by Anna Lowe
She started driving again, faster than before, as if in a rush to get to the resort where she could give him the boot.
“Dawn, the Stones have great power,” he said, trying to guide the conversation back to where it had started. “They call to each other.”
Dawn looked up, startled, but didn’t utter a word.
“It’s possible that Regina’s diamond is a Spirit Stone. And if it is, there could be other shifters after it.”
“After it?” she demanded. “Is that what you and Cruz are doing? Casing the joint in case the diamond turns out to be more than just a diamond?”
“No!” Hunter sputtered. “We’re not after anything. We were hired as security, and that’s what we’ll do.”
“But if the diamond is one of these special stones? Then what?”
“We make sure the enemy doesn’t get it.”
“And who exactly is the enemy?”
He wrinkled his nose. The shifter world was filled with alliances and feuds, some of which dated back centuries. And like humans, there were good shifters, evil shifters — like the powerful dragon lord, Drax, and everything in between. There were other supernatural species, too. Vampires. Witches.
Hybrids, his bear added in a low growl.
Hybrids. Humans with enough shifter blood to boast the same powers — the incredible strength, the longevity, the ability to heal from most mortal wounds. Everything except the ability to shift. Jericho Deroux, the man who’d killed his parents, was a hybrid. A ruthless man who eliminated innocent families like weeds if they stood in the way of his plans.
“The enemy is anyone who would use the Spirit Stone to heighten his own powers,” he said at last.
“What would you do?”
He scratched his head. He’d never really thought it through that far. “I wouldn’t do anything with it. I’d just hide it so no one could abuse its powers.”
“Hide it? Where?”
He made a face. Silas was a dragon, and dragons kept treasure hoards. He would have a safe place to store the diamond, for sure. But Silas would kill Hunter if he revealed such a secret to Dawn, so again, he was stuck.
He settled for a vague flap of the hand. “The point is to keep it away from evil.”
“But the diamond is Regina’s.” Dawn pointed out. “And though I’m no fan, I wouldn’t exactly call her evil.”
“It is Regina’s. And hopefully, it’s not a Spirit Stone, and there’s no issue.”
“But if it is a Spirit Stone?”
Hunter considered. “If it is and no other shifter catches on, we do nothing. Silas says the Spirit Stones slumber.”
“Slumber?”
Yeah, it sounded funny to him, too. Such an innocent word for such a powerful object. “As long as they slumber, they’re basically off the radar. It’s only those brief periods when they change hands that their powers awake and cause trouble.”
“Trouble. Right.” She frowned.
“If nothing disturbs the Spirit Stone, it will go on slumbering, and no shifter will take notice of it. Regina can have it, no problem — well, other than regular human thieves, I guess. But someday, when it changes hands, the danger arises again. The stone could awaken and attract trouble.”
Dawn put a hand to her cheek and scratched hard. If she hadn’t been driving, he could imagine her rubbing both eyes in disbelief.
He dragged a hand through his hair. Why had he even brought the subject up?
Because Dawn needs to know for her own safety, his bear said.
He took a deep breath. “Look, just keep the possibility in mind, and stay safe, all right?”
“I’m a police officer, Hunter.” Defiance tinged her voice. “I might be undercover, but when I’m on the job, I do my job. You get that?”
He looked at her. Shit. That sense of connection was gone, and Dawn was back to being cool, professional Officer Meli. Had he just wrecked everything by bringing up the diamond?
“I get it,” he whispered. “I get it.”
They drove in a silence so fraught with tension, Hunter didn’t dare move a muscle. When they reached the resort, Dawn parked in a hurry and slammed her door.
“I have to check on something,” she murmured, hurrying away.
He let out a breath — the one he felt like he’d been holding throughout the latter part of the drive — and let his shoulders slump.
“So, how did it go?” Kai asked, appearing out of nowhere to smack Hunter on the back.
Hunter kicked the dirt. The evening had been a dream come true until he’d fucked everything up.
