SYNOPSIS

Dealing with the FPA is a burden that Alexa usually bears, but when the government op makes a serious threat, it falls on Arys to handle. And he likes to do things a little differently.

Contents

Cover

Synopsis

Title Page

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Epilogue

Forget About Midnight

About the Author

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

Her eyes were blue.

I could still see the way she’d looked at me. Such loathing. Such fear. Those dark-blue eyes were so deep, so encompassing. They were my eyes. And it pained me to see them on her now that she had risen.

“Hey, brother, are you in there?” Jenner’s inquiry broke through my thoughts, pulling me from the memory. “You’re turning out to be a really shitty wingman.”

“Sorry,” I murmured, unable to tear my thoughts from Alexa. She wasn’t just my lover; she was a piece of me that I couldn’t function without. Jenner didn’t fully get that, nor did I expect him to.

Jenner huffed, impatient and on the prowl. He eyed up the stripper gyrating on a pole atop the stage before us. It had been his idea to come to such a place after I’d refused to step foot back inside The Wicked Kiss.

Since the birth of the original blood den back in Las Vegas many years ago, I’d held the place in contempt. It was a filthy way of satisfying the hunger. It turned vampires into business partners with those they fed on. Being a predator was natural, instinctive. The Wicked Kiss dirtied that up, turning the hunt into a business transaction that gave humans the power to say yes.

I’d never believed in that kind of thing. Willing victims made the entire process a complete bore. There was no excitement, no rush in taking a victim who wanted it. Sure it might be a means to an end that kept the newer vampires in line, but I wasn’t new and I wasn’t about to be neutered by such a ridiculous place.

Of course, the fact that Alexa and Kale owned and operated the local club had much to do with my avoidance currently. It was their domain. Not mine. And I wanted nothing to do with it.

So Jenner and I sat at a table near the front of the stage, watching as various women danced about with the intent to titillate, never knowing that they were being appraised for much more than their bodies.

“I bet that one’s a screamer,” Jenner mused, grinning as he stood up to slip some cash into the woman’s g-string. The dark-haired dancer smiled coyly and blew him a kiss. “She’s going to be blowing a hell of a lot more later.”

I repressed the urge to pummel him. Try as I might to convince Jenner to return home to Vegas, he’d insisted on staying. He meant well. Still his appetite was insatiable, and his determination to get me out of the house was tiresome.

“Have you picked one out yet?” I asked, boredom heavy in my tone.

The dancer on stage shimmied out of her tiny g-string and threw it into the face of a man at the next table. He clutched it tight in a fist and hollered victoriously.

“Me? What about you?” Jenner countered, his watchful gaze scrutinizing me. “It’s been a week now, Arys. You can’t keep torturing yourself like this.”

“The only torture I’m experiencing is the sound of your nagging voice,” I said with a smirk.

He frowned and smoothed a hand through his short, dark hair. Heaven forbid even a strand be out of place. Jenner was very concerned with his appearance. It was in his nature. He was a performer, always on stage inside his own mind.

“Look, I get it. She’s the last one that you…drank from. But she can’t always be the last one. Abstaining is dangerous, especially for you. Pick out a girl. We’ll get a private dance. It will be fun. Like old times.” Jenner gave me a hearty pat on the back and awaited my choice.

Arguing with him was pointless simply because he was right. Holding out was only going to make things a lot worse for me and my unlucky victim when I did snap.

“Fine,” I said with a forced sigh of exasperation. “That one.”

My victim of choice was a tall, curvy redhead working the guys at the next table. It was easy enough to get her attention without saying a word. I wanted her, and with that intent in mind, I drew her gaze my way with no effort at all.

She gave Jenner and me a once over before abandoning the table of human men and gravitating toward us. Her dark eyes held an eager glint. Adjusting her ample cleavage, she leaned on our table, giving us a good view.

“How’s your night going, boys?” she purred, most likely having performed this routine countless times.

Jenner’s face lit up, like a kid in a candy shop. “It’s looking better now.”

“Can I interest you in a private dance?” She held out a hand to Jenner who took it graciously. “I’m Brandy. I promise to send you home happy.”

Playing along, Jenner brought her hand to his lips. Brushing a kiss across her knuckles, he used his vampire wiles to draw her in. A blush spread across her cheeks.

“How does two at a time sound?” he asked, his gaze locked on hers, drawing her deeper.

“Ah, so that’s how you like it, huh?” She managed to tear her gaze away long enough to look at me. “I think I can manage that. It’ll cost you double.”

“Not a problem. Lead the way.”

Jenner’s eagerness was palpable. It was infectious, waking my bloodlust for the first time in many days. I followed the two of them through the seedy little strip club to a door marked as private. We entered to find an area with small, sectioned off rooms, similar to the change area in a clothing store but bigger. It was filthy, reeking of sweat, sex, and dirty money. As I anticipated spilling her blood, none of that mattered.

“Money first,” she said, closing the door to a private room behind us. She gestured to a small couch with more stains than the human eye could see. “Have a seat.”

Jenner slapped a handful of bills into her hand. “Is that enough?”

Without a word, Brandy tucked the money into a purse too tiny to hold anything else and got to work. Music pounded through overhead speakers, something loud and raucous. She began to sway to the beat, her movements intentionally seductive.

I took a seat on the couch beside Jenner and flashed him a warning look. He merely shrugged and turned his attention to the scantily clad woman. I began to have second thoughts. Perhaps I wasn’t ready for this yet.

Then Brandy climbed onto my lap and thrust her breasts in my face, causing me to forget everything but the pulse beating in her throat. My gaze was transfixed on the creamy expanse of her neck. The sound of her heart thundered in my ears despite the annoying music.

With a hand beneath her chin, I made her peer into my eyes. My intent to seduce was stronger than hers, and she easily fell prey to my manipulations. I made her mine with little more than the right look.

“Holy shit,” she breathed, grinding her groin against me. When I broke the no touching rule by running a hand up her side, she closed her eyes and moaned.

Jenner slid a hand into her hair, pulling her head towards him. With a brazen kiss, he had her melting into a puddle in my lap. With the glassy eyes of one entirely under our hypnotic enchantment, she grabbed for him, kissing him hungrily.

Her arousal was immediate and intense. Despite playing the role of seductress all night, the tables had been turned. Now she was the seduced, and now she belonged to us.

I breathed in the pungent scent of her desire. It coaxed my hunger to life. The need for her blood was powerful, rivaled only by the need for her moans and maybe even her screams.

For just a moment, I flashed back to the last time I’d shared a woman with a man. Just over a week ago, Shaz and I had shared Alexa. It felt like years ago. I groaned and tried desperately to shove the memory aside. It wasn’t Brandy I hungered for; it was Alexa.

With a low growl of frustration, I grabbed Brandy’s wrist and bit deep. She gave a small cry but otherwise noticed nothing. Jenner did a fine job of keeping her enthralled. He tugged on the strapless top she wore, freeing her breasts from its hold.

I tipped her sideways, spilling her onto the couch between us. With her head in Jenner’s lap and her legs splayed across me, she surrendered completely to us.

The trickle of blood from her wrist filled my mouth, encouraging the need for more. Abandoning her wrist, I eyed her throat. Brandy wasted no time freeing Jenner’s constant erection. He leaned back against the couch with a happy groan.

It had been quite some time since I’d taken a woman to bed who wasn’t Alexa. I had no intention of starting now. Sexual desire was part of the feed for an incubus vampire. I needed the arousal and lust of my victim the way fish needed water and flowers needed sun. There were many ways of achieving that without sex, of course. However, it had never been as good as it was with Alexa. God how I missed her.

Dragging my fingers over the warmth between Brandy’s thighs threw her into a state of crazed lust from which Jenner seemed to benefit greatly. She exuded a dizzying sensual energy that I could happily get drunk on.

I watched as Jenner captured her bitten wrist and flicked his tongue over the bite I’d put there. He caught my eye and smiled, a sly twist of his lips that revealed wicked intentions.

I shook my head, sure that I wasn’t sharing his intent. It had been decades since Jenner and I had shared in this kind of activity. Returning to those days was likely not in anyone’s best interest, though it was tempting. We’d certainly had our share of fun back in the day.

Being part of Harley’s bloodline meant blood orgies on a nightly basis. The first few decades of my undead existence had been a sea of blood and bodies. I existed from one night to the next among so many nameless, faceless victims. It was all history now.

I’d like to think I had toned it down considerably since then. No longer did I spend endless nights driving victims into a frenzy. That’s not to say it didn’t happen on occasion.

“Do you want her?” Jenner asked, motioning to the tiny skirt Brandy lifted in invitation.

“Not like that.” I gestured for Jenner to have his way with her. I certainly wouldn’t stop him.

“You seriously only fuck one woman?” Jenner shook his head as if he couldn’t possibly wrap his mind around that concept. “Alexa must be a hell of a lay.”

A frown creased my brow. I knew he didn’t mean any harm, but his flippant remark carried more weight than he realized. “It’s not about fucking one woman, Jenner. It’s about belonging with one woman. No one has ever made me feel the way Alexa does.” Talking about her made me think about her, which was dangerous for many reasons.

Jenner ran a hand down Brandy’s body to her thigh. Her attempts to please him grew more frenzied. The very human scent of her was enticing. The more he touched her, the greater her desire grew. It washed over me like a wave, and I enjoyed the potent sensation of it.

“Well, seeing as I don’t have a great love to pine after, I’m going to fuck this chick senseless. Unless you have a problem with that.” Jenner’s words ended on a groan.

“Not at all.”

We traded places. I was happy to nuzzle her neck while Jenner positioned himself between her legs. In search of encouragement, he got her talking, telling him how much she needed him inside her. It was all part of his act. Jenner had to be the star of the show.

It was fine with me. I hadn’t been the one to seek out this encounter. Though now that I was here, I was going to take what I could from it.

Jenner made a big display of pleasing her. His hand disappeared beneath her skirt, and right away she was purring like a kitten. It took much effort to refrain from piercing her jugular. I needed her to bleed.

“I’ve gotta say, the women here are eager, aren’t they?” Blood stained Jenner’s face from a nip he’d taken of her inner thigh. Running his tongue over the smear, he laughed. “I could get used to this.”

“Don’t,” I chuckled. “You’ve already overstayed your welcome.”

While manually guiding Brandy to greater pleasure, Jenner studied me with a knowing grin. “Do you remember Paris? Those people were fucking amazing.”

“I couldn’t forget Paris if I wanted to.” The years I’d spent in Paris were among some of the best. Together, Harley, Jenner, and I had dined on the city’s finest folks. Some of my best work had been done in that city.

“Sometimes I still rub one out while thinking back on those days. We had some good times.”

“We sure did.” I wasn’t surprised by his blatant confession. “You’re so obsessed with yourself, Jenner. It’s ludicrous.”

With pupils so large that his eyes were black, Jenner shrugged. “What can I say? I know what I like.”

Not bothering to await my response, he busied himself with the victim writhing between us. With the right touch and a few whispered promises of things to come, he had her begging.

Brandy clutched at me, trying to get me to kiss her. I avoided her greedy advances by seeking out her jugular. I wasn’t in the mood to draw this out.

I couldn’t do it. My fangs grazed her skin, and she shuddered. But I couldn’t bring myself to bite into her neck. Being so close, ready but unable, it flashed me back to the best and worst moment of my existence. The moment I killed Alexa.

No kill had ever been so satisfying and no kill ever would be again. There was no word to describe how it felt to be one with her in that delicate place between life and death. She was mine as fully as one could be. It was wonderful.

And then it was absolute misery. Death stole her from me, severing the tie that joined us. It was like having a piece of myself torn away, ripped from my very soul. For a time, I thought I would die too. Then she came back and we were whole again. If that’s what this was.

The memories were fresh, always lurking, ready to blindside me again. I had waited for a century to have it all happen in just a few minutes. Never would I forget the way she’d pleaded for me to do it. I kept waiting for it to wash me clean of the guilt. It hadn’t so far.

It should have been a relief to know that Alexa was still here on this earth with me. If I hadn’t blood bonded her, she’d just be dead now. Perhaps it would have been better that way. A creature like her should never have to be what I am.

Alexa dominated my thoughts. It led me down that mental pathway that joined us, plunging me into her mind. It was sudden and disorienting. Then I was seeing through her eyes, an unwelcome visitor in her head.

It was dark. A cold fall breeze blew her long blonde hair about in a mess of tangles. The hunger drove her, guiding her actions. Her focus was on the couple engaged in an intimate embrace on a park bench. Together with Kale Sinclair at her side, the two of them slaughtered the lovers.

I tasted the blood in Alexa’s mouth. The screams echoed in the stillness, silenced quickly by Sinclair. While he feasted on the fear of one victim, she drove the other into a sexual frenzy.

When she sat atop the man, cooing sweet nothings into his ear, she felt my presence. Immediately she stiffened, her concentration broken.

With our minds joined it was impossible to withhold my feelings. I couldn’t hide the mix of emotion that stormed me. Being in Alexa’s head while she made a victim hers was a rush. It was a turn on to be there while she took command.

It was also a crushing disappointment to see what I’d done to her and to feel so conflicted about it. Worst of all was Sinclair being the one there with her.

Before I could attempt to communicate with her, Alexa brutally thrust me out of her head. There was a desperation to her panic as she did so. Try as she might to hide it, I was able to see that she was coming apart without me.

That made two of us.

