She used her free hand to take the blade from the one he grasped and lunged at him with it.
A bark left her lips and she recoiled backwards, her right shoulder jerking hard. A bolt protruded from it.
Harbin didn’t hesitate.
He grabbed the short arrow, yanked it free of her flesh and plunged it deep into the centre of her chest. Her cry cut short, her eyes enormous as the tension fled her body and she dropped her head to look down at the crossbow bolt sticking out of her heart.
She raised a hand to touch it, a frown flickering on her brow, and slumped onto the grass beside him.
Harbin tipped his head back and looked at Aya where she stood just a few metres away, upside down in his vision, the crossbow still aimed at the huntress.
Damn, she was a wonderful mate.
He had never had a partner before, but he was glad that he had one now, because she had helped him find the closure he needed. They had found it together.
He pushed the huntress off him and sat up, looked down at her and waited for it to sink in that it was over. He had finished the twenty-year-long mission to avenge his kin.
Warmth spread through him.
He looked back over his shoulder at Aya, and the heat that had been spreading through him, the light that had been chasing back the shadows, turned icy and black.
She rested on her side on the wet grass, her face ashen and eyes closed, clothes stained with dark patches that glinted in the moonlight.
She was hurt worse than he had thought.
His heart pounded as he pushed to his feet and rushed to her. His knees hit the dirt hard beside her and he pulled her onto her back and into his arms.
“Aya,” he whispered and jostled her, fear closing his throat and burning through him, destroying the sane part of him that said she would be alright and replacing it with poisonous words about her leaving him.
Dying.
He couldn’t lose her now.
He looked her over and his heart plummeted as he saw all of the blood on her right thigh and her side too. Her injuries were deep and she had already lost a lot of blood. Her heart beat slowly, a timid thing that clawed at his sanity, feeding his fears.
Her eyelids fluttered open as he smoothed his palm across her dirty cheek. “Is it over?”
He nodded and cupped her cheek, his hand shaking against it. “It’s done.”
She smiled faintly.
“That’s good.” A frown danced on her brow and her smile faded. “You scared me.”
Harbin tried to smile for her, but it wobbled on his lips as the whispered words about losing her grew louder and he couldn’t combat them.
“I know. I had to pretend I was dead. You can shout at me if you want… tell me how cruel it was to do that to you… be mad at me, Aya.” Anything to show him that there was still fight left in her, she was still strong enough to survive her wounds. His blood chilled as she sank deeper into his arms and he jostled her again to keep her awake and with him. “It’s a trick Hartt taught me… nothing more than a trick… but… you’re scaring me now, Aya.”
A smile fluttered on her lips and she opened them, as if she wanted to say something. No words left her lips as she slumped in his arms.
Harbin growled and tried to rouse her again, but nothing he did worked.
“I can’t lose you, Aya,” he whispered and looked around the park, drawing deep breaths as he tried to clear his head so he could think about what he needed to do to save her.
Cavanaugh.
He had to get her to Underworld.
She would be safe there, able to sleep and heal in peace.
He couldn’t move her until he had bound her wounds though.
The air off to his left shimmered and Hartt appeared with Fuery, both of them covered in blood that belonged to them.
“The bastard got away,” Hartt growled and looked down at the dead huntress. “He disappeared. It must have been when she died. It broke his contract with her and he fled… I’m not sure we’ve seen the last of him though.”
Hartt’s violet eyes swung towards Harbin and widened when they landed on Aya.
“Is she alright?” He immediately crossed the narrowed strip of grass to Harbin and crouched beside her.
Harbin held her closer, the conviction he felt inside him pouring out in his words as he looked down at her. “She will be. I’ll see to that. I won’t let anything bad happen to her.”
Because he would go insane if he lost her.
She was his light, his everything. The sole reason he was alive. Without her, he had no reason to live. Without her, his primal side would consume him and he wasn’t sure he would come back from it this time. If the pain of losing her drove him into his snow leopard form, he wouldn’t want to come back from it. He would lose himself in that wild oblivion, mourning his mate forever.
Bandages appeared in Hartt’s hand and the elf held them out to him. “We must take care of her wounds.”
Harbin nodded and pulled down a breath to steady himself and put a leash on his animal side. He hadn’t lost her yet. He wouldn’t lose her.
He set her down on the grass and focused on binding her wounds, stemming the flow of blood from the lacerations across her stomach and thigh while Hartt dealt with the cuts on her arm. His fingers slowly steadied as her heartbeat grew stronger, a comforting sound in his ears that he focused on as he took care of her.
“I’ll take her to Cavanaugh,” he said, his voice distant as he worked. “I’ll leave her in his hands. She’ll be safe there. If the witch wants vengeance, he’ll be after us, not her. I’ll stay away until we know we’re in the clear.”
Harbin’s fingers paused on the bandage around her thigh. He wasn’t sure he could leave her though. He wasn’t sure he was strong enough to do it, not when she was hurt. He needed to be by her side, but satisfying that need by remaining with her would only place her in more danger and he had already put her through enough.
