by Billi Jean
“Why are you surprised? You’ve read the files. You know what I’m accused of—and more. You guys were scoping immortals out for a while. I might have taken away your toys and erased all the computer feed, but you saw everything. Vampires, Lykae, witches doing magic, people disappearing right in front of you, too, huh? Death Stalkers, changelings… Why would you think Satan wouldn’t exist?”
“Well, when you put it that way,” he grumbled, then did that brow-lowered frown she thought was hot. It meant he was thinking, she guessed. “So why did you make a bargain with the devil? How? I mean, did he just kinda say, hey, wanna be the hottest chick on the planet? If so, I’ll—”
“What? You think I sold myself out for my looks? Please, like that’s gonna happen. Who on Earth would be stupid enough to do that?”
“Uh, like half the female population, and some of the guys, too, sadly enough.”
She blinked at that then laughed, getting his joke. Why does he have to be funny? And sexy? And have such a big… Maybe he is my torture.
“Right. Well, no, and why… Well, that’s personal.”
“Right,” he muttered. “Like soon enough everyone you know—and probably don’t know—will know everything there is to know. At least you know me.”
“That made no sense,” she said, after trying to work her way through the repeated knows.
“All those councils and committees… They’re going to want the facts.” He moved closer to her then took her water. He sipped it leisurely, no doubt building the suspense, the brat. “All of them are going to want every single detail. Several times, until you can’t remember your own name, let alone what you did or didn’t do,” he said solemnly then shrugged and handed the water back.
She grabbed it, feeling ill.
“Might as well try them out on me first and see if I’d buy them.”
“I’m not going to lie to anyone.” She instantly hated how defensive she sounded. His little speech hadn’t made her feel any better, either. Her stomach definitely didn’t like one word. She packed what was left of the trail mix away and tried not to think about what Torque and Trouble would do to her.
Kincaid was waiting for her when she got things back in order. “You know, Sparky. You’re passing up a good opportunity here. You didn’t do anything to me, so I’d be neutral. Might want to think about that, next time I offer to listen.”
“I saved your life. That’s not neutral. And you just want in my pants.” She was still amazed by that.
“I want in a whole lot more than just your pants,” he said, clear as day.
“Okay.” There wasn’t much more to say to that.
He winked. “Caught you on that one, huh? Come on. Keep up with the mere mortal, would you?” he muttered, walking ahead of her.
When he was far enough he must have thought they’d see something, he indicated a straight rocky ledge. She climbed it, careful of the ice, and got to her stomach as soon as she was on top. The wind blew in her face, which she thought was good since it meant their scents would go away from the beasts they were tracking.
Kincaid moved in close to her and hunched over, pressing against her shoulders to get her down lower. The sun was still bright, but this time of year—and this far up north—it wouldn’t last long. It hit her eyes just right so it took a moment to see below them. When she did, she pressed down even lower, until the freezing cold ledge made her layers of clothing seem useless. Kincaid’s body pressed against her side, reassuring her more than she could understand.
“Shit.”
“I’ll second that,” Kincaid muttered. “Not what we expected.”
“Or exactly what we expected. Nothing is easy in life. Nothing.”
Chapter Eight
Kincaid stared down at the group of people walking beneath where he and Hunter were waiting and scratched his jaw. One of them was a woman, dressed in a glamorous gown and wearing combat boots, if he wasn’t mistaken. It was hard to tell at this distance, but whatever she wore on her feet, she wasn’t dressed for the snow, and she sure the hell wasn’t human, with her boobs falling out—or nearly—for the world to see, in the frigid air.
“Well, she certainly is dressed for the weather,” Kincaid said sarcastically. “But not what I expected to find, you know, outside of a porn flick. Why do you suppose those men are making her walk like that?”
“No one is making her. She always dresses like that.”
He barely caught his whistle of appreciation. If Hunter dressed like that, he’d not get a damn thing done.
“Seriously?”
Hunter grumbled something under her breath he chose not to try and figure out since it began with what he thought was ‘men are…’
Instead he examined the change in situation He’d planned on a few of the creatures, maybe even something easy like just three or four of them, not the craziness below him.
The woman was enough to make him worry. No one wore a dress like that and wasn’t up to some kind of trouble. She had a fur coat, but it hung loosely at her elbows, as if the cold didn’t bother her.
He pulled out his scope and scanned her. Her nipples were covered, but only by two inches of material that circled upward, apparently for that reason alone. Why bother? Her shoulders and back were bare, most of her cleavage was free and bouncing in the open. Who cares if her headlights are concealed or not?
“Who the hell makes a dress like that?”
“Take a picture and maybe you can get one made,” Hunter snapped.
He grinned, but didn’t lower the scope. “Don’t get your panties all green with envy. She’s damn scary. Rickie isn’t up for that kinda game, I assure you.” He patted her butt without looking and got a swipe on the arm from her. It was cute, since she hit like a girl. “Now, why is she out here?”
“How would I know? Hunter asked indignantly.
“But you do know her.”
“I don’t know her. I met her. Once. She’s a werewolf. And I have no idea what they are doing out here.”
