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

  Bride ran her hand over his arm comfortingly. "Don't think about it."

  However, she couldn't help but think about what had happened tonight.

  Did she really want to be a part of his world, where people wielded magic as if it were nothing? Where they popped in and out of rooms, buildings, and such? She would be a human surrounded by…

  She was terrified of the thought. "Vane? Will our children be like you or like me?"

  "Were-Hunter genes are stronger and usually dominant. I just don't know if our children will be Katagaria or Arcadian."

  That scared her even more. "So you're essentially telling me I might birth puppies?"

  He looked away.

  Bride got up as that thought went through her mind. Puppies. Not children. Puppies.

  Granted, she knew people who thought of their animals as children. Her parents did, but this…

  This required a lot more thought before she committed herself.

  * * *

  Chapter 12

  « ^ »

  Days went by as Bride grappled with what she should do. Part of her was desperate to stay with Vane, while another was terrified of it. So far the tessera hadn't shown, but that didn't mean the two of them could or should relax.

  It was now Thanksgiving and she stood in her bedroom in Valerius's house with a knot in her stomach. Her parents had invited her, Vane, and Fury over to their place for the annual McTierney throwdown.

  She'd told her family about her new "boyfriend" and had no idea how they would react to him. No one in her family had ever cared for Taylor and his air of superiority. In fact, her father had seldom said more than two words to him whenever she brought Taylor over.

  What would they say if they ever found out that Vane and his brother were wolves? Granted, they liked animals, but…

  Just thinking about it made her nauseated.

  Taking a deep breath, she headed downstairs to find Fury and Vane waiting in the parlor.

  Fury was dressed in blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black leather jacket. Vane wore black jeans and a gray and black V-neck sweater with his white T-shirt showing at the tip of the vee.

  "Do I need to change?" Fury asked Vane. "I've never eaten a Thanksgiving dinner before, have you?"

  "No. I don't know what to wear, either. We'll ask Bride when she comes down."

  Fury rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe this is a bad idea."

  "I don't know why you're bitching, Fury. You were at least raised with Arcadians. I have no idea what a 'family' holiday entails. With the exception of the Peltiers, who are friggin' weird, Katagaria don't exactly celebrate holidays."

  "You both look fine," Bride said, entering the room. It was somehow sweet and endearing to know they were as nervous as she was. "Just don't plug anything in if someone asks you to."

  Fury gave a nervous laugh at that. Vane looked less than amused as he stood up.

  "Don't worry," she assured them. "My parents don't bite. Much."

  The wolves exchanged a look that said they weren't so sure about that before Vane offered her his arm and led her toward the door.

  Bride paused on the steps of Valerius's house as she caught a look at an elegant metallic-black Jaguar XKR coupe. "Whoa!" she breathed. "Whose car?"

  "Otto's," Vane said as he led her toward it. "Since he went home to New Jersey for the holiday, he loaned it out to me for the visit with your family."

  "I thought he drove a beat-up red Chevy IROC."

  Fury laughed out loud. "He does that to piss off Valerius. He keeps the Jag over at Nick's house for the weekends."

  "Otto is so evil," she said with a laugh as Vane opened the door for her and let her in while Fury climbed into the back from the driver's side.

  One day, Valerius was going to kill his Squire, who couldn't seem to irritate the Dark-Hunter enough.

  Once she was in the car, Vane shut the door and walked to his side. Man, he had a gait that would make any woman pant. Really, no one should be so innately masculine.

  He slid in the car in one fluid motion and started it. Bride stared at his hands as he gripped the wheel and stick shift. If Fury hadn't been in the back seat, they probably wouldn't make it to her parents' house after all.

  Vane gripped the wheel tight as he listened to Bride's instructions on how to get to her parents' house, which was in Kenner, about twenty-five minutes from Valerius's. He'd never been more nervous in his life. Worse, Fury kept fidgeting in the back seat.

  In the back of his mind, he kept telling himself that he had to do this. If he were to stay with Bride, she would want her family to know him. He couldn't very well take her away from the people she loved so dearly. But still, this was awkward as hell for him.

