Wolf Slayer

Gwen was haunted. He knew that. She grew paler day by day and seldom ventured outside. Jonas wanted to believe she understood every word he said now, even as he could see her slipping further and further away.

“Your new companion will be here tomorrow,” he said lightly. “You probably need a female around. I think you’ll like her. She’ll stay for most of the day and go home before sundown. You know why she can’t stay here after dark settles in. That’s my shift. If you like her, we can see about having her spend more time here.”

Gwen’s pale blue eyes stared up at him as if she had heard him this time. She offered nothing in the way of facial expression.

“Right, then,” Jonas said. “I’m off to meet our neighbor. She sent me an invitation.”

In the old days, Gwen would have pleaded to go along. But even before her accident, she hadn’t yet been in full possession of the kind of skills that could have helped against things like experienced wolf hunters. It wouldn’t have been long, though, before his sister would have outshone every other Were in the area.

Gwen was an anomaly within an anomaly. A special being within the Were species. He wasn’t sure if she knew this.

“Wish me luck.” Jonas leaned over to place a kiss on his sister’s forehead and then headed out, knowing his meeting with Tess Owens couldn’t be postponed.

Keeping beneath the shadows of tree cover didn’t isolate him completely from the moon’s effects. Dappled light on his shoulders instigated sparks from nerves that buzzed, snapped and roused the wolf nestled inside him. His claws had appeared. Both shoulders ached. This was all part of the deal when the moon issued a come-hither.

After covering another acre of rocky, forested hillside, he got his first good impression of what was coming his way. Tess’s scent was in the air—that same mixture of smoke and flowers that had led him to her earlier.

The scent grew stronger as he walked. So did the moonlight. Jonas resisted the urge to shape-shift. Tess was here, just ahead, waiting for him. She had met him midway between the two cabins, which probably meant she knew where he was staying.

Tess Owens stood near a large rock pile at the crest of the hill overlooking property lines, surrounded by trees. She was partially camouflaged by shadows. The fact that she wore black would have helped to hide her from human eyes, but not from a werewolf’s. Jonas located her with a complex system of sight, scent and the image presented to him by way of her body heat.

It was showtime.

“Don’t bother to hide,” she called out in a tone that was both combative and dangerously sexy in equal measures. It was a deep voice for someone her size.

Jonas hadn’t counted on her ability to tune in to him so quickly, though. This was yet another detail that added respect and wariness to his initial assessment of her.

She seemed to be looking straight at him when she couldn’t possibly see that far. Night-vision goggles might have helped her to pinpoint him, but she wasn’t wearing them. Maybe she had heard his approach? The snap of a twig? A rustle of branches? He used to be better than this.

She spoke again. “These days I’m fairly good at what I do, and I get better with age and practice.”

Careful not to make a sound, Jonas inched forward with his wolfishness twisting his insides. A human growl stuck in his throat. The claws that had appeared made his human hands ache. His wolf side was willing to take on this threat, but it wasn’t time to let that happen. He doubted if Tess would take aim at a human form with the silver-tipped arrows he could now smell. Hunters rarely did.

“Are you coming out, or should I welcome you with a silver-coated handshake?” she challenged.

All hunters knew about the Were aversion to silver and a few other metals. Tess Owens seemed pretty confident about that aversion.

Blaming his comeback on his reaction to her voice, Jonas decided to oblige her request, at least in part.

He said, “Handshake? I wasn’t aware that you had social skills, Owens. People in town told me you rarely show your face there. To some of them, you’re more of a ghost than a neighbor.”

He wondered what that remark might do to her self-confidence and if it would shake her up in a way that might lead him to find a crack in her admirable armor.

“People in town don’t actually know me,” she returned, showing no sign of being affronted either by his remark or the fact that he had not shape-shifted like he was supposed to.

Jonas took another step forward, keeping to the darker spaces. His wolf urges were rising by steady degrees, drawn to the moon, drawn to Tess Owens, ready to take its turn in this face-off.

