[Dark Hunter-Were Hunter 2] - Night Play Read online

  "No, thanks. I'm okay. At least as okay as I can be given the weirdness of this day."

  Bride sat down on the couch in front of the windows while her wolf dashed up the stairs after Kyrian.

  "Oh no." She got up to go after him.

  "It's okay," Amanda said, stopping her as she rounded the coffin coffee table. "Let him go. Kyrian will bring him back down in a few minutes."

  "Are you sure it's okay?"

  Amanda nodded.

  Kyrian had just finished changing Marissa's diaper when he felt a Were-Hunter presence outside his door. "Is that you, Vane?"

  Vane pushed open the nursery door. "Thanks for not ratting me out down there."

  Kyrian tossed the dirty diaper into the pail and picked Marissa up. She slapped a wet palm against his face before she squeezed his cheek playfully. "No problem. So what's up with the two of you?"

  "I don't know. She's the human I was asking you how to date."

  "I figured as much when I saw her. You should have told us it was Bride."

  Vane sighed in frustration as he ignored that. "How do you tell a human what you are? How did Amanda react when she found out you were a Dark-Hunter?"

  "She handled it with remarkable grace and dignity. Of course, it helps that her twin sister is certifiable. So, all things considered, I was the lesser of two evils."

  Vane gave him a droll look.

  "Does Bride have any loons in her family?" Kyrian asked him.

  "Not that I know of."

  "Then you're screwed."

  "You have no idea," Vane said under his breath. "My pack knows I'm in New Orleans. They've already called out a tessera for me."

  Kyrian felt for the wolf. He'd been in a similar situation and it was hard to be true to your preternatural nature while your heart was entangled with a human. "You want to leave her here?"

  Vane looked at the baby in Kyrian's arms and a part of him ached at the sight. He'd never really thought about having children before he'd found Bride. And in truth it was strange to see the former Dark-Hunter playing daddy.

  What would it be like to hold his own child?

  In the back of his mind, he could see a small daughter with red hair and pale skin… like her mother.

  "I can't endanger your family," Vane said quietly.

  "I might be mortal now, but I'm still capable of fighting."

  Vane shook his head. "No you're not. Neither is your wife. My people live their lives commanding magic and the forces of nature. You've never fought the Katagaria before and you have no idea what they're capable of."

  Kyrian shifted his daughter in his arms as she started fussing. "So what are you going to do?"

  "I don't know." And honestly, he was getting tired of not knowing. A year ago, Vane had known exactly who and what he was.

  Exactly how to live his life and how to kill anyone who threatened it.

  Ever since the night Anya had died, he'd been lost.

  It wasn't until that evening in Bride's shop that he'd felt something other than despair.

  Now he didn't know what he felt.

  "Kyrian!"

  Both men jumped at Amanda's call from downstairs. Kyrian clutched his daughter as they ran for the steps.

  Vane was halfway down the curving stairs when he saw something that made his body run cold.

  Jasyn Kallinos, one of the Katagaria hawks who was living temporarily at Sanctuary, was in the foyer in human form, bleeding. Amanda stood with her hand on the doorknob. From where she had invited him in.

  Vane jumped over the banister and landed on the black-and-white marbled floor in a crouch just before Jasyn. Coming to his feet, he ignored Bride's gasp of alarm.

  "What happened?" Vane asked.

  "Those fucking wolves attacked us." His breathing ragged, Jasyn met Vane's gaze and the horror there singed him. "They killed Fang."

  * * *

  Chapter 8

  « ^ »

  Vane couldn't breathe as Jasyn's words echoed in his head. Fang dead?

  No! It couldn't be. His brother couldn't be gone. He couldn't. Fang was all he had left and he had sworn to see his brother whole again.

  He howled from the pain that skidded through his heart and sent him reeling. How could this have happened? How could they have gotten to Fang?

  Jasyn held his hand over his bleeding shoulder as he panted from pain. "We tried to save him, Vane. We did everything we could."

  Vane glared at him as he fought back tears of anger and agony.

