Vampire Redemption (Heart of the Huntress Book 5)

by Terry Spear

  Crichton and his minions were next. She turned to see Zachary studying her with such a sadness she couldn’t fathom. Was he not happy she selected him to be her mate? Of course, if he so chose to not accept her, he had every right. But there was no other huntress his age who would be an acceptable mate. He had shown an interest in her.

  She smiled at him, but he turned his attention to his meal. “Is something the matter, Zachary?” she whispered. They both caught Adonis watching them. She clenched her napkin in her lap. What was her brother’s problem? Just because she showed interest in a hunter finally… She touched Zachary’s leg. “Zachary?”

  “What did you want to ask me?” His fingers wrapped around hers.

  She wanted to know what was bothering him now. She didn’t want to divulge her plans at the dinner table. “Not here.”

  “You seem perturbed about something.” He pointed to her meal. “You’ve barely eaten more than a bite.”

  She stared at her food, poking an asparagus spear with her fork.

  “Pasha?”

  “I…” She tilted her chin up. “I want to avenge my family’s deaths.” She spoke the words softly so as not to alert the others, but with resolution.

  Zachary’s clear blue eyes widened. “No.”

  Pasha opened her mouth to speak, then clamped it shut. She turned her attention to her food and stabbed her fish twice. She had every right to go after rogue vampires, especially when they had killed the rest of her family, her uncles, aunts, cousins…the whole lot of them slaughtered. Every right. How dare he tell her no!

  Her cheeks grew as hot as a fire poker resting in fiery blue flames.

  Zachary clenched his fork in his fist. He understood Pasha’s desire to terminate her family’s murderers, but there wasn’t any way he’d let her go on such a suicide mission. Her cheeks were three shades redder than he’d ever seen them. He knew she was furious for his saying no. Was that why she’d selected him solely to pursue? Because she thought he’d go along with whatever she had schemed to do? Like a hunter puppet on a string? He gritted his teeth in irritation.

  Adonis had warned him she was a hot-headed firecracker. Now he could see what he was in for. He took a sip of his wine, glad the change hadn’t affected his taste or appetite for human food. He reconsidered Pasha’s statement. What if he did help her, and she agreed to kill him? Or maybe he’d even manage to get himself killed on the mission? He rubbed his smooth chin. That could work.

  He turned to watch her beat on her salmon, then he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

  She looked up at him, her eyes misting with tears.

  Her distress sliced into him. “Not without me.”

  Her lips turned up in the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. How could he not do as she bid when she seemed so overjoyed? He was a pushover, where she was concerned. But he had his very own needy agenda.

  She slipped her hand onto his leg and stroked him. Zachary grabbed her hand. Vixen. She smiled at him. Now what was she up to? She didn’t think she’d get him to make love to her early, did she? No way could they do so until they were truly committed to one another.

  Hell, what was he thinking? He couldn’t commit to her ever. No way could he even consider making…

  She pulled loose from him, then returned her hand to his lap.

  “Pasha,” he whispered, his voice decidedly huskier. He glanced at Adonis who was whispering something in Rachael’s ear.

  She seemed genuinely happy with the hunter-turned vampire. Did Adonis’s new special abilities include improved lovemaking skills?

  Zachary’s erection was already as hard as a steel rod, and his boxer briefs felt two sizes too small. He grasped Pasha’s roving hand again. “Behave.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re unwilling.”

  Nobody could accuse him of that. He’d had his share of relationships with human females. And certainly the chance to be committed to a huntress as beautiful as Pasha was, the way he admired her fighting skills against the vampires, even her need to avenge her family, and as rare as huntresses were, he would have given her his heart in an instant. But that was before he had been turned.

  After the dishes were cleared, several stayed to drink coffee and talk further. Pasha dragged Zachary from his seat. “Let’s take a walk in the gardens.”

  He knew her enthusiasm was spurred on by her desire to make plans to go on a hunt. But was her only interest in him for the same reason? To get him committed to her hair-brained scheme? That put a damper on what he thought she felt for him.