  What would they talk about?

  Hi, my name's Vane and I howl at the moon late at night in the form of a wolf. I sleep with your daughter and don't think I could live without her. Mind if I have a beer? Oh, and while we're at it, let me introduce my brothers. This one here is a deadly wolf known to kill for nothing more than looking at him cross-eyed, and the other one is comatose because some vampires sucked the life out of him after we'd both been sentenced to death by our jealous father.

  Yeah, that would go over like a lead balloon.

  For that matter, what would Fury say to them? Vane had already threatened the wolf's life if he embarrassed Bride in any way.

  Vane only hoped he didn't embarrass her.

  This was a major fiasco just waiting to happen.

  All too soon, they were pulling into the agate driveway of a new Victorian-style house. There were five cars already parked there.

  "My brother and sister," she said before she opened the car door.

  "Dum dum dum, duuuum." Fury hummed the tune to Dragnet from the back seat.

  "Shut up, Fury," Vane said as he got out. Although to be honest, he found Fury's humming a bit calming since it reminded him of Fang's offbeat sense of humor.

  Fury climbed out last and stayed back by Vane's side while Bride led them toward the front door.

  Vane really did feel like he was walking to his execution. Parents. Eeek.

  Bride knocked on the door, then turned to give them an encouraging smile.

  Vane offered her a wan one back.

  The door opened to show a woman about three inches shorter than Bride, who had the same exact build. Her short black hair was liberally laced with gray and she had an older version of Bride's face.

  "Baby!" the woman exclaimed before she pulled her daughter into a tight hug. While she hugged Bride, the woman looked up at him.

  Vane felt sick and fought the urge to step back. Not that he could with Fury standing on the stairs behind him.

  "You must be Vane," Bride's mother said happily. "I've heard so much about you. Please, come in."

  Bride entered the house first. Vane stepped inside and turned as Fury, who had his hands in his pockets, joined them.

  "You must be Fury," her mother said, holding her hand out to him. "I'm Joyce."

  "Hi, Joyce," Fury said, shaking her hand.

  Vane expected the same, but instead Joyce pulled him into a tight hug. She patted him on the back and let go. "I know you two are probably nervous. Don't be. Just make yourself at home and—"

  A large black rottweiler came running from the back of the house to jump up at Vane.

  "Titus!" Joyce snapped.

  The dog ignored her as he lay on his back in a submissive pose. Vane reached down and petted him to let the dog know that he acknowledged his rank and to assert his own alpha status.

  "Well, isn't that strange?" Joyce said. "Titus usually tries to eat anyone new he meets."

  "Vane has a way with animals," Bride said vaguely.

  Her mother smiled. "Good then, you'll fit right in here at the McTierney Zoo."

  Titus got up and went to Fury to lick his fingers. Fury patted the dog's head while Vane looked around the cozy house, which was decorated in a country style. The tan couches were stuffed an
d piled high with cushions.

  An empty bird perch stood in one corner and a giant freshwater fish tank was built into the far wall. Vane heard more dogs out in the yard and something that sounded like an entire collection of birds singing from upstairs.

  "The men are out back," Joyce said as she led them toward the back of the house, past three aquariums that held one large boa constrictor, a lizard of some sort, and two gerbils. "Your father has a new stray that came in a few days ago that no one can manage. Poor thing won't eat and it tries to mangle anyone who comes near him."

  "What's wrong with him?" Bride asked.

  "I don't know. Animal control pulled him out of a ditch where they think someone must have dumped him. He's been badly beaten and had worms real bad."

  Vane cringed in sympathy.

  They entered the kitchen where a slender, tall blond woman was standing over a mixing bowl. "Mom, how much salt—" Her words ended in a shriek as she turned and saw Bride. "Hey, little girl," she said before she seized her into a tight hug.

  Bride hugged her close, then stepped back to introduce them. "Deirdre, this Vane and his brother Fury."

  Vane tensed as he fell under the scrutiny of Bride's older sister. She didn't like him. The animal in him sensed it immediately.

