Masters of the Hunt: Fated and Forbidden

by Sarra Cannon

  He gathered a handful of my hair and pulled forcefully trapping me with my back arched against the edge.

  He whispered in my ear. “Run, rabbit, run, try to get away.” He slowly moved to the other ear. “Run, rabbit, run, I’ve come out to play.” He pulled harder on my hair making the pain a little sharper. I cried out in surprise. “Run, rabbit, run, for it’s the end of the day.”

  He sipped at the water running down my neck making his way to my shoulder. The pulling eased but he didn’t release me. “Sweet, sweet, Connie.” His cool breath flowed down my skin raising goose flesh, making my exposed nipples harden. Only then did I realize how shockingly far out of the water I’d raised myself. I tried to cover up with my hands but the tension on my hair increased.

  He released it but I felt his hands run under mine to cup my breasts as he continued to rain kisses down to the hollow of my neck. His teeth dragged along my skin as if to test my skin for tenderness. I had almost forgotten how it felt to have someone touch me. A fire built inside of my chest where his hands kneaded me. I took all my loneliness and grief then shoved them into this inferno. It burned.

  Lifting me from the tub, he pressed my back to his solid chest. He was hard against me. His hands explored my skin and his mouth consumed mine.

  My body screamed ‘yes ‘ but my soul wasn’t ready. The passion dissolved into guilt, as similar memories were dragged from the corners of my mind. An old familiar hurt twisted my heart as a vision of my dead husband returned.

  I sobbed.

  Rurik misunderstood it for desire. He laid me on the soapy tiles and crawled onto me. “Oh, Rabbit.” He moaned as he tried to press his lips to mine.

  I turned my head, hiding the tears that trickled from my eyes. Stupid of me to allow things to get this far, I should have known I wasn’t ready.

  His weight no longer bore down on me instead he hovered over me and tipped my chin back toward him. “Connie?” His gentle tone caressed me. “Did I hurt you?” The concern in his voice sounded genuine.

  I reached up and touched his handsome face and traced those well-defined cheeks. “No, but I’m not ready. I-I haven’t been with anyone but my husband in years.”

  His eyes widened. “You’re married?”

  I tried to sit up but he still pinned me. “No, I’m widowed.”

  He sighed and rolled off me. “You shouldn’t tease a man like that.”

  It felt like I’d been slapped. “Tease! You invited yourself in here.”

  He raised his eyebrows at me. “Pembe said you requested my presence.”

  I sat there on the wet, soapy floor, naked looking like a fool. “But...” At the pool! I’d asked Pembe for Rurik because I’d been afraid to get into a pool filled with vampires. “I... Oh, Rurik, I didn’t mean...” Getting up I rushed over to the table and wrapped a towel around myself. I felt horrible and embarrassed. “It’s a misunderstanding.”

  Rurik watched as I tucked the towel securely in place. A frown marred his features. “I’ve already seen your breasts.” He fluidly stood and sauntered over unfazed by his nudity. He reached for a towel as well and began to dry off. He glanced at me with a wicked smirk. “And fondled them.”

  The tub room lacked places for me to crawl into. I couldn’t look up from my feet. Rurik had his little revenge.

  He wrapped the towel around his hips. Patiently waiting for me to get over myself.

  I looked up at him.

  His face softened. “How long since he passed?”

  I wrapped my arms around my body. “Eighteen months.”

  He nodded to himself and gazed at the tubs. For a moment the seductive, confident vampire dropped his mask. Grief remembered reflected in his conflicted eyes. Just as quick as it came, it disappeared.

  Twisting sinuously, he caught my chin, lifting it up to his face. A slow sensuous smile graced his face. “Vampires know grief well. I can wait, Connie.”

  Stunned, I nodded. Pulling my towel tighter, I left the private tub room in search of my clothes.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning I woke disappointed in myself. The sexiest man I’d ever met wanted me and I flaked out.

  I left the bathhouse last night in a flurry of quickly applied clothes, assisted by a distraught Pembe.

