Hunter’s Moon
An erotic novel by
Brenna Lyons
Published by Phaze Books
Also by Brenna Lyons
Night Warriors
Will of the Stone
Bearing Armen
Last Chance for Love
Rites of Mating
In Her Ladyship’s Service
Matchmaker’s Misery
Crossbearer Turned
Losing Regana
And many others.
This is an explicit and erotic novel
intended for the enjoyment
of adult readers. Please keep
out of the hands of children.
www.Phaze.com
Hunter’s Moon
Copyright © 2011 by Brenna Lyons
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Edited by Kathryn Lively
Cover Art © 2011 by Kendra Egert
First Edition February 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1-60659-945-7
SMASHWORDS EDITION
Published by:
Phaze Books
An imprint of Mundania Press LLC
6470A Glenway Ave., #109
Cincinnati, OH 45211
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, Mundania Press LLC, 6470A Glenway Avenue, #109, Cincinnati, Ohio 45211, books@mundania.com.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without permission from Mundania Press LLC. Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights and livelihood is appreciated.
Dedicated to...
The things that no one but the shadow knows. They are sometimes the best stories there are.
Never saying never. Your words will always come back to bite you in the end.
Second chances...everyone should have at least one in life.
Author’s Note
In the twenty-four years between “Swordbearer Reborn” and “Hunter Born” in Night Warriors, a lot happened in the Hunter household. Some of it was hinted at in that book. Since this book delves into the hidden history of the Hunters, if you haven’t read at least Night Warriors, stop right now and do so. You can follow this book without it, but I will be brutally honest with you. You aren’t going to get half of the in-jokes, and you certainly won’t pick up on the nuances shaded by the other books.
Some of the smaller pieces will look familiar to long-time Night Warriors readers. The first two sections of “Playing Games” and all but the last chapter of “The Lord’s Daughter” have released before. Initially, I added them to this book to put them into the timeline and to connect them to the larger events happening in the Hunter range.
Then I made a discovery. In connecting it all together, I realized that there were more secrets and twists connected to them that would become important later. For instance, what happens when Corwyn has to offer protection to people after Polero’s attacks? And...what happens when Stephanie goes to Armen range? These sorts of questions had larger implications than I’d originally given them credit for. In writing the full saga, that became all too clear.
That is one of the reasons the series has slowed down. My apologies, but I want to give you a complete understanding and a true representation, as much as possible.
Happy reading!
Brenna
Table of Contents
Playing Games I: The Game Begins
Beast- Beasts are what humans erroneously refer to as vampires. The stories humans tell are obviously not correct, but you can’t expect a human to get everything right.
Blutjagd- The “blood hunt.” Warriors crave battle with the beasts, as the beasts crave blood. Warriors are tied to beasts in that they sense many of the beasts’ special powers. A Warrior can feel the use of coercion, feeding, and other controls of humans. They also feel other Warriors engaged in Blutjagd, the death of beasts and Warriors in their range, and the presence of nearby beasts that are not fully ghosted. Rigorous battle training will quell the Blutjagd for short periods of time.
Elder- One of the original beasts, the Stone stealers who were damned for their crimes against the Stone and the Warriors. The elders are gifted with powers turned beasts are not, including the ability to reproduce with a Blutjagdfrau, the ability to turn other beasts, and the inability to be killed by anyone but a Warrior.
Endspiel- The point in printing when a Warrior must either seal printing or go insane. A Warrior who feels printing may not progress should break printing long before this point. Note that they are rarely smart enough to do so.
Fluch- The Warrior’s curse, passed from father to son or daughter. The Fluch may be removed from a daughter but never a son. If the Fluch is not removed in the Zeremonie der Freiheit by the time the menses begin or the Zeremonie des Schutzes is performed before freeing, the daughter is cursed to become Blutjagdfrau, a female Warrior. Because elders target Blutjagdfrau as mates, Warrior fathers will go to any lengths to free a daughter not marked by the Stone.
Ghosting- A talent that both beasts and Cursed Warriors learn to harness. Ghosting can hide the physical form of Cursed Warriors or beasts and all they hold or carry from each other and humans. In a lesser strength, it can “blur” the image of the user so that humans do not note the passage in particular but still see a person there, which avoids accidental collisions. Even a ghosted beast cannot hide uses of power that a Warrior can track. Warriors sometimes ghost in tandem to remain visible to each other but not other Warriors or beasts.
Krankheit- The “sealing sickness.” In the final stage of the transformation between human and Cursed Warrior, at or about the sixteenth birthday in males and a year after the start of menses in females, the sickness strikes. The young Warrior will suffer nausea, vomiting, a high fever, disorientation, dizziness, and may become incoherent. It is usually the only time in a Warrior’s life that he or she becomes ill, save morning sickness in a Blutjagdfrau.
Printing- Like imprinting, a Warrior becomes tied to his mate for life. He cannot choose another if she’s lost, cannot be unfaithful while she lives, and cannot ever divorce or otherwise dissolve the union. A printed Warrior is the most stable of men, unless his mate or children are endangered or lost. Then he will suffer the printing madness and may have to be killed by his house. Likewise, a Warrior who breaks printing, even early printing, will suffer for it. A Warrior who breaks printing too close to Endspiel will face the madness.
Veriel- The Mad Elder. The Destroyer of Lives. The Mad Deceiver, who led the traitors and freed the elders from the Stone. The most hated and hunted of all the beasts. Fixated on one woman, he would destroy the world to own her. At least, that’s what the stories say of him.
Warriors- Also called Cursed Warriors, Krieger der Nacht, Soldat der Nacht, or Sons of the Stone. The Warriors were an ancient race of protectors who spawned the beasts and now are driven to hunt their former brothers to extinction.
Zeremonie der Freiheit
Bei den Göttern, die uns alle geschaffen haben, erbitte ich, dass diese einer zur Sicherheit aller die menschliche Form erhält. Blut meines Blutes; sei frei von meinem Fluch für jetzt und für alle Zeit.
