Blood Red Kiss

by Kresley Cole

  Hunter snorted. “Do you really think he’ll give her up so she can admit to being a spy? He’ll kill her and blame her death on humans. We won’t see her alive again.”

  Aiden fingered a dagger sheathed at his hip. “Hunter, are you sure Su’Neena is guilty of anything?” He shot Lobo a glare so hateful that Tehya had to hold back a snarl. “We don’t know Lobo. This could be a trick. Skinwalkers are deceptive by nature.”

  Next to her, Lobo went taut, his hand clenching hers in a powerful grip, and she caught the acrid scent of danger rising from him. But she got the impression his anger wasn’t about the insult to him—it was about the insult to her. She was a skinwalker too.

  “Say that again.” Lobo’s voice throbbed with menace. “Seriously.”

  Hunter stepped between them, forcing Aiden back a step. “Back off, Aiden. I might have made a mistake all those years ago, and if I did, and Lobo’s right, a lot of the shit we’ve taken from ShadowSpawn for decades is my fault. I will fix it—and to do that, we need to find Su’Neena.”

  “She’s a mystic-keeper,” Katina pointed out, easing the tension, if only slightly. “She can evade us, and pretty easily, I might add.”

  “So . . . what, we’re just supposed to sit around and do nothing?” Takis cursed. “No way. I’m heading out.”

  “Wait.” Tehya’s face heated as all eyes fell on her. “What’s a mystic-keeper?”

  Lobo squeezed her hand. “A shaman of sorts. Mystic-keepers can bend nature’s energy to their will to hide objects or to create invisible traps, wards, false trails . . . shit like that.”

  Trails? Tehya was an expert at following those. “Can she mask her scent?”

  Baddon shook his head. “But her ability allows her to throw false tracks and to cover up the real ones.”

  “Then I can track her.” When no one reacted, she huffed, “What? Why aren’t we moving?”

  “You heard what Nicole said.” Lobo angled closer to her, a subtle movement that blocked the door, as if he thought she would bolt. “You can’t shift into a wolf. You might not be able to turn back.”

  She wasn’t sure she knew how to shift into a wolf again anyway—but the moment the thought formed, she felt an icy pull, a tingle that she instinctively understood was the key to shifting. Not that she was going to do it.

  “My sense of smell is powerful.” She looked over at Hunter. “I might be able to track her without shifting.”

  Hunter and Lobo exchanged glances. “It’s worth a try,” Hunter said, but when Lobo hesitated, she growled in frustration.

  “I don’t need your permission, Lobo,” she said. “If finding this person can clear your name, I’m doing it. End of story.”

  “Females, huh?” Hunter sighed, and in a surprising move, he clapped Lobo on the back. “Welcome to my world.”

  Baddon threw back his head and let out what she could only describe as a battle cry, and the wolf in her wanted desperately to howl.

  The others joined in, and as the battle cries reached their peaks, Hunter threw open the door. “Irinami ka’ta uwelet. May your spear find its mark.”

  Lobo was pretty sure that every able-bodied member of MoonBound was combing through the forest for the traitor. The woods were crawling with vampires, and he almost felt sorry for any vampire poacher who might be out hunting for an easy target.

  It turned out that Tehya was both right and wrong about her sense of smell. She’d been able to track Su’Neena for the first couple of miles, but she lost the scent on the bank of a stream. After that, Hunter and his warriors spread out, while Lobo and Tehya circled the area where she’d lost the scent. She’d refused to leave, determined to pick up the trail again.

  Her curses as she moved around amused him, but he knew how frustrated she was. If she were a wolf, she’d be whining and running zigzag patterns with her nose to the ground.

  “We’ve got to do more.” She kicked a rotting log, and splinters of soft wood flew everywhere. “This bitch is responsible for getting you banished from MoonBound and nearly killed. And—”

  “Hey,” he said from where he was kneeling next to a footprint that appeared to be older than what they were looking for. “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not.” She rounded on him, her expression fierce, her eyes glowing hot, like amber put to flame. “I know what it’s like to have to hide who you are because some jackass will kill you for it. My mother was always looking over her shoulder, and every time someone knocked on our door, she was sure it was the government looking for me. You lived that way for decades, an outcast punished because of what you are, and she needs to pay for that.”

