Hunter Betrayed (20 page)

She made good on her promise. He felt her love. It wrapped
around them, linking them together.

Too damn bad it wouldn’t save them in the end. Nothing
would.

Calan listened to the ordinary sounds of Harley moving
around the bathroom. He savored them. The door opened, filling the room with
steam and her sweet fragrance. He dragged in one last deep breath of oranges
and spice then turned and faced her. The time had come to tell her the truth.
He’d considered leaving while she showered, but he couldn’t. His honor wouldn’t
allow him to slink away like a coward.

Dressed in a fluffy white robe, three sizes too big, with a
towel wrapped around her head and rosy cheeks, she looked like his mate. He
could’ve envisioned this scene playing out over the centuries. Today would be
the last she held his mark. Sadness gripped him. He pushed the emotion deep.

She slipped trembling balled fists into the pockets of her
robe. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s time for me to go, Harley.”

She took a single step into the room. “Are you going to tell
me the real reason I couldn’t voice my feelings last night.”

He stared at her and couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“Calan, please. You asked for my trust. I gave it to you.
Now you must trust me.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I made a mistake binding
myself to you, Harley.”

Her brows pinched. “Excuse me?”

He motioned to her hand shoved into her robe. So many times
last night, he’d been tempted to trace the design, imagine what it would look
like completed. He’d resisted. He didn’t need the image of their incomplete
bond to haunt him more than it did. “I shouldn’t have started the mate bond
with you.”

Blinking rapidly, she stepped back. He saw the sheen of
moisture in her eyes. The first tear slipped free. He clenched his jaw. The
temptation to open his mind to hers and yank her anxiety away grew with each
droplet that rolled down her cheek.

“You lied to me? You don’t love me?”

“No!” He was by her side before he thought better of it. He
wiped the trail of tears away. “No, flower. I love you. I always will, but I
acted rashly. I should’ve waited until the curse was transferred back to Dahm.”

“Why?”

He cupped her face between his hands and waited for her to
reach for him. She didn’t. He couldn’t blame her. Still, the loss of her
comforting touch hurt. “I must break our bond before my siblings succumb to
madness. I’d thought only they bore the curse. I was wrong. I do too and
because I bonded my body to yours, so do you. I must take back my half of our
mate bond to spare you from suffering the curse meant for your father.”

“But you’ll mate me again after you defeat Dahm, right?”

He dropped his hands and turned away. He couldn’t look into
her hopeful eyes any longer. “No, Harley, I can’t. I only have one circle to
give. You were my one chance, my one mate, my one love. There will never be
another.”

“So you can’t love me if we’re not mated?”

“I’ll always love you.” He glanced over his shoulder. “No
matter what happens or who you end up with, I will be here. I just won’t be
your mate.”

She narrowed her eye. “What do you mean, who I end up with?”

He forced his fingers to unclench. “I hope that once my
brothers are free you’ll find one of them pleasing, maybe more so than me, and
give him your love.”

“What if my love has already been given?” She stepped
forward. “What if I said those three words you’ve stopped me from uttering and
completed our bond right now.”

“Then you’ll have negated my sacrifice. I’m giving you up so
you have a chance at life, maybe not the one you or I desire, but life all the
same. You can fight the lure of the chaos as you’ve done without me or you can
give one of my brothers a chance at earning your love and being the male I
cannot be.” He made his way to the door, each step ripping his heart open. “We
do not have predestined mates, Harley. We fall in love.”

“I don’t want another.”

He stepped into the hallway, gaze straight ahead. “Then that
is your choice, but at least you have one.”

With that, he closed the door behind him and left his heaven
behind.

* * * * *

Harley stared at the closed door for a long time before she
slid down the wall and huddled on the floor. A crazed laugh escaped.

“I got dumped.”

Worse than that. Her heart got stomped on. She’d given it to
him last night, but he’d never felt it. After the first time they’d made love,
he’d closed his mind to hers. She pulled her shaky hand out of her pocket and
studied the two interlocking circles on her palm.

“Words might have power, Calan, but so does love.”

She traced the symbol, his circle then hers. Her vision
blurred as the tears rolled down her face. Deep, hiccupping sobs shook her
chest. The anguish consumed her. She curled into a ball and cried until she had
nothing left.

