But she had to admit that having full use of her leg and being pain-free, even for a little while, had been a gift.

Like the night in the cave with Hunter.

Hunter swallowed, and when he spoke, his voice was gruff. “The male who has the honor of mating with you someday is going to be the luckiest vampire on earth.”

And there it was. Reality. Sucky, awful reality. But what else had she expected? That Hunter would come back to life, realize that nothing could keep him away from her, and risk his entire clan to be with her? Or that maybe he’d fall to his knees and beg her to run away with him?

“I hate him already,” Hunter growled, and Aylin started.

“Hate who?”

“Your mate.” His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. “Whoever he is, I hate him.”

Join the club. But for some reason, Hunter’s words pissed her off. Before all of this, she’d have shrugged it off, but letting years of anger out in the cave had been freeing. Exhilarating. And a little empowering.

So she wasn’t going to keep her mouth shut. She’d been a doormat for far too long.

“You don’t have any right to hate him.” She gestured to the vortex. “Should we go?” Not that she was in any hurry, but there was also no reason to stay here any longer. There was nothing left to say to Hunter, and she was a firm believer in ripping off the bandage fast.

Hunter hesitated, clearly preferring the slow, torturous method of removing the covering off a wound. But finally, he inhaled deeply and nodded.

Stay strong.

They undressed in tense silence. Aylin didn’t even glance in Hunter’s direction. It hurt too much to look at him. To know that after today, she’d never taste his blood again. Would never again kiss his firm lips. Would never feel his clever hands bringing her to pleasure.

Rasha would have all of that. Hunter might swear never to touch her, but by law, the mated couple must consummate the mating by sunrise on the second day. So no matter how much Hunter hated Rasha, how long would it be before he shared his bed with her again? And if he imprinted on her that first night, he wouldn’t be able to hold out very long at all. His instincts and desires would be focused entirely on her.

Dropping her dress to the grass, she swung around to Hunter. He was already naked. Gloriously, beautifully, sinfully naked. His bronze skin, which had been marked with scars – not to mention the fact that he’d been eviscerated only hours before – was so flawless that if someone told her an artist had painted it on, she’d believe it.

All of her hard resolve pooled into jelly as he walked toward her, his gait stiff, his jaw unyielding. She hoped he was struggling as hard as she was to be detached.

When she dropped her gaze to his groin and the brutally hard shaft jutting upward, it became very clear that he was failing as miserably as she was.

25

Hunter felt like such a jerk. Aylin had thrown up a wall between them, and he was trying to respect it, but his damned body had betrayed him.

Marshaling every last drop of self-control he had, he told himself this was no different than necessary feeding from humans. Arousal was involuntary, but it had always been easy not to act on it. He could do the same with Aylin.

Keep telling yourself that, dumbass.

Cursing silently, he halted in front of her before their bodies touched. Her gaze was averted, and he wished he could look away so easily. She was just so beautiful, so remarkable. He wanted to commit everything about her to memory, because soon that would be all he’d have left.

She tilted her head to the side, exposing her slender throat. Gently but firmly, he gripped her shoulder with one hand and used the other to support her head as he released the pleasure chemical and put his mouth to her vein. The moment her blood hit his tongue, he groaned in ecstasy.

Aylin tasted like sunshine and spring water, with a peppery zing on the swallow. Her blood was sweet and spicy, just like the woman.

Her pulse tapped against his fangs, and the fiery scent of her passion filled the air. She might be pretending to be detached and all business, but the beat of her heart and the musk of her arousal gave her away.

She sank her own fangs into the curve between his throat and his shoulder, and he groaned again as the pleasure-pain rippled through his body. He’d never been into pain the way Baddon and Myne were, but the sting of fangs in his flesh had always given him a burst of euphoria like nothing else.

The euphoria expanded, embracing him in a maelstrom of ecstasy. His entire body became erotically sensitized to every sound, smell, taste, and touch. In his mind, he saw himself sinking into her slick heat as she wrapped those long, toned legs around his waist. She clung to him, digging her nails into his flesh as she arched in ecstasy, taking his thrusts with wild abandon.

