No Mercy (Dark-Hunter 18)

Chapter 3

Dev was toweling off his hair, heading back to his room when Aimee met him in the hallway.

She handed him a piece of paper. "Sam wanted me to give you this."

He scowled at the folded-up scrap of Sanctuary letterhead that still held the Amazon's scent on it. "A paper note? How quaint. I haven't seen one of these in a long time."

Aimee laughed. "Yeah. It reminds me of the days when women would leave their numbers on napkins for you and I'd have to bring you a stack of them every night. Now it's all about sending the text and digits over. Just wait until they release swipe technology."

It was true. And that technology was just around the corner.

He met her gaze and held up the note with an arched brow. "You read this?"

She screwed her face up. "Oh God, no. Last thing I want is to read something I need eye bleach for. Learned my lesson a hundred years ago when that baroness left a note for you. I'm still traumatized...and nauseated by it." She headed to her room.

Dev draped the towel over his bare shoulder before he unfolded the note and read the clean, feminine script.

Hey Bear,

I know I shouldn't do this, but if you like to live as dangerously as I do, head over to my place before you go to bed.

6537 St. Charles.

It's the white three-story with the black gate.

Don't worry. No strings. No demon slime. Just lots of hot, naked sex.

Sam

P.S. Destroy this immediately. Better yet, eat it.

He laughed at Sam's orders. It was a real good thing Aimee hadn't read it....

And again, his body went rock hard. What was it with the mere mention of Sam's name or the scent of her skin that drove him into mindless sexcapade mode? Yeah, okay, so the last line probably had more to do with his heated blood than anything else. But that was beside the point.

You don't need this. Your life's screwed up enough. Not to mention, you want to move on without any entanglements.

Yeah, but Sam knew the score as well as he did. Like she said, it was without strings. Mindless. Two adults pleasing each other.

As long as no one found out, it'd all be good.

He balled the note up, then froze. What if you mate with her? That thought made his blood run cold.

Anytime a Were-Hunter had sex, it came with one really bad gamble and it wasn't the fear of pregnancy or disease. They couldn't make a woman pregnant unless they were mated to her and Were-Hunters were immune from most human diseases and all STDs.

The horror was, they didn't choose who they mated with for life. The Greek Fates did that and those bitches had a nasty sense of humor. Case in point, his bear sister was mated to a wolf husband. His sister was a human with the ability to shift into a bear. His brother-in-law was a wolf who could become human. Two entirely different animals. When they went to sleep at night, Aimee remained human and Fang was a dog.

If Fang and Aimee ever had kids, which would be a major miracle given the fact they were practically different species, the screwed-up things would look like some messed-up Chow. He shuddered at the thought.

So if he had sex with Sam--even mindless, sweaty animal sex--there was always a chance he could end up mated to her. And mating was something you couldn't fight. If they didn't fulfill the ceremony, he'd be left impotent for all eternity. Literally, since she was a Dark-Hunter.

He would never have sex with a woman again....

I'd rather have an acid enema followed by living mummification.

C'mon, Dev. Don't be paranoid. What are the odds? Sam was a Dark-Hunter. Surely the Fates wouldn't piss off cousin Artemis by mating them together. Dark-Hunters were forbidden from having significant others--the risk to their partners was too great. They had too many enemies for that.

Yeah, but...

Oh, what kind of wuss are you? She was offering him free, uncomplicated sex and he was second-guessing it? Yeah, that was totally messed up.

Shaking his head at his own stupidity, especially when he'd never once in his entire life been a coward, Dev teleported the towel on his shoulder to the bathroom, manifested a T-shirt to wear, then jumped to Sam's front door. 'Cause it would just be in poor taste to show up shirtless on her doorstep even if it was only for a booty call. Contrary to popular opinion, he wasn't a totally unsophisticated animal.

He could have driven over on his motorcycle, but he wasn't willing to chance sense or anything else overriding his hormones. He wanted this and he wanted no delay.

Dev knocked on the black, wooden door of the pristine, rebuilt antebellum mansion. One of the weird things about Dark-Hunters, they couldn't live in a home that had any kind of ghost. Since they were soulless beings, ghosts tended to want to take up residence in their bodies. So each place they lived in had to be carefully reviewed by the Squire's Council to ensure the Hunter wouldn't be possessed. Made him wonder what would happen if one of the Squires had a grudge against a Dark-Hunter and lied about their report.

That could get ugly....

For several minutes he heard nothing. But then the house was huge and if Sam was upstairs, it might take her a little bit to get to the door.

Or she could have changed her mind.

That would really suck. He'd be left out here looking like a giant bear goober on the front doorstep. Just don't let the neighbors see me. That would suck even more. Especially given the obvious hard-on in his pants.

He looked over his shoulder to where the sun was just dawning. The warm rays were quickly spreading up the lawn and street. Could Sam be asleep already?

I should have moved faster.

Damn.

Suddenly the front door opened into the house.

Assuming that was another invitation since he was pretty sure the door didn't do this on its own for no reason, Dev walked through it. At least until he was inside the small foyer and saw Sam waiting for him on the bottom step of the winding, ornate mahogany staircase. Dressed in nothing but a sheer black robe that hung open to show off her naked body, she was exquisite. Every inch of her was ripped from exercise and it made his mouth water for a taste.