  And now he would do everything he could to make sure the wolves paid for this. Rage simmered deep in his soul. There was no power on this earth that could shelter them now.

  No quarter that would keep them safe from his wrath.

  He would have all of them, including his father.

  His vision darkening, Vane headed for the door only to find Kyrian in front of him. He handed his daughter off to his wife. "Where do you think you're going?"

  "To kill them."

  Kyrian braced himself as if he knew he was about to have to fight him. "You can't."

  "Watch me." Vane tried to flash out of the house only to find he couldn't. "What the hell?"

  "I'm not going to let you commit suicide," Amanda said sternly. She handed her daughter to her sister, then came forward to stand beside her husband. "We won't let you do this."

  Vane was tempted to blast the binding spell back at her, but didn't want to hurt her. She had no idea what she was dealing with and didn't know how easily he could rupture her powers while leaving his pristine. "You're not as strong as you think you are, Amanda. Release my powers."

  "No. Revenge isn't the answer."

  "Revenge is the only answer," Jasyn said from behind him. "Let him go."

  Something strange went through Vane at that. A weird fissure…

  He turned to look at Jasyn.

  The man behind him looked like the Katagari hawk. He was the same height and build.

  But he was bleeding…

  He was wounded.

  Vane paused as those facts registered in his mind. For the Katagaria, it was almost impossible to maintain their human form while injured. Only the strongest of the strong could do it. And usually it was done only when they had no choice except to blend in with the human realm or endanger themselves by discovery. To maintain human form under those circumstances bled off powers and drained their strength, both physical and magical. It made them extremely vulnerable to attack and death.

  Why would Jasyn do such a thing?

  Even under the best of circumstances, Jasyn hated taking human form. For that matter, Jasyn hated everyone and everything. Why would the bears send him with this news?

  Why would Jasyn come?

  Vane narrowed his eyes as a bad feeling came over him. "Who are you?"

  The "hawk" stared blankly at him. "You know who I am."

  "Kyrian, protect the women," Vane snarled as he seized his powers from Amanda.

  Amanda cried out, but Vane didn't hesitate as he realized what he was facing.

  "Alastor," he snarled, curling his lip at the demon.

  The demon laughed. "You are a smart one, wolf."

  Tabitha began reciting a banishing spell in Latin. The demon threw out his hand and blasted her through the far wall.

  Vane caught him about the middle and tried to slam him into the doorframe of the foyer. Before he could do it, the demon vanished and left him to barrel into it with his shoulder.

  Vane growled angrily in frustration and pain as his entire shoulder ached.

  Without pausing, he conjured his cell phone and called Sanctuary.

  "Nicolette," he said as soon as Mama Bear answered the phone. "Is Fang still alive?"

  "Of course, cher. I am in the room with him and Aimee right now."

  "Are you sure?" he asked, thinking only of his brother and his fear of leaving Kyrian and the women unprotected.

  "Oui. I am touching him and he is alive and relatively well."

  Vane s
ank to his knees in relief.

  Fang was alive.

  "Guard him," he said in a low, ragged tone. "Someone has called out Alastor."

  The bear started cursing in French.

  "Don't worry," she said at last. "No one will bring harm to your brother. If the demon shows up here, it will be the last mistake of his life."

  Vane heard her order her daughter to fetch two of the nastier inhabitants of Sanctuary to guard Fang. "Merci, Nicolette."

  He hung up the phone to see Amanda kneeling by her sister who was sitting up now, rubbing her head.

  Tabitha wiped the blood from her nose as she cursed under her breath. "I really hate demons," she muttered sullenly.

  Vane reached out with his powers and healed her and the wall.

  Tabitha's eyes widened before she pushed herself to her feet.

  "Are you okay, Tabby?" Amanda asked as she looked from her sister to her now-repaired wall.

  Tabitha nodded.

  Vane rose slowly. His gaze went to Bride, who sat on the couch watching him.

  "Did I hurt you, Amanda?" Vane asked without taking his eyes off his mate.

  "It wasn't exactly comfortable," Amanda said. "You could have warned me before you yanked."

