Chapter Eleven
Hunter waited on the porch while Dawn dressed, rubbing his shoulder absently against the doorframe. He stopped the moment he realized what he was doing, because this wasn’t his turf to mark. It was Dawn’s, and while she’d opened up to him, she hadn’t exactly begged him to make her his.
What if we beg her to make us hers? his bear tried. Would that work?
He grinned, because — yeah, he was that over the moon in love. The best feeling in the world, even if it did come with a sense of gnawing dread. He had far too many hopes and fears on the line, and there was so much he and Dawn had to discuss. Neither of them had brought up the subject of his shifter side, and he hadn’t dared to introduce the notion of destined mates.
Surely, she feels it, just like we do. Surely, she knows.
Hunter took a deep breath. Right now, he ought to be relishing the present, not worrying about the future.
He sniffed deeply, inhaling the rich scent of Maui by night. The scent of sex was still in the air, too — faint, but perfectly clear to his keen bear nose — and his chest puffed out a little bit.
Footsteps tapped over the wooden floorboards of the cottage, and he turned.
“Do I look okay?” Dawn asked, stepping onto the porch.
His jaw dropped, and he stood dumbstruck for a long minute. When he finally got his mouth into gear, all that came out were unintelligible sounds. Because, wow. She looked like a million bucks. Well, Dawn always looked like a million bucks, even in her police uniform. But now…
An ivory qipao dress sheathed her gentle curves — a gorgeous, body-hugging silk masterpiece that brought out her Asian heritage. Three knot buttons swept from her neck to one shoulder, and a long slit ran up the left leg. Hunter had never cracked open a fashion magazine, but hell, he could picture her fitting right in. No, wait — she’d be on the cover, for sure. Her glossy black hair was plaited in one long braid that fell forward over her left shoulder. The low pumps she wore matched the pure red of her lips, and a pair of dangly earrings sparkled in the moonlight.
“It’s… You’re… I mean…” He stammered away while his inner bear rolled its eyes.
Say, it’s beautiful. You’re beautiful. Come on already!
“You look great,” he managed at last.
She looked down at herself and twisted her lips uncertainly. “I’m supposed to fit in tonight, but I’m not sure I can match what Regina’s guests are likely to be wearing.”
He shook his head vehemently. “You’ll outshine every one of them. Even without the dress. I mean…”
Dawn laughed and stepped closer. “I think I’d better keep the dress on. At least while we’re at work.”
His heart soared, and he hoped he wasn’t reading too much into her words. They did imply a later, right? The time after work when the two of them could…
He cleared his throat hastily and plucked a single flower from the hibiscus growing beside the porch. “Maybe just one more accessory,” he murmured, tucking it behind her ear.
He pulled back to look her over then nodded. “Perfect.”
Understatement of the year, but Dawn didn’t seem to mind. She grinned, meeting his eyes. Then her expression grew soft and serious, and she leaned forward for a kiss.
Lucky for him, kissing Dawn came instinctively, unlike talking. Their lips met and moved slowly together in perfect harmony, and his whole body warmed. He closed his eyes because feeling and seeing so much beauty would have completely short-circuited his mind.
Dawn opened her mouth, deepening the kiss, and his arms tugged her tighter.
“Oops,” she murmured, pulling gently away. “You’ll smudge my lipstick.”
Hunter took a deep breath and tried to remind himself about things like work, duty, and appearing respectable. But damn, was that hard, especially when his bear could only think of one thing.
Back to bed. Need to please my mate. Make her mine.
A three-point plan his body was totally on board with, if only they had time. But there was a hell of a lot more at stake tonight than smudged lipstick. Regina Vanderpelt’s ring ought to be delivered at any time, what with the wedding the next day. And if the diamond turned out to be one of the Spirit Stones, who knew what hell might break loose in the shifter world?
He took Dawn’s hand, trying not to squeeze too tightly as they walked to the car. A dozen ugly scenarios raced through his mind, most of them ending the way the last Spirit Stone caper had — with him forced to shift to bear form in the thick of a fight and Dawn repulsed by the creature he had become.
His bear let out a low, sad whine. Please don’t make me hide again. Please don’t lock me away.
“What did you say?” Dawn turned.
He sealed his lips, muffling the sound. “Nothing.”
