Dyami got them back to the highway and hitched a ride with couple of businessmen who were on their way to a conference or something. They were dropped off an hour later at another motel, which put enough distance between them and the Hunters to make Dy feel a little less on edge. Although they were not completely safe, it would take some time for Vic to find Summer again, even with the magnetic pull that attracted both Hunter and beast to their destined mate.
Once Dy got the room situation sorted, he picked up the courtesy phone and punched in a number. “Mayhem.” He turned his body away from the counter in an attempt to block the curious ears of the attendant. The place was pretty deserted, with only one guy manning the front desk.
“Where the fuck have you been, Dy?” Mayhem’s roar made Dy smile. It was nice to hear his alpha’s voice.
“Got myself into a bit of trouble. Met a girl,” Dy said as he glanced over his shoulder.
Summer was sitting in one of the few comfortable looking chairs that decorated the low budget locale.
“She’s special.”
“What kind of special?” Mayhem growled. “Like Huntress special?”
“Yeah, that kind of special.” He cleared his throat, made eye contact with Summer, and gave her a reassuring smile. “Her boyfriend didn’t like our connection.”
“I see.” Mayhem paused. “Are you safe?”
“Relatively. For now anyway. I’ve got no credit cards or cell, only a bit of cash, enough to get a room and some food.”
“We’re coming. Shit!” Mayhem grumbled. “It’s an hour ’til daylight. Can you hold out until nightfall? Is your wolf still out of commission?”
“We can hold up in the hotel for the day, and my wolf won’t be coming out to play when the sun comes up, but I’m riding a fine line with the pain threshold.” He held a hand out, gauged his overall shape by how much it shook. The booze he’d had hours before was totally out of his system, leaving him with a constant pulse of pain, hardly feeling the presence of his wolf as it battled the poison. “I could probably use another dose of Aubrey’s healing magic, to be honest. Not sure if it’ll do any good, but I’m feeling pretty rough.”
Mayhem sighed. “Yeah, man, I was worried about that. Where are you located?”
“We’re at a motel.” Dyami snatched up a book of matches with the motel logo on it. “Just outside of King? Off the 52, Virginia.”
“I sent Dave out looking for you a couple of hours ago. I’ll try to reach him before daybreak and send him to fetch you both. Best case scenario, he’ll be there in four hours or so. Worst case, you’ll have to wait for us.”
Dy turned away from Summer. “They’ll probably catch up to us by tonight. Not sure that’s totally a bad thing.”
“Deal with this Hunter shit once and for all? It’s tempting, but not in the condition you’re in.” Mayhem paused, mumbled something to one of the guys—Jay or Raven. A heated exchange followed, with a few “fuck nos” and “you’re out of your mind.” Someone was second-guessing their Alpha. After a few minutes, Mayhem blew out a burst of breath then came back on the line. “You think you can self-medicate somehow? Aubrey says she’ll be there. Darcy is in too. With the Hunters that close, though, Raven and Jay won’t let them go without us. You’ll have to wait for nightfall.”
So it was the women who were second-guessing. Dyami chuckled. Always the women. Those two girls had bigger balls than any man he’d ever known and Mayhem couldn’t seem to say no to them. “I’ll figure something out.”
Mayhem sighed again. “See if you can scout the surroundings, find out if there’s somewhere they can be lured. We need to have a chat with these folks, let them know what we think of their shit.”
“I’ll work on it. See you at dark.”
“Stay safe, brother.”
“Will do.” He hung up the phone, grabbed the key to their room and turned to see that Summer had stood, her arms wrapped tightly around her waist. “Cold?”
“My clothes are still damp a bit.” She nodded, gave an uneasy smile. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’ve got some friends coming to get us, but they won’t be here until night.”
“Friends?” Her smile grew bigger. “Like the band?”
“Yeah, the band. Don’t go getting all star-struck on me now.” He chuckled, draped his arm around her shoulders and led them out the door.
She leaned into him, her head on his chest, her arms around his waist, making it awkward to walk. “Are we safe, Dy?”
He kissed the top of her head, wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight. “You’re always safe with me, Summer.” He wanted to reassure her, knew his words sounded good, but doubted if it actually came down to a battle that he’d be able to follow through. Without his wolf, those Hunters would overpower him in minutes.
He felt her nod. “I don’t think this is something we can call the police over. Like, I get the feeling this isn’t something they can handle,” Summer said.
“My friends will be here soon. They’ll know what to do. We’ll be fine until then.” He was going to have to tell her about her heritage. Given the limited information that he had, it would come across as pretty fucking unbelievable. And he couldn’t even show her his beast to prove it. Not that that was necessarily a great idea either. He sighed. “Let’s get into the room, dry off, get some sleep.”
She pulled back from him, looked up and smiled. Her eyes, holding unshed tears, were lined with dark circles. “I feel safe with you. I feel like…” She closed her lips, swallowed, doubt flickering across her face then said nothing more.
Dy pressed a light kiss to her forehead again, then turned her back to cradle under his arm and guided her to their room. He knew all about those unspoken things. Sometimes the words got trapped. Sometimes they never found their way out.
It took some effort for him to get the key in the lock. His hands were shaking like he was a drug addict coming off a high, the pain from the poison wracking him so hard his muscles were tensed into knots of steel. Summer looked up at him with concern, nodded slowly, then took the key and opened the door. As she stepped away from him, he collapsed against the doorframe, a wash of queasiness rolling through him.
