Releasing the Hunter hn-168 Read online

  “There. You see. I’m not possessed.”

  Quinn didn’t say anything, just nodded at the woman again. When she approached Ronan she was much more cautious. Afraid looking, even. Her hand shook as she handed it to him.

  Ronan took the bottle, and after giving a cheers to Quinn, he chugged down the rest. He burped, wiped his mouth and tossed the bottle onto the floor. “Satisfied, big guy?”

  “No, but I guess it proves you aren’t a demon. Doesn’t mean I can trust you.”

  “He’s with me, so you can trust him,” Ivy said.

  Quinn nodded to his men, who all lowered their weapons. He then turned to look at Ivy. “Nice to see you, Ivy.”

  She jumped to her feet, crossed the room and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back, tight. The familiar scent of him filled her nose and she sighed again.

  When they broke apart, she took a step back, and fisting her hand, she punched him in the jaw. He stumbled back and, rubbing his face, he laughed. “Not bad. You’ve gotten stronger.”

  “You’re an asshole.”

  Once he recovered, he eyed her sharply. “Why are you here? How did you find me?”

  “I came to bring you home, jackass.”

  He glanced at Ronan. “So are you going to enlighten me on who this guy is and why you are running around with a cambion?”

  “It’s a long story and frankly doesn’t matter. The fact is, I’ve been looking for you for the past three years and now I’ve found you.”

  Quinn shook his head. “Yeah. I didn’t think you would.”

  “You’re my brother, idiot. Of course I’m going to try to find you.”

  “Didn’t you get my note?”

  “Oh, you mean the one that said ‘Don’t try and find me’?” She snorted. “I saw it and tossed it away. Did you really think I would listen?”

  He chuckled. “I suppose I should’ve known better.”

  “Yeah, duh.”

  Quinn’s gaze roamed over Ronan again. And he shook his head. “I’m sorry. I just have a real hard time accepting that you are running with this guy. I thought you hated demons like the rest of us.”

  Ivy glanced over her shoulder at Ronan. He was leaning back in his chair, all casual-like. But she knew he was primed and ready to act at a nanosecond’s notice. He’d defend himself vigorously if attacked. She really didn’t want to be mopping up both his and her brother’s blood.

  “I do hate demons. But Ronan isn’t one. So get that through your thick skull.”

  “I’m just remembering the last time you brought a guy home, he turned out to be a demon.”

  She glared at him. “Oh, grow up, Quinn. I was sixteen then.”

  “What was his name again?”

  “Nick,” she bit out between clenched teeth. “And you solved the problem, Quinn, you saw right through him and splattered him into a billion pieces in front of me. So what, that makes you a big hero, huh?”

  She hated remembering that night. It was a turning point for her. The night she’d promised herself never to get involved with another guy. They could hurt you in more ways than one if they got too close. She’d learned that in all kinds of hard ways that night.

  Just one more reason why building a relationship with Ronan was impossible. In the back of her mind, she’d always be afraid that Quinn would splatter him all over the room just as he did to her last serious boyfriend who turned out to be a demon.

  “Besides, I’m not dating Ronan. He’s my business partner. It’s a completely different set of circumstances.”

  She could see Ronan tense in his chair, but she didn’t want to face him. Not yet. Not now. She had to make sure her stupid brother didn’t kill him or something equally as inane.

  Quinn laughed, then put his hands up. “Okay, okay. You don’t have to get nasty.”

  “Oh, you haven’t seen nasty. I’ve taken nasty to a whole new level during the past three years.”

  Quinn lost his indignant smile, and then ran a hand over his face. He looked tired, she thought. Worn out. Again she wondered how long they’d been hunkered down in this fight.

  “Yeah, well, I guess a lot has changed, hasn’t it?”

  She nodded. “Yup.” But the fight had drained out of her. She no longer wanted to beat the crap out of him for leaving her. Well, maybe still a little. She just wanted to know if he was all right, and how she could help him.

  “Can I get up now?” Ronan asked.

