"Take me to Cassandra," Kat snarled at the auburn-haired Dark-Huntress in the car beside her. It wasn't in her nature to let anyone have control of her or her environment. "I'm the only one who can protect her."
"Yeah," Corbin said as she pulled into the driveway of her mansion. "You did a great job protecting her from what... the garbage, was it?"
Kat saw red at that. The urge to blast the Huntress into dust went through her-a byproduct of her mother's nasty temper that she had inherited. Luckily for Corbin, Kat had more of her father in her and had learned long ago to take deep breaths and not give in to her childish impulses.
Getting angry wouldn't accomplish anything. She had to find Cassandra, and if she used her powers to do it, Stryker would be able to locate Cass as well. That prick had learned long ago how to follow the subtle nuances of Kat's powers and use them against her. It was why she hadn't fought him in the bar. Like it or not, Stryker was more powerful than she was. Mostly because he didn't care who he hurt to get his way.
Which meant she needed the Huntress to take her to Cass.
Kat had teleported out of their apartment for no more than five minutes so that she could go to the Destroyer and tell her to leave Cassandra alone.
How was she to know the Destroyer would use that distraction to send in Stryker and his men while she was away?
She felt so betrayed she couldn't breathe. After all these centuries, she had dutifully served both Apollymi and Artemis. Now the two of them were using her against each other and she didn't like it in the least.
And they both wondered why her father didn't want to play their reindeer games. He was far wiser than Kat since he had always managed to keep himself out of these situations. Only he seemed to understand both goddesses.
How she wished she could call him. He could probably end this in a matter of seconds. But involving him would only make things worse.
No, she had to handle this on her own.
Besides, she no longer cared what either goddess wanted. She had grown extremely fond of Cassandra these last five years and she didn't want to see her friend used, let alone hurt.
It was time for all of them to just leave Cassandra alone.
Corbin got out of the car.
Kat followed her into the garage, then stopped as Corbin unlocked the door to her house. "Look, we're all on the same team."
The Huntress looked at her as if she were insane. "Sure we are, hon. Now come inside so I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don't do anything like leave Cassandra to her enemies again."
Kat used enough of her powers to hold the door shut. Corbin rattled the knob and smacked the wood with her hand.
"You know," Kat said angrily, "if I wanted Cassandra dead, don't you think in the last five years I could have killed her? Why would I wait until now?"
Corbin turned away from the door. "How do I know you've known her for five years?"
Kat laughed sarcastically at that. "Ask her and you'll see."
Corbin looked at her thoughtfully. "Then why did you leave her unprotected tonight?"
Kat locked gazes with her so that Corbin could see her sincerity. "I swear to you, had I known those homicidal loons were going to show up, I wouldn't have stepped one foot out of that apartment."
Still, Corbin's gaze doubted her. On the one hand, Kat admired the woman's protectiveness. On the other, she wanted to strangle her.
"I don't know," Corbin said slowly. "Maybe you're being honest and maybe you're full of shit."
"Fine." Kat threw her hands up in frustration. "You want proof?"
"You got any?"
Turning around, Kat lifted the hem of her shirt and showed Corbin the skin just above her left hip where her own double bow-and-arrow mark resided. That brand was the mark of Artemis.
Corbin's eyes widened. "I know you're not a Dark-Hunter. What are you?"
"I'm one of Artemis's handmaidens, and just like you, I've been charged with seeing Cassandra safe. Now take me to her."
Wulf knocked briefly, then pushed the door open to find Cassandra wiping her eyes. He froze at the sight. "Are you crying?"
"No," she said, clearing her throat. "I had something in my eye."
He knew she was lying, but he respected her strength. It was nice to find a woman who didn't use tears to manipulate men.
He entered the room hesitantly. The thought of her crying made his own chest ache. Worse, he felt an insane need to pull her into his arms and comfort her.
He couldn't. He needed to keep his distance from her.
"I... um... I borrowed these from Chris." He handed her the sweatpants and T-shirt in his hand.
"Thanks."
Wulf couldn't tear his gaze away from her. Her long strawberry-blond hair was pulled back from her face. Something about her reminded him of a scared little girl and at the same time there was something that was rock-solid and determined.
He cupped her cool cheek in his hand and tilted her head so that she was looking up at him. In his dreams, he would be laying her back on her bed and tasting her lips.
Unbuttoning her shirt...
"Have you been fighting like this all your life?"
She nodded. "Both Daimons and Apollites hunt my family. At one time, there were hundreds of us and now it's down to me. My mother always told us that we must have more children. That it was up to us to continue the line."
