The Lycan Hunter (The Gardinian World Series) (8 page)

“I will release her at the Hunter cabin in Suches.” He smothered a
laugh as the male began to sputter a retort. “She won’t know how to get back here.”

The male glared at Kyran in open defiance. “A Hunter killed my intended mate, and you expect me to be okay with allowing this one to keep her miserable life?”

“Was it this particular Hunter that killed your mate?”

“N-no.”

“While I sympathize with your loss, I can
’
t in good conscience
sentence her to death for a crime she didn’t commit.”

Kyran could kill her just for her existence, but he didn’t suffer the
lack of knowledge and understanding that all Hunters did in regards to their true purpose and origins.

“Well, I’m sure that she is guilty of killing one of our kind. She is
a Hunter; therefore, she is guilty.” He stepped around the folded bodies
of the Harem and came to stand directly in front of Kyran. “I
’
m sorry,
Mikko, but you give me no option but to question where your loyalties
reside. It makes me wonder if there should be someone else in charge
, someone who wouldn’t find it so tolerable to let our enemies live.”

Kyran smiled at the male, who missed the menace that was etched
in the curve of Kyran
’
s lips. Dominance challenges were not something
to take lightly, and the open defiance of this Tala required a swift and
violent response.

A loud crack broke Kyran’s steely silence. The slap of a bare-backed
Tala meeting a rock wall followed Kyran’s open-handed reprimand.

Kyran walked over and stared down into hate-filled eyes. The male
lay crumpled against the wall struggling, and failing, to force the
animosity from his gaze.

“Honestly, I don
’
t give a damn what you think of my loyalty as
long as you remember a few things. First, you couldn’t take me on if
you wanted to, and even if by some sorcerer
’
s magic you did, you
wouldn
’
t be able to hold the pack. You would be killed in the first week.
You understand very little of what I am trying to do by setting the
Hunter free, so sit down and be quiet.” He leaned down and whispered
in the male
’
s ear. “Or you can keep talking. Silencing you would be
more fun.”

The male paled and gave the appropriate, but less entertaining,
response. He offered Kyran his throat, which Kyran raked with the claws
of his half-changed hands to draw small beads of blood. With a final look at the barely submissive male, Kyran rose and faced the pack.

“Anything else?” When he got no response, outside of Ronan
’
s
smirk, he turned and left.

“When do you want to move her to the Green Room?”

Kyran turned to look at Ronan. “How do you know I was moving
her there?”

“Because I’m not stupid. Unless she’s sleeping in your room, the other rooms aren’t fit to hold her in her current condition. The doors are ready, but we still need to redecorate them.”

Kyran nodded and started back towards the surgery suite. He let
the tight muscles of his shoulders relax. Maybe his brother hadn
’
t noticed
his brief moment of insanity.

“FYI, I saw you earlier.”

His step faltered, but he quickly recovered as he came to stand in front of the infirmary. “What are you talking about?”

Kyran
’
s hand gripped the metal until his knuckles showed white.
Crap,
he thought.

“You didn
’
t like me touching her earlier.” Ronan laughed at the
frown that shot onto Kyran’s face. “The bent earring gave you away. You might want to watch yourself around her.”

“I know. She’ll be gone long before she is an issue.”

“Something tells me that she has a propensity for being difficult. I doubt it will be that simple.”

“Stop killing me with your optimism.”

Ronan laughed and motioned for them to go into the room.

ALEXIS WATCHED
as the two Lycans that had been in the room with
her earlier returned. The one with the more effeminate features was
laughing about something, but when he turned his gaze on her, his
eyes showed a ghost of menace.

“Goody, my rescuers are here. Is it time for me to go home yet?” She made sure to let the sarcasm leak into her words.

“I told you earlier that I was moving you to your room. I meant
what I said, Hunter.”

Alexis rolled her eyes. “Either you have a terrible memory, wolf, or you don’t care that that isn’t my name.”

“I remember what your name is, but you’ll always be Hunter to
me,” the one who'd done the sonogram said with a smile that dripped
with his earlier sarcasm.

She muttered under her breath about the things that she would
do to him if only her hands were free. Unfortunately, she missed the
instructions that the wolf
directed
to the other one. Her a
ttention
refocused
when the prettier of the two came into her field of vision with a large needle.

“What the hell is that for?”

The asshole who couldn
’
t be bothered to say her name laughed
at her. “You should pay attention when people are talking instead of making idle threats.”

“No threat I make is idle.”

“If you say so, but you
’
ll be too loopy to wring your hands around
my pretty little neck.”

“I didn’t say pretty, jerk.”

Both of the wolves laughed. The one with the needle approached
her and stood at her side while the jerk stood at the foot of her slightly
inclined bed. He wasn’t looking at her again, which chafed for some unknown reason.

“Be still. It won’t hurt long. Go ahead, brother.”

At least he didn
’
t lie to me
, she thought.

Medical professionals seemed to learn the awful habit of saying
something didn’t hurt before they jabbed you with something sharp.
She liked to return the favor, which was why she wasn
’
t allowed to
have her blades when she went to the clinic at headquarters.

“
Wait…
” Alexis looked over to the one with the needle and waited
until he met her gaze. “What’s your name?”

 The wolf at the foot of the bed shook his head. “Don’t.”

