9
Once the door was closed and Lobo was sure Tehya was out of earshot, he turned to Hunter. “You told her I’d see her again. Before my execution, or after?”
There were a few chuckles from around the table, because, sure, executions were hilarious. He must have forgotten how much he’d laughed at all the people he’d seen die at the command—or hand—of Hunter’s father. Bear Roar had been a brutal leader, a strict follower of the Way of the Raven, and a total bastard. Lobo had laughed when Hunter killed him.
Hunter gestured at Baddon, who, after giving Hunter an are you fucking serious? look, shrugged and sliced through the ropes binding Lobo’s wrists. Lobo rubbed the raw skin as circulation flowed back into his hands.
“Leave us.” Hunter’s tone made it clear that he wouldn’t tolerate argument. “You too, Rike.”
Riker frowned but, like the good soldier he was, herded everyone out, and mere seconds later, Lobo was alone in the room with MoonBound’s chief. The last time they’d been alone, it had been for the same reason and, just like now, his life had been on the line.
The only differences were that this time he wasn’t in chains, and there wasn’t a horde of people calling for a painful, drawn-out death sentence.
Hunter lounged back in his chair, his fingers steepled as his hands rested on his abs, his cold, hard gaze tracking Lobo as he paced the room.
“I told you that if you ever shifted into another vampire’s form again, I’d end you. Do you remember that?”
Lobo laughed, really getting behind the gallows humor thing. “Do you think I get death threats so often that I forget them?”
“You’re an asshole, so I’m going to answer that with a yes.”
Lobo laughed again as long-held contempt rushed to the surface. “You’ve been waiting for this, haven’t you? I’ll bet you couldn’t wait for me to screw up so you could put my skull on its own special little shelf in the Cave of the Vanquished.”
“We sealed the CV decades ago. And you’re the one who broke the law—”
“And you’re the one who kicked me out of the clan without listening to my side of the story.”
“Your side?” Hunter asked, incredulous. “You were caught seducing Traygen’s mate—while wearing his form. You admitted it.”
“No,” Lobo said wryly, “you asked me if I’d taken his form, I nodded, and then you broke my jaw. I couldn’t give you an explanation after that because my face was shattered and half of my teeth were on the damned floor.”
To be fair, he hadn’t been in shape to speak even before Hunter’s punch. Su’Neena and Traygen had done their best to kill him before other clan members heard the commotion and interrupted.
“You’re upset about a few broken bones?” Hunter pushed to his feet and strode over to the liquor cabinet on the far wall. “You’re lucky Traygen didn’t kill you. If I’d caught you with my mate in my bed, you wouldn’t have made it out of the bedroom alive.”
“I wasn’t—” He started to say that he hadn’t been in bed with the female, but the details weren’t important. “Listen to me, you pompous ass. I wasn’t trying to seduce Su’Neena that night. I was trying to get her to confess.”
Hunter took two highball glasses from the cabinet. “Confess to what?”
Well, at least the guy was listening this time. Lobo scrubbed a hand over his face, realizing that this was his one chance to finally set the record straight and maybe get out of this alive.
“I was out on patrol one day, and I saw Su’Neena with ShadowSpawn’s leader. The first time it happened, I thought it might be coincidence that they’d come across each other in the forest.” Yet something had niggled at him, so the next time she slipped away from MoonBound, he’d followed. “But when I saw her again near Rat Lake, obviously waiting for someone, I knew something was up. A few minutes later, Kars showed up, and they did a lot more than just talk.”
“And they didn’t see you?” Hunter popped the top off a bottle of whiskey and poured it into the glasses.
“They saw me,” he admitted. “As a wolf.”
Hunter swung around, offering Lobo one of the drinks. “Did you shift against orders?”
Lobo rolled his eyes. “I tell you that one of your warriors was screwing the enemy, and that is what you want to know?” He snatched the glass out of Hunter’s hand. Nice of the guy to give him a pre-execution libation. “Su’Neena is a spy, Hunter. I shifted into Traygen’s form to confront her about it. Turns out he didn’t know about her extracurricular activities. I tried to tell him, but he was too busy trying to impale my liver on his knife to listen.” He snorted. “I must have said enough, though. Ever wonder why he was found dead two weeks later, butchered by ‘poachers’?”
One dark eyebrow shot up. “You think Su’Neena is responsible for his death?”
“Her . . . or ShadowSpawn.”
Lobo downed the alcohol, savoring the smooth, rich burn that was so different from the harshness of the rotgut he was used to drinking. As warmth spread through his insides, he wandered around the room, noting all the changes since the last time he’d been here. Hunter had gotten rid of the enemy scalps his father had kept nailed to the wall. Maybe he really had made some changes around here. Electricity was a nice touch. And who would have guessed Hunter would allow televisions and video game consoles inside the clan? His father had barely tolerated books.
Hunter, still standing near the liquor cabinet, exhaled on a curse. “Why didn’t you come to me with this sooner?”
“Seriously?” He slammed his glass down on the table. “I don’t owe MoonBound shit. Your father slaughtered my family and then brought me here to survive on whatever scraps people would throw me. I didn’t even have a seat at the dinner tables. Maybe you don’t remember me begging for someone to drop some food on the floor, only to get kicked in the face when I reached for it, but I do. Maybe you had a bed growing up, but I had a chain and a pile of dirt in a kitchen corner. All of you fierce warriors were so terrified of a boy who might turn into the big bad wolf and eat you. So fuck you, Hunter.”