  Quinn nodded. “I guess, but I still don’t trust you, so don’t be doing anything stupid.”

  Ronan stood. “Fair enough.” He came up along Ivy’s side. She wanted to lean into him, but with her brother still eyeing Ronan and her, she refrained and kept her feet in place.

  “So what the hell is going on around here?” she asked. “Looks like a war zone out there.”

  “It is,” Quinn answered.

  “When did this all happen?”

  He sighed, and then rested a hip up against a wood table along one wall. “About three days ago.”

  Ivy flinched at that and glanced at Ronan. Three days ago she had just met Ronan in the dark back alley. The cambion didn’t meet her gaze; he kept his eyes on Quinn.

  “How did it start?”

  “Some people started going bat-shit crazy.” Quinn nodded toward the woman that had given them the water. “Started with Julie’s husband. He drove his truck into the police station and shot Sheriff Newman. Deputy Bradford shot and killed him.” He sighed again. “Julie came to me about it, and I went and looked at the body in the morgue. Saw evidence of possession.”

  Julie started to cry. One of the other men hugged her close and patted her on the back.

  “It escalated in a hurry.”

  “We saw three demons earlier,” Ronan said.

  Quinn nodded. “I’d say there are at least ten in town. Maybe more.”

  “Why here?” Ivy asked, but she had a feeling she already knew the answer and was looking at it in his familiar face.

  He shook his head. “I’m not sure.”

  “Okay, I’ll make it easy for you,” she said. “Why are you here? What made you come to this town of all places?”

  He didn’t answer at first, but shuffled his shoe on the floor. “I made a promise to Dad.”

  “What?” That was the last thing Ivy expected to hear. “What promise?”

  “That I would take care of things when he was gone.”

  “Yeah, so? What needed to be taken care of here?”

  Another woman stepped forward. She was older, in her fifties for sure, with a tanned face. Her dark hair was lined with gray and pulled back into a severe ponytail. “Me.”

  Ivy swung around toward her. “And who are you?”

  Quinn looked at them both sheepishly. “Ivy, this is Gloria. Gloria was Dad’s...”

  “Mistress,” Ivy finished for him. “Yeah, I get it. And?”

  Gloria’s eyes widened with surprise, and maybe hurt, but Ivy didn’t care. She didn’t have time to coddle anyone. They were all grown-ups, weren’t they?

  “And Dad asked me to take care of her if anything happened to her.”

  “So what happened?”

  “I got cancer. The bad kind,” Gloria answered, her voice a bit gravelly. “So Quinn came to take care of me. Doctors said I only had a year, but I’m still here.”

  Ronan put a hand on Ivy’s shoulder. Her first instinct was to shrug it off, but she didn’t. She liked that he’d offered it in support. As a way to lean on him.

  Closing her eyes, she sighed, and then opened them. “I’m sorry for your trouble. I meant no offense.”

  Gloria gave her a little smile. “None taken. I know this is a bit of a shock for you.”

  “But it still doesn’t answer the question of why all the demon activity.”

  Ronan squeezed her shoulder, then answered, “It’s because of the key.”

  Quinn looked authentically surprised. “What key?”

  “You know what I’m talking
about.” Ronan met her brother’s gaze head-on as Quinn pushed off the table. She could feel the testosterone filling the room like a bad smell.

  “Look, why don’t the three of us go somewhere private and talk about this?” she suggested.

  The frantic pounding of feet on the stairs interrupted them. A young scruffy-looking girl burst into the room. “Quinn, we need you down at checkpoint two.”

  Quinn sighed, then rubbed his face with both hands. “Okay, I’m coming.” He looked at Ivy. “Why don’t you get cleaned up?” He glanced at Ronan’s bloody, wounded shoulder. “Take care of your guy here. And we’ll talk when I get back.” He headed for the stairs. “Bill, make sure they get some food, water and whatever else they need.”

  “Quinn, this is important,” Ivy stated.

  “So is keeping these people safe.” He put a foot up on the first step. “Our conversation will keep for a couple of hours, I’m sure.”

