My anger was gone. He’d fucked it out of me. I didn’t really want to be apart from him and that was some scary shit. I’d gone ahead with the bond for Cat, needing his strength to save her life. Except I hadn’t saved her life and now I had this bond with Lance. Despite the fact that I fully intended on breaking it, I kinda didn’t want to. Not right now.
Shit.
Without a word, he pulled out of me, his cock still impressively semi-hard. I’d heard that the Hunters had stamina like porn stars. Another check mark in the yes column for Lance. I could go round two, right now. I licked my lips, smiled wickedly. But he ignored the suggestive look, moved to retrieve my pants and then swooped me up into his arms.
I yelped, was about to argue, and then he was kissing me again. No aggression this time. No, this kiss was all about tenderness. It made me want to cry. I did cry, just a little, in my heart, where the knowledge of Cat’s death on my hands burned bright.
He took me to the lake, moving quickly around the boulders so that I wouldn’t be reminded—so that I didn’t have to stare at the beasts’ bodies that still lay on the beach. He gently lowered me to one of the sun-warmed rocks, the heat making me shiver as it radiated against my ass. He placed my pants next to me.
“Stay here.”
I watched as he worked quickly. Dragging the bodies into the forest, coming back to fetch my discarded toiletry bag. I slid off the rock and removed what was left of my shirt, watched as he got undressed as well. We slipped into the water together, his body heat warming me in a way that the hot spring current couldn’t. We didn’t go deep—just enough so we could sit on the bottom and the water covered our chests. He wrapped his legs around my waist to keep me from floating away.
“The beast came for her,” he said as he helped me to tilt back, soaking my hair, then leaving me cradled in one arm as he gobbed on a blob of shampoo. “It was her mate, crazed by her poison. The wound she’d given it wasn’t to the heart.”
There were only two ways for a Huntress to kill a beast on the spot, decapitation or a strike to their muscle-encased heart. It took special training and a lot of skill to hit it just right. Cat had both. “I wasn’t with her when she found her beast, when she got her bite.” Greer had taken her to locate her beast months ago. “So what you’re saying is that she left the beast injured?”
Lance lathered my hair, massaging my scalp gently. “There’s a scar running on its chest that looks like it’s in the right spot but if you look closely, you can see that it was most likely a miss.” He shrugged, then lowered my head back to rinse. “They must have thought he was dead.”
I gulped. What the fuck? “No, we never leave a beast’s body. We always burn.”
I tried to think back, to remember if there’d been any mention of a fuck up. Greer would have reported if they hadn’t completed the mission. Would have rallied a group to go back for it. To finish the job.
“Not this time,” Lance said. “Explains why we got attacked. Didn’t you say that the beasts rarely venture this far out? Not unless there’s a pack dispute.”
“Not usually, no. We’ve only ever encountered lone wolves out here. Usually they’re old or sick. Outcasts. Never looking for an attack. Unless we come en-masse. A group of Huntresses, more than fifteen usually gets some attention. So we don’t do that anymore, haven’t for years.”
But if that beast was Cat’s mate, poisoned by a wound that didn’t kill him, he would have been crazed. He would have known the second she arrived in his territory. Would have been hunting for her. Drawn to her.
Fuck.
“Well, someone fucked up because Cat recognized him as her beast. That’s what Kelly said. He was there for her.”
“Greer,” I whispered, confusion rattling my brain. I needed to talk to her. I needed an explanation. If Greer hadn’t done her duty, hadn’t ensured the kill, she was responsible for the attack. It was unthinkable. Greer didn’t make mistakes. I had to contact her immediately.
As if reading my mind, Lance shifted my face toward him and shook his head. “You’re not going anywhere until I’m finished.” He rinsed the last of the shampoo from my hair, then pushed me up, bent me forward and tilted my head to the side. He parted my hair over my ear, and I winced. Another wound, one I hadn’t even known I’d gotten. My body ached from the battle. I probably had scratches and bruises all over the place that I didn’t know about.
