Sanction (Heart Hunter Series Book 2) - Free To Read

Sunrise

The strength of his grip increased. Each gasping breath could very well be her last. Stars danced around the edges of her vision. Very soon her world would fade into the depths of the very same darkness that had consumed the hollow hell of the dimension she had collapsed alongside Megan only a couple days before.

She lost her only brother there. She would lose herself here - in a fold of time where no one cared about her. Where no one would care to look for her missing self because to no one was she missing in the first place.

Tom won. He had what he wanted. He got what she had promised him.

Kara was his.

Her shoulder hit the cold steel of the back wall of an uncarpeted van. Panic filled her lungs before the air could.

No way out. No way out. No way out.

“Be a good girl now, Kara.” His bright grinning face slipped out of view with the slam and grind of a sliding metal door.

Darkness swirled around her. A faint halo came from above her where a window had been painted over badly.

She screamed out—towards the window—towards any possibility that some stranger could hear her—but her body produced no sound.

She didn’t remember. Nothing made sense, nothing was clear except for the terror causing her teeth to chatter, and her fingers to grapple and slide across the sharp unfinished metal lining of the door.

The van lurched forward, tossing her to the end of the long dark space and bouncing her against the cold floor. She crawled back up the van. Her only chance was the door.

Her hands weaved the uneven steel and found the handle. She heaved herself against it’s lock.

It was her only chance at escape. With all the strength in her superhuman body, she tore at it but it barely creaked.

She collapsed to the cold floor with a sob; accepting her fate, knowing she deserved it.

“Kara…”

The van hit a large pothole and it rattled her bones.

“Kara.”

She knew the voice but he was dead. Her soul broke from the sound of him. “Josh!”

“Kara!”

Her eyes shot open to the dimmed light of an overhead reading light in a first class cabin. She had tangled her limbs around a plush blanket during the nightmare.

A slow shaky breath found its way out of her lungs.

The plane continued to shudder from turbulence. The dream made sense. It’s dark conclusion still had her heart running. She would never escape the nightmares. First it was being buried alive in a casket, this time it was a moving van with Tom taking her away forever, and next time…

She shut her eyes with the slithering creep along her spine.

A light brush of a finger trailed its way from her neck to just under her chin. She opened her eyes to James leaning over the pristine leather arm rest between them—his hand coaxing her head to fully face him.

“You’re alright, love, just turbulence.”

His concerned dark eyes soothed her a bit, but the wish that turbulence was the only issue and not the fear of her obsessed shifter ex-boyfriend Tom causing her lifelike nightmares was still only that: a wish.

She rubbed her cheek against the soft pillow that had been given to her by the flight attendant earlier on. Nothing about the comfort around her seemed normal. She’d felt the out of place jitters as soon as she stepped foot into the first class lounge in the airport and waited beside James as he drank from a brand name bottled water a concierge had provided once they’d arrived.

“Are you warm enough?”

The air in the plane cabin was cool and her body hadn’t been warm since they took off five hours ago. Two hours in she’d reclined her seat and snuggled into a blanket to try to sleep, while James seemed to already be getting some rest. The sleep had been hard to find amongst the unfamiliar shaking of the plane and once she’d found it, not restful in the slightest.

“I’m a bit cold.”

“These seats have a lot of room. Come here.”

She sat up slowly, untangling her limbs from the blanket and unbuckling her seatbelt. She stood up, blanket draped across her arm as she tried not to trip moving to James’s seat to sit with him.

He watched her from where she struggled and smiled at her. “Doing alright?”

“I’m so tired,” she mumbled, deciding where to crawl onto the reclined seat with him already in it. He guided her into his chest and helped make it less of a choice for her.

His hands settled the blanket around her shoulders and then his arms moved underneath them to hold her close. “Try to sleep, it’s another two hours.”

Her limbs tangled around him instead of the blanket and she shut her eyes as she listened to his heartbeat. Her whole body relaxed from lying in his arms, and she fell asleep.

This time the dreams were different—they put her back in the privacy of the hotel in Virginia. She’d wanted a second time with him, but she’d never gotten the courage to ask. There hadn’t been much time anyway, especially since James spent quite a bit of time in the hallway on the phone and they had a flight to catch.

His mouth brushed her forehead. “Kara…”

She moaned against his chest and his arms tightened along her waist.

“We’re landing soon.”

She opened her eyes and didn’t move, finally warm and not wanting to ruin it.