  Rurik made me cry twice in twenty-four hours. I needed to get away from him. The temptation to succumb combined with my unresolved grief made me crazy. To add to my confusion, Rurik kept giving me the wrong impressions. For a murderer, he treated me well and with compassion. It produced too many doubts.

  I trusted Colby and his judgments. This time my instincts fought against it. I didn’t know what to do. Colby would send me out to lure Rurik in for the kill, I won’t be the one holding the stake but the responsibility felt the same.

  After breakfast, I called Colby’s cell but only got his answering service. My instructions were to sit and wait. So I did. I feared missing his call.

  — —

  The late afternoon sun soaked into my skin while I lay on the hotel bed. I flipped through another brochure for a tour of Budapest, this one featured a haunted cemetery. With a wistful sigh, I threw the pamphlet on the floor, which had become littered with them. My cell, which sat by my hand chirped, I snatched it up and knew it would be Colby finally returning my call.

  “How are you holding up?” His voice sounded like crushed gravel.

  “I’m bored beyond belief.”

  His low chuckle carried well over the phone. “I have something to alleviate your boredom. We have a place for you to go.”

  “Okay.” I’d spent the afternoon rehearsing what I’d say to him but it all evaporated. “Is Rurik still my target?”

  “Yeah. Who else would it be?”

  My heart fluttered with the realization I wasn’t going to tell him about the bathhouse. He already threatened to send me home after the club screw up. If he found out about our impromptu date he’d start to doubt everything I did. I walked a tight rope between these two men, and my balance sucked. “You spoke about Dragos yesterday,” I snapped. “Where do I go?”

  “The A38 club. My sources tell me Rurik is supposed to be there tonight.”

  “Colby, what if Rurik’s not guilty for killing those victims? I mean, you’re planning to kill him tonight, right?” This dilemma tore me up. What if we killed the wrong vampire? What if something worse took over Budapest because of it? We could be doing more harm than good. The silence from the other end of the line continued. “Colby?”

  “Tell me what’s bothering you.”

  “I’ve met with and spoken to Rurik. He’s not the same as the others we’ve disposed of. My gut tells me we’ve got the wrong vampire.”

  “Your gut?”

  “He’s the one who followed me to my hotel room. He’s the one who shoved me out the window, at the party, to help me escape. I’m sure he’s the one who saved me from the vampire that chased me through the damn alleys. Doesn’t that say something?”

  “Yeah, he’s trying to seduce you and doing a good job at it.”

  “What?” Colby’s perception annoyed me. “All that to get into my pants?” Rurik almost accomplished it last night. Even though I sat alone in my hotel room my cheeks still got warm but from anger not embarrassment.

  “He’s entered your mind deeper than I suspected. I’ll be honest, I’m starting to agree with Red on this one. Maybe you should sit this one out. Once they breech your shield, Connie, it gets easier for them to manipulate you. He drugged you then took you as a meal for his master. Does that spell ‘nice guy ‘ to you? Has there been any other ... contact with him?”

  “No,” I lied. “At the party he offered me protection—he wouldn’t allow Dragos to kill me.” I omitted my part of the bargain. It wouldn’t help my case to investigate this crime some more before executing the wrong vampire.

  “If he’s such a hero, he shouldn’t have brought you to the party in the first place.”

  “I didn’t say he was ‘nice. ‘ Ju
st he may not be the killer.” I rubbed my forehead. A migraine brewed. “Colby, I’ve never questioned your judgment before. You must have some kind of hard proof.”

  “No, you’ve never doubted me. That’s what worries me the most. You know I always get proof. But I’m not giving you details. Especially now I think you’ve been compromised.”

  I could hear him breathing over the line.

  “Red is right about this. They’re too powerful to use live bait. You’ll get hurt.”

  This wasn’t going according to my plan. It never occurred to me he’d start doubting me. “You need me, Colby. If you really want Rurik, I’ve got him for you. He’ll come to me, but I need some piece of hard proof, for my conscience.”

  He was going to send me home. I could picture Red breaking down my door and stuffing me in a box with an express stamp to the U.S.A.

