by Billi Jean
“I’m a guy. Anything that hot”—he watched her breasts jiggle when she pulled on her backpack straps—“is gonna get me going.”
She snorted, as he’d known she would. She’d not zipped up her jacket yet, so he could still get the perfect front row seat to her lush cleavage and the creamy perfection of her skin above the V-neck T-shirt. She struggled with the straps some more, giving a frustrated growl.
He walked over to help out. He was a gentleman, after all.
“Here, let me,” he offered, and took the offending strap out of her hand before she hurt herself. He sat back on the bumper of one of the SUVs, and spread his legs to pull her in closer. Little Rickie was standing at attention, as if Hunter was a damn general doing inspections. He guessed that was going to be typical of any interactions with Hunter, and settled for a long, very stiff ride.
“I can—”
“Just let me help,” he grunted and won the little battle over the pack. She kept her eyes on him with a steadiness he guessed cost her, but she let him have the strap. He lined it up properly and pulled it securely in place, feeling all thumbs around her. It was more than the fact she was close enough he could smell her sweet scent, or that her breasts were right under his nose, ready to put on a show when he adjusted the next strap.
Sure enough her double Ds gave him a show that made his cock stiffen further. It wasn’t the size—oh, that was awesome, and he wanted to take his time, if he got a chance, or just devour them like a hungry bear. It was the softness. She had amazing skin, supple and smooth to the touch. She also had small, delicate shoulders and arms. The combination of all that femininity in one powerful package made him nervous fingered around her. He fixed the other side of her pack and wondered why he was torturing himself like this. Her boobs plumped up nice as hell as he adjusted another strap on the lower side she’d missed.
“Kincaid, you’re seconds away from being fried,” Hunter said in a tone that really, really shouldn’t have been used outside of a bedroom, with her covered in whipped cream with a cherry on each nipple.
“Woman, don’t use that tone and expect me to listen to the words,” he grumbled, straightening the last of her pack so it fit right and wouldn’t rub her shoulders raw. He also sent Little Rickie a stand down order, which was ignored. Since the kiss he’d been hungry—starved really—for more. But with Hunter it was going to be slow going, or he’d lose the farm.
“There.” He stood back to admire his work, and her gorgeous cleavage, before meeting her eyes. He wondered if she could see out of the left, but held off from asking any more questions. “Now when you take it off, it will fit right. But for now, we take one of these babies, so you don’t need it on, got it?”
“Oh, joy.”
He watched her take the backpack off and examine what he did, as if trying to figure it out.
“Thanks, for this,” she murmured, the first real thing she’d said to him outside of the mission, and comparing him to Hollywood actors. “It was digging into my shoulders,” she added with a small wince.
“Really? Can you hurt like that? I thought immortal was… Well, little things didn’t bother you.”
She didn’t glance at him, but he saw her pretty pink lips curve in a smirk. “I saw Agni throw a fit over a paper cut once. Things heal quicker is my guess, but the pain is still there. I think the older ones dull to it after a while, but that’s not good.”
Intrigued and reminded that up until a few weeks ago she was human, he walked next to her to the first vehicle. Maybe he did have a chance at scoring some time with the bouncy twins. She wasn’t completely shutting him out. That kiss was still imprinted on his brain as if she’d branded him—or ruined him for anyone but her. But had she gone for immortals before her death or stuck with human guys for some fun between the sheets? Just the thought of someone else kissing her or watching her nibble her lip in thought, even, didn’t sit well with him.
“So this is what we’re taking?” she asked, opening the side door and scanning the inside much the way he had, but nibbling that lip cute as heck over whatever bugged her about the choice of rides.
“I filled the back with travel rations and extra fuel. We should be good to go, but I have no idea—not really—on how much gas this thing uses. My guess is a lot.”
“So that means we might be walking if they’re fast moving.” She bit her lip once more then gave him a considering expression. “So”—she indicated the windows, where snow was blowing against the glass—“if we can find them and neutralize them, then what? Bring them back here? Then go on and search the place for real?”
“We call in the team to come take them,” he said firmly. He knew she wouldn’t like that idea, but it was the best in the situation. “Then we come back here to search the rest of this.” He indicated the building.
“With the team?” she asked, clearly uneasy now. She didn’t face him, and he guessed by how she pulled a baseball cap out of her backpack and tucked her ponytail through the back and settled it she was trying to keep her anxiousness down.
“We’ll see about this before we worry over that,” he hedged. “Just one step at a time, Sparky.”
She snorted. The hat made him grin. It was a Red Sox faded one, green, with the two socks on the front. Her place in the suburbs of Boston wasn’t too far from the field, but he bet his left nut she’d never gone to a game.
“Fan?”
“Sure, love me some Poppi,” she said, but it didn’t ring true. He let it go, more intrigued by the flat answer than offended. She threw her backpack behind her seat and asked, “You thinking we’ll be hoofing it?”
“Not out in that snow, I hope,” he muttered, but his instincts had him double-checking all their gear then checking again. Chances of this being easy were slim to none.
