Primal Desire (Heart of the Huntress Book 6) Read online

  Primal Desire

  Heart of the Huntress, Book 6

  Terry Spear

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Terry Spear

  Primal Desire

  Copyright © 2021 by Terry Spear

  Cover Copyright by AM Design Studios

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

  Discover more about Terry Spear at:

  http://www.terryspear.com/

  Print ISBN: 978-1-63311-073-1

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63311-072-4

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Synopsis

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Terry Spear

  Synopsis

  Selena Townsend has no idea what will happen after she kills a fellow hunter while protecting an innocent vampiress. She's ostracized, but acquitted of charges against her, but now she's looking for her sister who has disappeared. That mission takes her to a vampire club and all kinds of trouble.

  Atreides has been in charge of the vampire clans, while his brother is off on a honeymoon with his new mate. He doesn't expect a huntress to walk into one of their vampire clubs, which is just not done, and then return later after being savagely attacked by a vampire. He has to take care of her before the League of Hunters learns of it, and then he wants to pawn her off on the hunters who can protect her pronto! But he finds he really doesn’t want to give her up after all.

  War between the hunters and the vampires could break out any moment unless they find the rogue hunters who are killing innocent vampiresses and the vampire who had attacked Selena and other huntresses at the same time—and terminate the rogues.

  To Nancy Sipes, thanks for loving my vampire series and may you only have the best of bites in life. Primal Desire is dedicated to you!

  Prologue

  Selena Townsend was supposed to meet with her sister at the Forest Grove Hunters Club in Portland, Oregon, but Rosa hadn't arrived at the off-the-lot parking area yet when Selena heard a man fighting with a woman a couple of streets away. Between a huntress's excellent hearing and the fact they were being so loud they had caught her attention. She wanted to wait for her sister, but when the voices escalated and she heard the woman say, "The baby is yours, Fenimore," Selena decided to investigate. It wasn't that she planned to interfere, but if a man and woman were going to come to blows, she wanted to prevent it. Especially if the woman was pregnant.

  With her huntress abilities, Selena was stronger than humans, so there would be no contest for her. She grabbed her hunter's sword out of her car, when she normally wouldn't be taking it with her when entering the club, but since she was taking on a side mission, she was always armed, just in case.

  "I can easily take care of that!" the man said.

  Selena recognized the voice as that of a hunter—not just some human named Fenimore. She ran toward them, fearing the worst, hearing the hunter's sword drawn and reached them just as he was ready to kill the woman.

  Selena saw not only Fenimore Thomason, but his brother, Cliff, and three of their friends—Perry Rochester, Harry Canton, and Lonnie Wilson.

  She also recognized the woman—Charlene, a vampiress, and not one who caused anyone any trouble either. In fact, she'd helped the hunters find a hunter child who had gotten lost near a vampire club one night. Selena couldn't believe Fenimore, who professed hating vampires with a vengeance, would have created a baby with one.

  "Stop, Fenimore!" Selena shouted, startling him, her heart beating wildly. They'd all been so wrapped up in this business that they hadn't even noticed her running to stop him.

  Charlene was crying, when she should have just vanished. Selena could never understand how the vampires would stick around for a fight when they could just leave without being injured. But maybe Charlene felt Fenimore would not harm her and the baby. As angry as he appeared, Selena didn't believe he would stand down without some intervention.

  She finally reached them and ran in between Fenimore and Charlene, acting as her shield. "Stop, Fenimore! You don't want to go down that path," Selena said.

  Fenimore pointed his sword at her and she had hers ready to fight. The hunter would not intimidate her. She only wished Charlene would leave so that the confrontation would end. At least she hoped.

  "You don't want to interfere in my business," Fenimore said.

  Then he thrust his sword at Selena, surprising her, but the adrenaline already filled her with the need to fight—to save the stubborn vampiress who wouldn't save herself, and to protect herself even. She realized Fenimore wouldn't want her to live to tell the tale of how he had made a vampiress pregnant. This would be a fight to the death.

  She parried, knocking his sword away. "You don't have to do this."

  "You should have minded your own business," he said, his voice filled with hatred.

  The other hunters watched but waited to see how this would end.

  "Tell your brother to stand down, Cliff." Selena hoped his younger brother by a year would convince Fenimore to listen to reason.

  "Fenimore," Cliff said, halfheartedly, not forcefully like Selena wished he’d sounded.

  "Shut up, Cliff. You know this has to be done." Then Fenimore stabbed again at Selena and she jumped back and swung her sword at his, the clanging sound of the swords reverberating off the buildings.