  They wandered alone through a garden where red climbing roses hung over wrought iron arbors scenting the air with a subtle, sweet fragrance. Butterflies flitted about the flowers as he and Pasha disturbed their business. “What did you have in mind, Pasha?”

  She pulled her hand free from his and wrapped her arm around his waist. “You do want me, don’t you?”

  Now that was a loaded question. Did he ever. And no, he couldn’t. “You know so little about me. What if we’re not…compatible.”

  “That’s why I believe that we should skip some of the normal courting procedure and get down to…business.”

  He raised his brows to hear her words. Huntresses never gave themselves to a hunter unless he was the one she chose for her mate for good. What happened to the month he thought he would at least have before he had to tell her what he’d become?

  Before he could respond, she said, “If you’re going to help me with this hunt, I wouldn’t expect you to do so on a wink and a kiss, Zachary. I already told my father you were the only hunter for me, and he’s delighted with the prospect of your being his son-in-law.”

  There was no going back. He couldn’t live the lie with Pasha. He just couldn’t. “I can’t tell you how much your saying so means to me. But…well, circumstances have changed and…I’m not the hunter you think I am.”

  Chapter 5

  In the gardens with the roses and wisteria in bloom, Pasha lifted her chin, and kissed Zachary’s lips, her warm mouth searing his with passion. She was forbidden fruit and his blood coursed with desire. The unfamiliar feeling warned him her warm, sweet blood was calling to him…the bloodlust already rising in his system. Zachary had to tell her the truth about what he had become.

  He pulled away from her affectionate embrace. “I’ll help you kill those who murdered your family in Florida, but only on one condition.”

  She stared at him, her lips slightly parted, her rich brown eyes showing confusion. “Anything.”

  “If I don’t die by the hands of the vampires, you promise you’ll terminate my life.”

  A small cry escaped her lips as tears filled her eyes. She shook her head. “I don’t understand. Why…” She shook her head again and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I don’t understand.”

  “Pasha, you loathe what Adonis and Danai have become.”

  “What has that to do with us?”

  “I can’t have you committed to me, then hating me for what I am. And frankly, I have enough self-loathing for the both of us.”

  Her eyes grew big. She looked at his neck, then pulled his shirt collar aside. She gasped when she saw the vampire’s bite marks on his neck, and her reaction sent a twinge of hurt into his gut.

  “You…you. Ohmigod, Zachary…” She covered her mouth to stop any more words. Her eyes were laden with tears.

  He stood impotent, not wanting to touch her for fear she’d scream or…he wasn’t sure what. Maybe she’d use the dagger at her waist to terminate him.

  She backed away from him several steps, and then he knew he’d made the right decision. The only huntress ever willing to commit to him, the one he’d fallen in love with at first sight, could never be his. And he knew he didn’t want to live as a hunter turned. She abhorred him, just as he knew she would.

  For a horrified second, she stared at him as if he was the demonic vampire Piaras himself, and then she stormed back down the path toward the house.

  With his hea
rt torn, Zachary continued walking through the gardens, not wanting to talk to anyone about anything for the moment. He stopped to watch the water cascade into a basin filled with rounded river stones, knowing he would have to go on the next hunt that was scheduled. He was never careless, well, not usually when he hunted, but if he did slip up and the vampire took advantage of his mistake, it was a way for Zachary to die with honor.

  Footsteps from the direction of the house in the distance approached. He turned to see Rachael walking toward him. “You told her?” Rachael looked surprised.

  Zachary nodded. “I couldn’t live a lie with Pasha. She had to know. You knew from the beginning what Adonis was.”

  Rachael took Adonis’s arm and led him to a stone bench. “Yes, and I was torn between loving him and giving him up. I couldn’t love a vampire, I kept telling myself.”

  “Well, Pasha can’t either.” He shook his head. “What’s the use? I wouldn’t want her to marry something like me either.”

  They sat together on the cold stone bench. “Adonis told me you wanted to die.”

  Zachary’s heart hitched. He hadn’t expected Adonis to tell anyone.