Finally, she sat up and went over everything Calan had told
her. The anger and sense of betrayal faded as the nobility of his actions
landed heavily on her shoulders. Calan loved her. She had no doubt in her mind,
yet he was willing to give her up so she wouldn’t be condemned to suffer. He
was giving her another chance at life and love exactly as he’d said.

More tears rolled down her face. She glanced at the blurry
mark on her palm. “But it’s too late. I already gave my love away.”

For a moment, she considered reaching out to him to tell him
but dismissed the idea. It was better this way. He’d hunt for Dahm, but there
was no guarantee Calan would find him quickly.

“Without me to bear the curse, Calan will be forced to
shoulder it. He won’t survive alone. And when he succumbs to madness like his
siblings, the doorway to hell will open.”

Her neighbor’s wrinkled face flashed before her eyes. The
slideshow started. Each and every death caused by Raul or his sluaghs danced
across her vision. If Dahm wasn’t stopped, he’d make more redcaps, more sluaghs
and kill more innocent people. Raul would do the same, using her blood to hide
his army.

No. I won’t allow it to happen.

She pushed to her feet and dressed in the outfit Calan had
first seen her wear. She dug through the dirty, ripped clothes he’d left in the
bathroom and pulled out the dagger he’d taken from his prison. Dried blood
coated it.

Dahm’s blood.

She closed her eyes on the confirmation. Calan had tried to
transfer the curse and failed. She rinsed it off, slipped it into her boot and
left.

The curse was meant for a fairy. Well, she’d give it one.
Her.

* * * * *

“I am sorry, child,” Arawn said.

Calan held the small vial up to the light. A rainbow of
colors danced through the shimmering liquid. “What is this?”

“An angel’s tears.”

Calan turned and caught his father’s gaze. “What did you
sacrifice to get it?”

Because it had to be something precious. Only the Archangels
had a physical form and those warriors were as vicious as the Huntsmen. More
so, actually. Many believed them unfeeling, unforgiving vigilantes. Then again,
he and his siblings had been described the same way.

Arawn shrugged. “Does it matter? The sacrifice has been
made. There is no taking it back.”

Calan pressed the vial to his chest. Warmth emanated from
it. “I’m hoping one of my brothers will fall in love with her as I have and
mate her.

“She’ll make a fine mate.”

Calan tilted his head and studied his father’s face, but the
blank mask he wore gave nothing away. “You do not know her.”

Arawn pushed from the wall near the entrance to the
Huntsmen’s sanctuary. He turned and headed back the way he’d come. At the fork
in the corridor, he glanced over his shoulder. “You love her. That is all I
need to know.” He motioned him forward. “Now go, the sun will set soon. You
must call the Hunt. Time is running out.”

Calan nodded and stepped through the portal. It closed
behind him with a soft whoosh, leaving him in the overgrown butterfly garden
where he’d first peered into Harley’s eyes.

He waited until the stars brightened the sky before he
withdrew the vial. His hand trembled. He ignored the disturbing sight,
unscrewed the cap and chugged the thick liquid. Fire raced down his throat. He
grabbed his neck, clawed at his skin, but the inferno spread, igniting every
inch of his body. His skin pulled taut, lungs collapsed and heart stopped.

The air around him charged and an invisible force slammed
into him, lifting him and throwing him across the garden. He smacked into a
bench, the wood crushing under his weight. A heartbeat passed then another. The
pain receded.

It was done.

Calan pushed his body into a sitting position but couldn’t
bring himself to move, let alone call the Hunt.

For the first time in his life, the familiar rage that
fueled his Huntsman form slipped through his fingers. His sorrow overshadowed
everything.

* * * * *

Harley’s mouth opened on a soundless shriek. Hands pressed
to her chest, she tried desperately to hold onto Calan. The silken second skin
slipped through her fingers. Fire replaced it, burning every inch of her body.
Her back arched and the final piece pulled free. She slammed into the ground.
Air rushed out of her lungs.

For a long moment, she lay there unmoving. Finally, she turned
her hand over. One by one, she forced her fingers to unclench. Where two
circles had been, only one remained. Hers.

