18. Huntyr
Chapter 18
Huntyr
W olf wrapped his arms around me and held my body to his chest as I kissed him. I latched onto him, pulling him as close as possible while our mouths clashed. He kissed me back, just as hungrily, just as needy. Just as fierce.
I wasn’t sure what changed, wasn’t sure when I started viewing myself as one of them, as one of the vampyres…
But Wolf? Wolf had a plan this entire time. Wolf knew all along what he was getting us into. It was why I had to marry him, why he couldn’t tell me any of it. He wanted me to become the blood queen, yes, but he had no intention to give his father the power.
Wolf gripped my hips and dug his fingers into my skin as his mouth moved against mine, his tongue pushing into me and pulling me closer, creating an addicting spell I couldn’t break.
This. This felt right. For the first time in fucking months, something actually felt good. I could sense it in my chest, could feel the happiness I had been missing for so, so long.
Wolf broke our kiss and pulled away. “Are you sure about this?” he asked, eyes wild.
I answered him by gripping his hair and pulling his head back down to mine. I wanted to forgive Wolf for some time now, but I couldn’t get over that fear, the fear that he was keeping more from me, that he was going to betray me again.
But this was Wolf . I knew in my bones that he was good, that he was mine, that he was true.
Wolf backed me up until I was forced to sit on the armrest of the iron throne. He gripped my waist again and hoisted me backward until my back met the cold metal, and then he nipped my lip between his teeth. “You belong here, Huntress,” he mumbled against me.
I gripped the front of his shirt and pulled him tighter, needing his body closer. “We both do,” I mumbled back. Wolf’s chest rumbled in response, a low growl slipping from him as he continued to kiss me, to ravish me.
His hands gripped my thighs as he spread them, making room for his own body between me and wrapping them around his waist. His body blocked the entrance of the tomb, blocked out the rest of the world. There was only him. There was only us.
Hot emotion built in my chest.
Wolf halted. “Do you feel that?”
My breath echoed off his. “Feel what?”
A second passed.
Then another.
“It’s your power, Huntress.”
He smiled against me but didn’t kiss me again. I tried to focus on what he was talking about, on the hot fuel that burned inside me, that pulsed with excitement.
I couldn’t help it. I found myself smiling too. “Do you think I’ll be able to summon wings with this power?”
Wolf raised an eyebrow. “What’s stopping you from trying?”
I pushed him away with one hand while focusing on that pull of power, focusing on the feelings Jessiah told me about earlier. We were in the depths of the ruins, deep in the blood kingdom, surrounded by possible enemies, but I hadn’t felt this at home in a long, long time.
I gave in to that power, let it pull around my body, let it pulsate.
And then, I focused on my back, on the presence of wings, on magic.
I closed my eyes, not sure what to expect. Hells, what was growing wings supposed to feel like? But I could sense Wolf’s presence. I could feel him near, could identify his own power through his bond reacting to me, almost as if it was trying to help me.
“Huntress,” he said after a minute.
I opened my eyes. “What?”
He didn’t have to answer. His eyes went wide as he backed up a step.
It wasn’t until I saw the massive, leathery black wings flanking over both my shoulders that I realized what just happened. Wings.
I actually summoned my own vampyre wings.
“Holy shit,” I breathed before I laughed. “Holy shit!”
Wolf laughed too, genuine joy dripping over his features. “You’re fucking magnificent,” he breathed.
In that moment, I agreed with him. I could hardly believe it. There was a strange awareness I had in my back, but otherwise, they felt completely normal, like they were meant to be there all along, like I was meant to have these wings.
It felt fucking good.
“What does this mean?” I asked. “Does this mean I can fly?”
Wolf’s smile never faded. “Why don’t you test them out a few times before you go catapulting yourself off the building with Jessiah?”
“Noted,” I argued. “I guess you’ll have to get your wings back so you can teach me how to fly without getting all jealous.”
Wolf huffed a laugh, but then, his smile fell.
“What?” I asked. “There has to be a way to get them back, right? I mean, you could heal them, or, I don’t know, use your magic to?—”
“It’s not that easy,” he interrupted. His voice was still light, like he was trying to hide his true emotions from me. But even in the chaos of summoning my own wings, I could feel him. The real him. The him who felt disappointed as all hells that he couldn’t be the one teaching me to fly.
“Why not?”
“My wings weren’t cut off in normal circumstances. Sure, angels who lose their wings to injury or battle can visit a healer and try to regrow them. Magic helps, of course, but this…” He turned away from me.
“Don’t do that.” I gripped his bicep and forced him back. “Don’t hide from me.”
“I’m not hiding from you; I just don’t want any more of your pity.”
When he wouldn’t turn to face me, I stepped around to meet his gaze. “Pity?” I questioned. “You think I pity you, Wolf?”
