Seducing the Hunter (Mills & Boon Nocturne)

by Vivi Anna

  “Just wait for a second. Make sure you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine, Quinn.”

  “You’re not. You can barely walk.” He pulled her to him, stroking a hand over her hair.

  She sighed, leaning into him a little. “I’ll be okay. Let’s just keep going. When we reach the chest, I’ll rest, I promise.”

  He kept her gaze, gauging whether she was being truthful or not, then pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “Okay.”

  Leanne led the way with the only flashlight they’d been able to hold on to. Quinn went next with Daeva behind him, since she was the only one of them able to see in the dark.

  They walked for no more than fifteen minutes before the tunnel seemed to get smaller. Nearer the entrance, the ceiling barely brushed the top of his head, but now he found he had to tilt his head sideways to avoid knocking it against the wooden beams holding up the tons of rock and dirt overhead.

  “Is this getting smaller or am I hallucinating?”

  “No, it’s getting smaller,” Leanne said. “Gets even worse up ahead. I think we might have to crawl through.”

  Leanne was correct in her assumption. Another three feet and the ceiling dropped considerably. It looked as though there had been a partial cave-in a long time ago. Just what Quinn needed to think about while he was feeling claustrophobic.

  “I guess we crawl,” Daeva said, as she dropped to her hands and knees. “I’ll go first, just in case.”

  “In case of what?” Quinn asked.

  “In case it falls again.” Without waiting for his response, she started on.

  He knew arguing with her was pointless, so he followed her instead. Leanne brought up the rear.

  They crawled over stone and dirt for the next twenty minutes. Every once in a while, Quinn would look up, envisioning the ceiling collapsing on him. He had to stop once and remember how to breathe because he was having difficulty doing just that.

  “Not much farther,” Daeva said, but he was sure she’d said it only to reassure him.

  But, true to her word, after another five minutes of crawling and scraping through rock and wood debris, the tunnel opened up into a cavern. Daeva formed a glowing ball of demon light and set it loose. It drifted up in the cavern casting an eerie glimmering over the rock.

  Quinn pushed to his feet and, lifting his head, took in several deep breaths. The air was hot and heavy in the cavern, but at least it was plentiful.

  Happy to be in one piece, Quinn swung around to share it with Daeva. His joy dissipated. He found Daeva still on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth, her eyes closed.

  He rushed to her side and helped her to sit up against one of the rock walls. Her skin was so cold, he thought she was dead. He touched her cheek, then ran his fingers down to her neck to check her pulse. He found it, but it was faint. Her breath came in short shallow pants.

  Leanne crouched beside them, taking up Daeva’s wrist and holding her fingers over the pulse point. “Her heart pumps, but it is slow.”

  “What can we do?” he asked, but he knew there was nothing. Nothing that Daeva would allow him to do.

  Leanne patted his shoulder. “Pray.”

  “Please, don’t,” Daeva groaned.

  Relief surged through him. “I thought maybe you decided to leave me.” He brushed her damp hair from her brow.

  “Nah, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

  “I don’t want to ever get rid of you.”

  Her eyes opened, and she reached up and touched his cheek. “I know.”

  “I’m going to get you out of here.”

  She shook her head. “Have to find the chest first.”

  “Screw the chest, let the world handle its own shit.”

  She gave him a small smile. “You don’t really mean that.”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Well, you don’t have to go far, because the chest is here.” She lifted her hand and pointed high on the rock wall.

  “In the wall?”

  She nodded. “Going to need to dig it out.”

  Leanne stood, went over to her pack, and unstrapped a pickax. She walked to the wall, hefted it, and swung at the rock with a thunk. Little pieces of rock scattered on the stone ground.

  Quinn watched her swing again. It was going to take more than that to find the chest. It would take both of them digging at the rock. But he didn’t have an ax. They’d only brought the one.

  “How deep is it?” he asked Daeva.

  “Deep enough.”

