Hunter Mourned (Wild Hunt Book 3) (19 page)

She grinned and dropped her head to his chest. “You kept this part of you well hidden.”

“Not hidden. You make me like this.” He stroked his hand over her back. “Only you, Rowan.”

“Then I am lucky.”

“So am I.” He took her hand, twining their fingers, and led her across the lot. “Come on. We’re not going to have much luck capturing Craig if we don’t get moving.”

“Where do you want to look first?”

“Have your hounds noticed anything suspicious yet?”

He’d seen her call forth the hounds that favored her. While all their dogs would obey whichever Huntsman commanded them, they were animals and, as such, took to certain individuals. The eleven dogs, five females and six males, who’d grown attached to her always emerged first from the Underworld when she sent out a call for assistance.

“No, nothing.”

“Then let’s start at the bar where Jen works. I have one of my men watching her in case Craig shows interest in her, but he doesn’t know about the redcaps. None of our employees do. He won’t understand if he’s being duped by glamour. Having him there is better than nothing, though.”

She glanced at him as they walked. “That was a good idea. I hadn’t thought of asking for human protection for her. I should have.”

He frowned. “Why would you have? She’s human. Craig won’t recognize her for anything more unless she announces her maiden status. The only reason I did was because of Allie.”

“Why did Allie want to meet her? And how exactly did Allie learn of her divine role?”

“She’s Allie’s mother.”

Rowan stopped walking. “What?”

“You heard me. Jen gave her up but stayed in contact with Allie’s adoptive mother. Jen had written letters to Allie. She must’ve told her what she was in those.”

“She’d mentioned getting pregnant as a teenager. I just never expected her baby to be Allie.”

“Yeah, they look nothing alike.” He rubbed his thumb over her glove-covered palm. “I want to invite Jen to come stay with us. She’s seen Craig and knows things we don’t. Having her on our side will be a benefit.”

“Are you asking my permission?”

“Permission. Thoughts.” He shrugged. “However you want to take it. I just can’t shake the feeling teaming up with Minerva’s lost maidens will save all of us. They might not have power the same way the Huntsmen do, but they have knowledge. In the wrong hands, that can be just as dangerous.”

“We can invite them if we cross paths with them, but I doubt many will accept our offer. They have tasks to complete. Until they fulfill those, they won’t be free to help us.”

“What kind of tasks?”

“Stuff to do with love.” She couldn’t explain it any better than that. Alana’s words about love being powerful still baffled Rowan. Yes, it was an essential emotion, but so much so that Minerva had ranked right below the Triad?

“Great.” Sarcasm dripped from the single word.

“I know. I don’t exactly get what their important tasks could be either, but without Minerva acting as the goddess of love, those jobs are important. So is the vow they took. They will continue to act as her maidens, with or without her guidance. Alana told me that. She’s loyal to Minerva, no matter what has happened to her.”

“That’s even more of a reason to convince them to join us. Without Minerva, they have no one to pull them back when they stray. Isn’t that the purpose of the Teulu? To guide each other? The maidens don’t have that. Ian told me a little about them, how there can be maidens of all ages out there, spread all over the world. They have no way to contact each other.”

What a lonely way for a soul tied to the divine to exist. Those women would have nobody to confide in or seek help from. They’d been tossed to the wind and expected to complete missions meant to change the world.

“We’ll be their conscience if they’ll let us, but we can’t force them.”

“Works for me.” He guided her forward. “Let’s see if we can convince Jen to join our little band of Hunters.”

Rowan loved the fierce stamp of protectiveness on Trevor’s face for a group of women he’d never met. He was a good man.

And he was hers.

Her thought from the other day came back to her. At the moment, her words seemed truer than ever.

This would be the easiest game she’d ever won.

C
HAPTER
S
IXTEEN

Jen glared at them the moment Trevor and Rowan stepped up to the bar. With that one look directed their way, he knew what Jen’s answer would be to his proposal. She wanted no part of Allie’s or the Huntsmen’s lives. The only question left was why.

Rowan slid onto the stool, farthest away from the group of drunk middle-aged men who were shouting at a football game on the television mounted in the corner of the room. “Hello, Jen.”

Jen glanced at the people around them, then moved closer to the counter. “What are you doing here again?”