His eyes searched mine, the dull lightning now flaring with emotion. He didn’t answer me, though; he just stood there with a set jaw.
“It is not pity I feel for you, Wolf. It’s—it’s?—”
“It’s what?”
“It’s guilt. ” The words rushed out of me like they couldn’t stay inside any longer. “I feel guilt. I feel shame. I feel fucking hatred for you and myself and for all of this.”
He blinked but didn’t move. I stood there before him, chest heaving, throat burning.
“You feel guilty?” he questioned.
Yes. “Every fucking day.”
“ You feel guilty?” He took a half step closer. “You have nothing to feel guilty over, Huntress. You’re not the one who ruined everything. You’re not the one who?—”
“I’m the reason your wings are gone, am I not?”
“ My father is the reason my wings are gone.”
“I’m the reason you’ve been forced to live as your father’s servant for your entire life. It’s all been for this.” I held my hands out, flaring my new wings as far as I could, stretching them. “Is this what he wants? Because fuck, Wolf, I’m half-tempted to just give it to him so you could have your life back.”
His eyes darkened. “Don’t say that.”
“I don’t want to say it. Fuck, I don’t want to think it, Wolf, but that’s the truth! I’m not good at this!”
“Good at what?”
I started to respond but stopped myself. I took a long, calming breath and tore my eyes away from him so I could answer, “I’m not good at acting like I don’t care about you.”
Wolf closed the distance between us gently then slowly brought his hands up to my chin, forcing my eyes to his. “Say that again.”
I bit my tongue. I already said way too fucking much. “I hate you,” I breathed. An obvious lie.
He smiled, glancing down to my lips. “My violent, violent Huntress.” He brought his lips down to mine—just a breath away from me but not touching. He didn’t quite kiss me, just teased me, taking me in as if he was seeing me for the first time, as if he was holding me for the first time. “I never thought you would care about me again.” His voice cracked. My chest tightened.
“I didn’t want to,” I breathed. “Not after everything. I never thought I would let myself trust anyone again, especially not you.”
Only the faintest touch of pain flowed through our bond, but I moved my hands to his waist and felt the rush of something else cover it.
“I do not deserve you,” he whispered, the same thing he whispered to me our first night in The Golden City, before his father. Before the wings. Before everything. “But I will gladly spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
I thought he was about to kiss me, but he stopped and smirked. “Now turn around.” He backed up, and I instantly missed the heat of his body. “You have many admirable features, Huntress, but these…” He whistled quietly as he surveyed my wings. “ These are impressive.”
I turned to face the wall so he could look at them. They were nothing like Wolf’s wings. Wolf’s angel wings had been brutal and muscular, but also soft and caressing.
No, these wings were sharp. There was nothing soft or caressing about them. I felt my power moving through them, and I used my breath to force that power out, expanding the wings even further until I felt the stretch at the base of my spine.
Wolf’s fingers trailed the waistline of my pants, toying with the hem of my shirt. I sucked in a breath when his other hand came down on the tip of my left wing.
It was a sensation I had never come close to feeling before. Every touch from his hand sent my nerves into a frenzy. The wings didn’t have much feeling, but they were sensitive to his touch, like they were made only for him.
“Let me feel how I touch you,” he whispered. I instantly knew what he meant. I lowered the mental shields to my bond, forcing the delicate sensation through it.
Wolf laughed under his breath. “Now I’m going to show you how you tortured me all those times with my own wings.”
“How did I—” I was cut off by Wolf’s right hand slipping under the back of my shirt. His palm slipped up between my shoulder blades, narrowly skimming each base of my wings.
Heat immediately pooled between my thighs.
Then, he pushed—lightly, guiding me forward until I pressed my own hands against the wall for support.
“That’s my girl,” he whispered.
Then, he ripped the shirt off entirely.
I gasped, starting to turn and face him, but he kept his hand solid on my back. “Let me look at you like this,” he said, his breath tickling the back of my neck. “Let me see how fucking powerful you are.”
The low growl in his voice sent a chill through my entire body. I stood before him in nothing but a thin chestwrap, one that did very little to cover anything that mattered.
But Wolf’s entire body was large enough to cover mine. The cool breeze disappeared as Wolf put both hands on the back of my neck, encapsulating me in his warmth. Then, ever so slowly, he slid those hot hands down my bare back.
“Wolf,” I warned, clenching my thighs together. “You’re teasing me.” His fingers barely brushed the base of my wings, sending flares of heat through my entire body.
“Yes,” he chuckled quietly. “I am. And you’re going to be a good little Huntress and let me.”
My words were ripped from my throat as Wolf gripped my back. His hands were large enough that the tips of his fingers nearly brushed the sides of my breasts while he massaged me, working his palms through my muscles and covering me with his heat.