Ich befreie dich von der Schuld meines Fluchs und nehme die Pflicht, die die deinige gewesen wäre, auf mich zurück. Ich schwöre, dass ich an deiner statt und für deine Ehre kämpfen werde, bis der Tag kommt, an dem ich die Ruhe der Krieger finde.
Translated:
By the gods who forged us all, I ask that this one be transformed unto Human form for the protection of all. Blood of my blood; be free of my curse for now and all times.
I free you from the obligation of my curse and accept back into myself the duty that would have been yours. It is my oath that I shall fight in your stead and for your honor until the day that I join the Warrior’s Rest.
Zeremonie des Schutzes
Bei den Göttern, die uns alle geschaffen habe, stelle ich dich unter den Schutz des Hauses [Name]. Ein jeder unserer Art und Sippe wird sein Leben geben um deines vor dem Bösen, das unter uns weilt, zu bewahren. Wandele nun gesegnet in unserer Mitte.
Translated:
By the gods who forged us all, I grant you the protection of the House [name]. Any and all of our kind and kin shall lay down life to preserve yours from the evil that walks among us. Walked blessed among us, now.
Section One
Chapter One
June 25th, 1982
“You smell wonderful,” Antoñio Polero informed her in his heavily-accented English.
Gabby Farris giggled as Antoñio nuzzled her neck. The tall, blond European was incredibly playful. She sighed as his lips caressed the skin of her neck, beyond warm to scorching and insistent. He pulled back for a moment.
“Oh, God. Don’t stop,” she groaned. His mouth felt incredible.
Antoñio wasn’t her usual type, and Gabby still wasn’t convinced that this date would last past a goodbye kiss at her car. In fact, she was fairly certain that it would end there. Playful or not, Antoñio’s eyes lacked some essential warmth that she preferred in men.
“As you wish.”
Antoñio ran his tongue over her throat in a little circle and started to drop his face to her again. Her blood heated at the attention.
“Back off,” a strange voice ordered.
Gabby retreated in shock, her eyes opening wide in the darkness. She tried to turn to the sound of the voice, but stopped in confusion as a warm splash plastered her shirt to her body. Antoñio backed away with his hand over what appeared to be a deep knife wound at his throat. Gabby jerked a step back with a squawk as a giant of a man brushed past her.
“Back off, Polero.”
Antoñio’s eyes widened in fear as a knife blade the length of a ruler flashed up in the moonlight. Gabby pulled her own knife from the sheath behind her back. It was a pitiful little piece of metal that her brother had given her years ago, the blade about the length of her palm, but Jeff believed a woman should never be unarmed.
Without thought of the size of his weapon, Gabby struck the stranger in the ribs, brushing past his heavy leather jacket. He recoiled, dragging her along in her surprise. Gabby gasped as he met her eyes. Fury burned there. For a moment, she was incapable of leaving that locked stare.
She forced her gaze to Antoñio, pleading for an explanation, anything that would help her find the ground beneath her feet. Her blood ran cold at the fangs clearly visible in Antoñio’s grimace, the red eyes glowing in the near-black night. She might have thought she was hallucinating were it not for the fact that one of the fangs was broken. That was too much detail to explain away.
What have I done?
Gabby squawked again as Antoñio disappeared into thin air. He didn’t run or hide. One second, he was there; the next, there was nothing as far as she could see. Gabby jumped back, feeling her knife slide free from the giant’s body.
Her rescuer screamed that time. It was less in pain than in pure frustration.
Her knife clattered to the ground, and the smell of the blood on her shirt struck her, making her retch. Gabby backpedaled, shaking while the man cleaned his knife on the grass and sheathed it. She wasn’t sure exactly what she just did, but it had been the wrong choice.
He turned to her, ran his hand over her throat slowly, and nodded. “I’m sorry for frightening you,” he told her in a gentle voice.
Gabby stared at the growing stain of his blood on his jeans. “Oh...God.” She dragged the denim scarf from her hair and tried to staunch the flow from the wound she’d caused. “What did I do?” She couldn’t keep the tears from falling.
His hand covered hers, the other patting her back in comfort. “It’s okay. You need to calm down and come with me.”
“Yes. We have to get you to a hospital. Right now.” She hadn’t realized how severe the bleeding was.
“I have a doctor waiting for me.” That sounded sincere.
“You do? But—”
He didn’t let her finish. “Do you have a car nearby?”
She nodded. “In the lot.”
“Okay.” He reached down, retrieved her knife, wiped the blood on his jeans, and settled it into her sheath for her. Then he took her by the elbow and guided her back to the lot, while she tried to keep pressure on his wound. He walked quickly, as if he hardly noticed the fact that he was bleeding everywhere.
Gabby steered him toward her car with every intention of taking him to a hospital, but he shook his head.
“You have to go. Go home and wash your clothes immediately. Get a shower. If you don’t wash it off right away, it will burn your skin like harsh chemicals.”
“But—”
“No need to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
He ran his fingertips over her tear-stained cheek and smiled at her, a carnal smile that made her heart flutter. “It’s okay,” he assured her. “This is what I do, Gabrielle.”
Gabby felt the air leave her lungs and fought to find the strength to answer. “How do you know my name?”
He shrugged with a sheepish grin and handed her wallet back. His dark eyes glittered in amusement and a black curl fell over his eyes in a boyish look. “How else was I supposed to find you later?” he asked.
She managed a weak smile. “Planning on getting even?” she joked.
He laughed softly. “With a strong, beautiful woman like you? Never. I just wanted to let you know that there was no permanent injury, at a later date.”
Gabby blushed, her eyes scanning down his body to the slight bulge in his jeans. “If you show up with news like that, I may be tempted to make you prove it. After all, a big, strong man like you—”
What am I doing? I was just attacked by some creature. I’m nursing my personal knight in shining armor, who I just stabbed, and all I can think about is getting him into bed.
The man rose to her challenge in more ways than one. “Promise me that, and I will be on your doorstep in one week to collect on it.” He checked his watch as if marking the time for that date.
