Page 3 of My Bounty Hunter is a Demon (Demons for Hire)

3

ASPEN

I crouched in the dense underbrush at the edge of the property of an abandoned farmhouse, my muscles coiled tight, like a snake waiting to strike. Beside me, my sister Harland held herself just as still, just as ready. The air hung heavy with a tension that made it hard to breathe - though that might have been the wards. Laris' signature magic pulsed around the old farmhouse, dark energy crackling against my skin, even from a distance. It warped the air, making the rotting building flicker and dance like a mirage. A deception. Just like everything else about Laris and his cult.

My mind slid back to two nights ago when I had snuck into the compound. My demon magic had cloaked me in shadows as I slipped unseen through their ranks. I had felt the wrongness of the place in my bones, in my very blood, but I had pushed on. Creeping through halls that reeked of dark sorcery, I planted my bugs, tiny undetectable specks of magic and technology that would be my eyes and ears. And then I waited. Watched.

I'd seen Laris' inner circle gather, heard their vile plans. But what I remembered most was the moment Damian Hart had walked into view. One of Laris' most trusted, his prized enforcer. There was something about the way he moved, the tightly leashed power in his step, the sharp awareness in his gaze that belied the calm mask he wore. When he paused outside his cabin, I had felt a prickle down my spine. A tug. Like he could sense me, even through my cloaking magic. It should have been impossible. I had been invisible to their eyes, shrouded in my demon glamour. He had hesitated. As if he knew I was there.

The memory of that moment still haunted me. That feeling, that inexplicable tug that even now, made my demon side shudder and growl. I couldn't shake it. Couldn't shake him. And I hated I didn't know why.

"All quiet on my end," Van's voice whispered through my earpiece, yanking me out of the uneasy memory. "You sure about this drop location?"

I nodded, even though he couldn't see me. "Laris confirmed it himself." The words tasted like bile on my tongue. Laris. The man who had stolen me as a child to use in his experiments. The man I had sworn to destroy. "Plus, you found those records, didn't you?"

There was a tightness in Van's reply. "Yeah. This isn't their first shipment. He's been doing this for a while."

Which meant he never stopped when he went underground, when my dad rescued me from the cult. Laris was supposed to had died that night. Somehow, he escaped and continued his quest for the perfect army to take over the supernatural world.

Of course, I knew he would never stop. The scars on my own body, on my psyche, on my damn soul, were proof enough. But hearing it stated so plainly, so irrefutably, made the molten rage in my core burn hotter.

Harland checked her silver-lined daggers, the blades flashing in the moonlight. She shot me a smirk that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Another big bounty so soon? You just can't get enough, can you?"

I rolled my eyes, but my voice was deadly serious when I replied. "This isn't about the bounty." It never was. Not for me.

Harland sobered, her expression softening. "I know. Just... be careful, okay?"

I gave a tight nod but didn't respond. I couldn't make that promise. Not when Laris was involved. Not when I had a chance to end his reign of blood and pain and dark magic, once and for all. This mission wouldn't fail. I wouldn't let it. Even if it killed me.

The rumble of engines shattered the tense silence. Headlights knifed through the trees, illuminating the dirt road in a strobe-like flash. I tensed, sinking further into the shadows as a black SUV rolled into view. Fury and dread swirled inside me as two enforcers stepped into the revealing glare of the headlights. One of them was Damian Hart, and the sight of him made my demon side restless, like a creature pacing behind bars.

A second vehicle followed close behind, a magically reinforced van that made my stomach churn. Opening my mind, I stretched out my senses. “There are three children in the back of the van. One of them is a demon.”

Harland let out a growl. “So Laris is rebuilding what our parents torn down.”

“Seems so. When we get him this time, I’m making sure he never rebuilds.”

Harland nodded in agreement. “I’m on board with that. In fact, my dragon could use a snack.”

I snorted at that and watched Damian as he moved to flank the van. There was something about him, something that set him apart from the other stone-faced enforcers. The coiled grace in his movements, the sharp alertness in his stance. He was not like the others.

"Something's off about that one," Harland muttered beside me, her eyes narrowed on Damian.

I didn't respond. I didn't have to. I felt it too, that itch between my shoulder blades whenever I looked at him. That tug in my gut that I couldn't explain.

The prickle of unease only intensified as the final SUV pulled to a stop and Laris stepped out, his black robes billowing around him like a living shadow. Dark magic pulsed from him, a sickening throb that coated the air. It was all I could do not to gag on the taste of it.

He strode to the van with a cruel smile twisting his thin lips, his enforcers parting like a dark sea before him. He placed a palm against the metal of the back doors, and the air hummed as his magic connected with the spelled locks. The click of the mechanism releasing was like a gunshot in the tense quiet.