  She watched him ascend the stairs, followed by almost everyone in the basement. Except for Gloria and the gunman named Bill.

  Bill nodded to them. “Come with me and I’ll find you some quarters and some food.”

  Ivy followed Bill up the stairs, Ronan right behind her.

  Chapter 21

  Ronan watched Ivy as she paced the room they’d been placed in. He wasn’t ready to say imprisoned in, although there was someone stationed at their door available for anything they needed. Yeah, right, he thought. Available to keep them trapped inside was more like it.

  “I hate waiting. It’s been two hours. Where the hell is he?”

  Ronan finished the bowl of stew they’d been given and dropped the plastic spoon into the garbage can. “He’ll be here. He’s probably trying to figure out the best way to lie to us about the key.”

  She stopped walking and frowned at him. “Do you think he’ll deny he has it?”

  He nodded. “Oh, yeah. It’s why this town is under siege, I’m sure of it. So he’ll try to keep it under wraps for as long as he can. Even though he knows I’m right.”

  She looked at him for a long moment. He could see she was struggling. It looked like she wanted to say something to him but was unsure how to put it. He had a notion of the thing she wanted to ask. Because he was asking himself the same question. Did it all start with him? Was he the reason that the demons had found out about Quinn and the key?

  He decided to put her out of her misery. “The answer is, I don’t know.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The reason you’re staring at me that way. You want to know if I think this is because of the cabal asking me to find the key.”

  “It’s a reasonable question.”

  He nodded. “I know it is.” He scratched at his chin where stubble was coming in. “But I do know that the cabal wouldn’t want demons to have the key. So they didn’t send them here. The demons are here on someone else’s orders. Someone who knew that Quinn has the key and that he was here in Sumner.” He rolled his shoulder, which was still stiff from the bullet wound, but healing nicely. “We didn’t know that until fifteen hours ago. The demons have been here three days. They were here right around the time we first met.”

  “It can’t be a coincidence.”

  “I agree. There are no such things as coincidences.”

  “What then?” She sighed, and he could see the fatigue lining her face.

  “There’s another player around. Someone with a lot of power and knowledge.”

  Ivy walked to the tiny cot in the corner and sank down onto it. She covered her face with her hands. “I hate this. I should be celebrating because I found my brother but all I have is a bad churning in my gut.”

  “Maybe it was the stew. It kind of has a bad aftertaste.”

  She lifted her head and half smiled at him. That’s what he wanted to see. He didn’t like seeing a defeated Ivy Strom. It almost scared him to see her like that. Like watching a steel bar bending under pressure.

  “I’m sorry for the way Quinn treated you.”

  He waved her apology away. “Don’t be. I expected it. I’m sure you did, as well.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I guess I’d forgotten what a hard-ass he was.”

  “Just like another sibling I know.”

  Ronan got up from the chair, crossed the room and sat down beside her on the cot. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him. She didn’t resist, but laid her head on his shoulder. He liked that she could lean on him. He wanted her to. He wanted to be the man she could count on in good times or bad. He wanted...her.

  “Yeah, families can be a hassle.”

  “Do you have a family? Brothers or sisters?” she asked. “I know virtually nothing about you.” She closed her eyes, her head still on his shoulder.

  He shook his head. “I lost them a long time ago.”

  “I’m sorry. How did it happen?”

  He felt his throat tighten up. It was still so difficult to talk about it even after all these years. “It was the same night I became what I am.”

  “Are they dead?”

  “Yeah,” he sighed. He tried not to think about his mom and sister. They’d all been out for dinner together, in the wrong place at the wrong time, when he’d been attacked by the demons. They’d gotten in the way. He should’ve known his lifestyle would be the death of them eventually. He’d been drunk and stupid and they had paid the ultimate price for his mistakes.

  “My mom and younger sister. They were with me at that restaurant and were walking with me through that alley to my car.”

  She wrapped her hands around his arm and held on to him as he continued. Her warmth pressed against him gave him the strength to talk about it without the guilt and anger and regret pulsing through him.

