by VA Dold
“You were orphaned at birth?” Sara asked in a quiet voice.
He rubbed his chin on the top of her head. “Yes. But it wasn’t entirely a bad thing. The royal family took me in as one of their own and gave me their name. Never once have I been treated as less than flesh and blood. I’ve lived a life I never would have, had I been raised by my birth parents. Plus I had a brother to play with. Isaac and Emma Le Beau, the king and queen, had a one-year-old son of their own when I was brought to them. I had a wonderful childhood. Cade and I grew up together and have always been close.”
“You miss him. I hear it in your voice.”
“Very much. But I’ll see him again soon.”
“So how did you become a rogue hunter?”
“That is another tale of tragedy.” His breath ruffled her hair on a shaky exhale. Seth’s strangled voice was barely above a whisper. After almost two centuries his heart still clenched each time he spoke of Gerard and his family. He blinked back the tears that threatened to fall. He hadn’t allowed himself to think of his boyhood friend and that terrible day in a very long time.
Sara reached back and buried her hand in his hair. Her touch was exactly what he needed. She didn’t know it yet, but she was an anchor that kept him tethered in an emotional storm.
“When I was a boy, my best friend lived on the plantation next to ours. His family was indentured to the plantation owner and working for their freedom. Though they were poor, they always set an extra plate at the table for me. I ate there more than I did at home. One afternoon, a foul odor assailed my nose as I drew near their shack. That was the first time I smelled agony and fear. It’s not a scent I will soon forget.”
Her fingers slipped from his hair to caress his neck. “What caused the smell?”
“A rogue had attacked them. All were dead except Gerard. The beast had pinned him with tree limbs to a wall of the cabin. His arms and legs were stretched out like a hide to be tanned. I ran to help him and as I opened my mouth to scream the rogue sliced him open from neck to pelvis. His screams still haunt my nightmares.”
“What happened to the rogue? Did he go after you?”
“He would have, but when he turned on me, a hunter rushed from the forest. As I tried to push Gerard’s organs back into his belly, the hunter fought the beast with a skill I’d never seen. In the end, the rogue escaped, and my best friend was dead. Leo, that was the hunter’s name, feared I would be injured when the fight ranged too close to where I stood, so he let the rogue go. He saved my life and then stayed with me for hours. Leo helped me lay the family to rest, and as we dug graves, he told me about the hunters and what I would need to do if I wanted to be accepted into training.
“When we finished, Leo took up his sword to track the rogue and finish him. I followed, refusing to turn back until he agreed to take me along.
“I was an adolescent and untrained, yet he let me hunt down that rogue and make the kill. Standing over that rogue's dead body with a bloodied sword in my hand, I vowed to kill as many rogues as I could. That evening as I trudged for miles to get home, Luperca the creator of the shifters appeared to me. She and I struck a deal. She would allow me to train as a hunter, but only once I turned twenty-five and completed my education.”
“And have you? Killed enough of them, that is?”
“Yes. Paul will be my last hunt. But he’ll be your kill. I know the need you’re feeling. The gnawing ache to bring justice to the beast that took your kin. I would never take your retribution from you.”
“I appreciate that.” She turned in his arms and laid her palm on his cheek. “I’m very sorry you lost your friend.”
“Thank you, mon amour. As I am very sorry you lost your brother.”
She nodded and glanced away as tears gathered in her eyes.
He held her a minute longer before he spoke again. “Do you have plans for dinner or should I order pizza?”
Sara brushed her fingers over the wetness under her eyes. “Pizza sounds good to me.” She got her phone from her purse and scrolled for the pizza shop. “What do you like on your pie?” As she spoke, she initiated the call.
He grinned and rubbed his belly. “Whatever has the most meat. Get two. I’m a growing boy. Oh, and something to drink.”
She lifted her brows, humor accentuating the tiny laugh lines at the corners of her eyes, but rattled off the order as requested. “Hold for a moment.” She turned her attention back to Seth. “What would you like to drink?”
“Do they have beer?”
She held up one finger. “Could you add both beer and Coke to that?” There was a pause. Finally, she rattled off her address and ended the call.
The couch cushions dipped as she sat beside him again. “We have about twenty minutes before dinner arrives. Do you mind if I ask you about the training you went through as a hunter?”
“Of course not. It was the day after my twenty-fifth birthday. I woke up bright and early and went for a run in wolf form. While I was running through the woods, Luperca appeared to me. She gave me one last chance to change my mind. When I stayed the course, she told me I had one week to get my affairs in order and say my goodbyes.”
Seth took a breath and rubbed his jaw. “I figured the training would be rigorous. It had to be. It was more brutal than I ever imagined. At first, we concentrated on physical fitness and strength. At the end of six months of running until we dropped, climbing rock walls until our fingers were bloody stumps, and a whole list of other requirements, there was an entire day and night of pass/fail testing. The majority of my fellow trainees failed. That was the hardest twenty-four hours of my life.”
“What did you have to do for the test?”
“I had to partner with an Elite hunter and kill a rogue. The thing was, the rogue was someone I knew.”
“Why would the Goddess do that to you?”
