The Claimed (Sin Hunters) Read online

  “That’s not necessary, Rafael,” she said, laying her hand on his and urging it downward. She was uneasy with forced deference, maybe because she preferred the casual ways of the humans around them.

  He leaned in her direction and even though she was nearly six feet tall, Rafael towered over her with his massive frame. He was darkly handsome, and she had always wondered why he had not found a mate from amongst the many willing women in their clan. Bringing his mouth close to the shell of her ear, he whispered, “There is trouble.”

  His statement confirmed what she had feared.

  “Shadow or Light?” she asked while peering straight ahead to the living room where her parents, the senior members of their cadre, and some clan elders were gathered. From the dour faces on one and all, it was big trouble.

  “Both,” he said.

  With a nod, she strode ahead, Rafael following behind respectfully. Victoria knew she could count on him for anything, including sacrificing himself to protect her. He had been her cadre captain since they had both been teens and was like a brother to her. Her parents had chosen him from the many possible candidates in the clan because of his obedient and honorable nature.

  The remaining six members of her cadre had also been with her for over a decade and they were all close friends, although Victoria did not demand that they constantly be at her beck and call as other Quinchus did.

  When Victoria entered the living room, her parents’ cadre members and the clan elders rose and saluted her. She uncomfortably acknowledged their veneration with a dip of her head and then pushed forward to where her parents held court. As the high priest and priestess of the Ocean Light Ones, they made every decision that affected the continuation of the clan, including with whom Victoria should mate. That process had become a constant source of friction lately.

  Bowing her head, she saluted her parents. “Quinchus. You asked me to attend tonight.”

  Her mother and father rose almost as one and took turns hugging her before returning to their comfortable wing chairs. While the space and its appointments lacked the trappings of European throne rooms, there was no doubt about the power the Quinchus wielded, Victoria thought as she stepped to the side, every person in the room focusing on her parents.

  “We have received word from the Desert clan Quinchus that Adam Bruno’s father—his human one—has passed. The funeral will be held tomorrow. Please spread the word that the members of our clan should be in attendance if at all possible,” her father declared.

  Considering that the human had stolen Adam from his Hunter parents, Victoria wondered why the Light Ones in the area would honor him in such a fashion. But as she met her father’s shrewd gaze, she realized the attendance of their clan members was not about honor.

  It was about intimidation.

  “Adam Bruno has chosen his mate, father. A show of force will not change that,” she said, unable to fathom why her parents continued to hope for the impossible.

  “Kikin,” he began, using Adam’s Hunter name, “has too many ties to the humans.”

  She sensed the condemnation in his words, so reminiscent of his feelings toward her mortal friends. Because of that, she came to Adam’s defense. “He was raised by his human father. It’s only natural that he would have affection for the man.”

  “A man who stole him from his true parents. Light Hunter Quinchus,” her mother reminded, clearly on board with her husband’s sentiments.

  Before Victoria could respond, her father continued. “With this first connection to the human world severed, it may weaken the bonds to his human mate.”

  There was just one problem with her parents’ continued determination to see her mated to Adam: Victoria had no desire to enter into an arranged marriage. She wanted love and affection and passion. She wanted the kind of relationship she saw with her friend Jan and her fiancé, not some loveless joining.

  “Adam’s Equinox has arrived and the bond to his mate has been forged. That tie is more powerful than any that we know,” she reminded her father. If he wanted to go all Hunter on her, then she would remind him of just what that entailed in their world.

  A flush of bright red swept over his cheeks at her challenge and his emerald aura became visible as his irritation grew. Brilliant shards of silver and gold swirled around him and he was about to lash out at Victoria when her mother laid her hand on his arm. The glow of her cerulean aura emerged when she used her energy to soothe her spouse. “Jonathan, calm yourself.”

  Then her mother faced Victoria and in a soft tone, which was nevertheless as hard as tempered steel, she said, “Human bonds with the Light Ones are never strong, Victoria. That was not meant to be the way of our people.”

  No, it wasn’t, Victoria acknowledged. For millennia the Hunters had lived in peaceful isolation, away from the humans. It was contact with the humans that had forever changed the course of her people with the introduction of the smallpox virus. That human contamination had created the Shadows and robbed many Light Hunters of the ability to gather energy. Thanks to those changes their Hunter race had been condemned to centuries of civil war and deprivation.

  But not all humans were weak and not all humans created trouble for her people. Her friendships with Sammie and Jan were proof of the strong bonds that could be forged. Victoria was certain that being less insular was a way to expand possibilities for her Light Hunter clan, including introducing new life energies into their diminishing numbers. When the time came for her to rule, she hoped to make her clan more open to such human-Hunter ties.

  She suspected Adam Bruno had found such vitality with the human mate he had chosen.

  “Every day our numbers grow smaller. Our powers diminish. Why will you not consider that it is time to change course? To explore new ways to sustain our people?”

  “Silence,” her father warned quietly, although his aura displayed the true extent of his anger, growing ever larger and brighter, the silver and gold filaments of energy beginning to escape the edges of his life force.

