The Royal Hunter (16 page)

“Stay down!” he ordered as he propelled himself over her and tackled the man back into trees. They both hit the ground with a sickening thud, tumbling into the underbrush. Before Talia could react, Ringer raced in and she instinctively lunged and grabbed the little mutt, keeping him from entering the fray and getting himself hurt.

She looked wildly about, trying to hold the squirming dog in her arms, scanning the area for possible help, but everyone was packing up or leaving the park on the opposite side of the field. Archer swore, and she scrambled to her feet and started off into the woods after him. The attacker had managed to break free and was racing through the trees, deeper into the woods, Archer hot on his heels. Should she follow or stay back? What if the man were to circle around and come back for her? Ringer
snarled in her arms, as if he’d read her thoughts. She held him more tightly and he stopped fighting to get down, his agitation seemingly more protective than defensive.

Then Archer came busting back out of the undergrowth, panting hard, his face scratched and dirty, his shirt torn in several places. “You okay?” He looked hard into her eyes, the intensity palpably leaping off him.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

She was still clutching Ringer, so he took her elbow in a firm grip and moved them both quickly back toward the trucks and animal pens. “Come on,” he said, hauling her with him so she had to stumble to keep up. “We’re packing up and leaving now.”

She couldn’t have agreed more, but a delayed reaction to what had almost happened to her, combined with the very visceral results of what he’d done to prevent it had her yanking them both to a halt. “Wait just a damn minute! What the hell happened back there? Who was that guy?”

Archer swung around on her, eyes blazing. “His name is Anteri. And I assume he wanted to stop you from coming back with me.”

Talia tugged her arm from his grasp and let the wiggling dog leap into his master’s arms. Archer grunted, but he stratched the dog’s ears consolingly, which managed to calm both Ringer and Talia down. “He wanted to go after you,” she said. “I didn’t think that was a good idea.”

“Thanks,” Archer said, his breath slowing, but not his irritation. “Let’s move.”

Talia matched his stride, looking back at the woods as a shudder crept up her spine. “Where did he go? Is he still out there?”

“No. He went back home.”

Home
. Talia swallowed. To the future. Jesus. This was becoming way too real for her. She almost laughed. It was that or sob. It was already far too real for her, thank you very much. Now she had cold-blooded killers leaping out of the woods at her. And Archer had willingly, without hesitation, thrown himself at the guy. He wasn’t armed, at least not like the other guy probably had been. She could tell herself that it was all about the money, that he’d only been protecting his paycheck … but the look in his eyes when he’d come back told her otherwise. He’d been angry and autocratic, nothing new there. But in that split second before he’d grabbed her elbow, when he’d demanded to know if she was okay … There was something there and she was quite certain he hadn’t been thinking about the queen or his paycheck.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. Something in her tone caught at him, and he stopped and looked back at her. She didn’t know what else to say. She reached a hand up toward him, then let it drop away, not sure he wanted to be touched at the moment. “You didn’t even blink.”

She thought he might give her an arrogant smile, say something cocky. Maybe if he had, she’d have been able to brush the whole thing off, forget that she’d almost been attacked. But he didn’t smile or say anything. He simply looked at her. Into her.

“You saved my life.”

He managed a nod, then took her elbow, more gently this time. She looked over at him, wondering if she had actually embarrassed him. “Hasn’t anyone ever thanked you before?”

He didn’t slow down, only glanced at her. “Generally, there isn’t much cause for thanks in my line of work.” When he looked away, she knew the subject was closed.

But that didn’t mean she’d stop thinking about it. Or what he’d done for her.

“I should have taken you more seriously,” she said. “If anything had happened to Stella or the pups—”

“Yes, you should have and Anteri wasn’t after Stella and the pups. But it is time to get the hell out of here. In case you haven’t realized it, the stakes just went up. This guy wasn’t sent here to baby-sit you, Talia.”

She already knew that. Had known it the instant she looked into the killer’s eyes. Still, a part of her wanted to cling to the fantasy that all this was happening to someone else. A childhood dream gone horribly awry that she’d awaken from at any moment. “But you said they just wanted to observe—”

“That was when they thought only they knew about you. And trust me, sweetheart, if they’d known we were on our way, Dideon would have likely kept you from ever being found.”