The violence of her rejection combined with the excitement of her hunt brought me back to myself with a jolt. With a burst of madness-infused anger, I grabbed a hold of Brandy’s hair and jerked her head so her neck was exposed. Ignoring Jenner’s protests, I plunged fangs into her artery, finding satisfaction only when blood filled my mouth.

Even then, it wasn’t enough. I thought of my lover with another man, and I couldn’t keep my shit together. She was my other half. She belonged with me, goddammit.

I left the stripper there on the couch, dead, her throat mangled. Licking the blood from my lips, I strode from the private room with Jenner shouting after me.

“Arys, what in the fuck?” He struggled himself back into his pants and hurried after me. Grabbing my arm, he jerked me to a halt. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“Just a little bit. Get off me.” I shook him off and pulled a wad of cash out of a pocket. “Here. Leave extra for their troubles. I’m sure this isn’t the first time someone has died back here.”

Without waiting around for him, I stalked out, knowing that I was on the edge of a killing spree. My hands clenched into fists, I somehow kept from ripping the head off the doorman who sneered at me as I passed.

“Where the hell are you going?” Jenner called as he chased me to the car.

I opened the door to the Firebird and leaned over to unlock the passenger door. I didn’t drive much if I could help it. Being a passenger was more my thing. At least according to Alexa it was. She didn’t trust my driving, though I couldn’t imagine why not. I was certainly no worse than the majority of humans that miraculously passed a driver’s exam.

“I’m going to the park Alexa is at,” I said, starting up the cranky old car.

“That’s a terrible idea.” Knowing better, Jenner didn’t offer an explanation. He didn’t have to. He knew me well enough to know it would have been wasted.

Killing Brandy had been a mistake. It had never truly been my intent. Remorse wasn’t my strong suit. It never had been. Public kills were very amateur. Alexa’s park bench-kill being a prime example of that. Why Sinclair would go along with such a thing was beyond me.

No, it wasn’t. I knew why. It was a thrill.

Alexa was long gone when we arrived. She’d known I would come, and she’d had no intention of being there when I showed up.

Her victims remained, however. It was easy enough to find them with the blood so heavy on the air. The atmosphere screamed with the residual energy of terror and death.

“Fuck.” Running a hand through my hair, I stared at the mess, unable to accept that she had done it.

Jenner surveyed the scene, nodding as he walked around the slaughter. “You two are so much alike. It’s scary. This looks just like something you’d do. Oh wait, you pretty much just did the same thing.”

In response to his sarcastic remark, I shot him a deathly glare. “That’s helpful, Jenner. Thanks.”

“If this is the two of you apart, I’d almost hate to see what you could do together.”

Though I didn’t say so, I agreed. Alexa and I brought out both the best and the worst in each other. Still, I continued to believe that I could help her through the challenging aspects of being a new vampire. If only she would trust me.

“We need to get rid of the bodies,” I said. “I don’t want to leave anything for the FPA to trace back to Alexa.”

As soon as the words left my lips, the darkness was lit up by flashing lights. Two black sedans pulled up on the grass beside us. Juliet O’Brien got out of the first car. In her hand was a crossbow pistol ready with a bolt in place. It wasn’t all that big, but it could be deadly. She held it easily with one hand, though being a werewolf made her stronger than the average human. Evidently the FPA had upgraded their weaponry since their last run in with Alexa.

Pointing the pistol at me, Juliet aimed for my heart and said, “You and I need to have a little talk.”

CHAPTER TWO

I raised both hands in surrender, unable to stop the grin that spread across my face. “Settle down, little wolf. There’s no need to wave shit like that around. If you want to talk, I’ll listen.”

Juliet advanced on me, using the pistol to herd me away from the bodies. “Keep going,” she said with a nod. “Over there by that tree. Your friend stays put.”

She issued a command to her men to keep an eye on Jenner while ensuring no passersby happened to notice the murder victims. I walked backward, refusing to take my gaze off her. She was a feisty one. Unpredictable as well. Must be in the blood.

“We both know I could blow you all sky high,” I said, doing my best to appear bored with her tough federal agent act. “If you think I did this, then clearly you haven’t studied up on my MO.”

Her glare darkened until it was downright impressive. Only when we were out of human earshot did she speak.

“I know you didn’t do this. It was Alexa. That’s what I want to talk to you about.” Slowly she lowered the weapon. Her finger remained on the trigger though. Apparently the youngest O’Brien didn’t trust me.

“So talk,” I said when she fell silent.

Taking the opportunity to study her, I determined that Juliet was experiencing regret. It was evident in the way her shoulders hunched and the faint aroma of self-pity that tainted her aura. Alexa’s sister was one of my least favorite people. It wasn’t her fault. She didn’t seem to mean to cause Alexa so much distress. But she did. And I simply am not as forgiving as my better half.

“I’ve been watching Alexa, tracking her phone and finding her victims. This is the third confirmed since she…died.” Juliet blew a stray strand of curly brown hair out of her face. She glanced back at the waiting agents. “Nobody knows it’s her. I’ve reported it as a continuation of those vampire kills we started looking into a couple of weeks back.”

“Well, isn’t that gracious of you. That might actually mean something if your organization hadn’t just tried to kill her.” Crossing my arms, I fixed the young werewolf with a patronizing look.

The guilt disappeared from her face, replaced by a mask of fury. “Well, I guess you succeeded where we failed.”

I stared into Juliet’s dark-brown eyes. If she was hoping to elicit a reaction from me, she would be disappointed. Though my gaze was hard and cold, inside I was mourning. Alexa’s eyes were the same deep, amazing brown; at least, they were supposed to be.

“Well played,” I said. “I’m not going to discuss that with you. It was out of my control. It had to happen.”

“Then why aren’t you with her now?”

Ah yes, the same question I’d been asking myself for days. “You’re asking the wrong person. Alexa has this tendency to run to Kale Sinclair when feeling overwhelmed. She doesn’t want to see me right now, and I’m not about to force the issue.”

Juliet seemed to ponder this, nodding slowly. “From what I understand, the two of you are tied together somehow. Twin flames. I looked it up. It sounds like a recipe for disaster. So should we be expecting some kind of repercussions? Is it going to get worse than this?” She pointed at the corpses without looking.

I, however, stared at the bloodless bodies. It was difficult to accept that my beautiful wolf had done such a thing. She was the good one. The light. I needed her to keep being that. To be the one that held the promise of something better.

“It might,” I answered honestly. “I think she just needs to get it out of her system. She’s a new vampire. It’s difficult to control the urges in the beginning. There is very little sense of conscience and remorse.”

“How much longer is she going to be a ravenous maniac? I can’t keep covering for her. I could lose my job. Or worse.” With her lips pressed tight together, Juliet regarded me with a hopeful glint in her eyes, seeking from me something I could not give her.

“Worse? The FPA would kill you for protecting your sister? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“It’s possible. I could always end up in other places. The lab, for instance.” She paused, then sighed and swore. “You’ve got to understand. Alexa isn’t just a vampire and werewolf hybrid to the FPA. She’s a serious threat. As long as she refuses to work with us, she remains on a watch list. Given the right reasons, the FPA won’t hesitate to take her out.”

“And yet, you still work for them. Willingly.” I felt no pity for her. No sympathy. Maybe even a little part of me hoped she would get caught covering up Alexa’s tracks. It would serve her right for having such divided loyalties.

“I don’t have to justify my decisions to you. That’s not what I came to discuss. Let’s not forget that you are the one who murdered my sister. A crime punishable by death. Now, are you willing to help me or not?”

Well, nobody could ever say Juliet was a coward. Her threat was both courageous and stupid. There was no way I could allow her to think I was so easily controlled. Surrounding us with an energy circle, I grabbed her gun hand and twisted, forcing her to drop the weapon. She stifled a cry, glaring up at me with wild wolf eyes. Seeing them punched me right in the gut as my longing for Alexa threatened my self-control.

Maintaining my hold on her arm, I pulled her close and made a show of breathing in her tantalizing wolf scent. “Yes, let’s not forget that I killed your sister. The one woman who means more to me than my own existence. So don’t for a moment think I’m incapable of draining you dry, little one.”

An agent or two fired off a shot when they saw Juliet in my clutches. The crossbow bolts bounced harmlessly off my circle.  Idiots.

I forced her to look into my eyes, to see the abyss that lay beneath, the same abyss that would swallow her whole should I will it. “Don’t threaten me, Juliet.”

Her pupils were dilated in fear, and the seductive aroma of it betrayed the glare she mustered. “All right. I get it. Let go of me.”

I released her and dropped the circle, shooting a warning glare in the direction of the waiting agents. Juliet held up a hand, telling them to hold their fire.

“So, what did you have in mind?” I asked, continuing as if she hadn’t just tempted me to bleed her.

Anger flashed across her face. She retrieved the fallen weapon but didn’t dare point it at me again. “Supply me with a vampire or two. Someone I can pin this on.”

It was a good opportunity to have the FPA deal with what remained of the rebel group. Their numbers had dwindled after their last attempt to take Alexa out. Still, it would be a great way to send a message to any who still thought we were the enemy.

“I’m sure I can do that,” I agreed. “What about when it happens again? Because it will happen again. At least until Alexa accepts that she needs my help to get through this.”

“I can’t buy her a lot of time. Briggs knows that she’s turned. For now, he’s under the assumption that she’s feeding at The Wicked Kiss. He’ll figure it out soon enough though.” Juliet appeared conflicted, unhappy having to lie to her lover. I knew the feeling.

She paced in the dry, dead grass. Making the greatest of mistakes, she let her guard down. Lucky for her, I wasn’t the type to take a cheap shot.

“Just get me a vampire for tonight,” she said. “I’ll do what I can. But you need to do something about Alexa. If she keeps this up, I’ll have no choice but to hunt her down.”

“Now there’s a loving sibling sentiment if I’ve ever heard one,” I retorted. “I’ll get you your vampire. But know this: if you hunt Alexa, I hunt you. Got it?”

With a glower Juliet pulled a card from her pocket and slapped it into my hand. “Bring the vampire back here in two hours. If you need to reach me, here’s my number.”

She stalked away before I could reply. With a shrug, I stuck the card in my back pocket and headed for my car, motioning for Jenner to join me. I hoped like hell that Juliet was full of big talk and bullshit because, if I had to kill my lover’s sister, I might never reclaim what I once had with Alexa.

“That woman is damn sexy,” Jenner observed when we were back in the car. “I wonder what it would take to get her into bed. There’s no way she could resist my charm.”

“Don’t even think it,” I warned. “Alexa’s sister is off limits.”

“Why? Think about the benefits. I take her to bed, give her the time of her life, and turn her into my love slave. Then you would have some FPA blackmail material.” He suggested, smiling like it was his best idea yet.

“It’s not worth the trouble. It’s also probably not the blackmail material I need.”

I drove away from the scene with a screech of tires. Jenner lounged in the passenger seat. He watched me as I drove. It was annoying as hell.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” he asked. “Obviously I overheard your conversation. But where do you plan to snag a random vampire from?”

“I could just give her you, I suppose,” I chuckled.

“Just let me fuck her. I’m telling you, it’ll solve your FPA problems.”

Laughter filled the car. I couldn’t keep a straight face. “Oh yeah, that will solve my problems all right. It will also have Alexa ripping both our heads off our shoulders. Is that what you want?”

With well-honed focus I could feel the energy of every vampire within the city. It wouldn’t be hard to find one I could hand over to Juliet. Though finding one that was a self-proclaimed rebel might prove more difficult.

Ignoring Jenner’s insistent argument, I said, “Lucky for us, most of the vampires here don’t know you. So here’s the plan.”

* * * *

Sending Jenner into The Wicked Kiss was risky. He hadn’t been in town long. There was no way of knowing how many vamps knew he was linked to Alexa and me. The plan was to have him go inside and act as a rebel vampire to draw others out. It wasn’t the best plan, but seeing as I only had a couple of hours, it would have to do. If all else failed, I’d grab any vamp at random and hand him over.

I wanted to be relieved to find that Alexa wasn’t there. Instead, I was concerned. Sinclair should be teaching her the willing victim game, not slaughtering at random on the street.

Jenner went in first. I waited fifteen minutes before following.

It came as no surprise to me to find him drooling all over two drunken women. They were giggling, spilling their drinks, and fawning over him like he was a new item on the menu, which he was.

I didn’t approach but did catch his eye. Raising a brow in question, I received only a grin in response. That rat bastard was going to screw us out of time. Getting his dick wet and his fangs bloody was all he could think about. Vegas must be missing him. Because he sure as hell seemed to be missing Vegas.

I half expected to find Willow slugging tequila at the bar. There was no sign of him nor had there been since the night of Alexa’s death. Since the fallen angel had taken Alexa’s darkness, he’d been MIA. It was disconcerting. Willow was now a demon. There was no way of predicting when he would reappear or what he would be like when he did.

Scowling in disgust at the loathsome nightclub, I held every vampire present in total judgment, Jenner included. When a petite brunette sidled up to me with a suggestive smile, I was admittedly tempted to bleed her, though not in the manner she expected. There would be no playing by the house rules for me.

“I’m afraid I’m unavailable tonight,” I said, much to her obvious disappointment. “See my friend over there? Why don’t you tell him that if he gets his ass in gear, I’ll let him come back here and enjoy you later? Trust me. You want what he’s got.”

