Retribution (Dark-Hunter #19)

Retribution (Dark-Hunter #19) Page 8

Jess dropped his gun and launched himself at Abigail as she slid through the floor. At first, he was sure she'd fallen to her death right before his eyes. That thought hit him a lot harder than it should have. The pain was indescribable.

But somehow, against all odds, he felt warmth in his palm and a weight on his arm that made his spirits soar with relief.

He'd caught her....

Looking over the side of the hole, he saw her panicked face staring up at him, and that was the most beautiful thing he'd seen in over a century.

She was alive.

Abigail's heart thumped wildly as she swung in a precarious arc. The only thing that kept her from crashing onto the marble floor ten feet below was one hand.

And it belonged to her enemy.

"I gotcha." Sundown's grip tightened on her hand in a silent promise that he wouldn't let go.

She locked both her hands around his and hoped he wasn't holding a grudge against her for anything. "Please don't drop me."

He actually winked at her. "Not on your life." He pulled her up slowly, taking care not to scrape her against the jagged edges of the floor where pieces of wood waited to impale her.

In that moment, she could kiss him for his fast reflexes that had saved her life, and for the care he was taking to pull her up and not hurt her.

But her relief didn't last long. As soon as her head popped through the hole, something grabbed her leg from below and yanked her hard enough to take her back through it.

Sundown's eyes widened.

I'm going to die. She was sure of it as the pressure on her legs increased with a determination that said it wouldn't relent until she was a stain on the floor below.

Yet somehow Sundown maintained his firm grip on her hands. He pulled her up again.

Again, something jerked her down. She kicked her legs and struck nothing. Yet there was no denying that some invisible force had her by her ankles.

If only she could look down to see what it was. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. I don't see anything. I just wish whatever it is that it'd let go." His face turned bright red as he held on to her with a determination that said he really did care whether she lived or died.

Abigail blinked back tears from the pain of being the rope in a tug-of-war that would mean her life if Sundown lost.

He growled as the muscles in his arms bulged from the strain. She stared into his eyes, which were dark with conviction, and used those as her lifeline.

"Thank you," she whispered to him.

Inclining his head to her, Jess felt his grip slipping. Whatever had her was increasing its pressure to the point he knew it was only a matter of time before she fell from his hands.

He'd failed to keep his promise to her mother. The last thing he wanted was to see her die, too. I can't let go....

What choice did he have?

The answer came from somewhere deep inside him. A forgotten prayer his mother had taught him from the cradle to use whenever things were too hard and he wanted to give up.

Aike aniya trumuli gerou sunari.... Those words whispered through his mind. I am White Buffalo and I will not be stopped. Yeah, okay, so it sounded better in her language than in English. Still, it echoed and he felt an inner strength rising with every syllable as he continued silently chanting it. Our people never met an enemy they couldn't defeat. Their blood flows inside of you, penyo. You are my pride and my gift to the Elders who watch over us. Listen to them when you're weak and they will help you. Always. He heard his mother's voice as clearly as if she sat beside him.

He saw the fear in Abigail's eyes as she realized her hands were slipping.

"Aike aniya trumuli gerou sunari!"

Abigail gasped at his angry words and the bright flash of red that shone through his pupils an instant before he jerked her up through the floor so fast, she barely realized she'd moved. He gathered her in his arms and hugged her close, as if he was as thankful she was alive as she was.

Even though she hated him, she was too grateful to shove him away. Instead, she reveled in the sensation of his hard body pressing against hers. She clung to him while she shook from relief and tried to squelch the fear that the invisible force would grab her again and take her back into the hole. Her blood rushed thick through her veins as she buried her face in his neck and inhaled the warm scent of his skin.

He'd saved her. She was alive.

In that moment, with all the endorphins coursing through her, she felt as if she could fly.

Jess couldn't move with her cradled against him as she breathed raggedly in his ear, sending chills down his arm. Every inch of her body was pressed against his. And deep inside, he felt something in him stir. Something he hadn't felt in a long time. Before he could rethink his intentions, he nuzzled her neck. A low moan escaped her lips. He started to pull away, but she cupped his head, stopping him.

Then she did the most unexpected thing of all.

She kissed him.

