“Tell me your name,” he said quietly.
“Hunter.”
“I know you think you can’t tell me. I don’t know why, but I promise you, you can trust me.”
My heart threatened to burst with the need to give him something that, until now, had never been that important to me. It wasn’t fair that he’d opened up to me, been so patient with me, and I gave him nothing. It hit me hard right then, why it hurt to hold back. He wasn’t just a hot guy I was falling for. Other than Maddie, he was the first real friend I’d had in my life.
“It’s Diane. Diane Carter.” I hated lying to him.
“Diane. It doesn’t suit you.”
My stomach dropped. Did he suspect somehow? Had I hesitated, saying the name?
“Listen, Quantum of Solace is playing in town. Let me take you. We’ll go for dinner first.”
Oh, God. A date. A real, honest to God date. With Hunter. Dad would lock me in my room and never let me leave the motel again.
All the reasons to refuse scrolled through my mind. My dad, the black wolf, the fact that every time things in my life got good again, we had to move. If I started anything with Hunter, I’d only lose it. But the wolf was a dream, nothing more, and I couldn’t live my life alone based on fear.
The best part was, Dad was supposed to be off hunting, an overnight trip to reach a vamp nest outside of Springfield. Having left earlier that afternoon and scheduled to return late tomorrow night, he’d never know.
“The roads are icy. It’s a bad time to be out,” I finally said, mentally kicking myself even as I said it.
“I’ll drive slowly.”
“You don’t have a car.”
“I’ll take my friend’s car.” He squeezed my hands. His attraction, his need to be close to me, made my stomach flip flop. “Tell me where you live, and I’ll pick you up after your shift.”
I felt a flash of panic. If he saw where we stayed, at a rundown motel on the outskirts of Springfield, he’d have questions I didn’t dare answer. “I don’t like people seeing where I live.”
Suspicion drew his brows down, but he must have seen something in my expression that made him accept the explanation, because he nodded and his thumbs rubbed my palms. “Okay. I don’t care where you live, but if it embarrasses you that much, I’ll pick you up here.”
I closed my eyes. Please, please let this not be a mistake.
“Okay,” I said. “Pick me up here at four tomorrow.”
“You got it.” He kissed me on the cheek, a lingering press of his lips to my cold skin, driving away the chill. I’d feel that kiss for hours after.
I watched him leave, warmed to the bones when he stopped at the bus stop and waved at me. God, he was beautiful.
When I went inside, Maddie put her hands together in an exaggerated look of wonder. “Ah, young love.”
“Fuck you.”
We cackled and danced around the room. Life was good, but how long would it stay that way?
Hunter pulled up to the tattoo parlor in a dark blue sedan ten minutes before four, just as my shift was ending.
After dinner at a downtown steakhouse, we made our way toward the theater. Filled up on steak and mushrooms with baked potato, I felt sated and content beside this amazing guy.
The roads were slick, so he drove slowly, leaving us plenty of time to sit close and talk. Heat kept the car toasty, and Hunter’s hand felt wonderful in mine, big and gentle.
At a stop light, he lifted my hand and placed a kiss on my knuckles. My skin tingled. Never had I felt so comfortable with anyone in my life.
Some small part of me shouted to pull away, but I shut the voice out. Just this once, I would do something only for me, something I might never get to do again. Tonight, I’d let myself live. I relaxed in the seat and let my hand remain in his, where it belonged.
“So, which Bond movie is your favorite?” he said, looking sidelong at me.
“None.” I smiled when he cocked his head at me. “I don’t like them. I have this problem with sexist pigs, but it’s the best thing playing now.”
His teeth flashed at my snark. “You should have told me. We can see something else.”
I raised a brow at him. “Would you rather watch WALL-E, then?”
“If you want.” He chuckled.
“Seriously?”
We hit a patch of ice and the tires slid, skidding sideways. Hunter turned in to the skid. “Shit. Oooh, Christ.” We spun, skidding toward the long ditch that ran beside the road.
