Hunted by Darkness (Darkness #4) (3 page)

“The address Nyx’s mother gave her is a graveyard,” Bo said, interrupting them. His words were stiff and while she wasn’t sure why he’d done it, she was glad for the interruption. She didn’t want to think about her childhood or family.

“We looked it up as well,” Finn said, leaning against the front of his desk. He crossed his arms over his chest. “I haven’t found much on it other than the address and that it’s considered historical. They haven’t had a new burial there in close to fifty years.”

“But I’m going to see what I can dig up.” Victoria sounded practically gleeful.

Not that Nyx was surprised. The female loved history and research and was very good at finding obscure information. Victoria was the one who’d found ancient texts for Nyx on how to control her power. That had only been a week ago though and she was still sifting her way through everything.

“There’s a name written on the package. A Charlotte Bessey. She didn’t say but I’m guessing it has to be a grave marker.” Which was just plain weird, but totally typical of her mother.

“So, your mother wants you to leave a package on a grave marker? As a favor for the one she gave you? That’s it?” Finn sounded disbelieving and she didn’t blame him.

Bo shifted restlessly next to her. “It must be a trap. She shouldn’t go.”

She resisted the urge to sigh. It didn’t matter what she wanted, she’d given her word. “I have to.”

“Well you’re not going alone,” he snapped out, fire lacing each word.

Before she could respond, Drake cleared his throat. “I’ll do an aerial recon of the place tonight. It should be easy enough.”

“I don’t know…” Nyx knew the male was powerful, could feel the force of his abilities flickering across her skin, but she didn’t like the idea of anyone else being involved. She was still trying to figure out how to make the delivery without Bo. Technically she could use her transportation powers but whenever she did she tended to have disastrous “landings”. She’d once set a gas station on fire, blowing the whole place up. Luckily no one had been hurt, but she could level a city block if she wasn’t careful.

And now she realized everyone was staring at her since she’d just trailed off. She cleared her throat. “I can just get in and out and be done with it. I don’t think you need to do anything.” It was weird depending on anyone but herself anyway.

“Drake can do aerial recon and I’ll do on the ground recon,” Bo said, as if she hadn’t spoken at all.

Drake nodded, his gaze on her. “My clan owes you a debt and we will help you in this. My mother is actually looking into another way to repay you.”

Nyx frowned. “What does that mean?”

“She knows of your father’s wish to see you married to another fae.”

“How…” She turned to look at Victoria, who she’d recently confessed her family issues to—and her friend didn’t look guilty at all.

Instead she shrugged and smiled. “Your family sucks. I might have let it slip to Arya what they were trying to rope you into and she said she’d take care of it. It’s actually the real reason why she’s not here. She and Keelin are working on a way to repay your kindness.”

Nyx blinked, digesting the new information. Too many emotions clogged her throat and she had the irrational urge to cry. She wasn’t used to people being so giving. “Okay, we’re going to go back to that later, but for now I guess I should tell you more about my mother. If you’re determined to do the recon?” she asked, looking between Drake and Bo.

Drake nodded while Bo just gave her a ‘get real’ look.

Ugh, she didn’t even know where to start.

“Why don’t you sit?” Finn asked quietly, motioning to a cushy chair next to the chaise.

“Thanks.” She gratefully took a seat, even as she dreaded the thought of talking about herself. The Stavros pack looked out for each other, loved each other. She didn’t want to see pity in anyone’s eyes.

But especially not Bo’s.

Unfortunately there was no way around it now.

Bo gritted his teeth, hating the stressful vibes of energy rolling off Nyx as she sat. He just wanted to take her away from all this, hell, to deliver the damn package himself. But if he did, it might create some loophole for her mother. Then anything could happen. Her mother had said she would deliver Nyx to another realm, but she might do something worse. No, even though he hated it, Nyx had to do this. At least her mother hadn’t said anything about Nyx going by herself.

“I don’t know how much you guys know about Greek mythology, but Chaos, my mother, was one of the original Greek goddesses.”

Victoria nodded. “I did some research after what happened in Montana.”

Bo hadn’t been there but he knew the goddess had shown Nyx a mental image of where Keelin had been taken by another demigod. Once Nyx had the location she’d been able to transport there with Bran and Bran had saved his female. He hated that Nyx had put herself at her mother’s mercy in doing so. But he wouldn’t expect any less from the female.

“Okay, good. Gah, I don’t really know where to start but in a nutshell, she’s pretty much ageless. Not exactly immortal because she can be killed, but for the purpose of this conversation she’s immortal in the way we all are. Only more powerful.”

Everything could be killed, Bo knew.

“Tens of thousands of years ago she was…borne into existence. She mated with another god and they had, uh, children, but not in the way we would think of it. They created them into existence, just not… It doesn’t really matter. One of her daughters, Nyx, died. Was killed.” She swallowed hard, pain flickering in her blue eyes before her expression fell into complete neutrality.

“After that the gods and goddesses stopped creating children—what humans would consider deities more or less—so very long ago. Even before they retreated from this realm. But some of them still sleep with non-gods whether it be humans or fae or whoever happens to please them at the moment.”

“Not dragons and demons,” Bo murmured.

She looked faintly surprised, but nodded. “That’s true. The gods and goddesses are afraid of dragons and they simply don’t like demons. Though I think they’re afraid of some of them. Anyway, my mother wanted a daughter to replace Nyx 1.0, as I like to think of her.” She let out a bitter laugh, the sound grating against every part of Bo. “So roughly twenty-four years ago she sought out a fae prince who she found suitably attractive and then nine months later she had me. Unfortunately for her I’m nothing like the original Nyx. I am one of her greatest disappointments.” Her voice cracked on the last word.

