Unnaturals (18 page)

`
Don't hold back. We're free to be what we are here.
'

Mason closed his eyes as he tasted the air, absorbing the sounds around him. Her heartbeat came clear to him, pulsing in excitement down by the water.
`

I hear you.'
He opened his eyes. Renee's red and white heat signature shimmered through the trees, beckoning him.
`I see you.'

`
Come get me!
'

Strength he had kept contained for so long seeped out. He grinned. Scales tingled across him as they hardened, matching his arousal. Her colours flared in the trees and Mason surged forward into the trees. Unrestrained.

`That was hard to watch.' Ruth leant against Nikki as they stood on the stone patio. Nikki's warmth comforted her in the cool night air. `I've never seen him look at another woman like that. He really wanted her.' Ruth's lip trembled as her legs lost their strength. Pain burnt in her chest. Her vision wavered as tears filled her eyes.

`Breathe, girl,' Nikki said, lowering her onto the floor of the patio. `Take a deep breath. It's going to be okay.'

`You must think I'm a selfish bitch.' Ruth tried to not sob as Nikki held her. He had gone out there, with her.

`This must be what it was like for him, the first time I… was with another. Oh, god.' Uncontrolled tears flowed down her face and she pulled her legs up to her chest. `What's wrong with me? I know he loves me…' She wiped at her tears.

`He does.' Nikki wrapped her arms tightly around her. She felt Nikki rest her head on her shoulder, lips close to her ear. `You love him and yet there's room for another woman in your heart. You loved those who shared your bed in the past?'

Ruth took a deep breath. She had never talked so openly with another before. `Most were just about sex, one was… One meant more to me.'

Nikki's hands sought hers out. `You loved her?'

`Yes.' Ruth bit down a sob. It hurt to think about her again.

`But you still loved Mason?'

`Yes.' Her heart ached with the pain of it.

`What happened?' Nikki's hand squeezed hers and Ruth held on to Nikki.

`It was ten years ago. Sacha was a teacher at Wilson's school. One night we had a party and Sacha was there. We had sex. It became more than that as time went on. Mason liked her. She became part of our lives for a few years.'

`Did he know you were in love with her?'

`Mason knows me better than anyone else. He knew.'

`He asked you to stop seeing her?' Nikki's lips brushed her ear.

`No. He's not like that. It was Sacha who changed. She wanted me to leave Mason and Wilson. It was so ugly and it broke my heart. She couldn't understand how I could love two people at once. I thought she understood me.'

`I feel your pain.' Nikki kissed her neck. `You never loved another since then?'

`No, only Mason,' Ruth said fiddling with Nikki's little finger. `I've never told anyone all of this before.'

`I'm a good listener. I've had the practice.' Nikki kissed her neck again and Ruth closed her eyes, enjoying the desire for Nikki that mingled with her pain.

`What if Renee gives him everything he wants?' That was the question eating at her. It fed her fear.

`You don't just mean sex do you?' Nikki let her go and moved to sit in front of her.

`No. Mason doesn't do casual sex. But if he and Renee, if they were to have a child, he won't need me.'

`Stop it.' Nikki stood up, her hand out. `One thing that I know, for a fact, is that Mason is not like that. It's in his aura.' Ruth looked up and Nikki smiled at her. `I think just the opposite will happen. Mason wants a family that includes all those he loves. Besides, you never know with Gaia.'

`What's that supposed to mean?'

`You tell me.' Nikki pulled her towards the steps leading off the stone patio. `You're the one having a private chat with Gaia every time we see her.'

Ruth looked down the path towards the lake where Nikki was leading her. `Where are we going?'

`Down to the lake house. It has a bath.'

`A bath?'

`Yes, girl.' Nikki grinned over her shoulder. `Nothing beats a warm bath.'

Ruth couldn't help but reply with her own grin. `How big is this bath?'

`It fits two.' Nikki stopped and pulled her into her arms. `Even we Unnaturals need to bath and wash our hair before bed.'

Ruth slipped her hands around Nikki's waist. `You're incredible,' Ruth whispered, wanting to taste Nikki's lips again. `You make me feel so desired.'

`If you keep looking at me like that we're not going to make it into the bath.'