“Did you sleep better?”

“So much better,” she mumbled into his cotton shirt. “I wish the flight was longer so I didn’t have to move.”

He took her cheek in the palm of his hand and made her look at him. “When we get to the flat, you can sleep on me all you like.”

“Okay…” She blushed, liking the idea maybe a bit too much.

He inched to sit properly in his seat, and she moved with him as the landing announcement came over the speaker system. Their arrival into Heathrow Airport made her stomach tighten with anticipation. She’d never been anywhere aside from the east coast of North America, mostly staying close to her home in Virginia Beach. Something about going across an entire ocean to land in London seemed like a fantastical dream.

She eased herself out of James’ lap and looked to him once she stood. His eyes were still on her and it made her smile as she sunk into her seat next to him. Her hearing muted as the plane descended the sky and she decided to get ahead of the flight requirement and just do up her seat belt. The plane rattled and she tried to ignore the anxiety that went along with the thought of her suspended in a fast moving aircraft thirty thousand feet in the air. Technically this had been her first time on a plane and she wasn’t sure, after all the nightmares and turbulence, if she liked them or not.

It wasn’t until she was standing next to James in the lineup for the border clearance, his fingers entwined around hers, did it hit her—she had actually gotten away from Tom. The busy sea of humans around her reconfirmed she’d escaped. An entire ocean stood between her and Tom.

Every step forward they took in that lineup got her closer and closer to a feeling of freedom that she still wasn’t sure she deserved and it came at her in one tall wave as James helped her into the taxi. He’d been there for her the entire trip, making her feel less alone, less afraid of the unknown of where she’d soon call home with him by her side.

A painter’s mixture of twilight and rain blurred the cityscape into headlights and shadows. The taxi turned into oncoming traffic, and she grabbed the door to brace before remembering that it was actually the correct lane there. Her eyes went to James to make sure he hadn’t noticed her jumpiness.

He flipped his phone off at the same moment, which had been glowing with non-stop notifications since they’d landed in the heart of raincloud-laden London with its old buildings and even older history. The root of all the Hunter bloodlines ever created had started here, where now the humans vastly outnumbered the demons. No city had ever screamed free like London did to her right then.

“Almost there.”

She tapped her foot impatiently and he reached out to take her hand, which jittered on her lap.

“Alright, love?”

She took a breath. “I’m kinda nervous.”

“To get to the flat? Don’t be, it’s not too special. Just a let.” He grunted about the sentence to assure it wouldn’t be too special, but she knew better. It would be because she’d be living with him there.

Kara tried to give him a smile but she was sure it looked more like a mangled clown face. Including streaked mascara as the rain had not been kind to her when she’d moved from the airport into the safety of the taxi.

“What do you think of London?”

“You mean the rain?”

He chuckled. “Yes, fair point. It’s October, so unfortunately a bit depressing as far as the weather is concerned.”

She looked back out the window as the car stopped.

“This is home right now.” Grabbing the door, he got out, walking around to her side to open the door for her.

She jumped out into the weather, pulling the hood up of James’ sweatshirt she’d had on since customs in Virginia. The airport had been chilly, not as chilly as the border guards though. They’d given her a bit of a hassle but not once James had handed over his passport and said a few words.

“I’ll get my bag. Can you pay him?” He put his wallet into her hands. “Here, and a tip.”

Hesitating only a second, she walked to the driver and bent to the window. “Umm, how much?”

The driver smiled at her beneath his heavy greying moustache. “Just under a ton there, darling.’”

Kara stared at him. “A what?”

He creased his brow. “Ninety three pounds.”

Huh? Kara opened the wallet, trying to figure out what he’d said. “I didn’t catch that.”

“Ninety three pounds!” he repeated louder and with a thicker English accent than before.

She bit her lip, fumbling with the bills in James’ wallet. She couldn’t tell which ones were how much.

“Kara?” James called, waiting for her.

She looked up. “Uh, yeah, one second.”

He walked over. “Something the matter?”

“He said a ton or something.” She rambled, “I-I don’t know what that means.”

Taking his wallet back, he handed the cab driver some money. “Thank you.”

The man nodded and drove off in a hurry, not even bothering to roll up his window first.

“That’s a hundred dollars, love, where you come from.” With her elbow in his grip, he led her over toward a nearby brick building.

“Sorry, I could hardly understand him.”