“Then she’s a fucking moron,” Bo grated out. He didn’t like the pain rolling off Nyx. It offended every bit of his demon and human side.

Nyx half-smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “My point is, she’s incredibly powerful and while I’m her blood, her daughter, she cares very little what happens to me. You are all strangers, less than nothing to her. I don’t think it’s wise for anyone else to be involved.”

“Well too fucking bad. Let’s just get this argument out of the way now because we need to get a few things straight,” Bo snapped, unable to control his anger any longer. It was as if she didn’t think she was worthy of people helping her and it was starting to piss him off.

“We’re helping you. And if they won’t,” he jerked a finger at Finn and the others, “I’m with you no matter what. So fucking deal with it,” he snarled, his demon scraping at him, telling him he needed to pull back on his anger, but he didn’t listen. She needed to know that she was important to him. That she mattered.

Nyx popped up out of her seat, a mix of too many emotions on her face as she stalked toward him. In that moment he was barely aware of the others in the room. All he saw was Nyx in her fuck-me boots and body-hugging dress stalking toward him like a warrior. It was beyond hot. When she poked him in the chest with one finger, he got hard. Completely inappropriate timing, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He was aware of her saying something, but all he could see was her lips moving.

Nothing else came into focus except her luscious, kissable mouth. He wanted to devour her. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her close, much to her surprise if the yelp she let out was any indication.

“I’ll bind you to me so that you can’t transport without taking me with you, so don’t even think about it. And if you do anyway, I’ll hunt you down. Count on it. There’s nowhere you can go that I won’t find you.” His words were a soft promise.

“You are a maddening, frustrating…” She trailed off, looking around when she realized all the objects on Finn’s bookshelves and desk were shaking. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry,” she muttered.

He tightened his grip on her wrist, getting her attention. “You don’t apologize for who or what you are.” He didn’t bother looking at the others and wasn’t surprised when her gaze snapped back to his.

The fire in her gaze was in full force now. She grabbed his shoulder and he saw her intent a second before he realized what she was doing. It was as if he’d been sucked into a vortex of rushing wind and a kaleidoscope of colors.

A crash of glass and furniture rained down on them as they transported into the middle of his kitchen. Using his own powers, he paused everything midair before shoving everything back into place.

Nyx was breathing hard, her blue eyes spitting fire. “We might be friends, but you don’t get to talk to me like that.”

She was so insanely sexy. Seeing her stand up to him made the lust he felt for her burn even hotter.

He grabbed her hips and backed her up until they were at the granite-topped center island. He knew he was bordering on being out of control, but the thought of Nyx in danger, the thought of her running into a bad situation without any backup made him crazy in a way he’d never thought possible. His beast pushed at the surface, wanting to destroy everything that might cause her harm.

Her hands slid up his chest, more from shock than anything, he thought. Or maybe to brace herself as he hoisted her up on the counter. He wanted her at his eye level.

But when he looked into her vivid gaze, he couldn’t remember what they’d been talking about. Arguing about. All he could focus on was the erratic way she was breathing, the slight dilation of her eyes and the way her legs were spread to accommodate his hips, practically wrapped around him.

They were in the perfect position. He was tired of ignoring the fire between them. Taking a chance, he slid his hands up her outer thighs, moving until he shoved her dress all the way up to her waist.

Her mouth parted and she stared down at herself. Lacy black panties barely covered her mound. He could see enough that he knew she was completely bare under that lace.

No. No more just being friends. She needed to understand that she was his.

Using his mental powers, he snapped the thin straps. He sucked in a sharp breath as the material fell away, as he saw what was his.

She didn’t cover herself, just clutched onto his shoulders as she met his gaze again. He might not be a shifter but he could scent her hunger for him, could see the lust sparking like wildfire in her eyes. The hunger is what pushed him over the edge.

Her pathetic excuse about needing to stay friends because she had a lot going on in her life was just that, an excuse. She wanted him, he wanted her. And she sure as hell wasn’t scared of him. That had been a worry early on, but there was no fear from her. Just raw desire. If he gave her time to think about this, he knew she’d tell him to stop.

He wasn’t above playing dirty to win her. He’d give her a taste of how good they could be together, bind her to him with sex, make her crave him the way he craved her so that she’d never walk away. Without giving her a chance to start analyzing things, he knelt between her legs and flicked his tongue up the length of her slick folds.

And knew what heaven was when she slid her fingers into his hair, moaning his name like a prayer.

Chapter 3

Nyx couldn’t believe what was happening, what Bo was doing to her. His tongue…she rolled her hips up to meet his mouth, even though she knew she should tell him to stop.

But she couldn’t find the words. Didn’t
want
to find the words. Not when this felt better than anything she’d ever experienced by her own hand.

His tongue flicked up her slick folds, oh-so-slowly, the sexy growls he made against her flesh making her even wetter.

His glass-front cabinets shook, cracked. Wine glasses started to tremble. She tried to keep a grip on her emotions but couldn’t.

“Let go, I don’t care,” he murmured against her, as if he’d read her mind.

His words set something free inside her, even though she knew they shouldn’t be doing this.

With her dress hiked up and his face between her legs, she couldn’t help but stare at the way he was licking her, teasing her.

Ribbons of pleasure spiraled through her as his tongue delved between her folds. He was teasing her, turning her on even more, but not touching her clit. He had to be doing it intentionally, making her crazy.

She rolled her hips again, a tortured sound coming from her throat because she couldn’t find any words.

He placed his hands on her inner thighs, opened them wider. “Lay back.” The words rumbled against her, the vibration making her inner walls tighten with the need to be filled.