`Then go run it, quick.' Ruth wet her lips as Nikki let her go. Her body trembled and blood pounded in her ears as she waited outside the lake house. A noise made her look out into the trees of the estate. Mason was out there with Renee.

The sound of running water pulled her focus back to the bath-house. Lights flickered inside.

`Ready!' Nikki called from inside.

Ruth didn't hesitate. She slipped her dress down and stepped out of it, naked in the moonlight. She could hear Nikki moving around inside, preparing the bath. Why did she want her so much?

`You coming in?' Nikki stood naked in the doorway. The moonlight made her skin glow. A fine line of manicured curls sat above Nikki's sex. `Bath first, then bed.'

Ruth took Nikki's outstretched hand. Matching Nikki's grin she slipped inside.

 

Mason ducked.

Renee's body twisted past and she lashed out. Sparks filled the air as her nails raked his scaled back.

`Too slow, girl,' he growled as she spun around, crouching with her lips drawn back over her teeth. Every movement she made delighted him.

`Perhaps...' Her tongue ran over her teeth and erotic flashes ran though him. She moved in a blur of red, grazing his face with her claws. He didn't miss.

`Sloppy with your legs.' The blood on his hand was hot. Hers. His fingers were armed with the same razor sharp nails she used.

`Yess,' she hissed back as the wounds in her leg healed. Red hair writhed. It changed to cover her breasts, making Mason smile.

She was beautiful, dangerous and deadly as she growled at him. `You're arrogant, stiff and predictable.'

He blinked. She was gone. He widened every sense seeking her out, but she was gone. Even her scent had faded.

`Shit!' He spun around. All trace of her had gone.

`
See, you still don't understand.
'

Mason stopped moving and focused on his connection with Renee's mind.

`Teach me then.'

`
Let it go.
'

`What?'

`
Your humanity. It slows you down. Let it out, Hunter. You can control it, yet you still hold back. Your fear weakens you like the rage does. Be Hunter.
'

`I can't. It's too dangerous.'

`
I am connected to you. The stronger you are, I too grow as well. We're a hunting pair. The only way you can hurt me is if I let you.
'

`How do you know this?' Mason flexed his hands. The scales had begun to itch.

`
The knowledge has always been in me, just locked away. Until now.
'

He didn't move.

Images writhed in a part of his mind he had kept sealed. Even before he had met Ruth it had been there, waiting. It had always frightened him with its desire to be free. Butcher had come from it; he knew that now.

`What will happen when I do this?'

`
We will fight, then fuck.
'

Her tone made his heart pound as fingers of darkness pried at his internal prison. A leaf brushed his face, the scent of its fresh sap a warning.

`Hah!' He lashed out at the air above, at nothing. Mason stood, arms reaching skywards. She should have been there.

`
You're still thinking like a human.
' Renee stood beside him, unmoving. He lowered his arms as she spoke. `
Inside you is the core of a Hunter. You know it, but part of you still resists.
'

`It is Unnatural,' he said shaking his head. It was what frightened him.

`No.' Renee touched him with a clawed hand. `There is no such thing as Unnatural. Just the world's perception of what should be.'

Her hand slipped up to his cheek. `You're human and I'm half-human, yet power seeks us out. The very energies that form our universe course through our bodies. You feel it, the connection to the earth and the elements around us. We're not Unnaturals. We are everything all in one. It is who we are that shapes what happens to this power, not the other way around.'

Renee moved closer and he could feel the heat radiate from her. `If we were meant for great evil, this conversation would not even happen, would it? We would not still care about our kin or the laws of this world?'

`No,' he said, covering her hand on his face. Desire surged up, the pulse of blood so close to his lips.

`Take me.' Renee pressed her wrist at his mouth. `Taste me and see what I know. Our blood is life-giving and it holds many secrets.'

`We will become like Bloodells.' His desire grew as Renee's skin softened against his face.

`Only if you want to. It is a choice for many.'

He hesitated but Renee pressed her wrist into his mouth. Pain spiked in his jaw and he felt teeth move. He was becoming like her.

`
Taste me and know the truth.
' Renee's eyes were bright in the darkness as his tongue caressed her soft flesh in his mouth.