She considered Jenner, eyeing him up with curiosity. Then she adjusted her cleavage and tried once more to convince me. “Are you sure you don’t want a taste of this? I’m a gymnast. You can bend me like a pretzel.”

“Then my friend is definitely the guy for you. Go talk to him.” I added a subtle pulse of power to influence her, and she was off, heading over to Jenner with a sassy swing to her step.

She delivered my message as instructed. Jenner lingered, engaging in further conversation before gradually disentangling himself from all three women. They grabbed at him, begging him to stay. Ever the charmer, he took the time to flirt with each one of them. Kissing hands, murmuring playful promises, Jenner was as smooth as he’d ever been. Seducing victims on stage in Las Vegas had kept him at the top of his game. The salacious ass.

Shooting him one last dark look, I vacated the building. Staying too long would be suspicious. It was no secret that I preferred to hunt elsewhere.

By the time Jenner met me outside, he reeked of perfume and red lipstick marked the edge of his mouth. “I hope you’re happy,” he said proudly.

“Because you managed to remove yourself from that little orgy you were working on in there? Yeah, I’m thrilled.”

“No. Because with a little seduction and conversation I was able to get the ladies to tell me who in there is one of your so-called rebels. Not only that,” Jenner paused, rubbing his fingernails on his shirt to add to the drama. “They’re leading one of them out here any minute now.”

He was quite impressed with himself. I didn’t share that sentiment. “Jenner, if you fuck this up—”

“Trust me, Arys. It’s all good. Just relax and wait.”

What choice did I have? Jenner’s smug expression was just one of many things that had driven me from Vegas. He’d always been the headstrong one, the one with a flair for the dramatic. But he was also one of the smartest beings I knew.

Just as he’d said, the brunette came out of the building with a vampire in tow. He wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. Focused on the cute little thing luring him along, he didn’t notice us. Not until we stood on either side of him.

“What’s going on?” He was immediately suspicious, looking at the woman in sudden awareness. “Arys, come on. I don’t know what you think I did, but I promise you, whatever it is, it wasn’t me.”

“Got a name?” I asked, unable to keep a satisfied smile at bay.

The guy wasn’t new, but he was by no means a match for either Jenner or me. And he knew it.

“Charlie.” His gaze flitted between us, but he decided I was the greater threat. “What is it that you think I did? It has to be a mistake.”

“Let’s not play the game, Charlie. I’m running on a time limit here, and the last thing I need right now is two O’Brien women pissed at me. Rumor has it you’re part of the rebellion that’s been making trouble for my wolf.” I studied him for a reaction, pleased when I found the confirmation I needed within his eyes. He could lie, but it was useless. I could read the truth in him.

“There is no rebellion,” he said, his words coming in a rush. “Not anymore. I swear it.”

“How can I possibly accept the word of a liar?” With my arms crossed and a carefully neutral expression on my face, I put the pressure on him. Without raising a hand, the power followed the path my thoughts laid out.

It forced a small yelp from him, and he threw his hands up in surrender. Jenner cast me a sharp glance, and I shrugged. My power had evidently been heightened by Alexa’s recent change. Curious. Dangerous as well, for Alexa. Having this kind of power thrumming through her couldn’t possibly help in her battle against the bloodlust.

“Fine. I was part of the rebellion. But it doesn’t exist anymore. That’s the truth.” Charlie shook his head of shaggy dark hair and fixed me with wide eyes, imploring me to believe him.

“Good. Thank you for your honesty. However, it doesn’t change what’s about to happen here.”

“What are you talking about?” Charlie was frantic. He glanced about, seeking a way out.

Jenner gave the brunette an affectionate pat on the behind and said, “Better head back inside, sweetheart. You don’t want to see this.”

She did as he asked with a flirtatious giggle. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. If he happened to live a thousand years, Jenner would never tire of having his ego stroked.

“Look, Arys, it was all just a big misunderstanding. I didn’t realize they wanted to kill Alexa. Really. I wasn’t part of the attack on her.” Charlie rambled, knowing he was running out of time though not knowing what awaited him. Death would be a grand alternative to what the FPA basement held.

Annoyed with his continued denial, I hit him with an aggressive pulse. He grunted and tried not to crumble beneath the assault.

“Tell me how many are left in the rebel group. Tell me your role.” All I needed was an admission of guilt. Then he was the FPA’s problem.

Charlie spoke with pained reluctance. “There are only a few left. The rebels have abandoned their cause. They plan to fly under the radar, avoiding your attention if possible. I was there the night Alexa was attacked.” His gaze went to Jenner. “With them. The fight broke out, and I ran when things got bad.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Satisfied to have gotten the answer I sought, I laid a hand on Charlie’s head and grabbed hold of his power. Then I tore it from him like tearing a bandage from a wound, sudden and painful.

Weak and unable to defend himself, he clutched at a nearby SUV, nearly tearing the side mirror off in his desperation.

“Well, that was easy,” Jenner observed. “Too easy. We should have kicked his ass before giving him to Juliet.”

“He’s not worth it.”

At exactly two hours after leaving the park where I’d spoken with Juliet, we were back with her vampire in tow. I leaned on the trunk, ignoring the shouts and bangs from inside. When a black sedan pulled around the corner, my shoulders slumped in relief. Though I hadn’t allowed myself to entertain the thought, I’d had my suspicions about Juliet’s ruse.

Juliet was alone. She should really know better.

“Did you get one?” She was all business, ignoring Jenner who openly leered at her.

“Right here.” I opened the trunk to reveal the weakened, irate vampire.

“Perfect. I knew you’d come through.”

We wrestled the flailing vampire from my trunk to hers. She produced a set of silver cuffs, which once locked onto his wrists, prevented Charlie from attempting anything power related. They were clever and dangerous, something the human government should not possess.

“Arys,” Juliet called as she was about to get back into her car. “You’ve got to do something about Alexa. She’s relying on you, whether you know it or not. She’s got to be stopped before she creates an eternity of regret for herself.”

“Stop tracking her, Juliet. You’re going to bring her more harm than help.” It was all I had to say to her. She had no right to tell me how to deal with my twin flame. As well as she thought she knew Alexa, I knew the parts of her that had no voice.

Juliet pulled away with a foot heavy on the gas. The sedan lurched away and disappeared as fast as it had come.

“I bet she’s just as feisty in the sack,” Jenner mused, laughing when I punched him in the shoulder. “Now, let’s get back to that orgy waiting for me at The Wicked Kiss.”

I met his mischievous gaze and shook my head. “Not tonight. You’ll have to settle for a motel room and a few call girls.”

Jenner considered this with a halfhearted shrug. “Ok. I can work with that.”

CHAPTER THREE

Blood filled my mouth. The sound of cries and begging filled my ears. There was a hand on my cock, but I shoved it away.

The motel room was less than savory. It looked like something out of a horror film, which made it perfect. The TV in the corner was so old it still had a rabbit ear antenna. The walls were yellowed as if they hadn’t been painted or washed since the place had been built. There were more stains covering the carpet than clean spots.

Feeding in a place like this was not ideal. Though it did allow for one hell of a mess with little need for clean up. And right then, that made it perfect.

Jenner was sprawled across one half of the king-size bed with one of three call girls atop him. She rode him like it was an Olympic event, oblivious to the blood running in small rivulets from her neck, down her chest and stomach.

Lady number two was trying to wrap her hand around my dick despite my rejections. Being a monogamous incubus was a challenge at times like this. Being near me was enough to make her want me with an irrational need. Though I didn’t need to fuck her to feed off her desire, it would have made things easier.

With a wolfish growl, I captured both of her hands in one of mine and pinned them above her head. She squirmed on the bed beneath me. I stared down at her, finding it hard to stay in the moment.

As good as it felt to have her begging for more while I opened her vein, something was missing. I sucked at the small bite marring her throat and groaned. Alexa’s wolf was strong in me. It floated about inside me like a shadow, a being without form seeking to break free. Learning to live with Alexa’s wolf was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do. It didn’t belong to me. I had no connection to it, and times like this proved difficult. I’d wondered if it would get easier after she turned. It hadn’t. The wolf continued to dwell within me, surfacing at the most inopportune times. It was a constant presence, like a ghost that never went away.

“Fuck.” I couldn’t keep pretending this was what I wanted. It wasn’t. I wanted Alexa, mortal or not.

Shoving away from the bleached blonde escort, I stepped over the passed out form of the third girl and left the room. Jenner could have my share.

Sitting on the front stoop of the motel, I stared out into the near empty parking lot. The fall night air was crisp. It didn’t affect me. I felt neither warm nor cold.

I rubbed a hand over my face and swore again. It had been my decision to leave Alexa where she was, with Kale Sinclair. It was a decision that Shaz told me nightly was stupid. I was starting to think that he was right.

The night she rose as vampire was one of my best and worst nights. My relief had been immense. In my heart of hearts, I’d harbored the fear that she would remain dead. Since the moment I felt her life slip away in my arms, I had been faced with what it would mean to lose her. Three days I waited in total distress, praying to a God who had no reason to grant my request. It had been the most agonizing wait of my life.

Then she had risen. The confusion in her vampire blue eyes was hard to witness. I was overjoyed to see her there before me, back from the dead. But the betrayal in her gaze when she looked at me had made me ill.

When she fled from me, I let her go. Shaz had demanded that we follow. He had been so afraid for her out there alone, so close to sunrise.

Giving chase would only encourage her to flee further. Knowing Sinclair would go after her, I let him. That choice had haunted me every night since.

A car pulled up to a door at the other end of the motel. I watched as a middle-aged couple got out, falling all over each other in their haste to get inside. They caught sight of me and broke apart. I shrugged and turned away. I didn’t doubt that they were having an affair. It was no business of mine. Casting one last glance back at the couple, I studied the woman, wondering if somewhere another man waited for her.

Projecting my own issues onto strangers served only to plunge me deeper into my tortured thoughts. When at last Jenner emerged from the motel room, the night was beginning to dissipate.

“Are you all right, brother?” Jenner’s hand was heavy on my shoulder. “I didn’t mean to hog the ladies.”

“Yes, you did.” I rose and clapped him on the back. “I’m fine. Can we go home now?”

“Ready when you are.”

“And the ladies?”

“Alive,” Jenner snickered. “I promise.”

His word was good enough for me. I was ready to leave. I walked away from the seedy motel without a backward glance.

Like I did every night before dawn, I drove by Alexa’s house on my way home. It was on the edge of town, surrounded by a cluster of trees and a cemetery. Not once had she been there. Which meant she was with him.

Again her car was absent from the driveway. Again I fought the urge to head straight for Sinclair’s house. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to leave him in a pile of dust and drag Alexa out of there against her will.

But that wouldn’t be love.

The need to control my twin flame was part of the conflict that ruled us. We belonged to each other. That’s what made it so hard to let her go.

“You’re a sucker for punishment, Arys. Why do you do this to yourself? Go get her.”

“I can’t. She’ll hate me for trying to control her. This is a choice she has to make.” Making Jenner or Shaz understand bordered on impossible. I was ready to give up trying.

When I turned onto my street to find Shaz’s car parked in front of my house, I knew that it was an argument I was about to have again. The young wolf sat on the front step, drinking one of the beers I’d begun keeping in the fridge for him. He’d been here a lot lately.

“Cutting it a bit close, aren’t you?” Shaz scanned the horizon. “I’ve been here over an hour now.”

The loud clink of beer bottles crashing against one another drew my gaze to the half a dozen empties piled around his feet. Just what I needed, a drunken werewolf with an attitude parked on my front porch.

“I’ve been doing this for over three hundred years, pup. I think I can handle it.” With a pointed glance toward the empty bottles, I added, “Do you think this is the best time for you to start drinking?”

“Start?” he echoed. “I started at dusk. I’m just finishing up now.”

A sniff in his direction confirmed that claim. The wolf stank of booze. I ushered him inside. I couldn’t very well leave him to wallow by himself in the bottom of a bottle.

Once inside I grabbed a can of coffee from the cupboard and tossed it at him. His reflexes were still sharp. He caught it without a fumble.

“Make some coffee,” I ordered. “Time to sober up. You’re a real ass when you drink.” The coffee was something I’d kept around for Alexa. It was the one addiction she’d claimed she would never give up. I scowled at the coffee can, hating it for being such a painful reminder.

“Oh yeah?” Shaz raised a brow and gave me a cocky grin. “So what’s your excuse? You’re an ass all the time.”

Jenner chuckled and held his hands up in surrender. “Don’t even get me started on that one. I’ll leave you two to antagonize one another. I’m hitting the shower.”

I waited until he’d gone into the bathroom and closed the door. Then I turned to Shaz, letting my serious concern show. “What the hell are you doing, Shaz? This is no time to be drinking your life away. You’re better than that.”

A sneer curled his lips. He shook his head and drained the last of the beer in his hand. “Don’t tell me how to cope, Arys. I know better than to take advice from someone who has done nothing but hide out at home drawing endless pictures of dragons and wolves. You’re not coping any better than I am.”

I frowned. He’d reacted pretty much how I’d expected him to. “It’s not a contest. You need to keep your shit together right now. Alexa needs you to do that.”

A sharp bark of laughter erupted from him. He slammed the empty bottle on the counter. “Alexa doesn’t give a shit about us anymore. If she did, she would be here.”

“That’s not true, and you know it. Alexa is going through the hardest time of her life. She needs you to be there for her when she’s ready. Don’t let her down.”