  He came at her again, and she backed up, staying out of the reach of the thrust of his sword while Charlene moved away. Selena could see the red haze in his eyes. He was in killing mode. First, it was Charlene, now he had to rid himself of a huntress who knew too much. She knew once he had decided something, no one could talk him down. His parents, both hunters, were both dead at the hands of rogue vampires. They would have turned over in their graves if they knew he'd impregnated one.

  But she couldn't believe Cliff and the others would allow Fenimore to kill a huntress in a coldblooded way.

  He thrust again, and she parried, defending herself, not attacking, hoping someone would stop the madness.

  Then she heard footfalls in the distance and saw a couple of male hunters running their way. Good. Maybe one of them could talk Fenimore down when his brothers and friends couldn't or wouldn't.

  Instead of ceasing his attacks on her, he appeared to be controlled by bloodlust like some kind of berserker of old. When he cut her sword arm, she knew she wouldn't survive this if she didn't fight back. She thrust her sword as he swung his sword back to strike her and stabbed him straight through the heart.

  It seemed everything was in slow motion at that point. He looked shocked to the core that she would fight back. She pulled her sword out of his chest, feeling no victory, the other hunters finally reaching them before Cliff and his friends could retaliate against her. She felt horrible about killing a hunter, no matter that he'd turned rogue and was t
rying to murder an innocent vampire. She was still a hunter like him. She felt terrible when she heard Charlene crying her heart out, broken up over losing the hunter, the father of her unborn child, even if he had intended to murder both of them.

  "What the hell happened?" Mack MacPherson asked. He was one of her brother, Daniel's friends, so he knew she'd always been honorable in her fights against rogue vampires.

  She'd never expected to fight a hunter to the death.

  Selena explained what had happened and Charlene finally gathered her composure to corroborate her story. Which was a good thing because if Cliff and his friends had been the only ones to witness the fight, she was certain their version would be a hell of a lot different from Selena and Charlene's. She realized then that Cliff had his sword out and he was giving her the evil eye.

  He had looked up to his brother in all things, and she was afraid she would have to watch her back whenever he was around now.

  "We'll have to take this to the League of Hunters Council now." Mack looked sympathetically at Selena, but with disdain at the vampiress, as if it was all her fault.

  Charlene said, "I will speak on your behalf with the Council, Selena. Thank you for saving my life."

  Two more hunters arrived, though Selena thought they had seen the action, but were just farther away than Mack and Donovan when she killed Fenimore.

  "Take care of your brother," Mack said.

  Then her brother came running to the scene of the fight. Great. Daniel looked at Fenimore lying on the pavement dead, and Selena's sword dripping with blood. He might not have seen the action, but he could put two and two together. She hadn't had time to process all of it—and realized she could even be put on a rogue hunter list—scheduled for termination, worst-case scenario, or be ostracized by the hunter community for killing a hunter instead of just letting the whole matter slide. In other words, allowing Fenimore to kill the vampiress and pretend none of it had ever happened.

  Which she would never have done.

  But now she had to face the League of Hunters Council, her parents, her disapproving brother, and who knew how her sister would feel about it. One little act of kindness had turned her world inside out.

  Chapter 1

  Six weeks later, Portland, Oregon

  Atreides, prince of the vampire clans on the west coast, had seen his brother, Daemon, and his mate, Tezra, off at the airport to go on a well-deserved vacation a week ago. He couldn't be more thrilled to be in full control of the clans instead of serving just as his brother's subleader. Daemon was even taking his bodyguard, Voltan, and Maison, his advisor, so they could also have a vacation. Atreides was in seventh heaven. As long as no other trouble presented itself, he would prove to his brother that he could be in charge and not screw things up. And then Daemon and his mate could take more trips away from home without any worries.

  But what he couldn't believe was when a huntress showed up at Tamblyn’s Dance Club—walking through the vampires who had been laughing, conversing, drinking and dancing prior to that. A hush fell over the whole crowd. Even the band stopped playing, everyone looking to Atreides to deal with the huntress.

  No hunter entered a vampire club ever. Just like no vampire in his right mind would enter a hunter club. Most hunters and vampires stayed clear of human clubs too.

  Was the huntress crazy? A rogue? She wasn't armed at least, which was good, or he would believe she was here to terminate a rogue vampire who might be on her terminal list. Atreides would not harbor a rogue vampire, but there was no way a hunter was coming into their club to kill one either.

  He watched as she continued on her way to the bar, her chin held high, her gaze taking in a few of the vampires and blood bonds filling the place. He sat on his chair at a table where he waited for Iconia, his girlfriend, to show up, who was late, as usual. He waited to see what the huntress was up to, but if he had to remove her bodily from the club, he had no qualms about it.