He adjusted his duffle bag over his shoulder. “This way, then.” He walked her up to a door and reached into his pants pocket to pull out a set of keys. Holding the door for her, he waited for her to step inside the narrow hall that led up a steep stairwell. Loud music filled their ears and James looked up to the main landing.

“What’s going on?” She asked.

He slammed the door shut. “Sounds like a party,” he grumbled, walking ahead of her.

Following him up the dimly lit corridor of brick walls and old wooden steps, its old-world appeal fascinated her. The ornate intricacies of the smallest things cemented in her thoughts that this really was a new life.

Once they reached the only top floor, he pushed open an unlocked apartment door. The music hit them along with a flurried accompaniment of shouting voices.

“I’m sorry!” he yelled to her as he stepped inside the apartment.

She slowed behind him, dodging tripping on the piles of littered shoes in the entryway.

A few guys leaned against a nearby wall to make room for them.

“Hey, Jim!” one of them greeted.

“Greg.”

“Happy birthday!” He smiled.

“Oh, is that what this is?”

“A Carter special,” the other boy added, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “Just for you!”

“Right.” James walked to the left where the narrow hall opened up into a bigger but still cramped kitchen area, and there was a loud shout as everyone in the house yelled.

“Surprise!”

The sound of horns and streamers flying filled the apartment. A girl dropped a dark red sash over his neck and another snapped a birthday cone under his chin. He looked so much more unimpressed than Kara had seen before, but somehow he still put up with it. Kara suspected it was because the two girls were scantily dressed—both donned booty shorts and overly big soccer jerseys leaving nothing to the imagination.

Holy… She pressed her back to the wall and watched what could only be described as a show unfold in front of her.

James turned, giving her a glance as the girls swooned, their hands on his chest, and he brought his attention back to them, stepping back slightly from their touchy fingers. “Where’s Carter?”

A boy of medium stature and not much height exited a bedroom across from the kitchen James had originally been leading Kara towards. He tossed his shaggy blonde hair from his eyes and with a birthday cake complete with one burning green candle in his hands, he started to sing Happy Birthday with boisterous enthusiasm. The rest of the crowd were quick to join in just as enthusiastically.

James started to shake his head. “You’re a bloody idiot.” One of his friends hauled him away from Kara and took him into the middle of the kitchen to be put on display.

Carter brought the cake up to him and held it in front of his friend. “Happy Birthday, Jimmy! Twenty-three. You’re old as all fuck now!”

James’ eyebrow perked. “Thank you…”

“Blow em’ out!” Carter instructed.

Running their hands down his shoulders, the girls settled on either side of James and blocked Kara’s view. She tried to duck around to see the spectacle that would be James blowing out a birthday candle, but gave up. Ugh.

“Cake, James!” The girls giggled.

Kara sunk back. He’s so insanely popular, it’s not even funny.

The thought brought her to her next dilemma. She wasn’t in his league. She was far from physically perfect, like the girls in front of him. They were beautiful and she was a pudgy-nose, pale-skinned Demon Hunter with wirey biceps and a bruised body. Fiddling with the one shopping bag between her shaking fingers, she swallowed. What the fuck am I doing here? This isn’t my life.

She heard the cheer of the crowd in the kitchen as James blew out the candle on the cake. The girls moved along with the cake into the depths of the body-packed kitchen and one of the guys who they’d slipped past when they entered the apartment, brought him a beer. James paused before accepting the open brown bottle. “Few minutes, Greg, thanks.” He grabbed his duffel from the floor and walked back to Kara. “Come with me.”

Kara’s eyes snapped to him. She hadn’t realized he had made his way back to her.

“Uh, private party, little lady!” James’ blonde roommate popped up from behind them, looking her over. “Unless, you don’t have a boyfriend.” He chuckled, looking her over a bit too closely. Kara instinctively guided her hands to the hem of her dress, ensuring it remained firmly in place under his gaze.

“Umm…” She looked at James, not sure what to say.

“This is Kara,” James said to him in a low voice.

Carter made a face. “Who?”

“Go drink,” James instructed.

Carter paused. “Lila is coming, did you two break up?”

“You have to be going out, to break up,” James snapped.

Kara stiffened at the mention of another girl’s name.

“Carter Green.” He held out his hand to Kara. She slowly offered her hand in response and awkwardly shook it.

“Kara Heart”

“Are you American?” he blurted out, still holding her hand firm.

Kara nodded. “Y-yeah.”