Ah, damn, she was perfect, fitting against him as if they were one unit, one soul. This damned vortex was messing with his head, telling him she was his mate in every way – fated, even.

He roared in both frustration and pleasure as he pumped into her, knowing this wasn’t real, and yet he’d never felt anything so clearly in his life.

I want you.

I need you.

He felt Aylin’s orgasm, her strong internal muscles clenching and rippling around his cock, and he came in a hot explosion so shockingly intense that his vision went dark and his brain shut down. Nothing mattered but the pleasure and the female he shared it with.

I love you.

He heard the words, but were they in his head? Had he said them out loud? Had he even been the one to speak them?

Consciousness slowly encroached on the bliss as cold air caressed his hot skin. The sound of someone clearing his throat seemed a little too real.

And a little too close.

Hunter popped open his eyes to see Riker standing there on the snow-covered ground, his beet-red face a mask of embarrassment.

“Ah… chief.” He shifted his weight awkwardly. “We heard shouts.” He spun around and barked a retreat order at the other MoonBound warriors who, Hunter realized with humiliating clarity, were also standing around, gaping as Hunter tugged Aylin close and tried to cover her.

As if they hadn’t already seen everything. Motherfucking everything.

Aylin buried her face in his chest as the warriors melted into the surrounding forest. “I was really hoping we’d get through the vortex without the, um, extras this time. And I could have done without the spectators.”

Hunter could have done without the surprise voyeurs, too, but he couldn’t be sorry about the rest. Some secret, shameful part of him had wanted to experience that connection with Aylin again, even if it strengthened what he already felt for her.

So much for not liking pain, because you set yourself up for it like a champ.

Yeah, he was a dumbass.

Riker, who had remained at the edge of the forest, his back turned to afford them a little privacy, spoke up. “I hate to be a bastard, but you guys need to get dressed. Fast. Humans are swarming the woods. They’re on to us.” He gestured to a backpack on the ground. “I put your clothes in there to keep them dry.”

Hunter peeled himself away from Aylin, the sticky evidence of his orgasm coating her belly and br**sts. Quickly, he snagged his T-shirt from the backpack and started to clean her off, but she snatched the shirt from him and did it herself.

Her message was glaringly clear. Intimate moment over. Don’t touch me again.

Right. They dressed hastily in the cold clothing. Just as Aylin shrugged into her coat and Hunter tied his second boot, a shot rang out. Movement exploded in the forest, followed by more shots and chaos.

“Hunter! This way!”

Hunter grabbed Aylin’s hand and sprinted in the direction of Riker’s shout. His warriors surrounded them, and then they were all running through the woods, while men on foot and horseback pursued. If Hunter’s ears weren’t deceiving him, there had to be fifty horses and twice that many humans.

“We can’t outrun them!” Riker yelled. “Not at Aylin’s speed. We need to split up. Hunter, take Aylin as fast as you can. Takis, Aiden, Tena, split right and double back behind the humans. I’ll go —” An explosion rocked the ground, and fire blasted in front of them.

The blast wave knocked Riker and Katina off their feet and sent them smashing into tree trunks. Baddon’s pained roar joined Aiden’s curse and another spray of gunfire. Pain sliced through Hunter’s arm – he’d either been shot or hit with shrapnel. Unimportant. He had to get Aylin the hell out of there.

“You’re bleeding!” she screamed as he dragged her down a ravine.

“I’m fine,” he gritted out, but he couldn’t be sure about the others. He could hear all of them following, but he also smelled blood and pain, and the cadence of their footsteps indicated that at least two of them had severe injuries.

Shit. He and Aylin had managed to get out of Samnult’s danger-filled realm, and they were going to die within minutes of returning to the real world.

But f**k if he was going down easily.

He summoned his anger, needing fuel for what he was about to do. He hadn’t been exactly truthful with Aylin earlier when she’d asked about his special gifts. Deep inside his chest, an ice storm churned, and overhead, clouds billowed. With a roar to the heavens, he released the energy that sang through his body.