The door swung open, and bile surged up my throat. Three children huddled inside, eyes wide and terrified above the glowing restraints that bit into their small wrists. Bruises marred their pale skin. Blood crusted their temples.

A delighted chuckle slithered from Laris. "Such powerful little things."

White-hot rage blinded me. The memories rose like a tide of acid. My wrist caught in a cruel grip, the bite of magic-infused restraints, the sickening laughter as my demon side was poked and prodded like a lab animal.

I gripped my blade until my knuckles ached. I couldn't wait any longer. Couldn't breathe around the fury and disgust and icy need to tear Laris limb from limb for what he had done. For what he was still doing.

I caught Harland's eye. There were no words needed. The second Laris turned his back, we exploded from the underbrush in a maelstrom of steel and magic and deadly intent.

Gunfire erupted, bullets sparking off shields of hissing magic. I hurled my dagger, and it sank into an enforcer's shoulder with a wet thud before he could even turn to face me. Harland threw her hand out, sending blue fire from her palms to engulf another in a blistering inferno.

Through the chaos, I locked onto Damian and launched myself toward him in a blur of speed no human eye could follow. He met my attack with the ring of steel on steel, his blade colliding with mine in a shower of sparks.

He met every strike, countered every kick, with a speed and skill that almost matched my own. Almost. Magic crackled around us as his spells collided with my demon-fueled strength, the air growing hot and thick.

He hurled a bolt of dark energy and I twisted aside, the heat of it searing across my cheek as I ducked under his guard. My elbow cracked into his jaw. His foot slammed into my knee. We circled each other, gazes locked, attack and counter-attack blurring into a violent dance.

I feinted left, then dropped low, sweeping his legs from under him. He crashed to the ground, and I was on him in an instant, knee on his chest, fist drawn back to strike. But before my hand made contact, he gripped my wrist. At the skin-on-skin contact, I froze with a startled gasp. The world shattered. Splintered. Realigned.

A shockwave ripped through me, searing across my skin, exploding through my veins like lightning. My magic surged, wild and chaotic, a tsunami crashing through my body. My heart stalled, stuttered, then kicked into a gallop. My demon side howled in a primal roar of recognition that shook me to my core.

No. No. No. It couldn't be. This couldn't be happening. Not with him.

But there was no denying the truth, no escaping the undeniable knowledge that crashed through me like a tidal wave the moment our skin met.

He was my mate. The one my soul recognized as its match, its perfect mirror, its destined other half. How? How was this possible? How could my mate be the man I'd been sent to kill? How could fate be so cruel, so twisted?

In my shock, my guard dropped, but only for an instant. But it was enough. Damian moved, a blur of speed and coiled power, and suddenly our positions were reversed. He had me pinned, his weight pressing me into the cold, hard ground, his hand locked around my wrists.

I snarled, bucking against his hold, but he didn't budge. Didn't strike. Instead, he leaned in close, his breath hot against my ear, his scent invading my senses—pine and smoke and something dark and wild that called to the demon in my blood.

"Trust me," he growled, his voice a low rasp that sent shivers down my spine. "Please, Aspen. Trust me."

I froze. My heart jack hammered against my ribs. How did he know my name? What game was he playing?

The bond howled between us, a living thing clawing at my mind, demanding I listen, trust, and submit. Every instinct screamed at me to give in, to let him in, to accept what the fates had decreed.

But I couldn't. I couldn't just blindly trust. Not when every lesson, every scar, every nightmare of my past told me that trust was a luxury I could never afford. Especially not with an enemy.

Damian Hart worked for Laris. He was Laris' attack dog, his prized weapon. He was everything I fought against, everything I despised. It didn't matter what the bond was shrieking. It didn't matter that some deep, secret part of me wanted to sink into his touch, to let myself believe his plea.

My mate or not, he was a threat. To me, to the mission, to those innocent children. I couldn't let myself be swayed. Not now. Not ever.

Harland's shout of alarm shattered my paralysis. The crack of gunfire, the sizzle of magic, the cries of pain and fury still raged around us. The mission wasn't over. I still had a job to do.

With a wrench of will that felt like ripping off my own arm, I shoved Damian away, kicking free of his hold and rolling to my feet. Questions crowded my mind, confusion and chaos and the clawing need to understand warring inside me. But I shoved them down, locked them away.

Later. I'd deal with this revelation, this sick joke of fate, later. Right now, I had to fight. I had to finish what I started.

I turned away from Damian, away from the magnetic pull of the bond, and launched myself back into the fray with a howl of rage on my lips. The mate bond could wait. Laris' reckoning could not.