The Claimed (Sin Hunters)

by Caridad Piñeiro

  She ran a finger along her neckline, inching the fabric lower and lower until it barely covered her breasts. At his low groan, she set her glass aside, lowering the fabric to reveal her breasts. She took her own nipples between her fingers and pinched them, sighing with the pleasure it brought.

  “Why not join me, Ryan? It’s not as much fun to play by myself.”

  He set his glass on the table. Against the placket of his pants he was already aroused to almost bursting. He hated that she had that much power over him, but he would not be weak and give in to it.

  He raised his hand, but instead of touching her, he dragged the fabric back over her breasts.

  “Please, Ryan. It can be so good for us,” she pleaded and reached down, stroking her hand up and down his erection, yanking a groan from him.

  “That’s it, Ry. Let me in. Life is too short to keep on denying yourself,” she urged with another strong stroke of his erection, but her words awoke another emotion in him.

  Ryan stumbled back and pressed forward with why he had come to her room in the first place. “Life is too short, Maya. That’s why I’m here. Jason was murdered tonight.”

  Shock traveled over her, but not about Jason. He suspected the greater surprise was that he had broken off their interlude, but in a matter of seconds, she had schooled herself and straightened her clothing. Composed, she said, “No matter what Christopher wants to believe, we cannot trust the Light Ones.”

  He narrowed his gaze at her words. “Who said anything about the Light Ones being responsible for Jason’s death?”

  With a tremulous flip of her hand, she replied, “Who else would want a Shadow dead?”

  Ryan marched back up to her, but when she would have released her energy again, he slashed his hand through the air to stop her. “You may have hidden your tracks tonight, but we will find out what happened. Those involved will be punished.”

  She tilted her chin up at an insolent angle and glared at him. “I am not afraid, Ryan. I have done nothing wrong.”

  “Then you have nothing to fear,” he said and strode out the door, needing to check with the maid who had been attending to Maya to see if she had anything to report.

  Maya flinched as the door slammed shut. Nothing was more sacred to a Shadow than another Shadow’s life. Only an Añaru could take such life without impunity. If Ryan and Christopher discovered that she and Alexander’s men had left Jason in the quicksand to die, she was as good as dead herself.

  If only Alexander’s men had listened to her, they might have been able to take Adam without the loss of Jason. It would have been a coup to bring all that power to Alexander. She was convinced that he would not cast her aside the way Christopher had, and worse yet, for a Light Hunter.

  It burned like acid in her gut that Christopher was attracted to a mewling Quinchu female instead of her.

  The only benefit from tonight’s botched mission was that the Light Hunters would never trust Christopher now. She had no doubt that the orb shot toward the Quinchu bitch had instead taken down one of her men. At such a close distance and as charged as Alexander’s men had been, the blast had to have been fatal.

  Too bad it hadn’t taken her out, but at least the deaths tonight would foment trouble between Christopher and Victoria. Maybe enough to break them apart and allow her to work her way back into Christopher’s good graces.

  And if not, there was always Alexander, she thought. But if she was going to pursue that avenue she might need the help of Victoria’s cadre captain once more.

  In the morning, she thought, heading to bed. It was late and her short interlude with Ryan had left lingering demands she had to fulfill. But as she pleasured herself, she couldn’t find any real satisfaction.

  It was no fun being alone and unloved.

  Victoria experienced the coming of morning. Her Hunter body was attuned to all the forces of nature around her, warning her that the day would soon arrive.

  She lay tangled together in bed with Christopher, legs intertwined. Arms wrapped around each other. Her head was tucked beneath his chin and against the muscled expanse of his chest, listening to the sleep slow beat of his heart. Savoring the warmth of him and the stream of energy that flowed from him to her and back, unending vitality shifting together.

  But even with that sharing, the pulse of her Equinox still was centered deep inside her. As Christopher had suggested, it would obviously take more than their very pleasant interlude to allow their energies to bond.

  Love, maybe. Trust definitely, since love could not exist without it, she considered as she lazily rubbed her fingertips along the line of his collarbone to rouse him. He needed to go to avoid discovery and she needed time alone to consider all that they had learned about each other.

  Christopher awoke with that touch, his body stirring, her own responding to that arousal, trembling with the slow burn of desire. She forced away that need, because they had more important things to handle before morning.

  “You’re troubled, warmi,” he said, using the ancient endearment of their people, and she liked the sound of it on his lips. In fact, she could easily picture waking beside him like this every morning. Could love be so far behind? she thought.

  “The morning is almost here,” she replied, drawing attention to the rising dawn.

  “It’s still an hour away. Ample time for us to…” His voice trailed off as he mimicked her actions and ran his index finger along the line of her collarbone, but then tracked it up to his mark on her neck. As he touched that spot, her body shook with need.

  “So not fair,” she warned, inching away from him on the bed, which only served to spring free his erection to poke into her belly.

  Christopher grinned. “Then let me make it better.” He bent his head and laid his mouth on the tender spot. She nearly came from the passion tearing through her body, but his kiss was one of healing, sending a gentle breeze of power to that spot to erase the evidence of his love bite.