“He did it. He abandoned me.” She squeezed her eyes shut.
“No, dammit. He’s trying to save me and the world.”

She pushed to her feet and shuffled the remaining few feet
to the section of ground between the lake and Calan’s prison. Doubt and fear
rushed up. She shoved it aside.

“You’re not the only one who can sacrifice, Calan.” She
glanced into the pit that looked deeper and darker than it had the last time
she’d seen it. “So can I.”

She stepped into the nearest stream of chaos. It snaked up
her legs, twined around her torso and lifted her hair. Instead of experiencing
temptation, her skin crawled. She ignored the sensation and slid over the edge
of the sinkhole.

At the bottom, she stared wide-eyed at the entrance. The
beam that had sagged the last time she’d seen it, had cracked. The earthen
roof, partially collapsed, only allowed a crawl space into the underground
chamber.

“Oh god.” Tremors started. The full impact of what she was
about to do gripped her.

Memories returned of her time spent in the bunker—plush
carpet, comfy furniture, books and videos. The image of Calan’s prison overlaid
it—the chains, the silence, the isolation.

A whimper escaped, but she forced her feet to move. At the
opening, she dropped to her knees and breached the entrance. The soot in the
air choked her lungs. She breathed shallowly and crawled forward. Some places,
she had to shimmy on her belly, squeezing through the collapsed tunnel, but the
farther she traveled, the wider the opening grew. Near the final stairwell, she
stood, brushed off the dirt on her pants and descended.

The unlit torch on the wall drew her eye. She grabbed a
flint stored near it, scraping the small block over the stone. The spark
caught, lighting the partially burned, cloth-wrapped stick. A flickering glow
illuminated the room. She didn’t need the light, but it comforted her.

She swept her gaze over Calan’s bedroom. Her attention
focused on the rumpled bed where they’d made love. Another sob choked her. On
shaky legs, she walked forward. She lifted the pillow to her nose and inhaled
her Huntsman’s woodsy scent. She greedily let it seep into her then forced her
fingers to unclench, dropping it onto the mattress.

Heart-stopping fear seized her. The chains hanging from the
wall glowed, swinging softly on a breeze she didn’t feel.

“This is it.” Her voice echoed.

She swallowed around the lump in her throat and took a step,
then another. Without allowing herself to think, she yanked the dagger out of
her boot and clutched it while she backed into position against the wall.

The chains she’d thought would be too short for her small
frame, lengthened. The ones at her feet slithered across the ground. The
manacle snapped over her left foot, her right next, and pulled. Her hips
cracked with the tight stretch. She winced but didn’t have time to cry out. The
one above her head snagged her free wrist and jerked it up. Fearing the other
chain would capture her last limb, she raised the blade and slammed it into her
chest. It sank deeper and deeper until her body absorbed it completely.

Fiery ice slithered into her veins. It seized her, locking
her muscles, stopping her heart and throwing her body and mind into the worst
agony she’d ever experienced. Words skittered through her brain. She couldn’t
make sense of the guttural chant. The language was one she’d never heard, but
the meaning of it settled into her heart.

She had to suffer for crimes she had never committed. The
images danced across her vision—bloated bodies, rapes, torture and utter
destruction. In every one, a face repeated. Although she’d never seen him, she
knew who he was—her father, the sick bastard who’d forced his seed into her
mom. Hatred whipped through her. Pain followed. She welcomed it, hoped if she
accepted it, the sheer agony would stop. It didn’t. More anguish added to the
weight crushing her.

The earth around her trembled, groaned and finally shook in
a violent quake. The ground shifted. A boom rocked the world and the sound of
crashing and shifting rock filled her ears.
I’m being buried alive.
The
thought came and went. She couldn’t hold onto the fear it brought. Hell had
finally found her and it was worse than she ever imagined
.

* * * * *

A tremor shook the earth. Calan pushed to his feet. He
stared in the direction of the lake and cursed. Something horrible had
happened. He let his Huntsman form emerge and ran toward it.

He cleared the tree line and stumbled to a halt. Raul stood
behind a wall of sluaghs. Beyond him, the sinkhole that led to his prison’s
entrance was filling in. The sight didn’t make sense. Calan pushed the concern
aside and focused on the appearance of the redcap. Raul needed to die.