No Mercy (Dark-Hunter 18)

All he wanted was to keep her safe and that made no sense whatsoever. It was like she was under his skin and just being near her made him feel more alive than he ever had before. In fact it was taking all of his willpower not to strip his clothes off, lie down beside her, and wrap her in his arms.

This was so not him. He was normally more than content to have his one-night stands and then send them on their way as soon as he could.

He heard a light knock on the door.

Stepping away from the bed, he opened it to find Ethon on the other side. "Chi and I are downstairs. The Charonte are beginning to stir so that they can get the club ready to open. Do you guys need anything?"

"No. Thanks."

Ethon inclined his head to him. "Acheron said to keep her here even if she protests."

"And she will."

Ethon laughed. "Yeah, probably." He moved to close the door.

Dev stopped him before he withdrew completely. "You and Sam seem a little tight. Do you know how she became a Dark-Hunter?"

Ethon's expression was as dry as his tone. "She sold her soul to Artemis."

Dev let out an irritated breath at his smart-ass comment. "I'm being serious, Ethon."

He glanced to the bed as indecision marked his dark gaze. Finally he looked back at Dev and answered. "Her sister betrayed her. Sam had just been voted in as queen and her sister wanted the crown. So she made a pact with a group of Daimons for them to kill Sam and her immediate family to remove them from the line of succession."

That news hit him like a blow to his gut. The cruelty of it was unfathomable. What kind of bitch would do such a thing? "You've got to be kidding me."

"I would never kid about this. I think it's why Sam has the power of psychometry."

Dev frowned. "I don't follow."

Ethon swallowed hard before he lowered his voice. "Had she known what her sister was thinking and planning, she'd have been able to save her family."

In a weird way, that did make sense. "So who all did her sister kill? Sam and her other sisters?"

"Sam only had the one sister." Ethon's features turned sharp. Deadly. "They killed her husband, Dev, and her three-year-old daughter, right in front of her eyes as she lay dying."

Pain slammed into him with those words. For an entire minute, he couldn't breathe. How had she stood it? He wanted her sister's blood for her. What kind of bitch could do that to her own family?

Her own sister? Her niece.

And he hoped with every part of him that Sam had gone for her sister's throat and ripped it out.

"No wonder she fights like she does."

Ethon nodded. "It's why she can't stand to feel powerless. Had she not been pregnant, about to deliver her next kid, they would never have--"

"What?" Dev's heart stopped beating.

Ethon's expression told him that the Spartan was every bit as sickened by what had happened to her as Dev was. "She was pregnant when they killed her. I thought you knew."

"How would I know that?" He scowled at Ethon. "How do you know that?"

There was no mistaking the agony in Ethon's dark eyes. The grief and guilt. "Her husband was my little brother."

Just when he thought nothing else could shock him...that sent him to the floor. "What?"

A tic started in Ethon's jaw. "Ioel, her husband, was my brother."

Dev gaped. No wonder Ethon protected her the way he did. It made complete sense now.

Ethon fell silent as his emotions churned. He'd been so jealous of Ioel's happiness with his Amazon bride. The two of them had had the most incredible relationship. And while he was happy for his brother, he'd been bitter. Ioel had been raised by their mother away from the Spartan culture. While Ioel was a fierce warrior, he'd lived a pampered life of luxury and kind doting.

Unlike Ethon.

Everything Ioel had ever wanted had come to him. And Ethon had been forced to claw and fight for every table scrap he could find in the gutter. And to this day, he could still remember the first time he'd met Sam.

In full armor, she'd been breathtaking. Her zest for life was infectious as she joked with her friends and his brother.

But she'd only had eyes for Ioel.

So he'd buried his feelings for her and stood back to watch as they married and started their family. Anything they'd needed, he'd given them to make their life easier and happier. His brother didn't need to know the harsh lessons that had been rammed down his throat.

And when Agaria had been born, he'd loved his niece so much.... She'd looked just like her mother. There was nothing he wouldn't have done for any of them.

Nothing.

Until the night they'd died. He'd been in battle when the news of their deaths had arrived. Wounded and bleeding, he'd headed straight for his horse instead of the physician. Stupidly, he'd thought that if he could just reach them that he might be able to change it.

To save them. That maybe it was a lie and they weren't really dead.

By the time he'd reached them, Ioel and Ree had been cremated and Sam's body had been missing.

They'd found her sister's slaughtered remains the next day. The viciousness of that kill had told him well that Sam had had her vengeance. However the truth was, her sister had gotten off easy. What Sam had done to her had been a mercy killing compared to what Ethon would have done had he found her first.

He'd hunted for Sam after that, but he'd never found her. Not until centuries after his own death when they'd both been stationed in Athens.

They'd met in battle against the Daimons and then, with the dawn coming, she'd taken him into her house.

The bloodlust and their past ties had overwhelmed them. He looked enough like his brother that Sam had welcomed him to her bed.

For one single instant, he'd almost had a moment of peace.

Until she'd come to her senses.

And him.

By then it'd been too late. The guilt and pain had been more than either of them could bear. So they'd gone their own ways, crossing paths every now and again.

Still Ethon loved her. Even though she couldn't stand him. Even though he had no right to. He loved her.

He always would. But that was the past. And right now, Sam needed him.

Ethon would not fail her again.

He met Dev's stare. "I'll be downstairs if you need me."

Dev didn't speak as Ethon withdrew. His head was still reeling from what he'd learned about Sam. Gods, how painful it must have been for her to see the bond he shared with his family while knowing her sister had taken everything from her.

Even her life.

His gut knotting, he sat down on the bed beside her and brushed his hand through her curls. His poor Amazon. So fierce and proud.

Unable to protect the things she loved most.

Now he understood why she'd freaked out in the fight and locked him out in the hallway. It'd probably reminded her of the night she'd died and she'd reacted on instinct. But he wasn't a human.

He was a bear.

And it would take more than a Daimon to kill him. A lot more.

"I won't let them hurt you, Sam," he whispered as her curls tugged at his fingers. The silken strands wrapped around his skin the same way foreign emotions for her wrapped around his heart.

If the Daimons wanted her, they were about to get the fight of their lives. And yet as that thought went through him, it was followed by another.

An image of her dying in front of him the way his mother had while he was powerless to stop it. Pain lacerated him.

This wasn't a fear, he knew it.

It was a premonition.