He shut that line of thinking off. He had friends out there—he wasn’t letting them down. Steve had a baby on the way. Dale was nearing the point of asking a girl to marry him, the crazy bastard. Todd and Jeffries were out there too, probably howling at the moon. He wasn’t about to let them down. They needed those red-eyed creatures. What if one of those were Steve? Or Dale?
“We might want to go by copter.” They needed to speed this along.
“Not a chance. Not in this.” She shook her head.
Clearly, she was going to dig in to that stance. She might’ve been right, too, but he sensed something else behind that quick response.
He hung his head and worked the different options out. The cross-country vehicle would give them better access to the changelings instead of being hundreds of feet above them. He could pull over and follow them on foot more quietly than he could with a whirl of blades above their head. But up high, Hunter would be safe. On the ground, he wasn’t so certain he could protect her.
Sighing, he lifted his head to catch her watching him, waiting for him to decide. For some insane reason that surprised him, then gave him a dose of shoulders-back macho man-in-charge boost he needed to see this done.
“All right, cross-country vehicle, but if we don’t find them, we take the copter—but that will be after we check this place from top to bottom. So, don’t get your panties in a bind before we have to cross that road.”
“Fine, but the helicopter is our last resort. Last,” she said slowly, “ resort.”
“Sure thing, Sparky,” he agreed, more than willing to soothe her. “Let’s get going. I have a feeling these guys might be the key to finding our men.”
“And Vik,” she said. “We still need to find him, and if you’re serious, the cure to this crazy changeling thing.”
Vik again. She always said his name with that worried tone, as if she cared about him. An immortal, just like her, even if he was a werewolf, would suit her better than he would. Vik had a scar, too, which would probably make her feel more at ease.
“Yeah, well, get in, let’s go.” Suddenly he wasn’t as cheered by what they might find. “We’re wasting daylight,” he added, maybe a bit too roughly
, since he got a flat stare from Hunter as she got in.
“You ever drive one of these?” she asked, taking a stab at his manliness.
“Piece of cake. He hadn’t, but he’d driven plenty of low-grade substitutes. This top of the line baby was a piece he was more than willing to learn. He slammed his door and waited for her to get the computer out and running before he backed up. “Did you bring snacks?”
“Yeah, here.” She tossed him a bag of trail mix, the kind with the M&Ms in it, without even glancing away from her computer. She had good taste in snacks.
“So, the older an immortal, the more dangerous they are?” He dug out a handful.
Her head came up at that. “Hey, why are you asking so many questions? Are you on our side, or playing your own game, because I gotta tell ya—”
“Passing the time, Sparky, settle down. Man, the way you think. I’ve read everything I could find on the ones we know. I’m just curious,” he said, around a mouthful of salty sweetness.
“Well, go read some more. Don’t ask me.”
“So we’re not going to talk?” he asked, trying to talk, eat and drive at the same time.
“You really don’t have manners, do you?”
Offended, he cleared his mouth and settled for driving.
“How do you know you’re going the right way?”
“I went around and checked it out.” He made sure his mouth was clear when he spoke, which was hilarious in his opinion. When did I start caring what a woman thought of me? He knew when, though. Since he’d first laid eyes on Hunter. “There, see?” He pointed to the disturbed snow in front of them.
She sat up on her knees to watch the road.
How cute is that?
“Sit back down. I’ll let you know if they veer off, okay? And put your seat belt on.”
She grumbled but sat back down, folding one leg under her butt, though, so she was taller. He had her pegged for five foot maybe two, three. Perfect sized, but with her delicate bone structure, she seemed smaller. She freaked him out a little with how fragile she appeared, especially now that she was back from hell. There was simply something about her that made him anxious, like he had to check that she was okay all the time.
“They’re headed down. That’s where the town is.” She sounded worried.
“Right,” he agreed and flexed his hands on the wheel. The vehicle moved like a dream, churning up the deep snow like it was down feathers. “How many miles?”
She glanced over then quickly down. He had the feeling she was trying to minimize her scar and that pissed him off. The bathroom. She’d probably gone in there and had a good long gander at her face. She also had a bit of frost to her that she’d not had before either. Keeping him away, maybe, but he could have told her that wasn’t going to happen. Not with the hungry response he got from that kiss, or the way she liked his jokes.
“I’m not sure, maybe thirty?”
“Yeah, that’s about what I thought.”
They drove for a while in silence until she cried out, giving him a minor heart attack.
“There. There, see that?” She pointed, obviously excited.
He followed the line of her hand. Sure enough, the tracks headed toward the right, and he hoped, away from town.
“I hope this means they’re not after fresh dinner,” he mused, pulling over and stopping. “Do you sense anything?” he asked, killing the engine.
She scrunched her lips up in a cute frown.
“No, nothing. Well…” She paused and tilted her head. “There. They went that way. But why? If they’re out of their minds, why not go to town and eat all the poor miners? I mean, what’s up here? Nothing. Moon and I were all over this area… Well, most of it. We didn’t know this place was here. It was hidden. I was there, at the compound, you know, before, but always gated in. So, I was sure where it was, if you catch my meaning? But that doesn’t matter. If these are some sort of changeling, why come here?” She paused and made a surprised face, then hurried on, “Or maybe they were created here. But, no, that doesn’t fit. They couldn’t have been here before, or—” She paused for a breath then amazed him by going on immediately, “We would have sensed them—or maybe not. There were parts of that place I wasn’t allowed to see. I never got video feed from any other floors, but if what you think is true and there are more floors below the one I know of, then…” She nibbled her lip. “We need to go back. I think, yeah… We should go back.”
