Hunting Colby Read online

  His other eyebrow joined the first in meeting his hairline as his eyes grew wider. “How’s that possible?”

  I laughed again and grabbed his hands. “Nature works in mysterious ways, Colby. Who says how mates are chosen? But your problem has an easy fix. I can teach you to shift.”

  He chuckled and tucked my damp hair behind my ears. “But you just said you couldn’t do it.”

  “Doesn’t mean my parents didn’t teach me. They tried everything, from regular lessons to hypnosis to drugs. Heck, even my master made an attempt by entering my mind—”

  “You let that son of a bitch touch you?” The fury that flashed across his face took my breath away. I’d never seen Colby more alive.

  I placed my hand over his lips. It was the most intimate touch we’d shared so far and he quieted instantly. “Let’s not argue about him. I know how you feel, but we have enough concerns.” There were unspoken issues between Master Tane and Colby. Things I wasn’t prepared to hear yet. We had enough obstacles to overcome and I wanted to deal with them one at a time.

  Colby’s eyes narrowed. Then he kissed the palm of my hand. Soft and gentle, the slight touch sent a spark of desire so strong I almost cried out. “Fine, on one condition.”

  “What is it?”

  “You stop calling him ‘master’ around me.”

  This was such a small thing to ask. I nodded without a second thought. “Okay, Tane it is.”

  He flinched as I said my master’s name.

  I cleared my throat. “I heard about Budapest and what he did to—”

  “Like you said, we have enough problems for now without discussing that soul-sucking monster.” He stared at the ground. I could feel the walls rising between us again. I guess returning to my pack and my position as head of my master—Tane’s—security would be out of the question if I wanted to keep Colby.

  I didn’t need a crystal ball to see my future. Hard choices would have to be made. Why couldn’t my life be simpler? Every female wanted to find her mate and take him back to her pack, rear pups, and continue the line. Nothing in my life followed those rules, so why should finding my mate be any different?

  “Then why can’t you shift?” He still wouldn’t look at me.

  The vise around my chest squeezed harder. “I have a genetic disorder. It runs in my family.” Keeping my chin held high, I managed to maintain a steady voice. “I’m pure shifter. I have all their skills and senses, just not the beast.”

  He glanced up at me, curiosity apparent in his gaze.

  “I reached my position as an alpha in my pack because I’m the best at what I do.”

  “Which is?”

  A smile popped onto my face at the question. “Hunt and kill.”

  The laugh that exploded from Colby brightened his expression. For a split second, I witnessed what he must have been like as a young male. “Yes, you can.” His mirth settled into a wiry grin. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”

  “I kicked your ass in Rio.”

  He snorted. “I got away.”

  “I let you go!”

  His grin faded. “Yeah, right into your master’s grasp.” He shook his head.

  I met his glare and crossed my arms over my chest. “I won’t apologize for doing my job well. I protected you to the best of my ability. It could have gone very differently if I hadn’t intervened on your behalf.” Colby had called Rose damaged goods. He needed to look in a mirror. No wonder he’d run from me; I was another problem to add to his list.

  Taking a deep breath, I released it slowly. Whenever the thought of Colby crossed my mind, I only considered how to catch him and make him see me. I thought he ran because of something I’d done. Now, I stood before him and saw him. He’d run to protect me. In an odd way, I understood.

  A forced relationship wouldn’t work between us. Both of our heads were too thick and stubborn. I needed Colby to want me for who I was as a person, not just because fate made me smell like I was his. I slipped my fingers around his and squeezed.

  He visibly relaxed his shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. With his other, he kept hold of my fingers. The tentative gesture would be the first link in building a bridge between us. I just prayed that I wouldn’t burn it.

  “I need a shower.” He moved with reluctance and waited until right before the door swung closed to release my hand.

  Clutching my hands to my chest, I stared at the door, chewing my bottom lip. Shit. What should I do now? My pack would see this as weakness on both our parts. I wish I could talk to someone. Bad enough they all knew he ran. There was Connie, my master’s blood slave, but she had less sense when it came to males than I did.

