Hunter Betrayed (6 page)

He reached a metaphysical hand out and cupped her mound, the
dampness of her arousal soaking the material of her pants. He stroked a finger
down the seam. She squeaked and tumbled forward, exactly the response he
wanted. He caught her with his free hand and yanked her against his body. She
fought him, pushing and squirming against his iron grip. He reached around her
rear and pressed his hand between her legs. She stilled and stared at him,
shock and desire simmering in her dilated eyes.

“And what about the humans who die to sustain his redcaps or
the unfortunate ones who are turned into sluaghs?”

She only gaped at him.

He narrowed his eyes, letting her see the seriousness in his
pointed questions, hoping she’d understand.

“And don’t forget the ones his creatures torture and rape
for fun. What about them? Only the Huntsmen can mete out justice, but we can’t
because my siblings struggle under the curse they were never meant to carry.”

She flinched.

He hated having caused her discomfort, but this was too
important. She needed to understand that he couldn’t allow any corrupted fairy
to live, even if it meant killing her siblings. “Only the Huntsmen’s suffering holds
the barrier to hell closed. We have sacrificed for the humans you hold dear.”

A myriad emotions flashed across her face. More tears fell.
He bent his head and kissed away the ones he could reach.

“I promised you I’d live, but now you’re telling me it was
all for nothing. I’m fighting the inevitable.” She stood on her tiptoes,
bringing those turbulent orbs closer to his. “I would’ve given up years ago if
it hadn’t been for you. You lied to me. I have nothing to live for except this,
releasing you. I watched friends and family suffer and die so I could live long
enough for this moment. Am I right?”

The full impact of what she’d endured hit him with her
confession. She’d fought the darkness and won…for him. He’d seen with his own
eyes how quickly the fairies fell once they became infected. The chaos acted as
a drug. Every little bit they allowed inside made their craving greater. The
euphoric high it gave lured even the most noble to give in to the temptation.

The woman before him had experienced the effects of it.
Although still mainly pure, there were pockets of damage on her aura. She’d
tasted the power yet had turned her back on it. He’d been right. She was the
key to his salvation.

“No, my precious flower, you’ve lived long enough for us to
save each other.” He stroked his thumb over the opening of her cloth-covered
sex. “Kiss me. Open yourself up and let me inside.”

Harley’s entire focus centered on the man lazily rubbing her
cleft. The look in his eyes stripped her bare, left her aroused and wary. She
didn’t understand what he asked of her, but she sensed it would change her for
all time.

She leaned back to take in the full force of the powerful
man and try to get a clue as to his motives. Wavy brown hair with a multitude
of highlights from blond to chestnut hung in choppy sections around his rough
face. His pale-blue eyes stood out against his tanned skin. She suspected they
could appear as cold as ice at times. Not today. No, lust heated them.

He wasn’t gorgeous, despite what she’d claimed, not in the
same sense as the models who’d tramped through her parents’ house growing up.
Calan’s striking features gave off a commanding tone that appealed to her.

He’d said he’d been bred for war. The thick muscles packed
onto his tall frame supported his claim. She had no problem imaging what else
he could do with his body. God, the man fit the picture of what her ideal lover
should look like.

She wanted to kiss him, ride him and love him with
everything she had. The yearning she’d carried for him had grown over the
years. No other man had been able to break her fascination, despite her limited
view of him. His eyes, the same ones that watched her now with hot,
uncontrolled hunger, had ruined her for any other lover.

If it was sex he wanted, she’d give it to him. The
possessive edge to the way he watched her warned he wanted more, which didn’t
match what she suspected would eventually happen between them. That he would
kill her. It didn’t make sense.

She shook her head. “No, I—”

He stilled the back and forth motion of his finger and
pressed the pad of his thumb to her clit. Drenched cotton separated them, but
the promise of what one flick could do hovered within reach.

“Wrap your legs around my waist and kiss me, flower.”

The command slammed into her just like the one he’d given
her all those years ago. She choked back a whimper and strained to stop herself
from leaning closer and drinking in the woodsy taste of his lips. The desire to
feel his powerful length between her thighs wasn’t a temptation she could resist,
though. She settled over his cock and dropped her head back on a groan.