“You invited me to come and talk to you if I wanted.” Rowan propped her chin on her steepled hands. “Every day but Tuesday. Today’s not Tuesday.”

“About love. I invited you to come talk to me about love, but that’s not why you’re here. If it were, you would’ve come alone. I can’t imagine you’d want to talk about your devotion to your dead mate in the presence of another man.”

“Trevor knows about Kai. I have no reason to hide any discussion about him from Trevor.”

A wide grin spread over Jen’s face. “So he’s okay learning that he’s Kai’s reincarnation and that you’re the reason he died.”

Rowan gasped while Trevor’s chest constricted. Rowan was his. Had been all along.

“You can tell that I’m Kai’s reincarnation by looking at me?” Trevor moved closer to Rowan, needing to hold her but settling for the press of her body against his. The rest of Jen’s statement had probably hurt Rowan. She wasn’t responsible for Kai’s death. Trevor had relived it in the fairy realm. Rowan hadn’t even been in the room.

“Yes. I told you that I can learn much about a person by looking at them. Love leaves its mark on a person’s soul, and soul mates are branded by the touch of their other half. Minerva’s tears have ensured the memory of your love for Rowan has lived on in your soul.”

“If you knew this yesterday, why didn’t you say something?”

Jen glanced at Rowan. “It wasn’t the right time to share the knowledge. For a maiden to be successful in her task, she must know when to act and when to observe.”

“This is your task?” Rowan planted her palms on the counter and leaned over it. “To expose my stupidity and ruin my second chance with Trevor?”

“If that’s what you think I’m doing, then I guess so.”

“I don’t know what to think. Why don’t you tell me the truth?”

Jen looked pointedly at the gloves Rowan wore. The gray ones she’d chosen reached to her elbow. “Think about my words tomorrow night, and you’ll understand.”

“What’s happening tomorrow night?” Trevor glanced from one female to the other.

“Nothing.” Rowan sat back.

“Nothing, my ass.” Jen’s features tightened. “I know all about you, Hunter, and I know what you’ll be doing tomorrow night.”

“You don’t know me. You know what Minerva has told you, and I’m sure she’s had oh so many
wonderful
things to say about me.” Rowan rolled her eyes, and sarcasm dripped from her tone.

“Minerva loves Arawn’s children as if they were her own.” Jen crossed her arms over her chest. “Accuse her of such a ridiculous thing again, and you and I can take this discussion outside. Being a maiden doesn’t mean I can’t fight.”

That was all Trevor needed—a catfight. “Enough. This isn’t the conversation I’d planned for tonight.”

“Yeah? Then why did you come here?”

“We want you to come stay with us. It’ll be safer for you, and Allie—”

“You told them?” Jen’s narrowed eyes focused on him held betrayal. “Weren’t you listening when I said I wanted no part of her life?”

“Yes, I told Rowan. I won’t keep secrets from her.” Trevor rested his hand on her thigh, hoping to calm her somehow with his touch. Tension radiated from her and matched the tight lines on her face. “And yes, I heard you, but you didn’t exactly explain why you don’t want to talk to Allie.”

“Allie doesn’t need me to influence her. She has her own choices in life to make. That’s how this living business works. Besides”—Jen lowered her voice—“I don’t want to hurt Allie. I’m ready to leave this job, and if she gets attached to me, she’s going to be upset when I’m gone.” Jen pulled out a small black notebook. “Now, please leave. I need to finish out this shift.”

“Just a minute.” Trevor waited until Jen raised a brow. “What about the other maidens? Will they join us if we ask them?”

“I can’t answer for my sisters. You’d have to ask them.” Jen smirked. “If you can find them.”

“Do you know where any of them are?” He’d do everything in his power to convince them to join the Huntsmen, and he wasn’t giving up on Jen yet either. He knew when to pick his battles, though. Arguing with the maiden with that stubborn look on her face many women got would get him nowhere.

“Just one. She goes by the name of Jessica in this life.”

“Do you have her contact information?” Even a last name would be enough to get them started.

“I have her cell phone number. It’s written on a notepad at my apartment.” She wrote in her notebook, then ripped the page out and handed it to him. “Call me on Tuesday night, and I’ll meet you somewhere. I don’t want you showing up here again.”