  Aware that her parents would not be swayed, but also certain that she would not be cowed by her father’s display of power, Victoria released her control over her own aura. The brilliant aqua blue was thicker and larger than her father’s, flecked with many more tendrils of silver and cerulean, a testament to her greater abilities to gather energy. A low murmur arose from those in the room as they noted her very visible show of force and defiance.

  Despite her display, Victoria was not yet ready to usurp her parents’ leadership. Reining in her energy field, she nevertheless picked her chin up in challenge. “If that is all. I will see you at the funeral tomorrow.”

  Without waiting for their reply, she turned and marched for the door, Rafael obediently following. Outside they paused by their cars, her cadre captain waiting for instructions.

  “What are you doing tonight?” she asked, leaning against the fender of her serviceable Jeep. The back storage area of the vehicle was filled with objects from the human life she had adopted, much like the car. Hunters had no need of such transportation since they were able to skip across the energy in the cosmos, but they normally held back from doing so in order to protect their true identities.

  Rafael smiled at her friendly query. “I guess that depends on what you’re doing,” he teased, obviously trying to lighten her mood.

  “I’m heading to the Convention Center to meet Sammie and Jan for some roller derby action. Want to join me?”

  “Do you think that the sight of a number of strong, beautiful women battling each other would interest me?” he said, but his dark eyes glittered with amusement.

  “Yes,” she answered, deadpan.

  He grinned and offered her his arm. “Then who am I to challenge my Quinchu?”

  Victoria glanced back at the house where her parents and her clan elders were still gathered. “Sometimes I don’t feel like much of a Quinchu.”

  Rafael snorted in surprise. “You are far more powerful than your parents and ar
e our most effective warrior. Your parents and elders are lucky that you respect their wishes.”

  She dipped her head to acknowledge his belief in her, but still it rankled that she could not do more to help her people or choose her own course. “How much longer do we follow the old ways while our clan languishes? While our people grow weaker by the day?”

  With a sheepish shrug, Rafael replied, “Until you know the moment is right for change, I guess.”

  It was a guess, all right. At twenty-six the upcoming end of her first triad would bring about her mating time—the Equinox. If she chose the right mate with whom to bond, it would bring even greater power to herself and her people.

  But Victoria didn’t want to wait that long to lead. Especially not when she saw the people of her clan suffering. The pox that had contaminated the Shadows had left many of the Light Hunters unable to gather and retain energy. That made them reliant on her parents, her, and some of the other elders to sustain their life forces.

  She wanted to strengthen her people. Provide them a way to secure sustenance on their own, including forging bonds with the humans. Especially those hybrid humans who possessed a touch of Hunter power deep within them. Contrary to what her parents and elders believed, Victoria thought such interactions could be part of the answer to their issues.

  Which reminded her of the promise she had made to her friends for that night. Glancing up at her cadre captain, she said, “Let’s go. Sammie and Jan will be waiting.”

  With a nod, Rafael followed almost dutifully, although she thought of him more as a brother than as a cadre captain. They had been raised together since they were children and she had counted on his honor and obedient nature since he had become her captain in their teens.

  That nature made him a good captain and friend, she thought as they slipped into her car for the drive to Asbury Park and the meeting with her friends.

  The Convention Center in Asbury Park was hopping with a wide assortment of patrons. Elementary school and tween-aged girls dressed in the colors of the local roller girl team hopped and danced along the sidelines, cheering for their favorite skaters as they looped around the flat oval delineated on the floor. Young couples, both hetero and gay, were out for a night of fun, as well as retired folk seeking inexpensive entertainment.

  Her friend Sammie was one of the skaters speeding around the oval, nimbly threading through the sea of fellow skaters. Her skills and athletic ability far surpassed those of the other women on the flat track, making her a very popular skater, judging from the cheers every time her name was mentioned as the commentator reported on the action.

  Victoria was equally impressed as Sammie elbowed her way past much larger opponents. When Sammie feinted around one, her friend seemed to become a blur of light that zipped past the hulking blocker to rack up points for the home team.

  Victoria closed her eyes to refocus, just to make sure she had really seen that almost inhuman blur, but by then Sammie had cleared the last obstacle, which brought an end to that jam.

  Gracefully Sammie skated over to where Victoria sat with Rafael, Jan, and Jan’s fiancé, Josh. When Jan hadn’t been busy bursting eardrums with screams in support of Sammie, she had been blathering about all the things she had to do now that she and Josh were engaged.

  Unfortunately, some of those things included having Victoria and Sammie try on dresses, help pick flowers, and do an assortment of other chores that had never occurred to Victoria. In Hunter circles, unions were accomplished with much more simplicity. However, it was difficult not to get caught up in the infectiousness of Jan’s almost manic planning. Even harder not to imagine what it might be like to be able to marry for love and not because of obligation.

  Luckily Sammie’s arrival on the floor directly below their row put a hold on Jan’s wedding talk. At least temporarily.

  “How’d I do?” her friend asked with a broad grin as she ripped off her brightly colored helmet and ruffled her short-cropped cocoa-colored hair. It was damp from her exertions and a slight sheen of sweat glowed on Sammie’s skin.