Panic gripped me. My hands shot up, pushing out at the ice that covered the road without my even knowing why.
The ice turned to water and the tires went through it with a slushing sound. Through the blood rushing in my ears, I heard Hunter swear. The car spun again, and I snapped my eyes shut, willing it not to go over the side of the embankment. Part of the front tires slid over.
“Stop,” I whispered, hands still up. Light glowed from my hands, pure, vibrant white, like two small suns. The car’s front end teetered. “Stop, stop, stop.”
The car slowly started sliding backward onto the road. When we sat safely on the road again, I lowered my hands, the light fading. The car stopped dead. Hunter had switched it off and now stared at me.
“Are you okay, Hunter? Are you hurt?” I reached for him.
He slowly lifted his hand, halting mine before I touched his shoulders. His mouth was turned down, eyes locked on my hands.
Oh, crap.
“What the holy fuck was that?”
Damn, I hated how unsettled he looked. He wouldn’t let me touch him.
Years ago, I’d learned that when I used magic and the Dragonlords came, they’d been drawn by the same wolf from my dream, not my powers. I looked around for the wolf, but I saw no sign of him. He didn’t always appear when I used powers, either. Even so, I couldn’t take an unnecessary chance. We needed to be elsewhere.
“We have to go.” I nodded for Hunter to start the car.
“Not yet. How did you do that?” His voice was low and too calm.
“Okay, Hunter, look. I’m…” I paused. How was I supposed to tell him? Everything I considered saying sounded cheesy or lame. I sighed, going with the truth. “I’m a witch, all right? We need to get—”
“A witch. What, you mean like, with a wand and a broom?”
“No. This isn’t Harry Potter. I mean, I’m a real witch.”
He shook his head, leaning back against the seat. Confusion poured off him. Every part of his mind struggled to grasp what he knew couldn’t be. Instinct tugged at me to clam up and say nothing, leave him in the dark where he was safe, but I couldn’t do that. Hunter meant too much to me now.
“Here.” I took off the ring my father had bought me for my sixteenth birthday and set it into my palm. Lifted my hand so it was right in front of his eyes, focused, and let the ring lift, hovering between us. The ring spun slowly in the air, and as it revolved, the blue sapphires set into the band caught the light with tiny shimmers.
He sat up slowly, eyes locked on the small piece of jewelry. “It’s a trick.” But eyes shone with fascination now.
I waved my hand, letting him see it pass between the ring and my palm. “No trick.”
He ran a hand down his face. “This is incredible.”
“Right?” I reached out and took his hands. At least his mind wasn’t racing anymore. And he let me touch him. “Are you okay? How freaked are you?”
“I’m good.”
He wasn’t, I could feel it, but he no longer looked like I might set him ablaze at any moment. I nodded. “We need to get out of here.”
He started the car. “Is that why you’re so secretive? Because you have superpowers?”
“They aren’t superpowers, Hunter. They’re magic. But yes.”
“I’m not in the mood for a movie now.”
“No, me neither.”
He turned the car around. “I’ll take you home.”
Sadness pricked at me, feeling like
I’d lost something that was barely mine. Way to go, Helena. Your one chance with a guy and you blew it. “I appreciate you taking this so well. Almost too well.”
His throat worked. “There’s a reason for that. I’m not totally unaccustomed to the paranormal. Helena, I haven’t been honest with you. I’m—”
“You’re a werewolf.”
His head swiveled. “How did you know?”
“Magic.”
“Well, I’m only half were. My dad’s side. My mother is human, so I can’t shift. But how did you know? Can you sense shifters with your magic or something?”
“Or something. I don’t totally understand it myself. I have senses better than humans because of my powers. I can smell your wolf.”
“Wow.” His voice sounded off. I wished I knew what he was thinking.
Fear raced up my spine. Was I saying too much? For years, my father had driven home how dangerous it was for anyone, even humans, to know about my magic. What if I’d read him wrong?
