Deceptions: A Collection (35 page)

“So you’re a liar, then?”

I spun on my heel.

“No,” I snapped. I don’t lie. Even though the aneira had never bothered to teach me many of their more honored traditions, it seemed as though some of those traditions had come to me simply through my blood.

My heart is strong. My blood is noble
—Once upon a time, honor had been everything to the aneira, or so the legends said.

I didn’t lie.

And when I gave my word, I felt honor-bound to keep it. If I thought I couldn’t keep a promise, I simply didn’t make it.

In the quiet, white-hot heat of the day, I glared at him. “Are you happy?” As I went to turn, I shot another look to the water and suppressed a shudder. The gator was still there. If it moved, I’d hear it, but the fear was still twisting inside me and shutting it off would be about as easy as stopping the flow of the St. Johns River.

A big arm came around my waist. “The gators aren’t going to bother you.” His hand spread wide over my belly. “I’ll tell you what I am, but you can’t tell anybody…not until I say it’s okay. Nobody in the clan knows what I really am. They made an assumption when I came to them and I let them think it.”

“Why do that?”

“Because I’m one of just a few…” He turned his face into my hair and I had the weirdest sensation he was breathing it in. “I was orphaned. Like Doyle. When I was a kid. I’m hunting down the fuck who killed my parents, and one day I’ll end that bastard’s miserable existence. But until then, nobody can know. If I tell you, I have to trust you won’t share it with anybody.”

“Why would you tell me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

The hard, heavy thud of my heart against my ribs left me breathless and it was a few seconds before I could breathe. “The thing with the bow isn’t quite that personal, Damon. Not much of a trade. Look… it’s just a…”

“Leopard,” he murmured against my neck before I could say another word. “Clouded leopard out of Borneo. There is only a handful of my kind left. My father came from Borneo and I took after him. My mother was human, lived in New Zealand. Everybody assumed I came from one of the Himalayan packs. A lot of them interbreed with humans and when they made the assumption, I let them…it suited my purposes.”

Leopard. As the puzzle of that settled into my brain, my lids drifted down. “Didn’t I just tell that you didn’t have to tell me?” It was a heavy weight. He’d kept it secret for a reason, and whatever that reason was, I wasn’t sure I wanted to carry the burden.

“I wanted to. I want you to know what I am. Now…the bow.”

“It sings.”

Off in the distance, I heard the slight shift as the gator moved around. He had noticed us, I thought. Shivering a bit, I took a breath and blew it out. “Weapons…we hear them. The modern weapons are just static and noise mostly, although this bow, there’s craftsmanship in him. Somebody worked on him—cared,” I murmured, stroking the compound bow and smiling a little as I sensed a small pause, almost like pleasure, in its music at the back of my mind. “Every weapon I own, I picked because it spoke to me in some way. I could hear something singing to me the minute we went through the door in the back room. And the minute he opened that cabinet and I saw her…”

“Her. You talk about them as though they live.”

“For me, they do.” Rustling in the grass drew my attention and I looked over. The spot on the bank where the gator had been lying was empty. “Now…you can stand here and chat all you want, but I want to move.”

He laughed a little. “Okay, baby girl. But you ought to know…I could have that gator for lunch if I wanted.”

“I’m not worried about
you
.”

An hour later, we got into a fight.

He insisted we head to the east.

But something tugged me west.

“Damn it, I can fucking smell their back trail,” he growled. “If your ears were any better, you could even hear their damn dogs.”

“My ears are just fine.” I sneered at him. “I
can
hear them.”

But that wasn’t where I needed to go. Gripping my bow, I pointed to the west. “You go on wherever in the hell you
want
. I’m going this way.”

West was wet. West had next to no path and I could also hear the slither of snakes and the rustle of gators.

As much as I’d like to pretend it didn’t matter…it did.

I didn’t
want
to go that way.

But I had to.

Something pulled me—

I couldn’t even define what it was. The cloying stink of wet earth, water, smells I just wasn’t used to flooding my head, but I wasn’t going east.

While he stood there glaring at me, I started through the undergrowth. A snake slithered over the toe of my boot. I managed to keep my hiss behind my teeth. Barely. Grass snake. Harmless. Fast. Still, a snake and not anything I wanted crawling across my damn boot.

A hand closed over my elbow and jerked me to a halt before I took another step.

“Why?”

Still staring at the tail I could make out in the grass, I thought absently,
Because why
would
I want a snake on my boots
…?

“Damn it, Kit…”

I lifted my head and stared into Damon’s eyes. Abruptly, I lifted my hand, touched his cheek. “You’ve got the most amazing eyes,” I murmured. A split second later, I realized what I’d done and went to jerk away while blood rushed up to stain my cheeks red.

