Morgan raised her hand to the side of her face, shock, dismay, disbelief warring in her eyes. “What about Candy then?”
“Candy has been marked as a Huntress, but not as Lazarus’s bride. She will not have the power to kill him, only the beasts from his pack. He is the strongest of his kind, cunning and dangerous, almost impossible to kill, mainly because a normal Huntress would never get close enough to him to try. His Huntress though, his bride…she could get into his arms, close enough to mate with him means close enough to kill him as well. It’s tricky though; essentially you’d be killing your destined mate.” Cal sighed. “We believe that a child born of him would be all-powerful and an unstoppable monster. If it’s true, that you’re his bride, you’re the only one capable of killing him. Your connection to him opens his heart, gives him a weakness for you, making him vulnerable to attack. We believe it’s the reason why he didn’t kill you on the spot when he found you the other night.”
“But you don’t know for sure if I am?” She lowered her hand to her lap. “How do you know for sure that Candy isn’t his bride?”
“They’ve had an…encounter, Lazarus tried to kill her. He wouldn’t have done that if she were his bride.” Cal shook his head when she opened her mouth to speak. “We have no way of knowing absolutely until the night of the lunar eclipse. But I believe that Lazarus wouldn’t have reacted the way he did when he found you if you weren’t his bride. He got to you first. If you weren’t meant to be his, he would have killed you.”
“So I have to start training.”
He nodded, his heart clinging to the tiniest hope that she might have begun to understand the need to complete the bond with him. “You must train, yes. You must learn not only how to defeat him, but what dangers he possesses.”
“Oh, you mean like the whole wolf on two legs with long, dripping fangs and huge gnarled claws?” She barked a humorless laugh and shook her head. “What more do I need to know? He’s an effing werewolf for Christ’s sake.”
He reached out and snagged her hand from her lap, catching her off guard and not giving her time to pull it away. “There are far more dangerous things about him than fangs and claws.” He traced his thumb along her palm. “There are werewolves in existence whose beastly form is similar to a wolf’s—beautiful creatures, really—who are young and ignorant. They cycle through their change from man to wolf by the course of the sun and moon with little control and typically little danger to humanity. Lazarus is so old, so powerful that he no longer changes from man to beast unless he chooses to. He has transformed himself into a monster and has spread his knowledge to his pack, making them more powerful and deadly. But on the night that he is most vulnerable, the night of the lunar eclipse, he is forced back into his human form. His mind, however, is still that of a cunning wolf and dangerous predator. He will use his human form as a weapon—use his seduction to try to lure you into his control.”
A snicker died on Morgan’s lips when Cal frowned and shook his head.
“It’s not a joke, Morgan. He possesses a power of seduction that will have you thinking you’d rather kill your closest friend than to do without him. He is so seductive, so bewitching that if you are not properly trained, properly prepared, he will get what he wants. He will get his heir.” Cal sighed. “It was Alkaia’s undoing in the end. Lazarus, kept alive by the goddess as another punishment to Alkaia, grew into a powerful beast. But it was in his human form that he succeeded in ripping his mother’s throat out and feeding on her heart. So you see, even with proper training, he could still succeed in seducing you, overpowering your will.”
“So what happens then? I mean, you said he’s at his most vulnerable, but what if I fail to kill him? Can you kill him?” Her body trembled. She was finally scared. It was a good start.
He reached up to stroke Morgan’s cheek. “No, I can’t, not a full werewolf anyway. Those who have been bitten, who’ve not yet to complete the full transformation, will fall under my sword. But only the Huntress can kill the beast, whether it’s Lazarus himself she faces, or one of his minions. The Hunter is only there to protect and support the Huntress. I can wound him, but I can’t kill him. That burden falls on you.” He lowered his hand to her collarbone, resting it there, flat against her flesh.
“But what happens if I can’t?”
Cal’s gaze strayed from her eyes to her lips, and he inched closer. She snaked her tongue out and dabbed her bottom lip, a gesture that had his body pulling taut with desire. Such a small action—that pink, little tongue darting out. So benign under normal circumstances and yet his body responded as if it was his cock that her tongue had touched. He shifted his eyes to meet hers, so consumed with wanting that he almost forgot to answer her.