The euphoria expanded, embracing him in a maelstrom of ecstasy. His entire body became erotically sensitized to every sound, smell, taste, and touch. In his mind, he saw himself sinking into her slick heat as she wrapped those long, toned legs around his waist. She clung to him, digging her nails into his flesh as she arched in ecstasy, taking his thrusts with wild abandon.
Ah, damn, she was perfect, fitting against him as if they were one unit, one soul. This damned vortex was messing with his head, telling him she was his mate in every way—fated, even.
He roared in both frustration and pleasure as he pumped into her, knowing this wasn’t real, and yet he’d never felt anything so clearly in his life.
I want you.
I need you.
He felt Aylin’s orgasm, her strong internal muscles clenching and rippling around his cock, and he came in a hot explosion so shockingly intense that his vision went dark and his brain shut down. Nothing mattered but the pleasure and the female he shared it with.
I love you.
He heard the words, but were they in his head? Had he said them out loud? Had he even been the one to speak them?
Consciousness slowly encroached on the bliss as cold air caressed his hot skin. The sound of someone clearing his throat seemed a little too real.
And a little too close.
Hunter popped open his eyes to see Riker standing there on the snow-covered ground, his beet-red face a mask of embarrassment.
“Ah . . . chief.” He shifted his weight awkwardly. “We heard shouts.” He spun around and barked a retreat order at the other MoonBound warriors who, Hunter realized with humiliating clarity, were also standing around, gaping as Hunter tugged Aylin close and tried to cover her.
As if they hadn’t already seen everything. Motherfucking everything.
Aylin buried her face in his chest as the warriors melted into the surrounding forest. “I was really hoping we’d get through the vortex without the, um, extras this time. And I could have done without the spectators.”
Hunter could have done without the surprise voyeurs, too, but he couldn’t be sorry about the rest. Some secret, shameful part of him had wanted to experience that connection with Aylin again, even if it strengthened what he already felt for her.
So much for not liking pain, because you set yourself up for it like a champ.
Yeah, he was a dumbass.
Riker, who had remained at the edge of the forest, his back turned to afford them a little privacy, spoke up. “I hate to be a bastard, but you guys need to get dressed. Fast. Humans are swarming the woods. They’re on to us.” He gestured to a backpack on the ground. “I put your clothes in there to keep them dry.”
Hunter peeled himself away from Aylin, the sticky evidence of his orgasm coating her belly and breasts. Quickly, he snagged his T-shirt from the backpack and started to clean her off, but she snatched the shirt from him and did it herself.
Her message was glaringly clear. Intimate moment over. Don’t touch me again.
Right. They dressed hastily in the cold clothing. Just as Aylin shrugged into her coat and Hunter tied his second boot, a shot rang out. Movement exploded in the forest, followed by more shots and chaos.
“Hunter! This way!”
Hunter grabbed Aylin’s hand and sprinted in the direction of Riker’s shout. His warriors surrounded them, and then they were all running through the woods, while men on foot and horseback pursued. If Hunter’s ears weren’t deceiving him, there had to be fifty horses and twice that many humans.
“We can’t outrun them!” Riker yelled. “Not at Aylin’s speed. We need to split up. Hunter, take Aylin as fast as you can. Takis, Aiden, Tena, split right and double back behind the humans. I’ll go—” An explosion rocked the ground, and fire blasted in front of them.
The blast wave knocked Riker and Katina off their feet and sent them smashing into tree trunks. Baddon’s pained roar joined Aiden’s curse and another spray of gunfire. Pain sliced through Hunter’s arm—he’d either been shot or hit with shrapnel. Unimportant. He had to get Aylin the hell out of there.
“You’re bleeding!” she screamed as he dragged her down a ravine.
“I’m fine,” he gritted out, but he couldn’t be sure about the others. He could hear all of them following, but he also smelled blood and pain, and the cadence of their footsteps indicated that at least two of them had severe injuries.