For a full minute, he couldn't breathe as he tasted her. Her lips were incredibly soft as she swept her tongue against his, teasing and warming him. He couldn't remember the last time a woman had kissed him with this much passion.

Abigail knew she shouldn't be doing this. In the back of her mind was the voice that tried to remind her that she hated him. And yet he'd saved her life. More than that, he felt like heaven. Never had she experienced anything like this.

Like she belonged.

There was no explaining it. It was something deep within that welcomed him even while her mind called her all kinds of stupid.

But before she could examine that thought further, the floor started rumbling again.

They pushed themselves to their feet and then away from the hole as some unseen beast from below began a fierce howl. It sounded like a pack of hungry coyotes....

Backing them up, Sundown put himself between her and the hole. He retrieved his gun from the floor.

An instant later, six men and one woman shot up from the opening. With dark hair and eyes, they curled their lips in a purely canine fashion as they stalked toward the two of them.

Jess braced himself for the attack he knew was coming. He'd never much cared for shape-shifters, and these were going to be brutal. "C'mon, punks," he goaded. "You want to fight or sniff each other's crotches?"

The leader ran at him. With a bright flash of yellow, he turned from a man into a coyote. Jess reversed his shotgun so that he was holding it by the barrel. Using the stock like a bat, he knocked the coyote into the wall, where it hit with a heavy thud.

The others changed form and came at him full force.

"Run!" he said over his shoulder to Abigail.

She didn't listen. Rather, she ripped the tacky antlers off the wall that Andy had put there as a sick joke-that boy had never been right in the head-and held them to defend against their attackers.

It was a bold move, and he seriously hoped those antlers broke during the fight so he'd never have to look at them again.

Even though Jess had a feeling he was wasting his time, he went ahead and loaded his gun with the shells in his pocket, then opened fire on the coyotes. The first one he shot yelped, skidded sideways, rebounded off the wall, then kept coming.

Yeah, all it did was piss the coyote off and give him some target practice. But what the hell? He kept shooting until he was empty again while he and Abigail backed down the hallway.

Until she stopped moving.

He slammed up against her.

"You're about to be in daylight."

He glanced over his shoulder to see the truth of that. Had she not stood her ground, he'd have been in some serious pain right about now. "Much obliged." With no choice and with their retreat cut off, he took a step forward to fight.

The coyotes launched themselves at the two of them.

Jess moved to hit one, but they never made contact.

The coyotes slammed into an invisible wall that magically appeared around him and Abigail. Yelping, the coyotes tried to attack again and again-they couldn't.

Yee-haw on that. He just hoped whoever was shielding them was a friend.

Abigail moved to stand beside him. She reached out to touch it, and apparently there was nothing there. She waved her hand around but it contacted nothing. Meanwhile, the coyotes couldn't touch them.

Interesting ...

She frowned in confusion. "What is this?"

"Don't know. But given everything else that's happened so far, I'm not real sure it's a good thing." For all he knew, that magic wall might be protecting the coyotes from something ugly about to happen to the two of them.

As if on cue, an evil growl, low and deep, echoed around them.

The coyotes hesitated at the sound.

Abigail swallowed in fear. When the scariest of scary were wary, it was time to take note. She whipped out her mental notepad to wait on whatever evil was about to pounce.

She didn't have to wait long before a huge wolf launched out of the walls to attack the coyotes.

That was unexpected on several levels. She turned toward Sundown. "Is that on our side?"

He squinted as if trying to look into the heart of this latest addition. "Looks like, but ... hell, who knows at this point?"

Within seconds, the coyotes vanished into a mist. The wolf circled as if he was about to give chase. Until he turned into a man in the middle of the hallway.

Tall, blond, and extremely handsome, he still looked feral in his human form. There was a light in his eyes that said he wanted to taste blood.

She hoped it wasn't theirs.

Abigail held her breath as he moved forward with a deadly glower.

Here we go again....

The wolf flipped the gun out of Sundown's hands. He cracked open the barrel to check its loaded status and shook his head. "Shells, cowboy? Really?"

Sundown shrugged. "Sometimes you just have to try even when it's wasted energy."

The wolf laughed, then handed it back. "I admire the tenacity, useless though it is."

Abigail relaxed as she realized the wolf was at the very least a frenemy.

Sundown leaned the gun against the wall. "What are you doing here?"

"Zarek sent me in, just in case."

