Forsaken by Night

by Ione, Larissa

  A harsh cry escaped her, and then she was shuddering, her body spasming as she came. Sloppily he lapped at the punctures he’d made, and flipped her, ignoring the fresh pain in his chest.

  Damn, she was beautiful, her hair splayed wildly across the mattress, her skin glistening with perspiration as she shouted at the peak of another orgasm. He drove into her, his body taking over as his climax hovered, close and so hot his skin burned.

  He shifted, but his injury gave a big hey, I’m still here, you dumbass shout-out that drove his orgasm back behind the imminent line. This was going to be so good—

  “Lobo!” The alarm in Tehya’s voice froze him on the very razor edge of pleasure. “I hear them.”

  No, no, no! Her hearing as a wolf had been better than his, and apparently that was still the case. Fuck.

  Adrenaline punched him like a blast from a cold shower as he rolled to the side and forced his aching cock into his pants. “Whatever you do,” he said urgently, “don’t tell them anything.”

  Heart pounding, he leaped off the mattress and wheeled toward the door, keeping Tehya behind him even as she struggled to shove past him. His chest shrieked in agony, and he had to catch himself on the crumbling countertop or he’d have gone down. He must have lost his weapons in the river—not that they’d do him much good at this point. But it would have been nice to have a blade when Hunter tore open the door.

  And tear open the door he did—right off its brittle hinges.

  “Lobo,” Hunter growled, his body filling the doorway. He smiled, but it wasn’t a smile of amusement. It was one of victory, the smile of a predator that had cornered its prey.

  If Tehya hadn’t been there, Lobo would have let rage and unspent lust fuel the first punch. He’d have gone down cursing and fighting. But fighting now would only piss off Hunter more, and there was no way Lobo was going to take risks with Tehya.

  So all he said was, “Don’t hurt her,” and when Hunter’s meaty fist came at him, he stood his ground and welcomed the darkness.

  8

  Whatever you do, don’t tell them anything.

  Lobo’s words kept echoing through Tehya’s mind as she was escorted—forcibly—to MoonBound’s headquarters. She supposed she was lucky, though; her wrists were bound, but at least Hunter hadn’t knocked her out for the journey the way he had done to Lobo. No, she just had to walk through the woods wearing nothing but a flannel shirt with three missing buttons.

  She glanced over at Lobo, draped over the shoulder of a dark-haired, leather-clad warrior called Baddon, whose gaze turned smoky every time he got a glimpse of her gaping neckline. She’d have been flattered if it weren’t for the fact that he was carrying the man she loved like a slab of meat.

  Lobo moaned, and she tensed. Stay still, Lobo. Don’t move. The last time he’d stirred, he’d gotten another blow of silence from the blond asshole she now knew as Aiden.

  Tehya had lost her temper in a big way over that, and Aiden wouldn’t soon forget that she could bite. Even now, he rubbed his forearm and slid her silent glares.

  The weird thing was that even after she’d attacked him, there had been no retaliation. She’d expected to be beaten, but the dark-skinned female named Katina had merely pulled Tehya off Aiden, and they’d continued on their way.

  Unfortunately, her outburst had triggered a volley of questions that had been nonstop for miles.

  “Who are you?”

  “How do you know Lobo?”

  “How did you get into our headquarters?”

  “What clan do you belong to?”

  “Are you a skinwalker?”

  The only thing she’d told them was her name. The one Lobo had given her when he’d found her, starving and weak, in a snowbank.

  “Tehya,” Hunter mused from a few feet ahead. “I’ve heard that word before. Is it Sioux? Zuni?” He eyed her over his shoulder, the leather thong around his head holding his hair away from his face. He had a cruel mouth and hard eyes, but his deep voice was deceptively soothing. When she said nothing, he sighed. “We’ll learn the truth about you, you know.”

  Anxiety spiked. “With torture?”

  Aiden raised his bitten arm. “I vote yes.”

  “Jackass,” Katina muttered.

  “We’re here,” Hunter announced, and Tehya was actually relieved that they’d arrived at MoonBound—until she realized that he’d never answered the torture question.