“Oh, some birthday fun.” Carter grinned at James, letting the handshake finally drop.

“Ignore him.” James shouldered past Carter to grab her elbow. “Come with me.”

Kara blushed as James pulled her away from his roommate, stumbling beside him as he stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall. “James…”

He pulled out his keys again and unlocked the bedroom door. “They think this is amusing. They know I hate birthday parties. Well, I hate parties in general but most of all birthday parties.”

“I’m sorry.” Kara breathed as he popped the bedroom door open and walked ahead of her. As soon as she stepped inside, the faint smell of him mixed with fresh laundry calmed her nerves. It drew her forward, each step easier than the last until she stood beside a bed much larger than her own back home.

“For?” he asked her.

James Dray’s bedroom. It still seemed like a novelty to her.

He flipped a switch and the two lamps on nightstands lit up. The room was a bit dim; it had only two narrow windows on each wall. The light of the room was sufficient enough but not the best.

“I forgot it was your birthday.”

He swung his bag from his shoulder onto the bed across from her.

“My birthday is not nearly as imperative as everything you’ve just gone through. If you’re tired, you can stay here. No one will come in.” Ripping off the birthday cone from his head, he crushed it and threw it into a small trash bin beside the bed. It was quickly joined in its new home with the birthday sash. “It also locks so, feel free to do that.”

Kara wasn’t sure what she wanted to do.

James stepped up to her. “Are you feeling overwhelmed?”

“No,” she lied, looking over to the bed. It was covered in deep maroon sheets and neatly made. Small wrinkles had formed from James dropping his bag on its surface. The swirls reminded Kara of roses and vines.

It was the best smelling room she’d ever been in. She breathed deeply. A clean yet deep undertone of warmth filled her nose. Smooth and almost dark. James Dray to a tee.

“I’ll show you where you can put your things.”

James walked across the room to the closet and opened it. “Here.”

Kara joined him, still taking in the magnitude of what she was entering. It was almost a life, a real existence. Something she couldn’t quite imagine but he lived with an ease that she envied.

She stepped into a roomy walk-in closet with him. “This is huge.”

“I can move my jackets,” James told her as he shoved the few hanging articles to one side of the closet.

Kara smiled away her nervous laugh. “I have nothing to put in here.”

“I’ve never lived with a woman, other than family, but I’m sure you will accumulate much too many clothes to count.”

Kara bit her lip. Is he for real?

James watched her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said quickly and walked out of the closet.

He followed and sat down on the bed, removing his watch from his wrist.

“Which side do I get?” she asked with a slowness.

James looked up to her with a peaceful look on his face. He was happy to be home and she could see it.

“Whatever side you like, love. Though I tend to sleep on this side the most.”

Her thoughts on it didn’t hesitate at all. “So, I get the left.”

He kept his half smile. “I suppose.”

She walked over and sat on the opposite side to him. Putting her hands to the sheets, her blood sped. She would sleep next to him every night. It made her wonder if it would ever feel real.

James lay down, yawning. “I’m bloody tired.”

“You have a birthday party to attend.”

“I’ll avoid that as long as possible.” He groaned, rubbing his face.

Kicking off her heeled shoes, she allowed her body to fall into the comfy bed next to him. She shut her eyes for a second, and almost believed she was back in her room, in Virginia, in her daybed. She shuddered at the thought.

“You hate it, don’t you?”

Kara’s eyes opened and she was relieved to see him in front of her still. She far from hated the situation. “No. I like it.”

He smiled. “You don’t have to be nice. I bring you to your new home, which is pouring with rain and then to a stuffy apartment full of strangers throwing me a bloody birthday party of all things.”

“It’s a nice apartment,” Kara said softly. “I like it.”

James turned on his side towards her. “You like it?”

Kara smiled. “I do.”

He leaned over her. “I’ve never had a girl who sleeps next to me every night. Do you have any suggestions on how I can make it a fulfilling experience?”

She flushed. “No.”

“Nothing?” He dropped his mouth and kissed her neck.

Kara swallowed. “I’m a noob.”

He lifted his face, chuckling. “A what?”

“A noob,” she repeated.

“I don’t know what that means.”

She brought her hands to his arms, her stomach clenching. “It means you’re new… at something.”

“Oh.” He paused, dropping his mouth closer to hers. “I guess we’ll be noobs together.”

She giggled. “You shouldn’t ever say that word again.”

“Well, now I think I like it.” He smiled. “Noob.”