She came to a dead stop. “Okay, that’s it. I can’t do this anymore.”

He gaped at her. “Well, it’s a bit late for that, sweetheart.”

“I don’t want to play these games of intrigue anymore. I don’t want to have you hovering about all dark-eyed and mercenary or chasing after bad guys.” She shivered. “It’s not worth learning about my mother, my past, or even about myself. Maybe I already know too much. So, I’ve made my decision.” She looked squarely at him. “I’m not going back with you. I’m sorry. I just can’t do it. I can’t heal anything anyway, so it’s just as well we end this charade right now.”

His expression flattened. “It’s not that simple anymore.”

“Maybe not for you, but I’m taking myself out of the game.”

“You don’t understand. It’s too late for you to make that decision. There are others who will simply do it for you.”

“Can’t you just—” She flung one hand in the air in exasperation. And not a little fear. “I don’t know, announce to the players on the field that I’m out of the game? I won’t be going back to heal the queen, so I’m no longer a threat. Period, done, game over.”

“It doesn’t work that way. You were a player the day your mother conceived you. The only way I can protect you now is to take you to court, to the queen. They aren’t going to stop. Class time is officially over.”

Her trembling increased. “But if I make it clear I’m not going back, can’t I just stay here? If I can’t help Catriona, what threat am I to anyone?”

He shook his head. “I can’t keep you safe in this time any longer. If Chamberlain sent Anteri, he’s made it clear what he intends and he won’t stop until he succeeds. Whatever Baleweg has taught you will have to be enough. We have to go back.”

“Back.” She laughed, only it sounded like a faint little chirp. “As in … forward. Really far. Forward.” Her knees began to buckle.

Archer caught her before she hit the ground. “Come on, Talia,” he said close to her ear. “I know you don’t want a scene.” But it was too late for that.

Heads turned as Stella rushed over. “What happened? Oh, my God, look at you! Were you in a fight or something? Talia! Is she okay?”

He tried a reassuring smile. “I think all that sugar went to her head. I was just helping some bloke with his, uh, truck,” he improvised, “and the next thing I know her eyes are all glassy. She needs to eat more
regularly.” He turned his lips to her ear and whispered, “Come on, sweetheart. Open your eyes for me. Show Stella you’re okay.” Her eyelids fluttered once, then twice, and suddenly those fairy eyes were looking deeply into his. Stella and the rest of the concerned onlookers ceased to exist.

“Sorry,” she murmured.

He smiled. “No worries. I have you now.”

Her eyes clouded. “What’s going to happen to me, Devin?”

He swore his heart stopped for several complete beats. If he’d thought hearing his given name on Baleweg’s lips had been disconcerting, hearing it from hers was close to life-altering. “You’ll be okay. But we have to get you out of here. You’ve created a bit of a looking on.”

Stella stepped in. “Are you okay, Talia?”

Talia shifted to get out of his embrace, but Archer was suddenly unwilling to let her go. He tightened his hold almost instinctively, but when she cut her eyes sideways at Stella, he was forced to release her. He kept his hand on the small of her back. To steady her, in case her legs were still watery, he told himself.

Another crock of bull. The more he got his hands on her, the more he couldn’t keep his hands off her.

“I’m fine, Stella,” Talia said, her voice slightly wobbly. “Just a bit too much fair and not enough food, I think. I should be more careful.” She looked at Archer then and deliberately moved away from his touch. “Why don’t we load up the dogs and go back to the house?” She moved away, Stella at her side.

It stung him more than it should have, to be dismissed so easily. Her constant need to assert her independence from him was beginning to irritate him. No matter what she thought she’d decided, her
entire world was about to go through some rapid changes and she’d need him to survive. And dammit, he wanted her to need him.

Christ, when had that happened?

Probably the moment he’d looked beyond Talia’s blue-stained lips and found Anteri emerging from the woods. He’d thought his heart had stopped beating in that instant before he leaped into action. How could she capture all his attention, and to such a degree that his instincts—which he’d forged over a lifetime, enabling him to continue having a lifetime—simply shut down?