He glossed over the fib by walking around the car to open the driver’s side door for her and leaning down for one more kiss once she was in. Then he circled back to the passenger side and folded his big frame into the compact Japanese car. Dawn drove in silence down the lane and onto the road that led down toward the coast, where she slowed and took his hand.
“Beautiful night,” she murmured, nodding over the sea.
Moonlight glittered in a long, wavering line across the Pacific. The sea was heaving from the monster swell that had been building all day, but from this distance, it appeared serene. The pines on the side of the road swayed gently to and fro, and stars sparkled overhead.
Hunter raised Dawn’s hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Really beautiful. Almost perfect.”
When she sighed and drove on, Hunter watched the sparkling sea and tried to get his head around what lay ahead. If he was lucky, the wedding ring was just an expensive rock for the spoiled daughter of an oil tycoon, not a Spirit Stone. If that was the case, the whole circus at the Kapa’akea resort would wrap up in another forty-eight hours, and he could concentrate on wooing his mate.
But a good soldier didn’t count on luck — and neither did a bear shifter, not when his mate was involved.
“What do you know about the diamond?” he asked.
Dawn’s eyebrow arched. “What do you know about it?”
He bit his lip. Shoot. Whatever she knew about the diamond, police protocol probably forbade her from disclosing. And whatever she did know about it was unlikely to include the notion of a Spirit Stone.
He flexed his hands, and the knuckles cracked. Shifters didn’t have a written code, but they had their own protocol when it came to sensitive information like the power of the Spirit Stones. So he couldn’t divulge anything either. But, damn. If the diamond was a Spirit Stone, he had to warn Dawn.
The silence between them stretched on — too long, threatening to damage trust so long in the making. Dawn had trusted him with so much already. Couldn’t he trust her?
Silas’s face flashed into his mind, red with fury as he bellowed, You told her what?
Hunter squirmed in his seat. He loved his shifter brothers, but he loved Dawn, too.
A moment later, his decision was made. He’d hidden enough from Dawn in the past. It was time to come clean.
“Remember the fight?” he whispered, figuring he didn’t have to specify which one. The scene must have been burned into her mind — all those dead bodies, and him standing there in bear form.
Dawn’s hand stiffened and pulled away from his. She nodded grimly.
“Kramer and his mercenaries were trying to kidnap Nina. In part for her money, and in part for the ruby she inherited.”
Dawn’s lips barely moved when she spoke. “That six-million-dollar ruby?”
Hunter itched to hold her hand again, but he didn’t dare invade her space. “The ruby is worth a lot more than that.”
Dawn looked at him sharply. “More than six million?”
He shook his head. “Not what you can count in money. The ruby is a Spirit Stone. It has…” He scratched his head, trying to figure out a way to explain. “It has special powers.”
“What kind of powers?”
He ran his teeth over his lower lip. “Powers most humans aren’t aware of. But for shifters…”
Dawn’s shoulders tensed, but he had to go on.
“There are five Spirit Stones. The ruby is one of them. There’s an emerald, too. You remember that helicopter crash on Molokini?”
She gave a terse nod.
“That wasn’t just a crash. It was a dragon fight — a fight over Tessa and the emerald.”
She hit the brakes. “What do you mean, a dragon fight over Tessa?”
“Well, another dragon wanted her as his mate, and—”
She stared at him. “A dragon wanted her as his what?”
“Shifters believe in destined mates — finding the one person who’s meant for you. The one your heart is bound to forever, who you’ll love to the end of your days.”
Dawn turned white. “Does the woman get a choice in this?”
His stomach turned. The evening had been so perfect, and now he was messing it all up. “Of course, she does. She recognizes her mate. Tessa loves Kai. She felt the pull as much as he did. But this other dragon came along and…”
“And?” Her hand tightened over the gear stick.
He motioned vaguely in the air. “The other dragon challenged Kai. He wanted Tessa for himself. But the point is—”
Her mutter cut him off. “It sounds like medieval times.”
Hunter had to admit she had a point there. Some aspects of the shifter world were on the barbarian end of things. But other parts — like the pure, undying love of a shifter for his destined mate — that eclipsed any of the wonders of the human world.
So tell her. Explain, his bear urged.
Hunter clenched the armrest so tight, his knuckles turned white. Dawn was already on the defensive, and she might not appreciate the difference between a crazed, stalker type and an honest bear who’d sacrifice anything for his mate.
She started driving again, faster than before, as if in a rush to get to the resort where she could give him the boot.
