The Dark-Hunters (821 page)

She saw them together as young teens. Ren was stringing his bow while Coyote bragged about a banquet being served to honor him.

“Can you believe it, Makah’Alay? After tonight, I will be considered a man!”

“B-b-but you, you, you d-didn’t kill it.”

“It doesn’t matter, does it? Father’s always said that because of your mental defects you’ll be a perpetual child and that we’ll always have to care for you. Now I will have all the respect of a real man.” Coyote rushed over to Ren so that he could lean against his back and whisper in his ear. “It’ll be our secret. You kill the game, and I’ll bring it in.”

By his face, it was obvious Ren didn’t like the idea at all.

Coyote scoffed at him. “Stop pouting like a baby. No one would ever give you credit anyway. They all think you’re incompetent. So what does it matter?”

She could hear Ren’s thoughts.
It matters to me. Just once, I’d like for someone to tell me I did a good job, too.

“Kateri!”

The images scattered until she was staring into the face of the man that boy had grown into. “Why did you stop stuttering when the Grizzly possessed you?”

He frowned at her. “What?”

“Your stutter went away when he possessed you. Was that part of the bargain?”

Ren glanced to the others to make sure none of them overheard her question. Luckily, they were far enough away that her voice wouldn’t carry to them.

“Yes. He returned it when I cast him out, but by then I’d learned to mitigate it most of the time.”

And he never stuttered around Buffalo.

She winced as pain lacerated her skull. “My head hurts. Badly.”

Ren brushed a tender hand over her forehead. The concern on his face touched her deeply. “You were crying out like you were in a nightmare. What happened?”

She pressed the heel of her hand to her eye socket, trying to relieve the pain of it.

“Here.”

Before she realized what he intended, he swung her up in his arms to carry her.

“What are you doing?”

“I know your head hurts, but I would think it obvious.”

She groaned at his density. “Let me try this again.
Why
are you carrying me?”

“You don’t feel well.”

“People don’t normally carry other people for that reason.”

He winked at her. “I’m not most people.”

That was certainly true. “Can I ask you something?”

“If I said no, would it stop you?”

She smiled. “Of course not.” She laid her head down on his shoulder and savored the comfort of his arms around her. “How did you learn so much about hunting?” It seemed incongruous that anyone in his clan would have taught him given their contempt.

“Artemis is … for lack of a better term, my godmother. Since she’s goddess of the hunt, I always assumed it was a gift from her.”

“Mmm.”

Ren had to tighten his arms around her to keep her from falling as she went completely limp. “Kateri?” He shook her slightly. Her head lolled back.

She was out cold.

Fear shredded him. “Sundown!”

They all slowed down to look at him.

Jess came running over immediately. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. She just passed out.”

And in the next heartbeat, she stopped breathing entirely.

CHAPTER 14

Raking his hands through his hair, Ren stood back with tears in his eyes while Jess tried to resuscitate Kateri, who lay on the ground at his feet. But she didn’t respond at all.

She was dead.…

How?

The answer didn’t really matter to him. Not even a little. The reality was that she was gone, and the pain of it slammed into him so hard that it left him weak in the knees. He couldn’t breathe or focus. Nothing in all eternity had hurt him
this
much. Nothing. He felt like the world around him was crumbling to pieces. Like the very ground he stood on had swallowed him whole.

She’d just entered his life, turned it on its head, made him feel again, and now she was gone. Why? Why would the gods have done this to him?

He’d been all right alone. He’d gotten by without having any real ties to anyone. Maybe not deliriously happy, but not really miserable either. Muted emotions had worked for him.

At least they beat the hell out of this utter agony that made him want to shout his anguish to the gods and kill whichever one had taken her life.

Panting, he glared up at the muted underworld sky.

I want her back! Damn you! I want her back!

How badly?

His heart stopped its rapid beating at the foreign voice in his head. But it wasn’t foreign. It was familiar, though he couldn’t place it. Before he could remember, a flickering shade appeared to his right.