“Don’t stall the inevitable on my behalf,” she continued. “There’s no need to fight your true nature. You know you want a piece of me.”

“What nature would that be?” Jonas asked.

“The kind that howls.”

“I think I’d prefer to meet you on a more human basis, at least on this occasion,” he said.

“Should I be honored?”

“That’s up to you.”

“Show yourself and get this over with.”

“Put down the bow and I’ll think about your request.”

“How about if you reel in your claws?”

Her comeback was testy and insightful since she couldn’t actually see his claws. Wild guess?

Jonas asked, “What if I’m not what you’re thinking I am? Don’t you ever make a mistake when pointing a weapon at someone?”

“Only one mistake, and I won’t make it again.”

She might have been alluding to the death of her parents a year ago. But now that he was closer, Jonas finally got a good look at her face.

He suppressed a growl of appreciation. Tess was incredibly beautiful. All the right stuff was there, in all the right places. She had an oval face with perfectly symmetrical features and large, light eyes. Her brow was wide beneath a fringe of fair hair. Angular cheekbones gave her a regal look, though the deep hollows beneath them accentuated her thinness.

All in all, she didn’t look anything like any wolf hunter Jonas had ever seen.

However, she wasn’t perfect. Overlaying all that beauty was a trail of scars. Lavender lines, like crawling vines, crossed one side of her face, running from her forehead to her chin.

Jonas recognized those scars and knew what had made them. Tess had been mauled by a wolf, and that wolf had done some damage. Because she was here now, it was easy for him to see who the winner of that previous skirmish had been.

“Are scars the reason you stay away from town, or are hunters loners by necessity?” he asked, earnestly wondering about that.

A shudder of disgust ran through her, but Tess didn’t drop the aim of the arrow pointed in his direction. Still, Jonas thought he might have found that crack he’d been searching for, however small it might have been. Those scars bothered her.

“Old wounds come with the territory,” she said calmly enough.

Jonas nodded as he took another step toward her. She still wouldn’t be able to see him clearly, and he wasn’t going to allow verbal taunts or silver-tipped arrows to mess up this crucial meeting. Two more steps to his right and into the moonlight, and he would become the target she was looking for. He had to stave off that shape-shift. He had to hold on, sensing how badly she wanted to let that arrow fly.

Tess wasn’t just a hunter out to score. Her level of palpable aggression told him that she had a personal vendetta against the creatures she hunted. Six years on the force with the Miami PD had taught him a lot about dealing with emotion and the concept of revenge. Tess’s hatred for his kind left a sour taste in his mouth.

“Claws also come with the territory,” he said.

“Then use them. Do your worst. Or try to,” she taunted.

“Having animal in my DNA makeup doesn’t make me stupid, Tess.”

His use of her name surprised her. Her right cheek quivered.

“If true, that kind of insight would be a first,” she noted.

“You have no reason to fear or hate me. I’d like to offer a truce,” Jonas said.

“Like that will happen.”

“What can I do to force the issue? I have an agenda here that doesn’t include you. My reason for being in the area is important to people other than myself.”

“People?” She picked up on that word, emphasizing its misuse when pertaining to him.

Jonas wasn’t used to this kind of treatment. In Miami he was a respected detective on the job, fighting crime both in and out of the shadows. To Tess Owens, he was nothing more than an animal.

Turns out that she was formidable enough, he supposed. But she was also quite a sight standing there—a delicious, leather-clad, angry sight.

He wondered what she’d think if he mentioned how exotic he found her voice or how good she looked in that black suit. He could have bet she’d have been insulted then.

“I applaud your goals,” he told her. “But I’m not one of the bad guys.”

“Wouldn’t bad guys use that line?”

“Not around me,” he said.

Would Tess believe that Weres didn’t like bad guys of any species, including their own? Would she change her mind about werewolves if she knew how many decent wolves there were in the world, and how they fought behind the scenes to further the concept of peace and justice for all?

What if he showed her his badge?

“Most of the time, human is what I appear to be,” he said. “That’s what the world believes I am.”

“Except for those of us who know better.”