  As they traversed the maze of hallways, the earthen walls began to close in on her. People stared, maybe because she looked like a half-wild, half-naked waif with leaves and twigs in her hair, or maybe because she was the enemy. Either way, she felt trapped, and a cage was probably in her very near future.

  Her heart pounded against her ribs as if typing out a warning. If it could just type out instructions on how to escape, that would be great.

  As they entered a four-way intersection, a blond male came from the brightly lit hall to the right, and her stomach bottomed out. It was the guy she’d slammed into in the hall after she’d run out of the lab. She casually inched sideways, hoping to conceal herself behind Baddon.

  “Hunt, did you get him—” He broke off, his gaze skipping over Lobo and landing on her. His silver eyes flashed. “You.”

  Hunter and Katina moved like vipers, putting themselves between Tehya and the crazy-eyed guy. Still, she bared her teeth and crouched, prepared to defend herself the way she had against countless wolves, cougars, and bobcats over the years. Didn’t matter that her hands were tied—she had strong legs and sharp teeth, and she knew where all the soft spots were.

  “Easy, Riker,” Hunter said, slamming his palm into the male’s chest. “She’s not a threat.”

  Riker hissed. “Tell that to Nicole.”

  Oh, God. Nicole must be the pregnant woman, and Riker must be her mate. Taking a ragged breath, she ratcheted the aggression down a few notches, straightened up, and took a tentative step toward him.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “She startled me, and I didn’t know she was pregnant. Is she okay?”

  The guy lost the homicidal glint in his eyes, but they narrowed, as if he wasn’t sure her apology or concern was genuine. “She’s fine,” he said curtly, “for now.” He turned to Hunter. “What’s going on?”

  Hunter started moving again, and they all fell in behind him, Aiden bringing up the rear directly behind her. But not too close, she noted.

  “Call the senior warriors together and meet us in the conference room. Bring Nicole if she’s up to it.”

  Oh, shit. Tehya knew very little about vampire customs, but according to all the government propaganda, vampire clans could be primitive and barbaric. Would Nicole be allowed to exact revenge or determine Tehya’s fate? She glanced over at Lobo, who was starting to stir.

  Wake up. Please wake up. I can’t do this alone.

  Riker said something to Hunter that Tehya didn’t hear, and then he veered down a tunnel while the rest of them entered a cavernous room filled with an odd collection of artwork and a giant table that could easily seat twenty people. She turned to check on Baddon and Lobo, but they were gone.

  A chill ran up her spine. What had they done to him?

  She must have looked as panicked as she felt, because as Katina cut the ties around Tehya’s wrists and shoved her into a seat at the table, she said, “Don’t worry. Your lover is just getting a wake-up call. He’ll be here in a minute.”

  “He’s not—” My lover. But he was, wasn’t he? Before today, they’d been companions. He’d been her pack leader. But now they were . . . what? A mated pair? And was her wolf-brain ever going to convert back to something resembling a human or vampire brain?

  “Not your lover?” Katina jammed her fists on her denim-covered hips and gave Tehya a do you think I’m a dumbass? look. “Girl, we heard you taking it like a whore in an alley from two hundred yards away. I’m thinking of giving Lobo another look after hearing what he did to you—”

  A deep growl vibrated the ro
om, and only after Katina laughed and held up her hands in defense did Tehya realize it had come from her.

  “Yeah, not your lover.” Katina rolled her eyes and took a seat next to Tehya. “My ass.”

  Tehya ignored the female and got a quick lay of the land. There were four possible exits, if she went by the currents of free-moving air flowing from beneath the doors, each carrying with it a different scent. Another door must be a closet. There were also several weapons available, from a spear propped in one corner to a selection of ceremonial axes and blades on the walls. Not that she knew how to use any of them.

  Over the next few minutes, as she plotted a possible escape plan, a dozen more people filed in. Hunter sat at the head of the table. Then, finally, Lobo stumbled through the doorway, his hair dripping wet and clinging to his bare neck and shoulders. Someone had bandaged his wound, the long, white strips slashing across his hard-cut chest and around his muscular back.

  Even though he was clearly in pain, he gave her a reassuring look as Baddon shoved him into a seat across the table from her.