  “You were amazing,” Victoria answered with a playful lilt in her voice. In truth, Sammie always amazed her. There was a vibrant energy around her friend that was extraordinary for a human. Victoria had wondered often if there wasn’t some Hunter in her friend, given Sammie’s strength, intelligence, and athleticism. She hoped that in time she’d be able to confirm that and if so, include Sammie in the plans for her Hunter clan.

  “Truly interesting,” Rafael responded, clearly bemused by Sammie and her enthusiasm.

  His comment deepened the exercise-induced flush on her friend’s cheeks. “Thanks, Rafael. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

  The loud tweet of a whistle and the shout of her name ripped Sammie away from them and back to the skating oval. As she roller-skated away, her powerful legs propelling her into action, Victoria leaned over and whispered to Rafael. “See. Not all humans are puny and weak.”

  “Just most,” he mumbled beneath his breath as he scrutinized the individuals gathered around the convention hall, seemingly bemused by their activities.

  “So you wouldn’t be interested in a date with Sammie? I could arrange it, you know.”

  That seemed to pique his interest for a moment, until he asked, “You can command her as well?”

  Victoria elbowed her captain playfully. “Come on, Rafael. You know better, or has it been so long since you’ve mingled with humans that you’ve forgotten?”

  Hurt blossomed across his features and he dipped his head down, avoiding her gaze as she tried to decipher his expression. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

  “I am your captain, Victoria. You are my one and only responsibility and even though you may not always see me…”

  He was always there. That she found his protectiveness kind of stalkerish worried her that maybe she was becoming too human, as her parents had warned. There was nothing unusual about Rafael being vigilant. Since his affinity was the wind, he could waft a bit of his power along a strong current to observe all in its path.

  But being her captain didn’t mean that he had to sacrifice his personal life on her account. With a friendly pat on his rock-hard thigh, she said, “Think about it. I don’t doubt that Sammie would be pleased to go out with you. What woman wouldn’t?”

  A flush worked across his cheeks at the compliment and once again he averted his gaze and said, “As you wish, Quinchu.”

  Rolling her eyes at his stubbornness, she returned her attention to the track and to Jan, who was back to blathering about the wedding and how grateful she was that Sammie was quitting the roller derby, because she had been worried Sammie would have bruises in all the wedding photos.

  Chuckling, Victoria kidded, “It’s always about you, Jan.” That prompted a guffaw from Jan’s fiancé, Josh, who in turn got a hard elbow in retaliation.

  With a defiant sniff with her nose in the air, Jan shot back, “You’re just jealous that you don’t have a boyfriend.”

  Victoria shrugged, unfazed by Jan’s comment, although maybe there was just the tiniest scintilla of truth in the statement.

  It would be nice to have a boyfriend, especially one that she had picked. One that she could grow to love and bond with emotionally before her Equinox eliminated that possibility. Once her Equinox was upon her, energy would call to the most potent energy. Many an unfortunate bond had been forged that was all about the power and nothing else. Such matings were often weak due to the lack of an emotional union.

  She wanted more than such a loveless coupling.

  A gentle nudge from Jan was followed by a remorseful, “You know I was teasing you, right?”

  “I know,” she said, wrapping her arm around her friend’s shoulders and giving her a hug, which Jan returned.

  With that simple exchange, all was right for the moment.

  Victoria returned her attention to the jam, but something caught her eye at ground level. Two men sauntered in from the entrance, potent alpha
energy oozing from every pore.

  One was as bright and rosy as the sun, while the other…

  Dark as midnight. Tall and lean, he had hair as black as coal and fathomless eyes. A very powerful pull of energy came from him, although he lacked any discernible aura.

  Rafael leaned close and tracked her gaze. With a sidelong glance, she noted his annoyance and the angry burst of his energy registered before he controlled it. “Do you sense trouble, Quinchu?”

  Definitely trouble, but not in the way he suspected, she thought as the handsome man at ground level looked her way. A shiver traveled through her, one of desire, as their gazes locked, but then a roar went up from the crowd.

  Everyone turned their attention to the player down on the track, writhing with pain. Her teammates gathered around her while a trainer worked on her. A shoving match soon ensued between some of the women on the local team and the blocker from the visitors who had caused the injury.

  Fists were about to fly when Sammie stepped into the fray and laid a hand on each of the women, giving them just a fleeting glance while she spoke to them in low tones. The women immediately backed down and after the injured player was helped off the track, action resumed.

  Once again Victoria wondered about Sammie and her origins, but then she looked back to where she had seen the man.

  He was gone.

  Victoria opened her Hunter senses, searching for that very enticing alpha strength she had perceived earlier. No remnant remained of that vitality, creating unexpected disappointment.

  Another cheer from the crowd pulled her attention back to the oval track. Sammie was at it again, dodging and weaving her way past blockers. Racking up points for the home team to the delight of the crowd and Jan, who released an ear-splitting whistle as the jam ended.

  From beside her, Rafael grumbled, “Humans.”

  Victoria smiled and teased her captain. “Aren’t they great?”

  “No,” he replied.

  Victoria nudged him playfully and returned her attention to the floor of the Convention Center, but the handsome man, whoever he might have been, was destined to remain a mystery.