Gabby licked her lips slowly. “Next week, I will be eagerly waiting for you. But, I warn you, I intend to make sure every inch of you is in full working order.”
“I wouldn’t stand for less.”
His perusal of her made her knees week. “So, do you want me to call you ‘he’ forever, or is there something else I should call you?”
“Stephen.”
“Until next week, Stephen.” She slid into the seat, and he held the door for her. A gentleman to the end.
Stephen closed the door behind her and motioned her away. He stood and watched her leave, not moving from the spot he occupied until she was almost out of view.
Gabby groaned, not at the offer she’d made him but at the fact that she’d stabbed him in the first place.
* * * *
Stephen Hunter pressed his left hand to the stab wound in his ribs while he drove with his right. His black Firebird hummed under him, and he was glad that he went for an automatic. He’d bleed out if he had to shift. His mind was split: one part on ghosting so the beasts wouldn’t converge on him in his weakened state, one part on reaching the manor house, and one part assessing his wound.
The knife had been tiny compared to a sacred weapon, maybe four inches of blade but wickedly sharp, a woman’s blade. He laughed harshly that the damned beast Polero hadn’t laid a claw on him, but a woman had nailed him well. It was an impressive bleeder. He would have left the blade in place to minimize bleeding, but Gabrielle had been so startled when that baby-stealing beast dematerialized that she pulled it out before he could stop her. She shouldn’t have nailed him, but he’d been so intent on getting a deathblow on Polero, he had let his concentration on anything else falter. Worse, the time she’d cost him had allowed Polero to escape again.
Still, Stephen couldn’t blame Gabrielle for her reaction. He had unghosted and landed his bleeder on Polero as he saw the beast go for her throat, but she hadn’t seen his fangs. Gabrielle had believed the man was about to lay a playful kiss on her throat. It was a ploy the turned had learned from Veriel, courting a woman before using her.
Had she waited an instant longer to strike her blow, she might have realized that the blood covering her was the foul, black blood of a beast. She hadn’t, but Stephen was sure that she wished she had.
He replayed the shattered look in her pale blue eyes, the swollen, tear-stained cheeks. She was lovely and strong, and that heartbroken expression had convinced him to show her she had done no real harm.
His body remained in a fierce arousal at her offer. He wasn’t sure if he’d take the young woman up on it. Not that he’d complain about a night of sex with the spirited lass, but it smacked of deceit in getting her to bed. Was it honorable to accept an offer given under such duress? He’d have to consider that carefully.
Stephen pulled up to the gate at the manor house and reached his left hand out to the access panel. He had to reset the machine once when he hit a five instead of a two with his shaking, blood-slicked fingers. Bleary-eyed, he made it through the gate and into the underground garage.
He’d stumbled from the car and was halfway to the stairwell when Corwyn burst out. Stephen had only a moment to consider when he had let his ghosting slip before he lost his balance and landed in a heap on the concrete, cursing under his breath.
Corwyn flipped him to his back and pulled his jacket away to check his wound. His brother swore fluently, then ordered Colin to call Michael, one of their doctors. Stephen cried out as Corwyn applied pressure to the wound.
“It’s all right,” Corwyn assured him. “We’ve seen worse. Why didn’t you let us track you?”
“Had to protect her.”
Corwyn nodded in understanding, but his eyes burned in Blutjagd. “What beast did this to you?” he demanded.
Stephen barked in laughter, then grimaced as it jarred the wound. “No beast. A woman,” he panted out. He smiled at the memory of the petite blonde with the flashing blue eyes and the spray of freckles over her nose and cheeks.
“A woman?” Corwyn asked in disbelief.
Stephen’s smile spread. “What a woman,” he quipped as he slipped into the darkness.
* * * *
June 26th, 1982
Corwyn smiled as Stephen opened his eyes. He could tell immediately that his brother was lucid again. “Good evening. It’s nice to see you looking better.”
Stephen winced as he shifted on the bed. He scowled at the IV line in his arm. “Get this damned thing out of me. You know I hate them.”
“You didn’t give us much choice.” Corwyn started peeling the tape from the shunt, removing the apparatus and leaving Stephen with a gauze pad on his arm while he ditched the IV in the bathroom. He sliced the bag of fluid into the sink before dumping the empty shell into the trash can.
“How long have I been out?”
“About twenty hours. Next time, let us track you. We actually had to transfuse you.”
“I couldn’t,” he decided miserably. “I needed to protect her. By the time I knew she was safe, I was in no shape to take on a beast. I had to keep ghosting until I got home.”
“Gabrielle?”
Stephen looked at him in shock. “Yeah. Gabrielle.”
“You talk in your sleep.”
Stephen darkened.
“She made a real impression on you.”
“Yes, I suppose she did.” He ran his hand over the injured spot on his ribs. “All four steel inches of it.”
“I wasn’t referring to her blade. I was referring to the petite pixie you’ve been talking to for the last day.” Corwyn raised an eyebrow suggestively. “I never realized you were so—inventive with women.”
Stephen smiled weakly. “She has a body made for adventure,” he admitted.
Corwyn nodded. “Would you prefer to eat here or in the kitchen?”
Stephen scowled as he rolled stiffly to his feet. “You know the answer to that.”
“I’ll see you in the kitchen.” Corwyn didn’t wait for Stephen’s nod before heading down the hall. He took the stairs two at a time, considering Stephen’s wild ramblings.
His youngest brother was only twenty-four, far younger than modern-day Warriors typically chose a mate. Still, Hunter needed heirs. With Anna lost to them, it was up to his brothers to provide those heirs as soon as possible.
Corwyn sighed. There would be no heirs from Colin. Had Colin not had his own disastrous brush with printing, he might someday submit. Short of Stephen dying without heirs, there was no chance of that happening. If he did submit, Colin would approach mating as a loathsome duty to be fulfilled. Corwyn shuddered at the thought.
No, the heirs would come from Stephen. If his mad ramblings were the beginnings of printing and Ms. Farris would have him, Corwyn would facilitate the match in any way he could. Gods forbid, if Stephen’s printing turned as sour as Colin’s had, Corwyn would let Stephen have his healing time. Eventually, one of his brothers had to print and produce children, else Hunter would die.