“She had to be sure we could make the kill regardless of who the beast had been.”
“Were you sent out after that?”
Seth barked out a laugh. “No. Weapons training and hand-to-hand combat started the next day. We weren’t given a recovery period because a rogue sure won’t let you catch your breath, and we had to learn how to deal with exhaustion. I excelled at weapons because of my gift. I can make anything into a tattoo on my body and call it forth at will.” To prove his point, he stood, reached behind his neck, and pulled a sword from under his shirt.
“Holy, shit!” She reached out to touch the blade. “Is that real?”
Seth pulled it away before she made contact. “Yes, cher. And take care. It’s razor sharp.”
“Were any of the trainees injured, or did you use fake weapons for training?”
“There was nothing fake about training. I’ll never forget the feel of a blade slicing through my body when my focus slipped.”
Sara covered her mouth with her hand and sucked in a breath. “Did anyone die?”
“Thankfully, no. On the first day of training, the students are given the unique gifts of a hunter. Some of us call them a curse.”
“Why would the Goddess curse her hunters?”
“She didn’t actually curse us. She made us temporarily immortal and gave us enhanced healing abilities. Each hunter is assigned a geographic area and hunts alone. As long as a hunter remains in her service, he or she can’t perish from an injury. We can suffer a hell of a lot and not die.”
“So, you’ve lived alone all these years?”
Seth nodded. “For over a hundred. The first fifty or so I tried to stay connected to society. But that was a lot of work and painful when I had to kill a friend.” He shrugged as if he wasn’t saying horrific things. “So, I just stopped making friends and moved into the mountains where there weren’t humans to bother me.”
She raised a brow and repeated his words. “Bother you?”
He sighed. He couldn’t change what he was or how he’d lived. Out of necessity, he was cold-blooded and antisocial. �
�You know, talking, hanging out. That kind of behavior leads to friendships.”
Sara nodded. “I can understand your avoidance of relationships when they could lead to hunting a friend. That would suck, big time. So, do you have a house in your mountains?”
“Since my induction into the Elite Hunters, I haven’t had anything that was mine, save my sword and a change of clothes. I lived alone in an abandoned one-room cabin, hunted alone, and moved often. For almost two centuries, I’ve done my duty to my people at the expense of my wants and needs. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t have to join the team. It was my choice to live the life of a hunter. My parents tried to talk me out of it, but hunting was something I needed to do.”
He stopped talking when she lifted her palm to his face. She studied him. His eyes. “Is it that you don’t like to be around people, or you’ve gotten used to doing without the contact?”
“I’ve gotten used to having Fang as my only companion,” he said solemnly, then he turned his head to kiss the center of her palm and smiled. “But I like being around you.”
Sara gave him a shy smile. “I sorta like you, too.” Then she cocked her head. “Who’s Fang?”
“My wolf. Over time, I developed a slightly different relationship with my beast than other shifters have. All shifters communicate with their animal soul, but the interaction is on the beast’s level. As far as I know, Fang is the only wolf soul that has learned to talk and exist as an equal with his human half.”
“That’s amazing.”
“I like to think so.”
Fang rumbled with pleasure. She thinks I’m amazing.
Get over yourself. She thinks our relationship is amazing.
“Speaking of my wolf and the training I’ve received, it would be safest for all concerned if you were a shifter when we go after the rogue. I would prefer to take the time and woo you, but our circumstances prohibit that luxury.”
Seth suppressed a grin when Sara fisted her hands in her lap and resisted the urge to toss him out on his ear.
“Mon amour, hear me out.” Seth reached out a hand and hesitated, assessing her response as he pressed it against the center of her chest. “Listen to my words with your heart and soul to discern the truth. I can promise you two things. One, there are few creatures deadlier than the one before you. And two, you’re my cherished mate. If you’ll permit me to protect you, I’ll never allow harm to come to you. Claiming and converting you to a shifter is a key element of that protection. You will need shifter speed, strength, and accelerated healing to survive the coming battle.”
“I’ve already told you that isn’t going to happen.”
“In that case, I can ensure your safety by hunting and killing the rogue tonight. But I know that isn’t what you want. For you to gain closure, you need to be the one to do that. Killing Paul on your behalf isn’t what you need from me. The safest way for you to dispatch the rogue is to give you the tools you’ll require. Those tools come part and parcel with a shifter soul.”
Seth removed his hand and sat back to observe her expression as he awaited a response. He had spoken more in one day than he’d done in the past year and his throat ached a little.
Sara scowled. The sincerity in his voice did little to cool her temper. As far as she was concerned, he could talk until he was blue in the face. She would never be a shifter mate. Ever. There had to be another way.
Her eyes moved over his face. Watched him. She stayed very still, pushing her gift back as it threatened to erupt. Anger wasn’t conducive to control. A churning volcano of energy crackled and snapped in preparation of an explosive release. The lights flickered, dimmed, and then resumed their natural glow. The growing power was there in the room with them, the static charge raising the hair on her arms. It became a non-sentient entity that manifested as tiny sparks dancing along the floor.
