Hunted by Darkness (Darkness #4) (10 page)

“What’s this?” She motioned to the backpacks.

“Supplies. We’re going with you. It should only take us a day to get to the door, but we’ll need food and water. And just in case we don’t make it we have a few more supplies if we have to find shelter,” Ian said.

“We also have this for you.” Rory stepped forward, a short blade in his hand.

Before Bo had taken two steps toward the male, Rory turned the blade around and gave it to her, handle first. “With the exception of the creatures you saw yesterday, always go for the head. Or just do that thing you do to vases and mirrors, and make anyone attacking you explode.”

Bo wasn’t certain if she
could
do that. He figured she could, but her powers were erratic, especially when she was emotional. All he knew was that he didn’t like some other male giving his female a gift. Didn’t matter that his rational thought dictated it wasn’t a romantic gift, but a way to defend herself.

He still didn’t like it.

“Thanks,” Nyx murmured, sliding the blade into the sheath Rory gave her before she hooked it onto her pants.

Bo resisted the urge to bare his teeth at his half-brother. That wasn’t the way to start this trip off.

“Let’s go over the map one more time,” Ian said, drawing their attention to him. Once they’d reviewed the route to the exit—which was basically a long-ass trek through a jungle—they headed out.

Ian took point, Rory behind him, then Nyx and Bo leading up the line. His half-brothers hadn’t come out and said it, but they’d given him the back because he wouldn’t have allowed any other option. No one would have Nyx’s back but him and he refused to allow an unknown person behind him and Nyx. It went against all his survival instincts.

The two males were showing a decent amount of trust to him. It was surprising, but maybe it meant they could be trusted in turn. He hoped so. When he’d found Cynara it had been a relief to know that their father hadn’t sired complete monsters, if the two of them were any indication. And he loved his sister.

Now that he’d met Nyx, knew someone like her even existed, he wouldn’t let her go either. Even if he wasn’t good enough for her, not with the demon blood in his veins. He just had to get her back to the human realm, back to relative safety. Then, and only then, once she was safe, would he find out if she truly wanted him as her mate. Because once they crossed a line, he knew he couldn’t go back. She was it for him.

* * *

Nyx hoisted her pack higher, trying to find a comfortable position but it was no use. After what she guessed was about six hours of trekking through a dense jungle full of odd-looking trees and animals, she’d come to the conclusion that there was no good arrangement for this thing.

Even though her wings were more spectral than anything—unless she wanted them to be solid—she could still feel the pack pressing against them. It was starting to grate on her. At least they hadn’t been attacked by anything.

Sure, some of the animal sounds from the thick cluster of trees surrounding them were creepy, but the three males she was with were pretty damn intimidating all by themselves. She figured that was one of the main reasons they hadn’t been bothered.

They still had good daylight, the lavender sky only dotted with a few pale blue clouds. She wasn’t actually sure if it rained here, but she supposed it must. Especially with all the lush vegetation.

Aaaand, she was thinking of anything and everything except the very sexy male at her back. Not that it mattered. Bo was never far from her mind.

“We’re coming up to a clearing,” Rory murmured loud enough for her to hear.

She turned to tell Bo in case he hadn’t heard, but he nodded before she could speak. They hadn’t said more than two words to each other since they’d started. This hike to freedom wasn’t one where they could talk freely anyway.

But she was glad for the figurative, if not literal, space from him. She was done with the mixed signals and just wanted to get home. Then maybe figure out what she wanted to do with her life. Because she wasn’t going to stay in Biloxi and be tormented by thoughts of the male she wanted and couldn’t have. The world was big and she had options. Maybe she’d head to Montana, visit Victoria for a bit.

Even though the hike was quiet, and okay, a little boring, no one had slowed down once. She might be smaller than the males, but after getting sleep she was revved and ready to go. That was one of the good things about her mixed heritage. She came from two powerful lines and tended to have loads of energy. She loathed the idea of being the weak link so she was glad she’d more than kept up.

When Ian and Rory stopped in front of her, she followed suit. She was aware of Bo’s presence behind her. It was hard not to be aware of the male. It didn’t matter that she was annoyed with him, he had a powerful aura that refused to be ignored. She just wished he’d freaking talk to her, something. Tell her why he’d become intimate with her and…no, no, no. She couldn’t start thinking about that here or she’d end up flushed and embarrassed and everyone would know what was on her mind.

Bo moved up beside her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder as the other two males turned to face them. Even if she was annoyed with him, she loved the feel of him touching her.

“We have to go through this clearing. There are three males eating around a fire. I know them. They’re assholes and they will most likely comment on Nyx as she is beautiful and female. There’s a chance they will attack and try to take her so we’re going to move past them. Ignore anything they say because they’re not worth the time it would take to engage with them,” Ian said quietly.

“Why not go around the clearing?” Bo asked.

Ian shook his head, his expression grim. “There’s a huge crater to the west and a sinkhole of sorts to the east. Either direction would add days to our trip and increase the likelihood of us being injured. This is the fastest route.”

“Let’s go then.” Raw energy hummed through her. There was no time to waste. She could deal with a couple jerks making rude comments.

Bo moved behind her as Ian and Rory fell back into their formation. She started to pull out her blade, but decided against it. She’d never tried focusing her energy into a weapon before. Not really. Usually she just let the leash on her chaos slip and things went pear-shaped.

Whenever she’d asked—translation: begged—her mother to teach her how to control her power, her mother had refused. For multiple reasons. She’d wanted Nyx to embrace her heritage. But just because her mother was the goddess of Chaos didn’t mean Nyx shouldn’t be able to control her powers. Part of her thought that the reason her mother had never taught her was because she was such a huge disappointment. Not violent and crazy enough apparently.

