Eternal Prey Read online

  ETERNAL

  PREY

  NINA BANGS

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Acknowledgments

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  To my readers,

  This book is for you.

  Thanks for embracing my characters,

  from zany to dark.

  Love ya, guys.

  Utah kissed her.

  Not a gentle first kiss. It was a kiss filled with tangled emotions he thought he’d need a lifetime to unravel—the savagery of his beast, the anger at her rejection of his soul, and the desire to please her.

  His raptor wasn’t good enough for her. But even as he dived into all the sensory pleasure enhanced by his animal nature, he knew it could never be about only one thing with her.

  Tracing her lips with his tongue, he tasted her. As he deepened the kiss, fighting his soul’s demand that he abandon human behavior in favor of ripping her clothes from her luscious body, he felt something waken in her. It stretched, flexed its claws, and looked at him.

  She wrapped her arms around him and met his ferocity with her own. Opening her mouth, she welcomed him in.

  And all the reasons in the world why he shouldn’t be doing this went to hell.

  This was what he wanted, what his beast wanted.

  And neither one would be denied.

  Chapter One

  Trapped. Freaking trapped. In the wrong time, in the wrong place, defending a bunch of dumbass humans. Utah leaned on his horn to signal the crappy driver in front of him that when the light turned green you were supposed to go. Maybe he should free his beast and eat the guy. A protein snack would perk him right up.

  And to think he’d really believed he could fit in here. Out of all the Eleven, he’d been the happiest, ready to put the past behind him and embrace 2012. Then the vampires had killed Rap, and he’d realized this time was no different from the last. It was just a different kind of jungle. Killing was still the only answer.

  So let him kill. He was good at it. But Fin was trying to put him in a box, make him follow his rules. Damn it, Utah was used to leading, to going where he wanted, to slaughtering what he wanted. And what he wanted to slaughter was vampires. To emphasize his independence, he slammed shut the door in his mind that connected him to Fin. Didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.

  He whipped around the car in front of him. Too slow. After tonight, someone else would control the speed, but for now, he’d tear up the road if he wanted. And he didn’t care if the immortals they were chasing did find him without his human shield. To hell with them.

  Everyone was right. He was a maniac behind the wheel. To prove it, he skidded around a corner, straightened out, and gunned it. Did he care? Not much. This would be his last shot at mindless speed for a while. He’d shackled himself to his brother Rap’s soul and a hired human driver who was trying to catch him right now. Too bad Utah had pulled out of the condo’s parking garage just as his driver was pulling in. Utah knew his smile was all kinds of evil. He didn’t know who Fin had hired to shuttle him around Portland, but they weren’t starting their job tonight.

  He demonstrated how pissed off he was with the situation by jamming his foot down on the accelerator. Immature, but it felt good. He looked in the mirror. Still there. Okay, so the guy could drive. Utah would have to try harder.

  Good thing it was so late. There wasn’t much traffic, and he hadn’t seen any cops. Utah glanced at a city park. If he took a detour across the grass and around a few trees, would the human stay with him? Might be worth a try.

  While he was busy mulling over ways to escape from the guy riding his back bumper, his cell rang. He punched the button on his steering wheel. “Yeah?”

  “Pull over, you prehistoric jerk. I’ve been trying to catch you since you left Fin’s. Let me guess, you had to dump all the Cracker Jacks from the box to find your driver’s license. No wonder Fin wants me to drive you around. You’re a menace.”

  Shock made him slow down a little. He didn’t know what surprised him more, that his tail was a woman or that she’d had the guts to call him a prehistoric jerk. Men had died for less.

  “Look, lady, I don’t need a babysitter tonight. Go back and tell Fin you lost me.”

  “Not going to happen. And you absolutely need me. A human has to stay close—like inside your car—to keep this Seven guy from tracking you. Just an aside, but I feel stupid calling anyone Seven. Give him a human name like Bill or Tom. Anyway, that’s me, your designated human. Now pull over.”

  “Immortals don’t have names like Bill or Tom.” She intrigued him. She knew more about him than the ordinary humans Fin hired to drive them around. But that didn’t matter. No one, not even a female with a sexy voice and a bossy attitude, would interfere with his last wild ride.

  “Sure, pulling over now.” Utah flipped on his blinker and coasted to the curb. He kept the engine running. Then he waited until she parked her car and climbed out.

  He had a brief glimpse of long jeans-clad legs before he jammed his foot down on the accelerator and took off. Utah laughed as he glanced in the mirror and saw her flinging herself back into her car. Too late.

  Utah was so busy wondering what went with those legs that he almost didn’t see the man standing in the middle of the dark street. Only the lightning-fast reflexes of a born hunter kept him from hitting the guy. The street was too narrow for this kind of crap, and Utah almost plowed into a light pole as he jerked the wheel to the left. The man didn’t even flinch as he came this close to getting his dumb butt flattened.

  Utah slid on the wet street—didn’t it ever stop raining in Oregon?—as he corrected for his sudden turn. Once the car was pointed in the right direction again, Utah paused. What he wanted to do was get out of his car and knock the idiot onto his ass. Jeez, he was still standing in the same spot.

