Unbridled (Hunted Book 1) Read online

  “I know,” he nodded. Ryan gave her a little smirk. “But you’re only half.”

  “They don’t know that.” She laughed. “You’re the only one that knows I have anything else in me.”

  “Mmmm,” he leaned to the side and kissed her neck. Mai sighed and fell into the action easily. “We both know you’re just using me for food, anyway.” He nipped tenderly at her neck, causing her to shiver again. “Succubi are insatiable.”

  “Complaining?”

  “Hell no.”

  He kissed her skin again and she knew they were dangerously close to rekindling what they’d finished only a half hour prior.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather settle down with a nice she-bear?” Mai asked lightly. She felt her need beginning to resurface the longer he touched her.

  “No,” he replied deeply. His hand glided up her body, tenderly grazing her skin so she was deprived of the complete contact he knew she craved. “Why would I want to be with a bear-shifter like me?” He pinched her nipple, and she shivered. “Ursanthropes are boring.” He sucked on her neck. The fires were returning with a vengeance. “I’d much rather have a woman that drives me crazy.”

  “You’re just saying that,” she gasped as he continued to touch her, “because you can fuck a succubus for hours and it just makes us want more.”

  “Ravenous.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Mai’s other half—the succubus in her—was insatiable and voracious. That’s why she could always sense desire in others, control it, and make them compliant when she wanted them to be. That was part of her gift, a trick she inherited from her father, an incubus.

  The hatred, however, the skepticism and mistrust that surrounded Mai came because of who she took after the most, her mother. In their world of make-believe and legend, djinn were considered powerful and unpredictable. Between the Fay factions, Light and Dark, djinn were only accepted by the latter. The Light Council forbade their community from having contact with Mai’s kind because the djinn refused to bow down to their rules, or officially join a side. In the Light’s eyes, that made them dangerous, and the consequences for people who associated with them on a personal level were steep.

  That was why Marcus was so worried about Ryan and Mai’s “relationship”. He knew his partner was too stupid to realize he was playing with fire.

  Tossing their Thai food to the side, Mai fell onto her back while Ryan crawled onto her again. He kissed her deeply, and she happily returned the affection. They could never get enough of each other. She craved Ryan for so many reasons and not just the physical. Although, what he was made it possible for him to even withstand Mai’s excessive sexual desires in the first place.

  Being an ursanthrope, he had stamina to spare, and he was a rare breed, like her. Lycanthropes were much more common (werewolves) and so were felithropes (werecats) but not his type. Ryan was the only man she’d ever slept with who could just keep coming back for more, who actually kept up with her, and she knew it was because he was a werebear.

  But it was more than that, and she knew it. Ryan was sweet, kind, loyal, and clever. He was everything any woman would be lucky to have, and he was all hers.

  Mai moaned when Ryan slid inside her. Pinning her hands against the mattress above her head, Ryan began to fuck her again and she loved it.

  Chapter Three

  Mai found herself grateful it was a chilly day as she set up in the back of her old, rusted ’85 Bronco. She loved her truck because it was so useful in so many ways. Not only were the back windows tinted to the point she was invisible during surveillance, but it was large enough to haul her shit if needed. It might suck down gas like a drowning man gasping for air, but she had no intentions of getting rid of it any time soon. She’d bought it brand new, after all, driven it right off the lot over thirty years ago.

  A side-effect of being nearly ageless, though, was one tended to outlive nearly everything. Still, she’d care for it for as long as she could.

  She made herself comfortable, leaning against the interior wheel well with a pillow she kept in the back so her ass wouldn’t go numb sitting on metal. With her phone nearby and her snacks there, too, she got ready for what could be a long wait.

  When he’d stopped by the previous night, Ryan brought a folder filled with info on four bail jumpers. He usually came to her place bearing gifts, and last night was no different. She appreciated the cash and it wasn’t as though the police really had time for it, either. They had to deal with real issues. Hunting down some guy who would more than likely cost them a ridiculous number of man-hours wasn’t generally worth the effort. That’s where Mai came in.