"Why didn't you?"
She sniffed daintily. "Why should I? If I die, then they will see that there is no truth to the myth that says our death will free them."
"So you've never thought of going Daimon then?"
She pulled away from him and he saw the truth in her eyes.
"Could you do it?" he asked her. "Could you kill an innocent person to live?"
"I don't know," she said, moving away from the bed to place the shirt and pants on the dresser. "They say it gets easier after the first one. And once you have a foreign soul in you, it changes everything about you. You become something else. Something evil and uncaring. My mother had a brother who turned. I was only six when he came to her and tried to make her a Daimon as well. When she refused, he tried to kill her. In the end, her bodyguard killed him while my sisters and I hid in a closet. It was terrifying. Uncle Demos had always been so good to us."
The sadness in her eyes as she spoke wrapped around his heart and squeezed it tightly. He couldn't imagine how much horror she had seen in her young life.
But then his childhood hadn't been easy either. The shame, the humiliation. Even after all these centuries, he could still feel the sting of it.
Some pains never eased.
"What about you?" she asked, looking at him over her shoulder since he didn't cast a reflection in the mirror. "Did you find it was easier to kill a man after you took your first life?"
Her question angered him. "I never murdered anyone. I only protected myself and my brother."
"Ah, I see," she said quietly. "So you don't think it's murder when you barge into someone's home to rob them and they fight you rather than submit to your brutality?"
Shame filled him as he remembered a few of his early raids. Back then, his people had traveled far and wide, attacking villages in the middle of the night to raid other people, other lands. They weren't after the kill, but rather wanted to leave as many alive as they could. Especially when they were after slaves they could sell in foreign markets.
His mother had been horrified when she learned that he and Erik had started raiding with the other sons of their neighbors.
"My sons are dead to me," she had snarled before she threw them out of their squalid home. "I never want to see either of you again."
And she hadn't. She'd died the following spring of a fever. His sister had paid one of the young village men to find them and deliver the news.
Three years passed before they were able to return home to pay their respects. By then his father had been slain and his sister taken by invaders. Wulf had gone to England to free her and it had been there that Erik had died after they left her village.
Brynhild had refused to leave with them. "I reap what you and Erik have sown. It is God's will that I be a slave to serve as those whom you and Erik have sold are forced to do. And for what, Wulf? For profit and glory? Leave me, brother. I want no more of your warring ways."
Like a fool, he had left her and she too had been slain a year later when the Angles invaded her small village. Life was death. It was the only thing that was inevitable.
As a human, he'd been well acquainted with it. As a Dark-Hunter he was an expert.
He turned away from Cassandra. "Times were different then."
"Really?" she asked. "I never heard before that people in the Dark Ages were supposed to be sheep to be butchered."
Cassandra cringed as Wulf turned on her with a fierce growl. "If you are looking for me to apologize for what I did, I will not. I was born to a race that respected nothing but the strength of one's sword arm. I grew up mocked and ridiculed because my father wouldn't fight. So when I was old enough to prove to them that I wasn't like him, that I could and would stand by them in battle, I took it.
"Yes, I did things I regret. What person hasn't? But I never once killed or raped a woman. I never hurt a child, nor a man who couldn't defend himself. Your people prize the death of a child or pregnant woman above all else. They stalk them for no other purpose than to elongate their putrid lives. So don't you dare preach to me."
She swallowed, but admirably held her ground. "Some do. Just as some of your people lived to rape and pillage. Didn't you tell me your own mother was a slave who had been captured by your father? It may come as a surprise to you, Wulf Tryggvason, but some of my people only prey on people like yours. Murderers. Rapists. There is an entire branch of Daimons called the Akelos who have all taken an oath to kill only the humans who deserve it."
"You lie."
"No," she said, her tone sincere, "I don't. Funny, when I first met you, I thought you might know more about my people than I do since you hunt us. But you don't, do you? We're just animals to all of you. Not even worth the trouble of talking to one of us to find out the truth."
It was true. He had never given any thought to the Daimons other than the fact that they were killers who needed to die.
As for Apollites...
He hadn't thought of them at all.
Now he had a "human" face to go with the term "Apollite."
Not just a face... he had a touch.
A lover's gentle whisper.
But what did it change?
Nothing. At the end of the day, he was still a Dark-Hunter and he would still pursue the Daimons and slay any of them he found.
There was nothing more to be said between them. This was one obstacle neither of them could ever overcome.
So, he withdrew from the conflict. "You have free run of the house at night and the grounds during daylight."
"And if I want to leave?"
He scoffed. "Ask Chris how easy that is."
