Free Darkness Hunts (DA 4) by Keri Arthur Page A

sure—my father, the two of them, or myself for not being strong enough to tell Lucian to fuck off and leave me alone.
    In fact, right now, I wished both of them—and the rest of the damn circus that had entered my life around the same time—would just go away and leave me in peace.
    “Your father?” Surprise edged his tone. “Violence might be one of his mainstays, but it’s rarely unleashed when he still requires that person’s assistance.”
    I gave him a long look. “And just how do you know that about my father?”
    He snorted. “He’s a Raziq, is he not? They are rebels and outcasts for the precise reason that they do not conform to Aedh standards—not only in ideology, but in their very natures.”
    He lies, Azriel said. There is more to his knowledge than what he claims .
    Just as there’s more to your dislike than what you claim? I grouched back.
    And yet I couldn’t dismiss his doubts, simply because I agreed with them.
    “What you said sounded more like firsthand, personal knowledge than like a general statement about the Raziq.”
    “I said I’d ask around about your father, and I have. Aedh numbers may place us on the verge of extinction, but that does not mean there are none in this city. Hieu is old even in Aedh terms, and not unknown.”
    “All that sounds a little too convenient.”
    “Sometimes the truth is .” He caught my hand and pulled me to an abrupt stop. “You know why I’m on this hunt. I want the Raziq.”
    “I know—”
    “No, you don’t,” he interrupted fiercely. “Because I don’t just want them dead. I want them burned from existence. I want them erased from the memory of the earth itself and their names never to be mentioned, even in the darkest whispers in the darkest of places.”
    I stared at him, for the first time seeing the true extent of the anger and darkness in him. And I couldn’t help wondering just what he would do to get that revenge—and what he’d already done.
    More than either of us currently suspects, Azriel commented.
    Suspicion gains us nothing, I replied, despite the fact that my own thoughts were careening along the same line. And just because he wants the Raziq erased doesn’t mean he can’t be trusted. Hell, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind it one little bit if the Raziq no longer existed .
    I returned my gaze to Lucian. “Last time we saw each other, you were intending to hunt down information about the tracker the Raziq placed in me. Is that why you were waiting at our place?”
    The anger in him faded, but didn’t completely disappear. It remained in the edge in his voice, in the fierceness of his gaze.
    It was a fierceness that had me trembling, because it wasn’t entirely anger. Lust burned in the deeper recesses of his eyes, and it was growing stronger by the moment.
    I might be tired, I might have the mother of all headaches developing thanks to Amaya and the events of the day so far, but it seemed even that wasn’t enough to stop the growing hum of desire.
    Although it wasn’t like I had many other options with which to satisfy my needs. With Azriel intent on remaining a monk, my only other possibilities were Jak—the man who not only betrayed the trust I’d placed in him by writing a newspaper article about my mother that basically called her a fraud who lied about her background, but who broke my heart in the process—or I could head down to Franklin’s, a private wolf club where I was a long-term member. And while I did have a regular partner there, his touch had lost some of its appeal since Lucian and Azriel had come into my life.
    A smile teased Lucian’s lips. Despite his claim to the contrary, he was obviously catching at least some of my thoughts. I tugged my hand free from his and strode toward my car.
    He was back beside me in a heartbeat. “In answer to your question, yes, I have been researching ways to mute the tracker, and yes, I was at your home to discuss one possibility.”
    I opened the car door but