Chapter 11
F****** Witches…
I’d never been so off my game in my life.
I woke up with the sun shining through the cracks of the window shutters, the bar completely empty aside from an older werewolf alpha, drying beer glasses with a towel.
“Ah, there you are. Was wondering when the spell would wear off.”
I was still on the floor, my head throbbing from where it had connected with the table above me. I checked my horns and cursed under my breath when I felt a small divot where a piece had chipped off.
There was nothing more embarrassing to a demon than broken horns.
“I take it you’re Selene?” I grumbled, sitting up with great effort. My throat was dry, and my tongue felt thick with the tastes of blood and green apple.
“Who else would I be?” Her voice was low, husky from years of smoking vaporleaf.
Actually, vaporleaf sounded pretty good right now. I took a roll out of my pocket, doing my best to reshape it from the flattened mess it had become by me sleeping on it, and then lit the end. I inhaled deeply, and left it between my teeth as I used my hands to help myself get up.
I hobbled slightly back to the bar, taking a seat on one of the stools. “She gone?”
Selene nodded. “Don’t know how you found her to begin with, but when Morgana didn’t check in, we figured you were the culprit.”
Smart. And annoying. But knowing that Morgana was still sleeping off her own potion in the basement of her house made me feel a little better about the situation.
“That’s quite the system you’ve got set up. You been working with Morgana for a while, then?”
She stopped drying, throwing the towel over her shoulder and putting away the glass. Then she leaned forward with both her hands on the bar. “Let’s just say I have a lot of little sisters and brothers who come through here, if you catch my drift.”
“Sisters and brothers?”
She huffed. “Don’t be so thick.”
I inhaled the vaporleaf, and when the realization hit me, I really did feel like an idiot.
She meant victims.
“We don’t typically get bounty hunters, though. Didn’t know her ex was rich enough to hire one of you.”
I furrowed my brow. “My client isn’t her ex. What are you talking about?”
Selene shrugged and took the towel back off her shoulder, grabbing another wet glass from the tray. “Whatever, I don’t know her story. I never ask. I did see the scars, though. And if you did, too, you’d rethink bringing her back to whoever’s looking for her.”
I did. I was. But I needed to find her anyway, and not just to satisfy my own insane curiosity—which one these days was bordering on obsession—but also because of my deal.
I tapped my finger on my horn. “No can do. I’ve never lost a bounty yet, and I can’t exactly afford to make a habit of it.”
“Well, why’s she gotta suffer for your bad decisions?
” she snarled. “You think just because you sold your soul, you now got the right to send her to hell?” She clicked her tongue against her teeth.
“And don’t even think about trying to possess me.
I don’t ask any questions, period, meaning I don’t even know where she went. ”
I could possess her to double-check, but I didn’t need to.
“You say all this like it’s the truth, but I’m not going to trust the word of a stranger that she’s worth dying for.” I said, getting up and digging my keys out of my pocket.
Selene shrugged. “How many days you got left on that contract?”
I did a quick calculation in my head, the fog of having been knocked out repeatedly and my lingering rut making math way harder than it should have been. “One and a half days,” I realized soberly.
That was including the time it would take to get to Noctis. I hated cutting it short.
“I can’t exactly wish you luck. I just hope you realize before it’s too late that you’re making a mistake.”
I walked out of the bar into the bright morning sun and cursed loudly to find all the tires on my Hellfire had been slashed.
“Fucking witches…” I grumbled, whipping out my phone. I barely had any battery left, and service out here was abysmal.
I pat my baby lovingly as I rang the closest mechanic I could find, which was still around thirty-five miles away.
“Ephraim’s Garage,” came a gruff voice.
“Hi, yeah, I’m at Selene’s Howl. I need a tow and four new tires.”
A loud, bellowing laugh had me pulling the phone from my ear. When he started to peter out, he barked, “Get fucked, demon.”
And then he hung up.
Oh, Ravaric dammit, that was the old alpha from last night.
Fucking seraphim!
After a few more calls, I found a mechanic who wasn’t Selene’s best friend, and four hours and two thousand runics later, I finally took out the twin to the charm I’d put on Sage’s car last night.
It blinked slowly, the frequency increasing as I started to head towards where she’d gone.
It was difficult to use when driving, since I couldn’t always change direction on a dime from the road. But after a few U-turns, the charm was practically one solid pulse of light as I turned down a path that could barely be called a road.