He covered my hand with his, lowering his head and pressing his brow to mine. “I’d ask if that was your way of changing the subject, but considering you look like you just bit a lemon, I don’t think you mean to say that.”

“Ah…”

He nipped my lower lip. “Why this way, baby girl? Just answer me.”

Just answer
. He made it sound so easy. But it wasn’t. I eased away and stared out into the distance. “Something’s calling me. I have to go this way.”

It was getting late.

The sun still blistered the sky.

We’d gone through half the supplies in our packs.

I was holding up a hell of a lot better than I had last time, but we hadn’t found anything.

I could still feel that odd tugging, drawing on me like a thread had been wrapped around my insides and it twanged every time I tried to stray from this path.

But it was getting late and we weren’t exactly equipped to camp in the Everglades.

“How long have we been out here?” I asked as Damon came striding back through the undergrowth after answering the call of nature. Men had it so easy. I lived in fear of a snake biting me in areas no snake should ever see.

“Six hours.” He glanced at the sun. “We have maybe an hour before we have to head back, if you’re up to walking. I can get you there faster if you need me to carry you.”

“I’m good. Today was easier.”

A grin split his face. “You hiked all damn day. Yesterday you sat in a tree.”

“Yeah. Unable to move, balancing in ways I’m not meant to balance.” An hour. Not much time. Brooding, I started to walk.

I hadn’t taken two steps when I was jerked up and whirled around. My head was still spinning, or at least it felt that way, because what I saw in front of me just didn’t make sense for a minute.

“What…” I licked my lips and shook my head. “What the hell is that?”

“We triggered something,” he whispered against my cheek. “I saw it just as you hit it. I’m sorry, kitten.”

Heart still racing, I stared down into the gaping, dark hole and felt my mind spinning away into the darkness of memories. Dark, awful memories.

“
Let me out
…”

Even though I knew I couldn’t climb the slick rock walls, it didn’t stop me from trying. Pain sang through my back from the latest whipping and every inch of me hurt, but that didn’t stop me, either. I had to get out of that pit. I had to
. “
Let me out
!”

Rana stood over my head, staring down at me with eyes so like my own. Her face wasn’t creased with that smile that Grandmother so often wore. No, I couldn’t read anything on Rana’s face and sometimes, that made her scarier.

“
You will stay here until our return
,”
Rana said. She glanced at the guards at her sides and then back at me
. “
The Dominari is not for weaklings or halfbreeds, Kitasa. You shouldn’t have asked
.”

I didn’t hear her words. Didn’t notice the guards.

I only saw the walls of the pit as I struggled to climb out
. “
Let me out
!”
I screamed, trying to scramble my way up.

My nails, already ragged, broke. I tried to climb until my fingers bled and my arms ached.

It was hours before I admitted the futility of it. My throat ached from my screams.

Trapped. Trapped in a dark, hellish hole that saw no light and no sun… Trapped until they returned
?

“Breathe…”

Hard hands, almost brutal in their strength, gripped my head and I found myself nose to nose with Damon as he shouted in my face. “Breathe, Kit!”

I sucked in a desperate breath and gasped, “Why are you shouting at me?”

“Shit.” He closed his eyes and snatched me against him. “You…shit. Gimme a minute.”

I was shaking. My clothes were sweating, sticking to me, and his body was as hot as a furnace, but I was cold.

“What happened?” he whispered against my ear. “What happened?”

“A pit.” I had to force the words through chattering teeth. “They put me in one…once. When I was fifteen. I just—sorry. Bad memory. Okay in a minute.”

The hot mantle of his fury spread around me but for once, it didn’t scare me. I so desperately needed the warmth. “Shhhh,” he murmured as I cuddled closer. If it had been possible to disappear inside of him, I might have done it. Might have tried. Twisting my hands in the fabric of his shirt, I breathed in the hot, musky scent of him, focused on everything around me—everything that didn’t smell of my own blood and waste, the weirdly flat scent of cold stone. The brackish scent of water, the hot humid day, even the disturbing scent of reptile that lingered all around. Anything was better than that awful memory.

“I’m okay,” I whispered after a long moment. “I’m okay.”

He continued to hold me. “I’m not.”

A weak laugh escaped me. “But we can’t stay like this if we want to figure this out.”

“We need to call it a day.”

I shook my head. “No.”

Oh, hell no
.

Because oddly enough, as the rush of fear and panic faded, I realized…that tugging had grown stronger.

