Hunter Mourned (Wild Hunt Book 3) (35 page)

“I had a little heavenly intervention.” The smile she loved lit up his face again.

A matching one spread over hers. Her heart lightened, and tears filled her eyes. Happy ones. Trevor was alive. She couldn’t explain it, didn’t understand how he could be in the Underworld, but couldn’t deny it.

She threw her arms around him, holding him tight. After a moment, she glanced into the brown eyes she loved. He was beautiful, her very own knight in shining armor. She traced his features. Couldn’t stop touching him. Trevor was here. Alive! She wanted to shout for joy, do a little dance, get down on her knees, and thank the heavens. Instead, she slid her fingers to the back of his head and drank in the sight she never thought to lay eyes on again.

“Don’t tease me, Trevor. You need to tell me more than you had a little heavenly intervention. Humans can’t come back from the dead.” They could only be reincarnated.

“They can when their soul is tied to an angel.”

“What?” She couldn’t help the shocked squeak that accompanied the question.

“I met the angel Michael at the hospital after I woke up as a ghost and convinced him to help me get back to you.” Trevor shrugged. “This is the only way.”

Rowan tugged Trevor’s shirt from his pants and pushed it up, exposing his chest. The entry point from the bullet wound that had taken Trevor’s life was a shiny white scar. She ran her fingers over the puckered flesh. “You’re alive.”

“And I’ll stay exactly as you see me now no matter how many times I die. Michael will just keep bringing me back to you.”

She kissed his eyes, cheeks, nose, and finally his mouth. The passion he stirred ignited within her, but her giddiness tamped down the powerful drive to be joined intimately with Trevor. She stood on her tiptoes and buried her face in the crook of his neck. “I can’t believe we have another chance.”

“We have eternity, baby. We won this round of the Triad’s game.”

“My challenge.” She jerked back and reached for the edge of her right glove. “I don’t know if I did, I—”

“You did.” He covered her fingers, stopping her from removing the lacy glove. “Why else would you be standing here hugging me?”

“I refused Lucas. He wanted to scrub memories of you from my mind. I would never allow that. I love you too much.”

He kissed her. “Exactly. That’s why we won. We both fought for our love.”

“Shouldn’t we check to make sure?”

“If you want to, but I kind of like these gloves on you. They’re sexier than any of the others you’ve worn.” He looked from her hands to her face. Hunger burned in his eyes, sparking hers. The lust Trevor stirred left her feeling alive, not manipulated as she had with Lucas. “You wouldn’t happen to have stockings to match them, would you?”

She chuckled. “No, but I can get some.”

“Good. Do that.”

“I’ll get long white gloves to match the stockings I’ll wear under my wedding dress, but…” She peeled the black lacy glove down, exposing her unmarked right hand and proving Trevor right. She had won. She grinned and met Trevor’s gaze. “But right now, I want to feel your skin against mine.”

He parted his lips on a slow exhale. “Then we need to strip off more than a single glove. I want you naked.”

She looked over her shoulder. “Do you want to see my room in the Huntsmen’s home here in the Underworld?”

“Does it have a bed?”

“Yes, but it’s old and—”

“It’ll work.” He tugged her hand and led her down the corridor. “I doubt we’re going to even make it to your room anyway.”

She stepped in front of him before they rounded the corner. “Trevor?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” He swung her into his arms. “Now, let’s get you into the house before I lose control. It was bad enough your brother caught us. I don’t need your dad to see us too.”

She ran her fingers over the light growth on his cheek. “Neither do I, but…”

He stopped at the ledge overlooking the valley. “But what?”

“I want him at our wedding.” She motioned toward the fields surrounding the Huntsmen’s sanctuary. “I want to become your wife here, surrounded by my family, our hounds and horses, and the souls we have saved.”

He swept his gaze over the valley, then met her eyes. “I can’t imagine a better place to become your partner. It’s beautiful.”

She laid her fingertips against his cheek. “And I couldn’t have asked for a better man to walk by my side for eternity.”

Trevor covered her hand. “I told you we make a great team.”

They did, and love was the thread that bound them, stretching the centuries and pulling them back together.

Thanks to Minerva.

“Is that Minerva?” Trevor asked, respect in his voice.

Rowan glanced over her shoulder at the doorway leading deeper into the Underworld. Minerva stood there with her hands clasped in front of her and a smile on her face. Rowan returned it, and the goddess inclined her head slightly. Then, she was gone, slipping through the door and leaving them alone.

“Yes. It was.”

“She looks sad.”

“Sad? She was smiling.”

Trevor made his way down the sloped path. At the bottom, he set her feet on the lush grass and rubbed the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. “It never reached her eyes. Your smile was the same way before we got together.”

“True.” She nodded. “I had nothing to be happy about, but in certain situations, one was called for, so I faked it.”

“You’re not faking anymore, right?” He posed it as a question, but his grin was confident.

She stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips over his. “No. I’m happier than I ever thought possible.”

“Good.” Trevor twined their fingers and urged her to walk with him. “And as soon as Arawn lets go of the past, Minerva will be too.”

“I don’t know if that’ll happen. Some sins can never be forgotten.”

Trevor opened the door to the house and ushered her inside. “True, but they can be forgiven.”

Rowan stared at the empty desk where a pile of rejected sinners’ reports had been stacked not long ago. “I hope so, for all our sakes.”