  Sure, it had sucked to be ostracized because of what he might do with his ability, and he definitely wanted Su’Neena to answer for any crimes against MoonBound, but nothing would change the past. What mattered now was the future. A future he’d fight for the way Tehya was, right now, fighting for him.

  She needed to learn how to be a vampire, but he wouldn’t give her up. Their relationship might be forbidden by vampire law, but only if they were caught.

  Once she’d spent some time with the clan and had learned more about vampire life than he could teach her, he could take her somewhere safe. Where no one knew them.

  Alaska was sounding better and better.

  “How do you feel about snow?” he asked.

  She blinked. “What?” She jammed her hands on her hips, and he realized he liked her in jeans. Not as much as he liked her naked or wearing his shirt, but there was a lot to love about the way her curves filled out a pair of pants. “We aren’t talking about snow. We’re talking about capturing someone who tried to kill you.”

  He sighed. “You really are a dog with a bone.”

  She gave him a flat stare. It was the same stare she’d give him when he held a tasty treat out of reach to tease her before tossing it into the air for her to catch.

  “What?” he asked, feigning ignorance. “That was funny. You know, because . . . wolf.”

  Clearly she was not amused, but that was okay, because he cracked himself up enough for both of them. Damn, it felt good to have someone to banter with. To laugh with. There hadn’t been enough of that in his life, and he was ready. So ready.

  Shaking her head as if he was a lost cause, she went back to searching, disappearing over the top of a shallow rise. He continued scanning the ground for broken twigs, displaced rocks, any physical sign of Su’Neena’s passing.

  He was about to join Tehya when he heard an excited yip.

  A yip he recognized. His heart missed a beat.

  Oh, Tehya, you didn’t. Tell me you didn’t. . . .

  He charged up the hill, and his gut slid to his feet at the sight of Tehya in wolf form, wagging her tail. He couldn’t utter a word. Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. Not until she put her nose to the ground and took off.

  Fuck.

  He had no choice but to chase after her. He called out, but why, he had no idea. It wasn’t as if she could talk to him, tell him why she’d done such a stupid thing. Besides, he knew why. She’d said it earlier. It was her turn to save him.

  Not this way, Tehya. Not this way.

  She didn’t stop. She was on a mission, and she was going to see it through. This was nothing new. As a wolf, once she’d picked up the trail of a deer or rabbit, she didn’t stop until she either caught it or lost it for good.

  Sweet Maker, how could he both love and hate her dedication?

  His mind was a tormented, tangled mass of anger and sorrow, and even a little reluctant pride that grew with every mile they put behind them. Maybe she could shift back. Maybe Nicole was wrong. Please let her be wrong.

  Up ahead, Tehya halted, ears pricked, tail high. Then, abruptly, she crouched, hackles raised, and slipped into some thick brush as quietly as a ghost.

  On instant alert, he eased behind a fat fir tree and peered in the direction Tehya had gone. Beyond a moss-covered stand of old growth, something moved.

  Su’Neena
.

  What was she doing? He crept closer, trying to figure out why she was hovering over a flat stone, her mouth moving silently. A chant? Was she signaling someone?

  Time to get some answers that were long overdue. Fingering the hilt of the borrowed blade in the sheath at his hip, he started toward her, but drew up short before he made it half a dozen steps. Expecting her to chat like an old friend, or even an old enemy, wasn’t going to work. She was stubborn and crafty, and she wouldn’t give up anything easily. It was even possible that Hunter wouldn’t press her unless he had hard evidence that what Lobo claimed was true. Without her confession, Lobo would look like a liar, and his expulsion from the clan would be considered justified.

  Fuck that. He was getting a confession, and he’d break every law of man, nature, and vampire to do it.

  Inhaling a deep, ragged breath, he summoned an image in his mind of ShadowSpawn’s clan chief, Kars, and hoped he was capable of shifting. Tehya’s blood and the bag of human blood he’d sucked down after his shower at MoonBound had done a lot to fortify him, but still, taking another form this soon after the last shift would be iffy. Even if he could pull it off, it wouldn’t last long. He had to hurry.