“Dawn, the Stones have great power,” he said, trying to guide the conversation back to where it had started. “They call to each other.”
Dawn looked up, startled, but didn’t utter a word.
“It’s possible that Regina’s diamond is a Spirit Stone. And if it is, there could be other shifters after it.”
“After it?” she demanded. “Is that what you and Cruz are doing? Casing the joint in case the diamond turns out to be more than just a diamond?”
“No!” Hunter sputtered. “We’re not after anything. We were hired as security, and that’s what we’ll do.”
“But if the diamond is one of these special stones? Then what?”
“We make sure the enemy doesn’t get it.”
“And who exactly is the enemy?”
He wrinkled his nose. The shifter world was filled with alliances and feuds, some of which dated back centuries. And like humans, there were good shifters, evil shifters — like the powerful dragon lord, Drax, and everything in between. There were other supernatural species, too. Vampires. Witches.
Hybrids, his bear added in a low growl.
Hybrids. Humans with enough shifter blood to boast the same powers — the incredible strength, the longevity, the ability to heal from most mortal wounds. Everything except the ability to shift. Jericho Deroux, the man who’d killed his parents, was a hybrid. A ruthless man who eliminated innocent families like weeds if they stood in the way of his plans.
“The enemy is anyone who would use the Spirit Stone to heighten his own powers,” he said at last.
“What would you do?”
He scratched his head. He’d never really thought it through that far. “I wouldn’t do anything with it. I’d just hide it so no one could abuse its powers.”
“Hide it? Where?”
He made a face. Silas was a dragon, and dragons kept treasure hoards. He would have a safe place to store the diamond, for sure. But Silas would kill Hunter if he revealed such a secret to Dawn, so again, he was stuck.
He settled for a vague flap of the hand. “The point is to keep it away from evil.”
“But the diamond is Regina’s.” Dawn pointed out. “And though I’m no fan, I wouldn’t exactly call her evil.”
“It is Regina’s. And hopefully, it’s not a Spirit Stone, and there’s no issue.”
“But if it is a Spirit Stone?”
Hunter considered. “If it is and no other shifter catches on, we do nothing. Silas says the Spirit Stones slumber.”
“Slumber?”
Yeah, it sounded funny to him, too. Such an innocent word for such a powerful object. “As long as they slumber, they’re basically off the radar. It’s only those brief periods when they change hands that their powers awake and cause trouble.”
“Trouble. Right.” She frowned.
“If nothing disturbs the Spirit Stone, it will go on slumbering, and no shifter will take notice of it. Regina can have it, no problem — well, other than regular human thieves, I guess. But someday, when it changes hands, the danger arises again. The stone could awaken and attract trouble.”
Dawn put a hand to her cheek and scratched hard. If she hadn’t been driving, he could imagine her rubbing both eyes in disbelief.
He dragged a hand through his hair. Why had he even brought the subject up?
Because Dawn needs to know for her own safety, his bear said.
He took a deep breath. “Look, just keep the possibility in mind, and stay safe, all right?”
“I’m a police officer, Hunter.” Defiance tinged her voice. “I might be undercover, but when I’m on the job, I do my job. You get that?”
He looked at her. Shit. That sense of connection was gone, and Dawn was back to being cool, professional Officer Meli. Had he just wrecked everything by bringing up the diamond?
“I get it,” he whispered. “I get it.”
They drove in a silence so fraught with tension, Hunter didn’t dare move a muscle. When they reached the resort, Dawn parked in a hurry and slammed her door.
“I have to check on something,” she murmured, hurrying away.
He let out a breath — the one he felt like he’d been holding throughout the latter part of the drive — and let his shoulders slump.
“So, how did it go?” Kai asked, appearing out of nowhere to smack Hunter on the back.
Hunter kicked the dirt. The evening had been a dream come true until he’d fucked everything up.
“Your timing is perfect,” Kai said with a yawn. “I need to head back— Whoa.” He sniffed deeply.
Hunter’s spine went ramrod straight. Dragons might not have noses as keen as bears, but they could pick up the fresh scent of sex. Hunter had showered, but the scent still clung to him.
Kai cracked into a huge grin. “Way to go. You and Dawn finally—”
Hunter whirled and shoved Kai back, glowering.
“But that’s good, right?” Kai asked, confused. “I mean…” He trailed off.
Hunter straightened his tie and checked his watch. “How did the rehearsal go?”