“Your timing is perfect,” Kai said with a yawn. “I need to head back— Whoa.” He sniffed deeply.
Hunter’s spine went ramrod straight. Dragons might not have noses as keen as bears, but they could pick up the fresh scent of sex. Hunter had showered, but the scent still clung to him.
Kai cracked into a huge grin. “Way to go. You and Dawn finally—”
Hunter whirled and shoved Kai back, glowering.
“But that’s good, right?” Kai asked, confused. “I mean…” He trailed off.
Hunter straightened his tie and checked his watch. “How did the rehearsal go?”
Kai looked at him wordlessly before finally giving in to the change of topic. “I guess you can say it went in true Regina style. A couple of hissy fits, lots of photos. The usual. The groom looks like he’s having second thoughts, and who can blame him? But, yeah. They made it through the rehearsal. I’m not sure they’ll make it through the wedding, though.”
“What about the ring?” Hunter asked, dropping his voice.
Kai shook his head. “It arrived with what looks to be the security team of Fort Knox. I managed to get a look at the diamond, but honestly — I didn’t pick up the slightest vibe. Not like you get from the other stones once you know what to pay attention to.”
“It could be slumbering,” Hunter tried.
Kai looked skeptical. “If it is, then it’s hibernating so deeply I couldn’t feel a thing. Well, other than the slight vibe I’ve felt all week.”
Hunter had felt it, too. A quiet pulse, a barely perceptible hum in the air. Or had he been imagining things?
“But maybe it’s something totally unconnected to the Spirit Stones,” Kai said.
“Like what?”
Kai shrugged. “I don’t know. This resort is built on the site of an ancient temple. Maybe they pissed off some spirits or something. But I’m pretty sure that diamond is not a Spirit Stone.”
“No suspicious characters sniffing around?”
Kai snorted and waved toward the party tent. “That whole slice of high society is suspicious if you ask me.”
Hunter looked toward the brightly lit tent. The babble of a crowd reached out from within, and a band was warming up.
“What about that hyena shifter?”
Kai scowled. “I’ve had my eye on him all night. Not a sign of anything suspicious.”
Hunter scowled. A hyena shifter appearing on Maui was outright suspicious as far as he was concerned, but Silas had conducted a background check and found nothing, so they’d settled for keeping close tabs on the newcomer.
“Anyway, I’m going to find Cruz and go,” Kai yawned. “Got a mate to get home to, after all.”
Hunter’s bear nodded sadly. I don’t. Might never win her, either.
He looked around. Dawn was somewhere near, but oh so far.
His bear cried in his mind. Find Dawn. Maybe we can explain.
He’d tried to explain, but he fucked up. It was time to concentrate on work. So he set one foot in front of the other and made a beeline for the bustling party tent where the rehearsal party was taking place. The moment he stepped through the entrance, his nostrils flared and his bear went from mopey to high alert.
He sniffed, scanning the faces in the room.
“Can you believe the bridesmaids’ dresses?” one young woman chuckled to another.
Hunter’s eyes skipped over them, try
ing to home in on the scent. Something not quite human, not quite shifter.
“I don’t know what the designer was thinking,” the young woman went on. “And Regina’s dress. What was up with that?”
Hunter stepped sideways, craning his neck to check the side entrances to the tent. Who or what was making every warning bell in his body ring?
“I don’t think it flatters her one bit.”
He focused on a tight group of guests standing beside the bandstand. Roger Vanderpelt, the oil tycoon, was there with his usual cronies. Another man surrounded by his own entourage came striding up from a side entrance — a late arrival who made a show of shaking hands and slapping backs.
Hunter turned away, more interested in spotting the diamond ring than a businessman, but something pulled his attention back to the late arrival. Hunter craned his neck, trying to get a look at the man’s face. What was it about that man that made Hunter’s bear pace and grumble inside?
