The Dark-Hunters (659 page)

“Probably so. Explains so much, doesn’t it?”

His expression sobering, Vane stood up. “By the way, I overheard Markus last night. He was talking about replacing us as his heirs.”

No big surprise given his hatred of them. But even so, Markus had always been careful in the past about breaking the clan up with an all-out confrontation. “Why?”

“Because neither of us has mated. He thinks it’s a sign that we can’t. That we’re genetically deficient and therefore unworthy to be Regis.”

Fang felt the heat of anger rush through him. He hated his father with a passion so strong, he wasn’t sure how he kept from lashing out. “I really wish you’d let me challenge him. Then he’d see just how genetically deficient I am … not.”

“Don’t get so upset. Look on the bright side, at least we’re not impotent.”

Maybe Vane wasn’t, but Fang …

“Little consolation,” Fang groused as he refused to think about Aimee’s hold on him. “Tasting his blood, however, would appease me to no end.” He shifted his head to get more comfortable. “So who’s he looking at as our replacements?”

“Stefan, who else?”

It just got better and better. Why did he even bother asking? He should have known the answer. “I’m sure Stefan’s not championing our cause.”

“Nope.”

“One day I’m going to rip out his throat and you won’t be there to stop me.”

Vane froze as he heard the raw animus in Fang’s tone. And the anguish. He knew how hard it was for his brother to rein in his fury. How hard it was for Fang to stand down and be subservient to him or anyone else.

It was against everything in Fang’s genetic code. And it made him wonder what Fang would have been like had Vane not switched to Arcadian during puberty.

Gods, how terrifying that had been. It’d taken him weeks to even understand what was happening to his body and then once he was sure …

Telling Fang had been the hardest part of all. Even though they’d been littermates, a part of him had feared that his brother would attack and kill him for it. Who could’ve blamed him? The Arcadians were forever attacking them.

And they had killed the only woman Fang had ever cared for.

Instead, Fang had accepted it calmly and vowed his eternal protection. Loyal as a wolf … and a brother … to the end.

It was a protection that never wavered. Fang tried to hide it from Vane, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew how many times his brother stayed awake at night, guarding his secret. How many times Fang had walked away from a fight even though it galled him to do so, so that Vane wouldn’t be questioned or outed.

He was his brother’s weakness and he hated himself for that.

“I’m sorry, Fang.”

“For what?”

For everything. For robbing him of his birthright. Robbing him of his ability to challenge Stefan and Markus.

Most of all he was sorry that his brother had no idea just how much respect he had for him. But it wasn’t in their natures to speak of such things.

“For being the thorn in your ass that prevents you from challenging him.”

Fang returned to looking up at the dark sky. “Don’t worry about it. It is what it is.”

Perhaps, but the real question was, what could it be if Vane wasn’t around to pull him down? But as Fang had said, it was what it was. There was no changing the fact that he was human and his brother was a wolf.

Sighing, he headed toward his sister.

Fang didn’t move until Vane was gone. He lay there listening to the sounds of the insects and wolves while watching the sky above him. The Dark-Hunters had warned them earlier today that there was an enemy pack of Arcadian wolves in town and a group of Daimons who might be looking to augment their life spans by eating a couple of wolves. Their pregnant females were prime Daimon bait.

But Fang didn’t fear them. He could hold his own in a fight and he pitied anyone dumb enough to call him out.

If only his father and Stefan would get head injuries that made them even dumber than normal. Oh, to fight them …

Closing his eyes, he returned to his wolf form. This was what he needed. It was the only thing that really comforted him.

But as he lay there, he thought of something else that comforted him.

The scent and taste of an ethereal bear.

Put her out of your thoughts.
She was as off-limits as anything could be. His father hated him enough. If he ever found out Fang was turned on by a bear …

They’d call out a hunt and he’d be slaughtered.

CHAPTER 6

Aimee paused outside of Carson’s door, gathering her courage. Even though it’d been a month since she’d last seen the wolfswain, she still couldn’t get the taste or scent of Fang out of her mind or her thoughts. It was as if he’d somehow branded her and made her his.