Chapter Two
July 2nd, 1982
Stephen walked down the hall toward the entryway, his nerves vibrating in anticipation.
He gave himself a mental slap. Gabrielle’s promise had been given in a moment of stress. He shouldn’t be set on it. Stephen prepared himself emotionally to assure her he was healed and check on her before leaving her in peace. In the intervening week, she had surely decided that offering her body to a complete stranger, even one she’d injured while he was saving her life, had been a mistake. He’d say a final goodbye and go find a willing woman for the night.
For some reason, the thought of satisfying himself with anyone but Gabrielle depressed him. Stephen smiled at the arousal that the thought of her promise had kept him in all week. Daydreams of her had filled every unguarded waking moment and engendered erotic dreams while he’d slept.
Stephen was passing the library when he heard Corwyn call for him. He sighed and made his way into the room.
“Yes, Corwyn?”
“I need you to do some tracking for me,” Corwyn informed him. “Paper trail work.”
His heart sank. Not tonight. Any night but tonight. “Umm. Can it wait one day or is it urgent?” Stephen tried to keep his voice neutral, but he could guess that he failed.
Corwyn’s head shot up, and he scanned his gaze over Stephen critically. “You have something more important planned for tonight?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
Stephen felt his face burn. “I... No, Corwyn. Of course not. My duty is more important.” Damn it!
Corwyn sat back in his chair and furrowed his brow, swinging his pen as if he was considering something. “It’s a woman, isn’t it?”
Stephen averted his eyes. It had been less than five years for Corwyn. His brother still had nightmares of Anna’s death, of Veriel taking her, and of his missing child being stalked by beasts. Stephen couldn’t admit that he was begging off for a woman to Corwyn.
“Is it serious?” Corwyn interpreted his silence correctly. “The truth, Stephen,” he warned.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. He chanced a look at Corwyn nervously. He had been arguing how insane his fascination was with himself on the way down the stairs.
“What’s her name?”
“Gabrielle Farris.”
Corwyn smiled. “The woman you saved last week. Your check said she was a clerk at the courthouse.”
Stephen nodded, feeling on safer ground. “Yes. She is.”
“How appropriate,” Corwyn drawled, hooking his hands behind his neck.
“Is it?” His confusion had to be evident on Stephen’s face.
“Oh, it is,” Corwyn decided. “You don’t remember what you said to Anna after she planted my blade in Veriel, do you?”
Stephen groaned at the memory. “Woman sticks a blade in me, I’d think twice,” he parroted his words from that night.
“Which makes it poetic justice that you’re burning for her.”
“Corwyn, I—”
“Get going. You can’t know if it’s serious discussing it with me. If it is serious...”
“Yes?” Stephen asked.
“Don’t come back for a week, if she’ll have you, and bring her home as your mate as soon as she’ll let you.”
He nodded in relief. “Thank you, Corwyn.”
“Don’t thank me. If you’re printing, don’t let anything screw this up.”
* * * *
Gabby glanced at the clock for the tenth time in an hour. Stephen wasn’t coming, she decided miserably. What had she honestly expected? After all, she had stabbed the man while he was trying to save her from a vampire. Even if his wound was healing well, why would he want to come within miles of her?
Still, the bad boy smile he’d gifted her when she’d suggested he stop by had seemed sincere enough. His smile had been heart-stopping. She still wondered what was wrong with her that she had been standing there, covered in vampire blood and nursing Van Helsing embodied, and all she could think about was sex. It wasn’t her typical response, but there was something undeniably sexy about the man, something that made her head swim.
She sucked in her breath as the doorbell rang and she forced herself to walk to answer it when she wanted to run. Gabby pulled the door open and smiled at the sight of him in one piece.
Stephen raised an eyebrow and tapped the spy hole. “You didn’t check,” he chided her.
Gabby laughed in spite of herself. “I wasn’t aware that vampires rang doorbells.”
“Beasts aren’t the only dangerous creatures in the world. Plenty of them are human.”
“Point well taken. Won’t you come in?”
He glanced at her uncertainly. “Gabrielle—”
“Gabby,” she corrected him.
“Gabby. I just want to say up front—if you don’t want to go through with this—if you’ve changed your mind, I understand. You don’t owe me anything. This is my life. This is what I do. My…payment comes in other forms, from other sources.”
She looked at him, shocked by the speech. Gabby stepped to him on tiptoe and wound her hands around his head to draw his mouth down to hers. He was here, and he’d have to be really disinterested to avoid her advances.
Avoiding was the last thing he seemed intent on doing. From the instant her lips touched his, Stephen took over, lifting her with one arm while his other held her mouth to his. His hunger was like a living thing, his mouth seeking more than a simple kiss from her.
Gabby barely heard the door close as he carried her inside. The hand on her scalp disappeared momentarily, and she heard the lock snap shut. The wall was suddenly at her back, and his mouth left hers as he straightened and pressed the hard ridge of his cock to her.
Stephen groaned and looked at her with a longing that shook her. “I’ve dreamed of this all week,” he admitted.
Heat pooled at the apex of her thighs. Stephen closed his eyes and pressed to her again, as if he felt that miniscule change in her.
“So have I, Stephen.”
“Tell me what you want,” he requested. “Anything you want.”
“Next time.” God. Please, let there be a next time. This time is sure to be over far too soon. “I promised you anything you wanted this time.”
He managed a strangled laugh. “Gabby, you don’t understand. I want you so badly that I’ll take you here. Like this.” Stephen sank his face to the deep vee of her silk shirt, pressing kisses to the cleavage she’d left clearly visible to him.
Gabby undid the buttons, baring herself to his seeking mouth. She gasped as he sucked at her nipple through the lace of her bra. “Undress me without putting me down, and you have your wish,” she invited.
Stephen met her eyes. His smile spread, and he captured her mouth with a fever. Her shirt disappeared off the ends of her arms and her bra from between their bodies in a blur that made her head spin. His mouth left hers, and Gabby shivered in anticipation of what he would do to grant her unconventional wish.