  After he made sure Daeva wasn’t going to collapse sideways, Quinn went over to Leanne and took the pickax from her. He hefted it over his head and started to dig.

  Working at the rock wall took its toll on Quinn. Sweat slicked his face and back. His T-shirt stuck to him like glue. The muscles in his arms quivered with strain with every swing of the ax. And he hadn’t gotten all that far. There was maybe a three-foot-deep hole at best. But no chest.

  He took a break and sat beside Daeva as Leanne took up the chore of hacking at the rock wall. He drank from the canteen, then offered some to Daeva. She shook her head, refusing the water.

  “You need it.”

  “You need it more. Don’t waste it on me.”

  Quinn’s heart squeezed. He hated to hear the defeat in her voice. It was like a spear to his soul.

  “Don’t give up, Daeva. I won’t let you give up.”

  She blinked up at him, the whites of her eyes bloodshot, a sheen of sweat on her forehead. “You’re going to have to let me go, Quinn.”

  “No, I don’t.” He cupped her cheek. “I did that once before, and I won’t do it again.”

  “It’s okay, you know. I understand why you did what you did. I should’ve told you from the beginning. I should never have kept such a secret from you.”

  “If you had we might not have had the years we had together.”

  She nodded, then smiled. “True.”

  “I wouldn’t give up those years for anything, I’m glad we had them. I’m glad we had this time together.”

  “Me, too.”

  He leaned over and brushed his lips against hers. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Then there came an audible bang, followed by Leanne’s awe-filled voice.

  “I found it.”

  Chapter 27

  “Help me up,” Daeva demanded, her lungs burning with the effort of breathing.

  Quinn hauled her to her feet. Leaning heavily on him, she moved toward the hole in the rock wall where Leanne stood staring. Daeva looked into the stone and saw the corner of a wooden box.

  “That’s the chest.”

  “It looks lodged in there pretty good,” Quinn said. “How the hell are we going to get it out without breaking it? We don’t want to damage the book.”

  Daeva shuffled closer to the wall. “I can melt it out.”

  Quinn held her back. “You’ll waste your energy. You need it to...”

  “To what? This is a one-way trip for me, Quinn. You’re the one that will need to get it out of here and protect it.”

  She saw in his eyes that he wanted to argue with her. But he remained silent. Maybe because he knew she’d do what she willed. And the fact that she was right. She was near her end. There was no getting out of here for her.

  Nodding, he let her go.

  She stepped up to the wall, and set her hands on the rock surrounding the edge of the chest. Closing her eyes, she searched for the last dregs of demon fire inside. There wasn’t much there. Enough, she hoped, to melt the stone and not set the wood on fire.

  She gathered it in and forced it through her arms to her hands. Her palms began to warm. The energy grew gradually until there was a heat that burned her skin. Normally, that wouldn’t have happened, but she was mortal now. Things were different for her.

  It took longer than usual to heat the rock. She pushed the fire through her hands with all her strength. Soon, she could feel the stone give. It grew pliable an
d liquid. Opening her eyes, she watched as it dripped, bit by bit, down the wall, unearthing even more of the chest until the entire three-cubic-foot box was visible.

  Bone weary, she took a step back so Quinn and Leanne could get in there and pry the chest loose using what tools they had. She stumbled, then managed to settle herself down to the floor as they wrangled it out of its century-long stone imprisonment. They set it down beside her.

  Daeva set her hand on top of the elaborately inscribed wooden chest, feeling the power inside vibrating against her palm. “It’s bigger than I remember.”

  “It’s heavy,” Leanne commented. “I’m not sure how we’re going to carry it out.”

  “You won’t have to.” Daeva grabbed the chest to turn it around. Quinn was there to help. Once it was turned, she ran her fingers over the elaborate lock.

  “The Cabal have the key,” Quinn said.

  “No, they don’t.” She lifted her arm. “Someone give me a knife.”

  Leanne unsheathed the small blade on her hip and handed it to Daeva.