  He closed his eyes and concentrated, encouraging the burn of the shift, welcoming the pain of it. Every snap of bone and rip of torn nerves could be laid at Su’Neena’s feet, and he was going to make her pay.

  Finally, agonizing heartbeats later, he was the spitting image of Kars. At least, he hoped so. It wasn’t as if he had a mirror to check. He just wished he could shift clothes as well. Kars didn’t seem like a jeans-and-tee kind of psychopathic tyrant. He was more of a my jacket is made from the skin of my enemy type.

  The pain of the shift faded as he circled the clearing and approached Su’Neena from the front. She looked up from the rock and let out a startled yelp.

  “Kars.” She swallowed loud enough for him to hear. “I only just sent out the signal. How did you know I’d be here?” She lowered her voice to a near whisper. “Did our . . . mutual friend warn you that I may have been compromised?”

  Mutual friend? Did MoonBound have another spy in its ranks?

  “Yeah,” he said, running with it. “How’d you get out so quickly?”

  She looked around, her eyes wild, as if she expected an ambush. “He came to me in my quarters. Said Hunter was questioning the skinwalker. If the skinwalker talks . . .” Her expression twisted into an ugly mask of hate. He knew the feeling. “I told you we should have tried again to kill him.”

  The way she spoke so casually about killing him made him want to reach out and strangle her. He hoped there’d be time for that later.

  “Those were your failures,” he said, figuring Kars would pin any and all blame for pretty much any failure on someone else. “Contact our mutual friend and have him meet us.”

  “Yes,” she said, bending over the rock again, “of course. He’s probably nearby, pretending to search for me—” She broke off with a gasp and stumbled forward, clutching her throat. Blood sprayed from her mouth as she clawed at a crossbow bolt punching out of her neck.

  Son of a bitch! Lobo palmed his dagger as Tehya burst from the brush to put herself between him and a dozen armed ShadowSpawn fighters filing into the small space to surround them. Their leader, Kars, shoved his way forward from the back of the pack, the unholy light of bloodlust glinting in his dark eyes.

  “Chain the skinwalker and kill the wolf.” Kars gestured to Tehya with his blood-crusted ax. “I want the pelt. Hurry. MoonBound can’t be far away.”

  “No!” A white-hot veil of fury slammed down over Lobo’s vision, obliterating everything that made him civilized. He’d spent his entire life protecting himself from vampires who would kill him for what he was. Now it was time to embrace what he was, consequences be damned.

  He shouted as his body ripped apart, every cell breaking down and reforming, doubling, growing. He heard barked orders, Tehya’s snarls. Everything was a blur of rage, fur, claws, and teeth as he charged the nearest vampire. His massive body was faster than he’d expected, his thoughts slower and more primitive. He thought only about killing the ones who threatened Tehya.

  His grizzly roar shook the trees as arrows and spears pierced his flesh, but the pain only made him angrier. Bone crunched between his jaws and blood poured down his throat as the stench of death filled the clearing. Dimly, through the throbbing din of fury in his ears, he heard MoonBound join the fray, and the forest filled with the sounds of Tehya’s growls, angry shouts, screams of pain.

  But he hadn’t yet tasted the blood of the one he wanted. All around him, MoonBound and ShadowSpawn clashed, but Kars was outnumbered. It would be over in moments—

  Kars.

  The bastard had his arms raised to swing his ax at Tehya. Lobo shot across the clearing and pinned him before the blow landed. Kars slammed into the ground, knocking the air from his lungs in an explosive cough.

  Lobo was going to knock more out of him than air. He raised his heavy, claw-tipped paw that was twice the size of Kars’s head.

  “Lobo!” Hunter’s command penetrated the battle haze fogging Lobo’s mind. “Ease up there, Smokey. We need Kars alive.”

  Why? The question came out as a roar that made Hunter take a step back. Something nipped his ear, clearing his mind even more, and he swung his head around to Tehya. She pawed at his shoulder, getting his attention, helping to bring him down. He blinked. Everything was under control. MoonBound’s fighters had surrounded and disarmed the surviving ShadowSpawn warriors, and it appeared that MoonBound’s people had taken only minor injuries.

