“He is a vampire, like you!” Pasha stared out at the beach through the patio doors, her arms folded across her waist. They’d forced her to sit with Zachary on the whole flight out there as if she was going to change her mind about mating him.
And yet, she couldn’t help but be drawn to him, repulsed by the draw, but nevertheless, she couldn’t stop the bizarre way in which she felt. He had a magnetism that no other hunter had ever held for her. He’d been a gentleman the whole flight with her, getting her a pillow and blanket when she’d wanted to sleep and pretend he wasn’t sitting beside her, turning off the air overhead when she’d gotten cold, getting her another drink of water when she’d gotten thirsty.
He hadn’t said anything to her, hadn’t smiled, hadn’t pushed his need to show she should be his mate, and she’d almost wanted him to do all those things. Yet she knew this was strictly a job for him like any other. She had to keep her judgment clear so she could kill as many of the bloodsuckers that had murdered the rest of her family. It would all be for naught if she got herself killed right in the beginning.
“He cares for you,” Danai added.
Pasha knew he did. And she knew she shouldn’t love that he did.
“He is no longer a hunter,” she said softly.
“He is a hunter. Just as I am still a huntress. That part of us hasn’t changed.” Danai turned over onto her side and closed her eyes.
He wasn’t just a hunter, just like Danai wasn’t any longer. That was the trouble.
Pasha waited. Then she opened the patio doors, stepped outside, and closed them. The rain was pouring at an angle toward the south, and the shelter hanging over the patios on each of the balconies kept her dry.
The door opened from Zachary’s room, and she turned to see who was coming out on the patio adjoining hers. Zachary? Or Michael?
She wished Michael knew the truth about Danai. It wasn’t fair that Danai led him on without telling him she was a vampire now.
Michael. The breeze caught his blond hair, his blue eyes glancing in her direction for a second. She’d almost hoped it had been Zachary and hoped just as much that it had not been. She couldn’t quash the inner turmoil she was experiencing about the whole sorted mess.
“Pasha,” Michael said in greeting, then shut his door and leaned against the wrought iron barrier and studied the Gulf, the storm, lightning spearing the churned-up waves.
With all her heart she wanted him to know the truth about her sister. He deserved to know. She looked away from him and studied the storm like he was doing, his thoughts most likely focused on the hunt, vampires, meditating some before the hunters went into battle.
“My brother has asked me to kill him,” Michael said, still not looking at her.
She was so surprised Zachary would ask him to do such a thing. How could he think his brother would kill him? Despite not liking what had become of her sister and brother, she would never harm them in any way.
“He has also asked Adonis.”
Her jaw dropped. “He said no, didn’t he?”
Michael smiled a bit. “Adonis wants to live with the family a little longer.”
Of course.
Michael turned to her then, his eyes narrowed. “Has Zachary asked you to kill him?”
She swallowed hard. She couldn’t kill Zachary. He had saved her life and forfeited his own in doing so. He loved her.
She glanced back at the churning water.
“So he has,” Michael said softly.
They stood there in silence for what seemed like forever, and then Michael said, “Don’t do it.”
She scoffed. “What kind of a person do you think I am?”
“Someone who is angry with the world. Angry at what her brother has become. Angry with what Zachary has become. Someone who has reason for hating the vampires who kill for blood. Maybe you believe you would be doing Zachary a kindness. How do I know?”
She sighed. “I would not kill Zachary.”
“Good. Because I might not have time to watch his back where you’re concerned. I’d prefer watching Danai’s.”
Unless he knew what she had become.
“Do…do you really not mind what Adonis is?” she asked. Maybe Michael wouldn’t mind about Danai. Maybe Pasha had him all figured wrong.
“Oh, hell, yeah, I mind. But he would never have been able to save my life had he not been one. He risked his own identity by using his vampiric abilities. I owe him my life and my unending gratitude. Not just for me, but also for what he has done for Rachael and our family by helping her to rid us of the worst vampire in our region, who had claimed her when she was a child.”
But would Michael mind mating a huntress turned?
“Zachary’s always been a great hunter. But I worry that if you’re in danger, he’ll risk his own life to protect yours,” Michael said. “Like he did already.”
“Are you saying he shouldn’t have come?”
“I don’t think he’s ready for his new way of life. And I don’t think he’s ready to let you go. Or maybe you should have stayed with our family instead and he should have come. I think the two of you hunting together might be a disaster.”
“I’m certain each of us will do our part to take down the vampires who killed my family just as we always do,” she said, but she had worried, too, that Zachary may risk his life over her yet again, only this time not live through the ordeal.
And yet wasn’t that what he wanted? What she wanted?
She shook her head and went back inside. Danai was gone. Her heart skipping beats, she hurried back outside and caught Michael before he walked back inside his room. “Danai is gone.”
Michael climbed over the connected balconies and stormed into their room. “Hell.” He glanced back at Pasha. “Where would she have gone?”
“To the house, maybe? I don’t know.”
“Get Zachary and I’ll tell Adonis and Rachael.” Michael headed out of the room and pounded on the door down the hall.
Pasha called Zachary on the phone. “Danai is gone. We’re not sure where she’s gotten off to, but she’s not in the room. I was thinking maybe our home. Crichton took over the house. I’m not sure if he’s actually living there or one of his minions is.”
“I’m ready.”
“What did you say to her?” Adonis asked, entering her and Danai’s room, furious with Pasha.
“Nothing! I was looking at the storm and talking with Michael for a moment on the balcony. And when I returned to the room, she was gone.”
Adonis looked like he didn’t believe her. And that totally pissed her off.
“Zachary, you were to go there first, since the vampires will realize you’re one of them as soon as you bear your teeth at them, but they won’t know that you’re a hunter. If Danai has gone there first, they will kill her, realizing she’s a huntress there to avenge her family,” Adonis said. “But I will have to invite you into our house for you to have access.”
“The vampires will invite me in,” Zachary said, looking ready to do this.
Pasha had known this was the plan they had worked out and then Michael, Rachael, and she would arrive after the fight began inside. Well, and Danai. She was not supposed to be there already.