“Yes. But I’m not part of the reason you do what you do, and I’ve already stated that my intention for being here isn’t to cause you or anyone else around here harm.”

“Why here?” she asked, unshakable on her aim with that arrow.

“It’s as far away from others as I could find on the spur of the moment,” Jonas replied truthfully.

“What others?”

“People.”

“That’s rich,” she said. “And it would also be a point in your favor, if anyone was counting.”

All right, Jonas thought. That’s it. He had said more than he had intended, and Tess Owens had no right to question him further. Meeting her here had been a courtesy. He had hoped she’d see reason and leave him and Gwen alone, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen.

It was likely that Tess was driven to exterminate every werewolf she came across and had made up her mind about him being included in that goal.

“I suppose there’s no reasoning with you then,” he said.

“Reason? I’m pretty sure werewolves don’t know the meaning of the word.”

He nodded. “Well then, it’s been a pleasure, Tess.”

The calmness of his closing remark also seemed to surprise her. Another shudder ran through Tess that was sizeable enough to make her leather suit creak.

“Show yourself,” she demanded, though her voice was softer, lower, and almost a purr.

Her tone stirred Jonas’s insides in a strange way, as if he could feel its vibration from where he stood. That purr melted into his skin, sparked his nerve endings in a way that created its own electricity.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea, do you?” he asked.

“What it would do is make things a whole lot easier.”

“For whom? You?”

“Yes. For me,” she said.

“You believe that killing every Were you meet will bring your parents back? And that every Were is bent on carnage and destruction?”

She didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

“Then you don’t know much, wolf hunter, and your education has been sorely lacking.”

She spoke quickly. “You’re suggesting that you are not like the others? That you’re different?”

“I can’t speak to the actions of those others. I can only repeat that I mean no harm to you or anyone else around here and leave it at that.”

“Can you prove what you say?”

“I can prove it by turning my back and leaving you alone and in one piece.”

“Or by showing yourself,” she suggested with more tension on the string of her bow.

Okay. If you say so...

Jonas stepped into the moonlight, allowing the rain of silver light to wash over him. The wolf inside him barreled upward so fast, his shape-shift was completed in the few seconds it took him to reach Tess Owens. So fast, she didn’t have time to use her lightning-fast reflexes and let loose of that arrow.

She might have been primed and fighting fit, but she was no match for a full-blooded Lycan who had been shifting since his teens. She was no real match for a werewolf who was twice as fast as any werewolf in his pack and shifted without recognizing the pain of each physical transformation.

And she was no competition for a Were whose sole purpose in life currently was to guard the sister who stood on the brink of death.

He had the bow in his hands before Tess could blink or utter a groan of protest.

He had her knife in his fingers, her hand in his, and the tip of the razor-sharp blade she carried tight up against his chest. Her blue eyes, wide with shock, met his.

Growling was the only way Jonas now had of speaking to her. That growl rumbled menacingly as he held her gaze and pressed the tip of the blade into his own flesh.

Do it if you don’t believe me, wolf hunter. Go ahead.

Whether it was the shock of his shift, his appearance, or his speed that stayed her hand...

Or maybe it was the look in his eyes as they met hers...

Tess Owens didn’t make that thrust. She stood there, staring at him as if momentarily confused.

And since the advantage belonged to Jonas, he took it.

Chapter 3

The werewolf in front of her was huge, muscled, and faster than anything Tess had ever seen. The adrenaline punch that hit her when she looked into his eyes was a stunning blow to her confidence.

His eyes were blue and way too human.

Those eyes were intelligent and intense.

And the face...the werewolf’s face...was disturbingly human, as well.

He had angular features and no sign of anything that even hinted at a wolfish outline. No five o’clock shadow, let alone the typical werewolf’s layering of fine hairs and elongated bone structure. This guy actually was different. He was resetting the stats on everything she had known about werewolves. Meeting him, seeing him like this, sent the damn rulebook spinning.

Why had he turned the knife on himself? One thrust of the blade and he’d be toast. One plunge into that broad, naked chest with the sharp end of her silver dagger, and she would come out the victor.