  Even so, she reached her hand out. "Hi," she said with a fake smile.

  "Hi," he said, shaking her hand.

  She moved on to Fury, who did likewise.

  "I couldn't find those diet cakes for you, Bride," her mother said as she went to the oven to check the turkey. "I'm sorry."

  "It's okay, Mom," Bride said. "I'd rather eat your pie anyway."

  Her mother looked a bit surprised, but didn't say anything. As she stepped back, two cats came running through the kitchen, chasing each other.

  "Professor! Marianne!" her mother called, handing her dishtowel to Bride. "Oh, good grief, I better get them before they run into Bart and he eats them." Her mother ran off outside.

  "Bart?" Fury asked Bride.

  "The gator who lives in the backyard. Dad fixed him up last year after a poacher almost killed him in a trap, and he keeps getting out of his pen."

  Fury scratched his cheek. "Man, I wish I'd known your dad when I got caught in a trap, I'm still…" Fury's voice trailed off as he realized Deirdre had turned toward him with an arch look. "Never mind."

  "Hey, Bride!"

  Vane stiffened as an extremely large, muscular man came barreling through the back door to pick Bride up and squeeze her hard.

  Bride laughed. "Put me down, Patrick!"

  He growled at her as he did so. "Don't get feisty on me, woman. I'll hold you down and frog your arm."

  Bride scoffed at that as Vane saw red.

  "You better not touch her."

  Bride looked up at the growling sincerity she heard in Vane's tone. By the expression on his face, she actually feared for her brother's safety. "It's okay, Vane," she hastened to assure him. "He's just teasing. He hasn't really hurt me since we were kids and even then it was an accident."

  "That's the story I'm sticking to anyway," Patrick said as he offered his hand to Vane. "I'm glad to see my sister's in good hands. Patrick McTierney."

  "Vane Kattalakis."

  "Nice to meet you, Vane. Don't worry. I'd cut my arm off before I ever hurt one of my sisters."

  Vane noticeably relaxed.

  "You must be the brother," Patrick said. "Fury?"

  "Hi," Fury said, shaking hands. "I know, the names suck."

  Patrick laughed. "You guys want a beer?"

  Fury looked to Vane for the answer.

  "That'd be great," Vane said.

  Patrick ducked into the fridge and pulled out two longnecks, then handed them off.

  While they opened them, Patrick stuck his finger into the potato salad.

  "Get out of that!" Deirdre snapped, popping his hand with a spoon.

  "Ow!" he said, jerking his hand back and then sucking his fingers.

  "Get out of here, Pat, or I swear I'll feed your portion to the dogs."

  "Fine, you cranky PMS avenger." He motioned to Fury and Vane. "Be wise and join me outside where it's safe."

  Vane hesitated.

  "Call me if you need me to rescue you from Patrick and my father," Bride said before she lifted herself up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

  Vane caught an angry look from Deirdre before he followed Fury and Patrick out into the yard, where Bride's mother was wrestling the cats back toward the house.

  Vane handed his beer to Fury before he scooped the female cat up. She tensed for an instant, then relaxed. "You want her in the house?"

  Joyce nodded gratefully as she cuddled the male.

  Vane opened the door and set the cat back inside. "Don't do that again, Marianne," he said.

  She nuzzled his hand, then darted off.

  "Thanks for the help," Joyce said as she walked past him.

  Vane went back to rejoin Fury and Patrick.

  "So, Vane, what do you do for a living?" Patrick asked.

  Fury gave him an amused look as he passed his beer back to him.

  "I live off the interest from my investments."

  "Really?" Patrick asked. "Investments pay enough that you can afford a hundred-thousand-dollar Jag?"

  Vane could smell the hostility from Patrick. "No," he said sarcastically, "my drug dealing does that. And I make a tidy profit from my pimps down on Bourbon Street."

  The look on Bride's brother's face was priceless. "Look, I'm going to be honest with you. You mess with my—"

  "Patrick?"

