Hunted by Darkness (Darkness #4) (2 page)

Nyx knew her mother better than him. She’d be able to handle the goddess. Hopefully. If not, he was going to plan B. He wasn’t sure what that was exactly, but if the female made a move on Nyx, he’d rain fire down on her.

The woman raised an eyebrow at her daughter. “No small talk?”

“Why bother?” Nyx was like a completely closed book, the neutrality of her expression so unlike the sweet woman he’d gotten to know over the last month or so.

Her mother’s eyes flickered like storm clouds before she pulled a small brown package with twine wrapped around it from the folds of her dress. She handed it over to Nyx. There was a name written on it. “You are to deliver this within forty-eight hours.”

“That’s it?” Nyx asked, slightly shaking the box. “Just deliver it?”

A single nod.

“Then we’re even?”

Her mother smiled in a way that had all the hair on Bo’s neck rising. “Yes. And you are not allowed to open it.”

Nyx shifted on her feet. “Where?”

She rattled off a local address, one Bo wasn’t familiar with. He’d lived on the Gulf Coast for decades since moving from his hometown of New Orleans but the address wasn’t familiar. He recognized the street name though and thought it might be in a residential area.

Nyx nodded once. “Okay.”

“If you don’t deliver it, I’ll deliver
you
to your father’s realm.”

Nyx didn’t blink, but Bo swore he could feel her pain at her mother’s words. There was only one person in his life who had ever loved him and that had been his human mother. It pissed him off even more that Nyx, the kindest female he knew, had such assholes for parents. He refused to let this woman cause her more pain than necessary.

“You’ve delivered your message, now get the fuck out of my club.”

Her gaze snapped to his, a full-on storm brewing in her eyes. No longer a vivid blue, but actual lightning flashed amidst rain in her eyes. It was creepy as fuck. But he’d seen weirder. Her power was a live thing, scraping against his skin again. He knew she wanted to rip his head from his body, could feel it. But if she did—or tried—his father would come after her. Well, he might. There had never been any love lost between them.

Nyx’s mother was probably weighing exactly who he was or what he was. And if she’d figured it out, she’d be weighing whether attempting to kill him would be worth the repercussions it would cause her. Gods and goddesses were self-involved like that.

He braced himself, waiting for her to strike. But to his surprise, she vanished into thin air. Still, he didn’t let his guard down until Nyx spoke.

“She’s gone,” she murmured, rubbing a hand over her face as she collapsed onto one of the chairs in front of his desk. “You shouldn’t have antagonized her like that.” There was no anger to her words, just raw fear as she pinned him with those ocean blue eyes that never failed to captivate him.

“I’m not worried about her.” Maybe that made him stupid. Being around Nyx tended to have that effect on him though. With the exception of attempting to comfort Nyx exactly once, he had no experience with females outside of sex. But he crouched in front of her now, hoping to soothe the anxiety he could see on her face. He needed to wipe it away, needed to protect her from pain. It was a driving force inside him, one he didn’t fully understand.

“You should be, Bo.” She reached out, as if she would cup his face, but dropped her hand and looked down at the small package in her lap.

It shouldn’t hurt or feel like a rejection, but it did. He wanted her to touch him and only him. He rolled his shoulders, unused to feeling anything like…this. He didn’t even know what
this
was, other than the female made him feel insane with lust and possessiveness.

“I should just take it now, get it over with.”

“Fuck. No.” There would be a catch with the delivery, he felt it bone deep. No way was her mother calling in a favor as simple as this. Someone like her wouldn’t waste it with a delivery request.

Nyx looked at him, fire in her gaze. It was one of the few times he’d seen that spark of anger and it stirred his inner beast in a way it shouldn’t. He wanted to see her riled up, wild—riding him. Not the time, he reminded himself.

“Excuse me?” she demanded.

