Hunter of the Heart: Moon, Magic, Madness, Book 1

by Vanessa Jaye

“Seriously, man. Let go. Nothing good can come of this.”

  Deep down he knew Mitch was right. And yet a blade of need filleted his gut and he inhaled swift and hard.

  “So Templeton was right. The lady’s got you full sprung.” Mitch sighed and shook his head. “Look man, that doesn’t change a thing. You have—” He flicked a glance at Angelica, who was craning her neck in the direction Tessa had disappeared. He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “You have other obligations.”

  “I can’t—”

  “You can.”

  “No.” Nate kept shaking his head. “Don’t ask me to. I can’t let her go.”

  “Yes.” Mitch gave no quarter. “You can. And you will.”

  “She’s mine,” Nate whispered fiercely. “Meant for me.”

  “Get over it. You had a mate and did all that mine, mine, mine shit already. It’s done. You have a responsibility now. To me, the Elders, to Beth and to all of fucking mankind. So get your head out of your ass and your dick out of your hand because you are going to see this shit through.”

  Nate boxed Mitch’s hand away, hackles tingling, his canines lengthening. “Fuck you.”

  “Guys, do you think we should go after Tessa?” Angelica brought them back to the here and now. The other humans were giving them second looks, and even the stall owners seemed more interested in the drama he and Mitch were providing than selling their wares.

  “Not we,” Nate said, holding Mitch’s gaze. “Me.”

  Tessa slowed. Overhead the sky blazed azure around a white hot sun, and before her the sea sparkled like diamonds were strewn upon the surface of the water.

  She walked on, her thoughts fragmented by the laughter and chatter of other tourists and the vendors trying to grab their attention.

  “Look here, miss, this would be so lovely on a pretty girl like you.”

  “Why so sad, lady? I have just the thing to cheer you up.”

  All their efforts only elicited a dazed glance from her.

  “Tessa!”

  She spun around with a gasp, then exhaled just as forcefully as relief flooded her.

  Or was it disappointment she felt?

  “Rod.” Tessa made herself return his smile as he closed the gap between them.

  “Fancy meeting you here. You’ve been scarce. I haven’t seen you in days.” He looked around as he raised his shades, revealing intensely blue eyes. “Where’s the boyfriend?”

  “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just—” What was Nate to her? It didn’t bear scrutinizing right now. “He’s a friend.”

  “Oh yeah?” Rod’s pecs flexed under his snug T-shirt. “Seemed pretty possessive for just a friend. The guy’s a weirdo, if ask me.”

  If he only knew the half of it. She shrugged and took a half-step away. “Well, I’m headed back on board.” She took another step away.

  “Me too. I’ll walk back with you.”

  Tessa squinted up against the sun’s rays haloing his head. For a brief second his gaze seemed sharp and predatory before he broke into another smile.

  “Or did you want to look around some more?”

  “No. Let’s go. I’m done here,” she said, yet she couldn’t help throwing one last glance back into the midst of the market.

  Unerringly, she found Nate, as she’d somehow known she would. He stood unnaturally still in the mass of bustling bodies, his face masked with some indefinable emotion.

  She could feel the force of his will tugging at her, but she turned away before she gave in and ran across the pavement and into his arms.

  Instead, she vainly tried to block out his voice in her head.

  “Come back to me, Tessa.”

  It didn’t take long to reach the Pleasure Princess, and once on board Tessa didn’t want to be alone, so she hung out with Rod for the rest of the day. He wasn’t such bad company when he chilled out on the heavy come ons, and she even found herself laughing occasionally, much to her surprise, briefly forgetting the events of the last few days.

  There were other times though, when a chill skimmed over her skin despite the sun’s heat, and she couldn’t seem to breathe beyond the clammy fear that pressed down on her chest. Once or twice she caught sight of Nate watching from across the length of the pool, or from somewhere in the shadows.

  Each time she encouraged Rod to leave. With eleven decks, two movie theatres, endless shopping and several levels, there was plenty to occupy them on the ship. And many places to hide.

