She bucked under him, crying out as he drew the edge of his teeth over one spot and then the other to see just how responsive they were. “Matthias.”

From her shivering and moving under him she was close, so he used his mouth on her other foot, nipping and licking with deliberate pressure, his fingers playing over the other bundles of nerves in tandem, until he felt her body stiffen and the sound of pleasure and release come from her throat.

Matthias lifted himself from the pallet and reached for his belt, releasing it and removing it from her wrists. Both were slightly reddened, chafed not from the loops but from her struggles against the leather. He massaged both wrists gently before he rolled her over and sat down beside her.

She stared up at him, her rain-colored eyes drowsy. “Why did you do that to me?”

“You needed it.” He brushed a trickle of sweat from her temple. “It has been a long time for you.”

“I don’t need …” She bit down on her lip and looked away from him.

He caught her cheek and turned her face back to see his. “Your pleasure is enough. When you come to me, when we join our bodies, I will make you feel much more than that.”

“You’ll kill me,” she whispered.

He smiled. “Never.”

Jessa tried to sit up, but her arms trembled too much, and she slumped back. “I can hardly move. Is this your ability? Massaging someone into a vegetative state?”

“It is not an ability,” he said. “Mostly it is what I did to my horse whenever he became unhappy.”

Her eyes widened, her lips quivered, and then she began to laugh. “You rubbed me down like a horse?”

He shrugged. “I did not do the same to his hooves. He would not have felt it. Or liked it as much.” He took her hand in his. “We must speak the truth to each other now, Jessa.”

She stiffened. “You could start by telling me why you lied about working for GenHance.”

“I did not lie—”

“I found the files in the library,” she said. “Every report you have came from GenHance. Did they hire you to abduct me? Is this some sort of brainwashing by isolation?”

“The reports are from GenHance. Until today, my friend Drew worked there. He sent us copies of all the reports on those Genaro has identified as Kyndred. We have been trying to reach them before they are taken. You were the latest.” He saw that she didn’t believe him. “You heard me speaking to Rowan about this.”

“Maybe you both knew I was listening.” Doubt filled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I burned all the files. And your money, and your fake IDs.”

Now it was his turn to chuckle. “You are very loyal to your friends, Minerva.”

She shook her head. “Don’t call me that. Minerva Starret died in that hospital ten years ago. I just inherited the body.” With a groan she sat up, using his hand as leverage, and then rubbed her damp face. “I need to use your washbasin.”

He put an arm around her, helping her over and holding her upright as she picked up the water jug and tipped it to fill the basin.

“Matthias?” she murmured.

He bent over. “Do you need a towel?”

“No.”

The last thing he saw was the swing of the jug before it smashed into his face.

Chapter 17

Lucan accompanied the hunters back to the interstate and the scene of the last man known to be killed by Lawson. Eight days had passed since the senseless murder, but their nightly searches had turned up nothing of use. It was as if the man had existed for only a space of forty-eight ghastly hours, and had been snatched up by the hand of God from this desolate place.

“The ground still reeks of him,” Devon, the lead tracker, said. A falconer in his human life, he had acquired as a Kyn warrior the ability to see through the eyes of his hunting birds. After discovering the animals that had died after exposure to the body, however, Devon had left his peregrines behind. “ ’Twill have to be burned over and strewn with copper.” He crossed himself. “Perhaps even blessed.”

“The Heavenly Father and fallen angels had nothing to do with this.” Lucan crouched, removed his glove, and touched the ground. Where the body parts had lain, the soil felt wrong, but he could not define how. He scanned the area before he stood. “Gabriel Seran is yet in Europe chasing after lost Kyn, is he not?”

“So it is said, my lord,” Devon said.

“Damn me. If anyone could track this thing, it would be him.” His mobile rang, and he checked the display before he flipped it open. “What is it, Alex?”

“Hello to you, too, big guy,” she replied. “Kendrick said you were out hunting, but this can’t wait until morning. I analyzed the tissue samples he sent over from the last victim. The good news is, we can break out the champagne. Bradford Lawson is definitely not Darkyn.”

He would celebrate later. “What else can you tell me?”

“The victim’s tissues are saturated with a powerful neurotoxin.”

“A what?”