Hartt sat back on his heels and then gracefully rose onto his feet. “We shall split up then, but come home soon. You’re safest at the guild. We can handle the witch if he shows up there.”
Harbin nodded. “I’ll return soon.”
Hartt was right and the guild could handle the witch. He would be no match for the combined power of the assassins who called it home.
“I don’t have the strength left to teleport you both to Underworld… and I’m not sure it would go down well if I did anyway.” Hartt’s violet eyes shimmered with something like remorse, and Harbin couldn’t stop himself from wondering whether it was regret over not being able to help him or regret over the elf female who lived at the club with her jaguar mate. He turned his cheek to Harbin, looking off to his right, and held his hand out. “Fuery.”
The darker elf male shuffled closer to his companion, his head bent and lips moving silently as he muttered things in their language.
Hartt eyed him warily, but with an edge of concern, and took hold of his arm. He bent his head to Harbin and silvery light traced over both elves, and then they were gone and he was alone with Aya.
Harbin stroked his fingers through her black hair and studied her pale face for a moment, his senses locked on her and monitoring her. She was stronger already, her body beginning to heal the wounds they had bound. He told himself that she would be fine now, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it.
Until she opened her eyes and smiled at him, he wouldn’t stop feeling as if he was going to lose her.
Gods, when had she changed him so much?
He scooped her up into his arms, pushed onto his feet and started towards Underworld, cradling her carefully, not feeling the pain of his injuries as the ache in his heart eclipsed it.
Aya.
He had fallen so hard for her, so quickly that the drop had been a dizzying rush and only now that he had landed was he coming to terms with what had happened.
He was in love with her and he wasn’t sure he could live without her now, not
as he had intended to barely a few days ago, wanting to have a brief moment with her before pushing her away.
Now he wanted to pull her closer and never let her go.
The walk to Underworld was over before he knew it, his feet carrying him towards his brother on autopilot, his keen senses able to track him across the city.
The neon sign above the club was switched off and the heavy dark metal doors were closed, the streets around the huge brick building quiet except for the distant hum of cars on the main roads nearby.
He dragged his eyes away from the door, settling them on Aya, the weight on his chest growing heavier as he saw how pale she still was. This wasn’t going to go well, and he was asking a lot from his brother when they had only just got back together, but this was the safest place for her right now.
He had to do what was best for her.
The journey to Hell and his home there would take too long, and traversing the portal between the two realms would drain her strength. She needed to rest and recover, and Cavanaugh and Eloise would make sure she did just that.
He sucked down another sharp breath, quelled his desire to turn away from the door and take Aya with him back to Hell, and knocked instead.
He stared down at her as he waited, losing himself in her, listening to her soft breathing and her steady heartbeat. She would be safe here with Cavanaugh and the others, away from him.
The door creaked open and he lifted his head, instantly shifting his focus to the sandy-haired bare-chested male on the other side.
“Leave,” the jaguar shifter snapped, his golden eyes glowing dangerously, and then growled when Harbin shook his head. He jammed his hands into his black sweatpants and stared him down, radiating tension and fury that had Harbin’s hackles rising.
Kyter was pissed and Harbin could understand why, because he would be upset too if someone made moves on his mate, but he wasn’t going to let the shifter drive him away.
At least not until he had agreed to take Aya inside.
“I’ll go… I don’t want to cause trouble… but I need to see my brother.” Harbin looked down at Aya and felt Kyter’s gaze leave him, wanted to growl when he sensed that he was looking at Aya. “I need Cavanaugh to take care of her for me. She’s hurt. I need her safe and I need to tell my brother what I’ve done.”
Kyter snarled. “What did you do to her?”
Harbin met his gaze and growled at him, baring his fangs, his animal side pushing at his control when he realised the shifter thought he had been the one to hurt her.
“Nothing. She was injured in a battle. I can’t take her with me to Hell… she won’t make the journey and she won’t be safe there. I need her safe.”
Gods, he needed that, more than anything.
His arms shook beneath her slender weight as he looked back down at her, vision blurring as that need pulsed through him, combining with his fears to strip him of his strength.
“Is she your mate?” Kyter whispered softly, all anger gone from his voice.
Harbin sensed his brother nearby, felt the familiar pierce of his gaze, and nodded. “She is my fated female.”
He lifted his head and looked past Kyter to Cavanaugh where he stood shrouded in shadow behind him, his loose grey loungewear and silver hair making him stand out in the darkness. He caught the concern mixed with warmth in his bright silver eyes, happiness that Harbin wasn’t sure he deserved.
“You can stay,” Kyter said, snatching his focus away from his brother and stoking the battle raging inside him, the war between leaving her and staying by her side. “Only until she’s recovered, and if that elf shows up, I’ll kill you both.”
Harbin didn’t doubt that, and he couldn’t blame Kyter for putting the threat out there either.
Relief flitted across Cavanaugh’s face and he moved closer. Harbin looked from his brother to Kyter, and then down at Aya.