  “For about five years after, I drank myself into oblivion almost every night. I thought maybe I could pollute the demon blood out of my system. And numb the pain of their deaths. But neither worked all that well.”

  “I tried that after my dad died,” she murmured.

  He sighed. “Yeah, it doesn’t help, does it?”

  “No, it doesn’t.” She lifted her head and stared him in the eyes. “I’m so sorry, Ronan, about what happened to you.”

  He nodded, and then brought his hand up to rub his thumb down her cheek. He tilted her face a little and leaned toward her mouth. She lifted her lips to his and they kissed.

  Ivy brought her hands up to his chest and gripped his shirt, pulling him closer. She tore at his mouth, nipping and tugging on his tongue and lips with a savage glee. He responded in kind until they were both panting.

  His heart pounded hard, as did his groin. He wanted to take her right here and now, their circumstances be damned. He didn’t much care for anything, except Ivy. Kissing her, touching her, hearing her moan and feeling her writhe under his weight. But it was more than just the physical pulsing between them. He knew there was more than that. He knew she had feelings for him. As he harbored feelings for her. The question was, were they enough to get them through this together?

  Unfortunately they didn’t get a chance to find out before the door opened and Quinn marched in.

  “Holy crap,” he growled.

  Ivy pulled away from Ronan and actually sprang to her feet.

  “You have got to be kidding me.” He shook his head. “Ivy, seriously?”

  “Oh, please, spare me your ethics lesson,” she growled back.

  “Yeah, but him?” He gestured to Ronan. “He’s practically a hellspawn.”

  That had Ronan on his feet. “You know if you want to solve this between us, I’m more than happy to take it to a more private venue.”

  Quinn took a step forward, his hands fisted.

  Ivy got between them and pushed at Quinn. “Don’t be an idiot.” Then she poked Ronan in the chest. “And you relax. You aren’t helping any.”

  “You know, I thought you’d gain some sense in the past three years. But I see you haven’t. You’re the same impulsive, unpre
dictable girl you were when I left.”

  Ivy pushed him again, and this time he backed up. “I have changed. More than you’ll ever know. You made sure of that. You forced me to change by leaving. You abandoned me, Quinn. You left me to fend for myself. And I did.” She bit out the last few words between clenched jaws. Waves of fury vibrated off her body.

  Quinn’s face fell. “Ivy, I didn’t abandon you.”

  “The hell you didn’t,” she spat back. “What do you call sneaking out in the middle of the night with no notice, nothing but a note on the kitchen table telling me not to look for you? If that’s not abandonment, then I don’t know what is.”

  He ran a shaky hand through his hair. “That’s not how I meant it. I just wanted to spare you some of Dad’s shit that I had to deal with.”

  “Well, you didn’t. Who do you think took up all the responsibility of hunting? Me.” She poked him in the chest. “And I became a damn great hunter. No thanks to you.”

  “I’m sorry, Ivy. I didn’t think my leaving would hurt you as much as it did.”

  She wanted to scream at him that it had ripped her heart out. What little of one she had left after Dad had died only a year before that. Instead she said, “Well, you’re an idiot, aren’t you?”

  “It was just I always thought of you as pretty independent. You never needed my help in the past. I didn’t think my presence meant all that much to you.”

  Tears stung the corners of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Not in front of Quinn and never in front of Ronan. So she dug her nails into the palms of her hands. “You thought wrong. I needed you, Quinn, especially after Dad died.”

  He reached out to her, setting his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She let him pull her into a hug. He patted her shoulders awkwardly.

  After a few moments, she pulled back from him. “Okay, I sort of forgive you.”

  He smiled, and then punched her on the arm. “Good, because I don’t how long I can be the mushy brother. It’s totally cramping my style.”

  She returned his smile, not because she forgave him completely, but because she realized that she didn’t need him in her life. She hadn’t had to rely on him in years. She’d done it all on her own. She’d forged a life as an independent woman and made a name for herself in the hunting community. That wasn’t to say she didn’t want him around. She did. She loved her brother. She missed him. But she didn’t need him to be who she was.