He looked over at Talia and Stella as they loaded the animals up. Ringer trotted over to him and butted his head against his leg. He knelt and scratched the beast behind the ears. “Thanks for staying with her, mate. I know she thought she was protecting you, but we know otherwise, right?” Ringer relished the attention, his soulful eyes as fathomless and unreadable as ever.

Archer stood and looked at Talia again. He had to stay sharp if he was going to keep them from going down the gurgler. He couldn’t do that if he was mooning over her every other moment. Not that he mooned. He never mooned. Lust, that’s what it was. And normally he was a man who lusted, slaked his lust, and moved on.

He watched as the wind caught her hair and danced it about her head. He wasted another moment wondering what it would be like to slake the lust he had building for her. He also wondered what it would be like to move on, to never see or touch her again. But he knew that would happen as soon as he delivered her to Catriona. So he’d better get used to it. And get over it.

He turned abruptly away and scanned the crowd
and the fringes of the woods that ringed the area. He was fairly certain Anteri had acted alone. But someone—Emrys?—was keeping tabs on him, because no sooner had Archer been almost on top of him than he’d made it through one of those damn triangles and disappeared. Back to Llanfair and Chamberlain most likely, filing his report right now.

This latest threat to Talia would, he hoped, be enough to convince Baleweg that it was time for them all to go back. Back to the queen, who was waiting with his fortune.

And right then he was finally forced to admit that at some point he’d stopped thinking of this as a job. The mountain of money waiting for him when he delivered her was no longer his motivating factor. He hadn’t even thought about it when he was chasing down Anteri. Which made no sense. It had been the only thing on his mind when he’d gone after Dideon. How had things changed so rapidly?

He shook his head clear. He had his goals and he’d be damned if he’d let her sidetrack him from accomplishing them. Alone and in control. That’s how he got by. Responsible to no one’s happiness but his own. Trusting no one to make him happy but himself. And dammit, that was how it would stay.

He stalked back over to Talia. It was obvious from her lighthearted banter with Stella that she’d managed to dismiss the entire situation. Well, he’d correct that as soon as Stella was no longer about. Then he’d have a talk with Baleweg. And then they’d go.

She turned and looked at him just then, and he saw that she hadn’t dismissed anything. It was an act for Stella’s sake. He had to know where to look, to see the fear, the dread. At times he wondered why no one but him saw past her strength to the vulnerability that lay beneath. Perhaps it was because no one
could understand her in this time. He certainly wasn’t special. Anyone from his time would see what he saw when looking into those fairy eyes of hers.

The thought was vaguely depressing.

But he could no longer let her suffering bother him. They all had jobs to do. She simply had to come to terms with hers. He told himself it wasn’t his fault, that he hadn’t done this to her. Chamberlain had. Catriona had. Her own mother had. Not him. Why it was imperative that he wasn’t the one making her suffer, he didn’t know. Just that, while he didn’t want to be responsible for her happiness, he wouldn’t stand for being responsible for her pain.

He swore beneath his breath and closed the remaining distance between them. “Almost ready?” His tone was more abrupt than he intended.

Her gaze shuttered, closing him out. She turned to her work. “We just have to secure the crates and fold the table and chairs up and we’re all set.”

And just like that, his resolve of only moments ago shattered. He couldn’t stand it when she shut him out. He took hold of her arm. “Don’t turn away from me.”

“Excuse me?” She tried to pull her arm free, glancing over to where Stella was gathering the last few pieces of equipment.

Archer was past caring if Stella heard him. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Talia. Not if I can help it.”

Her mouth dropped open, but she said nothing. It had surprised the hell out of him, so it was no wonder it had shocked her, as well. But he didn’t take his eyes from hers.

“We have to get the animals home,” was all she said, and broke contact with him.

He felt her slipping away from him and it wasn’t
merely physical. He found himself wishing he had her gift, wishing he could connect with her, in any way. Anything that would help him find a way to help her through this ordeal.

He, Devin Archer, the man who hated being responsible.

Well, one way or the other, they were heading back to the future. Together. And they’d stay together, at least until he was certain she’d be okay. After all, Devin Archer was also the man who never left a job half-done. It was good business.