Sundown scratched at the whiskers on his jaw. "'Cause shit rolls downhill."

"Yeah, and what upsets Z gets my ass kicked. Have I ever told you how much it chafes me that Astrid gave that psycho bastard god powers? I swear I go to bed every night with the one desire to rip out his throat, and I don't even live with them anymore. Sad, isn't it?"

Sundown bristled as if the wolf had struck a nerve. "Now, that's my boy you're talking about, and I don't want to get crossed up with you, Sasha. But you keep that tone and attitude about him, and we will."

Sasha held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry. I forget you and Ash are weird enough to actually like him. No accounting for taste." He turned that penetrating stare toward her. "And you must be the cause of this disaster."

Abigail was offended. What? Was there some cosmic social media feed somewhere with her photo on it, announcing her as the cause of the apocalypse? "I didn't do anything."

Sundown grinned. "She's in denial."

"Cool. We can feed her to the coyotes then, and I can go back to Sanctuary and continue scoping out this amazing brunette who keeps coming in with her friends."

She wasn't amused by that.

At all.

Sundown ignored her ire. "Speaking of friends ... why did our new coyote buddies run from you?"

Sasha swaggered like a strutting peacock. "I'm that badass."

Sundown snorted. "Seriously."

"O ye of little faith. You doubt my rep? My skills?"

"And your brains."

Sasha tsked. "Fine. I'll be honest.... Absolutely no idea. They had me outnumbered. I should have been easy for them to rip into. Not that I wanted to be their early morning snack, but-"

"The wolf has always been a most natural enemy to the coyote. Wolves are one of the few predators known to hunt them when the season is right. And because of this, the coyote are wary of them by nature. Especially one from an unknown pantheon whose powers they can only guess at. No doubt, they thought retreat was the best course of action. As Sun Tzu would say, 'If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.'"

Abigail turned at the voice of what sounded like an ancient Englishman standing behind them.

He wasn't English. Or anything like what she'd expected from his proper, thickly accented speech.

Barely taller than her, he wore a tan suede jacket with fringed sleeves and heavy Native American beadwork and carved bone all over it. His silver hair was parted into two braids that framed his withered face. However age hadn't dulled the sharpness of his hazel gold eyes, which stared at her with an accusation that cut her all the way to her soul.

She had a sudden desire to take a step back, but she refused to be a coward. So she stood her ground and put on the bravest face she could manage.

Sundown inclined his head respectfully to the man. "Choo Co La Tah, what are you doing here?"

Choo Co La Tah turned that frightening gaze from her to Sundown. "The Unfolding has started, and so I knew I couldn't wait, no matter Ren's protestations. As the Dineh would say, Coyote is always out there waiting, and Coyote is always hungry. I knew they would be after the woman as soon as they caught her scent. If they kill her before we reach the Valley, there will be no one to stop them. Hence my appearance here and now. The two of you must be protected, no matter what happens." He opened his jacket to show a crow that had been resting under his right arm. He pulled it out and, with a grace and dexterity that contradicted his apparent age, set it on the floor.

Letting out a caw, the bird flapped its wings, then manifested into a man. This one appeared to be in his early twenties with jet hair and eyes. Dressed all in black, he was stunningly sexy and even scarier than the coyotes had been.

He was also fanged.

And now all the men were staring at her, making her extremely uncomfortable and self-conscious. She felt like a mouse surrounded by hungry cats who were taking odds on who would be the first to pounce.

"Do you comprehend the gravity of your situation, my dear?" Choo Co La Tah asked her.

She did. But that didn't stop one cold, hard fact. "I don't want to die."

There was no sympathy in the old man's gaze. "As the Duwamish would say, there is no death, only a change of worlds."

"I like this world."

"Then you should have thought of that before you took the life of Old Bear. I can assure you, even at his advanced age, he didn't want to change realms either. And he's only one of many you have killed who never once harmed you."

Her anger snapped at that. How dare he patronize her-something that was made even more pronounced by his accent and proper tone.

She hadn't stalked innocent people like some deranged serial killer. She was an avenger who was tallying a sickening score started by the true villains in all of this. "The Dark-Hunters have hunted my people for centuries."

"Your people, madam, are human ... most of them qualify for that term, anyway. They are the ones the Dark-Hunters strive to protect."