  But Utah had to get back to Fin’s in an hour. The Eleven were meeting to talk strategy. And since Utah had decided to rejoin the team, for now, he wanted to be on time. Reluctantly, he pressed down on the gas . . . and listened as the motor cut off. Wonderful.

  The human mind is slow. His hadn’t even begun to make sense of the situation. Good thing he had a soul with a primitive instinct that simply knew. Danger. Don’t get trapped in the car.

  Utah listened to his instinct. Shoving the door open, he launched himself from the car . . . a second before it burst into flames.

  He automatically scanned the area. No other people on the street, no one sticking his head from a window. There was a car on fire, for God’s sake. Where were the rubberneckers? But everything remained silent except for the crackling of the fire. He backed away from the burning car as he flung his hand in front of his face to block the heat. Then without warning, the fire died, leaving nothing but a blackened frame. What the . . . ?

  Utah shifted his gaze to the man still standing in the street. Night shadows cast darkness across his face. All Utah could see was a tall man dressed in black. Except for his hair. Even without light, Utah could see the dark red sheen of it. Long, the guy’s hair seemed to have the same glitter going as Fin’s hair. His imagination? Could be. Utah narrowed his eyes in an attempt to see the man’s face. He had a predator’s
vision. Even with no light, he should have no trouble seeing. But he still couldn’t make out the guy’s features.

  Wait, where were the streetlights? And there should’ve been lights coming from some of the buildings on either side of the street. There weren’t. Shit.

  It didn’t take many brain cells to put things together. Utah didn’t have a human with him, so Seven could track him. Seven and Team Evil had all kinds of crazy power. Was this Seven?

  Thought became action in his mind. He crouched, ready to spring. But in the second before his beast would have exploded from its cave buried deep in his soul, he staggered and almost fell.

  It felt as though someone had put hands of steel on both sides of his head and squeezed. Utah swore he could feel his brain turning to mush. He expected it to shoot out of his ears at any minute. Then there was the voice in his head.

  “You’ll be so easy to kill, Utah. The fire didn’t get you, but all I’d have to do is to keep squeezing that hard head of yours until your brain really did squirt out your ears. Love the mental picture. Should’ve listened to Fin and hung around a few humans.”

  Utah froze, unable to move forward no matter how hard he tried. He fought to fling the intruder from his mind.

  “Now, now. Trying to kick your guest out so soon? And I have so much to say to you.” His mental laughter echoed eerily. “Hate to tell you, but if I want to stay, I’ll stay. Right now, I’m trying to decide the most entertaining way to kill you.”

  Utah gave up on the mental eviction attempt, and focused on releasing his animal. But his beast, always eager to taste freedom, crept further back into its cave. No. This couldn’t be happening. Utah concentrated harder.

  “Your predator is sleeping in tonight. Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry. “Fin isn’t the only one who can control your beast. Let’s see now, will it be spontaneous combustion or an exploding head? Both are lots of fun to watch. Oh, and if you want to give Fin a mental shout-out, feel free. I’ll even get out of your mind so it won’t be too crowded in there. After all, it doesn’t seem fair for you to die when Fin was the one who brought you here.”

  This was about Fin then. If Utah called for help, Fin would come. Utah wasn’t going to be the bait used to draw his leader into an ambush. So he kept the link between them closed.

  Utah struggled against the invisible whatever keeping him from the bastard. All his effort got him was a cold sweat and shaky legs.

  The guy had to be Seven. Only Seven would know this much about the Eleven. But if this was Seven, then they were all in lots of trouble. Utah had fought Eight, but Eight’s power hadn’t felt like this—a heavy pulsing in his veins that threatened to burst them, a drumbeat of energy that kept getting stronger and stronger and stronger.

  Utah knew when to retreat. He couldn’t touch whoever or whatever this was, so he needed to escape. Fast. He had to lose himself in the dark, maybe run down one of the side alleys where he might be able to slip away or free his beast. Not that he had much of a chance. If this was Seven, he could follow Utah anywhere. Utah had to try, though. Because once his opponent realized he hadn’t sent Fin a distress signal, he’d have no reason to keep Utah alive.

  But his feet wouldn’t listen to his brain. He was stuck to the street, held there by something that pressed in on him from all directions. This was bad.

  Utah didn’t find out exactly how bad because at that moment a car came roaring around the corner. The driver sped up instead of slowing down and laid on the horn. Then he swerved around Utah and hit the red-haired bastard, bouncing him off the car’s right fender. The man lay there for a moment, and then began to rise.

  Utah felt whatever force had been holding him snap.

  He stayed in human form and ran like hell. His beast might move faster, but it made a larger target. He didn’t sense anyone in his mind, so he opened his connection to Fin. No one else could get in now.

  “You cut me off.” Fin, sounding annoyed. “Now you’re back. Explain.”

  “Missed you.”

  “Smartass.”

  “I have a situation. Talk later.”

  He sprinted toward the car that had finally stopped. The driver switched off the headlights and jumped out. Even in the darkness he recognized those long legs. She’d found him.