The thing was, I had to trust someone sometime. Had to let others in. Everything about Hunter told me he was worthy of my trust. As he’d said, he wasn’t a stranger to the supernatural world. He already knew I had magic. He didn’t know anything about Dragonlords, as far as I could tell, so he wouldn’t turn me over to them. My dad had his reasons for keeping himself closed off from others, and those reasons made sense, but I couldn’t build my entire life only around him.
Then again, maybe the choice wasn’t mine to make.
I sighed and gave Hunter directions to the motel. He said little to me on the way there, and I didn’t know how to break the silence. I’d have given anything to have my hand in his, for him to tell me he wasn’t afraid of me.
Several times he looked at me like he wanted to say something, but then he just turned his gaze back to the road. My stomach churned. How large of a mistake had I made going out with him tonight?
Then, a few minutes from the motel, he looked over at me one last time.
“I remember my mother saying something about witches, once,” he said carefully.” She said she had a friend in school once who they thought was a witch. She told me sometimes witches walk with wolves and turn into bats or dogs. Sometimes they take vampires as mates. Is that true?”
He didn’t say any of this with the usual accusing tone I’d heard Dragonlords say it with.
“They walk with wolves? She said that?” The image of that wolf from the dream rose up again, foreboding. “I’ve never turned into anything, and I don’t have any desire to get chummy with vamps.”
Some of the tension left him, but his hands were still a little too tight on the steering wheel. How would he have reacted if he knew my dad was a monster hunter who’d killed more than one werewolf in his life?
When we started down the dirt road that led to The Roadside Inn, it was full dark. At least my dad wouldn’t be home until tomorrow, so he’d never know I hadn’t been in the motel suite since my shift ended.
Hunter stopped a quarter of a mile from the motel lot.
I glanced behind us, at the single darkened lane that ran to the main street. Thick forest ran along either side, no other vehicles in sight. “You’re blocking the road, Hunter.”
“Don’t care.” He turned in his seat to me. “Look.” His voice was low as he closed his hand slowly over mine. “I want you to know you can trust me. I want to see you again.”
“You do?” My hopes skyrocketed.
“Yeah. My mother would probably be less than thrilled. I don’t think she’s as open about witches as me. My dad would throw a fit. But I don’t give a shit what either of them thinks. I want you in my life.”
I bit my lip, tightening my hand in his, unsure what to say.
“I want to see you next Friday.”
“And if I say no?” I teased.
“You won’t.”
“Wow. Still full of yourself.”
He took the ring I still held in my hand, catching it in his palm. “I’m taking this. For collateral.”
“That’s mine.”
“Mine now, until I see you again.”
“You’re a pain in the ass.”
“And you’re still beautiful.” He pushed a stray lock of my hair behind my shoulder, as he had before. He leaned over and my heart sped up. My lips tingled with anticipation, but instead of kissing them, he pressed his mouth to my cheek.
“Next time, the lips,” he growled in my ear.
“Why?”
“Gives you something to look forward to.” He got the car going again, headed for the motel lot.
“Okay, but you better deliver, Hunter Boyd.”
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll turn you into a toad.”
He chuckled. Yeah, I didn’t think I could do it, either.
We pulled up into the lot. I’d never felt so light, so safe. I could have lived in this moment forever.
Hunter shut off the vehicle and reached for the door when another vehicle slid in behind us, wheels crunching on the gravel. Bright lights flooded Hunter’s car through the rear window, almost blinding.
“What the fuck?” He looked behind him. So did I.
“Oh, no.” My stomach dropped into my boots.
My dad got out of his Blazer and stalked toward us.
Chapter 9
The Return of Kyas Danshar
“Get out of the car.”
Low and dangerous, my dad’s voice chilled me with its deadly force.
“Who is this guy?” Hunter didn’t move, looking at me with a protectiveness that made my heart squeeze. I reached for the door, but he took my arm. “Diana.”
That he didn’t even know my real name somehow made me feel empty inside. Would he have the chance to learn who I was? I sighed. “This wasn’t how I wanted you to meet him.”