"Yeah, right. They..." Her words broke off as images flashed in her mind. She heard countless humans begging for mercy as they were attacked.

Not by Dark-Hunters.

By Apollites who'd killed them so that they could take their human souls and feed on them and live past their twenty-seventh birthday-just as Sundown had told her. The horror of it slapped her hard as their screams resonated through her skull.

It couldn't be.

She shook her head in denial. "You planted those images in my head. They're not real."

Choo Co La Tah sighed. "My people have a saying. Kirha tahanahna ditari sukenah. To deny the presence of the sun doesn't escape its blister. I admire your loyalty. But sometimes you have to face the truth, even when it hurts."

No, she didn't. Because if he was right, if those images were the truth, then she was wrong on a level so profound that it made her sick. It would mean she'd done horrendous things to people who didn't deserve it.

People who'd been protecting the innocent from predators.

And if that was the case, she wasn't sure if she could live with herself.

I'm not a predator. I'm a protector.

Choo Co La Tah's eyes were filled with compassion. "I feel your pain, child. But you should have studied Confucius."

She frowned at his words. "How so?"

"Had you taken the time to learn his wisdom instead of war, you would have known that before you start down the road to revenge, dig two graves."

She bristled at that. "You don't understand."

"There you are quite wrong. Shamefully, all of us have wanted revenge on someone at some point for something. I've lived since before man and buffalo roamed this small planet. I have survived the beginning, bloom, and death of countless enemies, civilizations, and people. And the one truth I have learned most during all of these centuries is the old Japanese proverb. If you sit by the river long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by."

That made her temper boil over. He made it sound so simple. But he was wrong, and she knew it. "Even if he's immortal?"

"Especially then. To quote the Tsalagi, you should never allow your yesterday to use up too much of today. The past is gone and tomorrow is at best a maybe. Live for this moment because it may be all you'll ever have."

She curled her lip in disgust. His pithy phrases were easy to spout, but living with her amount of pain was another story. And seeing your parents slaughtered was something no one got over. Ever. "What are you? A fortune cookie writer?"

The Native American Dark-Hunter started forward, but Choo Co La Tah stopped him before he could reach her. There was laughter in his tone as he spoke. "Respect must be earned, Ren. Not demanded. A questioning mind is the most cherished resource man has and the rarest. I admire her tenacity and her misplaced loyalty."

Those words embarrassed her, and somehow they made her feel like she was being childish.

"And I don't." Deep and resonant, Ren's voice rolled like thunder.

Choo Co La Tah placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "All feelings are valid, and I do not discount yours, Abigail. Our true journey will begin in a handful of hours after the sun sets. In the meantime, all of you need to rest and conserve your strength. Sasha and I will guard you while you slumber." He glanced to Sundown. "And I will notify Andy and make sure he, too, is safe."

Sasha arched a brow. "Why is the wolf always the one who's drafted?"

Choo Co La Tah smiled. "The wolf is the one who is most rested."

Sasha scoffed. "What? You want to toss logic into my emotional outburst? Where's the fairness of that?"

If she wasn't so upset, Abigail might have found Sasha amusing, but right now nothing was funny to her. Not when the agony of her past weighed on her and her conscience ripped at her with razor-sharp talons. I'm not what they say.

She wasn't. At least she hoped she wasn't.

But what if?

Sundown cleared his throat to get Choo Co La Tah's attention. "I agree we need to rest. But there is a small matter of scorpions in the basement, and that's the only safe place for me and Ren during daylight. No offense, I don't really want to nap with them crawling all over me."

Choo Co La Tah stepped away from her. "Ah yes, the scorpion infestation. Don't despair. I've taken care of your pest problem. All of them are gone now."

"You sent the snow?" Abigail asked.

He inclined his head. "The plagues that will come are designed to weaken me. The Coyote is forcing me to expend energy to protect mankind from his tools. For now, my strength holds. But I'm old and I must recharge my powers much more often than I did when I was young. If we don't make it to the Valley before I lose strength..."

It wouldn't be pretty for any of them.

And it will be all by my fault.

Jess saw the terrified look in Abigail's eyes before she hid it. That uncharacteristic frailty from her tugged at his heart. She wasn't the kind of woman to let her vulnerability show. The fact that she did ...

