Page 95 of The Huntress
I’m here.
He appeared beside her, placing his hand on one of hers. The sight of him pierced her with hope, love, and a sense of safety. Joy enflamed her insides.
Many suckbloods popped into existence around her. She recognized their clothing aspal’tsyuniforms, black and minimalist. Dimitri took a position behind Stavros. A cold pleasure skewered his handsome features. He raised his gaze to meet hers, and the corners crinkled with laughter.
“Callie, you’re a huntress,tsvetok. I’ve never seen a vampire partially form during fights.” The awe in his voice was surreal.
“What?” She glanced down. Only her arms were visible. “Shit!” Her cheeks burned, and she forced her body to solidify.
Gabe shared images of her battling Stavros—dissolve, sword strikes, dissolve again, never fully solid—and she moved with such speed that she blurred.
You saw the entire fight? “How long have you watched me?”
“We had to test your skills.” Dimitri shrugged.
“You were never alone, my love,” Gabe said, as if that eased the bonfire of fury that set her belly alight.Why are you angry?
She ignored him.
“You used me as bait?” She gaped at them, but a sense of betrayal twanged through her heart. “Gabriel de Winter, you said you’d never endanger my life.” She absorbed her blades and kicked Stavros on the chest so he sprawled at Dimitri’s feet. “Fuck you both!”
She dissolved into mist, taking to the heavens. Anywhere was better than fighting the temptation to skewer Gabe with a rematerialized sword.
Callie, love.
No! You don’t get to charm your way out of this. I must calm down first, and for that, you’re not welcome.
She threw up her wall, not willing to listen to his uber-sexy voice or his strategic reasons. She wasn’t angry that he’d used her as bait. That was a customary practice for law enforcement. She was furious he hadn’t thought to include her in the plan, hadn’t trusted her to know, had scared her into believing he’d forsaken her. Or worse, died.
Trust was critical, and he’d already violated it with the secret conversion. And now this had her believing there was a pattern of deceit. Without trust, there was no foundation to their relationship, their marriage.
Without it there was nous.
Chapter Thirty-Five
CLOSURE
WhenCalliefirstletGabriel know of their visitor, he’d dashed over, Leo trailing him. Moments before bursting inside his home, Leo had asked him to wait, to listen. Perhaps she would reach through Stavros’s grief. The longer they spoke, and the more Leo held him back, it made him realize they’d planned this, to use Callie as bait. Dimitri and his fingers dropping down around him confirmed this.
Stavros muffled their connection, and the only way to do that was to force a dematerialization. Gabriel saw red, an angry fire burning through him as he fought Leo’s attempts at restraining him.
She must pass this on her own, Gabriel.
He’d grunted, knowing the test was crucial, yet hating that they’d denied him time to prepare for it. They trailed Stavros until she broke free of his hold. Her pleas for aid almost killed Gabe. Leo had to exert some sort of control on his mind, as if the scene played out from far away. This dampened his senses, his emotions, making him malleable, stealing his will.
Her strength of will, her sassiness, and her remarkable skills called forth a pride he couldn’t recall ever feeling for a woman. Dimitri had the right of it. She was a huntress, and her sense of justice would ensure she remained a true protector.
Her emotional turbulence before she shut him out haunted him. His knees trembled as the darkness consumed his soul with alarming greediness. He wanted to fall to the ground and wail his despair. Thoughts circled his mind, destructive and addictive, the pain coating each word with a malevolence that drowned reason.
“Gabriel,” Dimitri’s bellow yanked him back to reality. “Focus. We need to deal with him, once and for all.” He had pressed his blade to Stavros’s neck, keeping him there.
Leo’s expression hardened, and sweat beaded his forehead, a clear sign of an internal struggle. “He’s trying to mist. Will you two hurry the fuck up?” he said from between clenched teeth.
Gabriel waved his hand, carving a rune inches above Stavros’s chest. The light sizzled, shooting out on either side, forming a trellis of sorts before fading to a shimmer.
“I didn’t know you could do avincula,” Dimitri said, awe softening his raspy voice.
“You can release him now,” Gabriel said.
