Betrayal's Gift

Chapter Nine

Angelina paused outside the hotel where Delilah was staying and looked around. Her white ears perked up alertly as she sniffed the air. She lifted her head to face her unexpected company.

A tall blue-eyed man with dark skin stepped out of the shadows in front of her, his gaze intense. He seemed transfixed by her silver eyes, Angelina noted uneasily. Considering she hadn't even sensed him until he stepped forward, he had to be powerful. He had to be yet she had felt no power flow at all.

He looked out of place in this neighborhood. His black silk shirt was clearly tailor made and shouted of classic elegance coupled with raw power. His eyes focused and noticed that she was watching him warily. Amusement flashed through his eyes and he knelt beside her wolf form.

"Forgive my poor manners. My name is Romanus Romulus and I mean you no harm. What's your name? And how did you come to have eyes like those?" he spoke directly to her mind. The white wolf's ears went back against her head and she snarled at him.

He showed no signs of fear only waited for an answer. When none was forthcoming, he rose to his feet with an irritated sigh.

"I can simply take the information. It's a simple thing really. Manners are after all common courtesy."

Angelina bowed her head ruefully, ears going back. He was right about that. If her adopted mother had caught her doing that, her ears would have been ringing for decades and aching long after that.

She shifted form and stood, picking up her dress and slipping it over her head. In her wolf form, it was a collar. Human it was dress. She'd come up with it a few years ago and it worked like a charm. Probably because that's what it was.

"My name is Angelina and I was born with these eyes. Why?"

"I've seen only one other with eyes like that. The man I hunt."

"You're a hunter?" Angelina questioned. The hunters of this time were usually nowhere near this privileged. She took a longer look. He wore a simple gold signet ring that could probably pay the down payment on a mansion easy. His casual slacks fit to his lanky frame with the clinginess of a lover. And his frame was nothing to scoff at by any means. Muscular without being obvious, perfectly chiseled features with his eyes lending his face warmth. He put Adonis to shame.

"I don't believe you." she said simply. His laugh was husky and intimate.

"I am not your everyday hunter, Angelina." The old world Italian accent flavored his speech as he said her name. "There is only one man that I hunt although I must admit the others are good entertainment at times. I hunt Julius as I have for centuries."

"You're hunting Julius? Good luck, you'll need it." this was said with a hint of unconscious pride that he didn't even think she realized. "What reason did he give you for hunting him? Did he kill family, friends, lovers, or all of the above?"

"He killed my mother when I was but twenty one but I do not hunt him for that reason alone."

"He's hunted by many and caught by none. Trust me pal. No matter how good your training or experience has made you, you won't catch him." Romanus laughed, a rolling purr that most would have found irresistible.

"On the contrary, my training was based around hunting him and no other."

"Unless you were trained by Julius himself, which is highly doubted, then..." he interrupted her smug speech with a simple smile.

"I was."

"That's impossible. Why would Julius train someone to kill him? It doesn't make sense. And why you?"