She was in absolute agony, and he'd always been a sucker for a woman in pain.

"C'mon," he said to her gently. "I'll take you back downstairs."

For once, she didn't argue, and that told him exactly how torn up she really was. Ren followed after them while Choo Co La Tah and Sasha stayed topside to keep an eye out for any other enemies who might want to join them.

No one spoke until they were in the elevator. Ren folded his arms over his chest as he blocked the door and faced them. He glanced from Abigail to Jess. "You have no idea how much it bothers me to know that I was the man she meant to kill tonight and now I have to protect her."

Jess snorted. "Yeah, well, she tried to kill me, too, and I got over it."

"I'm not as good a man as you are, Sundown. I find it hard to give an enemy my back under any circumstance."

"Oh, I didn't say I was giving her my back. I'm not lacking all my noodle sense. But I'm not holding a grudge neither. Sometimes you just got to let the rattlesnake lay in the sun."

Ren muttered an obscenity about that under his breath.

Abigail cleared her throat. "Men? You do know I'm standing in this little box with you and can hear every word?"

They exchanged an arch look.

"We know," Ren said. "I merely don't care."

She rolled her eyes as the elevator stopped and Jess moved Ren aside so that he could open it.

Abigail hesitated before stepping out.

"Something wrong?" Jess held the door open for her with one arm.

She stuck her head out a little ways and squinted at the ground. "Making sure there's no scorpions on the floor."

He laughed at her uncharacteristic timidity. "Miraculously, they're all gone." The only proof of their ordeal was the hole in the ceiling that the coyotes had used to jump through earlier. "Looks safe."

Ren made a hostile noise before he pushed past them and took the rear bedroom suite.

Jess tsked at him. "You know, bud, that there's just plain rude."

Ren held his hand up over his shoulder to flip him off as he continued on without comment or pausing.

Abigail swallowed at his open hostility. Not that she blamed him, since he had been her target. Still ...

"Don't take it too hard," Sundown said sheepishly. "Ren's ... well ... he's Ren. He don't mean nothing."

If it were only that simple, but she did appreciate his trying to make her feel better. "He hates me."

"He's wary of you. Big difference. Like he said, he was your target. Not exactly something a man gets over real fast."

"You seem to have adapted."

He flashed the most devilish and charming grin she'd ever seen before, and it did peculiar things to her stomach. "I'm not as bright as he is."

Oh yeah, he could be devastating when he wanted to. "I somehow doubt that."

"Is that a compliment?"

"Well, hell has indeed frozen over, in case you missed the snow on your front lawn."

He laughed as he led her toward the room he'd taken her to earlier. Now that they weren't in fear of their lives, she could appreciate the beauty of his home. The hallway was painted a peaceful ochre with white wainscoting. The wall sconces were baroque and seemed at odds with the down-home simplicity of Sundown Brady.

"Did you decorate this place?"

He cast a frown at her over his shoulder that said he thought she was a few gallons shy of a load. "Yeah, no ... decorating ain't exactly something I strive to do in my spare time. It came with the house."

"Why did you want to live here? No offense, but it doesn't really seem to be your style."

He paused at her room. "I think I might ought to be offended by that. What exactly are you saying about my style?"

She paused, too, then shrugged. "I don't know. You just seem to be the kind of guy to have a man cave, not something this..."

"Refined?"

She shook her head affirmatively.

"Well, that just shows what you know. For your information, I do like some fancy things."

"Like what? Lacy underwear?"

"On my women, yeah." He flashed that grin at her that she was learning to hate. Not for any reason other than the fact that it softened his features and made him terribly irresistible.

"And-?" she asked when he didn't continue.

He scratched at the back of his neck. "Well, opera for one and foreign films for another, especially French ones."

She scoffed. "No, you don't."

"I can show you my Opera Guild membership card if you want to see it. Been a season ticket holder for decades."

Out of all the things about him that took her by surprise, those actually floored her. She just couldn't imagine a man so large and tough wedging himself into an opera seat.

"Heck, I even play violin."

"You mean fiddle."

"Play that, too. But Mozart and Grieg are my favorite pieces that I like to unwind with after a hard night's work."

In the back of her mind was a vague memory of him playing Wagner on her toy piano and then showing her what the keys were. "You taught me 'Chopsticks.'"