  A ding ran through the apartment and sent me two feet straight into the air. With a racing heart and a sheepish grin, I followed the chime to the washer and tossed my clothes in the dryer. I dressed in one of Colby’s T-shirts that fell to mid-thigh. The robe carried his scent, and I placed it back over my shoulders. A poor substitute for the real thing.

  I crawled onto the cot, under the blankets, and waited for him. This was becoming an unacceptable habit.

  Chapter Eight

  Heat shrouded my body as I sank deeper into the cushion of my bed. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept so well and didn’t care to rise yet. Faint sunlight played over my closed eyelids, yet that wasn’t the source of my comfort.

  No, my blankets kept me cozy. I reached to pull them higher over my shoulder but grabbed something large and muscular instead. I jerked my head off the pillow to see a bare arm sprawled over my torso and a jean-clad leg pinning mine under it. My pillow was actually a bicep. A nicely developed one.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I met Colby’s steel green gaze. “Morning.”

  “Afternoon.” His voice sounded like gravel. He removed his limbs from surrounding me and it took all my self-control not to roll over, pinning him to the cot for a full-body inspection. That could set him off in any surprising direction, and our truce was too fragile at the moment. He rose from the bed in one smooth motion and headed for the kitchen.

  I curled into the warm spot he’d left and watched a shirtless Colby fill the coffeemaker. Poking at the odd sensation within my chest, I decided to name it contentment. Such a simple thing, yet the unfamiliar peace inside me grew. Reluctantly, I sat on the edge of the bed.

  Jeans hanging from his hips, he crossed the room, carrying two cups.

  With a snap, I closed my mouth, but nothing short of a god would have torn my gaze from his sculpted chest. Scars littered his skin, from thin lines to rough circular patches.

  “You need to learn to duck.” I smiled as his head jerked and a hint of a smile played on his lips.

  “I’d noticed you carried your own collection of scars.” His gaze traveled to three parallel claw marks that ran across my right thigh.

  “Mine are prettier.”

  He sat next to me, our shoulders almost touching. Handing me a cup, Colby’s expression grew serious. “Teach me to shift.”

  “Now?”

  “Why not? Being able to shift will come in handy if we get into trouble this evening.”

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “Nothing ever is.” He sipped his coffee and stared at nothing in particular as his thoughts turned inward. I couldn’t imagine they were good ones and enjoyed the laughing Colby so much more. The dour side already had too much airtime.

  “All right then,” I said a little too loud for the small apartment. “Have you ever come close to shifting?” I took a big gulp of coffee. Damn, he could brew a mean cup. I could use it to peel paint.

  Colby blinked and came back to our reality. “How would I know?”

  I shrugged. “You’re faster, stronger than your usual self. The most I can change is my eyes.” Focusing on my trigger thought, I sensed my eyes fade from dark brown to golden. I grinned as Colby leaned near to take a better look.

  “So we can shift just certain parts of our body?”
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  “Most shifters can’t. That takes a lot of control. I can because it’s the only part of my body that will shift.”

  “There’s no cure for your condition?”

  “Not that we’ve found.” I took another big gulp, unable to meet his frank stare. A certain hormone wasn’t created in my system. Some thought if I got pregnant it would help, but that shouldn’t be the reason I brought a pup into the world, especially without a mate at my side. Others had mentioned that once I found my mate my hormones would kick in and balance out so I could shift. Yet months after finding Colby, only my eyes still changed. The theories were endless, and I tired of trying to change what I was. “But I’m okay with it. I have nothing to prove to anyone. I’m still a shifter, I just don’t shed.”

  He snorted his coffee.

  “The key to shifting is finding the trigger. We gain the capability to change shape in adolescence.”

  Colby set his coffee on the floor and faced me. “Like being a teenager isn’t hard enough.”

  “The pack alphas know how to keep them busy and run them ragged to keep trouble to a minimum.” Fond memories of late-night runs and weekends spent hunting produced a yearning for home.

