Page 18 of Orion: Galaxy Huntress

Chapter 9

Orion

“Get rid of the mate,now, Vice,” a raised voice called me away from my position butchering the cow I’d hunted.

Oh, gods.That voice. Dark, dominant, stormy. The shifter was back. I froze with the knife in my hand. He mustn’t know that I was here, or he might try to kidnap me and take me back to his pack. Like Hades I’d let him mate or wed me. This star … fallen star … huntress … belonged to no man, and certainly not a shifter.

Wait. Did he just say he wanted to get rid of me? Oh, I was all for that. I wasn’t at my optimum after the vampire attack had shaken me and set me on edge. Then the demon disarmed me with his charm.

Ready with my dagger, I moved out of the demon’s glamor by the counter to the door, putting my ear to it. My finely tuned hunter hearing homed in on Stormy’s gruff growl amid the bustle of the diners.

“Why?” the demon tried to reason with the shifter. “You need a mate, Ace.”

“Get rid of the mate bond and mate,” Stormy growled with more force.

“She’s a little bonus from me,” the demon purred. “A thank you for your business.”

The demon did this to us? Bound our souls. Magically tied us together. Why that rotten hell spawn! Electricity charged between my fingers, setting them aglow with winking pinks, violets, pale blues and greens. Scorch marks branded the door in the form of my handprints. The door quaked on its hinges, threatening to come lose. All the bottles on the shelves outside rattled along with all the cooking instruments behind me. I’d kill him. Cut him into one hundred pieces like I did with the bovine. Make cutlets from his ribs. Slice rump from his behind. Flanks from his sides. Every patron would be dining on demon later tonight once I was finished with him!

Gods, I couldn’t kill him. Myra told me that Vice owed her a favor and would hire me. I needed to earn decent trade to pay for travel and expenses to find my sisters. The shifter would not interfere in my plans. Not like the vampire had tried to.

“That wasn’t part of the arrangement and you know it,” Stormy’s deadly growl shot between my legs and set it alight.

Damn this shifter. What had his bite done to me? I needed to remain angry right now, not aroused.

Last thing I needed was a possessive wolf shifter cornering me, biting me, and wanting to claim me. No thank you. Men were off the menu forever! I’d hide in the damn kitchen like a coward until he left.

The vampire stalking and attacking me had alarmed me and set me on edge for more reasons than one. I hadn’t expected the dashing predator who’d dropped into my world. His pale, brutal beauty had left me disarmed. Raven hair to his shoulders, cold, hard lines of his face, the stoniness of his voice. Swift and graceful movements like my own. Deadly and dangerous. The ultimate beast had spiked my desire for the hunt and kill. When he’d grabbed me the second time, my heart was befuddled, and I considered kissing him to put some heat behind his dead, red gaze, and warm that hard, frozen heart of his.

By the gods, Orion, what are you thinking?Whatever charm he’d placed on me snapped and broke. The vampire was a killer. A hunter like me, seeking its prey. It wasn’t something to lust over. I had to be careful when hunting from now on. Vigilant of my surroundings and who might be pursuing me.

“What’s the harm with a little fun?” the demon countered, working his trickery to diffuse the situation and lower the tension, but it only served to make me boil hotter.

How dare he drag me into this mess. Mate me to a wolf shifter, of all creatures. Angrier than a hydra with a cut off head, I stuffed my glowing hands under my armpits to hide them from the kitchen staff. They didn’t need to see a fallen star about to go supernova with rage.

“You call getting stabbed with an arrow fun?” Stormy’s growl sharpened like the whet-stoned metal, and I took notice. Anything that reminded me of weapons had my full attention. “I can’t afford injuries when I’ve got to defend my pack.”

Wasn’t fun for me either, but I had to protect myself and Myra from a shifter that lost control. Besides, he should have kept his lips and teeth to himself and not bitten me. Damn wolf had bound us, and no witch’s spell could break us apart. It was futile unless the demon undid whatever enchantment he’d placed upon us. Whatever he did, I’d make him break it. Vice would know the same hell as Prometheus, god of Fire, when he suffered having his liver cut out.

“Any kind of stabbing is foreplay to me, Ace.” Wicked, flirty demon had an eternity in Tartarus to look forward to.

Ace. At least now I had a name for the shifter, but I preferred Stormy. It suited him and the nickname had stuck in my mind. The pit of my stomach gnawed with need to see him again and I cracked the door open to gaze upon his gruff, handsome features.

“Fuck, Vice.” Stormy shook his head mulishly and stabbed his hands through his thick, lush mane of dark hair. The motion brought a twitch to my fingers to do the same. I wondered if his locks were silky or coarse. What his pelt felt like. What color his wolf he changed into. If his eyes remained the same stormy gray or the deep silver they flashed. “You really fucked me. All I can think about is her. I smell her everywhere. Even here.”

My body went into a confused meltdown. On one hand, my muscles tensed, ready to break out if he pursued me back here. On the other, my knees turned languid, my palms burned to connect with his skin, my lips ached to be on his.

Vice blew out his cheeks, entwined his fingers and flexed them. “I really did a number on you, didn’t I?” He let out a wicked, sinister laugh.

Sun-bronzed skin kissed the light like he’d burned in the fires of hell. Dark, inky eyes flecked with gold, sinful luscious lips, strong jaw, low cheekbones, and a prominent nose, he was one of the luckier demons. Most were ugly creatures with deformed faces and bodies.

Stormy’s hand shot out, catching the demon’s tail, jerking it, making Vice stand up straight and lose his smug smirk. “Undo whatever you’ve done to me. NOW.”

Vice tried to casually extract his tail, but his body twitched when the shifter yanked it tighter. “No can do,” he squeaked as if the move really hurt him. Served him right. “Deal is sealed and inked.”

Stormy made a bone or tendon in the demon’s tail creak and his body jolted again. “I’ll do more than pull this out of joint if you don’t cooperate.”

Hmm. Maybe I liked Stormy after all. We were on the same team now. The I hate the shameless demon team. I ought to go out to his side and help pressure the jerk to relent. But when I put my hand on the swinging door, the exit refused to move, as if the damn demon had trapped me inside the kitchen. I slammed a fist on the door, drawing the attention of the kitchen staff, and one came to my aid but couldn’t budge it either. Dirty Hell spawn!

---