He kept to the edge of the tent, sidestepping chairs, chains of flowers, and two little boys creeping along to sneak up on guests. Images flooded his mind — visions that didn’t fit in the least. Images of Alaska and the cabin beside the rushing creek where he’d lived as a kid. He saw his mother quilting on the porch in one of those perfect noontimes in late spring, when everything seemed new and fresh. He saw himself as a kid, throwing rocks into the river with satisfying splashes.
A dreamlike memory, but it was a nightmare, because everything had gone downhill from there.
The next image flipped into place, like a badly edited film. His mother laughed and smiled at him. But then her head whipped around to the north, and she jumped to her feet.
Hunter fisted his hands, edging closer to the elder Vanderpelts and the people clustered around them. Who was that new arrival? The big man with the silver hair?
The urgency in his mother’s voice echoed through his mind. Hunter, come to me. Quick.
She was terrified, and though he hadn’t known why at the time, he’d rushed over and hidden behind her skirt.
“You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to get from Alaska to Hawaii,” the big man was saying to Roger Vanderpelt as Hunter worked his way closer.
“I swear that pipeline’s been twenty years in the making,” Roger Vanderpelt said. “When will we finally get the paperwork lined up for it?”
Mrs. Vanderpelt sighed. “Oh, dear. That project has been giving you ulcers all these years. Do we have to talk about it now?”
“Sorry. No need to discuss business.” The new arrival laughed in a low bass.
Hunter squinted, moving quickly through the glare of a light.
I’m here to discuss business, a deep voice growled in his mind. Another memory of that awful day, so long ago.
I’ll never do business with you, and you know it, his mother had announced to the big man striding up to the cabin. He’d been flanked by four sidekicks, all of them grinning cruelly.
You sure about that? the man had retorted.
My mate and I told you before, and we’ll tell you again— she’d started, putting her hands on her hips.
Your mate is dead, the man chuckled.
Hunter remembered his mother’s knuckles going white on the backrest of the chair. He remembered squinting into the sun just like he did now against the lights in the party tent, trying to make out the face of the enemy.
Someone stepped aside, and Hunter stopped cold, seeing the face that haunted his dreams. An older, more weathered version, but the same man for sure.
Jericho Deroux, you get off my property, his mother had cried, defiant to the end.
The big man in the party tent lit a match and held up a cigar, just like he’d held a match to the pile of kindling on the cabin porch.
Don’t, Hunter’s mother had whispered, backing away.
“Don’t,” Mrs. Vanderpelt said to the guest. “No smoking, remember?”
Oh, Hunter remembered, all right. He remembered the cabin blazing away in flames. He remembered Jericho advancing as he and his mother fled toward the creek.
Run, Hunter, his mother had said in a hoarse whisper. Run. I’ll hold him off here.
She had, too, fighting Jericho in bear form, calling upon the supernatural strength of a mother determined to protect her child. But Jericho was bigger and stronger. His knife was sharper than Hunter’s mother’s claws, and it sliced deeper until he finally kicked her body into the river. Hunter had paddled after her, clinging to her fur in the rushing water until they came to a stop in an eddy miles downstream. He’d spent an hour trying to nudge her back to life and another hour trembling at her side, unsure what to do. It was only when Jericho and his men came splashing down the shallows that he’d fled. Somehow, he survived two weeks in the wilds before finding a distant relative who reluctantly took him in with the strict rule that he could never, ever let his bear out. Really never, not just never-when-humans-were-around.
His hands curled into fists as his bear raged inside. That man had killed his parents in cold blood. A man who’d been reported dead — the only reason Hunter hadn’t tracked him down to seek revenge.
Revenge, his bear growled. Now.
The points of his claws pinched the flesh under his fingernails, begging to be unleashed.
Jericho Deroux snuffed his match out with an annoyed shake then looked around. His nose twitched, and his eyes narrowed as he checked his surroundings.
Hunter froze as the man’s eyes swept right over him on the first pass. A dozen conflicting reactions rushed through his mind.
Kill him!
Hide from him!
Lure him outside then kill him once you’re out of sight.