  Before she knew it the hours had flown by. In a few more reluctant steps they’d be at her cabin. She’d made a half-hearted attempt to discourage Rod from escorting her to her door, but secretly she was glad when he insisted.

  She took her passkey out and turned, resting against the door. “I want to thank you for today. It was fun.”

  “It was fun for me too.” He rested one hand near her head and leaned close. “But it doesn’t have to end. We can have some more fun inside.”

  “I don’t think so.” She pressed her palm against his chest. It was like pressing against concrete.

  “Come on, girl, you’ve been flirting with me all day. There’s no need for the shy act now. I promise I’ll still respect you in the morning.”

  Stay calm. “Rod, I wasn’t flirting. We were just hanging out and being friendly.”

  “Bullshit. I know your type. Cocktease. Bet your boyfriend can’t get it up enough for a hot little piece like you. You need a man like me to show you how it’s done.”

  Before she could respond he mashed his mouth against hers, grinding her lips between their teeth as he forced his tongue deep into her mouth. Tessa freed one hand and yanked on his hair. He broke the kiss and his face twisted with anger.

  “Bitch,” he snarled. His voice dropped several octaves, reverberating deep in his throat. “Don’t pretend you don’t like it.”

  “Let go!”

  “Tessa? Are you okay?”

  Her gaze shot down the hall and she instantly recognized her savior. “Angelica.”

  Tessa tried again to shove Rod away but he held on and licked her from chin to cheek before letting go.

  “We’ll finish this later,” he promised and flickered his tongue at her.

  “You ever come near me again and I’ll-I’ll—” Tessa couldn’t find a deserving threat, but she was talking to his back in any case as he moved swiftly down the hall. He spun around, blew her a kiss, turned and broke into a light jog.

  “Bastard!” she yelled, then wiped a hand across her mouth.

  “Who was that guy?” Angelica had come up and settled against the opposite wall, concern etched on her face.

  “N-nobody.”

  “Do you want to call security? Or should I go get Nate?”

  “No!” She lowered her voice with some effort. “No. I don’t want him here.”

  Nate was too overwhelming. If he came near her now she’d lose it. And she desperately needed to get a hold of herself.

  “Okay, okay.” Angelica assured her. “I have to tell you though, he’s pretty torn up about whatever happened between you two at the market today.”

  “Really?” She imbued the word with as much don’t-give-shit as she could. Nate, Nate, Nate. Tessa wished everyone would just shut up about him already.

  “Really,” Angelica said with teasing half-smile. “You two make a cute couple; you should work it out. He’s certainly tastier than the slab of meat who was just pawing you. Have you guys been together long?”

  “Me and Nate? N-no, we just met on the cruise.”

  “Interesting.” Angelica raised her finely arched brows. “The way he acts, you’d think you guys were together much longer. I guess he’s just one of those uber-protective men you read about in books. Whatchamacallits, alpha heroes?” She gave a little tinkle of a laugh. “Men. Can’t figure them out in some ways, and in others…” She leisurely crossed the width of the aisle.

  Tessa hadn’t realized how tall Angelica was. Of course, she was wearing three-inch heels w
hile Tessa was in flats, but still…

  And she really was startling beautiful—her skin flawless, not a single pore showed this close up. And either her hairstylist was a genius or, given the variations of highlights and lowlights in her hair, she was a real redhead. Then there were her eyes, which weren’t blue but a deep, vivid hypnotic violet.

  Her perfume seemed to wreath Tessa’s senses, yet in the next breath it was almost too strong, with an unpleasant sweetness. Or maybe it was that Angelica was standing too close, so close their breasts almost touched. The sliver of air that separated them turned electric and Tessa felt her heart start to race.

  “And in other ways?” she prompted in a breathless whisper.

  “They’re so predictable. It’s pathetic.” Angelica’s voice dipped to a husky note. “That’s where we women have the advantage. The element of surprise.”

  She kissed her softly, openmouthed, tongue and everything. Then her hand stroked over one of Tessa’s breasts, nails scraping the nipple lightly.

  Shocked out of her momentary paralysis, Tessa shot to the side, putting a few feet of distance between them. “Whoa!”