The Wild Hunt continues with Rhys’s story,

Hunter Burned
~coming soon

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Sometimes the greatest finds are unexpected.

After five centuries, Rafe Alexander knows what to expect from life—boredom broken by the occasional call from Shifter Affairs. No matter how mundane the job, he always accepts their plea for help. He knows what it’s like to lose loved ones to the shifter trafficking rings decimating their species.

But the task that takes him to West Virginia changes everything. A human is dead. A shifter child is missing. And the human female connected to both tragedies is hiding a secret.

Unraveling the mystery surrounding her is a must. But the felines he houses—lion, tiger and jaguar—want him to get close to her for another reason. Jasmine is special.
His.

And as danger mounts, he’s left balancing his desire for revenge and his need to protect. But the line between them isn’t always black and white, especially where his family is concerned.

C
HAPTER
O
NE

A bar. He brought the kid to a damn bar.

Rafe Alexander gripped the steering wheel. The tips of his fingers burned from the press of his sharpened nails against his skin, and his jaw ached from the pressure of his fangs sliding into place. He wanted to beat the human for exposing a preschooler to a world of drunks and illicit behaviors.

But if it saved her?
Yeah. If the human kept their cub from falling into the wrong hands, Rafe would be thanking the guy, right after he explained with his fists that a bar in the backwoods of West Virginia wasn’t the right environment for a little girl.

He slammed the SUV’s door and strode across the bar’s parking lot. A few males tucked their dates closer and turned in the opposite direction. Others dropped their gazes to the pavement underfoot. The familiar reaction to his presence annoyed him, but it wasn’t their fault. Humans might not know what he was by looking at him, but they sensed the danger—the predator in their midst—and reacted accordingly.

He tightened his control over his primal side. He didn’t need any attention directed his way, not with the shit that had gone down here a few hours ago: a fire that resulted in a fatality.

Sure, tragedies happened all the time, and in the grand scheme of things, one human’s passing was a blip on the radar. For Rafe, though, Tony Conway’s death was personal. The male had unknowingly adopted a shifter, a rare white lion cub Rafe had been tasked with retrieving.

He cursed. The fire was too damn coincidental.
Word of a shifter cub living among humans surfaces, and the next day her human father dies. Yeah, it’s not related at all. Right.

Once the fire chief finished his investigation, he’d realize the fire hadn’t been an accident too. The authorities would begin to search for the arsonist. It wouldn’t do them any good. Even if they collected evidence from the scene, they wouldn’t understand why Tony had been targeted. Rafe couldn’t share the details surrounding Megan’s uniqueness with them either. Shifters were fictional beings in most humans’ eyes. That fact hampered Rafe’s efforts. He was left on the sidelines with limited options.

Rafe’s lion, one of the three feline spirits he housed, snarled, echoing his frustration. He used a mental hand to stroke the big cat’s side. It was the best he could do to calm the animal since it couldn’t speak or share its thoughts with him. His tiger and jaguar, the other two felines he’d been born with, nudged him, seeking his reassurance too.

We’ll get our cub back. Promise.
The vow wrapped around him, strengthening him. He let the connection to his cats fade and took a deep, calming breath. A familiar scent invaded his lungs. Lion. Faint, yet distinctive. He was on the right path.

Long strides took him around the bar, an older structure that appeared as if it had seen several upgrades and expansions over its lifetime. An upper and lower deck graced one side. The raised level had tables, while the lower featured a live band and dance area. People moved on both, and the sharp twining from instruments as the musicians warmed up carried over the drone of laughter and conversation.

The place was packed, a good thing for those partying and an inconvenience for him. He had business to take care of that didn’t need an audience. He continued past the decks to the employee entrance. Several cars and trucks were parked near the door.

He followed the smell carrying on the breeze to a blue SUV. A child’s car seat was secured in the back. He tugged on the door handle. Locked. No matter. Going by the strength of the scent seeping from the cracked window, Megan had traveled in the vehicle recently.

He pulled out his cell and dialed his friend and fellow pride member, Devin.

“Yeah?” Devin answered.

“You were right. Megan is with her uncle. I found Josh’s car, and there are enough stuffed animals and toys in it to amuse any cub with a short attention span.”

“Have you spotted her?”

“Not yet, but if she’s here, I’ll get her.” Rafe glanced over his shoulder at the building. “And once I hand her over to you, Josh and I are having a little talk about how kids should be raised.”

“Just because the neighbor remembered seeing Megan with Josh doesn’t mean he took her to the bar. The woman said he owns the place. Maybe he’s working, and he dropped Megan off at a sitter or something.”

The idea didn’t comfort him. Actually, it’d almost be better if Josh had taken Megan to work with him. It’d be harder to carry a screaming five-year old through a packed bar than killing her sitter without bystanders nearby and walking away with their rare cub—the innocent child who had a price on her head.

“As soon as I find out, I’ll call.”

Devin’s sigh carried over the line. “Good. I want out of here as soon as possible.”

“You didn’t have to come. I could’ve brought one of my brothers.”

“You know I couldn’t stay behind, not when kids are threatened.”

Yeah, he knew that. It was a damn honorable trait, but Devin wasn’t exactly sane. Dropping him in a tense situation with humans close by was a disaster waiting to happen, but Rafe wasn’t their pride leader. He didn’t get to make the decisions. Kade did, and sometimes Rafe wondered if his twin thought through his dictates before issuing them.