  This job suited me. It gave me purpose. Ever since watching Colby stake the vamp who had attacked me in a Las Vegas club bathroom, I knew it was for me. I didn’t want to go home. Alone with no distraction but my own pathetic thoughts, I’d be romancing Captain Morgan within a few days.

  He sighed. “Connie, I’m sending you a package. It will contain your assignment and your proof.”

  I silently did a little happy dance.

  “Stop dancing and listen. Don’t make me regret this.”

  How did he do that?

  — —

  The package contained a sheet of paper with directions to a jazz club on the Danube River.

  It also contained pictures.

  They showed a kiss of vampires feeding on a pile of victims. I counted over fifteen dead, pretty young things in their twenties. The bodies were posed in gruesome, horrendous displays for the camera, like they wanted mementos of the event.

  One of the close-ups was Rurik. His eyes gazed into mine from the picture.

  I sank to the floor. My heart wrenched at what I’d almost let him do to me last night. Nausea rolled the dinner in my stomach.

  Nightmares haunted me at night sometimes but these images would make sure I never slept again. I picked up my instruction sheet and looked over their directions.

  Time to get this bastard.

  Chapter 10

  “Hold still, Connie. You’re going to make me drop this down the front of your dress.” Brad’s hands trembled as he tried to attach the chip inside the cup of my bra. If he pulled the material any further from my skin it might snap off into his hand.

  I stopped tapping my foot and watched his face as he concentrated on his job. A five o’clock shadow that never seemed to thicken or lessen accentuated his strong jaw.

  Brad functioned as the team’s gadget man and didn’t like the way the chip’s signal worked the other night. They got intermittent readings and almost didn’t find me. He thought it got damaged when I fell on the dance floor steps at the club where I met Rurik. So he decided to place it somewhere less likely to be crushed.

  I would have accused him of coming up with this idea just to cop-a-feel, but the blush and flutter of nerves he radiated changed my mind.

  He glanced up and met my stare, his fingers accidentally brushed against my cleavage. His blush deepened to a lovely shade of scarlet. “Sor ... sorry.”

  Red came up behind him. He winked at me. “Keep your hands to yourself and attach the damn chip already.”

  The chip tumbled down the front of my neckline to rest between my breasts inside my bra. Brad’s shoulders slumped and he hung his head in defeat. Rurik would never see this as a loss but an opportunity. I chuckled to myself before the memory of those terrible pictures returned. It wasn’t fair. He shouldn’t be in my head, I hated that I still caught myself thinking about him.

  I sent a glare of hot, smoking daggers at Red. “I’ll fish that out myself. Thank you for your help, Red.” I wore a spaghetti strap, mid-thigh length, black dress. There wasn’t much material to work with, which led to the tracking chip being clipped to the cup of my strapless bra. The chip proved to be elusive at first. Brad needed to assist me with his penlight to find it.

  The jerk, Red, leaned against the wall, arms across his chest. His shoulders shook with contained laughter.

  This only stoked my anger. I couldn’t stop thinking about Rurik. The raging, hot steam those pictures generated produced a pressure in my chest and I couldn’t wait to release it. My revenge would taste sweet.

  Brad finished setting the chip into the lacy material. “All done.” He grinned at me, a thin sheet of sweat beaded on his forehead, under the disheveled mouse brown hair. Why couldn’t I be attracted to a sweet, shy man like Brad? Instead I fantasize about a bloodless cold monster. I needed therapy.

  The laptop on the bed blipped and Brad turned his attention to it. He tapped a few keys. “The readings look fine. Why don’t you move around. Maybe jump up and down.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  Red stepped forward and smacked Brad upside the head. “Behave.”

  “I didn’t mean ... I wanted to make sure it’ll stay in place.” He shook his head while the scarlet color returned to his cheeks.

  I laughed. “It’s okay, Brad.” For a hardened soldier he sure could blush. I shimmied and jiggled for him. Shy men may not stoke my libido but they did bring the devil out of me.

