You’ve been warned.”
Elise sighed. “You’re kind of being a hard-ass, Harrison. I do love that vibe with you, find it sexy as all get out, but take a breath. His daughter’s life is on the line. He’s desperate.”
There was no kind of about it. He was a hard-ass and Harrison knew it. “I’m not exactly the forgiving and forgetting type.”
“What is it? What’s your code?” Her head tilted. “Betray you once and it’s over?”
“Yes.”
She backed up. Bumped into Gray. Harrison could have sworn that fear flashed on her face. Her tongue swiped over her lower lip before she said, “Things aren’t black and white. There’s lots of gray in this world.”
He just waited. His enhanced vision let him see her and their surroundings perfectly.
Elise looked worried. On edge. “Harrison, he was aiming the gun at me. He was ready to shoot me. I’ve moved on.”
He hadn’t. Harrison made sure all of his weapons were in place. Guns, knives, a few surprises. Weapons were all over his body, and he was ready to kick ass. But before they went into that cemetery, he swept his gaze over Elise. “You sure there’s nothing else you need to tell us about these guys?”
Her lashes fluttered. Her bound hands twisted. “What do you mean? I thought I was great at sharing. I told you lots on the way here.”
“If you’re holding back something we need to know, tell us.”
Her delicate face tightened. “I’m not holding back anything that would put a child’s life at risk.”
“Time’s up,” Gray announced as he nervously glanced at his watch. “We’re going in, now.”
She nodded. Squared her shoulders. Then… “Wait.”
If she’d changed her mind, he was getting her the hell out of that place right—
“Kiss me, Harrison. Once more.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Gray demanded.
Harrison ignored the bastard. He yanked Elise into his arms and kissed her. Fast. Deep.
“Thank you,” she whispered against his mouth. Her bound hands had been between their bodies, but her hands dipped down as she backed away. “You gave me just what I needed.”
I’m starting to think you are everything I need, Elise.
Harrison had to watch as she was led away, with a gun at her side and her hands tied with thick rope. She looked small and fragile, and his chest burned as she entered the cemetery gates.
***
“I’m…sorry about this.”
Gray was still spouting his apologies. Elise let out a frustrated sigh. “If you would do something over again in a heartbeat, you shouldn’t waste a breath on apologies.” She didn’t look at the headstones or the graves. Just kept her gaze straight ahead. Gray was glancing to the left and the right, she could feel the nerves pouring off him. He was distracted because his emotions were involved. Emotions were dangerous beasts. Sometimes, they could help. Other times, they were your greatest weakness.
Gray was weak then.
“Where the hell are they?” he muttered.
“They’re watching us from the shadows.”
“How do you know that?”
Because she could feel them. “Just stop here.” She stopped and he had to follow her lead. “Call out to them. Tell them you want your daughter.”
He sucked in a breath. “I brought her!” Gray yelled. “Now bring Holly to me.”
The trees rustled and swayed. The shadows seemed to stretch out.
Four figures stepped from the darkness. Four men in black, with hair so very blond. Too long. She’d always thought they needed to trim their hair, but they hadn’t listened to her. They should have listened. She gave excellent life advice.
One of the figures carried a young girl. She appeared to be sleeping. Sleeping or—
“Oh, God,” Gray cried out as he surged forward and grabbed for his daughter. “Holly, no, don’t be—”
“She’s not dead,” the leader of those black-clothed figures announced. Soloman. Some people whispered his name in fear. Elise typically muttered it in disgust. Soloman had never been what she’d call a fan. More of a hater.
“She’s under a sleeping spell,” Elise said, her voice carrying easily in the night. “Get her out of here. When she’s away from them, she’ll wake up.”
He yanked Holly into his arms. He still held his gun, but he wasn’t aiming it at anyone. He was too busy holding tight to his daughter.
“Get out of here,” Soloman ordered him. “Or we’ll kill you, too.”
Gray’s eyes flew to Elise.
She shrugged. “It’s been fun. Thanks for an unforgettable night.”
“Elise—”
“Go,” she snapped at him. Did the guy not remember his one job? Get the kid out of there. She’d handle everything else. With a little help from her hunter.
Soloman and his crew circled Elise.
Soloman braced his legs apart and his dark stare locked on her. She gave him a smile just to bait the guy. “Why have you always chosen the wrong side? Is it a deep-rooted character defect?”