  “Relax. It was just a friendly kiss.” Angelica let out a raspy chuckle. “No wonder Nate’s crazy about you. You’re so innocent. How delicious.” She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms under her magnificent chest with her large nipples seeming to point straight at Tessa accusingly.

  Tessa jerked her gaze away. She really, really had to stop noticing Angelica’s physical attributes.

  “So you want to grab a drink at the bar?” This was said as cool as you please.

  “What? No. I-I mean, I just want an early night. Alone.”

  “Suit yourself. I think I’ll go hunt down Mitch. I’m feeling a little frisky all of a sudden.” With a last wink, Angelica sauntered away.

  Shaking her head, Tessa entered her cabin. What a day. When she got home she was going to upgrade her cable subscription and renew her library card. Maybe take up scrap-booking or needlepoint. This trip had been enough excitement to last a lifetime.

  She stripped off, took a shower and performed all the other mundane nightly bedtime things by rote. Her head was stuffed with too much information, and too many things she had to do. Like, she had to get off this ship.

  She’d speak to the captain first thing tomorrow about the possibility of disembarking and taking the first plane back home. Should she tell him about the Pithcus? Oh yeah, she could just imagine how that conversation would go down. Who would believe her tale about werewolves, magical jewelry and man-eating monsters? She was even beginning to doubt her own sanity now.

  At some point Tessa came to and found herself staring at her reflection, toothbrush in hand. She really had to pull herself together, but images kept flashing through her head of Nate, Templeton, the beauty of the island, the lush vegetation and breathtaking expanse of water…the same startling blue as somebody’s eyes? Frowning, she rinsed and spit.

  Her mind refused to focus, instead her thoughts kept jumping from one fractured impression to the next. The subtle menace of Templeton’s home and the rich scent of Angelica’s perfume. Mitch’s hostility, Rod’s sliminess, Angelica’s come on, all those tiny bones.

  Nate.

  She made a little sound of longing, remembering how he looked standing in the middle of the crowded market, reaching out to her. Remembering his glorious nakedness as he rose from his bed to press his body against her as he warned her about the danger of… She swallowed, gripping the cool bathroom countertop with fingers gone ice-cold. Then she rubbed at her throat, feeling the creature’s deadly grip again and the horrible slimy tongue across her cheek.

  Hysteria bubbled up beneath the little laugh that escaped her as Rod’s face super-imposed itself over the Pithcus’s in her mind.

  Getting her face licked was now number one on her list of turn-offs.

  Tessa crawled into bed, so strung out she was sure she wouldn’t sleep a wink. But the minute her head hit the pillow exhaustion weighed her down. She hadn’t slept well last night because of the nightmare, and now she could barely keep her eyes open.

  The intermitted sounds of other passengers passing outside her door threaded through her drowsiness, while under the thudding of her heart the ship’s engines rumbled a steady lullaby.

  Tessa twitched her nose. There was some vaguely unpleasant smell in the room. She struggled to sit up, sniffing wisps of the familiar scent. It was truly unpleasant. Her stomach churned. Rotten, like—

  Her heart slammed to a stop then raced in triple time. Oh shit, no. Pressure built inside her skull and Tessa fought to catch her breath as she stared at the blank door across the room.

  The low growl of the engines turned into something else, a sound of deep gratification. And while she sucked air in shallow gasps, the night breeze through her porthole morphed into the steady rhythm of someone’s breathing.

  Her throat went dry as a bone and it hurt to swallow, much less to talk. “Who’s there?”

  “We have some unfinished business, Tessa.” The door rattled. “I can’t forget the taste of you.”

  That wasn’t Rod’s voice, it was deeper and rougher. She scrambled out of bed and pressed up against the wall, then looked around wildly for a weapon. She grabbed the phone instead.

  “Let me in by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin, Tessa. You’ve got nowhere to run. And you can’t hide.” The door shook again.

  Tessa bit her lip, shaking so bad she dropped the handset. She grabbed it and pressed it against her chest where her heart banged like crazy. Each breath was too little and too painful. She put the phone to her mouth, but her throat clutched close.