  “How are the readings?” Red maintained his stoic expression but his unheard laughter produced a shimmer of tears.

  Brad pulled his eyes from me. “Yeah, great signals.”

  Red loomed over me and stopped my antics by steering me from Brad’s view. “Stick to the plan.” He handed me a small black purse. “The ticket for the concert is inside. Colby’s tried to get someone in there with you but the show’s been sold out and the club’s administration is being difficult.”

  “How did he get my ticket?”

  “From a source. This plan stinks. You should both wait for another opportunity and more back up.”

  “There may not be other chances. Don’t worry, Rurik will follow me home. Be ready for us.” I squeezed his beefy bicep. After the bath house, I’d be shocked if Rurik didn’t.

  “Watch your back.”

  I nodded. The devilish side of me finished teasing Brad by pecking him on the cheek and watched another bloom of scarlet grow on his face. Time to bring in my target, to meet the real Rurik, and get some answers.

  The A38 club was the reincarnation of a Ukrainian stone-carrier ship. It started a new life on the Danube River as one of Europe’s coolest clubs.

  I arrived at the refurbished boat’s mooring beside the Petofi Bridge. It stood two stories above the water, made of solid, thick iron and full of bright lights. Fresh paint and windows made it shiny but the ship’s design enhanced its age. A wonderful medley of new and old. The doorman held the door and allowed me in.

  The club subdivided into three floors of revelry: the roof terrace on the deck, the restaurant by the galley, and the lounge with club in the hull. I made my way to where the concert would be held in the lounge. Its interior furnished in brown leather and dark wood in a modern style provided a warm and elegant atmosphere.

  I forced my fists to unclench as I stood at the entrance. I’d find him here. Rurik. The images of those photos still haunted me. They clung to me like tar. We would start with him, their leader, and then work our way to find the others who had participated in the massacre. I took a deep breath and pulled myself under control.

  Tables surrounded a stage where the band played a smooth tune. I gave my ticket to the vendor and entered the dimly lit room.

  Private booths lined the walls. The lack of lighting made it difficult to see, all I could make out were dark silhouettes. But I was confident Rurik’s vision would be able to see me.

  A touch to my elbow caught my attention. I smiled to myself. That didn’t take long. As I twisted toward him I pasted my best sultry smile on my face.

  A gentleman with long blond hair and a casual gray suit stood next to me. He held up his glass, even though I didn’t hav
e a clue what he said, the gesture made it clear. He wanted to buy me a drink.

  Damn, I flirted with the wrong guy. I shook my head. “English?”

  His eyes traveled up my body back to my face. A sugar coated smile appeared as he lifted his glass once more and pointed at me.

  I shook my head again. “No thanks.” I pivoted to leave but his hand snaked around my elbow.

  His hand caressed my skin until it reached my shoulder, his intentions painted on his handsome face.

  I ground my teeth and glared. Apparently he wasn’t used to being refused. If shaking my head didn’t translate maybe a right hook would. Taking a deep breath, I counted to ten. I couldn’t afford getting kicked out of the club. Then again, it would get Rurik’s attention and relieve some of my pent up tension. I eyed my amorous new friend and sized him up.

  Before I could decide what action to take, a set of long, pale fingers wrapped around my unwanted flirt’s wrist and removed it from my shoulder.

  The man’s grin disappeared, replaced by fear.

  I stared at the inhuman hand that replaced his. My heart sped up as my eyes trailed from the hand, up the arm, to the face. I hoped to see a set of icy, blue eyes but instead met black, soulless ones. “Tane.” His name was barely audible as I choked on it. I saw him last at the party, one of Dragos ‘ kindred. He had stayed with Rurik to fight off Colby’s men.

  A fedora covered his bald head and pointed ears. He released the man’s wrist and in a calm voice told him something. My assailant lost interest and left us.

  Tane’s attention returned to me. He wore a short sleeved shirt with a buttoned up vest and matching black, pin-striped slacks. His tattoo scrawled in an intricate fashion down his neck to disappear under his collar. In the dim light, he could pass for human.