That was the most upsetting part of all.

Since then, she’d been subjected to three more rounds of “find a sex toy, Aimee.” And unfortunately, none of the bearswains had stirred anything inside her. Not even repulsion or distaste. She was completely numb to them.

All
of them.

What was wrong with her?

She needed to talk to someone and didn’t dare speak of her concerns to any member of her large family for fear of it getting back to her parents. Her mother would kill her. Dead. Mutilated. And it wouldn’t be pretty either.

But Aimee had to understand what was wrong with her. Why wasn’t she finding any bears she wanted to mate with?

Most of all, why was she haunted by thoughts of the most unacceptable male on the planet?

“Aimee?”

She cursed inwardly at Carson’s deep voice coming through the door. How could she have forgotten
that
power? He knew anytime anyone came near his office.

So much for indecisive dawdling.

Hold your fishing pole at ready.…

Bracing herself, she pushed the door open to see him sitting at the desk where a file was open. His hand, which held a pen, hovered over it as if he’d been making notes.

Tall and muscular, he’d almost pass for a bear. But Carson was an Arcadian hawk. His black hair and sharp features paid tribute to his Native American father and the heritage Carson held dear to his heart.

His features softened to those of fatherly affection for her, which was almost comical since she was about a hundred years older than he, even though she looked younger. “Is something wrong?”

Shaking her head, she entered and closed the door tight behind her. “Do you have a second?”

“For you, always.”

She offered him a smile at his sincere answer. The two of them had been friends since he’d first shown up and asked Maman about setting up a clinic in their home—over sixty years ago. It’d been the best decision they ever made. Not only was he the best vet and doctor she’d ever seen, he was a vital ally and trusted friend to them all.

Carson pulled a chair out for her to sit down beside him. Putting his pen aside, he leaned back and folded his hands over his stomach. “So what’s on your mind?”

Aimee sat down and tried to sort through her thoughts and concerns. “I’ve been wondering about something.”

When she hesitated, he arched a brow. “Is this a female problem? You want me to get Margie out here for you? Would that help with your embarrassment? You know, Aimee, I am a doctor so there’s no reason you can’t tell me anything. I may not be a woman, but I understand your bodies and am familiar with your unique problems.”

Heat rushed over her face. That was just what she needed … a human to give her advice on her animal senses going awry. Margie was nice enough, but she knew nothing about mating rituals. Good grief, this was getting worse by the second. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just…”

I want to jump a wolf until we’re both limping and I have no idea why.

Why was this so hard for her?

Because you want to jump a wolf and if
anyone
finds out, you’re toast.

True enough. But she had to talk to Carson and find out if this was some freakish problem of hers or if there was a precedent in their species that she didn’t know about. Something to make her feel a little more “normal.” At least as normal as a werebear with heightened powers could be.

C’mon, Aim. Just say it.

“It’s inter-species related.”

Carson’s other brow shot up. “Are you afraid of insulting me?”

“No … at least I hope not.” She hadn’t even thought about the fact that Carson was half human and half Arcadian. “I’m just trying to understand how it all works. I mean, I understand in your case where one parent is human and the other Arcadian … that’s almost a natural attraction when two humans meet. Most of the time the human has no idea the other isn’t human and so the attraction makes sense, especially since humans tend to have an unnatural attraction to us anyway. I get that. What has me stumped are the ones like Wren’s parents. What would make a snow leopard want to mate with a tiger or a Katagari mate with a human?”

There, that should get her an answer without her telling him the real reason she was asking.

Carson considered his answer carefully before he gave her a gimlet stare. “Honestly?”

She nodded.

“No one really knows. There’s all kinds of speculation that it’s something wrong with the DNA. Maybe a defective gene we don’t know about. A birth defect, if you will. Kind of the same thing that makes a human crave inappropriate sexual partners. But…” He glanced away.

Great, she had a birth defect.