Windseer.

More beautiful than any mortal woman, she stood there as a wraith with an unamused expression that made her cheekbones even sharper, her olive skin more luminescent. It was as if she was listening to someone else in her head.

And he knew exactly who would be pulling her stings.

Grizzly.

Get thee behind me, bitch,
he growled at her.

She shrugged nonchalantly.
Fine. Let her die. She means nothing to me.
She started fading.

Kateri might mean nothing to them, but she meant everything to him.

“I’m really sorry, Ren,” Sundown said, rising to his feet. He pulled his hat off respectfully as he shifted his weight to one leg. “There’s nothing more we can do. She just won’t respond.”

“Hijo de puta,”
Cabeza snarled. “Who’s going to reset the calendar now? Huh? We just got screwed,
mi hermanos.
Might as well stay here and set up camp. Once those gates open, everything here will head to the surface. This will be a ghost town.”

Urian rolled his eyes. “That’s a really indecent pun, Khan.”

Jess sighed. “This ain’t good. Not good at all.”

Sasha nodded in agreement. “Blows chunks, my friends. Blows serious chunks. Thank the gods I’m not human. Can’t wait for the gates to fall.” His tone dripped sarcasm. He passed an irritated smirk to Sundown. “And we thought it was bad when we were attacked with the plagues. Woo-hoo, Field Day II here we come. Who wants popcorn?”

Their words did nothing to ease the ache in Ren’s chest and throat. While they were worried about the world as a whole, he honestly was only worried about one person.

The woman who lay dead.

Sundown looked over at Cabeza. “Is there a place here where we can bury her body?”

Those words slammed into him with a force so strong it made him take a step back. Ren returned his attention to Windseer.
Wait!

Windseer solidified with an arched brow while the others started looking for a place to put Kateri.

Ren panicked even more.
What do you want in exchange for her life?

The smile on her face was cold and calculating. She slid her gaze down to Kateri.
The Grizzly wants his freedom, and he doesn’t want to fight for it or share it. We bring the bitch back, she resets the calendar. Then
you
free him, alone. No other entities are invited to our party.

It wouldn’t be that simple. He knew better. For one thing, he’d have to kill his brother in order to release the Grizzly. But at this point, sacrificing Coyote, who was hell-bent on destroying the world himself, didn’t seem as bad as it once had.
Is that all?

She laughed evilly.
Of course not. You return to him as his servant.

Ren shook his head.
I won’t fight for Grizzly. Never again.

Makah’Alay, Makah’Alay …

Ren could have definitely done without her patronizing tone. Her expression was pitiless.
You misunderstand me. He doesn’t want you to fight for him. He no longer has faith in your loyalty. You will be his eternal slave to do with as he pleases.
Total
subjugation.

His stomach cramped with dread at the very thought.
I can’t do that. Artemis owns me.

Windseer tsked at him.
Then let her come for you if she wants you so badly.… But you know the truth, just as we do. She doesn’t care about you, any more than anyone else does. She won’t waste three seconds trying to find you, because she won’t even know you’re gone. Face it, Makah’Alay, you’re worthless. You have no value to anyone. Not even us.

Those words slapped him hard. Mostly because they were true and he knew it. The only person who seemed to value him was now dead at his feet.

Or was there more to this?

If I have no value, then why does Grizzly want to own me?

To torture you, idiot. Why else? You betrayed him, and he wants your blood for that. No one makes him look like a fool. The only so-called value you have to him is that you can get close enough to Coyote to sacrifice him and release Grizzly faster than anyone else. But if you have no wish to have your beloved toy returned to the land of the living, fine. I’ll find someone else who will have the balls to do what he has to for the ones he loves.

Ren ground his teeth. She was wasting her time insulting him. He couldn’t care less what she called him. Those barbs had lost their sting a long time ago.

The only one who could hurt him now was Kateri, and with her gone, his heart was broken.

I
can
save her life.