  “You’d think I’d have found my trigger by now.” Colby ran his fingers through his bed-flattened hair. “Maybe I’m like you?”

  “Maybe.” I shrugged. “Did you ever know your birth parents?”

  He frowned and shook his head.

  “Not even a vague memory?”

  “No.” The word snapped at me like a whip. Fine. Touchy subject. I got the hint.

  Clearing my throat, I set my coffee next to his on the floor. “I ask because the most common trigger is a memory of a parent or parents when you’re a child. Don’t ask why--there are too many hypotheses.”

  “That makes sense to me. Such a memory would set off a feeling of being safe or loved. I could imagine that shifting would need a sense of security for it to manifest.” A look of concentration fell upon his face.

  I held my breath as he spoke. He simplified something that had taken me so long to understand. What idiots those packs were to have turned him away. He’d have been such an asset to them. Intelligence in male shifters didn’t manifest often; my pack contained enough chest-thumpers to prove my theory. Colby would have been an alpha by now if someone had given him a chance.

  He squeezed the bridge of his nose. “It’s not working.”

  “Think about your human parents?”

  The look he shot me should have melted the flesh from my bones. “I am.”

  A heavy feeling settled in my stomach. “Oh.” He didn’t have any good memories?

  “They were decent parents, Gwen. They loved me, but my memories don’t inspire any type of security.” My confusion must have shown on my face. Leaning forward, he gathered my hands in his. “Look, I don’t want to give you any false hopes. I’m…not right in here.” He tapped his chest. “The scars are not all on my skin, if you know what I mean.”

  I nodded, not trusting my voice or my words. Sometimes silence was the best answer.

  “My parents couldn’t protect me. I had to do that all on my own. Vampires attacked one night. The bloodsuckers said something about my being a fucking shifter. At my age, I was strong enough to fight them back, but my parents never had a chance.”

  “That’s a terrible way to find out what you are.” I ran my hands along his forearms, aching to gather him in my arms, but he’d only see it as pity and not compassion.

  “So thoughts of either my human or shifter parents don’t give me the warm fuzzies.” He hung his head. “I can’t think of anything that would.”

  No wonder he’d never shifted. I didn’t know what to say. Here, I had all those warm memories yet lacked the body to respond to them, and Colby lacked the trigger with a functioning system. We truly were well-matched. I chuckled.

  He yanked his hands from mine. “I don’t see the humor.”

  “I guess you wouldn’t, but the more we spend time together the more I’m convinced you belong to me.” I left him gaping on the bed and retrieved my jeans. Tossing his robe on the chair, I dressed.

  He growled in frustration. “You’re not listening to anything I’m telling you. You’re following your instincts too blindly.”

  “No.” I slipped on my boots and tucked the stake back in my waistband. “I’ve listened all night. I hear you.” I poked the large, rough scar on his shoulder, but the moment I made contact it became a caress. Sliding my hand over his taut shoulder, I couldn’t pull my gaze from it. His skin held a golden color. Sun-kissed. Bare flesh shouldn’t bother me as much as his did. The air sizzled.

  I raised my chin to meet his gaze, slipped my hand behind his head, and pulled his mouth onto mine. Not an ounce of resistance met my embrace.

  Colby eased into my arms as if his body had different thoughts than his mind.

  Lips brushed over mine, sending a shiver over every nerve. Gentle and soft, all the things I wouldn’t associate with him. Our mouths melded and he clutched me tight. Dreams and fantasies never prepared a woman for reality. His presence encompassed mine, and I would have gladly allowed him to devour me. Instead, I broke contact for both our sakes. I didn’t want to add to Colby’s scars. I wanted to be the one who soothed them. “But you need to hear me. Are you listening yet?”

  He swallowed visibly but didn’t release his hold. “I might be deaf.” A chagrined smile spread across his face.

  I raised an eyebrow. “You own a sense of humor? That’ll take some getting used to.”

  “Seriously, I hear you, ever since we met. I always knew where you were.” His grin grew wider. “Even when you lost track of me.”