"I did."

The thought of a man so huge and ripped handling such a delicate instrument was incongruous and yet ...

Why can't I remember more?

Sundown opened the door for her.

Abigail went to the bed, then paused. Instead of leaving, Sundown pulled a blanket and pillow out of the closet and made a pallet on the floor.

"What are you doing?" she asked, dreading the obvious answer.

"We tore my room up, remember? I don't want to sleep with a big hole over my head. Plaster or something might fall down and scare me enough, I could scream like a woman and humiliate myself. I definitely don't want to do that with Sasha in the house. He'd laugh at me forever, and I'd have to skin him."

She started to protest, but honestly she was glad to have him in here. Just in case. After everything that had happened, her nerves were shot.

You should be running from him or at least trying to kill him.

Perhaps. But if the coyotes were really after her, the last thing she wanted to do was lead them home so that they could kill her adoptive family, too. Hannah and Kurt were all she had left. And while the Apollites were good, she wasn't sure they'd be enough to fight them. Not to mention Choo Co La Tah was right, she was exhausted to a level she'd never known before. She needed rest. At least for a couple of hours.

Then she might be up for an escape attempt.

Kicking off her shoes and pulling the band from her hair to release her ponytail, she climbed into bed. Before she could think better of it, she glanced to where Sundown lay on the floor. One thing she didn't miss was the fact that he had one foot against the door so that if anyone opened it, it would wake him immediately. And the shotgun was on the floor only millimeters from his fingertips.

Weird ... she couldn't remember him picking it up again. Where had it come from?

Man, she must be tired to have missed that.

Pushing it out of her mind, she changed the topic. "You need another pillow?"

He covered his eyes with his arm. Something that caused his shirt to ride up and give her a glimpse of his rock-hard abs. Oh yeah, she could do laundry on that. "Nah, thanks. I'm good."

In more ways than one. He was definitely scrumptious, lying on the floor like that.

I have lost my mind. And then some. You can't possibly find him attractive. He killed your family.

Or had he? Could he have been telling her the truth earlier? If he really was a cold-blooded killer, why not murder her instead of bringing her back here? He could have abandoned her to the scorpions and coyotes.

Instead, he'd protected her.

He's a killer. You saw his face. You know his legend.

True. Her research of his human past had shown him to be the worst sort of humanity. Scum so foul that even bounty hunters and law enforcement had feared him.

But her personal experience with him refuted that.

What if she were wrong? She'd been so little at the time of her parents' deaths. Did she remember that night correctly? She could still see him so clearly in her mirror. And yet there were differences between the man on the floor and the one in her memory.

Why would he seem larger now than he had when she was a kid?

Even though she needed to sleep, she wanted answers.

Before she could stop herself, she asked the one that bothered her most. "What did you and my dad fight over the night they died?"

Jess fell quiet as her whispered question stirred old memories that cut him up deep inside. Things he'd tried not to think about. Things that had haunted him for years. As bad as those memories had been for him, he could only imagine how much harder they'd been for her. Damn shame for a mite to see such a thing as what had happened to her parents.

A part of him wanted to lie, but in the end, he spoke honestly. "Your mother."

She sat up in the bed to stare at him. "What?"

Lowering his arm, Jess sighed at the inevitable confession she deserved to hear. "Your pa thought I was trying to steal her affections away from him."

"Were you?"

"Hardly. Me and her were friends and nothing more."

"You're lying," she accused.

If only it'd been that simple. "No, sweet. I'm telling the truth. No need for me to lie about this."

"Why would my father think that unless you gave him reason to?"

'Cause he was fucking loco, but Jess would never say that to her. The man was her pa, and the last thing he wanted to do was taint her memory of him. The truth, though-her pa had been insanely jealous of any male in Laura's life who was over the age of five. He assumed every man was eat up with lust for her, and in his world someone couldn't just want to talk to her because she reminded him of someone else. Nah, and the worst of it was that he'd accused her of cheating on him. Something Laura would die before she did.

Since Jess couldn't say any of that, he went with the other simple truth. "'Cause I loved your mama, and there was nothing in the world I wouldn't have done for her or you."

Abigail felt tears sting her eyes as she remembered the beauty of her mother's face. She'd seen her as a wonderful angel with a smile that was filled with more warmth than the sun itself. Most of all, she remembered how safe and loved she'd felt every single time her mother wrapped her arms around her. God, to have one more second with her ...