  He probably didn’t need to be wearing a half-ton bear suit anymore. Besides, his body was wrecked, pierced by spears and arrows, and he was pretty sure his flank had been flayed open with a hatchet. As if his brain had finally realized how much damage he’d taken, the wounds began to scream.

  He clenched his teeth and rode out the agony of the shift, concentrating to keep Kars pinned as the shift bore out. When it was over, his body was healed but weakened; but as he looked down at his scarred, ugly hand, he realized he was in Kars’s form.

  Even though he hadn’t caught his breath, he dipped his head and put his mouth to the male’s ear.

  “Here’s the deal, you bastard. I know you’re responsible for killing two yearlings from the Red River wolf pack. If you harm Tehya or any wolf ever again, I’ll take you out while wearing the face of the person you love the most. Your daughter, maybe? You’ll look into her eyes while you die. Understood?”

  Kars’s face turned crimson with rage, his eyes bulging from their sockets, but he nodded. With a shove, Lobo pushed away from the asshole and came to his feet, taking grim satisfaction from the way Kars got up a lot more slowly than Lobo had. Having a grizzly bear parked on his rib cage must have been excruciating.

  Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

  Hunter looked Lobo up and down, shaking his head as he took in Kars’s double. “You don’t learn, do you?”

  Lobo shuddered as he let go of the energy required to hold on to Kars’s form. The agony of the shift was muted by the sheer relief of finally being back in his own body. He’d never shifted so many times so rapidly, and he didn’t want to do that again. His bones felt like rubber, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could stay upright without a little help from a tree.

  “I’ll gladly take the punishment for this one,” Lobo muttered as he knelt to check Tehya for injuries. She licked his face and wagged her tail before hopping out of reach, clearly unharmed and unhappy about being poked and prodded.

  Hunter cursed down at Su’Neena’s body. “Somehow, Kars, I’m not surprised that you killed your own spy to protect your secret.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kars shot back, his dark eyes wide with feigned innocence. “I thought she was an enemy.”

  “He’s lying.” Lobo might be exhausted, but he had enough piss left in him to beat the truth out of the clan le
ader. Too bad Hunter stopped him before he could go three steps.

  “I know he’s lying.” Hunter stripped Su’Neena of her weapons. “And he’ll pay for it. Someday.”

  “Arrogant bastard.” Kars picked up his ax from where he’d dropped it when bear-Lobo attacked him, and he used it to gesture at Lobo. “I want his head on a stake. He wore my skin, and under Raven law—”

  “We don’t recognize Raven law.” Hunter’s voice lowered ominously. “Luckily for you.”

  Kars sputtered and cursed before getting hold of himself. “Even Crow worshippers can call for the death penalty when someone impersonates a clan chief. This is a major violation of vampire law, Hunter.” He practically spit Hunter’s name. “When the tribes convene in Sedona—”

  “When the tribes convene in Sedona, I will make it very clear that my authority in this instance is law.” Hunter’s black smile reeked of self-satisfaction and the arrogance that came from knowing you held all the cards. “Multiple clans have sworn allegiance to me, and I guarantee that the tribal elders will fall in line. War with the humans is coming, Kars, and without MoonBound and the power we wield, vampires will lose. I will have my way in this.”

  “Dude,” Baddon whispered to Lobo, “if I was into males, Hunter’s speech would totally have made me hard.” He jabbed Takis in the ribs with his elbow. “Right? You hard?”

  Takis whacked Baddon upside the head with his palm even as he kept his crossbow aimed at a ShadowSpawn warrior. “You’re an idiot.” He shrugged. “And I might be a little hard.”

  Damn, things at MoonBound had changed. Back when Lobo had belonged, no one would have gotten away with joking like that. Hunter really had chilled out.

  Lobo left Takis and Baddon to their banter and joined Hunter, who had just finished telling Kars to fuck off. At least, he assumed those were Hunter’s words, spoken in a language Lobo didn’t recognize. Kars clearly understood, but even as his face burned scarlet with rage, he turned stiffly and disappeared into the forest with his dead and wounded warriors on the backs of surviving warriors.

  “Just so we’re clear, you believe Su’Neena was a traitor now, right?” Lobo asked.