Our gazes locked, and there was a silent struggle between us. Shaz was so incredibly young and stubborn. Trying to tell him something was like bouncing my head off a brick wall. Painful and ultimately pointless.

“What about what I need? When does that matter? When she’s done fucking Kale?” Shaz’s green eyes became wolf. He clenched his fists, drawing my attention to the cuts and bruises adorning his knuckles. He’d been fighting too from the looks of it. If he’d come here to continue such activity, things might get interesting.

I had no answers for him. I wanted to smack him for saying such a thing though I had thought it myself. “That’s not how it is, Shaz. She died. Do you get that? Alexa died, and now she’s something that she doesn’t know how to be. Try to have some sympathy.”

His gaze dropped, and he studied the pattern on the linoleum as if it held some great secret. “Do you think they’re sleeping together?”

It was something I’d done my best to avoid thinking about. Picturing my wolf in Sinclair’s bed was enough to send me into a rage. It was dangerous. “Does it matter?” I tried to redirect the question rather than tell him what I really thought. He didn’t want to hear it. “The important thing is that she’s safe.”

“Wow,” Shaz said, running his hand through his hair as he often did when uncomfortable. “That is such a load of shit.”

“Shaz,” I warned. “Let’s not have this conversation again.”

“The sooner we go get Alexa, the sooner this conversation ends.” There was a hard set to his jaw. His wolf stared out at me, issuing a silent challenge.

But there was something else there, an unspoken need that shone in his eyes. Shaz’s pent up frustration was being fed by more than just emotional upset. It appeared to me that the wolf was hurting for a fix.

“What’s really going on with you, pup?” I leaned against the kitchen counter, pinning him with a fierce stare. I didn’t have to use power on him. He would talk.

“I just want to see Alexa. I’m tired of arguing with you about it. Tired of waiting for her to come home.”

“And?” I prompted.

Shaz paused. He wanted to tell me. I could feel it. He fought with himself until it finally spilled out. “I’m starting to feel like I need it again. The bite. Alexa’s bite.” Those dazzling wolf eyes gleamed with intrigue as he looked me over. “Or yours.”

Just as I’d suspected. “I thought you kicked that shit.”

“I did. It’s not like this with anyone else. It’s just Alexa. And you. You both feel the same.” Shaz was unapologetic. “This is the last thing I want to be saying to you right now. But it’s starting to get inside my head. Help me out here, Arys.”

There had been a time when I would have loved to hear him say that. The last time he’d come to me like this, I’d accepted the offer of his potent shifter blood. It had upset Alexa who’d made me promise I wouldn’t do it again without her being present.

“Shaz, you know I can’t help you with this. I made a promise to Alexa.”

“Yeah, well, she isn’t here. We don’t need her permission. God knows she doesn’t seem to need ours to do whatever it is she’s doing right now.” Anger emanated from him, a delicious scent that taunted me.

The sense of victory that filled me was wrong in all ways. That didn’t stop me from enjoying it though. Shaz had made me out to be his enemy many times in the past. Yet here he was standing in my house asking me to bleed him. Yeah, I was definitely enjoying that.

“You’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re asking for.” I nodded to the coffee can he’d abandoned on the counter. “Make some of that shit and come back down to earth.”

“I don’t want any,” he refused. “I know what I’m asking for. And I know that you’ve got to be trying pretty hard not to gloat in my face right now. So go right ahead. But don’t make me beg. Because that I will not fucking do.”

For a moment I half expected him to throw a punch at me. He’d done it before. But he just stood there staring at me with a challenge written all over his face.

I was faced with a decision. I could give Shaz what he asked for and bleed him with great joy. Or I could refuse. Refusal would mean forcing him to make a decision as well. Suffer or seek out relief in a place like The Wicked Kiss.

It was obvious to me which would cause greater upset to Alexa should she find out. Shaz’s dalliances at The Wicked Kiss had caused serious damage to their relationship. It was unlikely they would survive a repeat of that scenario.

“Fuck.” I slammed a fist down on the counter. “You’re forcing me into a pretty tough position here, you know.”

Shaz held his hands up and shrugged. “Too damn bad. Consider it payback. I’m sure I owe you. I’ve been put in some pretty tough positions because of you.”

I couldn’t argue there. The wolf pup had suffered much throughout the past year. Learning of my twin flame bond with Alexa had caused him undeserved pain. I was sure that it contributed in many ways to the recent changes in Shaz.

“You should never have let Alexa start feeding from you after you came back to town,” I said, accepting defeat.

“Probably not,” Shaz agreed. “But if we all did the things we should do and avoided those we shouldn’t, we wouldn’t be here right now. Would we?”

“Touché.” As an afterthought I added, “You really piss me off, you know that?”

He continued to stare at me with intense wolf eyes. All it did was remind me of Alexa, and I knew that’s what this was really about. Shaz and I reminded each other of her. It was only natural that we’d seek out comfort in one another. Tasting Shaz’s blood would be bittersweet. No doubt it would flash me back to the night I wished I could forget. I was going to do it anyway. It wasn’t in me to refuse such an offer.

Turning my back on Shaz, I entered the living room and took a seat at the end of the couch. The anticipation that gripped me as I watched him come to me was greater than any I’d experienced all night so far. His approach was slow, calculated. He might have been the one to ask for it, but he knew how this worked. Rushing it wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable for either of us.

Wearing an expression that was somehow both cocky and nervous, Shaz sat on the opposite end of the couch.

“Let’s not make this any weirder than it has to be,” he said, facing me with expectation.

I suppressed the urge to laugh but just barely. I did, however, grace him with a broad, fang-revealing grin. “So no hand job?”

His pulse quickened ever so slightly. I could hear the pace of his heart, and if I concentrated, even the rush of blood through his veins. “Don’t even fucking joke about that.” A blush colored his cheeks, and he tensed. “I’m trusting you not to take advantage of me.”

“Settle down, pup. I didn’t say who would be giving the hand job. I’m sure we can work something out.” With a wink and a snicker, I moved fast, pasting him up against the arm of the couch.

It brought me great amusement to make Shaz squirm. It was so easy. His sudden apprehension tickled my appetite. The random strangers from earlier tonight had failed to arouse my bloodlust quite like the young werewolf did. Having a personal history with him made it that much more enticing.

Face to face, we stared into one another. My amusement faded. The musky wolf scent of Shaz reached inside me to a place where my best memories dwelled. It made me ache for the woman we both shared.

“Last chance to change your mind,” I said, but my gaze had fallen to his throat, and I had no intention of allowing him to make that call.

Shaz didn’t speak. He sat frozen but willing. I reached for him first with a gentle pulse of power. An invisible touch, it elicited the response I sought. Shaz’s breath quickened and he relaxed.

Just a few inches separated us. As close as we were, we didn’t touch. Not yet.

There was a brief space of time where I considered forcing my way into Alexa’s thoughts, making her watch this. It was a cruel idea but one that might encourage a response from her. I didn’t consider it for very long.

The energy flowed between Shaz and me. An erotically charged force, it wrapped him in a cloak of sensuality. If there’d been a shred of resistance left in him, it vanished then. He leaned forward in mesmerized wonder, entirely under the influence of my thrall.

I laid a hand on the side of his face, ensuring his gaze never slipped from mine. Then I slid it up into his hair where I grabbed a handful of soft platinum.

We were fantastically close. I could have kissed him without moving. At one time I had done just that. But it would only take things down a path Shaz was reluctant to walk. Forcing him was not an option. Despite what he might think, I had immense respect for him.

He stared at me with wide, eager eyes. He leaned into my touch, enjoying the tight grip of my hand in his hair. Arousal surrounded him like a puff of smoke. Wisps of it reached to taunt me, testing my control.

With my free hand, I traced a finger over the vein in his neck, feeling the pulse throb beneath the surface. Already I was impatient for the moment when I would spill Shaz’s blood. I longed to have that heady wolf nectar racing through me.

There was only one thing missing. Alexa. With her between us, Shaz and I moved in tandem, anticipating the other’s actions and moving to accommodate. We worked as a team, a natural ebb and flow of power with her acting as the conduit between us. It was magical.

I felt her absence in a poignant way. Finding an echo of my emotion mirrored in Shaz, I jerked myself out of my moment of self-pity.

With more aggression than intended, I tugged Shaz’s head to the side and fixated on the glorious expanse of his neck. The sound of his heartbeat grew louder in my ears. His excitement encouraged me.

Unable to resist the urge, I pressed my mouth to his warm flesh and dragged my tongue over the surface. The clean, salty taste of him unleashed a torrent of desire within me that the human victims from hours ago had failed to do. The ghost of Alexa’s wolf took notice of her mate and pawed at my insides.

Shaz let out the breath he’d been holding in a long, gratified sigh. I took advantage of his lusty response to me and teased him with a slight scrape of fangs. He shuddered and groaned, flooding me with erotic energy that I happily swam in.

There were so many places I could take this wolf if he would only let me. It wasn’t the first time I’d imagined such things. His ferocity and virility made him a very desirable partner. One like Shaz couldn’t truly be victimized. He was much too fierce for that.

Finally I decided that I’d driven the energy level high enough. Needing to extinguish the flame that threatened to burn out of control, I bared my fangs and bit deep. Shaz stiffened and gasped. Blood bubbled up around my fangs, and I withdrew them to capture it with my tongue. The rush of drawing on both his arousal and his blood had my erection straining against my pants.

Sucking at the wound resulted in Shaz slumping against the back of the couch. He slung an arm around my neck, holding tight as I swirled my tongue over the bite.

Jenner’s sudden return shattered the moment. He strode into the room clad in only sweat pants, running a comb through his short hair. He stopped short at finding us locked in a forbidden embrace. The surprise on his face was fake. I knew he’d felt it the second I called the power to enthrall Shaz.

We broke apart. Shaz leaned as far away as he could get, given the tiny amount of space he had on the couch. Licking the blood from my lips, I moved away, to the recliner chair that was my favorite.

“Sorry for the interruption,” Jenner said though he was far more amused than apologetic.

“Sure you are.” I shot him a venomous glare.

Ignoring me, Jenner fetched the laptop from the kitchen table and took it into the spare bedroom. What a bastard.

I studied Shaz, feeling like I should say something but not knowing where to begin. For a long time he sat there in silence, staring unblinking at the coffee table.

“Why doesn’t she want to be here with us?” Finally he spoke though he didn’t look my way. “What could possibly keep her from being where she belongs?”

I considered the best reply, settling on the truth. “Shaz, you can’t take it personally. It’s fear that keeps her away. Fear of me, of what I did to her. And fear of what she’ll do to you. Only time will heal that wound.”

“How can that possibly happen? Too much time apart will break you both down. It’s happening already. We are the ones who keep her balanced. I can’t stop asking myself why she’d rather be with him instead.”

Shaz sat stiffly, his shoulders slumped. This whole ordeal was giving him a complex. If Alexa didn’t come to her senses soon, she might very well cause irreparable damage.

“She’s running, Shaz. I spent several decades doing the same thing. It was hard to accept what she and I were to one another. I ran from the truth too.” I paused, seeking the best way to make him understand. “The longer she’s with him, the more obvious it will become to her that she doesn’t belong there. And all we can do in the meantime is wait.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Long after Shaz left, I sat in the recliner with my sketchpad on my lap and pencil in hand. I’d forced two cups of coffee into him, ensuring he was all right to drive before turning him loose.

All things considered, Shaz was handling this all pretty well. His acceptance of my role in Alexa’s death was surprising. He’d fought every revelation so far. Something had changed in him during his time away. It was both impressive and disconcerting.

My mind wandered as the sound of the pencil scratching against the page filled the silence. The last year had brought with it much change. A little more than a year ago Alexa and I had come together, igniting the spark that bound us, setting so much in motion.

Waiting for that moment to happen naturally had been hell. For three years I’d made it my business to be in her life, to let her know that I was here and watchful. I could only hope she would feel what I felt. For a while I hadn’t been sure. Putting myself in her path had earned me some distrust on her part. Eventually that wall had come down. Making the decision to find her had been one of the most trying I’d ever made. It had cost me a lot.

I could still see the look on Harley’s face when I had told him I was leaving. We had been in the lavish estate he owned outside of Vegas. A harem of men and woman lounged about, ready and willing to please their vampire master.

Harley had sprang out of a bed full of people, naked and angry. “What the hell do you mean you’re going to Canada? Is this about that fucking werewolf? The bitch doesn’t even exist, Arys. It’s all in your head.”

“And if she does?” I challenged, ignoring his attempt to intimidate me with his overbearing presence and hard, black eyes.

“You’re crazy, you know that?” He snarled, grabbing a robe viciously from a waiting servant. Tying it loosely about his waist, he rounded on me with an ugly mask of accusation. “All you ever think about is yourself. Has it ever occurred to you that I need you here?”

The irony of his accusation wasn’t lost on me. Having the most selfish vampire I’d ever met call me selfish was growing tiresome. “How can you possibly need me?” I gestured to the fantastic display of human toys lying about the house, waiting for their master to play with them again. “It looks like you have your hands full. I’m sure you won’t miss me at all.”

A nude woman with long hair and perky breasts sidled up to offer herself to the both of us. Harley inclined his head, silently asking if I would partake with him. I shook my head. My bags were packed.

“My flight leaves at midnight,” I said. “I’ve let you hold me back long enough. This is something I have to do, and if you can’t understand that then we don’t have anything left to say to each other.”