“I thought they preferred Lykae?” he teased, catching on right off the bat that Hunter didn’t much like the woman.
“Whatever, Kincaid,” she grumbled. “Where are the creatures we were following? Do you think these people were the creatures?”
“I hope the hell not. The tracks… See them?” He pointed to where the trail went right through where the group of people walked, then ended abruptly a few hundred feet from them. “It ends there, all of a sudden, behind them, not with them. So someone or something picked them up?”
“Picked them up?” She eyed him, to see if he wasn’t teasing her, he guessed. She was pretty cute when she did that.
“Yeah, but we would have heard a copter, I think,” he added. It might have flown over when they were in the snowmobiles. It was loud and with them talking…
“I say a gate, or maybe someone shifted them…or who knows? Maybe these guys are some of those crazy creatures in human form, and kinda stayed behind to—I don’t know—do something evil.”
“You’re just full of joy and sunshine aren’t you?” He scoped the area then turned to her again. “How about we focus on what we have here and take it one step at a time?”
“Okay, what do you suggest, oh mighty mortal?” She rested her chin on her crossed arms and settled more on her stomach. She reminded him of a pissed off teenager, but he took her silence for compliance and focused on the troop below them.
There were five men, along with the porn star. All the guys but one carried high-quality assault rifles. They were dressed for the weather, but had they walked all this way? It made no sense. There wasn’t a vehicle in sight. Maybe it had broken down. That could happen.
Or maybe these were the creatures, now in human form.
“Well, can you tell if they are those creatures?”
“Nope.”
“Can you tell if they’re immortal? Besides the porn star?”
“Nope.”
He would have spanked her, but tha
t kind of thing wasn’t his gig. Instead he asked, “You think it’s a trap, then?”
“Could be,” she offered, “but for who? Us? How would your porn star even know we’re here?”
Funny, but not a chance I’m taking that bait. “Yeah, I thought as much. It’s not like you booked our trip through Kayak,” he grumbled, getting cold and already tired from a full day of work before Ms. Sunshine woke up, then working on keeping her on track, and now ensuring this mission moved forward.
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” he finally said. “This was the trail. The creatures are gone. How? We don’t know. But what do we know? That smack on top of where we thought they should be, we have these folks.” Hunter was already nibbling on her pretty bottom lip. He hoped that helped her get her brain on task and off being worried about some crazy woman he could care less about.
“It’s linked,” he added. “Maybe they are on their way to the compound to check if any more creatures are there?”
“Could be, but I agree, there has to be a connection,” she whispered. “There’s no other explanation. Larisa, geesh, she’s a bitch, but that much of a bitch? She said something before, when we ran into each other,” Hunter added. “She said she’d do anything for money.”
“Sounds like a real babe. Can you see anyone else you know?”
She gave him a stubborn frown and he doused his grin. Excitement tingled down his shoulder blades, the kind of tickle he got before he jumped head first out of a plane or took a mountain with his snowboard—except this was all about Hunter. Hunter did like him—like him. She was jealous. Women didn’t get that way for someone they didn’t want.
Right?
But Hunter was complicated. He’d been chasing her for over a year, and in that time he’d never been able to predict what she’d do.
She finally snatched the scope he was offering and settled it so she could see out of it. She used her blue eye, so he worried again that her other wasn’t up to working order.
“Oh, no, I do know one of them.”
“You do?” he asked, worried now. She knew two people out of the group. How was that possible? But as soon as he thought it, he knew. The world was small. He’d once been in Shanghai, and out of the fourteen million people living there, he’d run into a friend he’d served with back in the day.
“It’s Demetry. He was with us here, but took Larisa off after that first night,” she whispered. “When she tried to come on to Agni, Demetry pulled her aside and they left. He never came back,” she murmured, narrowing her eyes at him for some reason. “Maybe he couldn’t. He’s chained and there’s blood on him. Larisa must have tricked him somehow. She’s in on it, for sure. There’s none on her,” she added when he dared to open his mouth.
He took the scope back, uneasy that he’d missed the handcuffs he could see clearly now.
“I see that, but she’s wearing cuffs as well.”
“Show. Nothing more.”
He skimmed Hunter’s pretty face and held in a grin again. She was damn cute.
“Show, huh? Why don’t we check it out, or is that your professional, immortal self speaking?”
“My professional, immortal self is the only one ever talking to you.”
“Oh, ho, is that so?” he teased, bumping his shoulder to hers. “Keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile, how do you think we can free him and not her?”
“We can just knock her out and take them all in for questioning. Then we’d find out if they are the red-eyed monsters, or just stupid guys doing whatever she says so they can get in her pants.”
“That right?” he mused, settling back to his scope with a grin he couldn’t hold back this time. “They’re about four hundred yards from us. You gonna knock her out from here?”
She didn’t answer, but he could feel her shift her body alongside his. A sensation as if she’d rubbed her feet on the carpet and touched him sparked along his arm where their bodies met. A second later, the nearly naked pin-up hit the snow. Face first.
“Nice.”
The men with her crouched low, and before he could suggest Hunter might want to throw some spark their way, they stiffened in different, funny postures, then fell to the snow as well.