He swallowed down the instinct to order her. Before Nyx he’d dominated all his bed partners. He was used to being in control. Always. With Nyx he’d felt like he was in a tornado since the moment they’d met. She confused the hell out of him. One moment he wanted to pin her down and take her, make her his, and the next he wanted to protect her from everything and everyone, including him.

“I think we should take this to Finn, let him know what’s going on.” Though it went against all of his instincts to take this to Finn Stavros, the leader of the local wolf pack in Biloxi.

But the male was fair and had a lot of powerful contacts, as Bo had learned firsthand in the last couple months. Not to mention it would buy Bo time. He didn’t want Nyx going to wherever this address was before he’d done recon himself. Because he protected his people. Even if she didn’t know it, she was very much one of his own.

She raised an eyebrow. “Is there a question in there?”

He lifted a shoulder in what he hoped looked casual. “I was just making a suggestion. You could just run headfirst into a bad situation without knowing anything about what’s waiting for you at this address.”

She watched him for a long moment, an adorably annoyed frown wrinkling her forehead. “You’re obnoxious when you’re right.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Her mouth quirked up a fraction and he resisted the urge to lean in and nibble on her bottom lip. Because friends did not do that.

I don’t want to be her friend. I want to be her everything.

“I can see it in your eyes,” she told him. “You so want to tell me what to do and dangit, you’re right. Okay, let’s go see Finn.”

Relief coursed through him that she wasn’t fighting him on this, but he kept his expression neutral. Right now getting backup was the only thing that mattered.

Chapter 2

Nyx forced herself not to look over at Bo again as he drove. Everything about the male was sexy with a dark edge, but he was off limits.

At least that was what she kept telling herself.

A little over a week ago they’d both admitted their attraction to each other, but she’d made it clear that they could only be friends. Like a complete lunatic, she was now disappointed that he was actually okay with it. It was for the best though.

She had to keep him safe from her family. Both deranged sides. That meant they had to remain just friends. If her family knew that he meant more to her, he could become a target. Now he was just a friend, her boss.
Not
her lover.

Her mother was a force of nature who cared for no one but herself and would flay Bo alive just for sport if given the chance. And her father would come after Bo because the arrogant prince wanted to mate her off to some random fae male. She nearly snorted. That was never going to happen, but the fool hadn’t gotten it through his dense head yet.

Gah, she hated her whole family. Hated, hated, hated.

The only good thing to come from her family was the powers she’d been born with. As a demigod she could kick ass when she wanted to. Well, sort of. She was still trying to control her powers on a daily basis and it was a struggle.

“What are you thinking?” Bo’s voice was a balm to her soul as he turned into the open gates to the Stavros compound.

They were in an exclusive part of the coastal city and the shifter compound was a gated, huge mansion behind an iron fence, lots of acres and thick trees. Made it easy for the wolves to run around whenever they needed to. Which, she imagined, was often. She sighed as the Greek revival mansion came into view, the guilt piling on. “Just that I hate dragging anyone else into this mess.”

“If it wasn’t for you, Keelin could be dead. You made that deal with that bi—woman to save someone else.”

“It’s not like she’s part of their pack,” Nyx muttered, looking out the window of his truck.

“Technically, no, but it won’t matter to them.”

She knew it wouldn’t because the Stavros pack was incredibly generous. Keelin was a dragon shifter whose brother was mated to a member of the Stavros pack. So they would want to help simply because of that connection. Still, she didn’t like it. Whatever her mother wanted her to deliver, it couldn’t be good. Bringing more people into it could only end in disaster.

At the end of the long driveway Bo stopped behind a cluster of cars, trucks and SUVs. They’d called ahead, the only reason the gate had opened for them when they arrived, so they were expected. That didn’t help the nerves dancing inside her.

“The address is a cemetery though. I doubt there’s anything they can do or find out that we don’t already know.” She’d looked up the address online back in his office while he’d contacted Finn. They knew where her mother wanted her to go so she didn’t see the point in coming here anyway.