  “Better?” he asked as he raised his head and met her gaze.

  He knew it was only a bit better, Victoria thought. There was no denying the state of her arousal. It was there in the tightly puckered tips of her breasts and the dampness against his thigh as it rested between her legs. Still he did nothing to deal with that need, aware of her state of mind.

  “Are we doing the right thing?” she asked, reminding him of the problems that lay ahead of them and the dangers they had to face if they continued to see each another.

  “I will tell Ryan first when I return this morning. He may be the hardest to convince. He has much to hate about the Light Ones.”

  “Because of his parents?” she said, recalling what Christopher had explained barely hours ago.

  With a shrug and a pent-up sigh, he nodded. “And Jason and so many others we have lost over the years.”

  “As we have lost, Christopher,” she reminded.

  “It will be up to us to show them there can be peace. That with the Shadows returning to the old ways, our energy can be pure. That it can be shared to revitalize the Hunter race,” he said, and there was no denying the passion or conviction in his beliefs.

  Victoria needed to believe as strongly. Even now, cradled in his embrace, doubts lingered about whether his Shadows could keep the peace. The memory of watching the energy fade from Mike’s eyes was still too painful a reminder that not all Dark Ones followed Christopher’s edict.

  “If your man, Jason, was not there to harm us, then he was killed by one of your own. We need to find those responsible. Bring them to justice in the hope that there can be peace.”

  His body tensed beside hers as her indecision was more obvious than she had wanted.

  “You have spent the night in my arms and still you do not want to believe?” he said, anger alive in his tone.

  She could have lied, but where would their relationship go if it began with falsehoods?

  “I still have doubt, Christopher. Although we shared our bodies, our energies remain sing
ular despite the fact that the Equinox has come upon both of us.”

  “It’s true that we didn’t bond,” he admitted, possibly as puzzled as she given the strong attraction of their affinities.

  Victoria offered up the thought that had come to her as she had lain so cozily in his arms. “I think you’re right that it takes more than attraction. Maybe it takes—”

  “Trust?” he finished for her, arching a dark brow upward. “Do you not believe what I shared with you last night?”

  Victoria wanted to believe in him, but that would not alleviate her fears about one of her own. “Even if I did, I fear there are others who aren’t as they seem.”

  “You think a Light Hunter was also involved in what happened?”

  “Adam was clearly the target of the attack. Only a few knew he would be there last night. A trusted few,” she stressed once again, dismayed by the possibility that one of her most faithful, possibly Rafael, had been involved, and yet there was no other explanation. Adam’s movements were too closely guarded. Even at the auction the other night he had been well-protected. It had not been happenstance that the Shadows had come to the compound on a night when he would be present.

  “So we both have traitors in our midst?” he said, and placed his hand on her side, shifting it up and down in a consoling caress.

  “We need to find those responsible.”

  Christopher nodded since he had a good idea where to start his hunt, but he worried for Victoria. “I already have a clue who might be behind the attack, but you must be careful.”

  A deep furrow formed between her brows at his words, but then she shook off her worry. “Do you think Ryan will accept the possibility of peace between our people?”

  Christopher leaned his forehead against hers and whispered, “He will, although not without fear. But time and peace will help dim that apprehension.”

  “I’ll need to convince our clans as well. Show them that you can be pure. That if Shadow and Light clans join together we can restore our people.”

  “It won’t be easy. As it is there are Shadows, like my father, who refuse to believe it’s possible.”

  “But you believe. You’ve cleansed the pox from your life force,” she said, and ran her hand across the masculine perfection of his chest, devoid of any evidence of damage much like the rest of his body.

  “It has taken great sacrifice, Victoria. Restraint from feeding on humans and other Hunters because they carry the pox virus in their bodies,” he explained.

  “Then we must prove it to them,” she said, and as if to demonstrate her point, she called forth her own energy and his responded, glowing beneath her hand with an uncontaminated aqua color replete with life.

  “I can show them what I’ve done. Demonstrate the hunting methods that have reinforced the truth of the old ways,” he said, and stroked his hand across her body, leaving a glimmering trail of light along the path of his hand.

  “You are beautiful,” she said, once again stunned by the force and clarity of his energy and his sheer physical presence. Her body responded yet again, but she jumped as he covered her breast and rubbed his palm along her nipple.

  A chagrined smirk came to his face. “We were a little rough last night,” he acknowledged.

  He skimmed his hand down and eased it between her legs. Her lips and clitoris, still tender and slightly swollen, picked up on every nuance of his hand, even with only the lightest touch. The gentle roughness of his palm against her. The barest glide of his thumb.

  But instead of pressing forward with his touch, the unexpected kiss of energy came and dragged a strangled moan from her.

  Shocked, she jerked hold of his hand to stop him and cried his name. “Christopher, please.”

  “There are many old ways, warmi. Let me love you as only the highest Hunters can love,” he said, and brushed a kiss across her lips. As he did so, he unleashed yet a bit more power and it snaked through her, unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

  She called his name again and tightened her hold on his wrist, but this time to keep him there. To urge him on as he sent another pulse through her and her legs began to shake as the climax built deep in her womb.