That’s what she had to do. That’s what she had been trained to do. Raised to do. Taught to do. Remember... Too many hesitations and death will be the result.

Then why didn’t she edge that knife deeper into the wolf’s flesh? And why wasn’t he tearing her apart? He made no move to hurt her. The damn werewolf was waiting for something. She thought she saw a flash of curiosity in his eyes.

“Who are you? What are you?” she asked after a long overdue breath.

Because of their closeness, the next growl that rumbled from the Were’s throat also rumbled through her. Tess kept a tight hold on the hilt of the knife. Her bow, along with the arrow, lay on the ground where he had tossed them, and far from reach, but they wouldn’t have helped in this awkward situation anyway.

Push the damn blade.

He’s not human.

None of them are human. They ate my parents and made me a freak.

The wolf’s response to her question was to inch closer. A trickle of blood began to seep through the small hole where the blade pierced his flesh, and yet he didn’t blink.

What was he doing, though? Did he want to die, or was this merely a tactic to confuse her?

Well, damn it, she was confused, and had to either get her mojo back or suffer the consequences in the next few seconds.

One of you killed my family...

Nevertheless, whatever he was trying to do with this odd turnaround stayed her hand. After several more seconds of alarming eye contact and a lot of pulse acceleration, Tess stepped back with her heart beating way too fast and the bloody knife clutched in her hand. A brand-new kind of fear was setting in. She had never come up against anything remotely like this Were.

“If you think this changes anything, you’re wrong,” she said. “We’re on opposite sides of the game, and in any game, there can only be one winner.”

She watched the alarmingly large Were shake his head as if he understood what she had said, as well as the promise in it. True to his word though, he didn’t make any move to harm her. This close to him, she couldn’t see his claws or imagine what he might gain by holding back on his end.

So she waited for his next move, already planning hers. She’d duck to the side, come up to his right and use the knife. She wouldn’t be facing him then, wouldn’t have to look into those sympathetic blue eyes.

Yes, that’s what she had seen in them after the flash of curiosity. Sympathy.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” she demanded in a voice that didn’t sound as strong or as confident as she meant it to be. “One of us has to do the honors. If that’s you, so be it. If it’s me, all the better. That’s how this works.”

When he failed to respond, Tess’s gaze went to the blood dappling his broad chest. Red blood. Half men, half beasts had red blood like the humans they emulated.

She continued to eye the tiny hole in the Were’s chest until he began to back away. Given some distance, Tess’s nerves fired up, white-hot. Her arms began to quake with the need to do something—show him who she was and what she could do. She’d just had an intimate tryst with death and was still standing.

The Were was a good three feet away now and facing her. Tess’s first real look at the whole package he presented, head to foot, was another nerve-jangling revelation.

In this incarnation, the Were actually did seem more man than beast. Well over six feet of undulating muscle and sinew made it appear that he was moving when he wasn’t.

He had chiseled cheekbones, sun-streaked brown hair and blue eyes. If there had been an image of the perfect specimen of a man-wolf in that wolf hunter rulebook, this guy could have been the model. The real deal. The epitome of an evolved enemy.

She was looking at a Lycan. Tess knew this now. This guy was a pure-blooded example of the species. Her first.

No longer able to manage the internal quakes shaking her, Tess widened her stance. Her pulse was skyrocketing. Her fingers were bloodless from her grip on the knife. Confusion caused this delayed reaction, she told herself. She needed to lunge.

Do it now.

End this.

“If you go now, I will find you,” she vowed. Encouraged by the strength in her tone, Tess added, “Why prolong the inevitable? Tonight has to be the night. We both know this. Wolf and wolf hunter is the way this goes down. Werewolf and hunter.”

The wolf blinked his big eyes and then he shook his head. Within seconds, his body was against hers and she was wedged between his considerable bulk and the shadow-covered rock face behind her.

It was over. She had lost with supernaturally unlucky werewolf number thirteen. It was inevitable that this minute would come someday.

Tess closed her eyes.

