I shouldn’t have been able to be touched or harmed, let alone held to the wall by an invisible creature that shouldn’t have seen me in this state. Whatever the intruder was, it was freaking tall and solid. He held me firmly to the wall, and before I could manage to shove my projected form back in my listless body, something warm and soft skimmed over my throat, sniffing me.
“Do you get off on scaring the shit out of women in their bed, pussy?” I uttered through trembling lips. Masculine laughter whispered against the sensitive flesh, causing my body to tremble. “Get off of me,” I demanded through clenched teeth.
“Make me, hunter. What other tricks do you have?” he asked in a multilayered voice that caused the markings on my side to slither, writhing over my skin.
“What did you do to me?” I fought to get him off of me, to no avail. He was a solid wall of muscle, one that easily subdued mine.
“I look good on you, don’t you think?” he teased in a hoarse tone.
“No, I don’t think it looks good,” I grounded out, still struggling to free myself enough to project back into my body.
The more I struggled, the more I drained precious energy I didn’t have to spare. My body sagged and gave away the precariousness of the situation. A soft cry escaped my lips as the male pressed something against my throat, forcing my head back while he did whatever the hell he was doing.
“You’re weakening, aren’t you?” he asked, his tone echoing through my mind while my eyes rolled back in my head. “Bloody hell, you’re a disappointment, woman.”
“Fuck you,” I muttered. “What are you?”
“Fuck me? What are you? You’re not what you’re pretending to be, are you?” he asked, and his mouth lowered, tracing heated breath along my neck. “You don’t smell like one of us, and yet you have enough power to project your image, even though you weaken from it. No half-breed can do such a thing without dying. So, little one,” he uttered while licking my jugular like a sick freak. “How is it that you have this ability and aren’t expiring?”
“I’m a freak,” I whispered, shivering as I felt fangs scrap against my pulse. “Let me go,” I pleaded, uncertain of what was taking place.
I should be fighting him, and yet his touch created a soothing sensation within me. The pulsing in my side had turned into something twisted and dark. He smiled against my throat, as if he sensed the internal battle I waged, and found it amusing.
“Return my father to me,” I whispered.
“And if I had him, what would you give to me in exchange for his life?” His question caused my heart to beat painfully against the cage of my ribs. “Would you trade yourself for him?”
“Never,” I hissed, pushing against him, but he was immovable.
“Even if I had your father, you’d never get him back alive,” he laughed coldly, sending a wave of ice rushing down my spine.
My body slowly sagged, and he made a strangled sound before stepping back, allowing me to leap into my physical form. The moment I was settled, I opened my mouth and released a blood-curdling scream. My bedroom oozed with power before it slithered to nothing more than a trickle. My door burst open, and Micah and Noah were there, searching for the threat with guns drawn and aimed at the vacant room.
“Xari?” Noah asked, needing a target.
I shook my head, unable to get my lips to work. Projecting your image took a lot of strength, and when I used my ability, it left me weakened. His wide gray eyes slid over my body, noting that I was half on and off the bed. My face was sideways, and I was rapidly inhaling air into my burning lungs.
“What the fuck happened?” Micah demanded, as even more people started filing into my apartment.
“He was here, inside my room,” I whispered through the dryness of my mouth. The reality of the situation hit me, racing through my mind painfully. He’d been able to bypass the protection stones and had been inside my bedroom.
“Jesus,” Kaderyn muttered, moving past the men to help me sit. “You projected, didn’t you?” she questioned, not needing my reply to sense the truth.
“I’ll get some tea,” Noah offered.
“I’ll grab bedding. You’re not sleeping alone tonight in case the asshole tries to get to you again,” Micah stated, making my stomach sink at the idea of him being close to me.
Within minutes, I had tea and a bed full of hunters that refused to hear reason and leave me in the bedroom alone. Noah curled against my back while Kaderyn laid on the other side, forcing Micah to take the floor alone. I rested my head on Noah’s arm, and I felt safer than I had in weeks. Sleep came slowly, filled with nightmares of an invisible enemy that had marked me, and took great enjoyment from my pain.
Chapter Six
I awoke to the sound of voices in my kitchen. Stretching out on the bed, I tested my limbs before sitting up. Micah was still on the floor, staring at me as I peered down at him. His eyes were rimmed in red, and there was sadness in them. I opened my mouth to say how sorry I was for his loss, but the words didn’t come out.
“Meredith was pregnant—seven months along. It was a boy,” he stated, driving a knife into my heart. “We were married on the day you and I were supposed to have wed. Your father said she deserved to be married properly, and I needed to do right by her.”
My stomach churned with the magnitude of the words he was tossing out. They’d planned our entire wedding together, after all. I hunted monsters, proving to the hunter guild that I belonged here while they fucked each other behind my back. My breathing grew labored as I stood, moving to the dresser to search through it for clothes.
“Tell me you hate me,” he whispered, as if he didn’t want the others to overhear him.
I didn’t, because hate was a very strong word that I’d promised my father to only use when I truly felt it. Micah wanted me to scream and yell at him because I hadn’t done it, not even when they’d been fucking in our home, on the island we would have used to prepare our meals.
Fishing out my clothing, I went to the bathroom, shutting him out. Tears fell from my eyes, and I wiped them away, chastising myself for allowing him to hurt me after all this time apart. I’d left Micah behind and hadn’t planned on coming home anytime soon. I’d healed in my own way and had pasted myself back together with what little dignity I had left.
In the shower, I leaned my head against the tile, letting the coldness seep into my soul. I wasn’t this weak creature that cried over everything. I barely cried at all, but I’d done enough in the last two days to make up for the months I’d spent angry, having meaningless sex with strangers to fill the void Micah had left within me.
I’d coped and ignored the failure of my past relationship. It had turned me into a better hunter, mindlessly operating on pure anger and rage. My father had demanded I return, but he hadn’t removed Micah and Meredith from the guild, which caused a rift between us.
Had I wanted them reassigned? Yes. I didn’t want a reminder that my friend and my fiancée had fucked me over sideways and had been doing so for a long time. I’d been forced to examine every instance I’d found the two of them alone. Seven months pregnant, and I’d only been gone five fucking months!