She groaned as his hands slid up her thighs, pushing her skirt ahead of them until his fingers rested on the lace of her panties. His knee edged up as the skirt did, balancing her while he undid the button and zipper at the waistband and pulled it off over her head.
He removed her heels and thigh-highs, tossing them over his shoulders with a smoldering look. His fingers played at her panties while he surveyed her body and considered his next move.
Gabby moved against him purposefully, the sensation of his jean-clad thigh through the slick lace making her feel weak and empty. “Stephen, please. Rip them if you have to. I don’t care. Really, I don’t.”
He chuckled. “Now why would I ruin such a lovely piece of clothing? If I can manage it without tearing them, what will you promise me?” His fingers teased inside the crotch of her panties, and he shuddered as she groaned, his thigh muscles clenching under her. “Tell me, Gabby.” His voice went hoarse at that.
“Anything. Please.”
“What will you give me?”
“All night long,” she decided suddenly. “As many times as you can.”
“You may regret that choice.”
“I doubt it,” she breathed, arching to him as Stephen slid his hand down the back of her panties and cupped her buttocks skin-to-skin.
“Does that mean you’ll cooperate?” he teased, pulling her to the rigid length straining at the front of his jeans.
She nodded shakily. “Tell me what to do.”
“Hold onto my shoulders.”
Gabby wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, nipping at his jaw and ear while he dropped his knee and stepped back from the wall. He supported her weight easily with his left hand while his right worked the panties off, pulling this way and that until they slid to her ankles.
Stephen pulled them away with one last tug, swung them on his fingertip, and flipped them toward the door. “All night,” he mused. He shot her a hungry look. “And against the wall for a start.”
Before she finished her internal commentary on how much strength what he just did took, Stephen unbuckled his belt and dropped his dagger to the floor behind his ankles.
“Afraid of a repeat?” she teased.
Stephen laughed as he opened the button fly of his jeans with a single pull. “Do I need to be?”
“I’m content to leave the weapons to you.”
He slid his left hand down her thigh slowly, lifted her at the knees, and pulled her legs around his hips. Stephen pressed her back to the wall, and she felt his jeans retreating against her thighs. He paused, pressing against her for a moment before he surged up into her.
“Second thoughts?” she panted out, trying desperately to think clearly.
His laughter choked off into a groan. “Not on your life,” he assured her as his movements speeded.
Gabby arched to him, offering her breasts to the mouth exploring her while he filled her, stretching her around him. Stephen moved in her urgently, anchoring her hips to him as he possessed her.
She felt herself spiraling away under the attention of his mouth and his thrusts deep inside her. Gabby knew it would be like this when she made the offer: hot, mindless, addictive. Was he mindless for her? He hadn’t asked if she was safe, if she was taking the birth control pills that made her comfortable with something so crazy as inviting Stephen home with her and promising him a night like she planned to show him.
Stephen brushed his lips over her forehead, then straightened his body to push deeper into her. Gabby cried out, suddenly at the edge of an orgasm she hadn’t seen lurking so close.
“Come for me,” he whispered against her hair, moving one hand to tease at her clit.
She shattered, screaming at her loss of control to his gentle hands. Stephen followed her. His cry was ragged as he tensed inside her, filling her with an incredible wave of soothing heat.
His hand cupped her head, and he kissed her gently. “Gabby, tell me what you want,” he pleaded again. “Anything you want.”
Gabby laughed, amused by his comment. He couldn’t possibly be ready again that quickly. “You don’t need to recover?”
He surged into her, groaning as his still-erect cock hardened further. “With you? I don’t think sated or recovered are words that will come readily to mind. Did you really mean all night?”
“I think I mean forever.”
“Don’t use that word yet. You don’t mean it.” He suddenly seemed serious.
Stephen kissed her again, his tongue caressing hers as he slid gently back and forth. He brought her up slowly, his body almost careful in his handling. He didn’t release her mouth, nibbling and sucking at her between deep, drugging kisses. He exploded, filling her with a searing release that set off her internal contractions again.
He pulled back, his eyes fierce and his arms shaking around her. “Tell me what you want,” he ordered in a low, gruff voice. “I will not take you against this wall a third time.”
“My bedroom is upstairs,” she whispered, lost in those eyes as she had been when she’d stabbed him.
Gabby held to him as Stephen walked. She shouldn’t be sure about forever. She hadn’t had more than thirty minutes in Stephen’s company since the shout that made Antoñio Polero recoil from her. But, she was sure. Gabby hoped that the night wasn’t all he wanted from her.
* * * *
Stephen’s mouth quirked up in a faint smile as Gabby’s fingers trailed up the underside of his balls, and he hardened in response. He thanked Ani that she seemed as insatiable as he was. Stephen opened his eyes a slit, watching the intense expression in her blue eyes as she played at his body. He ran his hand up the curve of her spine to smooth the riot of blonde curls that brushed her neck.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Considering tying you to my bed.”
A wave of pure pleasure shot through him at that bold statement. “I’m not saying that the idea holds no appeal, because I would love to be at your mercy—”
“But?” she asked, enticing him with a kiss on the swollen head, promising him more of her delicious mouth.
“What brought this on?”
Gabby flashed him an impish grin, and her nose crinkled on the adorable spray of freckles he found himself nuzzling as he took her. Everything about her—from her pink painted toenails to her soft pixie cut that formed her wild, morning curls—fascinated him.
She dropped her head and kissed the pink scar left from the wound she’d given him a week earlier, then straddled him smoothly. “The sun’s coming up,” she informed him with a pout.
“And? I’m not a beast. I’ll take you out on the balcony and make love to you as the sun rises if it would make you happy.”
“I said all night, but I don’t want you to leave. I thought, if I tied you to the bed...” She blushed. “I wonder how long it would be before someone came looking for you.”
“A week,” he answered simply, privately cheering that she didn’t want him to leave.
Gabby furrowed her brow. “You’re serious.”