“I serve the ruler. You know that.”
“Hmmm. If that’s truly the case, you should be down on bended knee before me. Begging for my forgiveness.” She didn’t think Harrison was close enough to overhear her words. Sure, his hearing was good, but she didn’t believe it was that good. Especially since she was speaking so softly. “Instead, I hear you want me dead or alive. Hardly the way to serve the rightful ruler.”
Soloman’s expression didn’t change.
“It’s your last chance,” Elise told him as she kept her chin up. She didn’t bother looking at his flunkies. They always followed his lead. “Give me your allegiance…”
“Or what?” Soloman demanded. A chilling, cold wind swept from him.
“Or you will die.” Damn. She’d been all dramatic right then. She almost scared herself.
He…laughed at her.
Oh, that sonofabitch.
He’d just laughed right in her face.
Then he got in her face as he surged forward. “You were always weak. Nothing but a pretty face and a useless second. You were not meant to rule. You were not meant to command, you were not meant—”
She yanked her hands back, freeing them from the rope, and as the rope fell to the ground, she was grabbing for the knife she’d slipped out of Harrison’s coat. He’d been kissing her, she’d been enjoying the hell out of kissing him, but she’d been busy being a little grabby fingers, too. She’d taken the silver knife because this shit was personal. Solomon was her kill. She hadn’t intended to leave that cemetery without taking his life. Before he could say another jerk-off word, she’d driven her stolen silver knife right into his cold, cold heart.
The others surged at her, trying to grab her and kill her—
Bam, bam, bam. Three shots. Three bastards who fell around her. She heard the thud of footsteps running toward her, and she knew Harrison was coming to finish his kills. She didn’t waste time looking at the others. She knelt over Soloman. He was trying to yank out the knife from his chest.
She shoved it in even deeper. “I am second to no one,” Elise snarled at him.
His eyes widened. “Wicked…queen…”
“Hell, yes, I am. Glad you know exactly who you’re facing.” She took his heart.
***
“I can’t thank you enough.” Gray’s voice was thick. “I don’t…I don’t know how those bastards even found Holly. I try to keep her and Cassie away from our world. God, it’s the whole reason I left Cassie. I knew what we did was too dangerous. I knew I was bringing hell to her by staying with her, so I left. It fucking ripped out my heart, but I left—”
Elise had heard enough. “Stop your bullshit.” They were inside the home of Gray’s wife. Cassie Elliott was on the couch and currently holding tight to her daughter. But at Elise’s words, Cassie glanced up.
Elise glared at Gray. “It’s been a bitch of a night, and I am not in the mood for any bull.”
“But I—”
“You don’t walk away from the people you care about. You stay beside them. You fight for them. You don’t leave because you somehow think that is best. That’s crap. A convenient lie you tell yourself because you don’t want to admit to being a giant coward.”
He swallowed. Harrison remained silent.
Elise swept a disgusted glance over Gray. “You want to protect your family? Then keep your dumbass in their lives. Be there. Huh? How about try that?” She needed to walk away before she did something bad…like cut out his heart. Some habits were sure hard to break, and she’d crossed over into some seriously dark territory that night, but she’d needed to send a message to her enemies.
Message sent.
She whirled away from Gray. Marched toward the little girl. The girl who hadn’t spoken much, and she stared at Elise with giant, haunted eyes. Elise offered a hand to the child. “It’s time for you to sleep.”
The girl—Holly—shuddered. Elise winced. Obviously, she’d used the wrong choice of words considering the child had been put under a sleeping spell. “Just bedtime,” Elise added quickly. “I’ll tell you a story.” Elise figured the mom needed some moments alone with Gray so distracting the kid seemed like the type of thing a good person might do. Elise’s stare lifted to Cassie. “I’ll take care of her,” she promised. “You go rip your ex a new one.”
Cassie nodded. Holly’s small fingers wrapped around Elise’s hand.
***
Harrison crept toward the bedroom. Cassie was outside with Gray, and his gaze swept along the hallway as he followed the sound of Elise’s voice. He saw smiling pictures of Cassie with Holly. A framed photo of Holly in a pink tutu as she struck a ballerina pose. Another framed photo of Holly wearing a baseball cap, holding tightly to her bat, and smiling from ear to ear—she was missing her front tooth in that picture. He paused in front of the image, oddly charmed.
