Page 30 of A Hunt Bound in Blood

Confusion made me loosen my grip. Mutts were known to keep to the more remote areas of the woods. What could have induced them to come out of hiding?

“You must see mutts all the time.” Cammon’s words came out as rough as crushed stone.

The shifter sneered. “They know better. They’re hunting something, and you’re the only people to cross this way. Suggests what they’re hunting is you.”

My confusion deepened. They were after us? I couldn’t think of a single reason why or how we might have caught their attention.

I stared into the man’s eyes, trying to determine if he would come after me again if I let him up. But it seemed my attack had quenched his desire for blood. The fact that he was talking, warning us away, reassured me he wouldn’t bother with renewed violence. Keeping my hands raised, letting him know I wouldn’t fail to defend myself if he assaulted me, I stood slowly. He shoved himself off the ground, and as soon as he was on his feet, Cammon lunged at him, pushing me behind him. The shifter retreated, and his scowl deepened when the demon maintained his threatening posture.

Yet before I’d lost sight of Cammon’s face, I’d caught the concern in his eyes that swam beneath his anger. Whatever this warning was about, I got the impression he had his own suspicions.

The shifter straightened. “You have until sundown tomorrow to get the fuck out of our territory, or you won’t get the chance.”

He made to leave, and Cammon closed in on his personal space, his shoulders bulging and his chest flexing to make himself bigger. Not that he needed to. Compared to the bear shifter, Cammon was less beefy but more menacing. With his horns exposed and his teeth sharpened, I would have staked my entire small savings on the demon prince winning.

The shifter backed away, not taking his eyes off Cammon until he reached the trees, and then he disappeared into the night. Once he was gone, Cammon’s black eyes swung to me, appraising me. I flushed under his gaze and cursed myself. He might not have been looking directly at me when I’d made my escape, but he was the sort to pay attention. In saving my life, I’d known I was revealing too much of my hidden nature. Even if he hadn’t seen what I’d done, there was no way he wouldn’t be curious about how I’d bested a bear. And as much as it terrified me that he might discover the truth, another part of me—to my horror—was tempted to confess it.

I needed to get out of here. I needed to have a nip of blood and settle my nerves.

Too shaken to be polite, I started towards my tent without saying a word. I was too afraid that if I stayed, he would get something out of me I didn’t want out.

But as I passed by him, Cammon’s arm slipped around my waist. “Did he hurt you?”

At the contact, my already raging blood sparked. “I’m fine.”

Why did it matter that he’d asked? That the fire in his eyes told me that if he discovered otherwise, he would track the shifter down and finish what I’d started? My breath caught, his eyes dropped to my mouth, and in another breath, he caught my lips in a searing kiss that stole whatever breath I’d regained and sent the sparks in my blood swimming. I only just had time to taste the distinctly sweet-spiced flavour of his tongue before he pulled away. His smile was sharp, full of wicked promise, and his black eyes were tight on my face as he took me in, his gaze finally settling on mine.

“You are keeping secrets, aren’t you, Buttons?”

I sucked in a gasp and ordered my heart to slow down. When it refused, I forced the rest of me to pretend as though it had listened. My mask of impassivity fell into place. I straightened my shoulders, stepped out of his grasp, and picked up my waistcoat from where I’d left it.

“Good night, Cammon. I’ll be up and ready to leave at first light.”

Without looking back at him, I walked at an even pace across our camp and ducked into my tent. Although I wrenched the flaps closed and retreated until my back hit the wall, I swore I felt him watching me.

Cammon

XVI

I didn’t know what had possessed me. I shouldn’t have kissed her, but I hadn’t been able to help myself. It was as though my body had moved of its own accord and grabbed her before my brain could catch up.

She’d impressed me with that unexpected show of power. The way she’d flipped the bear shifter—easily twice her size—and held him in place hinted at much more beneath her tiny, demure frame than I’d imagined. It had to be connected to how she carried her packs as though they weighed nothing, and since she’d ruled out the possibility of it being air magic, there had to be something more.

I longed to know what her secret was, even while I told myself it had nothing to do with me.

I lay on my bedroll, listening to her grumble in her tent when she thought I couldn’t hear her, and my mind rolled with thoughts of her. Of what might exist in her blood aside from the magic she claimed she couldn’t use. Of the taste of her lips for that sweet, unplanned moment. Of the way her mouth had moved with mine, as though she’d been prepared to give in and make way for my tongue to explore her depths.

I tugged on my breeches to make space for my stiffening need and rolled onto my side. Not that turning away did anything to stop my body from burning for more of her.

This was absurd. I didn’t lust after humans. Even if I did, I couldn’t afford to complicate my life right now. Her competence and self-sufficiency had turned me on because they’d taken me by surprise. Tomorrow, I could go back to appreciating her brain and disliking the rest of her.

After much tossing and turning, feeling like my demonic form was about to burst through my skin, I finally fell asleep to fantasies of burying myself deep inside her while she whispered her secrets in my ear.

Just as she’d promised, Glory was up before dawn the next morning. The sound of her taking apart her tent woke me, and by the time I'd scrubbed the sleep from my eyes, she was strapping everything down and setting it beside the darkened firepit.

“What do you know about those mutts?” she asked, foregoing a simple “good morning.”

I stretched my arms above my head and immediately regretted it. The way her gaze trailed over my chest and stomach brought back the dreams I’d fought off all night, and my breeches grew tight again.