Harley’s gaze narrowed, and he shoved the woman away. Advancing on me, he got in my face, testing my restraint. “After everything I’ve done for you for all of these years, you just up and leave me?” Harley looked aghast, as if he hadn’t known this was coming. “How could you?”

I stared at him, wondering how in the hell I’d managed to put up with him for three centuries. Of course, much of that time had been spent apart, as I could only stand to be around him for so long before it drove me to isolation.

Becoming a vampire had never been my choice. I had been targeted. Chosen. What I thought was a lonely blonde in need of some company had turned out to be Sloane, one of Harley’s first vampires. She had lured me in, drained me dry. And he had turned me. Now I was his. Or so he liked to think.

Our relationship had been doomed from the start. A man like Harley needed to be surrounded by those of weaker will, which I was not. For a time we’d had fun together. Enjoying rich parties where the guests were all on the menu had led us to make many enjoyable, bloody memories together. But we had never really bonded. I had never been able to bring myself to respect or even like him. Though I did love him in the twisted way that vampires love their makers.

I stopped trying to understand that complicated emotion soon after becoming a vampire. How I felt about Harley Kayson would never make sense to me.

One thing I knew for certain was that I’d been dreaming about a woman for almost a century now, and he would not be the one to stop me from finding her. She was out there. I could feel her calling me. A call I had to answer.

“You won’t even notice I’m gone. You have Jenner and Sloane. And the others. Not to mention these pathetic whelps. I’ll send a postcard.”

It was antagonistic, but I didn’t give a damn. Letting Harley know about the dreams had been my first mistake. Letting him keep me here this long had been the second.

“Do you think I’m going to just let you walk out on me?” The venom in Harley’s tone held the assurance of the fight to come. “I made you, Sindarys. You are mine.”

The delusional ramblings of the Vegas master grew more disturbed the longer I stayed. I shouldn’t have put it off so long. “Don’t call me that.” My tone brooked no room for argument. “I don’t belong to you. I never have. Let’s not have a replay of the last time you said that.”

It had ended in a brawl so bad that it had taken three vampires to split us up. I was sure that one of us would eventually kill the other. I didn’t want it to have to be today though I was willing if that’s what it took to finally walk free of him.

“This is your home. You belong here. Come, let’s go to bed. I picked out a fresh young thing just for you.” Harley grabbed for my arm. When I jerked out of reach, he flung a roiling psi ball at me in an angry outburst.

It exploded against my chest, thrusting me backward into an ornate marble statue. It was one of several throughout the house. The thing wobbled on its perch before toppling over, smashing into pieces on the floor.

Resisting the sudden need for retaliation proved difficult. I’d hoped I could be the one to keep a level head. Harley’s outburst had been expected.

“It’s a shame you can’t support me on this,” I said, trying to reason with him. “I told you because I thought you gave a damn. Now I wish I’d never said anything at all about her.”

“Her,” he spat. “You don’t even know her name. You’re chasing a dream. Don’t expect to have a place here when you come back. If you walk out on me now, Arys—”

“Well, maybe I won’t be coming back.” My interruption momentarily silenced him. “If I find her, I won’t have a reason to.”

We stared stonily at one another. Rather than wait for him to take another shot at me, I chose to walk away.

It had taken me years to accept the things I’d been told by the old witch I had gone to see. That had been over a century ago, yet sometimes it felt like just yesterday. Each passing night contributed to each passing year, bringing me closer to a fate I both feared and hungered for. I had to answer this call.

I left him standing there fuming. It was anyone’s guess as to how long he’d wait before rushing after me.

When I crossed through the front sitting room on my way to the door, I found Sloane and Jenner entertaining an elegantly dressed human couple. The two of them had formed a partnership of sorts. They liked to tag team their victims, posing as just another friendly couple.

Jenner had spent a lot of time in Sloane’s bed since she had brought him home for Harley. Though as much time as they spent as lovers, they never seemed to really love one another. Love was a complicated thing for vampires. It was hard to have a genuine emotion toward another in this coven that wasn’t rooted in loathing.

“Excuse me a moment,” Sloane cooed to her guests, playing the role of gracious hostess. She rushed after me, grabbing hold of my arm in the foyer. “Are you really leaving?”

“Are you really asking me that? Of course I’m leaving. Do me a favor? Try to keep him from coming after me.”

I tried to pull away, but she wouldn’t let go. “If you walk out on him, he will never forgive you, Arys.”

“I’m not walking out on anyone. This isn’t about him. I don’t expect any of you to understand.” Repeating myself was growing tiresome. For too long I’d let my vampire family hold me back. No more.

“Good. Because we don’t.” Jenner’s snide tone drew my gaze to where he stood just inside the large, open foyer. “Don’t you think you’ve destroyed enough in this ridiculous pursuit of a woman that doesn’t exist? Or was murdering my fiancé not enough for you?”

“Here we go again,” muttered Sloane.

Walk away. Just walk away.

“Jenner, that was decades ago. Get over it.” I was not in the mood to rehash that particular part of history. Jenner, however, was always seeking a way to throw it in my face.

Becoming a vampire had been a liberating experience. Despite Harley’s overbearing personality and constant need to control others, I’d flourished as a vampire. Not only did I enjoy it, I was damn good at it. I operated on instinct. Hunting, feeding, and regretting nothing. But what I did to Jenner…I did regret that.

It was a dreadful mistake. Tormented by dreams of Alexa, I had sought comfort in the beautiful blonde Jenner had fallen for. Ultimately I’d killed her for not being Alexa.

Harley blamed Jenner for falling in love with a human. It was unfair considering Harley himself had latched onto each of us while we were still human. Playing favorites, Harley pit us against each other. By encouraging dissention among those of us he created, he ensured we never really bonded. I was always certain he did it on purpose so we wouldn’t rally together against him.

“It’s better if you go,” Jenner decided, as if his opinion mattered. “Don’t come back.”

“Jenner,” Sloane admonished. She drifted over to him, grasping his arm and squeezing. “Don’t say such things. You were friends once. Brothers. Don’t throw that away over one human woman.”

He cast her a scathing look. She peered up at him with wide, enchanting eyes, oblivious to his disgust.

“Take care of each other, ok?” Having nothing more to say, I turned to leave. And found Harley standing right behind me.

He was smooth. Powerful and stealthy, he’d cloaked his energy and come around the house from outside in order to head me off at the door. He had abandoned the robe in favor of silken lounge pants. Without a word, he backhanded me.

It was a blow fueled by rage and power. There wasn’t a lot to hit in the foyer so I bounced rather harmlessly off the wall. I picked myself up and faced him with a wrath that had been three centuries in the making.

I tried to leave in peace. Harley was determined to keep that from happening. If a fight was what he wanted, then a fight he would get. With a frustrated war cry, I rushed him. Launching myself at him, I took him to the floor and began to throw punches. Each one was backed by power, causing his head to snap from side to side with each blow. It was a beating I’d been dying to give him for years.

Sloane’s shout for us to stop went ignored. Jenner stood by and watched with amusement as I fed our sire hit after hit. It became a futile effort when he ceased to defend himself. Laughter rippled from Harley, fueling my hatred.

“Oh, Arys, this is why I love you so,” he managed to get out between punches. “So wonderfully aggressive. Your spirit is unbreakable.”

He allowed me to pummel him, likely expecting that I would soon get it all out of my system. When I didn’t let up, Harley flung a hand up in my face, slamming me with a psi ball big enough to blast a hole in the wall.

I landed painfully on the floor just inside the sitting room. Sloane and Jenner’s human friends gasped and fled for the door. Before I could get up, Harley was there, dragging me to my feet by my shirtfront.

“I will kill you before I let you walk out on me,” he viciously spat the words in my face.

Unfazed by the damage I’d done to his face, he threw me against the wall, driving his foot into my stomach when I slid to the floor on my hands and knees. Again and again his foot connected with my middle. The sound of bones cracking was almost as painful as the sensation. When his foot came at me again, I grabbed hold of it and twisted hard. There was a snap that brought him down beside me.

Shoving to my feet, I grabbed Harley around the throat and flung him. He sailed across the room to land on the glass-topped coffee table. It shattered beneath him, and he hit the carpet in a shower of glass.

I almost went after him again. Using the few precious seconds I’d bought myself, I glanced about the room. The fireplace caught my eye. Before the thought had finished forming, I was there, grabbing a flaming log from the hearth.

I clenched my jaw against the pain as it scorched my hands. I threw the log onto the couch where the human couple had just been sitting. The flames quickly began to eat at the fabric. Grabbing another, I tossed it at the window where the long, gauzy drapes immediately caught fire. The third I flung at Harley himself who shouted at me to stop. I took hold of the iron fireplace poker and used it to sweep another log from the hearth and onto the floor. Wielding the poker like a weapon, I headed for the door.

The fire moved fast through the sitting room, engulfing the furniture. Harley shrieked, his words lost in the uproar that broke out as other occupants of the house realized what was going on.

As I hurried through the foyer, I was only mildly surprised to find that Jenner and Sloane had vacated. The door hung open, and I followed them out into the hot Nevada night.

“Arys?” Jenner’s voice broke through the memory, pulling me back to reality.

I sat up in bed blinking at him in confusion. It took a moment to remember what year it was. Setting Harley’s house on fire had happened years ago, but it felt like I’d just been there.

“You left him behind,” I said, shaking my head to clear my thoughts. When had I left the living room?

“What are you talking about?” Jenner stood over me beside the bed, a brow raised and arms crossed.

“Harley. The night I set his house on fire. You and Sloane, you ran and you left him behind. And he never held it against you.” I wasn’t sure why I was saying this. It didn’t matter now. Harley was dead.

Jenner studied me in such an inquisitive way that I knew he was questioning the stability of my mental faculties. He sat on the edge of my bed, keeping as much distance between us as possible.

“He didn’t love us enough to feel betrayed.” His tone was very matter of fact. “You’re the one that left him. He never got over that.”

That was an understatement. Harley had been patient, waiting until I found Alexa before following me to Edmonton. In his warped way of thinking, he had believed he could simply come here and claim us both. It hadn’t worked out that way. Alexa killed him with Shaz at her side.

Feeling him slip away from this world had been bittersweet. It was like a dream finally come true. Yet he was my sire, and as much as I hated him, I hated that she took him from me.

“I’m glad she killed him,” I murmured, not so much to Jenner as to myself. “I would never have done it myself.”

Stopping Alexa from killing him once had been a mistake. It had forced her to take matters into her own hands. I was still ashamed of my reaction. Slamming her against the bar at The Wicked Kiss while accusing her of manipulating me was one of my most shameful moments.

Jenner gave a slight nod. “To be honest, I’m glad she did it too. Though I’ll never say so in front of the others, and I’ll deny it if you ever bring it up.”

A glare hardened my face. “What the fuck, Jenner? You threw a temper tantrum about it only a month or so ago.”

He shrugged, offering no explanation. We both knew it was in his nature to be a showman. It was all about the drama for Jenner.

The memory that had haunted me faded, and I let it go. I wondered if Harley ever hated himself for being the one that ensured I would still exist during Alexa’s lifetime.  Joke’s on you, asshole.

“It’s almost sunset. You actually fell asleep.” Rising, Jenner angled toward the door.

“I fell into a nightmare.” I rubbed a hand over my face, feeling out of sorts.

“So what’s the plan for tonight? Don’t tell me you’re going to sit in that shitty old chair and draw. You look like shit. Your energy feels fragmented. You need to get your girl back before this gets any worse.”

This whole moping around thing would go a lot smoother if Jenner would just go home. He was right, though I wasn’t about to admit it.

“Actually, no, I’m not planning on sitting at home tonight.” I shoved a hand through my mess of hair and met Jenner’s curious blue gaze. “I’m going to have a little talk with Kale Sinclair.”

CHAPTER FIVE

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Jenner didn’t hide his skepticism. “I’ll be honest. Going alone pretty much guarantees that you’ll kill him.”

“I’m not going to kill him,” I insisted though I wasn’t entirely sure about that. “I just want to talk, man to man. Vampire to vampire. Whatever.”

There was no convincing Jenner. I couldn’t even convince myself, though I had no genuine intent to kill Sinclair. Oh, I wanted to. There was no doubt about that. But I loved Alexa more than I hated Sinclair. I was counting on that to help me keep the peace.

“How do you know they aren’t together?” Jenner pressed. “I thought you said she shut you out.”

“She did. I’ve got someone on the inside. Jez called an hour ago. She said Alexa and Kale each left his house at different times tonight in different cars. This is the best time for me to approach him.”

Jenner tsked and shook a finger at me. “Getting her friends involved…for shame, Arys. For shame.”

“Shut it,” I said, flippant and uncaring. “I’m not the only one worried about her. Jez knows how bad Kale and Alexa are for each other. She just wants to help.”

“Ok, man, whatever. Don’t say I didn’t warn you if you lose your temper and leave him in a pile of dust.” Jenner mimed washing his hands to show that he had cleansed himself of the situation.

I rolled my eyes. “Here’s where you come in. I want you to follow Alexa. See what she’s up to and make sure she’s ok.”

“Are you crazy? Then I’ll be the one left in a pile of dust. And that is not what I came here for.”

“No, you came to be a royal pain in my ass. So you might as well do something useful as long as you’re still here.”

He punched me hard in the shoulder but relented. “She’ll feel me coming. I’ll have to show myself.”

“I know. Just see what she’s up to. Make sure she’s fine, mentally. Tell her I love her.”