  Rachael patted his shoulder. “I won’t say anything to your father. Uncle Tobias would have you seeing a shrink.”

  Zachary couldn’t help but smile. He knew Rachael was pulling his leg.

  She rubbed his arm. “Adonis had to live to rescue Pasha and their parents. He never had time to sulk about what had happened to him. When he saw me, he knew he wanted me for his own…no matter what I thought.”

  “It’s not the same with Pasha. She hates Adonis and Danai for what they are. Now she hates me.”

  Rachael took a deep breath. “She was speaking to her father.”

  “It’s to be expected. She’ll want to encourage other hunters’ interest in her now.”

  “Give it a chance, Zachary.”

  He shook his head. “I was a good hunter, wasn’t I?”

  “One of the best. You and Michael are following in your father’s footsteps.”

  “She asked me to do something for her, and I said I would, only now…now I doubt she’ll trust me to do the job.”

  “What’s that?”

  “She wants me to go with her to hunt down those who killed the rest of her family.”

  Rachael stood, then wrung her hands. “That’s a suicide mission.”

  “What’s wrong, Rachael?”

  “She’ll be asking Adonis next. Or maybe she’ll get someone else to convince him to go.”

  Zachary rose from the bench and took Rachael’s hand. “Will Adonis go?”

  “Will I go where?” Adonis asked as he appeared next to Rachael.

  Zachary’s mouth gaped open.

  Adonis wrapped his arm around Rachael’s shoulder. “You had a spat with my sister already? She’s asked my father if he’ll permit her to see other hunters now.”

  Rachael said, “Zachary told her what had happened to him.”

  “Ah. You’re too honorable for your own good. So what about this business about whether or not I’m going somewhere?”

  Rachael and Zachary exchanged glances.

  “Family secret? Remember, I’m part of the family now.”

  “Pasha wants to fight the vampires who killed your family,” Rachael blurted out.

  “Oh.” He rubbed Rachael’s back. “We have to do it, you know. Just as you had to avenge your parents’ death, we have to do this.”

  “You and Danai and Pasha?”

  “Yes.”

  “What about your parents?”

  “They can’t know we’ve gone to do this. Both my parents have lost their fight, but they’d go with us if they knew what we were up to. They’d be killed.”

  “All right, but I’m going with you.”

  He ran his hand over her belly. “Not with our child, you’re not.”

  Rachael frowned at Adonis. “Now you listen to me, Adonis Cameron, I am too going, and neither you nor anyone else is going to stop me.”

  “All right. How can I say no to that? What about you, Zachary?”

  “Count me in, though I’m sure Pasha won’t be happy about it.”

  “I’ll be the leader of the hunt. She won’t have any say in it.”

  “What about Michael?” Rachael asked.

  “If Danai goes, he will too. Pasha is really hurting. My father’s a broken man over this whole situation. My mother hasn’t overcome her own grief. Pasha needs time to sort out her own feelings too. In the meantime, take a stand with her. Show her what you’re truly made of, not just what she imagines. I know you want her. Go for it.” Adonis took a deep breath. “I did with Rachael. Not that I didn’t feel the way you’re feeling right now, so soon after being turned. I’ll have to discuss the hunt with your father. He wouldn’t like it if I took both his sons and his niece on a hunt without his permission.”

  “Not to mention a son-in-law,” Rachael said, poking her finger into Adonis’s chest. “Remember, as part of my family, you have to live by my uncle’s rules, too.”

  Adonis smiled. “Do you know how demanding your cousin is?” he asked Zachary.

  Zachary frowned at her. “She’s a handful. She gave me fits growing up, watching out for her, keeping her out of trouble.” Then he grew serious. “I’ll go with you to speak with my father.”

  “Pasha will be the same way with you,” Adonis assured him.

  Zachary sighed. He was determined to do this, to whatever end.

  Zachary’s father’s blue eyes studied Zachary, then he turned to Adonis after hearing Adonis out. “Have you discussed this hunt with Michael?” Tobias asked.

