The Huntress : The Alterealm Series Book 1

Glaring at Chase, who continued to stand in the middle of my bedroom on his side of Alterealm, I growled. “Seriously? You want to check me over and make sure I’m okay?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t even crack a smile while he stood there, so I knew he was being dead serious. “I want to go to the cells and check out what’s going on, can’t we do this later?”

“I said I would look after you, and I intend on doing that.”

The tone of his voice assured me that I wasn’t going to get to clean up or do anything until I gave in. “It’s just my shoulder that’s hurting.” A slight understatement, but I wasn’t going to share that my whole back and arm was throbbing with pains shooting up and down it. When he continued to just stand there looking at me, I cursed many bad words inside my head and then started to take the harness off my back. As an afterthought, I turned my back on him when I went to move the aching arm, just in case I made one of those pained faces.

“I can feel the pain you’re in, Daxx.”

That definitely made the decision for me, there would be no more blood healing for this girl. I was willing to get used to being around others and having them in my face all the time, but my thoughts and feelings were my own and only shared if I wanted to.

Pulling the shirt over my head was pretty close to the most painful thing I’d ever done, except that time I had cracked three ribs or when my leg had been crushed when a jumper tried to back over me in his car. When the damn material finally cleared my head, I put my arms back down and stood there with my back to him. He hissed and I knew now I’d have to go look in the mirror and see how bad it was.

Not even sparing him a glance, I walked into the bathroom and flicked on the light and turned my side toward the mirror. Well shit, my shoulder was the color of freshly ground up meat and looked like a giant blister wanting to burst.

“And that is you being okay?” He drawled from the doorway.

I looked at him in the mirror and made one of those dumb faces that you make when you know they’re right but don’t want to admit it out loud.

I heard his boots on the floor as he came over. “I can’t just leave it like this, kitten, it breaks my heart just looking at you having something like that on you.”

The soft aching tone of his voice made me look at him in the mirror again. He wasn’t lying as he stood there looking at it he looked like he was hurting as much as I was. “The connection that goes with the blood healing…” How did I say this without sounding redundant? “I’m not comfortable with it.”

He traced his finger over my tattoo, a look of fascination on his face. “I know.” I shivered under his touch. “I find myself going through a lot of new territory lately as well, it’s not just you.”

Men rarely confessed things of this magnitude without prompt, so I turned and leaned back against the counter and looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

Running a hand through his already messed up hair, he sighed loudly. “I almost marked you last night, Daxx.” I nodded, I was there I knew this. He studied my face silently. “We would have been mated then, do you understand that? I almost took away your right to choose.” His voice had a pained tone to it now.

“I got that part last night.”

Shaking his head, he paced over to the other side of the room and then turned and looked at me. “I don’t think you got all of it, sweetling, or we wouldn’t be having this calm discussion right now.” He moved back to me so quickly, I didn’t have time to react before I found myself boxed in by his big arms with him leaning down in my face. “We would have been mated. Period. You can’t undo that.” His eyes, bordered on yellow so fast it was haunting. “You’re not comfortable with the blood connection? A mated pair are connected in all ways. When one hurts, so does the other. When one is mad, the other feels it.”

Well, when he put it that way it was a very good thing it hadn’t happened. I was still coming to terms with this destined to be the mate of a king spiel, having no decision in it would have pissed me right off. I opened my mouth to say something, but the look he gave me made me close it again.

“Marking someone is no accident.” He paused and leaned back a few inches. “It can’t just happen with anyone.” Nope, I still wasn’t getting where he was headed. “I have never felt the inclination to mark someone, never mind almost lose my mind with the strongest emotions that filled me with need to do it.”

The picture was getting a little clearer for me. “So what do we do then?”

Closing his eyes, he stood there with his arms still caging me in and took a few deep breaths. “Exactly what I said last night. Nothing. We take a little more time.”

A thousand questions filled my mind. I asked the first one I could maintain. “Did you tell Troy what happened?”

Opening his eyes, he shook his head. “No, but I think he still knows.” Pushing away, he straightened. “The connection between my brothers and I is mostly emotion based and there is no way he didn’t feel a part of what I did last night.”

I pointed at him. “Okay, that right there freaks me out.” I crossed my arms over my chest and it dawned on me that I was standing in the bathroom having this discussion in my bra. “I’m not even used to be around others and now all of a sudden I’m supposed to share my emotions with others in a non-verbal sense.”

The look on his face softened. “I know you’re having a hard time with it, I can feel that and it is why I am fighting this constant battle to give you space.”

Damn, he just racked up a few more points with that statement. “Thank you.”

He glanced in the mirror at my back. “With that being said, it’s killing me to see you hurt. Everything in me is telling me to look out for you, to heal you …” He sighed again and ran both hands through his hair in a frustrated move. “I will do everything possible to keep my emotions out of your head.”

Even with his eyes more yellow than hazel I could see him pleading with me. Cursing my newfound weakness, I dropped my face into my hands and stood there. When I lifted it, I motioned around the bathroom. “Can I take a shower and think for a few minutes?”