"If you were in love with-"

"Not in love, Abby. That's what your pa couldn't get through his thick skull. What I felt for her wasn't that. I just wanted to make her happy and keep her safe."

"Why?"

Jess felt the tic start in his jaw as a wave of agony swelled inside him. Laura had been a perfect physical copy of Matilda. Even some of her mannerisms. But she wasn't Tilly, and he'd known it. "She reminded me of someone I used to know." Someone I once loved more than anything on this earth.

"I don't understand."

And it was hard to explain. "I met your ma not long after she moved to Reno. She was a waitress in a restaurant where I used to go and eat sometimes." He hadn't been paying a bit of attention to the occupants as he took his usual seat in the small diner. He'd been staring out the window, skimming the crowd as people outside walked by, when a cup of coffee appeared on his table.

"Much obliged," he'd muttered, expecting it to be his usual waitress, Carla, who always brought him coffee the minute he sat down.

"You're welcome." The soft lilt of that unfamiliar voice had dragged his attention to her face. Even now, he could feel the shock of looking up and being sucked back in time.

"Are you all right?" she'd asked.

He'd sputtered and mumbled something back at her that was probably as stupid to her as he'd felt when he said it. Over the next hour, he'd coerced enough information out of her that he was able to get Ed to run a thorough background check on her.

That report had stunned him as much as seeing her in the diner. Laura was the great-great-granddaughter of the child Bart had fathered the day he raped Matilda.

A child Matilda had given up for adoption.

By the time the Squires told him about the infant a few years after it'd been born, he'd been unable to locate it. Records weren't kept the same way then as they were today. Until the night he'd stumbled across Laura and Ed had run his own check, he didn't even know that child had been a boy.

At first, he'd been livid with the discovery and angry at fate for dropping that living reminder slap-dab in the middle of his territory. Since he knew he'd never dishonored Matilda by taking her before their wedding, there was no doubt about the paternal sperm donor for Laura's line.

But by the next night, he'd chosen to focus on two things. One, it wasn't the baby's fault that he'd been conceived by violence, and there was no reason for Jess to hold that against the boy's descendants. Two, they were every bit as much a part of the woman he'd loved as the children she'd kept and raised, and the descendants he had the Squires watch over. It was only fair he take care of Laura, too.

In Laura, he'd only seen Matilda's genteel face.

In Abigail, he saw both. The woman he'd loved more than his life and the man he'd hated with every part of his being.

It was one hell of a combination.

"And?" Abigail prompted. "She was a waitress..."

"We became friends," he said simply. And it was the absolute truth. "I'd go in a few times a week, and we'd chat for a bit." He smiled at his bittersweet memories. Like Matilda, she'd been sweet and unassuming. "She was highly intelligent and quick-witted. Funny as all get out. I used to love listening to her banter with her friends and the other customers."

"Did you ever go out with her?"

"Never. Dark-Hunters aren't allowed to date, and I knew I had nothing to offer her. I just liked being in her company. She was good people, and there's not a lot of those around. I left big tips, and she threatened the life of anyone who dared try and wait on me anytime she was working."

"Then why was my father angry at you?"

He was a psychotic idiot.

But Jess didn't say that. "I made the mistake of giving your mother a butterfly necklace that I'd seen in a local shop on her birthday. I thought it was pretty, and the blue diamonds in it reminded me of her eyes. I meant nothing by it, but your pa didn't see it that way. Even though I'd known her long before she met and married him, he accused her of cheating on him with me, and I left before I physically hurt him."

Abigail searched her mind for some memory to either refute or sustain his words. All she could remember was the loud sounds of shouting voices. Her parents didn't fight a lot, but it'd been enough that she knew to hide whenever they did.

Her hiding over it was the very thing that had saved her life.

Sundown sighed. "I went out on my patrol, but I couldn't shake the bad feeling I had. I didn't want to leave her with him so mad. But I knew if I'd stayed, I'd have rearranged a few of his organs, and that would have only upset her more. I figured if I left, he'd calm down and everything would be all right.... At ten, I tried to call and got no answer. That worried me even more. So I headed back and..." He hesitated before he spoke again. "The police were already there and they wouldn't let me in. I looked around for you and asked about you, but there was no trace. They assumed that whoever killed your parents took you as well. We searched for you for a long time, but no one ever saw you again." He scowled at her. "So what happened to you, anyway? Where did you go?"