Kai looked at him wordlessly before finally giving in to the change of topic. “I guess you can say it went in true Regina style. A couple of hissy fits, lots of photos. The usual. The groom looks like he’s having second thoughts, and who can blame him? But, yeah. They made it through the rehearsal. I’m not sure they’ll make it through the wedding, though.”
“What about the ring?” Hunter asked, dropping his voice.
Kai shook his head. “It arrived with what looks to be the security team of Fort Knox. I managed to get a look at the diamond, but honestly — I didn’t pick up the slightest vibe. Not like you get from the other stones once you know what to pay attention to.”
“It could be slumbering,” Hunter tried.
Kai looked skeptical. “If it is, then it’s hibernating so deeply I couldn’t feel a thing. Well, other than the slight vibe I’ve felt all week.”
Hunter had felt it, too. A quiet pulse, a barely perceptible hum in the air. Or had he been imagining things?
“But maybe it’s something totally unconnected to the Spirit Stones,” Kai said.
“Like what?”
Kai shrugged. “I don’t know. This resort is built on the site of an ancient temple. Maybe they pissed off some spirits or something. But I’m pretty sure that diamond is not a Spirit Stone.”
“No suspicious characters sniffing around?”
Kai snorted and waved toward the party tent. “That whole slice of high society is suspicious if you ask me.”
Hunter looked toward the brightly lit tent. The babble of a crowd reached out from within, and a band was warming up.
“What about that hyena shifter?”
Kai scowled. “I’ve had my eye on him all night. Not a sign of anything suspicious.”
Hunter scowled. A hyena shifter appearing on Maui was outright suspicious as far as he was concerned, but Silas had conducted a background check and found nothing, so they’d settled for keeping close tabs on the newcomer.
“Anyway, I’m going to find Cruz and go,” Kai yawned. “Got a mate to get home to, after all.”
Hunter’s bear nodded sadly. I don’t. Might never win her, either.
He looked around. Dawn was somewhere near, but oh so far.
His bear cried in his mind. Find Dawn. Maybe we can explain.
He’d tried to explain, but he fucked up. It was time to concentrate on work. So he set one foot in front of the other and made a beeline for the bustling party tent where the rehearsal party was taking place. The moment he stepped through the entrance, his nostrils flared and his bear went from mopey to high alert.
He sniffed, scanning the faces in the room.
“Can you believe the bridesmaids’ dresses?” one young woman chuckled to another.
Hunter’s eyes skipped over them, trying to home in on the scent. Something not quite human, not quite shifter.
“I don’t know what the designer was thinking,” the young woman went on. “And Regina’s dress. What was up with that?”
Hunter stepped sideways, craning his neck to check the side entrances to the tent. Who or what was making every warning bell in his body ring?
“I don’t think it flatters her one bit.”
He focused on a tight group of guests standing beside the bandstand. Roger Vanderpelt, the oil tycoon, was there with his usual cronies. Another man surrounded by his own entourage came striding up from a side entrance — a late arrival who made a show of shaking hands and slapping backs.
Hunter turned away, more interested in spotting the diamond ring than a businessman, but something pulled his attention back to the late arrival. Hunter craned his neck, trying to get a look at the man’s face. What was it about that man that made Hunter’s bear pace and grumble inside?
He kept to the edge of the tent, sidestepping chairs, chains of flowers, and two little boys creeping along to sneak up on guests. Images flooded his mind — visions that didn’t fit in the least. Images of Alaska and the cabin beside the rushing creek where he’d lived as a kid. He saw his mother quilting on the porch in one of those perfect noontimes in late spring, when everything seemed new and fresh. He saw himself as a kid, throwing rocks into the river with satisfying splashes.
A dreamlike memory, but it was a nightmare, because everything had gone downhill from there.
The next image flipped into place, like a badly edited film. His mother laughed and smiled at him. But then her head whipped around to the north, and she jumped to her feet.
Hunter fisted his hands, edging closer to the elder Vanderpelts and the people clustered around them. Who was that new arrival? The big man with the silver hair?
The urgency in his mother’s voice echoed through his mind. Hunter, come to me. Quick.
She was terrified, and though he hadn’t known why at the time, he’d rushed over and hidden behind her skirt.
“You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to get from Alaska to Hawaii,” the big man was saying to Roger Vanderpelt as Hunter worked his way closer.
“I swear that pipeline’s been twenty years in the making,” Roger Vanderpelt said. “When will we finally get the paperwork lined up for it?”