“Whoa, girlie,” he said, reassured by her outburst. At least she was thinking, and not about her face. It was beyond interesting working with her. He’d never been on a team with a girl before, but had an idea no woman born was like this one. First, she was just…Hunter, full of energy even when she should’ve been devastated by the way her life had taken such a shit turn. Still, he had to remember how young she was and how little combat she’d been in compared to him and her immortal friends.
“First rule of combat,” he said. “Nothing will go like you want, and most things go the way you don’t, so be ready just to meet it all head-on and you might get through.”
“What does that mean?” she muttered, still scanning the area around them as if the creatures would suddenly appear.
“We follow them first, then we go back and check out every single floor of that compound.”
She glanced at him, but he kept his eyes on the prize and didn’t push her to understand. Hunter was the kind of woman who needed to make her own mind up, and as long as when she did, it matched his, they were good. Until then, he’d just keep her going. No more downtime, or alone time, so she could get all wound up. Action. That’s what she needed.
“Okay,” she finally murmured.
“And lay off the caffeine, girl. You are wired, completely wired.” He flicked her baseball cap with a finger. “Come on. Let’s hike from here. I wanna see if that pretty butt of yours can keep up with me.”
“Kincaid—”
He laughed at her outraged cry and patted her knee. “The vehicle’s good, but it’s too loud.”
She swiped at his hand, but didn’t argue with him further.
* * * *
Hunter stretched her legs, worried her feet were soaking her socks with blood because her toes were warm and toasty. They’d been walking for a while and—miracle of miracles—it had stopped snowing. Kincaid had suggested they go back for the vehicle after an hour, but she known it was for her benefit, so she’d shot that down. Besides, she hadn’t been tired.
Still, the two feet of snow on the ground made hiking more like wading through heavy water, so she was feeling the strain now for sure.
Kincaid never slowed. He was an expert hiker. He also drove like a maniac, but she thought that was to keep her on her toes. Out here following the trail he was just as crazy, going over frozen streams without waiting to see if the ice was solid. Or maybe he knew it was. Either way, he pushed harder than any of her immortal buddies ever had.
“All right, up this rise and we should see something, right?” he murmured, falling back closer to her.
“How do you know that?” she asked as quietly, scanning the trail they were following. It wasn’t hard to see. The creatures weren’t hiding. They went through the snow like a herd of elephants.
“See that?” He crouched over a broken, snow-covered bush. “Blood. Still wet, so I’d say they’re minutes ahead of us.”
He stood and examined her for a second, maybe seeing if his update had given her cold feet. It hadn’t, but it hadn’t exactly thrilled her either. Minutes behind creatures that ate each other. The fun never stopped.
“You’re good?”
“I’m thrilled—absolutely psyched.”
“Yeah? That’s great. So, I say we go over there. If I’m reading the area right, we’ll circle on that side of this valley and spot them, rather than walking right into them from behind.” He indicated the foothills of the mountains they were climbing.
The mountains—heck, the country around her—was so en
ormous, so wide open and desolate, so wild—that her problems felt insignificant. When she was long forgotten, these mountains would remain. If they didn’t find the cure to the changelings and everything went to the dark side, this amazing wilderness would still be here.
“Hunter?”
“Yeah, got it.” She took a sip of water. “I was here before, remember?”
“I remember. Did you use a scope?”
“Sure, we used scopes. We used binoculars, magic and my friend’s wicked wolf senses. Nada.”
“When you were searching for Vik.”
The way he said Vik made her frown. Did he and Vik have some kind of deal? Fight? She couldn’t image the big Lykae knowing Kincaid, but if he did, she pictured them getting along. Kincaid was just a guy’s guy. One of those tough, lay-it-out-there guys. Vik would have appreciated that. At least, she thought he would.
“Yeah, that went south quick.”
“You could say that, huh? I mean, hell, right?” he muttered. “Damn, I can’t imagine.”
“Don’t.”
“I thought you didn’t remember what happened?” he asked sharply. “Are you now?”
She worried her lip with her teeth. For a guy who had spent days with her, while she’d been unconscious, but still…days, then this fun adventure, he had been pretty quiet on questioning her.
Now you want to tell your story?
He hadn’t wanted to hear it earlier, but she bet he really did, especially now. She took back her trail mix and ate a handful. It tasted the same. She felt the same, feared the same things, maybe more. She simply didn’t feel immortal. But maybe that was because her feet were killing her.
She had a sinking feeling that when Kincaid saw them he’d flip his lid.
“No, I don’t remember.” She shook her head. “Not when I got this, if that’s what you mean. But I’ve been there before. I wouldn’t book a trip for tea if I were you.”
He snorted then frowned over her. “You’re serious? You were in hell before?”