Abigail tried to recall when her adoptive father had shown up. But all she saw was Sundown walking out of her room. And then it'd seemed like forever before she heard a familiar voice call her name. "My adoptive father took me home with him. I don't remember seeing the police or really anything much about that night except you."

"What made you think I killed them?"

"I saw you in my room."

"I wasn't there, Abigail. I swear to you." There was so much conviction in his tone that he was either the best liar in the world ...

Or he was telling the truth.

"He looked just like you. He even had on cowboy boots."

"A pair of shit-kickers in Reno is normal footwear. That don't mean nothing."

That much was true. Still ...

"My adoptive father confirmed it. He said you slaughtered my parents because they were allies to the Apollites."

"I had no idea they even knew what an Apollite was. It's not something I normally talk about to anyone outside of the Dark-Hunter network, you know?"

That made a little too much sense. Abigail rubbed her forehead as she tried to discern the truth. Her feelings were so conflicted.

"So what do you believe now?" he asked.

Overwhelmed by everything, she lay back against the headboard. "I don't know, Sundown. I don't." Oh, how she hated being this tired. It made her an emotional wreck, and everything was so much worse right now. Tears started streaming quietly down her cheeks as everything crashed in on her. Her life had never been simple or easy.

But all of the past was like a ride on a merry-go-round compared to what it was right now. It was confusing and terrifying.

And if Choo Co La Tah was right, she only had an extremely short amount of time left to live.

Or the world would end.

What have I done?

What was she going to do?

Suddenly, Sundown was there, sitting on the bed. "Don't cry, Abby. It's all right."

It wasn't and they both knew it.

He gathered her into his arms and held her close. Something no one had done in a very long time. God, it felt so good....

Abigail buried her face into his chest. His heartbeat was strong and sure, and in this moment, she needed that reassurance that she wasn't completely alone-even if it meant cuddling against her enemy. "I'm so sorry. I don't normally do this."

"Don't apologize. My ma used to say that crying is good for you. Tears are the path that free your mind of sorrowful thoughts."

"You sound like Choo Co La Tah now."

He nuzzled his face against her head while a gentle laugh rumbled deep in his chest. "He is kind of like Yoda.... 'There is only do or do not. There is no try.'"

That actually succeeded in making her laugh through her tears. "You're a Star Wars fan?"

"Oh yeah. May the Force be with you."

She sobered. "If what Choo Co La Tah said is true, I think we're going to need something a lot stronger than the Force to win this."

"Don't worry, we'll find a solution. There's always a way."

His positive attitude amazed her. "How can you be so sure?"

He shrugged. "You're talking to a man who came back from the dead just to even a score. You think I'm going to let something like Coyote win this? Hardly. One thing about Bradys ... We don't run and we don't lose. Come hell or high water, no one gets the best of me. And I'll be damned if I let them take you. We'll find a way to keep you safe and save the world. You have my personal guarantee on that, and that's not something I give lightly."

His conviction stunned her. "Why do you even care? A few hours ago, I was trying to kill you."

"And not that long ago, you saved me from stepping into daylight. I haven't forgotten that either. Besides, I understand wanting retribution. Spent my whole human life in search of it. I won't hold that against you or anyone else."

That was so different from the things she'd read about him. Was it possible he wasn't as soulless as they claimed?

"But," he continued. "I would ask that if we do manage to save your butt and the world's that you find another hobby besides killing us."

How easy he made that sound. "Do you really think they'll let me live after what I've done?"

Jess paused as he considered it. She was right. The final decision wasn't his to make. The Powers were even more vengeful than his brethren were. Blood for blood. Tit for tat.

Still, things happened all the time that didn't make sense. And the Powers ...

They were downright unpredictable.

"Have faith, Abigail. Sometimes the world surprises you."

Abigail swallowed at his words, wishing she could put her faith in them. "Yeah, but it's never done so in a pleasant way. At least not for me."

And deep in her heart, she knew the truth. This wouldn't end until she'd paid for her actions.

She was going to die, and not even the infamous Jess Brady could stop it.