“You’ve got to be honest with me here, Dy. Are you an alcoholic? Is this a reaction to no booze in your system?” She stood just in the doorway, watching him. When he started to shake his head, she was already shaking hers. “No, that’s not it, is it?” She walked toward him and lifted his arm, before draping it over her shoulder to bear some of his weight.
He was exhausted all of a sudden—something that scared him more than the Hunters. Werewolves didn’t feel exhaustion. He’d only ever known being a powerhouse of energy. Going days without sleep. “No, it’s not the booze.”
“You know what I was going to say just now? Outside, when I said I felt safe with you?” She helped him to the first bed and eased him down to sit. “I was going to say that I feel like there’s a lot you’re not telling me.” She stood back, arms crossed over her chest. “Spill it.”
He chuckled. He loved her take no bullshit attitude. It was perfect. “You wouldn’t believe me.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Oh you mean, like how I didn’t believe in my sudden ability to etch magical symbols all over the place?” She cocked an eyebrow. “Really? You’re going to pull that one on me? ‘Trust your gut,’ you told me, so I am. And my gut is saying that I could help, if I knew what the problem was.”
He sucked a deep breath, cringed as the pain doubled, his muscles spasming. “Okay, you’re right.” His wolf thought she could help—that much was obvious from his limited interaction with the beast. “I’ve been poisoned.”
Her eyes shot wide. “When? How? What kind of poison?”
“It’s complicated and a really long story.” When she made to argue he held up his hand and continued. “That I will tell you, I promise. But I’m in a lot of pain at the moment. I’ve been medicating with the booze. It seemed to help.”
“Should I run and get you some? I’m sure there’s a stash somewhere here. The clerk—”
“No, no, it’s just a Band-Aid solution, anyway.” He cleared his throat, wiped his brow. “One of the band wives is going to come here. She is a healer, her touch…”
“She touches you and what?”
Dyami snapped his gaze to Summer, noting a hint of jealousy there. The bond from his bite was palpable at that moment. She didn’t like the idea of another woman touching him and that made him smile. “She’s kinda like you in a way. Has this gift that seems to help.”
Summer bit her lip, contemplating his words for a moment before unfolding her arms and moving to him. “Maybe I can do something.” She laid her palms on the sides of his head and he couldn’t help but raise his hands to her hips, pulling her closer so that she was cradled between his knees.
He closed his eyes as another wave of pain hit. His wolf rearing within as Summer traced her fingers along his skin—seemingly mindless wandering, but he could tell by the frown that tugged her brow that she was assessing, tasting the magic that was killing him. He wondered what she felt, what her innate Huntress sensed.
Her magic came slowly—tentatively, weak, but still, it came like a current flowing through him. Her power pushed the poison back, letting his wolf stand down, rest, if only for a moment. This was different than Aubrey’s magic—more powerful, yes, but something else too, like his body had a taste of an antidote. He sucked in a deep breath, his muscles easing somewhat, his wolf pacing to the forefront, awareness of the Huntress pulling its attention.
“She is here. You will live.”
And he did feel better, his body pumping with energy—only a fragment of his usual self, but better than he’d been in months. The knife wound to his shoulder started to heal at rapid pace. He could feel the torn flesh knitting itself back together, like his body could finally focus fully on mending this other wound.
After only a few moments, Summer pulled her hands away and stumbled back, pushing out from between his legs.
“I need to sleep,” she mumbled.
Dyami stood, watched as she shimmied out of her clothes with little care for what he’d see. Her bra and panty combo were pink and black, decorated with little skulls. He thought it was cute. So cute he wanted to rip them off her delicious little body and take a sniff before ravishing her so completely she wore a smile for days. Sex drive was obviously amplified by whatever her magic had done for him.
But he held back. Where he had renewed energy, she did not. She moved around the room in a kind of daze, her fatigue so evident he thought she might be asleep already, the price she paid for him. Her magic had a cost.
She walked to the door, traced her finger over the lock. “Protection,” she mumbled before shuffling to the bed and practically face-planting herself there.
He hovered over her a second later, fingers twitching to run along the curve of her spine, over the mounds of her beautiful ass, tease a little under the lace border of her panties. She took a deep breath, her body relaxing, her eyelashes fluttering. Asleep.
With a sigh, he shook his head, tugged the sheet over her and moved to the door, hoping it wasn’t warded to keep him in. She’d given him a gift, one he couldn’t squander. He needed to scout around for a proper meeting location, figure out a way to lure those Hunters there for a little chat.
Chat. Ya, right.
This was going to be a fight to the death. No way would a Hunter give up his mate. Dy knew that for certain, ’cause he would never consider giving up Summer to anyone. The thought alone made his wolf rally, roaring within. Mine.
He shook his head again, glancing over his shoulder to her peacefully sleeping body. She was his. As complicated as it all was, they belonged together. He felt that right down to his bones. Poison or no poison, he wanted to spend his future with her, and that meant getting rid of the threat of her Hunter once and for all.
Hopefully Mayhem and the boys would get their asses there in time. Hopefully Dy would figure out how to free his wolf, and get rid of the poison and…
He sighed again.
Hopefully, yeah. Piece of fucking cake.