  After about an hour of nothing, Mai’s phone went off. It was Ryan asking what she was up to. She told him that she was currently parked down the street from a house the skip might be hiding in. Not on duty for another couple of hours, he coyly—bluntly, actually—asked if she wanted company. Mai smiled and said yes. She always said yes when it came to Ryan.

  Mai told him to stop by if he wanted to and to bring something warm to drink. He told her he’d be there soon.

  ****

  Roughly a half hour after she’d received her final message from him, Ryan appeared. He rapped his knuckles gently against the hatch of her truck before opening it and sliding in with her. He slammed the door behind him and offered her the steaming cup of cocoa in his hand.

  “Thank you.” She grinned, taking the object gingerly to avoid spilling boiling liquid over herself.

  Ryan shifted from side to side and did his best to get comfortable, but he was a large man and it was difficult. Even though the back of a Bronco was decently sized, Ryan still had to sit with his legs crossed and a little to the side.

  “Comfy?” she openly teased.

  He sent her a sideways glare, but the smirk on his lips kept it from appearing angry. “So, who’s this guy you’re looking for?”

  Mai reached for the file at her right and handed it to him so he could read for himself. “This is supposed to be his girlfriend’s place,” she said. “He listed it as an address.”

  “You seriously think he’s going to show up here when it’s in his file?”

  She shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe, maybe not, but I need to check it out at least.”

  He gave her a small nod and let his eyes drift through the tinted glass toward the house two doors down. Mai’s Bronco fit in with the rest of the neighborhood, which was useful. At least no one would get suspicious of the hulking vehicle that came from nowhere.

  ****

  Twenty minutes. It took twenty minutes before Mai could taste the lust in the air. She did her best to ignore it and focus on the task at hand, but within twenty minutes it grew to the point she couldn’t.

  “Oh my God.” She laughed as she turned to the man at her side. “Can’t you control yourself, at least a little?”

  “Nope.” He grinned. “How the hell am I supposed to concentrate when you smell so good?”

  As though proving his point, Ryan leaned over, buried his nose in the crook of her neck, and sniffed obnoxiously just so she could hear it. Mai giggled and shoved at him, but the beast of a man didn’t even budge.

  Remaining where he was, Ryan kissed her skin. Mai felt a jolt of desire wash through her. It was a familiar sensation, but always stronger with him. The succubus side of her craved it. In fact, both halves of her genealogy did. Both the succubus and djinn thrived and fed off adoration, and there was no one who adored her like Ryan.

  “Stop.” She sighed, putting up no real attempt to stop him.

  “Say it like you mean it,” he replied, kissing her again and nipping at her skin.

  But she couldn’t, so she didn’t bother trying.

  Ryan continued to kiss at her neck, trailing his lips along her pulse points. Mai shivered with every scrape of his well-manicured beard.

  “You’re distracting me.” She sighed as he continued.

  She felt him smile against her skin. “You’re distracting me
,” he replied.

  Mai giggled lightly. While she wanted to continue, there were more pressing issues—sort of. For now, the two had to pretend to be adults. So, she shoved at him with her shoulder, forcing Ryan away from her. She glanced back to see a smile tugging at his bearded face.

  “Behave,” she said with a grin.

  Ryan mocked surrender, putting his hands up as though submitting to her demands. Mai rolled her eyes and shook her head before turning her attention back to the job at hand.

  Ryan sighed as he reached for his cup of steaming coffee. “How long have you been watching this guy, anyway?”

  “A couple hours, I think.”

  She could see him shake his head out of the corner of her eye. Ryan knew what it was like to sit for hours on end inside a vehicle. He knew what came along with stakeouts, like the back pain, the boredom, and the anxious desire for something to happen. For the moment, however, she had company, and was glad for it.

  For a little while, the two of them were silent. The only thing that passed between them was playful glances and nudges. Unfortunately, the sexual tension began to build. Truthfully, it never faded. It was something that always lingered in the background with the two of them and was often brought to the foreground quickly.