Bo just snorted, apparently his only answer, as he got out of the truck. Before she’d opened her door, he was on the other side, holding out a hand to her.

She blinked at his consideration. She’d spent almost all her twenty-three years sheltered in an alternate realm because of her crazy mother but she’d read a lot on human customs. Bo might not be fully human, but he knew more about this world than her. It touched her that he was being so sweet. Even if it killed her to touch him.

Because even if she didn’t have her family to contend with, he was way out of her league. She knew the male was a player, had had so many lovers she simply couldn’t compare. Not when her experience was exactly zero.

Swallowing hard, she took his hand and tried not to show how that little bit of contact affected her entire body. She swore she could feel his touch everywhere. Tingles of awareness skittered across her skin, making her nipples bead tight against her bra cups. At least he wouldn’t be able to see or detect her reaction. Unlike shifters, he couldn’t scent her hunger for him. Another plus in her favor. Or she assumed he couldn’t. Crap, she really needed to find out. Because if he could scent how much she wanted him…her cheeks heated up at the thought, horror swelling inside her.

Bo gave her an odd look as he closed the door behind them and even more horror swept through her.

“Can you smell me?” she blurted out, then wanted to bite the words back.

He blinked once. “I…you smell good?” It came out like a question, making her feel more foolish, if that was even possible.

“I just meant, you know, like how shifters can smell everything a billion fold. Can you do that?”

He shook his head, his amber-gold eyes flashing with something she couldn’t quite define. “No.”

She didn’t think he’d lie to her. “Oh, okay.” She gave him what she knew was a strained, nervous smile but didn’t care. The relief that punched through her was potent. She tightened her grip on his hand, feeling a thousand times lighter as they headed to the front door of the mansion. Even if they would never be more than friends, she was glad he was with her now.

The door swung open before they’d reached it. Finn, the Alpha, casual in jeans and a T-shirt, nodded at both of them. His ice blue gaze was reserved as he nodded at Bo and slightly warmer when he looked at her. But not by much, probably because she was a virtual stranger to him. “It’s pretty quiet around here tonight. Got most of the pack out patrolling the city. You hungry? We can do this in the kitchen if you are. You’ll have privacy.”

She shook her head, food the last thing on her mind. “I’m okay, unless…” She looked up at Bo and realized they were still holding hands. She didn’t want to pull away. Gah, what was she thinking? She shouldn’t let herself fall even harder for him.

He shook his head once. “I’m good.”

“My office it is.” Finn pulled the door shut behind them, motioned to a winding staircase.

Nyx looked around curiously at the interior. To the right was what looked like a game room. A few male shifters were lounging and watching something on a huge television. She didn’t understand the human need for such large TVs, but males especially seemed to love them.

The walk to his office was quick and when they reached it, she gently extracted her hand from Bo’s. He let out a soft, almost growling sound but when she looked at him, he was staring straight ahead. Maybe she’d misheard, but—

“You’re here!” Victoria jumped up from a cushioned chaise where she’d been sitting next to her mate, Drake, as they all entered the room.

“I thought you were in Montana,” Nyx said, stepping into the open arms of the tall wolf shifter, glad to see a friendly face.

“We were, but you made that deal with your mom and…” She shrugged, stepping back.

“Victoria has been worried,” Drake said, pulling her into a loose embrace as well. The dragon shifter was ridiculously huge and she knew he was really old. But there was an innocent quality to him, something that resonated with her demigod half.

“Keelin and Bran wanted to come too, but my mother wouldn’t let Keelin leave.”

“She barely let you leave,” Victoria muttered, attempting to smother a laugh.

Nyx knew it was because their mother loved them, wanted to keep them protected. A pang slid through her as she wondered what it would be like to have a parent care if she lived or died. To her own mother she was nothing more than a replacement for a daughter she’d had millennia ago, but who’d died. She was essentially nothing but a chess piece in her mother’s weird, self-involved world. Nyx kept telling herself to get over it, but…it hurt.