“The Triad gave us time to mend the barrier once and for all.” Rhys narrowed his eyes. “Seems we’re pawns in some celestial game.”
Calan glanced from the mark to his brother’s face. “All of you?”
Rhys nodded. “All of us. We have a challenge to meet and a choice to make.”
As I had when I chose Harley. Calan thought of each of his siblings and cursed.
“I don’t think it’s as simple as finding our mates.” Rhys curled his hand. “Remember not all of us can take a mate or want one, but we’ll know we’ve succeeded when our mark fades.”
Calan looked over his shoulder. Tegan’s dark brown eyes caught his gaze. She closed them but not before Calan caught the hurt that flashed in them.
“Our brothers and sisters would be foolish not to open their hearts again.” He spoke the words for Tegan’s benefit. She didn’t acknowledge him.
He strode from Rhys’s cell to hers.
Harley fell into step beside him. “I felt Raul die.”
“Yes, and soon Dar will be defeated.” Calan stopped and waited for Harley to meet his gaze. “We will release the Hunt, my mate. We won’t rest until each and every threat is eliminated. Our vow remains the same.”
She nodded, and he made his way to Tegan. He unlocked her and captured her arm before she could storm past him.
“We have a new Huntsman, Harley’s human brother.”
Tegan raised a brow. “And?”
“Ian has succumbed to the rage.”
Tegan held his gaze with neutral eyes. “Has he been incarcerated?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re telling me this because?”
“I’m telling you because he’s part of our Teulu, and I’d thought you’d care.” And would go to him, maybe get through to him. Tegan, out of all his siblings, would understand what Harley’s brother was experiencing. She’d once slipped into the all-consuming wrath too and was able to claw her way out.
Harley grasped his wrist and redirected his attention. He glanced at her. Worry showed in her eyes. “How long before he heals?”
“His body would’ve mended within minutes. His sanity, however, is compromised. He will need to be brought out of his enraged state, then he’ll need to learn control in order to ensure he doesn’t succumb again.”
Rhys stepped up next to them. “We can send a demoness to him. Sex works wonders on the Huntsmen. Once he’s calm, we can help him.”
“I will go.” Tegan faced them, arms crossed under her breasts and annoyance in her glare. “We don’t need to owe the demons any favors. They hate us as it is.”
“Are you sure?” Calan held her gaze. She gave a single nod. “Good. The sooner, the better.”
She grinned, but her smile never reached her deadened eyes. “Now that it’s settled, let’s get out of this hellhole. The Hunt is calling my name.”
Calan followed his sister’s retreating back with his gaze and shook his head. “We have our work cut out for us, my mate. I’m not positive my siblings have weathered their imprisonment well.”
“A thousand years of torture will do that, but they’re strong. They’ll find their salvation, just as I did. I have faith in them.”
“As do I, my flower, as do I.” Calan pulled Harley close for another kiss, the temptation she posed one he never had to resist.
He took her hand and led her to the next cell. Elation still buoyed him, but his gut churned with the implications of their future. The thought of all the Huntsmen having to meet some unstated challenge worried him. There were always two choices. What if they picked poorly?
“Trust them, Calan. The Triad does.”
He glanced into his mate’s face. “I do, but I worry they won’t recognize what their challenge is until it’s too late.”
Harley glanced past him to look at the Huntsmen. She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “They only get one shot too.”
Calan sighed. “Yes, and the clock starts now.”
The Wild Hunt series continues with Tegan’s story, Cursed
Read an Excerpt
Ian Callahan panted through the rage gripping him. Something had caught his attention. He closed his eyes, blocking out the view of the rock-carved walls of his cell, and listened. The sound of a heartbeat reached his ears. It raced. So did his. Excitement fed his heart’s rapid cadence. He hadn’t been able to focus on anything beyond the wrath consuming him in days, weeks maybe. He’d lost track of how long he’d been chained spread-eagle to his bed.
He sucked in a deep breath, desperate to hold on to the awareness the person’s presence offered. The rich scent of vanilla drugged him. He moaned, or tried to, at the very least, but his roughened voice garbled the sound. The feeling behind it remained the same. He recognized the fragrance. It was her.
His dream lover.
She’d returned in his worst hour, to tempt him. Arouse him. Make him beg.
The brown-eyed minx had ruined him. In all the years she’d visited him, she never fulfilled her wicked promises. Never gave him relief. She always disappeared before he could explode. She’d made him question his sanity and his sexuality. A growl crawled up his throat, even as blood rushed south, thickening his dick. It tented his shorts.
He groaned. His cock was so damn hard. Thinking about her always aroused him. Chained to the bed, he couldn’t even jerk off. He yanked on the chains and snarled.
Her gasp carried over his angry sounds.
She watched him.
Did she want him too? He waited for the door to open, for her to come to him. Seconds passed with only her quickened heartbeat betraying her interest. He dragged in more vanilla-scented air but couldn’t pick up on her arousal. She wasn’t close enough, and his Huntsman’s sense of smell confused him more often than not. It was too new, much like the emotion that had landed him in Hell.
“Angel?” He didn’t care how she’d teased him before, or if she continued to do so. He needed her. “Come to me.”
He held his breath.
The clunk of boots answered him, each thump fading in volume.
“No!