In a last-ditch effort, Sara rose and walked across the room to stand at the front door. If need be, she’d dissipate the energy outside where there would be minimal damage. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on calming her emotions. Without turning she pressed a hand to the wooden door, using it to ground the energy. “I haven’t had such a lack of control since I was a child. You seem to bring out the worst in me.”
Sara flinched in surprise when warm hands gripped her shoulders and turned her. She chanced a glance at his face and knew she was losing the battle that warred in her heart.
When Seth pressed his lips to hers, she returned his kiss. And just like that, the strength of her resolve wavered. His lips left hers, and the weight of her hair was swept aside. Then he gently nipped at the crook of her neck. When Seth kissed her frantically beating pulse, and she tipped her head to give him better access, she knew she was screwed.
She didn’t step from his embrace. She should have. Her mind screamed run, but her soul whispered stay. Her entire body warmed, and that was just… terrifying. In equal measures, she wanted to strip him naked and run for her life.
“Sara.” The tone of his voice was as much a caress as his lips and fingers moving over her skin. “Mon amour, our soul connection ensures our attraction to one another. You can try to reject it, but in the end, it won’t be denied. I know you understand what you are to me. You said so at the coffee shop. What you don’t know is that I spent decades searching for you. All shifters know there is only one person who can complete them. I knew the moment I saw you, heard your voice, and smelled your delicious scent. You felt it too. Now that I’ve found you I can’t let you go. You can’t give a man a glimpse of heaven and then walk away. Can you?”
She sighed. “All I can promise is that I’ll think about it.”
“I can live with that.”
As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Seth kissed her lips lightly and stepped back. “The pizza is here. If you would get the plates and napkins, I’ll get the door.”
Sara blinked. Somehow, kissing him caused a three-second delay between her ears and brain. “Alright.”
As he reached for the doorknob, it was all she could do to step aside. Her lack of cognitive functions when in close proximity to the man didn’t bode well for fighting the rogue together.
Sara shook off the fog and forced her feet to get a move on. Forks and knives were pulled from the silverware drawer, two plates from the cupboard, and a small pile of napkins plucked from the holder. Taking a deep breath, she walked back to the living room.
Seth gave her a smile as he flipped open the first pizza box and took a piece. He placed it on her plate and took another for himself. “This smells amazing.”
“Wait until you taste it.”
Feeling eyes on her, she glanced at him. Seth wore a goofy smile as he chewed. “What?”
“How do you make eating pizza look so sexy?”
Sara snorted. “I think you need glasses.”
“I’ll have you know, I have exceptional vision,” he said with a wink.
She took a careful bite of the pizza, chewed, and then pointed at him with the slice. “We need to talk strategy and ground rules. I hate to admit it, but being around you affects my ability to function.”
“That should clear up once we’ve done the claiming ritual. Right now, our attraction is running amuck in an attempt to encourage the bonding. Don’t get me wrong, the desire will always be there but much more controllable.”
“Then we have a problem because I haven’t agreed to that.”
He cocked an eyebrow but didn’t respond.
They polished off the entire pie in silence. Popping the last bite into her mouth, she set her plate aside and wiped her hands with the napkin. “That was the best pizza I’ve gotten from that restaurant.”
“I totally agree. It was very good.”
Seth grinned at her when she covered her mouth to stifle a yawn. Stretching, she stood to clear away their drinks and plates. “You’re planning on going to your hotel tonight, right?”
He looked her in the eye and shook his
head. “No. Paul has been here at least once today. After the message he left for you, he’ll be back. I intend to be here when he returns.”
Sara scowled. She didn’t like anyone but her family sleeping over. The really annoying thing was, he was right. Not that she’d tell him that. “Fine. I’ll get you some blankets and a pillow. You can sleep on the couch.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Sara handed a small pile of blankets and a pillow to Seth and nodded toward the couch. “It’s more comfortable than it looks.”
“Thank you. What time do you work tomorrow?”
“I don’t. I’m off the next two days.”
“Good. I’ll be better able to keep an eye on you if you come with me to track the rogue.”
“Whatever. I don’t need a babysitter.”
Seth closed his eyes, drew a breath, and prayed for patience. “Yes, you do, and you know it. You’ve seen Paul in action. As trained and determined as you are, you’re no match for the strength and ferocity of a rogue.”
She folded her arms across her chest and glared. “But I would be as a shifter I suppose?”
“Yes. You would be more evenly matched. Does your question mean you’re ready to move forward with the claiming?”
Sara snorted and turned for the hallway leading to her room. “Not hardly. Good night, Seth.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Sleep well, mon amour.”
Seth awoke on Sara’s couch with an aching back. Not that he would mention it to his mate. If she wanted to believe the couch was comfortable, he would uphold her illusion. What mattered was she let him stay.
It took a moment to clear his mind. Dreams of Sara’s body pressed against his lingered. Her up against the wall, splayed across the bed, and in the shower. Them sharing the hottest sex he’d ever had. Needless to say, he had an epic good morning hard-on. A quick glance down the hall told him she was still asleep in the bedroom. Thank Goddess, or he’d be hard-pressed not to act out one of last night’s fantasies.
But he couldn’t rush his mate. She would let him know when she was ready to acknowledge their relationship.