I didn’t even realize I moaned until the breath of Wolf’s laughter hit my bare shoulder.
“Wings can be very sensitive,” he teased. To prove his point, he let his fingers trail up the delicate surface. I shivered in response, but he didn’t stop there. He ran his hands all the way to the top of them, back down to the very bottom. “They’re especially sensitive to light touches, like the wind.”
Then, he blew on them, making every muscle in my back tense.
But his hands were on me again, pressing me to the wall, holding me still while I trembled in his grasp.
“I don’t remember torturing you this much,” I sighed. “I left your wings alone.”
My breath hitched when his lips landed on my shoulder, kissing me lightly before moving further down my back.
I couldn’t see my own wings, but I was sure they tightened, flexed, clenched. “Wolf,” I moaned.
He didn’t stop. He moved his hands across the length of my wings, fully massaging them now, fully palming them.
“Yes, Huntress?”
He touched the very bottom of my back again, then trailed his fingers up to the base of my neck.
“You know you ruined my shirt,” I manage to mumble.
I couldn’t see him, but I could feel him as he peeled his own dirty shirt off his body.
“Here,” he said. I turned to face him, finding him shirtless in the small trail of light. “Take it.”
I didn’t cover my exposed body as I leaned forward and reached for his outstretched shirt, but he pulled back at the last second.
“Really?” I asked. “You want me to run around here shirtless?”
His eyes trailed down my entire body. “Maybe I do.”
“Fine,” I said, propping both hands on my hips. “You have it your way, then. I’ll head home to Jessiah.”
I started out of the underground cave, barely making it two steps before Wolf shoved his shirt over my head from behind.
I stumbled but quickly straightened and pulled the shirt the rest of the way on, stretching my wings as the fabric settled around them.
“What?” I teased. “Change your mind?”
When my eyes met his, I shivered. Something hungry, depraved, possessive lingered there, waiting. All this time we spent together, it was easy to forget how much of a predator he really was.
“I’m the only one who gets to see you like that,” he growled. “Only me.”
I opened my mouth to respond, to pretend to argue, but Wolf’s eyes snapped to something behind me. He was now shirtless, but his sword remained strapped at his waist, always ready.
The look in his eyes at whatever he saw behind me sent my hand reaching for Venom.
My body shot to life, adrenaline pulsing, ears tuning in. Even with this new wave of power controlling my wings, I looked to Wolf for guidance.
He was watching something behind me. I heard the stick break next, then another.
I spun around, pulling Venom from her sheath as I raised my hand, ready for a fight.
But we were not met with daggers and violence. No, standing before us was a group of males and females, all dressed in black, all with red paint smeared across half their faces.
“What are you doing here?” the male in front of the group asked.
Wolf stepped forward, draping a protective arm across my shoulder. “We’re only here on a visit. We mean no harm.”
I straightened, trying my best to flex my wings as the group sized me up, taking in my new wings, my dagger, my everything. Hells, it felt like they stared directly into my soul.
“Not you,” a woman in the back asked. “Her.”
I opened my mouth to defend myself, but Wolf gave the back of my neck a light squeeze. “You know why she’s here.”
The group in front of us—all vampyres—just stood there, observing. Not one of them reached for a weapon. Not one of them even looked to be on the defense.
“We’re ready,” the male in front said. “We’ve been waiting for months now.”
“We wed on the summer equinox,” Wolf answered. I snapped my attention to him, wondering what in all hells was going on and why he suddenly knew these random vampyres. Were these the same ones who took Abigail? “I expect my father will be here in full force the next day or two.”
Wolf was the one who spoke, but still, all the eyes lingered on me. I didn’t trust myself to speak, didn’t trust myself to move.
“Is she as powerful as you say she is?” the male in front asked.
Wolf smiled softly, rubbing a thumb against the back of my neck before answering, “She is even more powerful than we could have dreamed.”
My breath hitched in my throat. I wanted to turn, wanted to run, wanted to scream. Why were they talking about me this way? And who in all hells were these people?
Vampyres, yes. The ones here in hiding, I was starting to guess.
The ones Wolf was sent here to scope out.
Unease washed over me at the thought of it. I didn’t know who to trust. Wolf was playing both sides. This was more than sneaking around. It was more than standing up to Wolf’s asshole father.
This was a rebellion against the archangel.
All thoughts ceased as the female in the back of the group took a knee. Another one did the same. Then another—all kneeling until the entire group before us bowed, lowering their heads.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
Wolf bent over to whisper in my ear, “All hail the blood queen.”
W olf led me back to the tower, back up the massive staircase that led to the top floor, to the suite where Jessiah waited for us. He didn’t so much as glance at us as we approached, just kept his focus on the ceiling as he splayed across the sofa, his white angel wings relaxed on either side.