Shit. He and Aylin had managed to get out of Samnult’s danger-filled realm, and they were going to die within minutes of returning to the real world.
But fuck if he was going down easily.
He summoned his anger, needing fuel for what he was about to do. He hadn’t been exactly truthful with Aylin earlier when she’d asked about his special gifts. Deep inside his chest, an ice storm churned, and overhead, clouds billowed. With a roar to the heavens, he released the energy that sang through his body.
All around them, hail began to fall in the form of ice spears. Agonized screams shattered the air, but more shots rang out, showering Hunter and his crew with splinters of wood as tree trunks broke apart, victims of whatever massive slugs the humans were using.
And then, from out of nowhere, a shimmering circle of light opened up in front of them. Through the sparkly curtain, MoonBound’s entrance beckoned.
A vortex? But how? It was impossible.
“Holy shit!” Riker and Baddon exclaimed in unison.
“It’s gotta be a trick.” Takis’s labored breaths garbled his words, but Hunter understood, agreed, and didn’t give a shit. They were all going to die unless they stepped through that portal.
Aylin put on a burst of speed and dragged Hunter toward it. “Hurry! Before it closes.”
It could be a trap, and if it was, he wanted to test it first. Releasing Aylin, he leaped through, but she followed a split second later. The familiar sensation of being stretched like warm taffy swept through him in a wave of relief. It wasn’t a trap. It was a genuine portal.
When they hit the ground in front of MoonBound’s entrance, he grabbed Aylin and wheeled to the side as Tena came next, followed by Katina, who was limping and holding her ribs. Aiden and Takis darted into the vortex, both bleeding from various wounds.
But where were Riker and Baddon? Where the vortex stood, there was nothing but a silvery, swirling wall.
“Come on,” Aylin whispered.
Hunter glanced over at her . . . and his heart skidded to a halt. The others were staring, too, astonishment leaving them slack-jawed.
Perspiration coated her skin as she stared at the vortex. Her teeth and fists were clenched, her body rigid. And her eyes, normally a piercing blue, swirled with silver, identical to the giant portal.
Aylin had created the vortex.
Holy. Shit.
“Can’t . . . keep . . . it . . . open,” she ground out.
Suddenly, Riker burst through, half dragging, half carrying Baddon’s heavy ass. As if the air had been let out of her, Aylin collapsed, the portal crumpling like a ball of plastic wrap. Takis and Aiden rushed to catch her, but Hunter was there first, lifting her to her feet and bracing her against him.
“I . . . I can’t believe I just did that,” she rasped.
Riker’s head whipped around to Aylin, but Baddon, who must have taken a bell-ringing blow to the head, merely looked dazed.
“You created the portal?” Riker asked.
Takis was still gaping. “How? Fuck me, that’s impossible.”
Not impossible, Hunter knew, but rare. So rare that he’d heard of only a single person, one of the Originals, who could summon portals at will.
“I think . . . I think I felt guilty about holding everyone back with my speed—”
“Fuck, Aylin,” Riker said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say it like that.”
“I know, but it was true.” Her
face was flushed with excitement and shock, her blond hair blowing wildly around her shoulders. “All I could think was that I desperately wanted to help get everyone back to MoonBound, and the next thing I knew, the vortex opened.” She glanced up at Hunter, and just like the vortex she created, her eyes drew him in. “I felt it inside me. It was where my dove used to be.” She swallowed. “He was right. Sam was right about one door closing and another hitting you in the ass.”
“Sam?” Katina asked. “Who is—”
“Someone we met on our journey,” Hunter said, shutting her down hard. “Never speak of him again. Understood?” Hunter looked each of his warriors in the eye, hating that he had to be so harsh, but until Samnult said otherwise, his existence and the truth behind vampire origins must be kept secret. Even if the reason for keeping the secret was stupid.
“Yes, sir,” Katina mumbled. A chorus of yes, sirs joined in.
