Hunter's Kiss

The Border of the Dark Wolf God’s Realm

Samantha

I ducked beneath the drooping bough of an ancient tree as my horse picked its way along the hillside. Fiery orange leaves drifted downward as I brushed by, becoming bright explosions of color atop the silver moss that covered the rocky slope. The scents of maple and fir wafted around us, and my wolf stirred in my chest, eager to shift and explore the unfamiliar woods.

Tomorrow, I told her. Today is about taming the wall.

I’d been trapped in the Dreamlands for nearly six weeks, and yet, I still hadn’t gotten used to the eerie way the trees and landscape changed slightly whenever I looked away. It was never anything significant, just an extra branch here and there, brighter leaves, or a tree that was a different species than I remembered.

They were subtle, but the changes were there. Nothing in the Dreamlands was ever quite what it seemed. Not even me.

Back in the waking world, I’d only ever been Sam the bartender. But in the Dreamlands, I’d discovered that I had hidden magic and that my past had been a lie. I wasn’t just a shifter but half fae—a part of me I never knew existed, and that I barely understood.

My horse nickered and shied away from Auren as he brought his griffstrider alongside my mount. Half falcon, half horse, the griffstrider was a shoulder higher than my mare and had a razor-sharp beak that could crush skulls like millet. I didn’t blame my poor mare for being skittish around the beast, especially since the strider eyed her like she was tomorrow’s breakfast.

Auren kept looking at me the same way: hungrily.

A soft glow radiated from him as if he were siphoning the last rays of the sun. He couldn’t be more different than his brother, the Dark Wolf God. In contrast with Cadean’s rugged looks, Auren had painfully elegant features and a flawless wave of blond hair that glinted in the fading light.

But I wasn’t fooled by his face or his apparent friendship. He’d helped me escape the Dark Wolf God’s clutches, but he had his own inscrutable agenda, and I was certain he was just as perilous as his brother.

The corners of Auren’s mouth twitched up, as if he were reading my thoughts. “Feeling nervous?”

“No,” I lied.

He gave a soft, skeptical laugh and leaned back in the saddle. “Well, that makes one of us. Frankly, I don’t like being this close to the barrier. My brother is out there somewhere, planning his revenge.”

“Let’s hope not.”

I offered the Moon Mother a quick prayer of thanks for the wall of light that encircled the Dark Wolf God’s realm. It was the only thing that kept the beast from charging across the border and taking me back.

The thought of the Dark God drew my gaze past the Moon’s luminescent barrier to the murky forests beyond. Was he lurking in the shadows and the mist? Or was he pacing the halls of Shadowstone, his citadel? I could just make out the glint of its white, claw-like towers on the horizon, like Venus rising above the fog.

A shudder of trepidation shook me, and I tightened my grip on the reins. “I’m pretty sure I’d feel it if he were out there.”

The golden god raised an eyebrow, and a glint of amusement returned to his face. “Would you, now?”

“I’m unlikely to forget what it feels like to be close to a monster like that.”

The smile faded from his eyes. “I expect not.”

The truth was, I’d escaped the Dark Wolf God, but I couldn’t escape his presence. When Auren wasn’t around, it often felt like there was a fragment of the Dark God hovering at the edges of sensation, pulling me back toward the wall. I’d felt him watching me from the shadows. He never revealed himself or spoke, but I knew he was there.

I’d started telling every shadow to fuck off out of habit, and I was sure my handmaids were beginning to wonder if I was deranged.

“Don’t underestimate my brother. He knows you’re with me, and there is nothing he won’t do to get you back. He’s a hunter, and he won’t stop until he’s caught you and dragged you to his lair.”

A shiver of terror skated down my spine. If felt a little too close to delight for my own comfort.

“I know. That’s why I need to find a way to lock him away for good.” I spurred my horse toward the wall.

Before we’d made it ten strides, Auren pulled alongside me and seized the reins, drawing my mare to a halt. “On that note, this is close enough. Too close, in my estimation.”

“You told me that if I could learn to control the wall, I could change the course of the war between your brother and the fae. If I’m going to learn to manipulate it, then I need to be near the wall. This is important.”

My throat tightened as I thought of Selene and Sigrun back in the Frostfall, and of all the decimated villages on both sides of the border, fae and shifter alike. I belonged to both people, and to none.