Shaking her head, she bit her lip.

He kissed her. “Mm, fine, it’s a bit American.”

She giggled and it made him pause.

“I want to make you happy,” he said. “What makes you the happiest?”

She kept her smile. “I-I don’t have very high standards when it comes to that. Anything will do, really.”

“No,” he said, “that won’t do.” His mouth caught hers quickly and she finished the motion by taking his neck and bringing him closer. Her nails lightly dragged against the soft skin of his neck.

Clutching the bed around them, his mouth deepened against her.

A small moan escaped her, his hips pushing into her, making her stomach tighten.

He lifted his lips off her with a teasing slowness and she panted as he watched her.

“So, what makes you happy?” he asked.

She felt the heat in her cheeks rise. “You do.”

“Just me?”

“Just you.” She nodded, exhaling a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

His smile grew and softly morphed into a return to kissing her when the bedroom door was met by the fists of his friends.

“James!”

Her stomach tightened, knowing their alone time was so very over.

“Go away!” James shouted back.

“Jimmy!” they persisted. “Come on! Beer with your name on it!”

James made a low growl in his throat.

Kara smiled. “You should go out there. They did throw the party for you.”

He pulled away from her, much to his visible dismay.

“This is why I hate unannounced plans.” He got off the bed and she sat up, watching him, already missing his warmth. James pulled the door open and Carter, all swirling arms and toppling body, tripped in towards them just catching himself on the door frame before he smashed into James.

“Come on, mate. I didn’t do all this so you could shag the whole night away.”

Kara’s cheeks burned. She was pretty sure what that meant and it was anything but appropriate. It took all of her energy to not look away and bury herself into the comforter.

“You’re drunk, you need to go easy on the booze,” James shot.

“Awe, come on, James!” Carter wrinkled his nose. “Don’t be such a nancy. Come on!” He took off in the direction of the kitchen. His giggles trickled down the hall.

Kara got up, stopping just behind him. “Better go,” she breathed.

“Right,” he said, leading their way to the kitchen. Kara followed cautiously. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go but she was both fascinated and intimidated by the normality of James’ life, and in the end her curiosity had gotten the better of the two emotions.

“James wants beer!” Carter shouted as Kara stepped across the threshold.

“James!” A tall, lean brunette bounced up and into his arms. He steadied her with his non-beer holding arm as she wrapped her two slender arms around his neck in a hug. She kissed his cheek and leaned in to whisper something in his ear.

Kara held her place a few feet back and watched the leggy brunette all over him. The way she slid against him, smiled up at him. She looked at James like he was hers.

“Sorry I’m late,” the girl purred.

“Lila.” He acknowledged her stiffly, loosening her from his neck like he had the girls before.

Kara shifted uncomfortably, not sure who this girl was but she seemed to have his attention much more than the others had before.

She got the message that he didn’t want to be too close to her, and moved away on her own. “I tried to ring you. Where have you been?”

Carter jumped up to them before he could reply. “Present! Present for the birthday boy!” He shouted, waving a narrow box in James’ face.

“Carter, not now.”

The music cut, its presence leaving a hanging emptiness Kara found relieving.

Carter grabbed a kitchen chair, standing on it, ignoring James’ protests. “Alright!” Everyone’s attention snapped to him. “I think we should now bring up the real reason for this awesome party—and not just the fact that everyone here wants to get laid,” Everyone laughed. Carter turned to James. “No one cares about your birthday, Jim, at least, not like they care about this. Open it!” He threw James the box he’d been holding.

James caught the slender undecorated box. He analyzed it, his brow furrowing. There was badly organized tape keeping something from popping the slightly bulging latch open.

“Open the fucking thing!” someone called.

He juggled his drink and ripped the tape away and the box sprung open. He pulled out a blue and white fabric.

James dropped the box to the ground and grabbed a section—revealing the fabric’s nature as a shirt but no, Kara realized, it wasn’t just any shirt, it was a jersey. She could tell by its stripped decor and the inked in patch where a breast pocket would have been.

Carter jumped to James’ shoulders and wrung his hands around his neck in an unsupported piggyback ride.

“James Dray made Elite bloody football!” Screaming like a crazy fan, Carter encouraged everyone else to follow in his elaborate cheering.

“Get off me!” James tried to free himself from his roommate, holding his jersey now second fiddle to ridding himself of the smaller man.

Kara could only stare at him as every appendage went numb from shock.