Her ghost man.
Chapter Five
Calan straightened his right arm, then flexed his hand, loosening his tight muscles. His other remained stretched above his head while his feet were shackled to hooks on the floor. For a thousand years, he had remained in the same position. To a human, the idea would sound inconceivable. Some days it boggled his mind also. The truth remained one he couldn’t deny.
A millennium ago, he’d been tricked into a battle that had damned the riders of the Wild Hunt.
Calan closed his eyes against the memory, not wanting to relive the event that had left him chained in a cell alone while his beloved brothers and sisters suffered horrendous agony. They were the ones who paid the price of his mistake. Compared to the living hell they endured, standing in one spot was nothing. He wished he could take their pain away or bear it all, but he was left here, stuck between the mortal realm and the Underworld in a prison no mere human could see or enter.
The only comfort he could offer his siblings was his company. As the leader of the Hunt, he had the ability to touch their minds. It wasn’t much, but their conversations helped them endure. Well, it helped those who chose to talk to him, anyway. Many had given up and welcomed insanity. Honestly, Calan couldn’t blame them. A mindless existence beat dying over and over to appease a curse meant for the members of the Unseelie Court; a curse whose sole purpose was to uphold the barrier between the mortal realm and the lowest pits of Hell.
Soon the Huntsmen’s torment would end, however. All he had to do was convince Harley to release him. Then he’d hunt down Dar, the leader of the fairies, and take him out, once and for all.
Victory was so close, Calan could almost taste it.
His gaze drifted to the shelf next to the open doorway. The dagger displayed there looked innocuous enough. No power emanated from it, but the etchings lining the obsidian blade detailed the curse lying dormant within it. The curse he had to transfer to Dar.
Calan would be the one to damn Dar. He had to succeed. The alternative promised the humans endless suffering and oppression under the rule of the Unseelie Court. Dar’s goals were to release his brethren from Hell and flood the mortal realm with the destructive powers contained within the Underworld.
Only the Huntsmen—Calan’s own brothers and sisters who were suffering right this moment—stood in the way. While they fed the living magic that upheld the barrier with their pain and suffering, nothing would escape Hell.
Too bad the number of Huntsmen who chose insanity over the endless pain required to maintain the barrier was growing. And each time a Hunter lost his mind, the barrier weakened.
A wave of rage pulsed through Calan at the thought, and a growl rumbled in his chest. He’d seen the atrocities the Unseelie Court were capable of inflicting upon the mortals. The rest of those fairies remaining in the lowest pits of the Underworld could not escape.
Calan’s very being demanded he protect the humans from the fairies. A millennium ago, he’d failed. He breathed through the anger the memory brought. It wouldn’t help him. The deed was done.
I’ll right my wrong, and it’ll be Dar’s own child who helps me bring him to justice.
The words he held close calmed the last of his resentment. Calan rested his head against the smooth stone wall at his back and listened to the torch’s crackle. It was one of the few ways he spent his endless days. Since connecting with Harley, though, he had another.
He dragged up the image of her eyes and let the spell she wove over him grip him. He yearned to see the rest of her, touch her, explore the connection he’d initiated with her and decide if he wanted to complete the union he’d started by mating her. Nine years ago, he would’ve done so in a heartbeat. She’d never returned, though. A good thing, maybe, despite the delay in his revenge against Dar. For a god, even a demigod such as Calan was, taking a mate was an eternal commitment.
One look into Harley’s eyes, and he’d decided she would be his. Not the wisest way to choose a mate, but the rightness of his decision had burned strong within him then.
But now? What do he want now? To use her? Or save her.
Calan didn’t have an answer. Over the time they’d been separated, he’d experienced a range of emotions from disappointment to hatred, but he’d never let go of the longing or the need to look into her eyes again. They comforted him as much as they tormented him. Every day, he’d reached for her through the precarious link he’d established. Not once had he found her.
Until today.
And when she did come to him? Then what? Would he finish bonding to her as he’d hastily promised? Calan shook his head. Part of him wondered why he still considered mating her. He was meant to hunt the members of the Unseelie Court, not long for one of them. But he did crave Harley. He feared he always would.
One issue at a time. First, he needed to convince her to free him. Then, he’d figure out why she affected him so.
Minutes ticked by in silence before the sinful fragrance of oranges and spice reached him.
Harley.
He closed his eyes and sighed in relief. She came.
The clunk of her approaching steps resounded in the hallway. He focused on the stairs leading into his cell. Anticipation held him taut.
Dirty white boots appeared on the first step. Shapely legs covered in a clingy black material came next. Another step revealed flaring hips that gave way to a small waist he could probably span with one hand. The longing he’d always carried for her turned into lust, a burning desire he couldn’t deny.
His pent-up breath escaped in a shudder. A tremor shook