  As soon as Selena Towson entered the Portland, Oregon dance club, disco lights flashing over the dark room making everyone look surreal, she knew it was a mistake. Then again, if she knew how to do anything extraordinarily well of late it was making mistakes. Not that killing the hunter was a mistake, but it sure had cost her when it came to having any friends now within the hunter community.

  Clueing her in right away that coming here was the wrong thing to do, she saw that everyone visible to her in the packed place turned to stare at her. As loud as the thunderous beat of the New Age music was, no one would have noticed her, unless they were vampires or hunters. But this wasn’t a hunter club.

  Fans circulated the air through the high-ceiling building and the scent of bloody cocktails drifted overhead. If that wasn’t enough to convince her where she’d ended up, two of the women standing nearby bared their extended canines at her in a sinister taunt.

  Selena’s skin prickled as if thousands of stinging nettles had suddenly punctured it. Straightening her shoulders, she wouldn’t give up now. Had she known the woman called Twilight meant to meet her at a vampire hangout, Selena would have insisted on going to another place. Hunters did not enter vampire establishments, nor did vampires violate hunters’ space, not unless either intended violence. Just the hostile look from the vampiresses in the group was enough to prove at least one side was itching for battle.

  Everyone wore black—satin, silks, taffetas, leather, the most dressed down—denim. Selena’s silky creation stood out like a red rose among a bed of black roses full of thorns. She had dressed appropriately for a human’s club!

  Quashing the irritation that spiraled in her blood that she hadn’t had enough foresight to ask her friend more about this meeting place earlier, Selena proceeded to the bar. She had assumed Twilight was a human—unless she was a blood bond who offered sustenance to vampires for the sexual intrigue. The woman ought to have known a hunter would never enter a vampires’ lair unless he or she had no other choice. Well, Selena supposed she had no choice if she was to find her sister. This was the first lead she’d had.

  Making her way through the crowd of men and women observing the dance floor, Selena felt every eye on her now. Faint unease skittered along her nerves—a necessary evil or she would be just as cold and heartless as a rogue vampire, who had long ago dispensed with any emotions. But she would not show how she felt in front of a bunch of vampires and their blood bonds. As much as she could fight it. She didn’t have any control over her heart rate, or the tiny smattering of chill bumps that erupted on her skin.

  Wishing she could read their telepathic communication, she guessed at what most of them were thinking. What was a huntress, who was trained to take down rogue vampires, doing in one of their clubs?

  The thing of it was she wasn’t like other hunters. Trained, yes. Always ready to take down a bloodsucker who was bad news—yes. But she wouldn’t always play by the League of Hunters’ rules. Too much corruption and politics for her. She did it her way—and had been ex-communicated for the latest infraction again—after killing a hunter in self-defense and protecting a vampiress this time. The punishment meant that she couldn’t legally carry a hunter’s weapon or have a list of vampire rogues to take down.

  She ignored that rule too. Not that she was armed at the moment. Her weapons were waiting for her back in the car because no club allowed weapons inside. But being a hunter without her sword was like being a surgeon without a scalpel. They were just tools of the trade. And if a rogue vampire tried to kill her, she wasn’t going to let him just because she didn’t have a list of rogues she was allowed to eliminate!

  She was halfway surprised a bouncer in the club hadn’t tossed her out on her ear already. But she suspected they were dying to know why she was here. Like…to take down one of them? That would be suicide.

  “Huntress,” a vampiress hissed at her through clenched teeth, her vampire canines fully extended.

  Selena pitched a perfectly fake smile at the woman whose red curls were stacked high on her head,
her green eyes crystalline daggers. Selena brushed past the vamp, bumping her aside, which prompted another hiss. Selena wasn’t going to be intimidated.

  Selena continued walking toward the bar with purpose and an air of ease, even though deep inside, her heart beat way too fast, while she continued to look for any sign that one of the blood bonds watching her might be Twilight.

  If Selena located her sister, Rosa—who could do no wrong when it came to hunting renegade vampires—maybe, Selena wouldn’t be so ostracized by her family. But Selena wasn’t certain whether Rosa was in harm’s way or if she was just being her usual inconsiderate self, letting everyone think she’d disappeared without a trace, not of her own free will. Since her sister had vanished three times in the past two months, then sheepishly returned home after a hunter tryst didn’t work out, Selena shouldn’t have been worried this time either.

  But she was. The fact that Twilight, whoever or whatever she was, had passed on the note to Selena’s friend that she knew something about Rosa’s disappearance set Selena’s nerves on edge. No one else bothered to look for her sister this time. Not her friends, family, associates, no one, because they all assumed Rosa was missing on purpose once again. Don’t cry wolf came to mind.

  “Huntress,” another vampiress hissed, stepping in front of her, blocking her path. This one’s hair was black as a darkened well, and her ebony eyes flickered with flame.