“Thank you.” He pocketed the paper. “And if you change your mind, call me.”

“Sure thing.” Jen nodded, then walked away.

He turned to Rowan. She stared at where her hands were laced on her lap. He covered them, squeezing gently. “You were right about me being Kai’s reincarnation.”

“Yes. I was. I was also right when I said I’ve changed. Kai fit me then, and I loved him with all my heart.” She lifted her gaze to his. “But he’s not the right man for me anymore. You are, Trevor.”

He stepped between her legs and tipped up her chin. She looked at him as if he were the only man in the world. It was a damn fine thing to see. He hoped she saw the same in his expression, because he felt it. “I agree. You fit me. I didn’t think it was possible to find a woman who did. I guess I was just looking in the wrong places.”

“Or searching too soon. I did only get released from my cell a couple of months ago.”

He didn’t need the reminder of what she’d endured, but pretending it didn’t happen wouldn’t change the past. She’d suffered. That was a fact. And he was the cause of it.

“Now that we found each other again, I don’t plan on ever letting you go.” Or seeing her cry over him.

“I agree. Let’s embrace this second chance.”

“Then we should enjoy every minute of discovering each other’s newest version.”

She kissed him, a barest touch of her lips to his. “Sounds like a plan.”

Before that could happen, though, they needed to put the past to rest. Finding out why Rowan blamed herself for his death in a past life would be the first step to doing that.

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTEEN

“You’re the reason he died.”

The maiden’s words echoed in Rowan’s head, despite her efforts to ignore them. She knew why Alana had delivered her statement in front of Trevor. Tomorrow was the anniversary of Kai’s death. She wanted to remind Rowan what was at stake—Rowan’s future.

Rowan had to let go of the guilt she’d carried for a millennium, embrace her life with Trevor, and face Lucas.

Dealing with her guilt would have to happen tomorrow, when she could mourn in private. Trevor didn’t need to see her tears. He saw her as strong and resilient. Breaking down in front of him would not support that image.

But that was tomorrow. Tonight was theirs, even if they spent it prowling the dark alleys searching for a lead on Craig.

She tightened her grip on Trevor’s hand and pointed with her free one. “The last time I was here, there was evidence that homeless people were sleeping down that road.”

“There’s an abandoned church at the end of that lane. Whenever I stayed with my grandmother, we used that door to get to the kitchen. The elderly women in the neighborhood would sell pierogis or kielbasa or whatever dish they’d made.”

“That explains it.”

His brows pinched. “Explains what?”

“Why you know your way around this city so well. I was wondering about that when you took all those short cuts driving here.”

“I spent my summers split between my maternal and paternal grandparents. My mom couldn’t close her bookstore to watch me, and my dad worked all the time. Since they couldn’t afford a babysitter, I was shipped off to whoever would take me. Sometimes, I stayed with Ian’s family too.” He scanned the area as they walked, his gaze assessing everything they passed. “Once I got older, I worked at the store with my mom. That’s how I met Allie. She took my position when I started college.”

“You know her well, then?”

“Yes.” He turned his carefully neutral gaze on her. “Does that make you jealous?”

“No. Should it?”

He gave a small half shrug. “You seem irritated whenever she’s around. Jealousy would explain that.”

She sighed. Allie wasn’t a topic she wanted to discuss. No matter what Rowan said about the girl, she’d likely annoy Trevor. He was protective of those he considered his. Actually, he’d protect all the innocents of the world if given the chance. That was the reason he wanted to ride in the Hunt. He’d told her that.

“No. I’m not jealous of her. I’m frustrated by her.” Rowan stopped walking and faced Trevor so he could see the truth in her eyes. “Allie is strong. Here.” She laid her hand over her heart. “I’ve heard you and Ian say the same thing about the girl. Allie is tough. Emotionally, not physically. I agree. She’d have to be in order to resist the temptation of the fairy realm for as long as she did, but she walks around the estate as if she’s some fragile thing in need of protecting.”

“That’s how she was raised. All her sisters were the same way, thinking men should be tough and women should be soft. Ian’s ex took it a step further and demanded to be pampered, as if getting showered with presents and attention was her right because she was female. Allie’s not like that. She doesn’t care about material things.”