Page 128 of Hunted By Fae

DARE

A fist punches through ice.

In the dark, a marble statue is emerging from the depths of a frozen lake, dripping with icy water, droplets raining down a stormy face.

Dare pulls himself onto the edge of the ice in one fluid move. Crouched, his leathers glisten like freshly spilled ink, the same deep hue of the soaked hair falling into his face.

Long lashes lift and reveal a smouldering stare. One blue eye, pale, not unlike the ice around him, and run through with a jagged scar; the other eye, gilded, a pot of liquid gold.

His dual stare drops to the ice.

His tongue drags over his upper teeth, then dig extra hard into a sharp canine. A bead of blood swells, then rolls down his tongue.

Dare reaches out a wet, pale hand for a bullet hole in the ice, a perfect circle. He presses his fingertip into it, firm.

A tension shudders through him.

When he saw that gun aimed his way, he expected bullets to strikehim, not the ice.

Whatever human came to Bee’s aid chose to strike the ice and hoped the water would finish the job.

All he saw of that human was crystalline eyes.

A bitterness twists his mouth.

He slides his gaze to the spread of darkness all around. The shots came from over by that boat. The human hid behind it and waited for her moment.

Dare has a strong suspicion he knows exactly who that human is.

Tesni.

Bee’s little friend.

A sister of the soul, the one he was warned about. If he had known she was so slippery, he might have taken her first.

Bee’s soul sister…

That is leverage.

Yes, Dare decides,I should have taken Tesni first.

Steal the leverage, the target will follow.

Trap the leverage, the target is lured.

Now, he’s lost Bee to the darkness.

The resurgence of rage in him takes a moment to wrestle. Deep breaths swell his chest.

He finds calm in knowing that Bee won’t have gotten far, and it will be all too easy to track her again.

But now a fresh problem has presented itself.

He needs to capture the human, Tesni, in order to control Bee. To capture them both when they are both slippery, smart, and sneaky, then to maintain that capture—that’sthe challenge.

Dare mulls on it, his mouth still pressed too tight, as he pushes up from his crouch.

When he finds them…