All around them, hail began to fall in the form of ice spears. Agonized screams shattered the air, but more shots rang out, showering Hunter and his crew with splinters of wood as tree trunks broke apart, victims of whatever massive slugs the humans were using.

And then, from out of nowhere, a shimmering circle of light opened up in front of them. Through the sparkly curtain, MoonBound’s entrance beckoned.

A vortex? But how? It was impossible.

“Holy shit!” Riker and Baddon exclaimed in unison.

“It’s gotta be a trick.” Takis’s labored breaths garbled his words, but Hunter understood, agreed, and didn’t give a shit. They were all going to die unless they stepped through that portal.

Aylin put on a burst of speed and dragged Hunter toward it. “Hurry! Before it closes.”

It could be a trap, and if it was, he wanted to test it first. Releasing Aylin, he leaped through, but she followed a split second later. The familiar sensation of being stretched like warm taffy swept through him in a wave of relief. It wasn’t a trap. It was a genuine portal.

When they hit the ground in front of MoonBound’s entrance, he grabbed Aylin and wheeled to the side as Tena came next, followed by Katina, who was limping and holding her ribs. Aiden and Takis darted into the vortex, both bleeding from various wounds.

But where were Riker and Baddon? Where the vortex stood, there was nothing but a silvery, swirling wall.

“Come on,” Aylin whispered.

Hunter glanced over at her… and his heart skidded to a halt. The others were staring, too, astonishment leaving them slack-jawed.

Perspiration coated her skin as she stared at the vortex. Her teeth and fists were clenched, her body rigid. And her eyes, normally a piercing blue, swirled with silver, identical to the giant portal.

Aylin had created the vortex.

Holy. Shit.

“Can’t… keep… it… open,” she ground out.

Suddenly, Riker burst through, half dragging, half carrying Baddon’s heavy ass. As if the air had been let out of her, Aylin collapsed, the portal crumpling like a ball of plastic wrap. Takis and Aiden rushed to catch her, but Hunter was there first, lifting her to her feet and bracing her against him.

“I… I can’t believe I just did that,” she rasped.

Riker’s head whipped around to Aylin, but Baddon, who must have taken a bell-ringing blow to the head, merely looked dazed.

“You created the portal?” Riker asked.

Takis was still gaping. “How? Fuck me, that’s impossible.”

Not impossible, Hunter knew, but rare. So rare that he’d heard of only a single person, one of the Originals, who could summon portals at will.

“I think… I think I felt guilty about holding everyone back with my speed —”

“Fuck, Aylin,” Riker said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say it like that.”

“I know, but it was true.” Her face was flushed with excitement and shock, her blond hair blowing wildly around her shoulders. “All I could think was that I desperately wanted to help get everyone back to MoonBound, and the next thing I knew, the vortex opened.” She glanced up at Hunter, and just like the vortex she created, her eyes drew him in. “I felt it inside me. It was where my dove used to be.” She swallowed. “He was right. Sam was right about one door closing and another hitting you in the ass.”

“Sam?” Katina asked. “Who is —”

“Someone we met on our journey,” Hunter said, shutting her down hard. “Never speak of him again. Understood?” Hunter looked each of his warriors in the eye, hating that he had to be so harsh, but until Samnult said otherwise, his existence and the truth behind vampire origins must be kept secret. Even if the reason for keeping the secret was stupid.

“Yes, sir,” Katina mumbled. A chorus of yes, sirs joined in.

Satisfied with their responses, he turned back to Aylin. “Can you open another portal?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“I want to make sure that wasn’t a one-time thing.” He glanced over at the others. “Get the injured inside.” No one moved. Even Baddon had recovered enough to watch with interest, although he had to cling to Riker for balance. They all wanted to see what happened, and he didn’t blame them. “You can stay, but only if Aylin says it’s okay.”

Aylin barely seemed to register anything going on around her. Hunter doubted he’d be any more capable of thought than she was. To potentially be able to control swiftwalking, the most powerful and coveted ability in vampire lore, was a stunner. A holy shit stunner.