Mrs. Vanderpelt sighed. “Oh, dear. That project has been giving you ulcers all these years. Do we have to talk about it now?”
“Sorry. No need to discuss business.” The new arrival laughed in a low bass.
Hunter squinted, moving quickly through the glare of a light.
I’m here to discuss business, a deep voice growled in his mind. Another memory of that awful day, so long ago.
I’ll never do business with you, and you know it, his mother had announced to the big man striding up to the cabin. He’d been flanked by four sidekicks, all of them grinning cruelly.
You sure about that? the man had retorted.
My mate and I told you before, and we’ll tell you again— she’d started, putting her hands on her hips.
Your mate is dead, the man chuckled.
Hunter remembered his mother’s knuckles going white on the backrest of the chair. He remembered squinting into the sun just like he did now against the lights in the party tent, trying to make out the face of the enemy.
Someone stepped aside, and Hunter stopped cold, seeing the face that haunted his dreams. An older, more weathered version, but the same man for sure.
Jericho Deroux, you get off my property, his mother had cried, defiant to the end.
The big man in the party tent lit a match and held up a cigar, just like he’d held a match to the pile of kindling on the cabin porch.
Don’t, Hunter’s mother had whispered, backing away.
“Don’t,” Mrs. Vanderpelt said to the guest. “No smoking, remember?”
Oh, Hunter remembered, all right. He remembered the cabin blazing away in flames. He remembered Jericho advancing as he and his mother fled toward the creek.
Run, Hunter, his mother had said in a hoarse whisper. Run. I’ll hold him off here.
She had, too, fighting Jericho in bear form, calling upon the supernatural strength of a mother determined to protect her child. But Jericho was bigger and stronger. His knife was sharper than Hunter’s mother’s claws, and it sliced deeper until he finally kicked her body into the river. Hunter had paddled after her, clinging to her fur in the rushing water until they came to a stop in an eddy miles downstream. He’d spent an hour trying to nudge her back to life and another hour trembling at her side, unsure what to do. It was only when Jericho and his men came splashing down the shallows that he’d fled. Somehow, he survived two weeks in the wilds before finding a distant relative who reluctantly took him in with the strict rule that he could never, ever let his bear out. Really never, not just never-when-humans-were-around.
His hands curled into fists as his bear raged inside. That man had killed his parents in cold blood. A man who’d been reported dead — the only reason Hunter hadn’t tracked him down to seek revenge.
Revenge, his bear growled. Now.
The points of his claws pinched the flesh under his fingernails, begging to be unleashed.
Jericho Deroux snuffed his match out with an annoyed shake then looked around. His nose twitched, and his eyes narrowed as he checked his surroundings.
Hunter froze as the man’s eyes swept right over him on the first pass. A dozen conflicting reactions rushed through his mind.
Kill him!
Hide from him!
Lure him outside then kill him once you’re out of sight.
Hunter ground his teeth. The hiding part stemmed from his inner cub, still lost and lonely after all these years.
No hiding. We exact our revenge, his bear growled. Right now.
But that wouldn’t work either, not with all these humans around. Including Dawn, who had to be nearby.
Sweat broke out on his brow as he clenched his fists. Damn it all. He had to prove he wasn’t the marauding beast Dawn feared. So he couldn’t kill Jericho.
Not even if that monster deserves it? his bear cried.
Slowly, grudgingly, he gathered every threadbare strand of self-control and vowed not to attack Jericho.
Forgive me, mother, he whispered in his mind.
That only left him one option — to watch and wait. To figure out some way to bring Jericho down in a way Dawn wouldn’t hate him for.
He stepped back into the shadows as Jericho’s eyes swept the area. When the man didn’t pause or show any sign of recognition, Hunter exhaled. Hybrids didn’t have the keen sense of smell that shifters had, though they did possess the same raw power.
Jericho shrugged and went back to his conversation, his eyes drifting over the room, pausing on attractive young women rather than potential threats. Then his eyes darted to the entrance and blazed with renewed interest.
Hunter followed his gaze — and froze. Dawn stood there, looking gorgeous as ever. Easily the most beautiful woman at the party without even trying. Maybe the most beautiful because she wasn’t trying. And shit — Jericho’s greedy gaze grazed all over her body.
“Excuse me,” Jericho murmured to the Vanderpelts and moved purposely toward Dawn, licking his lips.