Satisfied with their responses, he turned back to Aylin. “Can you open another portal?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“I want to make sure that wasn’t a one-time thing.” He glanced over at the others. “Get the injured inside.” No one moved. Even Baddon had recovered enough to watch with interest, although he had to cling to Riker for balance. They all wanted to see what happened, and he didn’t blame them. “You can stay, but only if Aylin says it’s okay.”
Aylin barely seemed to register anything going on around her. Hunter doubted he’d be any more capable of thought than she was. To potentially be able to control swiftwalking, the most powerful and coveted ability in vampire lore, was a stunner. A holy shit stunner.
“Fine with me,” she said softly. “But I doubt it’s going to work. I’m thinking of someplace I want to go, like I did to get us here, but nothing is even stirring.”
“Where are you thinking of?”
“The beach.” She smiled, the smile that made him think of sunshine. “I saw a picture of Haystack Rock on the Oregon coast once, and I’ve always wanted to go.”
He’d been there, and he’d love to take her. Ruthlessly shoving aside wishes that would get him nowhere, he offered an alternative destination. “Try to open a path to the cabin where we spent the night. It’s possible that you can only travel to places you’ve been.”
Waputuxne, the Elder who had possessed the gift of swiftwalking, had spoken about the journeys he’d taken, because every new destination opened up more swiftwalking possibilities. Hunter, only thirty years old at the time, hadn’t understood what the guy meant, and he hadn’t truly cared. His father had dragged him to the twice-per-century Meeting of Elders in Boynton Canyon, and he’d been far more interested in the females in attendance than in tribal politics.
Closing her eyes, Aylin concentrated. At first, nothing happened. But when she opened her eyes, they swirled with silver, and a split second later, a vortex opened a dozen yards away, its shimmery transparent surface revealing MoonBound’s hunting cabin behind it.
“Fucking awesome.” Baddon’s gaze swept from the portal to Aylin, a new spark lighting in his dark eyes. An appreciative spark Hunter didn’t like at all.
Jealousy is a bitch, isn’t it?
The vortex snapped shut, and Aylin slumped against a tree, brushing aside Hunter’s hand when he attempted to steady her. He tried to ignore the rejection, just as he tried to pretend that Baddon wasn’t most likely mentally undressing Aylin.
Neither was successful, and both disappointment and resentment ran through his veins like acid.
“No one speaks a word of this to anyone,” Hunter said. “If this gets out, Aylin will be a target for every clan with an agenda.” He lowered his voice, determined to make everyone understand the gravity of the situation. “And I will hunt down those responsible and peel their flesh from their bones while they scream. Am I clear?”
Everyone nodded. Good. Because while Hunter had always considered himself to be a fair, easygoing leader, he also knew he’d come from vicious stock. Hunter’s father had committed atrocities that, until now, Hunter hadn’t thought he was capable of.
But when he looked at Aylin, he knew the truth about himself.
Like father, like son.
AS AYLIN ENTERED MoonBound’s headquarters with Hunter and the others, she was still reeling from the discovery—and the potential benefits and complications—of her new ability. Once a year, her clan celebrated its ancestors, one of the few events Aylin actually enjoyed. The weeklong observation was full of festivities and competitions, and in the evenings, the entire clan would sit around a massive bonfire to share tales from both Native American and vampire lore.
Stories of how deer got their antlers, legends that explained why beavers built dams, and yarns about vampires who created portals were staples on those nights. Aylin had absorbed every word the way she absorbed writing in books, and she’d fantasized about how wonderful—and freeing—it would be to possess the long-lost powers of her ancestors.
Now she was the bearer of one of the rarest and most coveted of vampire abilities, and she wasn’t sure how to process that fact.
And what was up with Hunter’s ability to rain spears of ice down on the enemy? He’d definitely downplayed what he could do with the weather. But why?
She was so lost in her thoughts as they walked through the narrow halls that she didn’t notice they’d arrived at the huge common room until she heard a commotion. From the screeched “Where are they?” and “Why the fuck wasn’t I told they were here?” it was clear that Rasha was throwing a fit because no one had announced her sister and her “mate’s” arrival.