My chest tightened when I saw it. Wolf used to lounge that same way, his black wings a force to be reckoned with.
“We’re back,” I announced. Wolf walked straight past me and into the room I slept in last night.
Clearly, he wasn’t speaking to Jessiah.
But Jessiah didn’t seem to notice or care. His eyes widened when he finally turned to face me. “Well, well, well,” he cooed. “Did somebody finally learn some control of their magic?”
“I don’t know,” I pushed my power out, using all the control I had left to flare my wings. “Why don’t you tell me?”
He smiled and flung himself off the sofa, taking in my wings with his jaw hanging open.
“Hells,” he sighed. “These wings are massive. That’s damn impressive for a vampyre, Huntyr, even one of your lineage.” He stepped to the side to take them in fully, nodding slowly in approval. “I haven’t seen fae wings like these in years. Your magic is…it must be strong .”
“It’s incredible,” I sighed. “It feels so normal, like I should have had wings this entire damn time.”
He smiled lightly. “Would’ve made your life a lot easier, huh?” His face slowly dropped, my small window into the cheerful Jessiah slowly vanishing.
They were both hurting. I knew that. It didn’t take a genius to see that their father had really done some damage on both of them. Still, Jessiah wasn’t the asshole, but he had no right to pile on Wolf the way he did.
“Don’t say it,” he said.
“I wasn’t going to say anything!”
“You were. I can see it on your face.” He turned and flopped back down on the sofa.
I propped a hand on my hip. “And what, do tell, was I planning on saying?”
Jessiah got comfortable on the sofa before answering in a high-pitched voice, “You were a big asshole to your brother, Jessiah. You should apologize. It isn’t fair that you said those things, etcetera, etcetera.”
I took a step backward. “Sounds like you have a guilty conscience. Maybe that’s your heart telling you to apologize. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t stand in the way of fate—” My words were cut off by him throwing a dusty pillow in my direction. I dodged it quickly, tucking into my bedroom for safety and shutting the door behind me.
The energy in the room changed instantly.
“You don’t have to ignore him,” I said. Wolf lay on his back, waiting for me on the bed. I kicked off my dirty boots, unclipped my dagger from my belt, and joined him, flopping onto my stomach.
The sun was still up outside, and I was exhausted. I hadn’t done much at all since I was taken by Asmodeus. The travel, the exploring, the wings. The new wave of exhaustion rolled over me heavily, relentlessly.
“I’m not ignoring him,” Wolf whispered, making sure to keep his voice quiet so only I could hear. “I just don’t trust myself to not drive my sword into his shins the next time he speaks.”
“Right,” I answered. “So, ignoring.”
I let my eyes flutter closed for just a second. My eyelids were heavy, pulling me deeper and deeper into the exhaustion.
“Retract your wings,” he said. “You’ll replenish your magic quicker.”
I could feel the power within me beginning to flicker, like I drained the well of magic deep in my soul. Retract . Like it was that fucking easy. I felt frazzled and uneven; the very last thing I felt was control over my emotions.
“Here.” Wolf’s hand landed on my back, splaying over the base of both wings through his large shirt. “Relax here.”
I let out a breath and tried to relax the muscles Wolf touched. It was hard, though, when his touch affected me like that.
“They’re just hiding out there,” I whispered. “They’re waiting.”
A few beats passed. “They’re waiting for you.”
I took another breath and let my shoulders relax further. “Do they know I can’t help them?” My throat burned at the words. They looked so hopeful kneeling before me, like I really would be the one to save them, like I really would be the one to rebuild their kingdom.
His hand began to move in soft, soothing circles around my back. “Deep breath, Huntress. Pull your power back to you.”
I did as he ordered, trying my best to pull everything back to my center. I focused on the tendrils of power that flooded my body and, one by one, I pictured them crawling back to my heart, retreating.
“How can I possibly help them?” I continued. “I can’t even control my own damn wings.”
His hand made another circle then paused. “You don’t give yourself enough credit.”
I didn’t realize what he was talking about until I blinked my eyes back open and saw only the room around me where the large wings should have been.
Hells. “I didn’t even feel that.”
“That’s good,” he said. “That means it’s natural.”
“If I had years to practice with them, if I had years to sharpen my magic, practice with my blood, maybe I could?—”
“You don’t need years. You’re perfect exactly as you are.”
I turned my head on the pillow so I could see him. He was already staring at me, eyes dark in focus as he traced the spot on my back where my wings just were.
“They’re going to fight for us, aren’t they?” I asked.
His jaw clenched. “Not for us. With us.”
“Does he know?” I glanced toward the bedroom door. “Does he know what you have planned with them?”
Wolf lowered his gaze again. “It’s safer for him if he doesn’t, but I’m confident that when the time comes, he’ll choose the right side.”
Sleep came swiftly.
Wolf’s hand never left my back.