  Nate! His name exploded in her brain.

  In an instant a bright flare of light streamed into her. Tessa? Nate’s voice flooded her mind, his concern like pinpricks across her skin.

  “It-it’s here. Outside my room.”

  His anxiety swelled to a tidal wave that knocked her back on her ass. And somehow she knew he was on his way.

  “Are you calling the little wolf? He can’t save you, you know. He couldn’t save his first mate.” The thing’s voice became legion, reverberating in a hellish cacophony of squeals and growls: “And you can’t save him from me.”

  Tessa scuttled back into a corner, gaze glued to the door. “Nate. Please come quick. Please come quick.” She repeated the mantra again and again, but at some point she realized she was mouthing another phrase over and over. “Don’t come.”

  That thing would kill him.

  Her mind blanked, shorted out by the overload of conflicting emotions. She thought she heard Nate’s voice calling her, and was marginally aware of the pretty ribbon of light that still flowed towards her, but her vision, her whole attention and being, had tunneled in on the door.

  A long, metallic scratch sounded from out in the hall. Eyes widening, she watched as the knob turn slowly. Her heart felt like it swelled to fill her chest, compressing her lungs as it punched violently against her ribs at three times its normal speed.

  The knob stopped moving.

  Her shallow breaths filled the silence, then they faded under the crescendo of buzzing in her ears. She felt lightheaded and her jaw locked shut while violent shudders wracked her body.

  When the door swung open, Tessa jumped up with a strangled scream.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Nate swept into the room and hauled her into his arms, crushing her to him. “Thank God, you’re all right.”

  He held her away, checked her out as he ran his hands down her arms, turned her palms up and kissed each one then crushed her to him again. “I thought I’d lost you.”

  She nodded, curiously detached from the moment. All she knew was that she was safe now with Nate. She snuggled back into his arms and held him tight, breathing in the wonderful smell of him that cloaked her senses like a balm.

  “Are you okay?” She thought she felt him press a kiss to her head.

  “I d-don’t want
to stay here. T-take me back to your room.”

  “Okay. Yeah, we can do that.”

  Since she’d spent the last few days in his cabin there wasn’t much for her to gather now. Her drawstring bottoms and tank top wouldn’t attract attention, so Tessa slipped on a pair of flip-flops, and after Nate scoped out both ends of the hall, they left the room.

  But as soon as she crossed the threshold she froze. Then she drew back, covering her nose.

  “Ugh. That stench.”

  “You can smell that?”

  “Yes. Can’t you?”

  Nate looked troubled. “Yes. But you’re not supposed to.”

  “Well, I wish someone would tell that to my nostrils.”

  He pulled her out of the room and shut the door behind her. As they walked down the hall he was silent, tense for obvious reasons, but when she tried to read him, she came up against a wall. He was shutting her out, which did little to calm her.

  “Why did you say I wasn’t supposed to smell that stink?”

  “Humans can’t smell the scent of the Pithcus. Only certain shifters can,” he paused. “Because he’s one of us.”

  She stumbled to a stop. Of course.

  Did she really think the Pithcus walked around looking like Big Foot pre-Extreme Makeover? This ship was huge, but the best place to hide was always in plain sight. That thing could be anyone if it could pass for a regular human like Nate and Mitch.

  Then another realization hit her squarely in the solar plexus and her stomach knotted. “You said only other shifters can smell it.”

  Nate’s mouth tightened, he gave a sharp nod.

  “So you were right all along. I am Beth,” she said faintly.

  “Maybe.”

  He didn’t seem as happy about that admission as she’d expected. “Or maybe it’s because you’re a companion now. Does it really matter why at this point?”

  Did it? She mulled that over for a second, but it was easier to focus on him. “I thought this was what you wanted, for m-me to be Beth.” It still hurt to say it. It hurt every single time.

  “I just want you to…” He broke off and grasped her arm. “Look, I don’t know what I want— No, that’s a lie.” He gaze scoured her face, eyes burning with intensity. “I’ve been carrying around a lot of guilt. That’s all I felt, that and anger. I thought it was all I could feel.