Stepping back, he nodded. “I’ll go get cleaned up and be back in fifteen minutes.”

“Okay.”

He stood without moving, just looking at me. “You were amazing tonight, by the way.”

More flattery, a girl could get used to that sort of thing. “Mostly thanks to your teaching.”

Chase shrugged. “I didn’t do much, just guided you in a new direction. You did all the work.”

“Go. I need some space for a few.”

****

I barely got the zipper pulled up on my jeans when he knocked on the door again. I knew it was Chase, without even opening it. “Come in.”

He stepped through the door looking like a model for a sexy cologne ad. His hair was still wet, clothes hugged every muscle in all the right ways…

Raising an eyebrow, he stopped. “It might be a good idea to curb those thoughts for now.”

That startled me out of the mental images I was mooning over. Clearing my throat, I tried to shrug it off and ended up wincing in pain instead. Okay, maybe a little help in healing wouldn’t be so bad. I held up the arm that didn’t want to die and fall off my body and opened my hand to stop him. “A minimal dose, nothing more. Just give the healing a little jump start.”

He smirked. “I don’t think I’ve ever been thought of as a dose before.”

Rolling my eyes, I reached down and tried to pick up my boots, but the pain shot all the way up into my neck and I ended up dropping to one knee instead. Chase was beside me before I could try to recover. With gentle hands, he helped me to my feet.

“You are, by far, the most stubborn woman I have ever crossed paths with.” Without pause, he pulled the shirt, which had taken me more time to get on than I cared to admit, up my body and then he worked my arm back out of it. He groaned a painful sound. “Either you let me help you, now or I’ll call Quinton to come see this.”

“How is that fair?” I pictured Quinton’s dark eyes bleeding with emotion and concern.

Chase shrugged. “It’s not.”

Growling, I stepped back and glared up at him. “Fine.”

With a triumphant look that reminded me of a six-year-old getting his own way, he pulled his t-shirt off and tossed it into the chair. Without my permission, my eyes drank in the body he’d exposed and I had no problems placing my mouth against it, for any reason. With a slow appraising stare I kept going and moved to the waist of his jeans and then lower. The evidence of him not minding my eyes caressing him was plain to see. I suddenly felt warm all over. Clearing my throat, I looked up at his face again. “Is it a good idea for me to take from your chest? Wouldn’t a wrist or less appealing body part be better?”

“Probably, but I’m a glutton for punishment and it’s a good excuse to hold you, I’ve spent most of the day wanting to drag you into my arms.”

At least he was honest, I’d give him that. I looked at the smooth muscled chest again and my mouth dried up. “I repeat, is this a good idea?”

He took slow steps in my direction. “I’ve already fed, so that shouldn’t be an issue.”

I looked below his waist again and felt my cheeks flush. “I’m not sure that’s the only issue…”

Grasping my chin, he lifted it so my eyes moved back up to his. “It’s not, but I will behave.” His eyes were so serious. “I will not mark you until you consent.”

I didn’t bring up the fact that he’d made it sound like I would chose him. At this point I didn’t want to pick anyone, but I was starting to admit that in the end I may not have a lot of choice in the matter. Pulling my raptor out from behind me, I held it up to him.

With an intense look, he took it and pulled me gently until my face was a few inches from his chest. I looked up at him, so I wouldn’t have to watch him cut into his own flesh again for my sake. His hazel eyes held mine with a look of such tenderness I almost backed away for fear it would take me over.

He scored his chest and rested his hand against the back of my head as I leaned into him and ran my tongue over it. He hissed out a breath and then wrapped his other arm around me and moved closer so my whole body was against his.

I let his emotions fill me, so I could drown out the pain and forget about the questions. As my mouth closed over the wound, I could feel it from his end and for him it was pure pleasure to have me do this.

He pressed a hand into the small of my back and held our hips together as his other hand kept my head in place. He made a soft growling sound as I felt his whole body shudder. I swallowed and started to pull away but his hand stopped me.

Leaning down he whispered, “Keep going, kitten, I won’t lose control on you.”

Trusting him to keep his word, I continued to take his blood into my system before the wound could seal and stop the flow. His lust flashed inside my mind for a brief second, just long enough to stir my own. Not wanting to torture the man that was trying to help me, I swallowed again and gently licked over the cut before moving my mouth away from him.

He stood there, holding me, his posture tense. With a soft curse, he reached down and lifted my chin so he could reach my mouth with his own. The kiss was deep and passionate but he remained in control.

With a groan, he released me and stepped back. I stood there feeling lightheaded and stared at his chest as he took deep breaths. Snapping out of it when he moved back over, I paused as he turned me slowly and looked at my shoulder. “You could use more, but we’ll let that do its thing and see what happens.” His voice was low and hoarse.

Nodding, I offered him a half smile. “Okay.” I had to fight not to reach out and run my hand over his chest. “I think we should put our shirts back on and get to the cells.”

He cleared his throat and went over and picked his up. “That’s probably a good idea, I could use the distraction.”