  "I'm sorry. There wasn't time."

  "What just happened?" Bride asked quietly. She sat on the couch as if she were in a daze. "What is going on here?"

  Vane exchanged an uncomfortable look with Amanda and Kyrian. How was he going to explain this to her?

  Kyrian picked up his daughter, who didn't seem the least bit concerned about the fact that a demon had just visited them. Then again, she had played dolls with one earlier. To Marissa such things were probably every-other-day occurrences.

  Kyrian went to Amanda and Tabitha. "I think we should go to the kitchen and put some ice on Tabby's hard head."

  "Lay off me, Geritol, or you're going to need some ice for your groin," Tabitha said as she led the way toward the kitchen.

  Vane waited until he was alone with Bride.

  This had to be the most awkward moment of his entire life. He didn't even know where to begin. But at least she wasn't afraid of him at the moment.

  That was something, anyway.

  Bride sat there in stunned disbelief as she tried to make sense of… of… She didn't even know what to call it.

  She wasn't sure what she had just seen. Everything had happened way too fast. The knock on the door, followed by a bleeding man who had just vanished into nothingness.

  She felt bewildered, and in the back of her mind, she thought she might be on the Scare Tactics show. Candid Camera? Did they even do Candid Camera anymore?

  Maybe this was some other new reality show.

  How to Make You Lose Your Mind in One Afternoon.

  Her thoughts rambled as she struggled to come to grips with these bizarre events.

  "Kyrian said you weren't a psycho serial killer." That sounded stupid even to her, but she didn't know what else to say to him.

  "No," he said quietly as he came to stand in front of her. "But I'm not human, exactly."

  Tabitha's angry voice echoed from the kitchen. "What do you mean, he's a friggin' dog?"

  They both turned as Tabitha rushed into the room.

  "You're a dog?" she asked Vane.

  "Wolf," Vane corrected.

  Bride got up and put the couch between herself and Vane. This wasn't real.

  No. This was a dream. She'd hit her head. Something.

  "Jeez," Tabitha sneered. "I should have known it that night you were outside the restaurant. I thought you looked too smart for the average beastie."

  Kyrian came into the room and tried to pull Tabitha back to the kitchen.

  Tabitha shrugged off his hand. "Bride needs me. She's not used to you loons."

  "I need to go home," Bride said as a strange lucidity came over her. It was as if her mind were rejecting everything she'd heard.

  Vane a dog…

  Yeah, right. Well, most men were dogs, but that was only figuratively speaking.

  No. This was some weird dream. Vane had drugged her during lunch and she was now hallucinating. Whenever she woke up, she was definitely calling the cops on him.

  She moved to the door only to have Vane materialize in front of her. "You can't leave."

  "Oh, yes I can," she snapped angrily. "This is my bad psychotic delusion and I can do anything I want to in it. Just watch. I'm going to turn into a bird now…"

  Okay, she didn't.

  Bride waited for a full minute. "Why am I not a bird? I want to be a bird."

  "Because you're not dreaming," Vane said, placing his hands on her arms. "This is real, Bride. In a very fucked-up sort of way."

  "No, no, no," she insisted. "This isn't real. I reject it all. I have—" Bride stopped mid-sentence as she looked past Kyrian to see his daughter. Marissa was crawling into the room. The baby stopped near the couch, and sat up, laughing.

  She held her tiny arm out and her sippee cup on the coffin-shaped coffee table flew into her outstretched hand. "Rissa, cup, Daddy," she said happily even though the baby was too young to speak.

  "Yeah," Bride said while Marissa sipped her juice and Kyrian picked his daughter up from the floor. "I am definitely one oar short on the boat."

  She started past Vane only to have him pull her to a stop.

  "Please, Bride, you have to listen because your life is in danger, but not from me."

  She looked into those magnetic hazel-green eyes and wondered if his image was part of her hallucination, too.

  Maybe none of this had ever happened. Maybe she was still in bed with Taylor and all this had been one very long, odd dream.

  She shook her head at Vane. "I can't accept what I've just seen. It's not possible."