He shifted his hand to her ass as he’d done earlier and
caressed each cheek. The reverent way he touched her made her feel as beautiful
as a flower. She’d been told countless times she was, had even been offered
modeling and acting jobs, but never had she felt as if she was as gorgeous as
her mom had been.

The stain on her soul tainted her view of herself. She hated
looking in the mirror and knowing what lurked inside her body—the remnants of
the monster who’d created her. Calan’s confirmation that it was festering and
spreading chilled her soul.

“How can you save me?” She cupped his face between her
hands. “How, Calan? You told me—”

“Shhh, my flower. Forget what I said and kiss me.”

He ran his finger down the crack of her ass to the spot
where his length stretched along the seam of her sex. She stifled a moan. Dear
god, the man was huge. With his big palm on her bottom, he held her immobile
and rocked against her. The bonds locking his body in place prevented him from
stimulating her the way she would’ve liked, but the slow grind of his hips
skipped electricity over her swollen lips to her clit. Pleasure built deep
inside her core. The growing orgasm promised to spread waves through her body,
the kind of release that would tingle her scalp and leave her craving more.

“Calan, I want…” She stopped herself before she begged him
to fuck her. What they were doing was wrong on so many levels, but she needed
his smoky taste on her lips one more time. She shifted her hands into his hair
and leaned closer until only a hairsbreadth separated them. “You. I want you.”

Harley, my beautiful Harley, I want you too.
The
words whispered into her head slithered through her in an intimate caress she hadn’t
known was possible. His voice touched her in places even his cock wouldn’t be
able to reach if they’d been joined fully. She suddenly wished she’d released
him from his bonds so they could be as one in every possible way, but the slow
seductive sweep of his tongue against hers pushed the regret away.

He explored her mouth, stroking and licking every inch as if
he loved her taste as much as she enjoyed his. The appreciative moans spilling
from his throat revved up her needs. She shifted her hips, grinding against him
as if she had every right in the world to take her pleasure from this man’s
hands.

She tried to lead him in a quicker dance, but he ignored her
demands. He eased back and allowed her to kiss him wildly. The opening to have
her way with him would’ve been welcome any other time. At the moment, his
passive response tore a whimpered groan from her.

“Please, Calan.”

“Open up, Harley. Let me inside. Let me shield you from the
taint your father left on you.”

“I don’t know how.”

His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Kiss me and let go. I’ll do
the rest.”

She did as he ordered. She kissed him, allowed him to lead
her and gave herself up to the emotions he stirred. With each stroke, her
tension eased but her needs grew. She wanted to take him into her body and make
love to him the same way he worked her mouth—slowly as if they had eternity to
worship each other.

Something soft and silky wrapped around her, filled her up
and completed her. The brush of fingers along the column of her throat matched
the gentle caress she felt deep inside her body. She whimpered. Tears slipped
from her eyes. The burn, the constant unsettling reminder of the taint she
carried, calmed. Still there, still a part of her but the satin presence he
poured into her covered it and gave her peace.

Take my hand, Harley.

She stretched her hand down and linked her fingers with his.
Heat spread where their skin touched, not painful or unwelcome. The warmth
seeped into her and rushed through her body much the same way his silky caress
had. She breathed a sigh he eagerly swallowed.

Their kiss turned into a full-body experience. Every
particle within her hummed under Calan’s skilled touch. She didn’t care what he
did to her as long as she could hold onto this feeling for as long as possible.

I give myself freely to you, my Harley. I ask nothing of
you in return. Take me, treasure me or walk away, but know I will always be
yours.

Power whipped through her before she could question his
words. Pain followed. Her back arched. A scream crawled up her throat. The
sound of her anguish never escaped. He blew a stream of heated, smoke-scented
air into her lungs. The agony ceased as quickly as it came and pleasure
replaced it. Her sheath tightened and waves rolled through her from her womb to
her fingers and toes.

The orgasm he created with only a kiss went on forever. She
trembled under the force of it. She couldn’t escape the pulse pounding in her
womb or the clenching waves dancing along her sheath. Her eyes rolled back in
her head. Colors sparked in an array of light over the inside of her eyelids.
The sound of their hearts, beating as one, echoed in her ears.