He’s not your mate yet.
The petty words almost fell out of Aylin’s mouth as Rasha hurried toward them. She bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep herself in check, not because she was afraid of her sister but because it was time for Aylin to forget Hunter. To finally accept that he wasn’t hers, would never be hers, and that wishing for it would only make things worse for both of them.
Sadly, her little pep talk went out the window when Rasha hugged Hunter. He stood stiffly, hands at his sides, but if Rasha noticed his blatant rejection, she didn’t show it. She smiled like a dutiful mate and welcomed him home.
Aylin growled low in her throat. Yep, so much for the pep talk.
Rasha finally peeled herself away from Hunter and threw her arms around Aylin. “I’m so glad you’re back. I was afraid for you.”
“You didn’t need to be,” Hunter said. “She fought as well as any of my warriors.”
Rasha stepped back and gave them both a placating smile. “Yes, I’m sure.” She might as well have been speaking about a toddler who won a mock battle with a wooden sword.
Hunter’s gaze bored into Aylin with such intensity that she couldn’t look away. “If not for her, I wouldn’t be here.”
“In that case, I’m proud of my sister.” Rasha leaned in and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “We’ll talk later, Aylin. I want to know everything that happened.” Oh, wouldn’t that be fun? Turning her back to Aylin, Rasha hooked her arm through Hunter’s. “I’ll have a celebration of your return prepared in our chambers. Come. Let’s drink to your victory.”
Hunter’s gaze lingered on Aylin, but his expression fell, became almost despairing. Aylin knew the feeling. And as he walked away with Rasha, a leaden heaviness centered in her chest.
This sucked.
A hand came down on her shoulder, momentarily lifting her out of the pit of depression she was sinking into.
“Hey,” Riker said. “Nicole is heading to the lab with Baddon and Katina. You should have her check you out, too. At the very least, she’d love some company.”
It was nice of Riker to recognize that Aylin needed someone right now, but she wasn’t sure she was in the mood to chat. Still, it couldn’t hurt to clean up and see what Nicole was up to.
That would b
e far better than obsessing about what Hunter and Rasha would be doing in the privacy of their quarters.
A SHOWER AND a change of clothes did wonders for Aylin’s mood . . . until she walked by Hunter’s chamber on her way to the lab. She couldn’t hear anything from inside, but she knew he was in there with Rasha, and her stomach soured.
Knock it off. Let him go.
Aylin picked up speed and practically ran to the lab, where Nicole was just sending Katina out, covered in bandages and sucking on a bag of human blood.
“Light physical activity only,” Nicole called after Katina. Katina gave Nicole the finger and a toothy grin, and Nicole rolled her eyes. “Vampires are impossible.”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Aylin said, “but you’re a vampire.”
Nicole sniffed. “I’m a very young one. I think the impossible factor comes with age.”
Laughing, Aylin wandered around the lab, endlessly fascinated by the equipment. Advanced technology was something she never saw at ShadowSpawn, and she wished she knew more about it.
“How was your trip?” Nicole asked. “Everyone’s talking about how you and Hunter went off together through one of the vortexes. People seem to think you went to see the Elders. Is that true?”
Aylin pretended to be extra interested in a rack of vials filled with orange gel. “I can’t really talk about it.”
“Are you at least glad you went?”
Aylin didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely.”
The journey had been rife with danger, but she didn’t regret anything. Plus, she now possessed a priceless ability, one that could change everything for her. She just wished she hadn’t lost her dove. The gentle creature had been a comfort to her, the only constant in her life that she could trust.
“Good,” Nicole said brightly. “So . . . what happened between you and Hunter?”
Aylin wheeled around so fast her leg nearly buckled under her. “What do you mean?”
Nicole looked over with a sly smile. “I mean that Riker might have mentioned that you two were . . . ah . . . sort of intense when you got back. He hopes it means things will change between Hunter and Rasha.”