He ran his fingers through my hair, making my scalp tingle as he closed the small cut. Once healed, he pushed the thick strands over my shoulder to drape against my chest so he could look at the wounds to my back. He used my body soap to clean the punctures, and when I expected his fingers on my flesh to mend me, I was surprised to feel his mouth. He kissed where I was sore, then ran his tongue along the edges of my wound. I felt a pang of jealousy, remembering how I’d seen him do the same thing to Kelly. I pushed it away.
He was mine now. At this moment, for however long I wanted it, he was mine.
His magic worked deep and fast, pulling my wound together like it was being stitched—no pain though, only a chill of a euphoric sensation tingling as he healed me.
I wanted to know how he did that, taking the pain away while he mended. That was not something I’d even known I could do. I wanted to ask but I didn’t, biting my tongue instead. As childish as it was, I didn’t want him to know that he was better at something than I was. That he really did know something more about our abilities than I did. I wasn’t ready to admit that maybe, maybe he did have something to offer.
When he’d healed both wounds, he pushed me to the side, nudging me to angle my hip up so he could see what was left of my injury there. I shook my head, using my buoyancy to shift around so that I straddled him. Our bodies were pressed tightly together, his arms coming around my back to hold me in place.
“This doesn’t mean anything,” I lied before I kissed him slowly, sucking his bottom lip, my hands sliding up and down his muscled chest and then around his back. “So don’t read into this.”
He smiled against my mouth, his hands on my ass, lifting me onto his cock, fitting us together so we were one again. “Mmhmm.”
We rocked together, letting the current’s rhythm guide our movement. It felt so good. Natural. This bond, it was addictive. It made me want him more than I already had before the bond. I felt like I’d sold my soul. Like I was going to have a hell of a time getting it back.
He nuzzled my neck, nipping my skin. I rolled my head back, arching so that he could suck on my nipples, his hands moving to my hips so we could move faster, harder, deeper. My orgasm took hold quickly, without warning, I was crashing in bliss and he followed me, pumping me full of come once again, moaning with me so our voices echoed off the rocks.
He pulled me back to him, lifting my head so he could look into my eyes. “Slowly, Ariana, we’ll take things slowly. Just promise you won’t freeze me out again.”
I gulped, nodded, didn’t trust myself to speak. I knew if I opened my mouth I wouldn’t be able to lie to him.
I pulled the small bundle of sweet grass from my bag and laid it on the boulder next to me, along with a lighter. Greer had wanted a check in at forty-eight hours. The sunrise was less than thirty minutes away, Cat’s funeral pending. I needed to contact Greer now.
I checked the area. Lance appeared to have taken my request to heart. I’d sent him back to help with the pyre preparations, and although I was equally as loath to be apart from him—a feeling I didn’t really like at all—he accepted my wishes.
After we’d finished washing up, he had mended my shirt, our powers apparently working on any material that was malleable in some way. I hadn’t known that and was a little miffed that he’d surprised me with yet another dose of new information. He’d tried to hide the cocky smirk that screamed I told you so, but it was still there.
So, fine, maybe the bond would teach me a thing or two. Maybe I’d gained a little. I’d begrudgingly admit that to myself.
I wasn’t too keen on wearing dirty things but my clean shirt had been lost somehow in the battle with the beast. The only things I found were a slightly muddy pair of panties and bra. I’d cleaned them as best as I could and put them on.
There was no other way to get hold of Greer but scrying. Even her abilities to telecommunicate were limited by distance. Probably a result of the powers not being hers by nature. Her primary talent was much more sinister—the ability to take another Huntress’s powers temporarily, and if she wanted, permanently. I shuddered. I’d once felt the sting of siphoning in punishment for letting my team down during a fight in my early days with the tribe. Greer had used her powers to shackle me for twenty-four hours. It was the worst possible punishment I’d ever endured, but effective as well. I’d been a careful warrior from that moment on.