Finally, the pleasure faded. Sensation returned and she
sagged against him. He broke the kiss on a low, guttural groan. “Never knew how
good.”

“Calan.” His name was all she could manage. Never before had
she experienced anything like what they’d shared. It had been more intimate
than sex yet not quite as satisfying. It only made her want more, all of him.
She banded her arms around his chest and held on, hoping he understood what she
couldn’t say.

“Harley, need you.” He opened his eyes. A hazy ring of
darker blue surrounded the pupils of the pale orbs she’d know anywhere.

“What? Your eyes…different.” She couldn’t get the words out.
She felt drunk on desire. Her mind wouldn’t work.

A lazy, satisfied grin spread over his mouth as if he knew
exactly why she couldn’t form a complete sentence. “Unlock me.”

The compulsion behind his order hit her harder than any
other. Before she’d
wanted
to obey him. The command he’d just uttered
demanded
her obedience. She shoved away and fell on her backside for the second time.

“Harley, come here and unlock me. I want to make love to
you.”

He curled his fingers. A tug accompanied the simple motion.
The pull tightened the silky second skin he’d spread throughout her body.

She sat there, muscles tensed, and breathed through the
undeniable urge to close the distance. “What did you do to me?”

He watched her with hungry eyes but didn’t answer.

“Dammit, Calan, tell me the truth. Did you kiss me so you
could force some kind of control over me?”

“I kissed you because I wanted to save you.” The bite to his
words matched the glint in his eyes. “Now come here and release me. I need to
finish it.”

She wrapped her arms around her knees so she didn’t run to
him. “I don’t understand. I thought allowing you inside saved me.”

He flicked his gaze between her hand and her face. “It
started the process.”

His harsh tone didn’t match the seductive whispers from
moments ago. Wariness settled over her. She forced her attention from his and
glanced at her hand. In the center of her palm was a swooping X. She traced the
black lines.

“You will need to cover that. The redcaps will recognize the
sacrifice I made for you and report it to Dahm. You’ll end up in an eternal
prison too.”

She peered at him. He met her eyes but the look stamped on
them was one she couldn’t decipher. “What did you do to me?”

He didn’t answer her. Another curl of his fingers matched
the rough jerk on her body. She locked her knees but not before she took
several steps closer to him without realizing she’d moved. She glared at him.

He sighed. “Do not be stubborn, Harley. Come here.”

“No,” she bit out. “No, I will not be your puppet. Release
me!”

The yank cut off abruptly. She fell a third time but
scrambled up and ran for the door. An invisible hand wrapped around her waist
and spun her so she faced him. “You are not a puppet, but I need you to release
me. Both of our fates depend on it.”

“You tricked me, exactly as you did all those years ago. ‘Live
for me. Let me save you.’ Bullshit!” She strained against his unseen grip and
forced her feet to move. One step, two. She grabbed the doorjamb and hung on
for dear life. “Both times you acted for your wants, not mine.”

He stared at her for a long moment and finally released a
long, weary breath. “I am sorry, Harley. I truly am but this time my motives
include you.”

She shook her head. “No—”

“Take the night to think on what I’ve said then come back to
me. What’s one more day in hell?” He snorted, the bitter sound one she didn’t
want to hear. “Promise me, Harley. Return to me tomorrow night and deliver my
fate.” He shifted his gaze to her hand. “I gave myself to you. What will you do
with me?”

She lifted her hand and stared at the mark there.
I give
myself freely to you, my Harley. I ask nothing of you in return. Take me,
treasure me or walk away, but know I will always be yours.
She curled her
fingers and peeked at him from under her lashes.

“What did you do to me?”

He closed his eyes.
You know the answer. When you realize
it, I’ll be here waiting for you.

She backed away without promising anything. No tug or
invisible hand stopped her. She climbed the stairs and ran, but she feared it
wouldn’t do any good. She’d been marked, in more ways than one, and the stamp
he’d left on her heart might be the one to destroy her, once and for all.