My dad rapped his knuckles harshly on the window. “Out. Now. Both of you.”
“Meet him?” His eyes widened. “Oh, you gotta be shitting me.”
Hating myself for keeping the truth from him, I shook my head. “He’s my father.”
He put his head back against the seat. “Wow.”
“I’m sorry.” My stomach tightened at the thought of losing something that had barely started. I had a feeling, once I got out of the car, I’d never see Hunter again.
“If I have to repeat myself, I’ll break this window and drag you out, kid.” Dad glared in at Hunter.
“He means it.” I pushed the door open and got out. Hunter did the same. Dad backed away from the car enough to give him room, but only just.
“Diana, go inside.” He didn’t take his eyes off Hunter.
“And leave you with him? Not likely. Hunter, get out of here.”
My father scowled at my reply. I’d pay for that later, no doubt.
Hunter looked him up and down, taking in the long black leather trench, the eye patch, the holstered gun that hung to the left of my dad’s chest. I wouldn’t have put it past him if he’d made sure Hunter could see his pistol. Hunter moved away from the car out of reach of Dad. His body looked loose, ready. He sent me a sideways glare.
“Your dad’s The Ghost?”
My dad’s brows rose. Hunter winced, apparently realizing his slip.
I shrugged an apology. “I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“Eventually.”
“Diana.” Dad crossed his big arms. “You heard me. Inside, now.”
“Not until Hunter is gone. Hunter, go.”
Hunter looked my father square in the face, one of the few people who didn’t avoid his patched eye or flinch at the faint scar running from the patch to his chin. “I don’t want any trouble.” He reached for the driver’s side door. If he was afraid, he did a good job of hiding it.
“Not so fast.” Dad put his hand up. “If you know who I am, what does that make you?”
He squinted, curling his lip. “A werewolf. Are you going to shoot me now?”
“Probably.”
“Dad!” I raced around the car to him, wishing I could tell if he meant it or not. He moved between the car and Hunter, arms crossed again. I yanked at his elbow, trying to give Hunter access to the vehicle. He didn’t budge. Where the hell had my enhanced strength gone? No matter how hard I pulled, he didn’t move.
“Did you know he was a werewolf?”
“Dad, move. Let him go.”
“I told you, I don’t want any trouble,” Hunter said.
“You should have thought of that when you got in the car with her. Diana, get inside, now.”
“Let him go, first!”
When Dad didn’t move, I shoved my hand out at him. White light flashed, and my dad stumbled aside. “Hunter.”
Hunter flashed me a look full of desire and admiration as he opened the door. Dad reached for the door at the same time, as if he meant to shut it. I flung my hand out, holding him back with a wall of air. Dad growled and shot a look at me that would have sent a bear running.
Once Hunter was in the car, he gave me a nod, of thanks, I thought. Then he threw the vehicle in reverse, drove sedately out of the lot, and disappeared into the night. Only when the sound of his car died away did I lower my hand.
My dad said nothing, only grabbed my arm and hauled me across the lot to the door to our suite. “Did someone put stupidity-juice in your O.J. this morning?”
I twisted free of his grip easily. Of course, now my strength worked. “He already knows I have magic.”
“What?” He shot me a dark look as he unlocked and opened the door. “In!”
I stomped into the suite. He slammed the door closed, then went straight for the linen closet. I swallowed, knowing what he was doing even before he took out the dragonsteel cuffs.
“We were going to a movie,” I rushed to explain. “We almost got into an accident. I didn’t mean to; I was trying to keep us from crashing the car.”
Dad said nothing, only marched over to me, cuffs held up. Waiting. He wanted my wrists. I crossed my arms, not looking at those fucking cuffs.
“Hands!” he barked. “Now!”
Wisely, I thrust my wrists at him, head turned away. I hated those things, hated what they did to my power, but deep down I also knew he had no choice.
Dragonsteel: Shadowsword's Harem (Book One) (Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy Romance) Page 11