“It
’
s Ronan.” Ronan swiftly turned to face his brother and held his
hands up in a defensive pose. “And before you get pissed off because
I disobeyed a direct order, Mikko, let me tell you why.”

The jerk, who was this pack
’
s unfortunate leader, motioned him to
continue.

“I would rather she call me by name, because I can’t promise that
she won’t suffer from a sudden case of asphyxiation if she calls me
wolf
again. We both know how you feel about me not keeping my hands to myself.”

The Mikko growled low in his throat but nodded his concession.

Ronan
turned his attention back to Alexis and gave her a tight smile.
“Hold still.”

“One more thing.”

Ronan let out an irritated sigh. “What now?”

“First, my name is Alexis, and second, what’s his name?”

“That’s two things. And his name is his own to tell you. I like my
head where it
’
s at, and frankly, you, Hunter, aren
’
t worth me losing it.”

The Mikko snorted and motioned for Ronan to give her the shot.

“Be quiet so that we can get this over with. I have a movie to watch
, and you are cutting into my popcorn making time.”

Ronan stuck her, injected the pain medicine, and disposed of the
needle with a lethal swiftness. He watched her for a moment before he
started to loosen the restraints on her arms. Alexis would have rejoiced
a
t the freedom, but her arms wouldn
’
t obey her, and her consciousness
was fading.

***

Alexis woke up and grimaced at her surroundings. What is it with
Lycans? Where was the grimy dungeon, the multipurpose cup that still
held lingering bits of dirt and furry mold, or even the pallet of thin, dingy blankets?

It’s what the Hunters would have done
if
they bothered to keep
prisoners, which they didn’t. Too much money funneled into things
better off dead.

Unable to resist, she burrowed farther into the fluffy pillows and
sighed at their pure luxury. Staying on her back, enveloped in the comfort
of the mattress, she looked around.

The room was homey, relaxing in its greenness. The walls were
draped with hanging ivy that grew from planters near the ceiling. She
surmised that the lights above them must be UV, which would explain
the ivy’s rich color despite being deprived of true daylight.

The decorating consisted of coordinating hues of greens and browns.
The bed she lay on was a monstrosity of comfort that bathed the roo
m
in its overwhelming presence. The dresser opposite the bed was a hand
carved rectangle with golden handles. On top laid her small clothes bag.

The bag’s presence in the wolf compound only solidified that the
Lycans knew more about her than she knew about them. Hopefully, they
didn’t know too much. She tended to pack a few hidden weapons in
her clothes bag. The mere thought of weapons galvanized her to jump
out of the bed and check.

“Oh,” she said.

A loud exhale of air escaped as she caught herself on the edge of the bedside table. She had misjudged her capabilities for movement and paid for it in wobbly knees and lightness in her head.

Alexis reached out and gripped the edge of the table, crumpling a piece of paper that had been laying on top in her frantic grip. Once she settled herself back on the bed, she smoothed the paper out and read the smooth right slanted script.

“Hunter, if you need anything, go to the panel beside the door and push
pound one. Dinner will be brought to you around seven. Rest and I will check
on you later. Don’t worry about your weapons. We have them. All of them.”

His signature, a simple wolf paw print, forced her to laugh. Much
as she hated to admit it, the jerky wolf was somewhat endearing.

Most men at Hunter headquarters shrank away at the sound of
her size six footstep. She often ended up on partnered hunts with Theo
for that exact reason. He didn
’
t shudder at her mere presence. The fact
that he wanted her in all the ways a man wanted a woman didn
’
t exactly
earn him the points he thought it did, though.

Maybe the fact that the wolf treated her exactly as she did the males
who cowered from her, with disjointed interest, was what made him
appealing. Though that wasn
’
t the only thing that caught her interest.

He was nice to look at, beautiful in the way that all Lycans were endowed. His hair was just like the cloak of shadow she had seen in the forest, not even exposure to light seemed to pierce the darkness
of his shoulder length hair. But if she were truly honest, she could
see that his rippling muscles, the smooth skin the color of amber, or
his silky looking hair wasn
’
t what caught her interest. That honor wen
t to the intelligence glowing in his brilliant blue eyes.

This truth was something she needed to avoid, especially in a
situation that would no doubt bite her firmly – with wolfish canines – in the ass. It really did suck that he had a habit of occasionally walking
on all fours. The Edict Counsel
’
s oath she was sworn to uphold to slay
Lycan abominations
on Sight didn’t exactly alleviate her burden either.

Having recovered enough to walk, Alexis walked to her bag and
searched it only to reaffirm that the Lycans weren
’
t stupid. Everything
had been thoroughly searched, her weapons were confiscated, but her
clothes had been neatly folded and placed back in the bag like she’d had them.

She gave up hope trying to escape for the moment and returned to the bed. The least she could do was take advantage of the luxury that she’d never experienced at home.

***

Kyran sat at his desk watching the live camera feed from the
Hunter
’
s room. He smiled to himself at the way she sank into the pillows
.
Apparently she didn
’
t have basic luxuries – like high thread counts and
nice pillows – at home. He found it absurd that making her happy
puffed his chest up with pride.

He really needed to stop whatever was motivating his budding
possessiveness toward her. His only purpose was to try and gain an ally. Nothing else.