“A poison produced by the body and lethal to pretty much anything that breathes,” she explained. “I can’t identify it, but the components share similar characteristics to flying-insect venom.”

He took the phone away from his ear, stared at it, and then spoke again to her. “Alex, while I am quite certain that you have more knowledge in your smallest finger than the sum of what resides between my ears, I can assure you that a bee or a wasp did not kill this man.”

“Not unless there were a couple million of them involved,” she agreed. “Whoever or whatever this killer is, he probably can produce this venom in large quantities. My guess is he uses it like our abilities, and with it he can stun or kill anything he bites or touches.”

Lucan gazed at the men around him. “Does this venom affect us?”

“Fortunately, no,” she said. “I tested it on several Kyn blood samples, and our pathogen ate it for breakfast. But, Lucan, that makes us the only living things who are immune to it.”

“This is all very well and good,” he told her, “but we cannot pick up a scent trail, and there have been no more bodies.”

“If he’s begun eating them, there won’t be.” She sighed. “The tissue samples sent to me gave off an extremely strong odor that blocked out everything else I could smell in the lab, even Michael. It’s probably a hundred times worse there. You need to move away from where the body was found.” She hesitated. “Has Sam tried to read the victim’s blood?”

“No. Seeing what Lawson did to the first victim caused her to collapse.” He stared at the blood-soaked ground. “I will not allow her to know what was done here.”

“I understand.” And the tone of her voice told her that she did. “Call me if you need anything else.”

Some of the knot in his gut loosened. “Thank you, my lady.”

Lucan switched off the phone and breathed in. He had hunted hundreds of killers during his lengthy existence. Not one of them, no matter how mad, had given off such a stench.

“My lord?” Devon asked.

“Lady Alexandra has determined that this one is not Kyn,” he told the men. “Nor is he human.”

“A changeling, perhaps?” one of the other hunters suggested. “There are creatures who feed on the dead. If he has been using their blood …”

“She vows he is not one of us. And changeling or not, no Kyn can consume flesh.” Lucan paced around the marked perimeter as he inhaled over and over. As before, there was no scent trail leading away from the crime scene, but the farther he moved from the rotten odor left behind by the body, the easier it was to breathe. Then he picked up the faintest trace of something else—a different scent, one of sweat and chemicals—emanating from another source.

He found the flashlight sitting in a clump of weeds, and removed it. The batteries were dead, but as soon as he picked it up the sour, unpleasant smell intensified.

“I think he must have handled this,” he said to Devon when the tracker joined him, and indicated two dark stains on the handle. “Blood.” He sniffed them. “Not polluted as the dead man’s was.”

“Give it to me,” a familiar voice said.

Lucan looked up to see his sygkenis walking down from the road. He handed the flashlight to Devon before he strode up to meet her. “You were not to come to this place.”

“Yet here I am.” She planted her hands on her hips. “Ordering Kendrick to keep me away was a nice move. Too bad it didn’t work.”

When she tried to walk past him, he seized her by the arm. “This is my work, not yours. You will return to the city.”

She smiled up at him. “You want me to accept what I am, and be Darkyn, and handle all the shit that comes along with it, but only when it’s convenient for you and I won’t get in the way? Is that how you think this is going to work?”

“Samantha, you cannot see this. Not after what was done to this man. Lawson—”

“Ate parts of him. I know. I made Kendrick tell me. That’s why we have to find him, tonight, before he does this again.” She tried to shrug off his hold. “I’ll be all right.”

“No.”

“You can’t stop me—”

“I can.” He picked her up to toss her over his broad shoulder, but she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him. That sent all the fear and anger out of his head, and slowly he lowered her down onto her feet.

“Bloody hell,” he muttered against her mouth. “You are not fighting fair.”

“No one says I have to. Listen to me.” She put her cool hands to his cheeks. “I can do this. I’m stronger than you think. Let me help you.”

He lifted his head. “Devon,” he called out, not looking away from her beautiful eyes.

“My lord.” The tracker joined them.

“Give my sygkenis the flashlight.” To her, he said, “There is some blood on the handle. I think it came from Lawson.” When she opened her mouth to argue, he added, “I know he is still alive. But you were able to read my blood that night at your apartment.”