HuntressUnleashed by Clare Murray Read Free Book Online

was so keen to keep you to himself.”
    “I am a Huntress,” she warned him. Why the hell didn’t I
go back for the sword? She examined Delaney, trying to stay cold, detached,
like Da would have done. This werewolf didn’t have Eagan’s size, but he was
well-muscled and had the weight and reach of her.
    Surprisingly, he was handsome. His face was more filled out
than Eagan’s, eyes darker, but his features were rugged and his lips curved in
a pleasant-enough smile. Still, there was that wrongness tugging at her.
    “Beautiful Huntress.” Delaney had noticed her examination.
“Do you like what you see?”
    Cait inhaled, taking in the werewolf’s scent. He smelled
like heather with a hint of mustiness, as if he’d slept atop a pile of old
books. It made her nose wrinkle. She forced herself to stand her ground. What
was the potion supposed to do? Iris had told her to use all her senses.
    Just as she was trying to figure out how to do that, Delaney
sprang forward. Before she could defend herself, he was kissing her, stoking
that inconvenient inferno Eagan had lit with his arrival. One hand slipped down
her pants, cupping her buttocks and pulling her toward him.
    Her first instinct had been to close her eyes. Now she
opened them, getting a good view of Delaney’s eyes as she pulled back.
    They were dull red.
    She closed her eyes again. Reopened them a second later.
Still red. The skin around his mouth was pockmarked. She inhaled his scent, tasting the abnormality of him, and stumbled backward.
    Delaney cocked his head, pausing to stand very still. The
pockmarks and other blemishes suddenly became difficult to make out, but if
Cait looked at him from the corners of her eyes she could see his true form.
    What she saw made her want to scream. He was a hideous old
man underneath the aura he projected. Wiry muscles protruded from sagging skin.
He was still dangerous, posing a significant threat to her safety. Runes inked
in black magic encircled his arms, legs and torso, pulsing dully whenever he
moved.
    As the silence stretched, he licked his mouth with a gray
tongue, smacking wetly. Cait shivered, seeing the duality of the action. If she
moved her head, changed angles even slightly, he turned back into a handsome
man, lips curved in an inviting smile. It was disconcerting, even nauseating.
Behind her, Frost and Bannock watched unmoving. She sensed their readiness to
attack.
    “Why did you pull away, beautiful one?”
    “I have to go,” Cait said evenly. Have to go scrub your
touch from my skin , she added mentally.
    “Oh, I think not.” His voice acquired a harsh edge. “You
think to run back to your protector, yes?”
    “No,” Cait said. “Not to him.”
    Never to him. Not if Eagan was the same as Delaney. She
hadn’t been in possession of the potion when he’d arrived. Now that she could
see through the werewolf illusion, she wasn’t letting anyone into the
cottage. She’d have to hope the fourth witchward held.
    “Good lass. Wouldn’t want you running back to that nasty old
Eagan, would we?” His voice was silky again, patronizing.
    “I will not be running to him,” Caitrin said, “but I’m sure
as hell not staying with you .”
    She turned, sprinting into the heather. He followed
immediately.

Chapter Five
     
    Delaney . The wind carried the Loner’s scent to him.
It scorched his nostrils, burned him with the brand of failure.
    Failure to keep Caitrin safe.
    He snarled, wolf form amplifying the sound. Charged forward
on shadow-black paws that shredded the dirt with their claws.
    Delaney was close. Closer. Moving. His scent moving with
him, floating in the chilled air. He plotted the Loner’s movement with the
skill born of centuries of survival, of hunting unnatural freaks like this
fallen werewolf. Delaney should have died a century ago.
    Only the blackest of wizardry held the Loner together. Since
Delaney was long since devoid of sanity, it was a wonder that he had escaped
Alpha justice.
    Eagan