Hunter ground his teeth. The hiding part stemmed from his inner cub, still lost and lonely after all these years.
No hiding. We exact our revenge, his bear growled. Right now.
But that wouldn’t work either, not with all these humans around. Including Dawn, who had to be nearby.
Sweat broke out on his brow as he clenched his fists. Damn it all. He had to prove he wasn’t the marauding beast Dawn feared. So he couldn’t kill Jericho.
Not even if that monster deserves it? his bear cried.
Slowly, grudgingly, he gathered every threadbare strand of self-control and vowed not to attack Jericho.
Forgive me, mother, he whispered in his mind.
That only left him one option — to watch and wait. To figure out some way to bring Jericho down in a way Dawn wouldn’t hate him for.
He stepped back into the shadows as Jericho’s eyes swept the area. When the man didn’t pause or show any sign of recognition, Hunter exhaled. Hybrids didn’t have the keen sense of smell that shifters had, though they did possess the same raw power.
Jericho shrugged and went back to his conversation, his eyes drifting over the room, pausing on attractive young women rather than potential threats. Then his eyes darted to the entrance and blazed with renewed interest.
Hunter followed his gaze — and froze. Dawn stood there, looking gorgeous as ever. Easily the most beautiful woman at the party without even trying. Maybe the most beautiful because she wasn’t trying. And shit — Jericho’s greedy gaze grazed all over her body.
“Excuse me,” Jericho murmured to the Vanderpelts and moved purposely toward Dawn, licking his lips.
Chapter Twelve
The second she’d parked the car, Dawn had hurried away from Hunter and headed for the bathroom to splash some water on her face. She needed it after the conversation she’d just had.
Mates? Battles over women? Spirit Stones? What kind of crazy world was Hunter part of?
She’d dabbed water on her neck and cheeks then headed to the party tent, frowning the whole time. For a little while, she’d thought the barriers between her and Hunter had all been knocked down. But now, they were higher than ever.
She took a deep breath and paused in the doorway to the party tent.
Time to get your head around the job, Officer Meli,
she ordered herself.
The tent was packed, and a band was warming up. Not the groom’s boy-toy band, thank God. More guests streamed in, some kicking grass off their shoes. Clearly, she’d made it just in time. The rehearsal over on the lawn had broken up, and everyone was starting to relax. Young men made a beeline for the buffet, while the women formed chatty huddles around the sides. Older folks and couples gathered in little batches here and there, forming their own cliques.
Her eyes swept over the scene, instinctively searching for Hunter. Where was he?
Then she caught herself and sought out the primary wedding guests instead. No more thinking of Hunter. She was undercover and on the clock, so she’d better get mingling and keep her eyes open for possible threats.
She cringed. Up until her conversation with Hunter, she’d been confident she could handle any would-be thieves. But what if a shifter battle broke out in front of her eyes? Could she handle seeing Hunter change into bear form again?
Just keep the possibility in mind, and stay safe, he’d said.
She didn’t dare imagine what exactly that possibility might entail.
“This is nothing,” one young woman sniffed to another. “My cousin got married in Tahiti. You should have seen it.”
Dawn made a face. She was pretty sure she had seen that wedding in the pages of all the gossip magazines.
“Did you see Ricky?” the second woman chuckled.
Dawn looked around, but the groom was nowhere to be seen.
“I bet he’s snuck off with that blonde who was throwing herself at him all day.”
Dawn’s eyes landed squarely on Hunter, homing in on him with some instinctive power she wasn’t sure she wanted to name. He was prowling around one edge of the tent, studying the guests. No doubt keeping his eye out for the diamond, too. There were plenty to choose from, given the who’s who guest list at this event. Every time he passed a woman with a low-cut top, Dawn tensed, but Hunter invariably breezed by, uninterested in the plunging necklines and surgically enhanced boobs.
Shifters believe in destined mates, he’d said. Finding the one person who’s meant for you. The one your heart is bound to forever, who you’ll love to the end of your days.