As they stepped into the clearing she was stunned by the raw beauty of the place. Sharp, jagged rock formations rose up in a clearing that had to be the size of two football fields. The odd-shaped formations stretched out in every direction, so at odds with the lush jungle they’d just stepped from. That was another thing about realms. You could literally move from one season to another in the span of a couple steps. The weather was still the same mild temperature but the landscape was wildly different.

She heard the low murmur of male voices before she saw the males Ian had been referring to. Next to one of the spiky rock growths, three of them were indeed eating over a fire. They all stopped talking, eyeing Nyx and the others. But mainly her.

And it wasn’t a curious thing. Like she was clearly not a demon so they wanted to know what she was out of normal nosiness. Nope. It was more like they wanted to stick her on a spit and roast her—after doing some horrible things to her.

A shiver rolled down her spine as she felt their gazes raking over her. She was covered pretty well with the tunic and pants but it didn’t seem to matter. It was as if they thought if they stared hard enough they could see past all that to her naked skin. Maybe they could. At that thought she had to actively resist the urge to cross her arms over her chest.

Unlike Bo and his brothers, these males had small horns protruding from their heads. Their skin was more of a bluish-green than the pale blue of Bo. They had tattoos though too. Very different looking from Bo and his brothers. The tattooed pattern down their arms was thinner and looked more like vines than the unique symbols on Bo’s body. And their eyes were a creepy red. If they weren’t staring like such jackasses maybe she wouldn’t think it was creepy but as it stood—gross.

She knew she needed to keep her head up though. And screw them anyway. She was a demigod. A freaking demigod. Sometimes, more often than she wanted to admit, she had to remind herself of that. The gods and goddesses in her family had often reminded her of how weak she was, how pathetic, to the point that some days she felt like she didn’t have anything special about her.

Nyx stared at the one in the middle. He had his hand on a stick he’d been roasting over their fire. The dead animal impaled on it looked a bit like a rat. Yuck.

She eyed him as they grew closer to the males, letting her leash slip just a bit. With all these rocks she didn’t want to let her chaos completely loose but she was going to try something. Because Rory’s words earlier had made her think. Maybe she really could focus her gift into making something explode. She’d tried before but she’d always been frustrated when she did. It had gotten to the point where she simply held her gift inside, never let it out.

“Rory, Ian,” the male on the left said, standing.

They grunted a hello, kept moving. She did too, with Bo sliding up next to her. He wasn’t keeping the formation and he wasn’t hiding that she was his. Not if the possessive way he placed his hand on her shoulder was any indication.

The male who’d spoken shifted his position quickly so that he was in front of them. He held his hands up in what she guessed was supposed to be a peaceful gesture, but it failed when the other two males stood and fanned out as if preparing to attack.

“Where’d you get the female? What is she, human? She smells…” He let out a shuddering sigh, stroked the front of his pants once for good measure. “Sell her to us.”

“Oh, gross.” She lifted an eyebrow when he looked at her in shock.

As if he couldn’t believe she’d had the audacity to speak. Dickhead. She glared, focusing all her chaos on his face, imagining what it would be like if his brain started melting into nothing. Maybe she was overreacting by attempting to attack this guy but she was going to go with her gut. These guys weren’t good and if they bought her or any female she didn’t want to think about what they’d attempt to do.

Frowning, he lifted a hand to his head, shook it once, as if trying to clear cobwebs.

That was when Nyx realized Bo was growling next to her. Full on growling.

“Female’s not for sale. She’s ours. Now move.” Ian’s voice was deadly, savage. Gone was the laid back male.

“Come on, maybe we can share her. We’ll pay you for a few hours with her. My men are—”

He never got to finish the rest of his sentence. A thick reddish stream of liquid started pouring out his nose and ears as he fell to his knees. Shock punched through her. She’d done that. She blinked, watching as his mouth opened in a silent cry of agony.

Before he’d even hit the hard surface, Bo had moved into action.

He raced at the nearest male about fifteen feet away, striking out with slashing claws. Bo in warrior mode was beautiful—and scary. And she’d seen her fair share of gods and goddesses in battle mode. Usually over something petty because that’s just how they were.

This was different.

The male Bo attacked tried to defend himself, letting his own talons unsheathe, striking out at Bo’s midsection.

“No!”

But it was as if Bo barely felt the attack. He reared back, punched the guy full-on in the face. She heard the crunch of bone, winced at the cracking sound it made. Not because she felt sorry for the male, but wow, that was brutal force.

Ian sprang into action as well, moving for the third male who was trying to run. Rory stayed next to her like a sentry. It took a moment for her to realize he was standing guard, to protect her. But his body was tense and unless she was wrong, he was holding himself back from jumping into the fray.

A rustle of movement from behind them made her turn. Two more bluish-green males wearing harem-style pants with dead animals slung over their backs. They must be coming back from hunting.

They immediately dropped the animals.

“I’ve got the one on the left,” she said, unsheathing her blade. Nyx didn’t actually think she could take this guy on with a blade. That was her backup in case she failed.

Focusing all her energy again, she stared at the male, imagining his insides burning. Flames licking and melting everything in their path.

“What…” He screamed as fire and blood poured out of his eyes. Holy insanity. She would analyze what she’d done later, but for now she just had to go with it.

She was vaguely aware of Rory beheading the other male. As the male she’d attacked fell to his knees, Bo was there like an avenging—demon. It didn’t matter how beautiful he was, he’d never be mistaken for anything other than what he was.

He sliced off the screaming male’s head with his talons. Immediately the pressure in Nyx’s skull eased, her energy evening out as the focus of her chaos died.