A small cabin came into view, hidden among the trees. It was still late afternoon, and normally I would wait for the cover of night, but I had very little time left.
I spied the car I’d seen outside of the bar covered in a tarp, and breathed a little easier when I didn’t find any other tire tracks. She was trying to hide here, and hadn’t switched to a new vehicle.
A plume of her scent wafted in the air through my window, and blood rushed to my dick with the promise of my prey soon to be captured. I’d tracked her long enough, and it was time to collect my prize.
I parked behind a thick copse of trees, taking out a concealment charm and crushing it between my fingers as I exited the car. After closing the door softly, I made my approach.
The south side of the cabin had no windows, and I headed there first, darting between trees. There was no sound, not from the distant highway, or even birds or insects. Only the heavy thudding of my heart, echoing in my ears, was proof of life in these deep woods.
Her scent got stronger, and I felt my hands vibrating with power and need to have her in my grasp. My teeth ached in my mouth, and I paused briefly behind a thick trunk, biting on my finger to calm myself.
Fuck, I hoped she’d run. I pulsed with need to chase, to capture, for the feel of a sweet female beneath me, panting and submitting. Ravaric, I’d never felt more alpha than I did in this moment.
I didn’t know the rut was going to be this bad, and I was a little upset the witch-made stuff didn’t seem to be working.
The initial relief had been better than the traditional pills, but so far neither of them had lasted more than a couple of hours.
And if I wasn’t careful, I might hurt Sage in the frenzy.
Deep breaths. I tried to take another minute to calm myself. I didn’t want to hurt Sage regardless, but my contract stipulated she be brought in unharmed. I had to be careful and calculated from here on out, which meant absolutely no rutting.
With one quick push, I made it to the wall, pressing myself flat against it. The wood was warm from the sun, and the fabric on my jacket and jeans caught slightly against the rough splinters.
Slowly, inch by inch, I slid around the house, dipping below the windows as I came across them.
Each step was gentle and deliberate, and I made them as quietly as possible. The door was almost within reach, and it was the only one to this small cabin.
A bad safe house, if you ask me. But then again, Morgana had probably never considered the passengers on her ferry would accidentally get stuck with a tracking charm, or even be found at Selene’s to begin with. This place was a temporary contingency plan, I bet.
I took a deep breath as the doorknob came within reach, steeling myself for chaos. A slow turn found it unlocked, and in one big rush, I twisted and pushed it open, blocking the path out and surveying the room in front of me.
It was empty, the only movement coming from an open window in the back, its curtains waving gently in the breeze.
I should have been pissed, or at the very least annoyed.
Instead, I was thrilled.
My nails grew into claws, my teeth and cock both aching to be sunk into soft flesh as I roared.
What the hell was wrong with me? This was more than a rut.
Hunt. Chase. Catch.
The instinct fueled me as I ran back out the door, catching the omega’s sweet perfume on the air.
She wasn’t far.
Part of me even thought about waiting, giving her more of a head start to prolong the game.
But the part that won out just wanted her beneath me. Now.
With a burst of speed, I began to follow her sloppy trail, her fear-tinged scent and footsteps easy to follow.
But I didn’t want her afraid; I wanted her excited. I wanted her aroused.
I wanted her.
The sound of twigs breaking had me heading to the left, along a widening stream. About one hundred yards up, I saw her, crossing along a natural path of rocks to get to the other side.
Mine.
A deep growl resonated in my chest, and she looked up, her face paling. She’d dispensed with the glamour, and I relished the unfiltered look of this beautiful omega in the wild. Her curly hair blew in the breeze, carrying her scent directly to me.
She moved faster, trying to keep her balance as she leapt between the stones.
I crossed the stream in a single bound, making it to her just as she landed on the other side.
I had her in my grasp, tumbling to the ground with a tackle. Twisting my body so she would land on top of me, I quickly turned us around once we landed, my body caging her in.
Finally, she was real. Flesh and blood, sweat and heat and perfume. Every cell in my body was a maelstrom of need, of desire. Of a calling so primal, merely calling it an instinct felt like an insult.
This was a culmination of my entire existence.
“Mine,” I snarled, digging my nose into her neck. The stupid turtleneck was in the way. I needed her skin on mine, warm and smooth.