  Mai could feel him touching her, tenderly trailing his thumb across the small of her back. She felt his eyes, too. She knew he was watching her intently, and the thought made her skin prickle.

  “We should go out, or something,” he randomly said.

  “Out where?” Mai asked, keeping her wavering attention on the house in the distance. “There’s only one neutral place in the city. Outside that, there are a thousand different Fay who could see us.” She looked at him over her shoulder with a slightly morose expression. “They’d report you.”

  Ryan’s beautifully hazel eyes met hers. She could see his mind swarming with thoughts and ideas, but knew he couldn’t land on a single, plausible one. There was sadness reflected back at her, the same kind she felt knowing they couldn’t be seen in public together.

  “A date would just be nice,” he said under his breath.

  Mai sighed and gave her attention to the house once more. “I know.”

  Ryan placed his whole hand on her back. She felt a wave of reassurance wash through her, but the sensation wasn’t alone. As always, mixed within it, was the same desire they would forever feel for one another. It was like a smolder that was always there, but his stare or his touch was a breath meant to start the fire.

  “Don’t you have work?” Mai asked, hoping to save them both from the moment.

  “Want me to leave?” he said in a tone that told her he felt the growing attraction, too.

  The playful way he spoke caused her to turn and look at him again. Ryan’s eyes danced over her with the same hungry glint they generally held. She’d seen it a hundred times, and it always stirred her feelings for him.

  Ryan took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he met her stare. “Maybe I should head out?” he said. “We can’t seem to be alone together for too long, can we?”

  “No,” she replied. “It doesn’t look that way, does it?”

  He smiled at her and nodded. “Call me when you’re done?”

  “Probably,” she said with a laugh.

  Ryan chuckled. Cradling the back of her head, he pulled her close and kissed her deeply. Mai returned the sentiment. Eventually, they’d part and he’d make his way to work, but for those few minutes they could pretend the outside world didn’t exist. Mai would hold him and he’d hold her, they’d cradle one another and live in their little bubble where sides didn’t matter and they could be happy. They could pretend and lie to themselves.

  Chapter Four

  Finally.

  Four days. It took four goddamn days for her Skip to finally show up. If the reward for him wasn’t five grand, she would’ve just let it go after day one.

  Mai slid out of her Bronco while he walked along the street, ignorant of her until she was within a few short yards of him. Seeming to sense someone behind him, he turned. Mai immediately flashed a smile and saw him flinch. It was the typical human response to her. They were more susceptible to her influence than Fay, which helped a lot in situations like this.

  As she approached, he flashed a crooked, half-drugged smile. His swagger and confidence soon followed.

  “Hey,” he crooned.

  “Hi there.” She smiled. “Are you Travis Cooks?”

  His brows twitched marginally, but with another flash of her dazzling smile, his suspicion faded.

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “I know you?”

  “No.” Mai kept her tone light and sweet.

  She reached forward and tenderly stroked his bare arm. Travis immediately relaxed, his pupils dilated, and his overall demeanor turned placid. It only ever took a simple touch of her skin against theirs for her to take control, to fill her targets with false-love and gain the upper hand.

  “Hey,” she cooed. “Can I put handcuffs on you?”

  A stupid, dopey laugh echoed in his throat. He licked his lips and looked her up and down, as though that were enough to get her to swoon over him. It actually turned her stomach a little, but she ignored it in favor of collecting her paycheck.

  “Hell yeah, baby.” He chuckled.

  Mai smiled wide, chewed playfully on her bottom lip and let out a little giggle. He shuddered at the sound of it.

  “Thanks.”

  Reaching into her back pocket, Mai retrieved the cuffs she always kept on her. She stepped around Travis, who happily offered his wrists, and snapped the first silver bracelet into place. Before she had the chance to do it with the second, a loud, sharp yell drew her attention.