To Lobo’s shock, Hunter had the grace to look away. During Lobo’s nearly fifty years with the clan, Hunter had never been cruel to him, but he’d never been kind either. As far as Hunter had been concerned, Lobo had been invisible.
Hunter’s voice was gruff, tinged with anger. “My father was a monster.”
It wasn’t an apology, but it was close enough, considering Hunter hadn’t been the one whose rule had brought suffering not just to Lobo but to any clan member who didn’t measure up to Bear Roar’s exacting, brutal standards.
Hunter’s gaze snapped back up, his moment of remorse a thing of the past. The position of clan chief suited him. “You still should have come to me.”
Lobo snorted. “After you threatened me with death?”
Hunter put the drink to his lips and eyed him over the rim of his glass. “Only if you shifted into another clan member.”
“Yeah, well, I did that yesterday, and I was fully aware of the risk I was taking.” He flashed fangs, daring Hunter to challenge his decision. “If you’re looking for me to beg for my life or apologize for trying to save Tehya’s, it ain’t gonna happen. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. So if you’re going to kill me, get it over with.”
Hunter swirled the liquor around in his glass and stared at the deer hide stretched on the wall. For a long time, Lobo didn’t know if the guy was going to say anything. He seemed pretty damned content to let Lobo wonder how much longer he had to breathe.
“Is what you said earlier true?” Hunter finally asked. “About having nothing to live for after you were banished from here?”
Lobo let out a deep, shuddering breath. He refused to share his inner pain with Hunter, and he couldn’t believe how much he’d already shared—in front of a dozen of Hunter’s minions. He hated feeling vulnerable, and right now he might as well be facing Hunter with his rib cage splayed wide open to reveal his beating heart.
“No other clan would accept a skinwalker, and living like a stray dog with other free vampires in Seattle’s sewer systems didn’t appeal to me. So tell me, oh great clan chief, what I had to live for before I found a half-dead wolf that needed my help?”
If Hunter was annoyed by Lobo’s sarcasm, it didn’t show. If anything, he seemed genuinely curious, which threw Lobo off balance in a big way. He’d hated Hunter down to his very marrow, but the Hunter who had kicked him out of the clan didn’t seem to exist anymore.
“Did you know she wasn’t really a wolf?” Hunter asked.
“I sensed something different about her, but I thought she might be another vampire’s spirit animal in physical form.” When Hunter cocked a skeptical eyebrow at him, Lobo shrugged. “What? Weirder shit than that happens all the time. Like how Riker’s son can go invisible and your mate can summon portals.”
The temperature in the room plunged so fast that on Lobo’s next exhale, he saw his breath hang in the air.
“The fact that I haven’t killed you is proof that this clan has come a long way since the days of my father and my own early rule.” Hunter’s husky voice was as icy as the room, emerging between lips peeled back from razor fangs. “But when it comes to the safety of my mate, I’m as primitive as it gets. Her ability makes her a kidnapping target for every vampire and human on the planet. So if you tell anyone outside of MoonBound about her gift, I will reopen the Cave of the Vanquished and mount your skull on the wall while you’re still breathing. Understood?”
Well, that was graphic. But hey, it sounded like maybe Hunter wasn’t going to kill him after all. “Understood.”
Hunter eyed him for an uncomfortably long moment, probably trying to determine whether he could trust Lobo’s word. Lobo couldn’t blame him. He’d stop at nothing to protect Tehya.
Finally, just as Lobo’s palms started to sweat, Hunter crossed to the door and flung it open. He spoke in hushed tones with Baddon, who was standing outside. When he returned, his expression was grim.
“I sent Baddon to find Su’Neena.”
“She won’t admit to being a spy.”
“If she’s a spy, we will get to the bottom of it.” Pivoting on his heel, he moved back to the door. “Come on. You can shower and have a shot of human blood while Nicole looks at that wound.”
A wound he had only because one of Hunter’s boys had shot him. “I’ll be fine.”
“It’s not a suggestion. I promised your wolf she’d see you again, and I don’t want you keeling over in front of her.”
“Why? Because it’ll be the last time I see her?”
Hunter paused with his hand on the doorknob. “If you’re wondering whether I’m going to kill you, I’m not.”
Lobo let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “Why not?”
“Because,” he said in a voice weighted with gravity Lobo didn’t understand, “I’m not my father.”
That was something that was becoming more obvious by the minute. “So what comes next?”
Hunter yanked open the door and stepped out into the hallway. “We’re going to get to the bottom of your accusation against Su’Neena.” He lowered his voice as a group of males walked by, their laughter echoing through the halls, something nearly unheard of during Bear Roar’s reign. Hell, even after Hunter had taken over after his father’s death, the clan had still been a dark, sobering place. The changes at MoonBound since then were startling. “I don’t know why, but my gut tells me to believe you. So until we get this straightened out, you’re free to go.”
“And Tehya?”
“We’ll keep her safe and teach her what she needs to know to survive as a vampire.”
Even though it was exactly what Lobo had asked for, his stomach still churned. He’d asked Hunter to take care of Tehya, but that was when the prospect of losing his head had been very real. Now . . . damn. It was for the best. She needed friends. Community. Training. She needed the clan.
He must have looked troubled, because Hunter’s hard-ass expression softened. But that was like saying a diamond had softened into an agate. “She won’t be a prisoner, Lobo.”
“Good. She doesn’t like that. You should see what she did to my cabin when I locked her in it once.”
No, she didn’t take to captivity well at all. But he also knew she didn’t take orders well either. Keeping her here wouldn’t be easy. He’d have to convince her.
But how could he do that when he wasn’t convinced himself?