4
Two days spent with GraveBorn clan’s chief had given Hunter a powerful need for a shot of whiskey and a few hours in bed with Aylin. Ever since the battle involving humans and multiple vampire clans had shifted the balance of power within the vampire community, the clans had been attempting to set aside their differences and build alliances . . . with Hunter taking on the unofficial role of leader.
But despite the growing call to unite the clans, the process wasn’t an easy one. Too many egos, too much distrust and bad blood, and too many different lifestyles made it nearly impossible to put together a coalition to defeat the humans who had enslaved so many of Hunter’s people.
At least GraveBorn, like MoonBound, followed the Way of the Crow instead of the Way of the Raven, so ideology hadn’t gotten in the way of negotiations. In addition, GraveBorn’s leader knew as well as Hunter did that their ideology was false; they were both aware of the truth behind their origins, and both thought it was bullshit that, with the exception of their mates, they couldn’t reveal it even to their own clan members.
Really, what had caused the most tension between MoonBound and GraveBorn was that Hunter had refused to force one of his warriors to wed the other clan chief’s daughter. For now, though, GraveBorn would support Hunter’s authority and had pledged to fight as part of a united front against humans if—when—the time came.
Hunter was pretty sure that the time would come far too soon.
The entrance to MoonBound’s headquarters was a welcome sight, especially given the timing. Tonight was the new moon, and even though it marked the time of month when females needed to feed, males felt the need like a vibration in the soul. It was an instinct not only to feed, but to provide. It was an instinct so powerful that the moment he and his contingent of warriors stepped inside the safety of MoonBound’s earthen walls, they went their separate ways instead of holding an arrival briefing, with Hunter making a beeline to his quarters to surprise Aylin.
He found her curled up on the sofa reading a book, but she bounded to her feet and threw herself into his arms before he even closed the door.
“Now, that is a greeting.” He swung her into his arms and spun her as she laughed. Damn, he loved the sweet sound of her voice. He hated being away from her, but until she’d perfected the art of summoning portals, he didn’t want her to accompany him on missions that could potentially be dangerous.
“I’ve missed you,” he said as he set her down and bent to nuzzle her neck.
“Not as much as I missed you,” she said into his ear, her voice dripping with unspoken naughty promises. “But you’ll be happy to know that when I checked on your wolf earlier this morning, she was still alive.”
Frowning, he pulled back and stared down at her. “My . . . wolf?”
“Well, I know it’s not your wolf, but she’s hanging on. For such severe injuries, it’s amazing she’s survived this long. Nicole hopes—”
“Aylin.” He shook his head, utterly lost. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The wolf.” Her smile faltered a little and her brow came down in confusion. “The one you brought to Nicole yesterday.”
“I didn’t bring Nicole a wolf. It must have been someone else.”
She looked at him as if he were crazy. “I saw you with that wolf’s blood all over you. We talked about it. Don’t you remember?” She reached up and pressed her hand against his forehead as if checking for fever. “Are you okay?”
Was he okay? Aylin was the one who should have her temperature checked. “Aylin, honey, I wasn’t here yesterday. Maybe you had a really vivid dream?”
Shadows flickered in her eyes as her concern for him grew. She probably saw the same shadows in his eyes. “Maybe we should go talk to Nicole.”
“I think that’s a good idea.” What was wrong with her? Maybe opening portals came with side effects. If so, she was never doing that again.
As they walked toward the lab, Aylin’s limp keeping the pace slower than he’d have liked, Hunter watched her warily, and she eyed him with just as much concern. “Aylin, are you sure you saw me yesterday?”
“Not just saw. Touched.” She took his hand, and he found more comfort in that small gesture than anything else she could have done. “I know the feel of your lips on mine, Hunter. I felt you.”
A knot formed in his belly as his alarm grew like a fast-moving cancer. Something was very, very wrong here. “I swear, it wasn’t me.”
Aylin, her skin already pale thanks to her mother’s Scandinavian heritage, lost even more color in her face. “You’re starting to scare me, Hunter. It was you. Ask Nicole. Or Grant. You talked to both of them when you brought in the injured wolf.”
Criminy. Had he crossed into an alternate universe somewhere between GraveBorn’s territory and here?
“Aylin—” He broke off at the sound of pounding footsteps coming at them and pulled Aylin to a halt as Aiden, one of MoonBound’s best archers and senior warriors, rounded the corner at a dead run.
“There’s an intruder in the compound.” Aiden skidded to a halt and paused to catch his breath as Hunter went on instant alert.
“What happened?”
“It was a female. She attacked Nicole.” He cursed, his frustration putting a sharp edge on his words. “We’ve been searching for the last fifteen minutes, but we haven’t turned up anything. I’m sounding the alarm.”
Fuck. “Initiate the intruder protocol.” Hunter seized Aiden’s arm before he could take off. “Where’s Nicole? Is she okay?”
Aiden jerked his thumb behind him. “In the lab with Riker.”
Hunter and Aylin hurried to the lab, where they found Nicole sitting at her desk holding a cloth soaked in blood against her head. Her other arm, bandaged from wrist to elbow, cradled her belly as Riker held a glass of water to her lips.
Rage bubbled up in Hunter at the idea that someone had assaulted a pregnant female. Right here, inside the clan headquarters, where everyone should be safe. This was his clan, his people, and ultimately his failure. If anything happened to Nicole or the baby, he’d never forgive himself.
Whoever had done this was going to pay in blood.
“Tell me everything,” he ground out as he stopped next to Riker and Nicole.
Riker’s silver eyes burned like steel shards of murder. “Someone broke into the lab and attacked Nicole when she came inside.”