  She took it and slid it along her arm where a three-inch scar marked her skin. Pain shot up her arm but she kept at it until rivulets of blood rolled off the tips of her fingers to dot the rocky ground beside her.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Remember Loir? The little goblin that beat you up at your house?”

  Quinn nodded. “Very well.”

  Daeva smiled. “She’s very loyal to me.” She set the knife down next to her. “She switched the key with a fake and gave me the real one.”

  “Okay, so why are you slicing up your arm?”

  “Because I needed a place to hide it.” Biting down on her lip, she split her skin with her fingers and dug into her flesh. More agony made her head swim but she persevered until finally she pulled out the key.

  Quinn looked queasy as he plucked the gore-covered key from her hand. “Unbelievable. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “A girl likes to keep a little mystery once in a while.”

  He shook his head, trying hard not to look at the blood still running down her arm. “You have more than a little mystery, Daeva, trust me.”

  “Well, are you going to use it or not?” She gestured to the chest.

  After wiping the key on his shirt, Quinn crouched next to her and slid the key into the lock. She could see his hands shaking. He turned it, and there was an audible click and then a puff of air as the lid released. Slowly, he opened it.

  Inside was a book. It was the grimoire that King Solomon used to summon the demons to do his work. It should’ve looked ominous or important, but it didn’t. It looked like a plain black leather-bound book with yellowing pages.

  Quinn lifted it out, turned it over and looked at her. “This is it?”

  She nodded. “Looks normal, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes. It’s strange.”

  “Here, let’s put it in your pack.”

  She reached over and grabbed Quinn’s backpack, dragging it toward her. She unzipped it and took out one of Quinn’s T-shirts, then took the book and wrapped it in the innocuous material. She shoved it into his pack.

  “There. Done.” She handed the pack to Quinn, avoiding his gaze.

  “Daeva, I’m not leaving without you.”

  She looked at the ground, the threat of tears stinging her eyes. “Don’t be an idiot, Quinn. You have to go.”

  “I’ll carry you out of here.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t waste your time. I’m already dead.”

  He gripped her chin in his fingers and forced her to look at him. “I will not leave you. Ever.”

  She stared into his eyes and saw the truth there. The realization that he wouldn’t leave her, even when she asked him to. And wasn’t that one of the reasons she loved his stubborn ass so much?

  “Fine. Get me up, then.”

  He helped her to her feet. Her head swam and her vision wavered but she kept on her feet. She leaned on him, but felt maybe she could walk.

  She gestured to the tunnel to the left. “If we follow that one, we should find another way out.”

  Quinn nodded, but Leanne didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure?”

  “No, but it’s better than sitting here and waiting for the air supply to run out.”

  Without another word, Leanne held up the flashlight and walked toward the tunnel.

  Quinn put an arm around Daeva. “I’ll carry you if you can’t walk.”

  “I can walk.” And to prove her point she took a baby step forward, then another. “See?”

  Unsatisfied, he started toward the tunnel, helping her with every step.

  Fortunately, this tunnel was wider than the last one. Crawling through that had been hard. Daeva had been in a lot of tight spaces before—being in hell prepares a demon for a life of small, cramped spaces with no breathable air—but that one had filled her with terror. This mortality thing was surprising in so many awful ways.

  They’d traveled for maybe a half hour when Daeva heard something that made her stomach roil and her heart leap into her throat.

  “Do you hear that?” she whispered.

  Leanne stopped in front of them and turned around. “I don’t hear anything.”

  “What do you hear?” Quinn asked.

  “Water.”

  As soon as she said the word, a trickle of water washed forward from behind them. She looked down at her feet as the swell covered her boots.

  Quinn’s eyes widened. “They’re flooding us.”

  “We need to go right now.”

  “I’m going to carry you.” He reached down to hook her legs. But Daeva nudged him back.

  “I can run.”

  “Daeva...”

  “Go. I will follow. I promise.”