Auren dismounted. “Fine. But you’ll start by practicing from a safe distance—from here.”

I opened my mouth to object, but the signature of his magic swirled around me. It was like wind racing over a field of wheat and the echo of swords clanging against shields. I fought the press of his power, but my shoulders soon relaxed, and I compliantly slipped out of the saddle. “On second thought, you’re probably right.”

A doubt tugged at my mind, as if somewhere along the way, I’d lost my train of thought, but I shook it off.

The barrier drew my gaze upward. It was a masterpiece of magic, like a reversed waterfall of light streaming into the sky. Even at a distance, the raw power of the wall was overwhelming—cool and warm, foreign and familiar all at once.

I couldn’t help feeling that its magic was calling to me.

A lump formed in my throat. I knew I didn’t matter an ounce in the schemes of the Fates, yet I felt that if I could just reach out and touch a sliver of that power, if I could shape it, then maybe I could take control of my life.

Determination welling in my heart, I opened the satchel that held the moonshard, the bladelike fragment of the pylons that powered the Dark God’s prison. He’d used the shard to manipulate the barrier, and somehow, I was able to do the same.

As soon as I wrapped my fingers around it, the moonshard’s magic raced up my arm like a thousand tiny pinpricks—the tingly feeling you get when you’ve fallen asleep on an arm or leg right before it goes numb. A soft susurrus rose on the wind like the whispers of ghosts. Release us, and we will release you. Heal us, and we will heal you.

I sucked in a sharp breath. The voices shouldn’t have surprised me. The ethereal whispers always came when I touched the Moon’s magic, but I had no idea to whom they belonged or what they meant.

“Everything okay?” Auren asked.

“It’s nothing.” I raised the moonshard and glanced at him. “I’m just not entirely sure how to do this.”

Golden light swirled around his fingers. “Magic is about willpower. See the shape of the wall in your mind and bend it to your will. Force it to harden and take the form you want, like you did before.”

Reaching for the Moon’s magic, I focused on the wall, trying to remember what it had felt like to control the barrier when I’d stopped the Dark God from crossing two weeks before. I pushed with every inch of my soul, straining until my muscles felt like jelly and my arms started shaking. Finally, I dropped my arm with a disappointed laugh. “I’m afraid I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Auren’s mouth turned down in disapproval. “I’ve seen you do it. You held back my brother, for fates’ sake. You have it in you. Try harder.”

His magic swirled around me, and some of my exhaustion faded away.

I tightened my grasp on the moonshard and thrust it like a knife at the wall, pouring all my frustration through it, trying to shape the barrier to my will. I pushed until my body quaked and aches reverberated through my limbs.

When I couldn’t take it any longer, I threw my head back with a snarl. “Fuck this!”

The corner of the golden god’s mouth ticked up. “Well, B-plus for effort, but I’m afraid you have a long way to go. Let’s call it a day. I don’t want to be this close to the wall longer than we need to.”

I flexed my hand. Sure, I got pissed and lashed out at things, but I wasn’t a quitter. Glaring at the wall, I raised the moonshard again. “I’m going to master this even if it kills me.”

Auren stepped behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “Then focus.”

Every muscle in my body tensed, and my heartbeat raced. His touch was light but intimate in a way it had never been before.

Too intimate. While my skin had welcomed the Dark God’s touch even though I hated him, with Auren, it was the opposite. It made me feel like his dirty plaything.

I opened my mouth to protest but stopped. The taste of bitter chocolate formed on my tongue, and I caught the sudden scent of wildfire. The scar on my arm began to tingle, and my blood turned cold.

Cadean.

I didn’t even have a chance to move.

A savage gust of wind ripped through the forest around us. The trees bent and twisted, then shuddered to life, animated by his magic. I shouted as the branches of a weathered maple lashed out, clawing at me like the hands of some great beast. Beyond the barrier, the sky went black, and shadows consumed the forest.

Auren wrenched his sword from its sheath and hacked through a thick limb with a single explosive stroke, sending shards of bark and wood flying. As branches lashed the air, he pivoted around me and cut through each as easily as if it was made of flesh and bone. “Get to your horse and ride!”