Jenner groaned, feigning a stake in the heart. “You’re going to get me killed. Seriously, Arys, you owe me fucking big. When Vegas is a mess and I call, you damn well better come.”

“Vegas is always a mess. Let’s be realistic here.”

“True enough.”

We stopped by Alexa’s empty house where I helped myself to the Jaguar locked up in the garage. It never moved these days. She wouldn’t miss it.

After leaving Jenner with the Jag and instructions to call me when he tracked Alexa down, I hit the highway with only one thing in mind: Sinclair. It would be easy enough to find him. Nobody had the sickly sweet energy that he possessed. Besides, he was predictable; I knew where he would be.

Not for a moment did I hesitate outside The Wicked Kiss after arriving. I glowered at the sign above the door before shooting the same vicious look at Sinclair’s Camaro. The motherfucker was here.  Good.

I strode into the blood den formerly owned by my sire, currently owned by Sinclair and my twin flame. That fact never ceased to irritate me. With a nod to the guys working the door, I shoved by the line of people waiting to get in and broke through into the heart of the nightclub.

Right away my gaze landed on Sinclair. He leaned across the bar, speaking to the bartender. We were going to have an audience. I could only hope that would be enough to hold my temper in check. Slow, with human speed, I approached. I was halfway to him when he felt my presence. He turned to face me, his expression expectant and not at all as surprised as I’d have liked.

“Arys,” he said, calm and cool. His abnormal eyes narrowed as he assessed me.

“Sinclair.” My tone was ice cold. I had perfected my poker face during many years in Las Vegas; it was perfectly in place now. “Where is she?”

I was oblivious to our surroundings. Staring at Sinclair, all I could think about was how he had to be sleeping with Alexa and how much I wanted to reach for my power.

“She needed some time alone. She said there was something she had to take care of.” He offered me nothing else. It had to be taking great restraint for him to keep from flaunting his victory in my face.

I didn’t want to ask, but I needed to know. “How is she doing?”

Sinclair leaned against the bar, but there was tension in his stance. He was ready for a fight. “Do you want the truth?” He didn’t wait for my nod. “She’s fucking miserable without you. She doesn’t say so, but I can see it. Turning has been hard on her. It’s going to take some time for her to come to terms with that. But we went through it. She can too.”

His words brought me the first shred of relief I’d experienced since the night I’d killed her. Knowing that Alexa suffered without me was both heartwarming and soul crushing. God, how I missed that woman.

Mimicking his posture, I leaned against the bar and crossed my arms. “The FPA has been tracking your activity. Juliet knows that Alexa has been killing. Anything you’d like to say about that?”

Sinclair didn’t budge, but the guilt was in his gaze. “I don’t owe you an explanation for anything. I’m not sure what you’re trying to achieve by coming here. Are you just checking up on Alexa, or is this something else?”

He didn’t trust me, nor should he. I was ready to hurt him the first time he bit Alexa. Then came their one night together, and I was overcome with the desire to kill him. That didn’t even include his attempt to rape and kill her, and though Alexa blamed the FPA building for bringing out the worst in him that night, I knew the building could only bring out the truth that lay buried inside. I knew because it had done it to me too.

My temper flared. I clenched and unclenched my jaw while telling myself that I was capable of having this conversation without tearing his head off his shoulders.

“Last night I stood beside your victims with Juliet O’Brien promising me that she would hunt Alexa if the public kills don’t stop. Juliet’s pinning it on the rebel vamps, but that will only buy Alexa so much time. Don’t stand there and tell me you don’t owe me an explanation. You can go off the deep end if you want to, Kale, but you have no right to take Alexa with you.”

The first hint of anger seeped from him. A scowl twisted his face into a mask of derision. “You are so transparent,” he mused with bitter laughter. “You made her a killer, and yet I’m the one to blame when she kills. How very convenient for you, Arys. Does that self-righteous attitude make it possible for you to live with yourself?”

He flung that barb with precision. It stung. I smiled. Moving swiftly, I grabbed Sinclair and dragged him close. Glaring into his face, I snarled, “Are you fucking my wolf?”

A slow smirk slid across his face, and he chuckled. “I’m not going to answer that. For one thing, it’s none of your damn business. And for another, you don’t really want to know.”

If I focused on his sickening, syrupy energy I could feel Alexa there. All over him. It was no answer to my question, but it said enough.

I slammed him against the bar. He stared at me with the look of one who had been wanting this encounter as long as I had. Though Sinclair wasn’t as powerful as I was, he ran a pretty close second. Going toe to toe with him would end badly for one of us.

“She doesn’t belong with you, and you know it. If you really wanted what was best for her, you would know it’s time to back off.” I shook him as I spoke, vibrating with the effort it took not to take his head off.

Shadows moved behind his oddly colored eyes. His hands shot out, and he shoved me away with enough aggression to pique my interest.

“I don’t claim to know what’s best for Alexa. Unlike you, I’d rather allow her to make her own decisions.” Holding both hands up in invitation, Sinclair taunted me. “So is this it? Are you going to kill me? Just another decision made for Alexa, right?”

The son of a bitch was crossing the line. His knowing jab struck me in a raw place. I hated him so much more for being right.

I threw the punch without thinking. It connected with enough force to bounce him off the bar. The people standing nearby were quick to move. Nobody wanted to be in the way of a vampire fight.

Sinclair rubbed his jaw and shrugged. I felt him reach for his power. He was humming with the stink of it.

“No power,” I said. “Just you and me. Come on.”

The bastard laughed, a long, forced laugh that died on a sour note. “Is that why you came? So you could make yourself feel better by sending me back to her with broken bones? All right then. Let’s get this over with.” He paused, considering his next words. “It’s funny how you think you’ve got a right to be pissed. Every night she’s with me, she’s pining for you. And you’re the one who’s mad? Fuck that.”

The punch he threw came hard and fast. It momentarily stunned me. The bartender shouted at us to take it outside. We both ignored him.

“You’re taking advantage of her,” I accused, swinging first one fist then the other. The satisfying crunch of his nose beneath my knuckles wasn’t enough. “There is nothing she can learn from a batshit crazy bastard like you.”

Our hands were a blur as they flew. Each of us took as many hits as we landed. It felt good, like I’d needed to work this out for some time now. The damage was temporary; we would both heal quickly. However, the pain I was able to cause him in the moment did wonders for me on a therapeutic level.

“That’s right, Arys. Get it all out. Let me have it.” With blood dripping from his nose, Kale egged me on. “Show me how crazy it makes you to spend your days wondering if Alexa is in my bed.”

To follow his snide remark, he threw a right hook that snapped my head sideways. I caught the next one that came my way, twisting his wrist until I felt a pop. He only grunted.

Crazy people didn’t make the best brawl opponents. They were too unpredictable. I never saw it coming when he flipped me over his shoulder. Using my own momentum, Sinclair ducked a shoulder beneath me, effectively scooping me up and tossing me onto the floor. It would have winded a human, but as I didn’t need to breathe, I was on my feet, whirling to face him.

Finding Shaz standing between us with hands raised was unexpected.

He held a hand out toward each of us. “Have you idiots both completely lost it?”

Like a petulant child, Sinclair muttered, “He threw the first punch.”

In a sudden move neither of us anticipated, Shaz threw a heavy fist at Kale, knocking the vampire back a few feet.

“Sorry,” he said, shaking his hand and cursing. “I owed you that one.”

Rubbing his jaw, Kale stared stonily at the ballsy wolf but didn’t retaliate. Raw, unfettered hatred slid from him to taint the atmosphere.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded, turning my anger on the wolf pup.

“Stopping you from making an ass of yourself from the looks of it.” His green gaze darted back and forth between us as if he was afraid to look away from either one of us for too long.

“Go home, Shaz. You shouldn’t be here. This is no place for wolves.”

“Don’t fucking go there,” he warned before turning his focus on Kale. To him he said with a scowl, “Where’s Lex?”

“Enjoying some time alone,” Kale replied with a vicious smirk. “Though I can’t imagine why she would want to get away from all of us. Can you?”

It was both awkward and painful to be standing there with the both of them. I hated what we each represented, the different pieces of who she was. Inside I knew that she and I were one, made as two parts of one whole. Yet staring at Shaz and Sinclair, I knew it just wasn’t that simple. The burden of our bond was the endless cycle of conflict that Alexa and I were destined to share. It made our love a thing of beauty colored with pain and torment.

“That’s not an answer.” Shaz appeared calm though I knew he could snap in a heartbeat. “Why doesn’t she want to see us?”

“Us?” I echoed. “Or you?”

Sinclair cast a scathing glance at us each in turn. “You two are really pathetic, you know that? Your concern seems incredibly trivial and selfish.”

“I guess you would know.” It wasn’t the most clever of responses, but I wasn’t feeling particularly witty. I was fuming, needing to release the mounting frustration.

“I can’t tell you why she’s not ready, just that she isn’t and that you both need to respect that. What I can tell you though,” Sinclair paused, meeting my gaze with a vicious smile, “is that she still tastes like wolf.”

I snapped. That kind of taunt just could not go unpunished. Hurling myself at him, I was a blur. Shaz’s shouts were lost amid the rest of the noise. People shrieked as we crashed into them, knocking them about in the commotion.

Justin and a few other staff members jumped into the chaos. It took seven vampires to split us up. Somehow I retained enough sense to keep from blasting them all to hell. My hands burned with blue and gold, taunting me with the part of her that lived within me.

“Fuck,” I hissed, wrenching free of Justin’s bear-like grip.

Unable to look at Sinclair’s face another second, I stormed from the building with enough fury that people got out of my way as they saw me coming. I couldn’t destroy him. I just could not let my rage drive me to that point because, as much as I’d enjoy it, Alexa would be devastated. I couldn’t do that to her.

Like salt poured on the wound came the unwelcome awareness that Kale and I were not so different. Rumor had it that he had stepped in to deal with the rebels on my behalf while I was away in Vegas. He had thwarted an assassination attempt on me, and he had only done it for Alexa. The same way I was now sparing him for her.

I asked myself, as I had so many times before, why did I bother? Why did I fight so hard for this woman? The answer was always the same. She was what made me more than a vampire, more than a creature of the night. She gave me purpose and meaning. Without her, I was nothing.

Before Shaz could grab my arm, I spun to fend him off. “Go home, pup. This is a bad time for you to be here.”

“Don’t start with me, Arys. I’m not the enemy. At least, not tonight.” He fell into step beside me.

“No, the enemy is me. I did this. I made her vampire, and I drove her into Sinclair’s bed.” I stopped suddenly and held my hands out. “Want to take a shot at me too? You might as well. You always want to.”

Shaz grinned but it lacked mirth. “Not always. Usually, but not always. You could’ve really taken things from bad to worse in there.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t. I do have some self-control, pup, regardless of what you may think. Although I’m about to go and lose that control now.” I cast an angry glance back at The Wicked Kiss. That name itself had been the bane of my existence long before I knew Alexa.

Suspicion curved Shaz’s lips into a stern frown. “Should I ask?”

“I’d rather you not. Is there somewhere else you can be? Neither of us should be here tonight.”

My expression remained neutral as did my tone. It was no concern of mine what Shaz did. Not really. And yet, it was. No way in hell was I leaving him to become a victim of The Wicked Kiss again.

“Yeah, actually I’m heading to Doghead.” He took a few tentative steps toward his car, unwilling to take his gaze off me, as if he didn’t think it was a good idea. “So, I’ll catch you later then. Call me if anything comes up.”

Alexa. That’s what he meant.

“Will do. Take it easy.”

I waited for him to get in his car and drive away. I hated to doubt him, but he was not going to fall back into the blood whore scene. Not on my watch.

Truth be told, the pup had grown on me over the last year. Sure he made me want to hit things in a way very few others did, but he had proven himself to be worthy of both respect and Alexa.

I knew damn well that if I had only lived a human life, I would never have lived in her lifetime, but Shaz still would have. Our twin flame union survived outside the natural law. It was meant to exist, but it came at a price, which ultimately meant that Shaz was the one she was meant to be with. Not me.

That’s what made everything so fucking complicated. She was mine, meant to be mine, and yet she was also his. I’d accepted it from the start. What choice did I have? Shaz was still coming around. And Alexa, well, she was understandably conflicted and more than likely ready to tell us all to fuck off.

Shaz was the only one though. The only man I could share her with. The only one I trusted to take care of her if something ever happened to me.

Alexa had recently gotten it into her head that she needed to distance herself from him. I did not agree. She was feeling guilty about things that were not within her control. It would pass.

When I was sure Shaz was long gone, I too left. No sense sticking around now. My encounter with Kale had gone exactly as planned. Unfortunately, it hadn’t left me feeling as good as I’d anticipated.

As I’d told the pup, I sought out a scenario in which I could abandon self-control and unleash the horrible need to feel something die. Less than an hour later, I had a grown man on his knees begging for his life.

Needing to punish someone in Kale’s place, I had sought out that person at a biker bar. It was a location guaranteed to breed assholes in need of a beating. Or worse.

It was ridiculously easy to instigate a fight. In the parking lot of a seedy bar, I released the killer within. Begging served only to add fuel to my fire. Reducing a monster of a man to a sniveling wretch brought me only a moment of pleasure. Still, it was enough.

After it was over, I stared down at the dead man. His blood decorated my face. I tasted it on my lips. Had he deserved to die this way? Hell if I knew. I was beyond caring.