Stephen nodded, rubbing his thumb over her nipple while she considered his announcement.
“Why a week?”
“My oldest brother told me not to leave you for a week if I decided to marry you. He ordered me not to come home for that long if I decided I was serious.”
She worked her mouth as if she didn’t know what to ask first. “You told your brother you wanted to marry me?”
“No. He told me. He knows the look of a man who is far-gone well enough to know I have it bad for you. So he ordered me to decide if I was serious and bring you home with me if I was.”
“And?” she asked nervously.
“And what?” he teased, knowing full well what she was asking. He cupped her breast in his hand and watched the nipple harden for him.
“Are you serious? Do you intend to stay the week?”
“Do you want me to be serious?” That was the important question, after all. Stephen had known what he wanted when she’d toyed with the magic word forever. He had to know she was willing to consider forever as a reality very soon. Stephen was already further gone than he liked to admit.
Gabby nodded quietly. “Can I say forever yet?”
“No. Not yet.” He drew her toward him and sucked in the nipple, fondling it with his tongue. Stephen released it with a playful lick. “When I ask you for forever, you have to mean it. I take forever very seriously.”
“When. Not if,” she noted breathlessly.
“My mind is made up. I need to be sure yours is, too.” He moved to the other nipple, reining himself in as her core heated, slicked for him again.
“What’s involved in forever?” she asked in a dreamy voice.
“You know what my life is. I hunt. Sometimes, I would have to go on trail. You’ve seen what I’m like when I’m protective. I would be very protective of you.” He slid her further down his body, his cock screaming to sample the heat gathering in her while he talked. Just talking about making her his mate was driving him crazy.
“Go on,” she whispered, her fingers massaging at his male nipples.
“You would move to the manor—or one of the smaller houses with me. In matters of your safety, you would defer to myself and the other Warriors.”
He kissed her neck at the spot where Polero had intended to take her blood. The smell of their sex on her skin made him crazy for her.
Everything about her makes me crazy for her.
Stephen wanted to mark her, to leave an outward sign that she was his. He’d never wanted to do that. It smacked too much of what the beasts did for his tastes, but Gabby was different. She was his. He nipped at her, sucking her skin into his mouth gently.
Gabby moaned, her heat intensifying against his stomach. “Yes, Stephen. Please.”
“I want to mark you,” he admitted, his words muted against her skin.
“I know.”
He groaned as he pulled at the sensitive skin of her neck, holding her still for his intimate assault on her. Stephen was surprised by how quickly he managed to leave his sign on her. He was more surprised by how excited it made Gabby to be marked as his.
“Do you want me to be serious?” he asked again, kissing at the love bite he’d left on her.
“My work?” she asked, continuing the questioning she had every right to engage in. Mating with him was a permanent move. She should be sure before she agreed to it.
“If you wish. You won’t have to, and you can travel with me if you don’t work. It’s your choice.”
“What is the manor?”
Stephen smiled. “It’s huge and beautiful but lived in. If you hate it, we can use one of the smaller houses, but you would be safer at the manor.”
She bit her lip lightly. “Do you like children?”
He hardened further at the thought of Gabby carrying his children. Stephen ran a teasing finger through the patch of curls at her pelvis. “Love them. Do you want children?”
Gabby nodded, blushing again. “Absolutely. Right away, if you’re willing.”
Stephen laughed lightly and moved the finger from her curls to rub circles around her clit slowly. “The day you promise me forever, you have my permission to throw away those nasty little pills you’re taking and let your body prepare for a baby.” My baby.
Her eyes widened. “How did you know?”
He slid his fingers lower, teasing the engorged slit and sliding inside her. Gabby’s eyes closed, and she moved against his hand slowly. Stephen watched her taking her pleasure with a thrill.
“Your body tells me quite a bit,” he assured her. “Now. Are you sure you want me to be serious? I can be very serious.”
“Is this the moment that you ask me for forever?”
“No. This is the moment you find something to tie me to your bed. I intend on taking the week. I’m going to make love to you until I can’t help but ask you for forever. How does that sound?”
Stephen groaned as she shattered around his fingers.
Chapter Three
July 6th, 1982
Two days later, Stephen thought he wouldn’t survive if he didn’t ask. Still, he held off until Gabby came home from work on that third day. He met her at the door, then swept her off of her feet and into the living room. He cradled her to the sofa beneath him.
“I have to ask,” he breathed. “Give me forever.”
Gabby’s eyes glittered. “Take me to the manor.”
“Why?”
“You’re going to make love to me after you ask, right?”
“Yes. I am.”
“Then I want you to make love to me in the bed we’re going to share. Will you do that one thing for me?”
“I would do almost anything you asked. Pack an overnight bag. We’re spending the night there.”
“Convince me to call in sick, and I’ll pack for the rest of the week.”
His smile spread. “You have my word.”
Stephen was practically carrying her when he swept her into the manor house. He nodded to Colin as they passed the library, ignoring his brother’s questioning look. Gabby preceded him into his room, and Stephen dropped her bag on the floor, reaching for her.
She stayed him with hand on his chest and a laugh. “Not so fast, Warrior.”
“What?” Stephen masked his frustration as best he could, but he was nearly crazed in his need to complete printing. His body was taut in preparation.
Gabby reached into the zippered pocket on her bag, pulling out a pack of birth control pills. She waved them under his nose, then turned to saunter through the open door into his three-quarter bath.
Stephen followed her in confusion. What did the pills have to do with anything? Gabby waited for him by the sink, the round container open in her hand.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Gabby turned to the sink, leaning to outline her delectable bottom against her skirt. “You said I could throw these away when you asked,” she purred.
Stephen snuggled his body behind her. “You want me to ask, then wait while you poke out those little pills and throw them away?”
“Who said anything about waiting?”
Stephen groaned. “I thought you wanted me to make love to you in my bed.”
“Next time.” She was breathless, and her scent increased in her excitement, testing Stephen’s resolve to take her slowly. Gabby spread her legs and pushed back against his erection in invitation.