I turned to saddle up, but my horse had already bolted.

Two bright eyes appeared in the deep darkness beyond the wall like twin flares in the dead of night. Then the Dark Wolf God emerged like a warrior stepping out of legend.

His hair was braided back, and his muscles shifted with every stride. I couldn’t run or think or even breathe.

And then it was too late.

The ground shuddered, and roots burst up through the soil around me. I cried out and stumbled to my knees. A cruel smile traced across Dark God’s lips as the roots tightened around my ankles. My throat clenched, and I could imagine the cold metal of his collar about my neck once again.

I would not be taken.

Fury cascaded through me—fury, and something more. At first, it was fire racing through my veins, but then I was drowning in a sea of sunlight and icy water. I choked on a rush of wild power that I didn’t understand and could barely control.

I ripped my hand free of the roots and thrust it toward the wall. Silver light streamed from my palm and spread like whirlpools, and everywhere the light touched, the luminescent barrier crystallized into glass.

In a single breath, the raging wind died, and the trees stilled.

The Dark God roared, and a wave of power shook the earth, but the wall stood in defiance. His magic couldn’t pass through.

Elation filled me even as I dropped to the ground in exhaustion.

Holy fuck, Sam, you did it.

Auren grasped my arm and hauled me to my feet. “Let’s get out of here.”

The Dark God’s voice reverberated through the wall like deep drums in the distance. “I always knew you would betray me, Brother.”

Auren sneered. “And I always knew you were a poor sport. She chose me, Cade. Get over it and move on.”

The Dark God’s fists tightened while his expression shifted from anger to something deeper and even more primal. Shadows curled around his arms, and the trees behind him ripped themselves free of the earth one by one.

Was he jealous? Impossible.

I yanked my hand free of Auren’s grasp. “I didn’t choose either of you assholes.”

The golden god nodded to his griffstrider. “We can debate the semantics of your situation another time. And while I’m impressed you can hold my feral excuse for a brother at bay, we should get out of here before his presence becomes even more taxing.”

Auren’s magic rose around me, tendrils of coercion pressing me to comply. But with the strength of the Moon’s magic still raging in my chest, I pushed back against his power. “I’m not leaving before I have my say. I can hold him back.”

The confidence in my own voice surprised me.

The corners of the Dark God’s lips curled up in a smile that lit a fire low in my belly. “Can you, now?”

His power suddenly surged against mine. Beads of sweat chilled my brow, and every muscle burned as I strained to keep control of the barrier. I felt like a sapling holding up the weight of a giant falling oak.

My claws extended, my wolf railing to be released as I took three steps toward the barrier separating us. “Leave me alone,” I snarled. “You will never take me again.”

A tornado of branches and leaves churned the air behind the Dark God, blotting out the forest and the sky. He seemed impervious to the cataclysm whirling around him, but I knew from the deep lines on his face that it was agony for him to stand so close to the barrier and the Moon’s magic.

I should’ve run, but his gaze drew me forward with a treacherous, magnetic pull. Although the barrier separated us, I could still feel him, still taste him on my lips, and it made that familiar, treacherous heat pool at my center.

Anger and dread fought for control of my thoughts, but they were just a mask. Beneath them, I struggled against something far worse: need.

My fangs erupted as I struggled to restrain the wolf raging inside of me. “We had a deal: I heal you, and I go free. You’re healed, and I’m free, and I’m going to stay that way. The deal’s done.”

The Dark God’s fingertips grazed the new white scar on his chest where I’d stabbed him with the moonshard. “Not completely healed.”

Then his gaze dropped to the moonshard in my hand. “And you still have something that belongs to me, little wolf. I’m not inclined to let that theft go.”

“The moonshard doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to the Moon and to your prison. You’re not getting it back.”

The Dark Wolf God’s eyes flashed with rage, and he slammed his hands against the barrier. A wave of power thrust against me, and it was all I could do to maintain control.

With a snarl, I shoved back with every last ounce of strength I had. A burst of magic rippled through me, and lightning sparked around his hands. He leapt back, eyes wide with surprise for just an instant.

My satisfaction was short lived. Exhaustion tugged at me, and I knew that the flare of power had cost me almost all my reserves. I needed to get to safety before the barrier dropped for good.