“Aiden said it was a female. Did either of you recognize her?”
“I’ve never seen her before,” Nicole said, her voice laced with pain.
Riker shook his head viciously. “I didn’t get a good look at her. The bitch nearly ran over me in the hall.” He set down the glass hard enough to splash water all over the counter and floor. “I should have grabbed her. I should have fucking questioned why anyone would be running naked from a lab where there’d been a shit ton of noise and screaming. But all I could hear was Nicole crying for help, and—”
“Hey.” Nicole took Riker’s hand and brought it to her cheek, calming him with her touch. “It’s okay. This will all heal. The baby and I are fine.” She shifted around to talk to Hunter, wincing as she moved, which only made Riker go taut again. “The wolf is missing too. The woman who attacked me might have set it loose in the compound. I’m sorry, Hunter.” She smiled weakly, and Hunter cursed silently. She shouldn’t be in this position. “But the good news is that if the wolf is running around, it’s on the mend.”
Okay, so the wolf Aylin had mentioned was real. But he knew damned well that he wasn’t the one who’d brought it to MoonBound for help.
“Nicole, this is very important,” he said, kneeling so they were at eye level. “Aylin said I brought you the wolf yesterday. Did you actually talk to me?”
“You don’t remember?” Nicole looked at him the same way Aylin had, like he was crazy, and frankly, he was starting to feel that way. “You were very insistent that Grant and I save the animal.”
For just a moment he considered the possibility that he’d somehow spirit-traveled in his sleep. But seeing how he’d never manifested himself someplace else, not to mention that the ability was considered myth in native and vampire communities, he quickly dismissed the idea.
Which meant that either Nicole, Grant, and Aylin were suffering from a shared delusion, or someone had impersonated him using one hell of a disguise.
“Whoever it was you both talked to yesterday,” Hunter growled, “it wasn’t me.” He straightened, his gaze drawn to a bed of bloodstained towels and blankets on the floor next to a dish of water. Must have been the wolf’s bed. “I was with GraveBorn’s chief all day. Whoever brought in the wolf tricked you into thinking they were me.”
But why? And who was the female who had assaulted Nicole?
“Oh . . . shit.” Aylin’s fingers trembled as she touched them to her lips. “I . . . kissed him.”
Instant, white-hot rage seared his skin. Someone had dared to touch his mate? To kiss her? To—
“What else,” he barked. “What else did you do with him?” The blood drained from Aylin’s face, and he backed off, kicking himself for being such an ass. But the thought that someone could so easily take advantage of Aylin left him so angry he was shaking with the force of it. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Aylin.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. None of this is your fault.”
“No,” she rasped. “It’s not you. I just . . . I was thinking about what I would have done with him if he hadn’t been in a hurry to go. I wanted to go down to the river. Where, you know . . .”
Yeah, he knew. The fact that she might have recreated a recent, especially raw, primal lovemaking session with the bastard was tempered by the fact that she hadn’t; so instead of blowing a gasket, he drew her against him and held her close.
“Excuse me,” Nicole said, “but how is any of this even possible?”
“Magic.” Aylin remained plastered against him, her entire body shaking, but her voice was strong and sure. “The mystic-keeper at ShadowSpawn could make you believe that one person had turned into another.”
Skepticism flashed in Nicole’s expression. Despite all she’d seen since becoming a vampire and joining MoonBound, she still insisted that science could explain everything. “Mystic-keepers often use hallucinogenic herbs to . . .”
The sound of Nicole’s voice faded in his ears as Hunter stared at the wolf bed. This was bad. Really bad. The damage someone could do while wearing Hunter’s skin could be—
Skin. He sucked in a sharp breath. Skinwalker.
Holy shit. Neither magic nor hallucinogenic substances had done this. A vampire shifter had. A vampire shifter he’d banished long ago for impersonating another clan member. Son of a bitch.
“This wasn’t a result of magic or chemistry,” Hunter blurted, interrupting Nicole’s lengthy explanation about how hallucinogens worked. “It was a skinwalker. It’s possible he’s the one who brought in the wolf while disguised as me and who then attacked Nicole in the guise of a female.”
Nicole groaned, but not from pain. “Please don’t tell me a skinwalker is what I think it is.”
Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that, and he felt a little bad, because her science-brain wasn’t going to handle this well.
“Skinwalkers come from Native American lore that originated with vampires,” he explained hastily, anxious to go find the bastard. “They can shape-shift into animals, but usually only their own totem animal.”
Aylin pulled back. “But not all of them are limited to shifting into beasts. Before I was born, my father executed a skinwalker who could impersonate humans and other vampires.”
“I banished one from MoonBound,” Hunter said, his voice bitter to his own ears. “But maybe I should have taken a cue from your father.”
Riker frowned. “Are you talking about Lobo?”
“Is that the strange guy who lives in the woods with a wolf?” Aylin asked.
Hunter nodded. “That wolf has to be the one he brought in. It’s the only thing that makes sense. He shifted into me so he could get inside.”
Nicole considered that. “He must have come back this morning to check on the wolf while disguised as someone else. But why was he naked? And female?”
“Does it matter?” Riker helped Nicole to her feet, keeping one arm protectively around her. “He attacked you. He’s going to answer for that.”
“He’s got a lot to answer for,” Hunter said.
The door burst open and Aiden’s lover, Takis, jogged inside, his dark hair hidden under a Seattle Seahawks cap. “Sir, we’ve tracked Nicole’s assailant into the forest. Should we follow?”
A mental image of Lobo kissing Aylin popped into Hunter’s head and triggered his prey drive. “We don’t follow.” He started toward the armory. “We hunt.”