“And what is he now?” She inhaled sharply. “To me?”
“A threat.” He dropped his hand. “To you, me, the world. Since he’s obviously consumed your blood, it ensures that he and his sluaghs are invisible to the power of the Hunt.”
Chapter Twenty
Calan helped Harley off his steed’s back. She’d remained silent on the ride to the warehouse near Cynthia’s home. He’d tried to get her to talk about Raul, but she’d only shaken her head. She’d needed a moment to deal with the news he’d delivered, but the time had come to face the implications of her past.
Nine years had gone by without knowing Harley’s fate. Calan wanted the knowledge of the life she’d lived. What she’d done. If she’d loved the males she’d accepted into her body. How Raul had hurt her. There would be no secrets between them. They would close the gap.
Starting now.
He led her across the lot, opened the door, and ushered her inside. Her gaze zeroed in on the fairy ring.
“Here? He’s had a damn fairy ring right in our hometown?”
She didn’t wait for the obvious answer. She stormed into the building, hands flexing and releasing at her sides. With quick strides, she circled the mushroom border, an expression of rage twisting her features. He extended his mind to hers. A wall met him. An actual brick wall. He felt the roughness of the blocks under his mental fingers.
She’d blocked him.
“Harley.”
Her limbs trembled, and her pace quickened. He rushed forward. Bringing her here had been a mistake. Without their complete tie, he couldn’t touch her mind unless she allowed it. Her refusal of his assistance made it harder for him to help her through her anger. He should’ve anticipated her reaction to seeing the ring. He’d been too focused on uncovering the reason why she’d sought out other men instead of him, the one lover who would worship her for eternity.
In the face of her anger, it had been a damn selfish reason and one he regretted.
“Harley, stop.” He stepped into her path.
She cut him an irritated look. Her nostrils flared, and she promptly sidestepped him to continue her looping. On the next pass, he grasped her wrist and tugged her tense body against his. She didn’t resist but didn’t relax into his embrace either.
“Flower, let me in.”
She shook her head. He pressed kisses to her neck, her jaw and finally licked the seam of her lips. She pushed against his chest. “Calan, st—”
He slid his tongue between her parted lips and led her in a slow, drugging kiss. On and on, he twined their tongues. Finally, she linked her arms around his neck.
The wall separating them came crashing down.
He swept through her in a metaphysical caress, easing her tension and spreading warmth into her. She moaned in response to the sexual push he gave and kissed him harder. He probably should’ve felt bad for influencing her, but sex offered a Huntsman a safe way to alleviate their pent-up rage. It’d do the same for Harley. Their struggles weren’t all that different, simply flip sides of the same battle. He wanted to avenge the wronged; she wanted to hurt those who’d wronged her.
Lust built the longer they kissed. His cock lengthened and ached for the cushion of her body. He wanted to love her. The warehouse with Raul’s fairy ring and the display of Harley’s pictures wasn’t the right place for it. He broke their kiss and cupped her face between his hands.
“Do not block me. For both of our sakes, I need to be able to touch your mind and comfort you the way you have done for me. We need each other.” He brushed his lips over hers once more. “Understand?”
“Yes. It’s just that…” Harley leaned back, putting enough space between them to motion toward the portal to the fairy realm. “This has been here for a while, hasn’t it?”
The mushrooms grew with each passing year. Some of the older ones he’d seen had stood as tall as a man. “Several years at least.”
She pushed away from him and knelt next to the ring. “Ian owns a company that does security work for the government and sometimes personal protection cases. At least that’s the side of it that makes money. In truth, he uses all the contacts he’s made to protect me.”
“I’m glad. I’d like to know how he managed to keep you out of harm’s way.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “He hasn’t. I’ve moved every time I’ve drawn the notice of one of the fairies’ creatures. What he has done is kept detailed records of sluagh kills and has the profiles of at least two-dozen redcaps. When word reaches him of murders that fall into either category, he investigates and searches for their fairy rings. He burns any he finds.”
Calan tensed. “That’s dangerous. As a human, he wouldn’t know of the danger he was in until the monsters revealed themselves.”
“I know.” She sighed. “He feels it’s his duty to protect as many people as he can, but he could never find the fairy ring close to our home. He’d always suspected there was one. Too many locals had disappeared over the years, and the types of murders in the neighboring cities suggested sluagh activity. It drove him nuts.” She swept her gaze over the dirt floor. “Raul is smarter than I thought.”
He didn’t bother tugging her away from the ring. It wouldn’t cloud her mind during the daylight hours, or afterward for that matter. Her fairy blood made her immune to its influence. Humans, on the other hand, were lured in to the rings by illusions.
Most often they saw people dancing who would then invite the unsuspecting person to join them. Other times, they saw someone in distress, beseeching their help. No matter what captured