“But?” she prompted, wanting to hear if he had another explanation that didn’t end with her being chromosomally damaged.

“I personally wonder if it’s not something the Fates do to us as a continuing punishment.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, look at Wren. Regardless of who he partners with, human or Were-Hunter, he’ll most likely be sterile. Anytime a Katagari, male or female, is mated with a human, there’s no chance whatsoever of progeny. Even as an Arcadian, I have less chance of fathering children because my father was human. I think it’s a way the Fates have contrived to kill off our species.”

Aimee hadn’t even thought of that. How cruel could three goddesses really be?

Then again …

“That makes sense in a very twisted way … which would coincide with it being a gift from the Fates.”

Carson nodded. “Exactly. It would also explain why it’s so common for us to mate outside our species. I think it’s why so many Arcadian and Katagaria end up together. The Fates are hoping the women will reject the men and then both are left sterile for the rest of their lives. It’s cruel, really.”

Yes, it was.

But it still didn’t explain her attraction to Fang. “Have you ever heard of a completely out-of-species mating?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like in Wren’s case, while they weren’t the same species per se, they were both cats. Have you ever heard of, say, a wolf wanting to mate with a hawk or a dragon?”

Or in her case, a bear.

She cleared her throat before she asked the most significant part. “Especially if say one of them was Arcadian and the other Katagaria?”

Carson scowled as if her question was completely preposterous. “No. That’s never been done. At least not to my knowledge. Gods, I can’t imagine anything worse than that. Can you?”

Actually, yes, she could, lots of things, point of fact. But she wasn’t about to say
that
out loud and risk his telling her mother. “Horrifying to the extreme.”

And she really did mean that. How could she even think about touching Fang? Like Carson had said, it was unnatural and wrong. It defied everything she knew about her people and their traditions.

Everything.

Yet she couldn’t get him out of her mind. He hovered there in the back of her thoughts like a beckoning light, drawing her fantasies to him anytime she left them unguarded. Even now, a part of her wanted to go hunt for him.

I am so broken.

Aimee was about to get up when a sharp, shooting pain went through her head.

Carson leaned forward, concerned as she doubled over from the agony of it. “Are you all right?”

An image of Wren went through her. She could see him outside being trounced by a group she absolutely hated. “Wren’s in trouble.”

Carson gave her a suspicious look. “He’s downstairs busing tables. How can he be in trouble?”

Aimee shook her head as images of him being beaten flashed through her head in sharp clarity. Because of the close friendship they shared, she could almost feel the blows. “He’s not inside the club.”

Without another word to Carson, she flashed herself to the alley behind the club where they dropped their garbage into Dumpsters.

Sure enough, just as she’d seen in her mind, Wren was there, surrounded by a pack of wolves. It was the Arcadian pack that had been in New Orleans even longer than the bears had. Their leader, Stone, had been at odds with her clan since he’d hit puberty.

All of them hated that little prick.

There was something about him that just chafed her raw. He and his bully squad were always looking for some reason to jump any Were-Hunter who came to Sanctuary—if they were Katagaria, even better. She had no idea why they were so aggressive, but there was no excuse for their behavior.

Wren was trying to maintain his human form, but because he was in the middle of puberty and currently in pain from their beating, his form kept shifting from naked human to tiger to leopard and back again. He was covered in bruises and blood from their bites.

Anger descended on her with a vengeance as she ran at the wolves. “Get out of here! What are you doing?”

They turned on her then. Stone, who was more than a head taller than her and twice her girth, grabbed her and shoved her against the wall. “You’re not inside the club, little girl. The protection of Sanctuary doesn’t exist out here. Stay out of this or get hurt.”

Wren growled as he lunged after one of the other wolves, but he was no match for them. Not while he couldn’t control his powers.

The sight of them preying on him disgusted her.

“If those are my only two choices … I choose to get hurt.” She head-butted Stone and kicked him back, then ran to Wren to try and help him to his feet. Something that would have been infinitely easier if he stopped switching from human to large, heavy cat.