“What do you smell, Damon?” I eased back and studied his face. “There’s something here. Or close. Has to be. What do you smell?”

“Humans.” His nostrils flared. “A lot of them. I know the place. We’ll come back.”

Shaking my head, I said, “No. We have to find whatever they didn’t want people finding.”

Now
.

Every step made the urgency grow stronger.

Every single step.

And after another ten minutes, something about Damon’s demeanor changed. It was subtle at first. I barely noticed because I was so busy dealing with the mad itching that had settled in my palm. This wasn’t the place for my blade, I suspected, but she was calling me…singing to me and she
wanted
me.

But he’d gone from a lazy predator on the prowl to a focused hunter. As he turned to gaze off to one side, I noticed the light reflecting off his eyes—not normal. His nostrils flared and I could all but see him pausing as he rolled those tastes around in his mouth.

A few minutes later, he picked up the pace and I had to jog to keep up. He was still walking, but those legs of his covered a lot of ground and fast. And each pace was a tug inside me.

Closer. Closer. Closer
.

Glancing up, I checked the sun.

And that was when I saw it—

Shit—

I drew an arrow, fired.

As Damon spun around, the arrow buried itself in the camera.

“We’re being watched,” I said flatly.

A short, terse nod and he was moving again.

I was in an all-out run now, fear crowding the back of my throat as memories of that pit danced in the back of my mind.

A huge, fallen tree blocked the path. Up ahead, Damon turned to glance back at me as I leaped on top. He’d taken it and landed with room to spare. While I didn’t have to clamber up and over, I couldn’t do it with the grace he managed. As I went to hop down, he shouted.

I slipped—

Clambering for a hold, I shifted my weight backward over the fallen giant. I didn’t know what it was—

Distantly, I heard something crash.

But that wasn’t what worried me just then. I was sprawled on my back, in an awkward-ass position. And about six feet way was one giant snake. Swallowing, I tensed. It watched me, eyes glittering as its tongue tasted my air.

“Kit.”

I didn’t say anything.

Flexing my hand, I let the sword come. She was happy now, and I was pretty damned pleased, too.

“Kit, be still. Just—”

The python moved.

I rolled away, coiling my body in one of those brutal moves my aunts had hammered into me for years. As I landed on my feet, I brought the blade down. I missed the first time and the snake came at me again.

A thunderous roar cracked through the air.

I struck again and this time—the blade tasted blood. She carved through thick skin, bone and muscle and I was all but sobbing as I went to my knees.

Giant clawed hands hauled me into the air.

I shrieked and swung out. The blade cut into furred skin. A growl echoed all around and I cut again before one of those big hands caught my sword arm. “Shhh. It’s me, baby girl. It’s me.”

The voice was alien.

But I recognized the words.

Damon.

“Shit. Oh, shit.” Shoving against the furred wall of his chest, I struggled. “Put me down.”

He didn’t. I kicked him. He let me.

Then I started to shake. “Damn it, this job fucking
sucks
. I think I hate you sometimes.”

“I know.” When he pulled me close this time, I let him.

One of those giant hands stroked the back of my head as he rumbled against my ear, “I kind of hate me right now, too, kitten.”

After the snake, I needed a drink of whiskey—preferably the whole bottle—before I could keep going, but it was a luxury we didn’t have. So I gathered up my bow and cleaned my blade. This time, instead of sending her back, I just drew the spare sheath I carried out of my pack and settled her into place at my hip.

I was happier with her there.

She was, too.

When I went to climb over the log, trying hard not to look at the snake’s beheaded body, Damon lifted me, cradling me like a doll. “There’s a trap—one of the old fashioned kinds, made to take a leg right off,” he said softly. “I saw it when I looked back at you.”

I closed my eyes. “Lovely.”

“Yeah. Humans…the people who did this have their stink all over the place. I think they had their dogs drag their clothes everywhere or something because it’s everywhere. Only way to explain why it covers so much. I even smell it up in the trees.”

He sat me down a few feet away and took a minute to do a long, thorough study. “Something’s not right about this. They’re too prepared. Somebody gave them an idea what to expect, in case people like us came looking for them.”

“So they have help.”

“Yes.”

I glanced at him, massive-bodied, covered in golden fur with dark gray spots. Absently, I lifted a hand and placed it on his torso. He stiffened and looked at me. “Walking around like this is going to attract a lot of attention,” I said, ignoring the painful crawl of blood up my face.

He was nearly two feet taller than me in that form…and utterly naked, save for the fur. Fur didn’t count. The odd meld of leopard and man stared down at me. “We’re not walking through a city street, kitten,” he said, his voice a deep, bass rumble. Then he tipped back his head and breathed in the air. “And you’re the closest thing to human around for miles.”