  Leanne led the charge. After a lingering look, Quinn turned and followed her, his boots slapping in the slowly rising water.

  Daeva watched his retreating back and wondered where she was going to find the reserves to follow. Leaning against the tunnel wall, she watched as the water level reached her ankles. It wouldn’t be long before it reached her knees, then her waist. If she couldn’t walk now, she’d never be able to move through the weight of the water.

  Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath then let it out slowly. It was now or never.

  She opened her eyes and took a step forward, then another, then another, until she was running through the pools, water splashing up onto her pants legs. Soon, she was right behind Quinn. He glanced over his shoulder and she saw the relief in his eyes.

  The sound of rushing water echoed through the shaft as they ran. Daeva could see the trickles down the rock faces on either side. Water sloshed around her knees. It was getting harder to run. She was already using the last of her energy reserves. It wouldn’t be long before her legs gave out. And when she fell, she knew she’d never get up again.

  “I see a light up ahead,” Leanne called back to them.

  “Run toward it,” Daeva responded, even as she slowed. The water was up to her thighs now.

  Quinn stopped and grabbed her hand, tugging her forward. “Hang on to me.”

  She shook her head. “I’ll hold you back.”

  “Don’t let go, Daeva.”

  She nodded to him as he pulled her forward. As they ran together, she concentrated on the feel of Quinn’s hand in her own. The warmth of his skin against hers gave her the momentum to power on.

  The light up ahead that Leanne had spotted grew larger. Daeva could see it now. She hoped it was an opening, a way out. If it wasn’t, they would all die down in the mine. Definitely not the way she thought she’d die. Well, she never thought she’d die to begin with so she supposed it didn’t matter.

  Water rose to their waists, and it was becoming harder to move forward. There was a current coming from somewhere pushing them backward. Daeva suspected the current was sorcerer generated.

  “There’s a hole,” Leanne said. “I can see it.” There was hope in
Leanne’s voice.

  Daeva nearly shared it. Until she saw the wooden beams on the right side of the tunnel start to give. The cracking sound was deafening.

  “Leanne!” she screamed.

  Just as Leanne turned to Daeva’s voice, the beams broke. An overhead rafter fell, a ton of rock and dirt giving it deadly momentum. The edge hit Leanne across her shoulders and back. She went down, face-first into the water.

  Quinn let Daeva’s hand go as he reached down to aid Leanne. He lifted her out of the water so she wouldn’t drown, but the way her body twisted unnaturally made Daeva’s gut roll over. The woman’s back had to be broken. She cried out as Quinn tried to get a better grip on her.

  “Oh, Jesus, Leanne.” He looked at Daeva. “Her back...”

  She nodded. “We have to get her out of here.” She moved past him as he cradled Leanne to his chest, pushing against the water level to survey the light source.

  There was a hole in the rock about eight feet up. She wasn’t sure if it was big enough for them to squeeze through, but she’d make it big enough even if it took the last of her life force.

  She pointed up toward the opening. “I’m not sure if I can make it bigger.”

  Carefully floating Leanne on her back, Quinn moved to stand beside Daeva. “Can you reach it?”

  She shook her head. “We’ll have to wait until the water level rises.” It was now at their chests. They’d have to wait until they couldn’t touch the ground any longer and it would lift them up.

  It didn’t take long for the water to reach their necks, it hovered just at Daeva’s chin. It was cold and her body started to shiver, taking up valuable vitality. Slowly, the level crept up her face, over her lips to her nose. She pushed up with her toes to tread water.

  “Here we go,” Quinn said as he, too, started to kick with his legs to keep buoyant.

  As they trod water, rising closer to the hole, Leanne floating next to them, Daeva moved closer to Quinn. Not wanting to lose him. Ever.

  But she would, no matter what happened.

  “Kiss me,” she murmured.

  He ran a hand over her head, anchoring her there so he could press his lips to hers. The kiss was soft and gentle and full of all the things they wanted to say to each other but didn’t have the strength or time to utter.