I never considered getting rid of the body. It was massacred. Nothing about the mess I’d made indicated an obvious vampire kill. It was someone else’s problem now.

The awareness of being watched settled over me. Vampire. Not only that but a vampire I had created.

Forgetting the dead biker, I slipped down the street, continuing on until I felt the presence follow as I’d expected. Only when we were safely away from human eyes did I turn and confront my watcher.

He was tall and lanky with long hair the color of black drugstore dye. Having lived only nineteen human years, he was remarkably powerful for one so new. Thanks to my blood and his own dark powers, he emanated an almost palpable force.

“What do you want, Gabriel?”

CHAPTER SIX

Gabriel held up both hands in a show of peace. “I just want to talk, Arys.”

I regarded him as if he were no more than an inconvenience, which he was. Turning him had been a choice made out of necessity rather than want. It had been a small price to pay to get rid of Shya’s mark.

“So talk.”

His presence caused me to be wary. He was Shya’s pet, but worse than that, he was also a deadly weapon. Anyone who aligned themselves with a demon could not be allowed an iota of trust. That was a level of darkness that few descended to. I might have been dark, but I wasn’t sell-my-soul dark. Or maybe that was wishful thinking. Either way, Gabriel was a threat, and I was prepared to treat him as such.

“I felt like I had to find you,” he said, standing awkwardly with one hand grasping the wrist of the opposite arm. “Obviously it’s because we’re linked. I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry shit got so crazy. I don’t want you to see me as an enemy.”

Though his body language was less than confident, his tone was strong. One day he could make a great vampire. Provided he survived long enough to master his many abilities without losing his sanity in the process.

“Your closest ally is the demon who just tried to sacrifice the woman I love. That speaks for itself.” I half expected the demon in question to make an unwelcome appearance.

“I guess it does,” he agreed. Shuffling his feet, he stared at the scuffed toes of his running shoes. It was a strong reminder that he was so young. Almost human still. But now he was a vicious killer.

“Where is Shya anyway?” I asked. “Still off licking his wounds?”

Gabriel raised a brow and a thin smile changed his face into something almost malicious. “Oh, he’s around.”

“I’ll take that to mean that he’s lying low because Willow now has enough power to make Shya his bitch,” I chuckled.

“I didn’t come to talk about him. I came to talk about you.”

“What about me? If you’ve got a point, kid, get to it. I have places to be.” Crossing my arms, I issued a silent challenge: impress me or get lost.

“I’m sure that I’m just tempting fate by even being here, but I was sure you or Alexa would hunt me down. And since you haven’t, well, I need to know where I stand with you. Are you going to kill me? Or…?”

It was ballsy; that was for sure. Gabriel’s courage was impressive. However, I figured it had more to do with the fact that he spent a lot of time with demons. I suspected that he didn’t see me as much of a threat anymore, assuming that we were on an even playing field. He was wrong.

I doubted his true intentions were to find out if I wanted him dead or not. If anything he’d been sent by his demon master to do a little recon. If Shya thought Gabriel had an in with me because I’d turned him, he was mistaken.

To prove this, I snapped my fingers, pleased when Gabriel dropped, his hands going to his head as he cried out in pain.

“Do you think I’m stupid enough to believe you came here to make peace with me? You’re just a puppet with a demon’s hand up your ass. Give me a break, kid.”

“No,” he grunted. “I’m here of my own free will. Shya has nothing to do with this. I swear.”

I was disappointed when he didn’t fight back. I knew he had it in him. When he continued to cower there clutching his head, I eased up. It was just no fun if they don’t fight back.

Grabbing him by the front of his jacket so as not to touch him, I dragged him close and glared into his youthful face. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you.”

“I never wanted to harm you or Alexa,” he stammered. “Not really. I only helped Shya because I knew Alexa would rise again if she died as his sacrifice.”

“That’s the only reason you helped Shya?” I shook my head in disbelief. “So it had nothing to do with the power and prestige he promised you?”

He gave a slight nod that lacked commitment. “Ok, maybe it had something to do with that. But I wouldn’t have done it if anyone innocent had to die. I promise. I knew she would be ok.”

“Shut. Up.” I gave him a shake, and he fell silent. “Don’t for a second think that you mean a damn thing to me just because I turned you. You don’t. You’re nothing but a deal I got sucked into. And now you’re a liability.”

“I want a truce. Please.” His dark eyes were wide, fearful. He might have been a black magic practitioner with vampire blood raging through his system, but he still had a sense of self-preservation.

“A truce? A truce comes with trust. And I don’t trust you.”

“Just give me a chance to prove myself.” Gabriel held up both hands in a desperate gesture. “No demon owns me. My choices were my own. Just like this one is.”

“Better not let Shya hear you say that. I’m pretty sure he thinks otherwise.”

I released him with a shove. He recovered fast thanks to the vampire body I had bestowed upon him. Shya thought he owned the kid, but as I stood there sizing him up, I began to see an opportunity.

My blood ran through Gabriel’s veins. Alexa could bind vampires to her with an ease I’d never known. Between the two of us, we could turn Gabriel into something pretty special. Something that would belong to us, not to Shya. Already I knew that Alexa would protest such a line of thought, but she wasn’t here right now.

“He can think whatever he wants to,” Gabriel said, tossing long, disheveled hair out of his eyes. “I know I was just a deal to you, but I can be more than that. I can be worth keeping around.”

I didn’t doubt that. It was the risk that came with keeping him around that concerned me. “I’m tempted,” I said. “Really, I am. But what can you give me that I can’t get elsewhere?”

Gabriel drew himself up to his full height and looked me square in the eye. “I can see things nobody else can. I can tell you what I saw when we touched.”

Those were the magic words that sent me from calm to boiling over in a split second. I stood there stiff with anger, unmoving. Of course I had wondered. The moment I’d touched him at Shya’s that night, it had crossed my mind that he might see something. But I’d been here before, and living with the knowledge of a future event was a kind of hell I didn’t wish to relive.

“I don’t want to know. Believe me, I’ve got no use for your clairvoyant shit.”

“Not even if it involves Alexa’s sister?” There was no taunt evident in his tone, no snide intent. Somehow that made it worse. All I heard was a threat.

The intent to hurt him was all I needed to have him screaming. He begged me to stop, his words broken and pained.

“Especially if it involves Alexa’s sister.” Maybe there was no keeping Gabriel around. Death might be best for him after all. “Trying to manipulate me with something like that is fucking low, kid. You do want to die, don’t you?”

“Fine. Forget I said anything. I just thought you’d want to know, and you can’t blame me for trying to stay alive. I am not ready to die again!” His shout ended on a wail. He pounded a fist against the ground in frustration, bloodying his knuckles. Yet, he never raised a hand against me.

“For fuck’s sakes,” I muttered, dropping my hold on him. “Get up.”

Slowly he rose, eyeing me warily. “Look, man, I’m sorry. It’s all I have to work with. It’s not like I can overpower you.”

“If I let you live,” I hissed. “I don’t want to hear another word out of your mouth about Juliet O’Brien. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” he said with a tired nod. “Not a word. She doesn’t even exist.”

“Except that she does. And now you’ve gone and put things in my head that shouldn’t be there. Don’t think I’m going to forget that any time soon.” I was furious that he tried such a seedy tactic. I was also somewhat proud. No vampire made by me was a coward. Flighty perhaps. Even a little unstable. But never a coward.

Gabriel shrugged, offering no further apology. He stood there looking like a dog who’d just been kicked. It was convincing enough to make me question the validity of it.

I pinned him with a fierce glare. “Don’t mistake my mercy for weakness. The second you give me a reason to think you’re up to something, you die. I don’t give a good goddamn if it pisses Shya off either. Oh, and another thing. If I find out you’re making vampires for him, I will destroy you and every damn one that you make.”

The atmosphere was tense with the weight of my promise. We stared at one another until Gabriel’s composure faltered.

“He wanted me to do it. That was before everything went down. I haven’t though and I don’t want to.” Something like sorrow crossed his face. It tugged at the pesky sympathetic spark that flickered deep within me. I suppose I should have been grateful to have Alexa’s light, but at times it produced more guilt than I deemed necessary. Though I imagined it was much the same for her with the darkness.

“Are you asking for help?” I questioned, feeling oddly obligated to this vampire I’d made. It was an unwelcome sensation.

“Not yet. I’ll deal with it.” Gabriel’s expression hardened. He thrust out a hand and said, “Thank you. For not killing me. I know Alexa wanted you to do it when you turned me.”

I stared at his hand and laughed. “Thanks, kid, but I’d rather not. Better watch out for Alexa. If she comes across you, she probably won’t be as forgiving.”

“I saw her, before it happened. I touched her, and I saw how bad it would be when she became a vampire.” He shook his head as if it were a shame.

“Alexa isn’t like us, Gabriel. She’s a creature of light forced to live with a hunger rooted in darkness. You and me, we’ve always been ruled by the dark. We can’t even begin to understand what she’s going through.” There was an unspoken warning in my words. I trusted that Gabriel was intelligent enough to catch it.

With a nod, he said, “I should’ve let her help me. Everything happened so fast. I made some stupid fucking choices.”

“As we all have. And you will have more to make yet. Choose wisely.” I wasn’t the best person to hand out advice, yet I felt obligated to say something.

Gabriel made a sour face and shrugged. “I’ll let you get back to your night. Thanks, Arys.”

I watched him go, walking down the street with a lanky shuffle. I hoped like hell that I hadn’t made a mistake by letting him live. His remark about Juliet stuck with me, burrowing inside my mind to take root like a parasite.

Whatever it was, it had to be bad.

* * * *

Using the burner phone from the glove box of my car, I placed a call to Juliet. She answered with a short, clipped greeting that went from professional to personal once I announced myself.

“I thought you were going to do something about Alexa,” she snapped. “An agent has gone missing, and Briggs is sure that she’s behind it. He’s insisting we issue a capture order for her.”

“A missing agent?” I pondered this, curious.

“Sylvia Rollins,” Juliet said. “She was one of the agents in charge of Kale Sinclair when he was in our facility. She has a way of dealing with vampires that Alexa found distasteful. Now she’s missing. You put it together.”

I chuckled. Yeah, that sounded like Alexa. The woman could hold a grudge.

“If Alexa has her then don’t expect to see her alive again.” It meant nothing to me if Alexa wanted to settle some unfinished business with a torture happy FPA agent. I was only disappointed that I couldn’t watch.

“I don’t expect you to give a damn about Sylvia, but you should give a damn about what will happen to Alexa if she ends up our prisoner.” Juliet’s tone held a note of concern rather than a threat. “My hands are tied, Arys. I don’t have the clout to change orders like this. We will be hunting her.”

“Like I said, then I will be hunting you. Every one of you who makes a play for her. Should I come by and tell that to Briggs myself or can you handle passing that message along?” My tone very clearly held the promise of bad things to come.

Juliet rushed to respond. “No, don’t do that. I can tell him. Nobody has to die, ok?”

I picked at a mark on the seat of the car beside my leg. “Can you meet me somewhere? I just want to talk about this. Face to face. You pick the place.”

There was hesitation on the other end as she analyzed my request. I thought about what Gabriel had said and wondered if I should have found out what it was he’d seen. No, I decided; I didn’t want to know. Just because he saw something to do with Juliet and me didn’t mean he saw the worst-case scenario. I would never harm Alexa’s sister. On second thought, it was very unlikely that I would do such a thing, though I suppose it was always possible.

“I can meet you at the Tim Horton’s on 104  th   in an hour.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”

I hung up the phone and tossed it back into the glove box. I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going with this little meeting. If she was as much of a stubborn, hardheaded woman as I suspected she was, I expected Juliet to come alone. That’s what I was counting on.

When she arrived at the coffee shop, I was already there, observing the few late night customers. The place smelled of strong coffee and humans. Juliet sauntered in, adding the aroma of wolf and perfume to the mix.

She ordered a coffee before sliding into the seat across from me. “Was this really necessary?”

“Everything I do is necessary.” I was annoyed to find Gabriel’s words lingering in my thoughts. That little pecker. “What does Briggs plan to do with Alexa if he can catch her without having his throat torn out?”

Juliet shrugged and shook her head. She planned to lie to me. Already I could see through it, and she hadn’t so much as uttered a denial.

“I don’t know. He’s been gunning for her for quite some time now. I’ve done all I can to convince him that she’s not the threat he believes she is. He thinks that because I’m family, my view of the situation is biased.”

“Is it? Alexa is under the impression that you’d sell her out in a heartbeat if you thought you were doing the right thing.”

A grimace marred Juliet’s pretty face. She sipped from her coffee and glanced about the place before answering. “I wish I could say she was wrong. Unfortunately, I do think the FPA acts in the best interest of humanity. I don’t always agree with their methods, but I don’t make those calls.”

“So you’re basically saying that you would stand by and allow Briggs to do whatever he wants to Alexa because it’s best for humanity?” I questioned with a shake of my head. “Both you and Briggs are fucking idiots. Alexa was born to protect humankind. She isn’t the enemy.”

Juliet squared her shoulders and gave her dark hair an angry toss. “She just kidnapped a federal agent. She’s killed publicly. If we turn a blind eye to her then we wouldn’t be doing our job.”

“You don’t have a fucking job. You’re working for a human run government sector that mistakenly thinks they have a say in the paranormal world. They don’t. And you, being a werewolf, shouldn’t even be affiliated with them.”