  Vane looked past Bride's brother to see a man who appeared to be in his mid-fifties. Fit and trim, he had neatly styled gray hair and a mustache.

  "You're not giving Vane the 'Mess with my baby sister and I'll break your neck' speech, are you?"

  "I was trying to."

  The man laughed. "Don't mind him. I'm Dr. McTierney," he said, extending his hand to Vane. "You can call me Paul."

  "Nice meeting you, Paul."

  Paul turned to Fury. "You must be the brother."

  "I hope so, I'm wearing his pants."

  Paul laughed.

  "So, you're the evil neuter king," Fury said. "I wondered what you looked like."

  "Fury," Vane said in warning.

  Again Paul laughed. "You know anything about dogs, Vane?"

  "Yeah. A little."

  "Good. I have one I want you to meet."

  "Oh jeez, not Cujo, Dad. That's worse than my speech you interrupted."

  Paul ignored his son as he headed toward a fenced-in area in the back where Vane could see a number of doghouses.

  As Vane and Fury walked past, the dogs, sensing their animal part, came out to either bark or play.

  Paul led them to a cage at the end of the row where an angry Lab mix was kept. The dog was filled with rage and hatred.

  "We can't do anything with him," Paul said. "My partner thinks we ought to put him down, but I hate to do that. It seems a damn shame to kill an animal who's been hurt."

  Fury set his beer down and went to the door. The dog ran out of his house, barking and snarling.

  "Shh," Fury said, holding his hand out to the dog so that he could sniff him.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Patrick said. "He damn near tore the hand off the animal control officer who captured him."

  "Yeah, someone needs to put them in a cage and poke them for a while," Fury said, curling his lip.

  The dog continued to attack.

  "Stand back," Vane said as he reached for the latch on the door.

  Fury stood up and moved while Vane opened it. The dog lunged, then darted back.

  Vane shut the door and crouched down. "Come here, boy," he said soothingly, holding his hand out.

  The dog ran into his house and barked even louder.

  Vane crawled toward the house and slowly reached his hand inside. "Don't be afraid," he said, letting the dog catch his scent.

  He could fe
el it starting to calm. It knew he wasn't entirely human and it was starting to trust the animal that it smelled.

  After a few seconds of waiting, the dog licked Vane's fingertips.

  "That's it," Vane said, stroking his fur.

  He looked back over his shoulder. "Fury? Could you get me something for him to eat?"

  "I'll get a bowl," Paul said.

  Once Paul returned, he gave the bowl to Fury who brought it inside. Fury crouched outside the house beside Vane and carefully put the food down in front of the dog.

  "Man, they screwed you up bad, huh?" Fury said to the dog.

  Vane picked up a handful of food and held it out to the dog. It nosed around until it finally trusted him enough and took a bite.

  "There you go," he said quietly as he picked up more food and hand-fed the dog.

  "Damn, Dad," Patrick said from the other side of the fence. "I've never seen anything like that."

  After a few minutes, Vane had the dog fed. He crawled into Vane's lap and lay there, needing comfort. Fury stroked his back while Vane massaged his ears.

  Vane felt someone watching him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Bride beside her father.

  "Did you get him to eat?" she asked him.

  "Yeah."

  She smiled at that. The sight of her there made his heart ache. How could something so simple as a mere smile wreak such havoc with his body?

  "I came to tell everyone that dinner was ready. But if you need more time…"

  Vane stood up. "He'll be okay for a bit."

  Fury patted the dog, then rose slowly to his feet.

  The two of them left the cage and shut it. The dog came running up to them, howling.

  "It's okay," Vane told him. "We'll be back."

  "Yeah," Fury added, "with a nice treat for you."

  Vane draped his arm over Bride's shoulders as they followed her brother and father into the house. "Is this where you grew up?" he asked Bride.

  "No. My parents moved here a few years ago after they sold their small farm."

  "I miss the old place," Paul said as he held the door open for them. "There are too many ordinances here. I had to get a special license just so I could keep my patients in the back, and I routinely have to pay fines."

  "Why did you move?" Fury asked.