Without sight, all of her other senses became acute, serving to enlarge every small detail of these last few seconds she had left. Her opponent’s breath was heated and slightly sweet. With the Were’s chest tight up against hers, she felt the steady rhythm of his heartbeat and the way his muscles twitched. Was he eager to win? Holding back for what? The hope that she might plead for her life?

Never...

With the weight of his body squeezing hers into submission, Tess discovered how close to humans Weres could feel physically. All of the masculine stuff was there, in spades. With her eyes closed, she might never have known what this bastard was and the extent of the danger she found herself in. Even his musky masculine scent was pleasantly unique.

“Sorry, Dad, Mom,” she whispered, ready to draw that last breath.

The Were’s muscle rippled as the shocking sound of muscle pulling on bone made Tess look up to meet the blue eyes that would be the last thing she’d ever see...and found them looking back at her from an exceptionally handsome human face that was a lie, at best.

* * *

“I told you I mean no harm,” Jonas repeated in a hoarse voice that hadn’t fully recovered from the shift. “What more do I need to do to prove that to you? What part of my explanation didn’t you get?”

Tess was barely breathing, and staring at him.

Jonas tried again. “We’re not all bad guys. Most of us aren’t, in fact.”

She said, “You could have fooled me.”

He could see she was scared, though not as frightened as anyone else in her current position would have been. Tess Owens had faced more than one werewolf with grit and dedication, though it was clear that she had never met anyone like him.

She expected trouble. Clearly, she was awaiting her death by his hand. Her face had paled to transparency. In that milky whiteness, her scars took on a pale blue cast.

Jonas touched one of those scars with a finger no longer blessed by a claw. The scar he chose was the one nearest to her temple. In response, she drew back as if she’d been struck. Her head hit the rock with a thud. She swore out loud, which seemed to make her feel better if the light that appeared in her eyes meant anything.

“Do it,” she challenged. “What are you waiting for? There’s only one way to end this, because I’ll never stop hunting you.”

She was so damned determined to fix this situation, so stubborn and brainwashed on the werewolf issue that Jonas had to smile. The smile kicked up the flames of her anger.

“Promise me something,” he said. “If I let you go, you’ll need to honor that promise.”

“I don’t owe you anything,” she snapped.

He pushed more of his weight against her. “No?”

“I’d rather die right here than to owe you anything at all,” she said.

He shook his head. “We both know that’s not really true. You have a calling and I can’t stop that. I wouldn’t stop that. Bad guys are bad guys.”

“Wolves,” she corrected.

“But I’m not one of those bad guys. This, I solemnly swear.”

“What would the world be like if I believed that line from every werewolf that trespassed here?”

“Did you give any of those Weres the chance to prove it?” Jonas asked.

“I caught them in the act. Devilish stuff. Killing sheep. Killing horses. Stealing. Brutally attacking people in the dark. Were those things supposed to continue without intervention? Knowing what those creatures are, was I supposed to allow it to go on?”

He said, “If that was the case, it’s likely those creatures deserved what they got. I might have done the same things you did in order to keep the peace.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You mean in order to keep your species a secret, don’t you? You’d condone culling a few bad seeds in order to keep most of you safe from the world discovering your existence?”

She had more to say. Jonas waited.

“So why here? Why have you come here?” she asked again.

“I’m here to keep something very bad from happening.”

She struggled against him. Jonas held her firm as he continued.

“I have a life, Tess. But I needed to come here to take care of an issue that arose. When that’s done, I’ll go back to my life, get on with my life, hopefully having helped to save someone very dear to me.”

Chances were slim that she might believe him. Nevertheless, Tess stopped struggling.

“Promise me you’ll let me do what I need to do here without interference and that you’ll give me time to take care of the thing I came here to do,” Jonas said. “That’s all I ask.”

“You’re kidding, right? Turn my back? Let you have free rein?”

Her tone hadn’t softened and yet her body had lost some of its stiffness. Hints of a darker ivory color were slowly returning to her cheeks. Jonas hoped this meant he was making progress.