He looked down at the only person who’d ever made him feel welcomed. The only one who’d made him smile while hell rained down on him, and his gut wrenched with grief. He couldn’t say no to their offer, and they knew it.

How can I be willing to sell my freedom for a woman I just met?

The same way Buffalo had been willing to risk Ren’s anger and retaliation by visiting Butterfly during Ren’s brief reign. When Ren first discovered what Buffalo was doing, he had been furious. Not because he wanted Butterfly for himself, but because he felt betrayed that Buffalo had feared him so. That Buffalo had thought so little of him that he had honestly believed Ren would turn on him and kill him for loving her.

That was what had taught him how ludicrous and unreasoning fear was. Had Ren wanted Butterfly, he’d have taken her once he held Coyote as his prisoner.

Instead, Ren had left her alone. Even though she was beautiful beyond belief and he would have been proud to call her his own, he had envied his brother’s happiness that had been bought with Ren’s blood and dignity, not his bride. Even then, Ren would never have taken Coyote prisoner had his brother not poisoned him and then tried to cut his throat.

And he wouldn’t have tortured Coyote had his brother kept his mouth shut and not insulted him day after day. Ren had gone insane from it all. Between being possessed and the pain of Coyote and his father mocking him, he’d lost it completely. All he’d wanted was for it to cease. For someone, just one person, to look at him like he was human and had feelings. Hell, even when he’d gone to kill his father, the man had laughed at him.

“You’re not man enough, dog.” And then his father had spat in his face.

When Ren had attacked, his father might have been able to survive had he taken Ren seriously. But he’d mocked him right up to the point Ren had stabbed him.

In all his life, Ren had never felt treasured, not even by Buffalo. Theirs had been a relationship born out of a debt Buffalo thought he owed him and because he felt sorry for Ren. While they had grown close, Buffalo hadn’t befriended him because he liked him or because they had anything in common.

Only Kateri had done that. She owed him nothing. Nor did she pity him. She actually liked him as a person and teased him playfully. He could see it every time she looked at him. Every time she touched him.

His eyes watering, he met Windseer’s gaze.
Save her. Whatever it takes.

Windseer smiled cruelly.
We told you you would come back to us one day.

Damn them for being right.

An instant later, Kateri took a deep, ragged breath and opened her eyes.

His heart pounding in gratitude, Ren sank to his knees and pulled her into his arms to hold her as his tears finally fell.

Windseer moved to stand between Cabeza and Jess, neither of whom could see her.
Remember your word, Makah’Alay. If you fail us, we
won’t
kill her. Grizzly will take her as his own, and you know what he does to his property. She will be well used.

Ren ignored her as he inhaled the scent of Kateri’s skin and felt her warmth against him.

“Anyone else feeling
really
awkward here?” Sasha asked. “Guys, get a room.”

Ren let out a puff of laughter before he pulled back to cup her face in his hands so that he could assure himself she was fine.

She touched the tears on his face. “Did I miss something?”

Sasha snorted. “Nah, nothing too important. Just your death.”

“What?” she asked with a stern frown.

Ren nodded. “You died in my arms.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.” But he had a good suspicion it was something Grizzly had caused. Just as he was certain Grizzly was the reason they hadn’t been attacked. The bastard had most likely allowed them that time knowing what Ren would do. Knowing what she’d come to mean to him.

First Grizzly had sent Windseer to screw him over and now he’d done it with a woman who had no idea she’d been used as a tool against him.

But that wasn’t her fault. He was the moron who couldn’t keep his heart and his body separate. He couldn’t just screw a woman and walk away. He’d felt too used by the world too many times to give that feeling to someone else.

And now his enemy knew exactly how to cripple him. Grizzly knew his greatest weakness. Kateri.

I am so fucked.…

Kateri choked as Ren tightened his hold on her. “Sweetie, I can’t breathe. You’re killing me.”

He loosened his arms, but still kept her pressed up against him as if he was trying to merge their bodies together.

Jess cleared his throat. “Maybe Sasha’s right and we ought to leave them alone for a bit.”