  I gasped. “You bastard.”

  “Ah, see now, you are truly understanding.” He set my hand over his heart. “I’m trying to protect you.”

  “By breaking my heart?” I withdrew from his arms.

  “That’s not fair. We haven’t known each other that long.” He went to the closet and pulled on a black T-shirt, shoving a wooden stake in his back pocket.

  “You’re right, we haven’t.” I set my hands on my hips so they wouldn’t wander to touch him again. “Doesn’t mean I don’t know how I feel. Tell me, if we were human, without our shifter connection, would my feelings matter more?”

  He opened his mouth then shut it, tilting his head to the side as if trying to decide what the right answer was. “Can this be a multiple choice question?”

  I stomped my foot. “Never mind. It obviously doesn’t matter.” Glancing at the window, I noted the sun barely below the horizon. “We should go. We might be able to pick up Alcide’s trail if we’re lucky.” I tossed my jacket over my shoulders and opened the door.

  Before I could step out, a hand snaked around me and pushed it closed.

  Spinning around, I came face to face with Colby, our noses almost bumping. “I’m done running from you.”

  A fast smile slipped through my control. I’d won?

  “But I’m not making any promises.”

  My heart raced. “I never asked for one.”

  Chapter Nine

  Out on the sidewalks, I kneeled close to the ground but still couldn’t pick up any hints of Alcide’s trail. We had canvassed blocks in all directions from where we’d lost the vampire’s scent last night in hopes to find it again.

  My legs ached from the hard pace Colby set, my boots soaked from the puddles, and shivers tore through my body from the cold front following the storm. I loved it. This was how I was meant to live. Not confined in mansions doing security checks.

  Colby squatted next to me. “So?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Damn it. I’m not getting anything either.” He rose. The wind whipped his hair and hid his eyes from me. “I’m not sure where to look next.” He pulled out his cell phone, checking for texts. His crew had been combing the city for information on either Alcide or Red all day and evening. “One of my men might have a hit. He�
�s in Brooklyn. We’ll grab a cab.” He scanned the street to hail one.

  “Wait.” I grabbed his arm before he could wave it. “We’re avoiding the obvious solution. Why not ask Cesio about Red? He might intervene on his behalf. Vampire society still follows the rule-by-a-fist philosophy. Whoever took Red might fear Cesio more than you.”

  “You think the Overlord of Manhattan will aid slayers?” From his tone, Colby obviously didn’t believe he would.

  “It can’t hurt to ask.”

  “Too dangerous.” He shook his head.

  “Why?”

  “Have you met Cesio?”

  I sighed, sticking my half-frozen fingers in my pockets. “No.” It wasn’t a total truth. I’d spoken to him on the phone when Colby had been unconscious. He hadn’t given me the best impression.

  “Gwen, this isn’t Tane’s court. Cesio barely tolerates humans. He follows the laws the Nosferatu laid down out of fear, not belief. Slayers are even lower in his opinion.”

  A bad feeling settled in my gut. “Do you think Red’s still alive?”

  Colby’s face hardened. “We don’t leave people behind. Dead or alive.” He met my stare, something like worry peeking out. “Red could have abandoned me in Budapest. He had every right to. He and my team risked everything to free me. I won’t give up on him.”

  “Okay.” I lifted my hand to hail the cab turning our way. “You go see this possible lead. I’ll go to Cesio.”

  Colby snatched my hand, but the cab was already stopping by the curb. “No, that’s not the plan.”

  “You said it yourself. Cesio might kill you on sight, but he won’t touch me. I still hold my position in Tane’s court.” I opened the back door, yanking my hand from his grasp before slipping inside. “I’ll call you if I find anything and I expect you to do the same. Oh, and don’t kill Alcide if you catch him. Mutt would like a word with him first.”

  Colby blocked the door from closing. He leaned inside. “Be careful.” His frown grew deeper, but he didn’t say anything else even though I could tell he had a monologue going on in his head.