Vivi Anna - Releasing the Hunter

Jake hadn’t asked her about Ronan, but she could tell he’d wanted to. Maybe it was the angry glare she’d given him when he started to open his mouth. Or the sadness that she couldn’t stop from enveloping her when she thought no one was looking.

She’d had no real idea how truly empty her life was until Ronan had come into it and messed it all up. And now that he was gone, she felt not just empty but hollow. Like he’d taken all the good stuff with him.

She parked her newly acquired vehicle in the carport, turned it off and got out. She was tired and thought about nothing but climbing into bed and sleeping. She slipped inside and locked the door behind her. She toed off her sneakers and padded across the living room toward her bedroom with every intention of stripping off her clothes and sliding under the sheets.

But the second she stepped into her dark bedroom, she sensed something was wrong.

She unsheathed a blade from her back harness and held it out defensively. Her breathing slowed and she tilted her head to hear. A rush of movement came from her right, and she swung her arm but it was blocked. She was grabbed around the biceps and pushed up against the bedroom wall. A warm sensation stroked her skin.

She growled, “What took you so damn long?”

Ronan smiled. “I was giving you time to forgive me.”

“Yeah, well, time’s up buddy.” She dropped her knife, and wrapped her hand around his neck, pulling his mouth even closer. “Kiss me before I change my mind.”

He did. And it was good.

A rush of delicious shivers raced down her spine. Her other hand found purpose under the hem of his shirt, as she feathered her fingers over his stomach and up to the hard planes of his chest. He moaned into her mouth as she rolled one of his nipples between her fingers.

“Damn, woman, you’re killing me.”

“Get used to it,” she said as she licked along his jawline. “I plan to kill you for a long time.”

“Promise?”

She looked up at him, met his gaze, saw the question there and the answer. “Yes, I promise.”

“Good, because waiting for you has been torture.”

“Torture?” She nipped at his chin. “You’re the one who was torturing me. Saying you’ll give me time. You knew I would be waiting for you to show up. Not knowing if you would.”

He laughed. “I thought that was what you loved about me. My unpredictability.”

“Maybe.”

He released her one arm, then cupped her face in his hand and looked into her eyes. “It’s okay to say it, Ivy. It’s okay to love me. Because I love you.” He brushed his lips against hers. “For as long as I live, demon blood and all, I will love and protect you.”

“I don’t care about the demon blood, Ronan. You are more human to me than any other man has ever been. I love you, all of you, because of how you chose to use the power it’s given you.”

He found her mouth with his and kissed her hard and long. It had her head swimming by the time he was done. He released her other arm, then streaked both his hands down to her behind. He picked her up effortlessly and carried her across the room to the bed. He tossed her onto the mattress.

He started to strip off his T-shirt, pulling it up over his head. Ivy perched up onto her elbows to enjoy the show. He smiled as his fingers worked at the zipper of his pants, and he slowly pulled it down to reveal he’d gone commando.

“What about Quinn and the rest of the hunter community?” he asked.

“Screw them. I don’t care. They’ll just have to deal with it. Besides, you’re a better hunter than most of them, so they should be thanking me for letting you hang around.”

“Letting me hang around?” He quickly zipped up his pants. “Hmm, I think I’m insulted.”

This had Ivy scrambling to the edge of the bed, grabbing for him. “Where are you going? You can’t just tease me like that.”

She tugged at his hips, pulling him closer to her. When he was situated right in front of her, she slowly unzipped him again.

“You’re just using me for my extremely awesome body.”

“Yeah, duh.”

Laughing, he pushed her back onto the mattress and after quickly shedding his pants, he covered her body with his. He wrapped a hand in her hair. “Okay, you can use me for a while. But then I get to use your extremely hot body for the rest of your life.”

“Deal.”

With one mighty yank from his hand, her clothes were in pieces on the floor. He covered her mouth with his before she could protest and kissed her with every ounce of passion inside him. This was beyond anything she’d ever experienced. Or ever wanted to.

* * * * *

The instant Lucas Kenyon heard the man’s cultured, sanctimonious voice on the six o’clock evening news, his blood froze. Despite not having seen the speaker for fifteen years, he shuddered. He knew that voice, knew it too damn well. Even after fifteen years, it still haunted his nightmares.

Up until this past January, he’d assiduously avoided anything to do with The Church of Sanctuary and its leader. If something came on the news, he’d changed the channel. Newspaper or magazine articles were tossed, unread. He’d wanted no reminders of his painful past.

But the time had come to face his demons. Lucas had never in his life made a New Year’s resolution. This year, he had. No more would he bury himself in work and avoidance.

“What the hell?” he muttered, grabbing the remote and turning up the volume.

The man, Jacob Gideon—Lucas refused to think of him as his father—smiled benevolently. “We can heal young Hailey, I promise you that.” His tone reverberated with the sincerity of his conviction. “Faith works through my hands.”

Faith? Try murder. Un-freaking-believable. Briefly, Lucas closed his eyes, allowing the long-ago grief and pain and shame to wash over him. On some inner level he’d known. After all, Jacob had killed once in the name of his faith. Lucas had no doubt the man would do it again.

If he hadn’t already. Lucas cursed. No wonder the voice of his conscience had gotten so loud he’d been unable to drown it out.

As the man spoke again, Lucas snapped out of it. What Jacob was suggesting—no, stating —was more than wrong, more than an outright lie.

Of course, Jacob spoke as if he really meant his own nonsense. Lucas made a sound of pure disgust. Jacob had always believed he was an angel appointed from up high who had somehow misplaced his wings.

As if angels killed. Though thinking about how Lucifer actually had been a fallen angel, Lucas supposed it was possible. Jacob always had styled himself as if he sat on the other side of God.

His father looked sincere and kind, but Lucas knew better. Jacob was pure evil. Studying the man, he shook his head. Jacob looked eerily the same, as if selling his soul to the devil had granted him eternal youth. He was more than dangerous. He was deadly. No one knew that better than Lucas. After all, Jacob had been hunting him for the past fifteen years.

With narrowed eyes, Lucas watched the rest of the news segment, wincing as a fragile little girl with a heart-shaped face smiled painfully at the reporter. Something about her delicate vulnerability reminded Lucas of the child he’d once been, and the other. The twin he’d lost. The sister Jacob had killed.

As the camera narrowed in on a woman—her mother?—Lucas moved closer to the television. The sight of this unknown woman—as defenseless as her daughter—hit him like a sucker punch to the gut. Her brownish-blond hair as fine as spun silk, creamy porcelain skin and long-lashed green eyes, made her a beautiful mystery that interested him far more than his father’s manipulative faux spiritual healings. She was, Lucas thought, both lovely and otherworldly, in a way neither he nor Jacob Gideon would be able to resist—for reasons as different as they were themselves.