Alone now, the dark-haired Lykae stared straight where they were and tossed his hair off his brow, scowling.
Hunter stood, and when he dropped the scope to glance at Hunter she was waving.
“Damn, woman, why’d you bring me along?”
“You brought me, remember?” she said, not missing a beat. “I’m not sure if my hits were powerful enough to keep them down for long. Not from this distance.”
He got up and slung his rifle over his shoulder, trying not to be too impressed with her. She wasn’t paying attention to him anyway. Since the bathroom tear-fest, she’d kept her hat on, head down and eyes off him.
“Right,” he muttered. “So we should check they’re out for good before we do anything else, right?”
“Yep. Then we can question them,” she agreed. “Come on. Demetry is probably wondering what’s up.”
“And why you knocked his girlfriend down.”
She shrugged at that. “I guess my spell was a bit too strong.” She was already jogging down the slope toward the only man standing.
“Right. Like that’s gonna work.”
“He doesn’t know any better. Besides, she is evil.”
She said that as if it was a fact, as if it meant a great deal more than the woman was an obvious man-eater. Kincaid frowned, worried now that Hunter knew more than she was saying. Who was he kidding? Of course she did.
“Is that a fact, Sparky, or opinion? Remember, we’re sharing the details here,” he reminded her, coming up next to her.
She glanced at him and slowed to a walk, but kept her focus on Demetry. “Well, it’s an opinion, but I think I’m pretty good at nailing people.”
He believed that. She’d have to be.
“Whoever captured Demetry had the ability to chain him. I don’t see a collar, though, so I’m betting she tricked him somehow.”
“If she’s evil, is he?” he asked switching topics.
“What?” she cried, then said, “No way. Not him.”
“And you’re betting my life on that, huh?”
She blinked then smiled briefly. “I’m not responsible for your life. You are.”
With that comforting comment, she took off again. He followed until they were within shouting distance, then stopped her.
“Here’s good,” he grumbled. “Ask him why he’s not moving.”
“Why don’t you?”
“Are you always this hard to work with?” he demanded, giving her his best get-your-shit-together scowl.
She tapped her pretty pursed lips then said, “Yeah, always. No problem. If the big werewolf scares you, I’ll do the talking.” She shouted, “Yo! Demetry, what’s up? Why aren’t you moving?”
“Hunter.” The guy put enough expression in that one word to sum up the exasperation Kincaid felt as well. “If I could move, I would have. Can you get these off?” He raised his cuffed hands. Russian, Kincaid realized by his accent. A Russian werewolf.
“I’m not sure, but what’s up with them—and her?” Hunter asked, gesturing to the downed woman.
“We can speak of that later, eh? Get these off.”
“We’ll decide what to do later,” Kincaid assured him, grabbing Hunter by her jacket sleeve. “How do we know you can be trusted?”
“Who the hell is this, Hunter?” Demetry yelled, giving Kincaid a pretty unfriendly glare.
“A human. He’s okay.” Hunter brushed his hand off to start walking forward. As she did, his spine tingled. The Lykae called something, but Kincaid didn’t get time for the warning. Around them the snow blew up like a geyser. He lost sight of Hunter, the pin-up porn star and the downed men. He ran forward and stumbled over something—or someone—then smacked right into Demetry.
Kincaid grabbed him by the jacket. “Where the fu
ck is Hunter?”
“How the hell should I know?” Demetry growled. His eyes narrowed the next instant and he shouldered Kincaid hard to the side. “Head down. Head down!”
Kincaid spun and caught a rifle in his right temple and went down. Only problem was, he also heard Hunter shout his name. A second later, she hit him in the stomach with her shoulder to finish knocking him on his ass. His head hit something. Ice, he guessed.
The sound of a rifle shot ricocheting brought him back from the brink of blackness, but only long enough to put together that Hunter was trying to pull herself off him.
He encircled her waist to keep her there. She fit him. Every lush inch of her body curved against his so right that he desperately tried to clear his head.
“Kincaid, damn it! Let up,” she groaned, and he lost her as she rolled to the side.
He blinked, trying to keep his vision on her pretty face. Why did she knock me down?
She winced and looked at her stomach. He did as well. Immediately he tried to jerk upright past the heavy feeling smothering him. Blood stained her jacket, and her hand where she held her side dripped with bright crimson.
“Hunter, what the fuck? Did you just get shot?” he tried to demand, but it came out odd, like she’d stuffed his mouth with cotton.
“Give me a break, would you?” she whispered painfully. “I told you I wasn’t going to babysit you. Oh, no, don’t you dare pass out. Stay with me!”
He tried to respond, but the knock on the head was demanding attention. Worse, it was getting it. The black spots swirling in front of her face grew bigger, then with a rush they covered her completely and he lost the fight.
Did she just take a bullet for me?
Damn woman doesn’t know he was supposed to protect her, not the other way around.
Chapter Nine
“So, you care about him?” Larisa asked, reminding Hunter of all the reasons she didn’t like the woman. “Why? He’s a human,” she said with disdain. “Mortals are weak.”
“You would know,” Hunter replied.