Stephen placed his hands on her hips, meeting her gaze in the mirror. He slid his hands down the front of her skirt, stopping as he reached her knees. Her silky skin teased his fingers. Gabby had removed her nylons while she’d packed her bag, a fact that had escaped him in his rush to get her here.
He eased his hands up her thighs, cupping his long fingers on the inside curve and spreading her further as her skirt retreated with his hands. Stephen knew before his fingers reached her core that he would find her bare beneath the skirt.
Gabby moaned as he teased inside her wet slit. Stephen slid two fingers inside her, and she grasped the edge of the sink. He eased his hand out slowly, and she whimpered at the loss.
Stephen kissed the back of her neck while his hands worked to free him from his jeans. Once they were pushed over his thighs, he unbuttoned her blouse to her navel, noting that she had removed her bra along with her other underclothes. He seated the head of his cock in the sweet cream between her thighs and surged into her, cradling her body to his. Gabby cried out, already nearing climax. Stephen stilled, his fingers massaging her nipples while she writhed against him.
“I want you, Gabrielle. Will you be my wife and mate forever?” he gasped.
“Yes. Oh, Stephen, don’t stop.”
“The pills,” he crooned.
Gabby made as if to throw the whole container into the trash. Stephen stopped her, cradling her wrist in his hand.
“One at a time,” he whispered.
She popped the first pill out with shaking fingers and tossed it in the sink. Stephen rewarded her with a smooth withdrawal and filled her again. Gabby gasped and met his eyes in the mirror, pleading with him and fevered in her need.
“Another,” he prodded, knowing that he couldn’t play this game indefinitely.
Another pill landed in the sink, and Stephen repeated the long, slow slide inside her. Gabby’s legs shook under her. Two pills rolled down the porcelain, and Stephen smiled.
“So impatient,” he chided her.
He didn’t execute his slow slide in her again. Instead, he massaged her nipples, pulling her shirt from her waistband and undoing the last two buttons. Stephen guided it off her shoulders so it gaped open over her chest, displaying the hard peaks of her nipples for him.
“I’m going to suck them, Gabby.”
She made an inarticulate sound of longing.
“Not now. After we’ve come, I’m going to suck them. Pills,” he reminded her.
Another pill hit the sink.
“Better.” He performed his long, slow slide, paused and did it again, groaning at how close he was. This teasing was driving him as mad as it was driving her. “How many are left, Gabby?”
“Three.”
“All of them.” His voice was rough now.
They hit the sink in quick succession, and Stephen kept time with them. Beyond control, he continued the pace, one hand playing at her breasts while the other held her hips still for his thrusts.
Stephen looked at their reflection, grimacing at his loss of control. He was wild-eyed, in a frenzy to claim his mate. He’d waited too long to ask. He should have asked before he was this crazed. Gabby was so slight and helpless in comparison to his height and strength that Stephen cursed himself. He could hurt her so easily, without meaning to. He had so little control left, he feared he would hurt her.
Gabby pushed back on his length, and Stephen growled, closing his eyes as he tried to rein in his reaction.
“No.” Gabby gasped. “Don’t hold back.”
Stephen snapped, lunging into her again and again while Gabby urged him on. She shattered, her muscles contracting around him as her hands slid from the edge of the sink. Stephen threw out his hand instinctively, cushioning her body as he thrust one final time. He roared as he emptied his seed into her. She was his to love and protect forever now, his mind and body at peace as it hadn’t been for days.
He stood, panting as he regained control. Stephen opened his eyes fearfully, taking in the sight of Gabby, still impaled on him. Her clothing was half off her body. He had torn her blouse in those final frenzied moments.
Stephen cursed softly as he eased her blouse off and lifted her off his length and onto the edge of the sink. His hands shaking, he wet a washcloth in hot water and stroked it over her core. She wasn’t bleeding. Of that, he was grateful. Stephen could have done irreparable damage.
Gabby winced, and Stephen set his jaw angrily. He’d hurt her. Could he ever trust himself again? Stephen considered having Colin take her to Michael while Corwyn ended his threat.
“Stephen, you need to stop,” Gabby groaned.
He closed his eyes, dropping to his knees with his shoulders slumped in defeat. “I’m sorry,” he croaked. “I won’t hurt you again. You have my vow.”
Her hand trailed through his hair, firing his body for her. He cursed himself for the reaction. He had no right to touch her if he hurt her.
“Is that what you think?” she whispered. “You think that you hurt me?”
Stephen looked up at her uncertainly. “You said—You winced. I didn’t—”
Gabby took his hand, still resting on her knee, and lifted it to her core. As his fingertips brushed over her, a fresh wave of her lubricant mixed with his seed leaked from her. Her engorged nether lips trembled against his hand. She threw her head back and arched to him with a moan.
“Stephen,” she pleaded.
He pushed to his feet, kicking his jeans and shoes away impatiently. Stephen kissed her, savoring her arousal as Gabby wrapped her legs around his waist and drew him closer. He nuzzled her lips.
“I haven’t hurt you?” he asked quietly.
Gabby shook her head.
Stephen slid his fingers inside her, and her eyes dilated. Her responses didn’t indicate that she was in pain. Stephen had never seen her so aroused. He massaged her inner muscles, watching as Gabby’s breathing hitched and her lower lip trembled.
“Why did you tell me to stop? Why did you wince when I touched you?”
“I’m...sensitive. Your touch—” She gasped. “Oh...Stephen.”
His cock throbbed at his name on her lips. “Do you want me to stop, Gabby?”
She shook her head frantically.
Stephen lifted her slightly and eased inside her again, his knees weak at the pleasure riding his nerves. He walked to the bed, Gabby’s light bounce in his hands nearly undoing his resolve. Stephen laid her beneath him, taking her in slow, smooth strokes. Gabby arched her breasts to him, reminding him of his promise.
* * * *
Corwyn smiled as Stephen and Gabrielle came down to dinner. “I told you a week,” he teased his impetuous youngest brother.
Gabrielle darkened and looked away.