Because it wasn’t her primary ability, telecommunicating was not one of her strengths. If I waited until I was asleep, I might be able to contact her, but sleep telecommunicating was tricky and unreliable. Scrying was a lot easier to manipulate, finicky at times perhaps but it was the only option when cell phone service was a no go. Not like there were cell towers in the middle of fucking nowhere.
I scooped up a few handfuls of water, then poured them into the small depression in the rock that would serve as my scrying bowl. I picked up the sweet grass, then lit it and let it burn for a few seconds before blowing it out. I inhaled the vanilla scent deeply, clearing my mind of anything but making contact with Greer. In my thoughts, I directed her to a scrying bowl or some other collection of water.
“You’ve reached the voice mail of Greer…leave a message. Haha, just kidding.”
I opened my eyes to see Greer’s face wavering in the small pool of water, her features distinct despite the limited natural light.
“You’re early. Lucky for you I wasn’t asleep,” Greer said.
I licked my lips, nodded. God, this was hard. Admitting that I’d let my team down again. “We were attacked, Greer.”
“Attacked?” Her face distorted for a moment as the water rippled, her emotions carrying through. “Casualties?”
“Cat.”
“Fuck! What happened?”
“Her beast came looking for her. Cut her from sternum to crotch. I tried to save her…” I’d failed my team, I left them alone, I wasn’t prepared.
“Her beast?” Greer shook her head. “That’s impossible.”
“Did you burn his body, Greer?” I forced myself to think beyond the self-deprecation, to focus on the actual problems I could deal with. “Did you see his body ash?”
Greer frowned. “Of course I did!” No hesitation, no lies in her eyes, she held my gaze steadily, without flinching.
“I don’t understand then. How would he still be alive?” I had doubted her as I lay in Lance’s arms. I’d doubted Greer’s honesty, wondering how she’d let the beast live to come hunting for revenge.
Guilt slammed me. This is what the bond did. It made me question my own leader. It made me unsure of her loyalty.
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” Greer ran a hand through her hair. “We’re still in Canada. We’ll leave today to rendezvous. What’s your ETA for Kelly’s beast?”
“We’re headed into deep pack territory today. No one has slept but we’ll push through for as long as we can. I plan to have Kelly in position by nightfall.”
“Make sure you let the women rest. You can’t walk them into a battle sleep deprived.”
I bristled at her suggestion that I didn’t know what I was doing, and then remembered that I’d just lost one of our team. “Yes, I will.”
“I’ll inform Queen Val of the loss. When are you set to burn her body?”
“Sunrise.”
“We’ll all be praying for her here.” She paused, her eyes telling me that she had a million things running through her brain—heavy thoughts. “No more mistakes, Ariana. No more blood on your hands. Stay alert.”
My heart crushed in on itself, guilt hitting me harder. I’d been distracted. I’d let my guard down. “I know. I’m sorry.”
There would be repercussions. I could see it in Greer’s expression. A punishment for my leadership lapse.
“Honor our fallen sister.” Greer nodded. “You get Kelly her bite and meet me at the cabins in two days.”
“Got it.” I touched my finger to the water, breaking the link and the spell. My head spun as I came out of the magical thrall, a headache blooming as the effects of the sweet grass left my body.
No room for mistakes. No more blood on my hands. No more distractions.
Yeah, right. Except I wanted to spend as much time as possible with Lance now that the bond was in full effect. I even caught myself thinking about what came next, like we had a future or something. Like I was starting to develop feelings for him beyond the bond…like I actually cared about what he thought, did, went on to do. He was like an addiction with his blond hair and gorgeous body, his magic cock and skilled fingers, and I couldn’t get enough.
I needed to break the bond with Lance, the sooner the better before I ended up killing any more women on my team. My first order of business back at the camp was to ask Melonie to step up in her search for ingredients for the lust spell. If she could somehow amplify Lance’s feelings toward Kelly…
My gut bottomed out at the idea but I swallowed down the bitter plan. What had to be would be, and then I would continue serving Queen Val, without a mate.