  She held a gun and looked as though she expected him to leap into the car so they could escape. A mistake. Even rattled by the impact, Seven or whoever that was could incinerate it before they drove out of sight. And if she managed to shoot the guy, he’d be extra pissed. Because Utah figured it would take more than a few bullets to put him down. They had to hide.

  The street had lots of narrow alleys. He chose one at random and led her into darkness so complete that only his predator’s eyes could see objects. He grabbed her hand and guided her around boxes and trash bins. When they emerged from the other end of that alley, he led her down another and another. Seven couldn’t track him while he was with her, so as long as Utah could keep him from getting a visual, they might have a chance. Finally, he crouched with her in the shadow of a truck and waited. Nothing.

  She’d remained silent the whole time. No screaming, no demanding explanations. Smart lady.

  He answered her unspoken question. “We couldn’t take your car. You saw what he did to mine. He would’ve gotten us before we reached the corner.” Utah stood, looked around, and then leaned against the truck.

  She nodded. “Who was that?” She rose in one lithe motion and moved away from him.

  “Seven, maybe.” Since awakening to this time a few months ago, Utah had fought his share of nonhumans and had loved every minute of every battle. Except for the one where Rap . . . He shoved that thought aside. None of them had felt like this man, though.

  “I can’t take the chance of going back for my car tonight even if he left it in one piece. And by the time I show up for it in the morning, the cops will have had it towed.” She snatched the cap from her head, freeing a riot of short blond curls. She narrowed her eyes and tightened full lips that he decided would never be described as thin no matter how ticked off she was. Her expression said this was all his fault.

  It was, but he damn well wasn’t . . . Wait. Utah did some eye narrowing of his own. Now that he’d gotten a good look at her, he recognized the curls and those blue eyes drilling a hole through his forehead. They’d never met, but he’d seen her twice back in Philly when they’d been hunting Eight. She’d worn the same glare back then. He wondered what would make her smile and then discarded the thought as unimportant. Because no matter how tempting she was, she had one fatal flaw.

  “You’re Lia, Katherine’s daughter.” Katherine, the regional leader of the Northeast vampires—cruel, power-hungry, and thankfully, dead. Lia had taken over that leadership. “Still human, huh?” She wouldn’t stay leader long if she didn’t become vampire soon. Right now her mother’s reputation along with a rigged fight Lia had won over a powerful vampire kept her afloat. She’d sink the first time another vampire challenged her.

  “Still filled with primal rage, huh?” What an understatement. Lia was glad she’d put some space between them.

  His rain-darkened blond hair framed a face that shouted dangerous predator. He was gorgeous, with the kind of savage beauty you would only feel safe admiring from behind the bars of a very strong cage. If she could see his eyes through the dark and rain, she was sure they’d gleam with hate for all things vampire. He pushed away from the truck and walked toward her.

  Utah was over six feet of toned muscle, and he moved with the fluid grace of a hunter. “I lost my brother about a month ago, so yeah, I’m still a little resentful.” He stopped about a foot from her and then leaned in.

  Startled, she lifted her gaze to his eyes. He’d stepped into her personal space. Close enough to see his eyes clearly. Blue. And so cold they made an Arctic ice floe seem cozy.

  “I know vampires murdered your brother. But all of them are gone now. So why the killing frenzy?”

  “I enj
oy it. And how did you know about my ‘killing frenzy’?”

  “News travels.” Her mother would’ve loved this guy, but he gave Lia chills. Lia did what she needed to do, and if killing was involved, so be it. But she never enjoyed it.

  Utah was one with his soul, and his soul was nothing more than a killing machine. No softer human emotions would ever clutter up his psyche. His human form was only a convenient cover for what he really was.

  She didn’t have a clue how to forge a connection with him. Speechless for a moment, she found herself staring at the hard planes of his broad chest clearly delineated by the wet T-shirt clinging to every powerful muscle beneath his open jacket.

  “What’re you doing here, Lia? Portland is a long way from Philly.”

  Lia refused to back up an inch. “I came here to kill you.”

  He tensed and glanced at the gun she still held.

  She’d surprised him. Good. “And I still carry a sword.” She pushed her long coat aside to reveal her weapon. “The gun might not kill you, but it’ll put you down long enough for me to take your head.” Left unsaid was that Superman wasn’t the only one faster than a speeding bullet.

  “An armed and dangerous woman. Always a challenge.” His eyes remained cold and wary, no hint of playfulness in their depths. “You can explain this sudden urge to fly across the country to kill me after I’ve called for a ride back to Fin’s.” He started to reach for his cell phone and then cursed. “Can I borrow your phone? Mine went up with the car.”

  After handing him her phone, Lia left him to it as she tried to organize her thoughts. Things were happening too fast, and Utah was a lot more everything than she’d expected. She’d gotten a glimpse of him twice in Philly, but he’d been in his animal form both times. It looked like she’d have to improvise on the fly, because they’d be spending some quality time together in the next few weeks, or at least until they got rid of Seven.