I made a face. “I’m not human.”

“I said closest.” One of those clawed hands covered mine. “If it scares you, I’ll shift back.”

“I just sliced and diced a Burmese python while you were busy growling at the universe, you overgrown housecat.” I absolutely wouldn’t say I was afraid of him. It was unsettling as hell, but I was almost ready to believe he wasn’t big on the idea of hurting me. “I think I can handle you.”

The look on his face might have been amusement. But it was hard to read him in this form.

“I can’t wait until you’re brave enough to try.”

I skimmed a look over him and then started down the trail. “Not like that, pal.”

Needling him settled my nerves. A lot.

Now…if we could just get through this without any snakes. Gators. Anything like that. Give me crazy humans, bloodthirsty rats, even arrogant vampires—

“
You only had to ask
—”

“Shit.”

Jude’s voice was a bare echo in the back of my mind, one that was weak, spread thin by the miles.

I’d had a few days reprieve, one I’d enjoyed too much. Why in the hell did I have to go and think about him?

“
Perhaps you missed me…even if you will not admit it, dearest Kit
.”

Unable to focus on everything around me and still talk to him, I stopped once more.

“Kit?”

I looked at Damon and shook my head, holding up a hand. “
I’m not your dearest anything, Jude and I’m…having problems. Go away
.”

“
Are you ready for my offer of assistance
?
You’re so far away it will take some time to get to you
.”

“No—”

Damon’s eyes narrowed.

Error—error—

Swearing mentally, I covered my face and turned the conversation inward. “
No. I don’t need assistance. I’m handling this fine on my own
.”

“
Ah…but you’re not. Where is the cat, Kit
?”

Something lurked under his voice and I felt a presence on my mind. A weight. Pushing. Prodding. “
That doesn’t concern you. Leave me alone, Jude. I’ll let you know if I need you
.”

“
Oh, you’ll need me, dearest Kit…and the cat will not be able to help you. I will. Don’t wait too long
.”

His presence didn’t fade.

It was just gone and I groaned, dropping my hands.

Damon was staring at me.

I waited. He had something to say, I knew it.

But he didn’t say a damn thing, just turned and started to walk, pausing only long enough to grab his pack. The shreds of his clothes, he ignored. I didn’t. There were too many witches around who do weird things with magic and all it would take was a shred of clothing, a single hair. I shoved the ruined clothes into my pack, aware of the fact that he was watching, waiting in silence.

Once I was standing, he started to walk. A slower pace this time, more careful.

The sun was getting closer and closer to the horizon. But I didn’t bother to mention it.

He already knew.

Moving slower meant we could see the few remaining traps easier.

There was another pit.

One more that would take a leg off. The one after that was the worst, though. And we caught it because there was just next to
no
scent there. Nothing. The scent that was there was faint, so faint we barely even caught it.

“Nobody walks around this spot,” he said. “Right here. Easiest path over and everybody goes around. Why is that?”

I stared at the mostly cleared path that separated us from the area ahead.
That
was where we needed to be, I knew it. It was practically shining like a beacon. It called to me and even
I
could smell something up there…something not human. And voices…was it me, or did I hear voices?

“They want us walking there so they can blow us up?” I offered.

He shot me a narrow look. Then he looked around. “Stay there. Don’t move. Got it?”

I lifted my hands and gave him an agreeable smile.

He didn’t look overly convinced, but he disappeared into the growth and I stood there, sword in one hand, bow in the other.

They wouldn’t have …well, seriously. Would they have planted a landmine sort of thing there? Really?

I pondered that idea for the next ten minutes, scratching absently at a mosquito bite. The medicine Kori had given me had
really
worked. Needed to put it back on. But before I could, I felt the warm brush against my senses that meant Damon was coming back and then he was there.

“Move.”

I glanced over my shoulder and then gaped.

He was hauling the dead body of the python. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“It’s heavy,” he said, shrugging. “If it’s rigged, it’s going to need something more than a rock and I’d rather not toss something that will turn into shrapnel on us.”

He looked around and then nodded. “Behind the tree. Check it.”

I groaned and then looked at the tree in question, checking it
very
well. A couple of small things skittered away. The biggest was another grass snake. Not a problem. It didn’t even crawl over the toe of my boot.

“…careful…”

I tensed.

“Did you hear that?” I whispered.

“Yes.” He looked at me again. “Get behind the fucking tree, Kit. If they are watching, we need to move.”

I moved.

I heard a thud—

Saw the blur of his body as he came at me.

And smoke.