That familiar light came into her emerald eyes. The one that challenged him and told him he didn't have any real power over her. It was one of the things he admired most in her-that fire and strong will. "You know, I'm used to getting out of impossible situations."
"And I'm used to tracking and finding Apollites and Daimons."
She arched one brow. "Are you challenging me?"
He shook his head. "I'm only stating fact. You leave and I will bring you back here. In chains if need be."
She gave him a suddenly droll look that reminded him of Chris. "Will you punish me too?"
"I think you're a little old for that. I also think you're smart enough to know how stupid it would be for you to leave here while Stryker and his men are salivating to find you again."
Cassandra hated the fact that he was right. "Can I at least call my father and tell him where I am so he won't worry?"
He pulled the cell phone off his belt and handed it to her. "You can leave it in the living room when you finish."
He turned and opened the door.
"Wulf," she said before he could leave.
He faced her.
"Thank you for saving me again when I know it must burn every part that you did so."
His look softened. "It doesn't burn every part of me, Cassandra. Only you do that."
Her jaw went slack as he left the room and closed the door behind him.
She stood dumbstruck as those words whipped through her. Who would have thought her Viking warrior could have a more tender side? But then she ought to know the truth. She had seen his heart in their dreams.
Dreams that were real. In those few precious hours, she had glimpsed the man's heart. His fears.
Things he kept guarded and secret from everyone, except for her...
"I must be out of my mind," she breathed. How could she feel any tenderness toward a man who made no bones about the fact that he killed her people?
And in the back of her mind, she wondered whether Wulf would kill her, too, if she turned Daimon.
Wulf let out a long, tired breath as he entered the living room where Chris was lounging on the couch. Just what he needed, one more person tonight who couldn't do what he'd been told.
Thor, didn't any of them have a lick of sense?
"I thought I told you to pack."
"Go pack, brush your teeth, get laid. All you do is tell me what to do." Chris flipped through the channels on the TV. "If you would look at my feet, you will see that I'm all packed and am just waiting on my next order, thank you very much."
Wulf looked down to see a black backpack in front of the couch. "That's all you're taking?"
"Yeah. I don't need much, and whatever else I need I'm sure I can buy since the Council knows that I am the charmed one who has to be humored lest the big bad Norseman go a Viking on their heads."
Wulf tossed one of the cloth sofa cushions at him. Gently.
Chris tucked the pillow behind his back and didn't respond as he continued to flip channels.
Wulf sat down on the other sofa, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the woman he'd left in his guest wing. He was so confused where she was concerned, and confusion wasn't something he had much experience with. He'd always been a basic man. If he had a problem, he eliminated it.
He couldn't eliminate Cassandra per se. Well, he could in theory, but that would be wrong. The closest he could come would be to toss her out the door and let her fend for herself or hand her off to Corbin.
But Ash had charged him with her care and he didn't believe in passing his obligations off. If Ash wanted him to watch her, there must be a reason for it. The Atlantean never did anything without a damned good reason.
"So how much does Cassandra know about us?" Chris asked.
"It appears everything. Like she said, she's an Apollite."
"Half."
"Half, whole, what's the difference?"
Chris shrugged. "The difference is I really like her. She's not snotty like most of the other rich hos in my college."
"Don't be so disrespectful, Christopher."
Chris rolled his eyes. "Sorry, I forgot how much you hate that term."
Wulf propped his head against his hand as he watched the TV. Cassandra was different. She made him feel human again. Made him remember what it was like to be normal. To feel welcomed.
Those were things he hadn't felt in a long time.
"Good grief. You two look like Village of the Sofa Damned."
Wulf leaned his head back to see Cassandra standing in the doorway. Shaking her head at them, she came forward and handed him the phone.
Chris laughed and turned the sound down. "You know, it freaks with my head to see you here in my house."
"Believe me, it freaks with my head to be here in your house."
Chris ignored her comment. "Not to mention how weird it is that you remember him when you come back into the room. I keep feeling the deep need to introduce the two of you."
Wulf's phone started playing Black Sabbath's "Iron-man." He picked it up and flipped it open. Cassandra walked over to sit near Chris while Wulf answered it.
"What is she doing here?"
Cassandra frowned at Wulf's gruff question.
"It's security calling," Chris told her.
"How do you know?"
"The song. Wulf thinks it's funny that it plays 'Iron-man' for my escorts. They live in the security house that's down the estate not far from the gate. Someone must have pulled in to the driveway and buzzed for entry."
And she thought her father was paranoid about security. "What is this place, Fort Knox?"