  “Yes, sir, and if you agree, he’d like to go.”

  Tobias slumped in the chair. “That’s a change for the better. Danai has certainly been a good influence on him. But if Zachary goes, I want your assurance you’ll watch out for him.”

  “Father, I’m not a teen hunter. At twenty-six—”

  His father raised his hands as his eyes turned stormy. “You have already asked Adonis to put an end to your life. If you go, I don’t want any foolhardiness on your part. You haven’t even had a chance to grow into your new condition as it were. Do you understand?”

  Adonis cleared his throat. “If I might add, sir, the hunter and vampire instinctive sense of self-preservation will kick in whenever there’s a fight. I can assure you Zachary would do nothing to put his life in danger on purpose when in so doing, he would endanger all the rest of us.”

  Zachary’s father rubbed his chin. Then nodded. “If it is as you say, I give you permission. When will you leave?”

  “Tomorrow before dawn. They won’t expect us, and I hope to take Danai with me to infiltrate their estates first, then…”

  “They’ll know you, won’t they?” Zachary asked, for the first time really feeling some enthusiasm for the project. Maybe being what he’d become could give them an edge. “I’d have to go in. Then I’d return and let you know the layout of the place.”

  Adonis looked to Zachary’s father for approval.

  “You do as you see fit. Just keep him safe. But about Rachael…”

  “I don’t believe I could keep her here, even if I chained her to the house,” Adonis said.

  Tobias tapped his fingers on the arms of his chair. “She’s with child. Huntresses who have mated normally don’t hunt, but especially once they’re with child.”

  “Second month. It shouldn’t be a hindrance for her fighting. I’ll be sure to watch over her as well.”

  “As will I,” Zachary promised.

  His father smiled. Zachary figured his father knew this was the best way to get him out of his morbid slump.

  “What about Pasha? She has asked her father if she can see other hunters now. What brought that about?” Tobias asked.

  Zachary held his breath. Would her father give her permission to see others now? Of course he would. He’d have to be crazy not to. What about his father? Would he be angry Zachary to
ld Pasha the truth about himself? “I had to tell her.” He looked at the floor, not wanting to get her into trouble. Damn it. He loved her.

  “Why? Why wouldn’t you court her first for a month like we discussed earlier? Why did you have to spring it on her so soon after she and her parents were freed?”

  Zachary looked at Adonis, who waited with bated breath. Turning to his father, Zachary said, “She didn’t want to wait.”

  “What?” Adonis ground out, sounding furious.

  “I’m sorry, Adonis. She wanted me to make love to her, and I couldn’t. Not that I didn’t want to. But I couldn’t. Not without her knowing what I’d become.”

  Adonis stormed toward the conference room door, then hesitated. “Do I have your permission to end this discussion, Tobias? I have some extremely important business to take care of immediately.”

  Zachary’s father waved his hand at him to go. “I do not envy your position.”

  “May I go with you?” Zachary asked Adonis, hoping to defray the anger Adonis had just displayed and knew would further vent against Pasha.

  “Since it concerns you, yes. If she denies what you’ve told us she’d asked you to do, you’ll be my backup.”

  When they exited the conference room, they spied Pasha talking to Anthony, sitting next to him on the sofa, way too close for Zachary’s liking.

  Though Adonis had started in her direction, Zachary stormed past him. He pulled her from the couch and wrapped his arms around her, pinning her against his body. Whispering in her ear, he said, “Adonis is leading us on the hunt, but if you don’t…” She attempted to squirm from his grasp. He tightened his hold, her warm, soft body filling his with desperate need. He knew she could feel his hardness as she wiggled to get loose from him. Did she know too, she was meant for him? He cleared his throat and continued, “If you don’t mind him, you’ll stay behind.”

  “I’m going,” she growled. Then she stopped wriggling to free herself. “We’re going?” Her voice rose in surprise.

  “Yes, tomorrow morning. And as you have committed to me, my love, you will flirt no longer with Anthony or any other bachelor hunter.”