  Riker was the last to arrive. He entered with Nicole, who, to Tehya’s surprise, merely glanced at her with curiosity as she waddled in, one arm wrapped in bandages and another bandage taped to her temple. She took a seat kitty-corner from Riker, who sat at the end of the table across from Hunter.

  It was like a big, formal dinner, and she and Lobo were the main course.

  Once everyone was seated, Hunter folded his hands together on the tabletop and looked at Lobo and Tehya in turn. “Who’s going to start?” When neither Tehya nor Lobo spoke up, Hunter gave a resigned nod. “Okay, let’s try this again. Lobo, you shifted into my form, broke into our headquarters, and tried to seduce my mate. Tell me why you shouldn’t die.”

  Lobo did what?

  Tehya whipped her head around to stare at Lobo, but if he could feel the burn of her glare, he didn’t react. His eyes were locked with Hunter’s, and she swore the air crackled with electricity. Everyone shifted uncomfortably, and a few of the people sitting around the table actually fingered the daggers at their hips.

  A low growl rattled in her chest and her hackles rose as the need to protect Lobo consumed her. As a human, she’d felt like a sheep following the herd; but as a wolf, she’d found her footing and her voice. In her wolf-mind, she and Lobo were a pack, and she’d leap across the table and go for Hunter’s throat to protect it.

  Tension practically dripped from the walls as Lobo, his hands still bound, rested his forearms on the table and leaned forward. “I only took your form to get help for the wolf,” he said, far more calmly than she would have if someone had just asked her to explain why she shouldn’t die. “I had no other choice. Without Nicole’s aid, she would have died. I was trying to leave when Aylin saw me. She kissed me. I didn’t seduce her, and if she told you that, your mate is a liar.”

  Baddon whistled under his breath while even more warriors reached for their weapons, but Hunter remained eerily still. The guy’s expression was stony, unreadable, and scarier for it.

  “She didn’t tell me that,” Hunter said, “but given your history, it wasn’t a stretch to assume.” He gestured to Tehya. “What about her? Did she enter the compound with you?”

  “She has nothing to do with this.” Lobo didn’t glance her way, and for some reason that bothered her. It was almost as if he was avoiding looking at her. “Drop all charges against her, welcome her into your clan, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

  She gaped at him in astonishment. He wanted her to live with these people? “Lobo, no—”

  “LawKeeper,” Hunter barked, cutting her off. “What is the punishment for impersonating a clan chief?”

  A dark-haired male she’d heard someone call Takis tipped his chair back and pulled a leather-bound book off the shelf behind him. He flipped to a flagged page with more flourish than was probably needed for the situation. He seemed to be enjoying this. They all did.

  “For followers of the Raven,” he said in a deep, ominous voice, “death is the acceptable penalty. For followers of the Crow, any punishment is allowed, and no punishment is considered too harsh.”

  Oh, God. She had no idea what the Raven and Crow stuff was about, but she hoped like hell these people leaned toward the Crow.

  Hunter’s cool gaze never left Lobo. “And what is the punishment for assaulting a pregnant female?”

  Tehya’s gut did a slow roll as Takis flipped pages. “That’s a little more complicated,” he said. “The laws take into account circumstance and whether the crime was committed by a clan member or an outsider. But basically we’re talking about anything from imprisonment to lashes to staking atop an anthill.”

  Tehya felt sick to her stomach. Had Lobo saved her life only for her to be slowly eaten by ants?

  Smiling grimly, Hunter gestured to Lobo. “Now, answer my question.”

  Lobo clenched his teeth and sat back in his seat, regarding Hunter with eyes that glittered with contempt. “Fuck you.”

  Thunderheads formed in Hunter’s eyes, and once again the hairs on the back of Tehya’s neck stood up. He nodded at Aiden. “Take him to the dungeon.”

  “No!” Tehya leaped to her feet. “He’s just trying to protect me. All of it—it’s all my fault.”

  “Tehya,” Lobo snapped. “Don’t say another word.”

  “Why?” she yelled, fed up with all the rules she couldn’t fathom. “I don’t understand. They could kill you.”