  He held up his palm with the same tattoo as hers. "I don't know how to help you accept this. The unbelievable has been part of my life since the moment I was born. I…"

  Vane sighed, dropped his hands from her arms and pulled his cell phone out again and dialed it.

  He was making a call? Now?

  Yeah, why not? That made as much sense as the rest of this.

  What had she eaten for dinner? It must have been a doozy. She better make a note not to eat it again.

  Vane's gaze stayed on her. "Acheron, I need a favor from you. I don't care what it costs. I'm at Kyrian's house with my mate and I need you here to guard her for me until she's freed."

  "Mate?" she repeated. "As in 'friend'?"

  "As in 'wife,'" Tabitha said.

  Bride gaped. "I'm not married."

  Vane hung up the phone. "No, you're not, Bride." He cupped her cheek with one warm hand and gave her a look of sad longing. "No one is going to make you do anything you don't want to do, okay?"

  He stroked her cheekbone with his thumb. "Stay here, where things are mostly normal and where you'll be safe for the next two weeks, and I won't bother you ever again. I swear it. Just be safe for me."

  It was hard to be afraid of a man who looked at her the way Vane did just now. With that sincerity burning deep in his gaze. With such a look of yearning and need.

  She was uncertain.

  Scared.

  "What are you?" she asked.

  He looked down, took a deep breath, then lifted his head up.

  Bride gasped as she saw that one-half of his face was covered with a deep red tattoo similar to the one on her palm.

  "I'm human," he said in a tormented tone. "And I'm not." He dropped his hand to her shoulder. "I never knew softness," he breathed. "Not until the moment you touched me in your store. My life is violent and dangerous. It's dark and twisted and no place for someone like you. I have more people wanting me dead than I can count. They will stop at nothing, and you…" He ground his teeth before he spoke again. "You'll never want again for anything in your life. I swear it on what little bit of human soul I have left."

  He stepped back and headed for the door. "Take care of her for me, Kyrian."

>   Then he was gone.

  Bride felt drained by his sudden absence, and for reasons unknown, her heart ached.

  She looked over at Tabitha, who had tears in her eyes. "Dog or no dog," Tabitha said. "That was…" She rushed to Bride's side and urged her toward the door. "Don't let him leave, Bride. Go get him."

  She didn't have to say those words; Bride was already headed for the door.

  "Vane!" she called, looking for him.

  There was no sign of him anyplace.

  "Vane!" she tried again, even louder this time.

  Only the damp, cool air answered her.

  Her heart breaking, she stepped back into the house and collided with Tabitha. "I can't believe I let him go."

  "I can't believe the idiot went."

  Bride panicked as she heard that voice. It wasn't Tabitha's. It was the demon's.

  In the blink of an eye, everything went black.

  Vane walked down the street away from Kyrian's house, doing his best to ignore Bride's call. His heart was breaking into pieces at the thought of losing her.

  He had done the right thing. He'd let her go. So why did it hurt so much?

  And it did hurt. It ached and burned deep inside his heart until he was sure he couldn't bear it.

  It was for the best.

  She was human and he…

  He was the wolf who loved her. Vane cursed at the reality of that statement. He wanted desperately to deny it and he couldn't. She was everything to him.

  There was nothing about her he would change. He loved the way she looked at him as if he were crazy. The way she hummed quietly to herself while she dusted her shelves. The way she always made sure to split her food with him.

  The way she felt in his arms as she came for him, and the sound of her breathless voice as she said his name while in the throes of her orgasms.

  Hell, he even liked the way she hogged the covers.

  "Oh, fuck this," he snarled. He wasn't going to just let her go.

  He loved her and he wasn't going to just up and leave. Not without a fight and not without at least telling her.

  He turned and headed back toward the house.

  "Vane! Come quick."

  He paused at Kyrian's deep voice. At the urgency he heard in the former Dark-Hunter's tone.

  Flashing back to the house, Vane materialized in the foyer to find Kyrian there with his daughter and Tabitha. Bride was nowhere to be seen.