Gods, he wanted to stay with her, but in doing so he feared he would bring danger to the doorstep of Underworld. His heart whispered to stay, but it also told him to stick with his plan and go.
He closed his eyes, lowered his head and held Aya closer to him. Her weight in his arms was also the weight of responsibility on his shoulders, something he couldn’t ignore.
“I can’t,” he said and opened his eyes and studied Aya’s pale face, aching as he thought about leaving her and knew the time was drawing closer. He vowed that he would come back for her, because they had a lot to talk about and he wasn’t sure he could keep away from her for long. He wasn’t sure he could live without seeing her face every second of every day. Forever. He pressed a soft kiss to her brow and then lifted his head and looked at the two males. “I won’t place everyone here in danger.”
Kyter and Cavanaugh looked concerned again.
“I’ve angered a witch. A very powerful one.”
It didn’t seem to be explanation enough for his brother, because he stepped forwards and frowned at him, that same look Harbin had seen a thousand times as a boy. He was in for an earful.
“You’re staying,” Cavanaugh said, deep voice rumbling through the tense silence. “If Aya is your mate, she needs you here. You need to be here.”
“I need to be far from here,” Harbin countered. “I brought her here so she would be safe. The huntress…”
Cavanaugh paled.
Harbin swallowed hard, and with a dry mouth and pounding heart said, “I’ve finally killed her… the last of the Archangel team who attacked the pride… but she employed a witch to deal with me. We lost him, and he’s dangerous. Aya will only be safe from the witch if I leave her here.”
Kyter huffed and folded his arms across his broad bare chest. “There are wards on the building, ones cast by a powerful white witch. They’re strong enough to keep anyone out who I don’t want entering my club. Now I know of the witch, I’ll just decide not to allow any witches in and that will stop him.”
“It’s true,” Cavanaugh said. “Nothing can penetrate the barrier around the building or sense who’s inside it if Kyter doesn’t want to let them in… so are you going to stay now?”
Harbin was tempted, because he couldn’t bring himself to leave Aya’s side when she was hurt.
“Listen to your heart, because it’s what you seem best at.” Cavanaugh moved closer still, coming to stand beside Kyter. “Your love for our family and kin drove you to go on a journey for revenge, and while that journey separated us for two decades, it has finally brought us back together too… and it has brought you to your mate. You need to listen to your heart again now, because I suspect I know what it’s telling you to do.”
Harbin sighed. It was telling him to stay with her now that he knew the building was protected and that everyone in it would be safe. He could lay low until the witch lost his scent and be with Aya, where he needed to be.
He hadn’t won her yet.
If he left her now, he risked losing her.
He looked at his brother and saw in his pale silver eyes that he wanted him to stay for another reason too. He wanted to be a family again, and Harbin found himself wanting that too, even when he wasn’t sure how to go about it or how to overcome everything that had happened. It felt as if the past stood between them like a crevasse he couldn’t cross to reach the side he wanted to stand on—the side where his brother stood.
But if he did as Cavanaugh asked, maybe there was a chance he would find the right path to take to cross that ravine between them.
Maybe staying would do more than merely reunite him with his brother.
He looked down at Aya.
Maybe it would forge a new family for him, one made up of his brother and Eloise.
And his mate.
CHAPTER 23
Aya slowly became aware of the world around her, the dark veil lifting to bring sounds to her ears and scents to her nose, and sensation to her body. She was in a room, one unfamiliar to her. It wasn’t Hell. The air held the familiar sooty smell of London. But she wasn’t in her bed in her apartm
ent.
She was warm, cocooned in softness that she didn’t want to leave and that made it hard to care where she was, because it was so comfortable here. The soothing warmth wasn’t the only reason she didn’t want to move. Her body ached, sore in places, and as awareness of her surroundings finished dawning, awareness of what she had been through replaced it.
She recalled the fight between her and the huntress, how desperate she had been to keep the female in her sights so Harbin wouldn’t lose her again and both of them could have the closure they needed. She remembered taking blows and dealing them, and remembered passing out after the battle had come to an end.
The moment the huntress’s heart had given its final beat, Aya’s strength had left her and she had collapsed.
She recalled how afraid Harbin had looked when he had held her, and that drove her to open her eyes, because he was in the unfamiliar room with her, silently prowling around it. His emotions were in turmoil, a turbulent tangled flow from him around her. He was worried about her.
She needed to show him that she was recovering.
The dull light in the room was bright as she lifted her eyelids, bouncing off the cream walls and stinging her eyes and making her flinch away from it.
Harbin instantly swung towards her, the dark shadows leaving his handsome face and striking eyes as he saw she was awake. The relief he felt coursed through her too, but concern quickly overwhelmed it in him. Aya ached with a need to alleviate his fears but she wasn’t sure what to say, not when her heart was tearing her in two different directions.
It was over.
The huntress was dead and she wasn’t sure what that meant. The part of her that had vowed to leave Harbin once that had happened warred with the part of her that wanted to stay.
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