When Gray had fallen for Cassie, Harrison had warned the hunter to be careful. Gray hadn’t listened to him. Gray had thought he could have both worlds.
His mistake.
Hunters don’t get happy endings.
Hunters…they got monsters. They got lies. They got betrayal. They got death.
Hadn’t Harrison’s own father taught him that brutal truth over and over again? Their job was to protect everyone else so that normal kids could go to dance recitals or hit home runs on a baseball field. Happiness wasn’t in the cards for hunters.
It sure wasn’t in the cards for him.
Harrison turned away from the photo and marched for the bedroom. He needed to get Elise and leave. He wanted more details on the bastards who’d been in the cemetery, men who’d turned to stone once their hearts had been removed. Harrison didn’t think he’d ever come across supernaturals who looked like them before.
Elise knew more than she was saying, he was sure of it.
“I want to hear another story.” The bedroom door was ajar and Harrison easily picked up Holly’s low words. Her voice was slurred, as if she was fighting sleep. “Please.”
“What do you want to hear about?”
“I…like princesses.”
Elise gave a soft chuckle. “Don’t we all?”
“My favorite is Belle. She’s so nice, and she reads a lot.” A yawn. “So do I. I read just like Belle.”
“Well, I don’t know this Belle that you’re talking about, but I know another princess.” Elise cleared her throat. “Though she’s not necessarily very nice.”
“Why not?” A soft, innocent question.
They’d determined that the girl didn’t remember much about her abduction, a good thing. She’d been put under the sleep spell in the park, and she’d woken up in her father’s arms. She knew something had happened, but the actual details were gone from her mind.
“Why wasn’t she nice?” Holly pushed, voice slurring more.
“Because she never had a reason to be, I suppose.”
A weak laugh from Holly. “Everyone should be nice. Mom…mom says so.”
“Well, this princess grew up in a different place. Being nice got you killed in her world. Strength, viciousness—that’s what gave you power.”
Maybe he should stop her storytelling before Elise gave Holly nightmares? The kid had already been through enough.
“Tell me more.” Suddenly, Holly didn’t sound so sleepy. She sounded fascinated.
Elise gave a soft chuckle. It slid right over Harrison’s skin and had him leaning forward.
“The princess lived in a castle that was made of glass. She had to be very careful or the glass would shatter and everything in her world would fall apart.”
Harrison was barely breathing.
“Was she very pretty
?” Holly asked.
“She was,” Elise sounded rather dismissive of that. “That hardly mattered. This princess was known for being particularly bloodthirsty. She never backed down from a battle and friends and foes feared her equally.”
“Wow.”
“Yes, indeed. Wow.” Elise’s voice turned a bit somber as she continued, “She grew up knowing that she wasn’t the one who was meant to rule this magical land. Because in her kingdom, power is always passed down to the firstborn child. She wasn’t the first. At least, not according to everything she’d been told her entire life. She had a twin, you see. A twin brother. He was born one minute before her. He arrived, then she came into the world. The princess came into the world and killed her own mother.”
“Her mom died?” Now Holly’s voice was sad.
He should stop the damn story.
“Do you want me to stop?” Elise asked. She seemed confused. A little lost. “I’m not…familiar with children. I was trying to make you feel better, but instead you look like you’re about to cry.”
“Don’t you have kids?”
“No.”
A sniff. “I want to know what happened to the princess.”
“Fine, but if you cry, I’m stopping.”
“I won’t cry.”
He peeked into the bedroom. Elise perched near the foot of the bed.
“Your near crying episode made me forget where I was.” Elise tapped her fingers on the covers.
“The princess wasn’t supposed to rule…”
“Oh, right. She wasn’t. She was told she wasn’t the firstborn, so she always let her brother have his way. It was a rather dark and twisted way most days, but he was the power and she was just the princess.”
“Was she very sad?” Holly’s lips turned down.
“Sad?” Elise seemed to taste that word. “I don’t think so. She was surrounded by servants. She had every luxury imaginable. She just…had to follow her brother’s orders.”
Holly’s little brow scrunched. “What did he order her to do?”
Elise’s fingers stopped tapping. “Once, he ordered her to destroy a whole village because he didn’t think the village was paying him the right tributes.”
“Did she?” A very tiny voice.