  “Hey!” someone shrieked. Mai glanced up and spotted a very trashy and very angry young woman with badly dyed blonde hair charging towards her. It was the girlfriend. “The fuck you think you’re doin’, bitch?”

  “You should tell your girl to back off,” Mai whispered seductively to Travis.

  “Yo, babe!” he said sharply as she marched closer. “Go home, okay? This ain’t got nothin’ to do with you.”

  “The hell it don’t,” she snapped. “You’re my man.”

  The instant she made it to their sides, the girlfriend shoved Mai, hard. Mai took a step back under the force of it. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with some white-trash skank, but if she had to, she had to.

  “Back off,” Mai said, an edge growing to her words. “Before you do something you regret.”

  But her warning fell on deaf ears. Instead of shoving her again, the girlfriend swung. Mai was a capable fighter and dodged the punch easily, but it forced her away from Travis and caused her concentration to waver. The girlfriend swung again, and again Mai stepped out of the way.

  “Go home!” Mai yelled. Her patience was growing thin.

  “I’m gonna kick your ass, bitch.”

  Mai grit her teeth. She was about to have to beat the shit out of this woman. While it’d be an easy task, it was a distraction she didn’t want. Unfortunately, when she glanced to her Skip to make sure he was still half-dazed, the girlfriend actually connected a punch.

  The girlfriend’s fist smashed into Mai’s jaw. Her head snapped to the side, but she didn’t fall or falter. Mai wasn’t human, so a human’s punch held little effect, but it pissed her off more than she already was.

  “Yeah, bitch!” The girlfriend smiled, waving her arms threateningly at Mai as though she’d accomplished something. The white-haired young woman turned a stern eye to her attacker. “You want some more?”

  When the girlfriend swung again, Mai didn’t bother dodging the punch. Instead, she caught the junkie’s wrist and twisted it violently. The girlfriend cried out in pain as she dropped to her knees. Mai wrenched her arm up high behind the young woman’s back, ensuring it hurt.

  “I said,” Mai growled through her teeth, “get your junkie-ass back to your fucking house before I lose my temper.”

&nbs
p; “Let go!” she cried.

  “Are you going to leave?” Mai twisted her arm a little more, delighting in the high-pitched scream that came from the girl on her knees. “Say it.”

  “Yes!” She sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

  “Good, now get the h—”

  A sharp, unyielding pain suddenly radiated through Mai’s shoulder. She cried out loudly, releasing the girlfriend and whipping around to find the source. Travis had woken from the spell. Her concentration was so divided that Mai hadn’t realized her Skip had woken up to her beating his girlfriend and reacted as any wannabe thug would, by stabbing her in the back—literally.

  When Mai reached behind her shoulder and felt the hilt of the blade, her rage was incalculable. Her eyes glowed with blue fire and instinct took hold. Within seconds of his stabbing her, Mai yelled and Travis suddenly vanished from sight, exploding into a billion atoms. He disintegrated, disappearing as though he’d never existed.

  The girlfriend immediately screamed. She’d witnessed the whole act, and it wasn’t until she started crying, frantically asking what happened that Mai realized what she’d done. In a moment of reflex, Mai had accidentally killed Travis, reducing him to nothing with a thought.

  “Shit,” she hissed to herself, angrier about the canceled paycheck than the death of some human criminal.

  The girlfriend’s frantic cries were loud and beginning to draw eyes. Before the cops could be called, Mai ran off. She leapt into her Bronco, wincing when the knife imbedded in her shoulder knocked against her seat, and sped off.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” she repeated to herself as she drove frantically to escape what she’d done. “Not again.”

  Mai shook, and she knew only half of the reason was her current injury. She’d slipped again.

  More than once in her life, when Mai had acted instinctually, bad things happened as a result. Whenever her life was in danger, or she was suddenly hurt like she had been by her Skip, Mai’s other side would take over. It was no different than a doctor tapping the nerve in a patient’s knee and causing their leg to kick. Something happened, and her body reacted because of it. The problem was, it was more than a simple leg kick.