  Christopher kissed her, swallowed her cry of his name, feeling his own desire become almost painful as he focused on pleasing her. He tucked his head down, gaze locked on the sight of his hand between her legs and the shimmer of energy growing ever larger. Tendrils of silver-blue and golden red tracked outward over his wrist and hers as she continued to hold his hand. Twined around them, binding them. Uniting them as he brought her ever closer to release. Over and over he shared his power, rising ever higher and higher. Her hand holding his wrist tightening, the vines of energy quivering with light as she arched her back, seeking even more.

  He groaned as his erection tightened, wanting his own release, but he needed to please her first. Take her somewhere she had not ever been before.

  Reaching into his core, he let go of any last hold he had on his power and sent it rocketing into her.

  Beneath his hand her body quaked and shook as she screamed his name as her climax washed over her.

  It was a sight like none he had ever seen as her body came alive with light, the pure colors of their shared energies glimmering like a million fireflies dancing in the summer night.

  His own body trembled as he tried to control himself, to keep from plunging into all that welcoming vitality, but then her hand snaked up to caress his erection. She pressed her hips forward and guided him close.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, seeking her permission for his own orgasm as a way to demonstrate that she could trust him. Even now, when he was on the knife-sharp edge of need.

  She nodded and urged him ever closer. “Join with me.”

  He didn’t hesitate. He pressed her shimmering body down onto the mattress and eased between her legs. The remnants of the energy and her release caressed him even before he entered her, almost making him lose control.

  He bit his lip and she raised her head, kissed the spot and whispered, “Come with me.”

  Christopher groaned and surged forward at the same time she shifted her hips to grant him entry.

  It was a humbling experience being surrounded not just by warm, willing, wet woman, but also by such incredible power. The physical joining completed the circuit between them and he lost all self-restraint. He came with an explosion of his seed and energy that dragged another climax from her.

  Bodies shaking, breaths uneven, they sank into each other’s arms, silent, lost in the wonder of their union.

  CHAPTER

  19

  Christopher reluctantly left Victoria’s side just as the sun was rising over the ocean, bathing the sky in a vivid shade of red. A good sign to mariners for centuries, Christopher thought, and hoped it was a harbinger of wonderful things to come for them. While he zapped across the paths of energy along the beachfront to return to his compound, he thought of Victoria and all that had happened and all that had not.

  Despite their amazing sharing of energy, the thrum of his Equinox remained within him. That unique well of power had not left to bond with her and make them truly one or to create life as was the way of their people when their energies united.

  He didn’t understand how it was possible for his Equinox to still be unfulfilled given the strong sharing of his life force with Victoria, their similar affinities, and the amazing physical joining they had experienced.

  He told himself it couldn’t be because they were Light and Shadow Hunters. After all, they were the same race despite the existence of the troubling pox.

  So it had to be something else. Something more elemental to explain their failure to bond which troubled him because of what was growing in his heart. Something unexpected that went beyond his desire for his clan to prosper.

  For the first time in his life, Christopher allowed himself to imagine a peaceful life. One spent pleasurably in Victoria’s arms. Maybe even one of love.


  As he raced up the lawn at the back of the compound, Ryan was already there, waiting for him. His friend’s eyes widened as Christopher materialized, making him pause to glance down at himself.

  His body was alight in a brilliant sea of aqua and sapphire hues. A rainbow of energy tendrils swam around in his aura, testifying to the remnants of Victoria lingering within him. How much more powerful could he be if he bonded with her during an Equinox?

  “Is it done?” Ryan asked, holding up his hand to skim it inches away from the edge of Christopher’s field of energy.

  “Surprisingly, no,” he said, and as Ryan’s touch finally came into contact with his aura, his cadre captain sucked in a breath and ripped his hand away.

  “Sweet goddess. It’s so pure. So strong, and yet you say this is without a bonding?” Wonder filled every word he uttered.

  Christopher was not one to kiss and tell, but there was more Ryan had to know, both as a friend and as his cadre captain. “Come inside, brother. There is a great deal I have to share with you.”

  “I have news for you as well,” Ryan advised, and started to clap him on the back, but stopped mid-action. “Can you put that thing away? It’s a little disconcerting.”

  Trying to lighten the mood of the moment, Christopher teased, “Do you feel somehow lacking?”

  “There are some things you should not expose even to friends, Christopher. That,” he said, motioning to Christopher’s immense aura, “is one of them.”

  Christopher laughed and shook his head, pulling in his life force because Ryan was right. Such displays of power were best kept for when needed. It was why they had learned to cloak such energies from the humans and other Hunters. Unfortunately, thoughts of Victoria during the sprint home had weakened his command, exposing his aura to his friend.

  With the situation under control, Christopher and Ryan walked into their compound and headed to Christopher’s office. One of their cadre members stood guard at the door and Ryan commanded, “No one is to enter without our approval.”