  Slamming his palms down on the table, he flashed his fangs at her. “I don’t care. I need you to be safe.”

  “You don’t care? What about what I care about?” she shot back. “I don’t want you to die. Did you think about that? You’ve kept me safe for the last twelve years, and now it’s my turn, you stubborn idiot.”

  “Your turn? You don’t think you’ve kept me safe?” He laughed, but the sound was bitter and hard. “I’m alive because of you, Tehya. After MoonBound kicked me out, I had nothing to live for. I was a zombie looking for a bullet to the brain. You gave me purpose. A reason to live.”

  Tears stung her eyes, but before she could say anything—not that she knew what to say—Hunter stood.

  “Enough.” He jammed his finger at her. “I know this territory like the back of my hand, and not once in twelve damned years have I, or any of my warriors, laid eyes on you.”

  “Yes, you have,” she said quietly, ignoring Lobo’s madly shaking head. “Except I didn’t look like this.”

  Hunter’s brows drew down in confusion. In fact, everyone traded bewildered glances, but it was Nicole who turned to Tehya in amazement.

  “Oh, my God,” Nicole said, her voice tinged with awe. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’re . . . the wolf.”

  As the room exploded in conversation and questions, Tehya watched Lobo sag into his seat as if drained by disappointment. She couldn’t stand the way he was looking at her, as if she’d betrayed them both. How, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that Hunter had been determined to punish him for not talking, and she couldn’t allow that to happen.

  Hunter held up his hand and called for everyone to shut the fuck up. Once everyone was seated again, he turned to Tehya. “Look, I don’t know much about skinwalkers, but I know they can’t hold any form but their own indefinitely. So unless you spent most of your time hiding, and then only coming out into the open as a wolf, you’re lying.”

  It hadn’t occurred to her that anyone would think she was lying, but with no way to prove that what she was saying was true aside from shifting into a wolf and possibly never shifting back, she knew she had to be convincing. Lobo’s life might depend on it.

  “It’s true, I swear.” She told them what she’d told Lobo, that she’d barely been turned into a vampire when she shifted into a wolf and was never able to shift back.

  Skepticism wafted through the air, its scent similar to singed hair, and Tehya wondered if her sense of smell would always be so sensitive. It was useful to gauge em
otion—but just once, couldn’t some emotion smell like chocolate? Or bacon?

  “You’re saying you were turned into a vampire twelve years ago?” Riker asked, and when she nodded, he added, “How? And why aren’t your eyes silver?”

  Even though more than a decade had passed, the wounds still felt raw, and she trembled a little as she spoke. “I can’t explain my eyes. They’ve always been this color. As for the rest, I was working as a dental assistant while going to school to be a dentist. Then my mom got cancer. She died six weeks after the diagnosis.”

  Tehya inhaled deeply, willing herself to not break down. She and her mother, Cherie, had been close, each the only person the other had in her life. A secret had bonded them, and once Cherie was gone, Tehya’s life fell apart.

  “The pressure and stress got to me, and I made some bad choices.” She’d partied too much and hung out with a wild crowd, and one night she’d found herself at an underground blood club on the outskirts of Seattle. Because, hey, all the cool people were illegally feeding and sleeping with vampires.

  “I was drunk and stupid, and I let a vampire bite me.” She grimaced, hating herself for being so reckless when she’d spent twenty-four years being responsible, the kind of person the government didn’t look at too closely. “The really messed-up thing? He didn’t even get any blood, because the place got raided by VAST. They collared or killed all the vampires. The one who bit me is probably someone’s slave now.”

  She’d always been disgusted by the vampire slave trade, something humans had legalized long before she was born. Vampires were stronger, faster, and superior in almost every way, but humans overwhelmingly outnumbered them, and free vampires spent their time in hiding, subject to being hunted for bounties or captured for the slave trade.

  “Wait.” Nicole scowled. “If Vampire Strike Team forces interrupted, how did you exchange blood with the vampire?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “You must have,” she insisted. “Worldwide man-datory vaccinations against the saliva-borne vampiric infection have been in effect for decades. The failure rate of the vaccine is practically nil. Humans can only turn if they’re introduced to the blood-borne version of the virus.”