"No," Chris said earnestly. "You might actually break in or out of Knox. The only way out of here is with at least two guards trailing you at all times."
"You sound like you've tried to go over the wall."
"More times than you can count."
She laughed as she remembered what Wulf had told her in her room. "Wulf said it was useless."
"It is. Believe me, if there was a way out of here, I'd have found it and used it by now."
Wulf hung up and rose to his feet.
"Is it for me?" Chris asked.
"No, it's Corbin."
"She's the one with Kat?" Cassandra asked Wulf.
He nodded as he went to the front door.
Cassandra followed after him in time to see a sleek red Lotus Esprit pulling up in front of the house. The passenger door opened to show her Kat, who got out of the car and rushed up to the house.
"Hey, kid, you all right?"
Cassandra smiled. "I'm not sure."
"Why is she here?" Wulf asked Corbin as the Dark-Huntress drew near him.
The Huntress tucked her hands in her pockets as she drew closer to Wulf. "She's in Artemis's service too. Her job is to protect Cassandra, and I thought it wise to let her help you."
Wulf looked suspiciously at Kat. "I don't need any help."
Kat bristled. "Relax, Mr. Macho, I won't rain on your parade. But you do need me. I happen to know Stryker personally. I'm the only shot you have at deflecting him."
Wulf wasn't sure if he should put any faith in those words. "You said you didn't know him at the club."
"I didn't want to blow my cover, but that was before you guys separated us and I had to convince Corbin to return me to Cassandra before Stryker finds her again."
"Do you trust her?" he asked Corbin.
"About as much as I trust anyone. But she pointed out that she's been with Cassandra for five years and Cassandra ain't dead yet."
"It's true," Cassandra said. "I've trusted her implicitly all this time."
"All right," Wulf said reluctantly. He met Corbin's gaze. "Keep your phone on and I'll be in touch."
Corbin nodded, then headed back to her car.
"We haven't met formally," Kat said, holding out her hand to Wulf as Corbin drove off. "I'm Katra."
He shook her hand. "Wulf."
"Yes, I know." Kat led them into the house, back to the living room where Chris was still sitting on the sofa.
Wulf locked and bolted the door behind them.
"By the way, Wulf," Kat said as she paused by Chris's backpack. "If you're thinking of sending Christopher away in order to protect him, I'd urge you to reconsider it."
"Why?"
She indicated the TV with her thumb. "How many times have you seen the 'let's kidnap the good guy's sidekick and hold him for ransom' episode?"
Wulf snorted at that. "Trust me, no one would be able to get him free of the Squire's Council."
"Au contraire," Kat said sarcastically. "Stryker won't have a bit of a problem finding him. The minute you let him out of this house, Stryker and his Illuminati will be on him like white on snow. He'll never make it into another protected area without them having him. Literally."
"They wouldn't dare, kill him, would they?" Cassandra asked.
"No," Kat said. "That's not Stryker's style. He's into punishment and hitting people where it hurts the most. He'll send Chris back, all right. The kid just won't be intact any longer."
"Intact how?" Chris asked nervously.
Kat lowered her gaze to his groin.
Chris immediately covered himself with his hands. "Bullshit."
"Oh, no, baby doll. Stryker knows how much Wulf values your ability to procreate. It's the one thing he'd take from both of you."
"Chris," Wulf said sternly, "go to your room and lock the door."
Chris ran from the room without hesitation.
Wulf and Kat glared at each other. "If you know this Stryker so well, then how do I know you're not working for him?"
Kat snorted at that. "I don't even like him. He and I have a mutual friend who has caused us to run into each other a few times over the centuries."
"Centuries?" Cassandra asked. "As in centuries! What are you, Kat?"
Kat patted her comfortingly on the arm. "I'm sorry, Cass. I should have told you before, but was afraid you wouldn't trust me if I did. Five years ago when Stryker almost killed you, Artemis sent me in to make sure he didn't get that close to you again."
Cassandra's head swirled at the disclosure. "So you were the one who opened the portal in the club?"
She nodded. "I'm breaching nine kinds of oaths here, but the last thing I want is to see you hurt. I swear it."
Wulf moved forward. "Why all this trouble to keep her safe when she's only going to die in a few months anyway?"
Kat took a deep breath and stepped back. She looked at each of them in turn before she finally spoke. "I'm no longer here to keep her safe."
Wulf put himself between Kat and Cassandra. He tensed as if ready to do battle. "What do you mean by that?"
Kat tilted her head so that she could meet Cassandra's gaze behind Wulf's back. "I'm here now to make sure the baby she carries is born healthy."