Muscles in his jaw contracted as the strong taste of her blood trickled into his mouth. Flavours exploded: iron, spices and a wonderful something like he had never tasted before, coursed into his mouth. Swallowing the warmth, it curled though him. He bit harder and bones cracked.

`Yess!' Renee howled as she hugged him, not pulling her wrist away. `Let Hunter out!'

Colours flashed behind his eyes and he let her wrist go. An awareness grew, deep inside. Parts of him he'd locked away began to seep out.

`You see it know?' Renee whispered, her body pressed against his, the warmth of her sex on his leg.

`Yes.'

`Good.' She vanished and he staggered.

`Fight!'
she howled into his mind.

He felt her. The air moved and Mason lashed out at the nothingness. Hard flesh connected with his fist and Renee cartwheeled off into the lake.

It came. His body changed. Muscles grew. His legs and back thickened, the darkness no longer a threat to him. He controlled it.

Water churned and a figure exploded from it.

`Huntress,' he growled at the figure crouched before him. A wild excitement exploded through him, at the sight of her.

Renee's lithe body gone, replaced with muscle and claws, and thick red hair forming a mane down her back. She snarled. `Hunter.'

His tongue touched the incisors pushing out of his jaw, making him smile. He wanted her. He craved the violence.

`
Fight!
'

 

Eleanor shuddered. She covered her mouth with a hand. She had never seen a Huntress. Now her child was one, with a Hunter. She edged back under the eaves of the house as the two figures thrashed together down at the lake.

`Hmm. Frightening, aren't they?'

`Goddess, Tashia!' She gasped at being surprised. `Where are the rest of the clans now?'

`They're watching this as well.'

`Damn,' she cursed, leaning against the wall. `Well, at least they now understand what a Huntress and a Hunter are.'

`It gets better. Ralph is still here.'

Her mouth went dry. `I thought he had left.'

`No, he didn't.' Tashia scrunched down beside her. `What did you expect? It's not some crush he has on Renee. Even I can see that. It takes a lot for an alpha to disobey his elders and break away from the main pack.' Tashia leaned closer and whispered. `Now we know why he's so attached to her, even if he doesn't.'

`It can't be that simple.' Eleanor rubbed her forehead. `None of this was foreseen.'

`Hmm, I thought you had seen something?'

`Just the threat, nothing else. Not even when or where, just that it is coming.' She crossed her arms as the night's air rumbled with the sounds of conflict. `We're flying blind here.'

`Our instincts have saved us many times before, Priestess.' Tashia picked at a nail and Eleanor frowned. Tashia was far older and had always given honest counsel.

`You're saying we need to be like that again?'

`Perhaps. It saved us many times before you came here.'

`Yes, but we came here to stop the cycle of violence and live in harmony with the people around us.' Eleanor stood, frustrated at Tashia's suggestion. `To revert back to our warring gifts is not something I would do lightly.'

`Hmm. So, then,' Tashia said, moving closer to the roof's edge, `the threat will come, for you have seen it. What will you do if it snatches one of your children, takes her to be like the darkness we're fighting? What will you do then?'

The possibility was frightening but had to be considered. Eleanor already knew the answer. `You know what I will do, Tashia. I just hoped we would have more time to prepare and get to know Mason.'

`Hmm. Perhaps we should have intervened when the Bloodells killed his parents? We could have had a year to better understand him. We may even have discovered it was Gaia who had intervened back then — a warning we could have done with.'

`Ivy was there.' Eleanor pressed her lips together at the thought of her cousin doing such a rash thing. `I didn't send her. She went of her own accord, to see what had happened. Ivy couldn't even get close to him. It was too dangerous.'

`Hmm, then it is so. We have to work with what we know and understand.' Tashia turned to her, no humour on her face. `Go free Ralph of his treaty.'

Eleanor took a deep, calming breath out of habit. It always made her feel human. `If the legends are true, they will find each other. Why push him?'

`Hmm, you have softened, my Priestess,' Tashia said, smiling. `But I tease.' She took Eleanor's hand. `It was many centuries before you were born that a Huntress last roamed this world; much longer before that, since a Hunter has. Never before have both appeared both at once, but each always had an alpha loyal to them.