Stephen grinned and wrapped his arm around her. “I couldn’t last that long,” he admitted. “If you don’t mind, we’d like to finish that week off as a honeymoon.”
Corwyn nodded. “Take your time.” Hunter could support the loss of a roving Night Warrior for quite some time if it meant heirs to the house. His gaze flicked to the open vee of Gabrielle’s blouse. Corwyn raised a questioning brow at Stephen, demanding with his eyes to know what madness his brother was playing at by not protecting his mate properly.
Stephen’s smile disappeared. He held his wife’s chair for her, attending to her comfort as he hadn’t her protection. “Things being as they are, Corwyn...”
Corwyn nodded in understanding. “You want her to wear the Lord’s seal.”
Stephen nodded.
“I think you’re right. Gabrielle—”
“Gabby,” she corrected him.
“Gabby. I don’t know why Stephen hasn’t done this yet.”
“She’s never been away from me after dark,” he protested.
Corwyn shot him a quelling look. “And, you know better than to trust to that.”
Stephen grimaced, his face darkening. “Yes. I do.”
Gabby looked from one brother to the other in confusion. “Done what?” she asked nervously.
Stephen sat beside her, taking her hand. “There is an amulet we’ll give you. It will protect you. With it on, the beasts can’t touch you. If one does, the amulet will push it away, cause it pain, and call us to kill it. You need to wear it all the time. Never take it off, or you may forget to put it back on.”
Gabby nodded. “And the down side to this is what, precisely?”
Corwyn laughed heartily. “There isn’t one. Well, except that the amulet isn’t very stylish.”
“I can live with that.”
“Good.” Corwyn rose and collected a Lord’s seal from the inside pocket of his coat, hung on the rack near the kitchen door. He returned to them and tossed it to Stephen. “If you would.”
Stephen looked to him uncertainly. “It’s the Lord’s seal,” he pointed out.
“You have my permission. She’s your mate, Stephen. You should see to her protection.”
Stephen nodded, averting his gaze in understanding. Corwyn bit back tears as Stephen gave Gabby his blessing. Stephen understood. Corwyn couldn’t give a Hunter mate the Lord’s seal and speak the blessing. The memories of Anna were too new, too raw.
Stephen sealed the blessing with a passionate kiss. Corwyn nodded. It was good that they had passion. Stephen would sire the Hunter heir, the heir that should have been Corwyn’s son.
Gabby blushed. “I’m glad you did that,” she commented to Stephen.
Corwyn howled in laughter at that, then laughed even harder as Stephen shot him a dirty look.
“Corwyn wouldn’t have kissed you like that,” he protested. “Tell her.”
Corwyn stifled his laughter, suddenly acutely aware of the edge of Blutjagd burning in Stephen’s hide. “Down, boy. She’s your mate. I couldn’t have feelings for her even if I wanted to. You know that.”
Stephen sobered, his bloodlust melting away. “I’m sorry, Corwyn.”
“Don’t worry. I’m stable. I promise.” He lied, but it helped to say it. “I would have kissed your forehead, Gabby. You have my word on that.”
She nodded, then turned to the doorway as Colin breezed into the room.
Colin smiled widely, then crossed the room to plant a quick kiss on Gabby’s forehead. He handed her a gift and took his seat. “Welcome to the family,” he intoned, a smug smile and raised eyebrow announcing his happiness that it was Stephen who fell and not himself.
Gabby looked to Stephen uncertainly. Corwyn bit back a laugh at that. It was obvious that the couple hadn’t spent a lot of time talking while he was away from the manor.
Stephen cleared his throat. “Corwyn is my oldest brother, the Lord Hunter. He’s the head of our family. Colin is the next oldest. Then me.”
Gabby nodded. “Are you the baby or are there more brothers around here?”
Colin snorted in laughter. “Oh, she’ll do. Calling Stephen a baby. I’ll have to remember to share that one with Kord on his next call.”
Corwyn shot him a hard look. “Just because Stephen gave you a scar the last time you were foolish enough to say it—”
Stephen sighed. “No. There are only three of us. Thank Ani for that favor!”
Gabby furrowed her brow. “Is Ani your mother?”
“No. We have a set of gods. Ani is the mother, the goddess of life...of birth.”
She fingered the amulet. “Oh.”
Corwyn shook his head. “They’re our gods. Worship your own, Gabby. We’ll celebrate the usual holidays. We’re not offended by our wives’ beliefs.”
Gabby smiled, her eyes lighting. “So, are there other wives?” she asked. Her smile disappeared, as Corwyn bit back a painful lump in his chest and Colin’s jaw tightened. She sank closer to Stephen, looking from one older brother to the other.
“Gabby,” Stephen began.
“No,” Corwyn decided. “We’ll tell our own stories.”
“As you wish.”
“You know we mate for life, Gabby?” Corwyn tried to keep his voice matter of fact.
She nodded. “Stephen told me that.”
“I had a wife. Her name was Anna. She’s been dead for four years.”
“I’m sorry, Corwyn,” she choked out.
“Don’t be.”
Gabby looked at Colin. “You don’t have to—”
Colin shook his head. “I broke printing,” he offered simply.
She looked at Stephen in confusion, no doubt unfamiliar with the terminology Colin had used.
Stephen sighed. “If you would have refused me, it would have been very painful. I might have gone insane. I think I almost did that anyway.” He darkened.
Gabby touched his cheek. “Is that why you were worried about hurting me?”
Stephen kissed her hand, closing his eyes as if some memory tortured him. “When I thought I had...” He cast a miserable look at Corwyn.
Corwyn winced as his meaning became clear. “You considered having me destroy you. Didn’t you?” He didn’t really need to ask the question, but something told him that it would be better for Gabby to know what lengths Stephen would go to in order to protect her, even from himself.
Gabby gasped. “You didn’t,” she demanded.
Stephen nodded and lowered his face to her shoulder. “I’ll never lose control again. You have my vow on that.”
“You will never consider deserting me like that again. Do you understand me, Stephen?” Her eyes were fierce, and her voice shook in anger.