Page 35 of Hunted By Darkness

Sighing and already over the bickering, I removed Ryker’s arm and touched the men instead. After confirming they were visible to everyone, I continued, “We aren’t sure how it happened. It just did. The real question is why these forms and what does it all mean. We still don’t know how Bear Claw ended up alive again, either. I’ll see if there’s anything I can find in Grandmother’s journal. Until then, we’ll just have to deal with another mystery unsolved and move on. We can’t be distracted. I am curious, though…” My eyes flitted over to Salvator, whose glare stayed on Ryker for some reason. “Can you no longer shift?”

As if it hadn’t occurred to him, Salvator was on his feet. He stalked over to the door and took off the several-sizes-too-smallcotton shorts he wore. I got an eyeful of naked ass before he was gone.

Silas was on his feet with an angry grunt. “That absolute twat just had to give us a show before running off.”

He didn’t make it to the door. A huge bear peeked its head through the opening, and recognizable eyes fixed to me. Tometi’s bear. It huffed an agitated breath before its massive face shifted and became something different. Then a familiar wolf snarled at us from a crouched position. Ryker’s wolf. A half-second later that, too, shifted. Salvator was naked again, standing in the doorway with his terrifying physique on display, deep in thought.

Silas clicked his tongue and tossed the discarded pair of shorts at the naked shifter. “Get dressed, you bloody numpty. No one wants to stare at your meat sword.”

“I see no sword of meat,” Tometi mused, giving everyone a reason to gawk.

But it was Lev who threw his head back and laughed. “The infamous Tometi charm, right, Niks?”

“The one and only,” I confirmed with a little grin, immensely glad for the friend who always came through when I needed him to.

Silas grumbled and eyed the towering giant with caution. “Bit of a headcase, this bloke?”

Scowling at Silas, I gave the giant an affectionate pat on the arm. “That’s extremely insensitive, Silas. Tometi just…thinks a bit differently than most. It’s part of his charm.”

Tometi, who’d been a steely-eyed piece of stone from the moment he was visible, peered down at me with a soft smile that even I couldn’t help but be enchanted by. “It’s you who’s charming, Nika. I’ve always thought so.”

“Damn. Who would’ve thought Tome would be this smooth out of her head?” Ryker complained, pushing into my touch. “Istall, dark, and handsome your type, pretty girl? Be honest with me.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Silas cursed, in front of me. “Love, a bloke can only take so much. Your handsome rogue needs a bit of reassurance to carry on, yeah?”

His adorable pout claimed several beats of my heart, and I finally caved into the oversized idiot. Wrapping my arms around him, Silas lifted me under the thighs and held me close. His face pressed into my neck, and he dropped a few kisses along the curve of my throat and shoulder. Reluctantly, he set me back down and dropped a final kiss on my lips before smirking in victory.

Lev was on his feet, more excited than he should be, but Lev always did love a mystery. He enjoyed the thrill of unraveling secrets, and this wouldn’t be any different. “Do you think this has something to do with Bear Claw coming back?”

Shaking my head, I watched as Salvator took his seat again, jaw clenched and searing stare on me. “I’m not sure, but at least he didn’t lose his ability to shift.”

“There has to be some reason this happened,” my friend argued astutely.

It felt like another piece of fate had slid into place when I woke up, so maybe Lev was right. This all happened for a reason, although I couldn’t be sure what that reason was.

I stared at Ryker and Tometi and wondered if they were meant to play a part in what I’d need to do to send Rilas back.

16

Silas

Karma had come to collect. A life of bad deeds had finally caught up with me. Consequences had sunk their vicious claws into my happiness. Nothing else could explain a sudden surge of bastards vying for my rebel’s attention. First Rilas, then Bear Claw, and now the other head-squatting wankers.

It was as if the universe was conspiring against me. Lilith in her infinite cleverness had masterminded my punishment. She’d brought these bastards to our doorstep with one objective, and one alone—to destroy my happiness and take my gorgeous goddess from me by way of devilishly handsome, awe-inspiring pirates of love, and the only bastard I could blame was myself.

Nika stayed just out of arm’s reach, next to Lev and trailed by two hapless wankers bent on following her shadow wherever it might lead. The wolf bastard and her faithful rogue.

She’d worn a shirt that clung to her luscious curves and a tight pair of pants with the usual coat, hiding a number of daggers. Her luminous purple hair was pulled up into a cute, braided ponytail. Like the slobbering wretch I was, I’d already fantasized about wrapping those gorgeous locks around my hand and bending her over somewhere out of sight. But even I could control my beast brain for one night.

Over the last few blocks, I’d caught several numpties drooling over her like two-bit dogs. But the moment they caught my deadly stare, they were at least smart enough to move along.

We’d blend in with the rest tonight. Few would be brave enough to challenge us in the open streets of the human world. Normies might not be magically inclined, but they weren’t defenseless. They’d killed our kind before, and in great number. Humans were quick to destroy anything they didn’t understand, so we didn’t conduct business where Normies could overreact. At least not anywhere where their population dominated.

While we might be out in the hells of a Normie city to meet Bear Claw’s contact, magical folk were everywhere. The Brotherhood’s network was far-reaching and ever-growing, so I didn’t think for a second Rilas couldn’t find us out here in an ocean of humans. It was risky business to think otherwise.

Any faces I recognized would fall under the typical loophole clean-up protocol. It was one of few things the wolf bastard and I agreed on since he waltzed right back into our lives—everyone who wasn’t his contact was an enemy and a loose pair of lips we couldn’t afford to have.

My flittering bird insisted on coming out tonight. No matter what I argued, she didn’t want Bear Claw to go alone. She’d reasoned that his absence from the Brotherhood might makehim a target of whoever we were meeting. Not to mention he’d escaped Rilas not long ago, so she wouldn’t leave him to fight alone.

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