Read Online A Hunter's Passion by Gwen Knight - Free Book Online Page A

on was family. How right she’d been.
    Ryker’s brothers alone were terrifying enough. As a whole, they were the five most ferocious men she’d ever met. Their prey wasn’t something as common as wildlife. What they hunted, hunted them back. Creatures far more vicious than anything Jenna could conjure. Vampires, demons, werewolves, shape-shifters...she’d heard all the stories.
    The Salem witch trials had opened the Church’s eyes to all the evil within the world. And since then, the Bennett lineage had done all they could to eradicate it. Jenna knew their history nearly as well as they did, as fascinated by them as she’d been. She knew exactly how screwed she was.
    If the Bennetts alone weren’t enough to contend with, now there was this new hunter. Had she not been so concerned with his brothers, she might have wondered how many more were out there.
    The fool she’d been, to think someone like her could amount to anything, could find even a shred of happiness.
    “Don’t.” His gruff voice came from the window.
    Slowly, Jenna lifted her head, her face slack as she met his stare. “Don’t what?”
    Ryker crossed the distance between them and swept her into his arms, his fingers sliding through her hair. His touch was so gentle and his palms warm against her cheeks. Tears sprung forth, her lower lip trembling as the two gazed into one another’s eyes.
    “Don’t give up,” he whispered. “We can’t run, but there’s something we can do.”
    Her brow dropped, eyes narrowing. “What?”
    “Fight,” he declared.
    His fingers grew rigid against her face, his jaw setting. Inch by inch, the warrior he was returned to him, from the hard set of his eyes, to the determination burning within. Jenna should have expected such a response. It was who he was.
    “Fight,” she repeated, her head shaking as she studied him. “Fight what? Your brothers? ”
    A grimace twisted his lips. “If I must.”
    “Ryker, no ,” she groaned. “I know what they mean to you. What family means to you. I won’t let you do this.”
    All emotion slipped from his face, the hard mask he wore when hunting sliding into place. “This isn’t your choice, sweetheart.”
    A flurry of panic whipped through her, tightening her stomach when he pulled away from her and reached for his weapons. The soft click of them being sheathed was the only sound in her house, apart from her hurried breath. She couldn’t let him do this, couldn’t let him come against his brothers. It would destroy something in him if they were harmed.
    “Ryker, no.” She tried once more, her steps light against the floor as she came up behind him. “Please, promise me you won’t do this.”
    “What?” he demanded, shouldering out of her grasp. “Should I just let them kill you?”
    Part of her wanted to say yes. If that would put an end to all this...but her desire to live was now greater than ever. Her heart beat with purpose once again; she’d long forgotten how that could feel.
    “No. I’ll leave.”
    Ryker froze, his fingers resting on the pommel of his dagger. An unnatural silence came between them, the very air chilling. He turned, his muscles tense as though he expected her to run that very moment.
    “No.”
    “Ryker—”
    “No!” he shouted, slamming his dagger into the sheath. “Jenna, I just got you back. I won’t lose you again.”
    “This isn’t your choice, sweetheart,” she ground out, mimicking his phrase.
    “You damn well better believe it is.”
    Jenna exhaled, pinching the space between her brows as she struggled to make him understand. “Ryker—”
    Before she could say anything more, firm arms wound around her waist and a searing mouth captured hers, silencing her argument. She melted into the kiss, her knees trembling when his tongue swept through her mouth, quick with fervent passion, as though this was the only way to make her see reason.
    Only when a small moan crawled from her throat did he slow the kiss to a tender