Chapter 14: Hunter's Blood
1246words
"Damian!" I screamed, racing down the stairs with newfound speed that should have been impossible. My heightened senses detected his scent—sandalwood and pine—coming from the study. The door flew open before I reached it, Damian appearing with alarm etched across his features.
"Elena? What's wrong?"
"Victor has my father," I gasped, clutching my chest where an unfamiliar pressure built. "I can feel it through the blood bond."
His expression darkened. "Are you certain?"
"Yes. I felt his emotions—satisfaction, anticipation. Like a predator who's caught his prey." The foreign sensations churned inside me, making me nauseous. "We have to find them."
Damian's jaw tightened. "This could be a trap. Victor knows you'd come for your father."
"I don't care." My voice rose with panic. "He'll kill him, Damian. To eliminate competition for my loyalty."
"You don't know that—"
"I do!" I grabbed his arm, my fingers digging in with strength that surprised us both. "The same way he killed my mother when she chose my father over completing the ritual."
Damian studied me for a long moment, then nodded. "Jackson!" he called, not raising his voice but knowing his brother would hear.
Jackson appeared in the doorway seconds later. "I heard. Victor's making his move."
"Can you track Robert's scent?" Damian asked.
"Already did. He left the Westbrook Hotel yesterday afternoon." Jackson's expression was grim. "His scent trail leads toward Blackwater Preserve."
"Victor's territory," Damian muttered. "Of course."
"The ritual site," I said suddenly, remembering the map I'd found in my journal. "The coordinates I wrote down—three stones, blood offering. That's where he'd take him."
Both brothers looked at me sharply.
"How do you know about the ritual site?" Jackson asked.
"My journal. I found a map." I turned to Damian. "We need to go now."
"Not we," he corrected. "You're staying here where it's safe."
Anger flared inside me, hot and sudden. "He's my father."
"And Victor wants you there. It's exactly what he's expecting."
"Good." I felt something shift inside me—my newly awakened wolf responding to the threat. "Then let's not disappoint him."
Damian's eyes widened slightly as mine flashed amber. Through our bond, I felt his surprise, followed by reluctant admiration.
"You're not ready to face him," he said, gentler now. "Your transformation is just beginning."
"I don't need to transform to help my father." I touched the claiming bite on my neck. "I have you for that."
The possessive satisfaction that surged through our bond at my words would have frightened me days ago. Now it felt right—a recognition of what we were becoming to each other.
"If she stays, Victor kills Robert," Jackson interjected pragmatically. "If she comes, we at least have a chance to negotiate."
Damian's jaw worked as he considered our options. "Fine. But you stay behind me at all times," he said to me. "And if I tell you to run, you run. No arguments."
I nodded, though we both knew through our bond that I was lying.
Thirty minutes later, we were speeding toward Blackwater Preserve in Damian's SUV, the forest growing denser around us as we left civilization behind. My newly enhanced senses detected subtle changes in the environment—the territorial markers of Victor's pack, the gradual shift in animal sounds as they sensed predators approaching.
"The ritual site is just beyond that ridge," Jackson said from the back seat. "We should continue on foot. Less warning."
Damian parked off the main trail, concealing the vehicle behind dense foliage. As we stepped into the forest, he pulled me close, his lips brushing my ear.
"Stay between us. If anything happens to me, run to the car. Jackson will get you to safety."
The intensity in his eyes made argument impossible. I nodded, and he pressed a quick, fierce kiss to my lips before leading us deeper into the woods.
We moved silently, Damian and Jackson communicating through subtle gestures. My enhanced senses picked up details I would have missed before—broken twigs indicating recent passage, the faint scent of my father's aftershave mingled with something wilder, more dangerous.
The ritual site appeared suddenly—a small clearing where three massive stones formed a triangle around a central altar. My father knelt beside it, hands bound behind his back, a cut on his forehead leaking blood down his temple. Victor stood behind him, one hand casually resting on my father's shoulder in a mockery of companionship.
"Right on time," Victor called, his amber eyes finding mine immediately. "I knew you'd feel him through our bond."
"Let him go," I demanded, stepping forward only to be pulled back by Damian.
"Elena," my father's voice was strained but steady. "You shouldn't have come."
"Touching family reunion," Victor smiled. "But I'm afraid Robert and I have unfinished business. Hunter and hunted—an old story."
"What do you want?" Damian asked, his body coiled with tension.
"What I've always wanted." Victor's gaze returned to me. "Elena at the blood moon ritual, making her choice freely—without hunter interference."
"So this is blackmail," I said. "My father's life for my participation."
"Insurance," Victor corrected. "Robert has spent twenty-five years poisoning you against our kind. I'm simply... removing that influence."
"By killing him?" I challenged. "Like you killed my mother?"
Something flickered across Victor's face—was it regret? "Sophia made her choice. As you must make yours."
"I'm here now," I said, stepping forward despite Damian's restraining hand. "Let my father go, and I'll stay for the ritual."
"Elena, no!" my father shouted.
Victor studied me, his amber eyes seeming to peer into my soul. Through our blood bond, I felt his suspicion warring with desire.
"A tempting offer," he said finally. "But how do I know you won't run the moment he's safe?"
I reached up and deliberately touched the claiming bite on my neck—Damian's mark. "Because I want answers only the ritual can provide. About what I am. What I'm becoming."
Victor's eyes narrowed at the sight of Damian's mark, jealousy flaring through our bond. "You've been busy, I see," he said to Damian. "Strengthening your claim."
"Unlike you," Damian replied coldly, "I don't need to kidnap innocent men to assert my rights."
Victor laughed, the sound echoing through the clearing. "Innocent? A hunter who's killed dozens of our kind?" His hand tightened on my father's shoulder, making him wince. "Tell her, Robert. Tell your daughter how many wolves you've slaughtered."
My father's eyes met mine, filled with a mixture of defiance and shame. "I did what was necessary to protect humanity."
"From monsters like us?" Victor's smile was all teeth. "Or from the truth that humans aren't the dominant species they believe themselves to be?"
"Enough," Jackson interrupted, speaking for the first time. "The blood moon is in four days. We all want Elena at the ritual. Fighting amongst ourselves only weakens the pact."
Victor considered this, then nodded slowly. "A temporary truce, then." He pulled my father to his feet. "Robert goes free—for now. And Elena stays for the ritual."
"Agreed," I said before Damian could speak.
Victor's smile was triumphant as he shoved my father forward. "Until the blood moon, little hunter."
As my father stumbled toward us, I felt Victor's emotions shift through our bond—from satisfaction to sudden, predatory focus. In that instant, I knew his true intention.
"Dad, down!" I screamed, lunging forward as Victor's hand transformed into claws, slashing toward my father's exposed back.