“I didn’t come here to be told off.” Juliet stood up to leave. “Thanks for wasting my time.”

I rose as well, reaching out to grab hold of her arm. “Don’t go,” I said, with a gentle pulse of power meant to enthrall.

She shook her head as if confused. Then her eyes widened as she realized what my intent was. Juliet tried to pull away, and I forced her to meet my gaze. I watched as she struggled against my hypnotic pull and ultimately failed.

Her eyes glazed, and she stared at me as if I were the most wondrous thing she’d ever seen. That had been easy enough. Now to see if I could pump her for info.

“What does Briggs plan to do with Alexa?” I asked, continuing to wrap Juliet in my thrall.

She swayed slightly on her feet, likely lightheaded from the rush. “He’s given strict orders that she’s to be caught and kept alive. That’s all I know.”

Imagining Alexa as a government lab rat was enough to make my blood boil, but it was important to remain calm so as not to upset the connection between Juliet and me. I stared into Juliet, drawing her in deeper. She fell hard. It was likely that she’d never been enthralled by a vampire like me before, making this slightly enjoyable. Her pupils dilated in excitement, and the telltale scent of desire arose from her. I stopped her when she reached for me.

“Tell me something about Briggs that I don’t already know,” I commanded. “Tell me his secrets. A man like that has to have many.”

“Secrets,” she repeated. “My relationship with him is a secret. It’s frowned upon to fraternize in the workplace. He doesn’t want anyone to know.” She grimaced then, a scowl twisted her expression into something ugly. “He killed an agent right in front of me once. He claimed the man was a traitor, but that was a lie. Briggs was the traitor. He wanted to silence Jeff, because he knew something.”

She gazed beyond me, seeing something or someone that wasn’t really there. I shook her lightly, bringing her gaze back to mine.

“What did Jeff know about Briggs?” I asked, encouraging her to keep talking.

“He knew about the experiments Briggs ordered. The private ones the higher ups know nothing about.” Juliet appeared worried, like she knew she shouldn’t be sharing this but couldn’t stop it from coming out.

This was getting interesting. Finally, something I could work with. “What kind of experiments?”

She clamped her mouth shut. Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she shook her head. “I can’t.”

I needed to turn things up a notch, not something I could do in a public place with witnesses. Gently, I guided Juliet toward the exit. She clutched her coffee and allowed me to lead her.

After escaping the harsh fluorescent lighting, we stopped in the parking lot where nobody was around to save the little wolf from the big, bad vampire. Turning her to face me, I touched her cheek with a caress meant to stir the part of her only touched by human men. Her inexperience with vampires made it far more exciting than it should have been.

Seducing the sister of the woman I loved was bad news. I knew this. Still, I didn’t have a lot of options, especially if I wanted to get some dirt on Briggs.

I leaned in close, as if I might kiss her, knowing I wouldn’t. Wrapping her in my power, I whispered against her lips, “Tell me about Briggs’s experiments. What is he up to?”

Juliet shuddered and tried to bridge the tiny gap left between us. I pulled back, just enough to make her want it more. I traced a finger over her jawbone and down the side of her neck, eliciting a soft sigh from her.

“The FPA has been testing supernatural DNA, hoping to one day genetically enhance human soldiers. Briggs is doing his own testing, trying to find a way to control supernatural creatures and humans with supernatural abilities.” She spoke in a low, even tone.

“The lock up in the basement at FPA headquarters…that’s all his, isn’t it?” I asked, expecting the nod I received. “And you? Has he done anything to you?”

“No. I don’t think so. I trust him.”

It was not news that the FPA were involved with experiments of the supernatural kind. Currently they employed a handful of supernaturals, Juliet being just one of them. Controlling a vast number on a large scale though, it was unlikely. Yet, it was also something to be taken seriously.

“You can’t trust him, Juliet,” I said against her lips before plunging a hand into her thick tresses. “He has to be stopped.”

With a soft murmur that sounded like, “But I love him,” she grabbed hungrily for me. She dropped her coffee cup in the process, and it hit the ground between our feet, splashing us both. That’s all it took to break her out of my thrall.

She shoved away from me so hard she almost fell on her ass in the parking lot. She stared at me with horror-filled wolf eyes. “What kind of sick shit is that? Is that what you did to my sister?”

“Oh yeah.” I grinned. “But to be fair, it goes both ways. That woman can seduce me with a glance.”

“Fuck you, Arys,” she snarled. “You are a sick, twisted person. I can’t believe you would do that to me. I’m Alexa’s sister, dammit.”

“Which is exactly why I did it to you,” I said with a flippant shrug. “You had answers that I needed. Hopefully it was enough.”

“Enough for what?”

“Enough for me to put the squeeze on your man.”

She reached for her weapon, and I shook my head. “You don’t want to do this with me, one on one. Trust me. It’s better if you just walk away. I’d hate to have to kill you. Alexa is already pissed with me.”

She stood there looking both vicious and uncertain. Then she snarled, “You’re a fucking douchebag, Arys.”

Spinning on a heel, she stormed away to the black sedan at the back of the lot. After slamming the door much harder than necessary, she tore out of the parking lot with a squeal of tires.

I watched the taillights disappear down the street. I liked to pride myself on my uncanny ability to handle women. But no man on this planet had it in him to handle two O’Brien women. Not even me.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Needing to see Alexa was driving me mad. And if I couldn’t do that then I wanted to be in solitude, just me, a pencil, and paper. If I didn’t work my frustrations out on the page, it would come out in a horrible, bloody way. Seeing as Alexa was already taking that road, I had to show some self-restraint.

And I could do it too. I could play the part of the well-controlled vampire, wallowing in a small bungalow in a small town, completely detached from the world. It wasn’t really me though. The real me was back in that strip club, seducing and killing women in cold blood with Jenner.

Knowing that Alexa was losing herself to the twin flame madness was the only thing keeping me sane. For now.

There was no sign of Jenner when I returned home. I strode through the house, dropping clothing as I went. I cranked the shower on hot and stood under the spray so it pelted my face with steaming, angry drops.

For several minutes I just stood there, thinking about Gabriel, about Juliet, and how I so desperately wanted to have my wolf back in my arms. Thoughts of her led my mind down a path filled with memories of passion and blood. What I wouldn’t have given to be with her, to be inside her. We were supposed to be together.

With one hand on my cock and the other bracing my weight against the tiled wall, I escaped into some of my favorite memories of Alexa. Rather than relieving the need for her, it only made my longing for her grow. I groaned and slammed a hand against the wall, watching the tile crack beneath my fist.

I wasn’t one for tears. It had nothing to do with lack of emotion, but after three centuries of Harley, it took a lot to make me cry. However, right then standing alone in my shower jacking off like a horny teenager and pining after Alexa, I wanted to.

And I might have. But by the time I got out of the shower, it didn’t matter. I’d already put it behind me.

The front door slammed with Jenner’s arrival. I stepped into a pair of soft, grey sweatpants and rubbed a towel over my wet hair. I used some mouthwash, ran my tongue over the silver hoop in my bottom lip, and exited the bathroom.

“You are not going to believe what I found your woman doing,” Jenner announced as he flopped down on the couch.

“Abducting a Fed?” I replied, pleased when he frowned.

“If you already knew, then why the hell did you send me to tail her?”

“I didn’t know until Juliet told me they’re missing an agent.” I sat in my favorite chair and pinned Jenner with a fierce stare. “So, did you talk to her?”

His head bobbed, and he gave a wan smile. “I did. If you can call it that. I tried to talk some sense into her. She told me that if I didn’t get out of her way, she’d send me back to you with my head stuffed up my ass. She’s a real classy broad, that one.”

I grinned, somehow finding reassurance in Jenner’s report. “Is that all?”

He considered me in silence for a long moment. “She’s in rough shape without you, Arys.” It wasn’t news. Not really. Still, it made me feel both worried and relieved.

“How did she look? Was she ok? I mean, all things considered.”

“She looked good,” he said, picking his words carefully. “Beautiful, really. Leaking power like a sieve though. She’s pretty jacked up on the juice. I don’t think she knows how to calm it.”

I sighed and shook my head so droplets of water fell from my wet hair. “I don’t know what to do, Jenner. How long do I let her go on like this?”

“I wish I could help you, brother. Really, I do.”

My phone rang, destroying the quiet and causing me to jump up in alarm. I snatched it from the coffee table, mildly disappointed to find Jez’s number on the display.

“Arys?” The leopard launched in right away without any forced pleasantries. “Alexa just called me. She wants to meet me tomorrow after sunset. She said that she needs to talk.”

“And why are you telling me this?”

“Because I think you should come with me. She needs to see you, even if she doesn’t want to,” Jez said, becoming one of my favorite people with those words.

I glanced at Jenner who nodded his agreement. The thought of seeing Alexa under such circumstances didn’t sit well with me. However, if she wasn’t going to come to me, this might be the next best solution.

“Where should I meet you?”

After making arrangements to meet Jez the following evening after dusk, I sat back in my chair and stared at the clock above the television. It was going to be a very long day.

“You’re not going to sleep at all today, are you?” Jenner asked knowingly.

“Not likely. Help me pass the time.” I grabbed a deck of cards from the small side table next to my chair and tossed it at Jenner. “Shuffle those.”

“Hey, I didn’t say that I wasn’t going to sleep,” he protested, though he shook the cards from the pack anyway.

“If I can’t sleep, then you can’t sleep.” I grinned. “Texas hold ’em?”

Jenner shuffled the deck of cards with a dramatic flair. The cards moved between his hands with a precision even a Vegas magician couldn’t match.

“Are we making this interesting?” The glint of mischief in Jenner’s eyes was worrisome.

I raised a brow. “Don’t go there, Jenner. Whatever you’re thinking, no way.”

“When did you become such a pussy?” he challenged. “I guess you don’t think you can beat me after the way I spanked you in Vegas.”

His taunting laughter brought forth a less than savory memory. The crap he’d pulled on Alexa and me in Vegas had been both clever and downright nasty. We had turned his own game against him, but it had come at a price. Jenner might feel he had come out of that worse off than we had, but it was no great joy to me that Alexa had enchanted him. It was something I didn’t even know she could do until I saw her do it to Sinclair.

Too many memories.

“Have you forgotten how the rest of that played out?” I asked with the barest hint of gloating.

“Do you want to play cards or not?” he demanded.

“I do.”

“Then let’s make it interesting.” Jenner’s insistence was annoying. It almost made me reconsider.

“How so?” I didn’t want to know what he was thinking. Still I wasn’t all that surprised at his request.

“If I win, you let me take a run at Alexa’s sister.” His face lit up with a devilish delight.

For a moment I debated on tossing the cards onto the floor and saying fuck it. It was times like this that reminded me why Jenner and I had butted heads so much. He could be a good guy, but he could also be an antagonistic prick.

“You’re a real asshole, you know that?” I grabbed my cards and appraised them. Two aces. I could work with that. “If you win, you can ask her out. No manipulation. She either accepts you or rejects you all on her own. Got it?”

Jenner considered my stipulations and then nodded. “Sounds fair.”

“I mean it, Jenner. No enthralling Juliet.” I ignored his dismissive wave and kept talking. “If I win, I want you to take Sinclair back to Las Vegas with you.”

He looked up from his cards in surprise. “You really are going mad, aren’t you? I hope you’re not really delusional enough to think he’ll just happily hop on a plane. Fuck, Alexa would kill you.”

I clenched my jaw and glowered. “Not if it’s his decision, she won’t. I can handle Sinclair. If he really wants what’s best for her, he’ll leave.”

“Oh, brother, you are something else.” Jenner chuckled, a wicked sound I’d heard many times before. “Deal. If you win, I’ll take Sinclair home with me.”

It was a mistake. I knew that. Desperation knew no limits though, and I was quickly growing desperate. As the poker game went on, I found myself hoping that I would lose. But I was going to try like hell to win.

* * * *

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be hanging out here anymore,” I said, taking in the cluster of leather-clad youth waiting to get into the busy rock bar.

Jez’s glare was stern as she puffed away on a cigarette. “What do you care? I already have two babysitters breathing down my neck about it. Lay off.”

I held my hands up in surrender, having no desire to engage with the feisty werecat. “No need to rip my head off. Just trying to show some friendly concern.”

We stood in the parking lot of The Spirit Room, the popular rock club where Jez had told me to meet her. It was relatively early in the evening, yet the line to get in already stretched down the block.

“Sorry,” she grumbled, dropping the cigarette and crushing it beneath her heel. “I’m just a little testy these days. Withdrawal is a bitch.”

“So you’ve been ok then?” It was difficult to make conversation with her. I wasn’t usually one on one with Alexa’s friends. I knew Jez well enough to know she loved Alexa like a sister. And she could hold her own in a fight. In a tense situation like this one, I didn’t quite know what to say.

“I’ve had better days,” she said, pulling a cell phone from her pocket. “I slipped a few times. Just a little. Alexa doesn’t know that. Anyway,” she glanced up from the screen, “she’s expecting me soon. Are you ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Jez stopped me with a hand on my chest. Her deep green eyes reminded me of tropical ocean waters. They were hardened by the intensity of her beast. “One thing first. There’s a good chance she’s bringing Kale. You have to promise me to keep the peace with him.” When I didn’t answer right away, she got closer, staring up at me with a deadly look. “Promise me, Arys. Or we can forget this entire thing.”

“I promise. I just want to see Alexa.” Showing up unannounced was going to be enough of an upset to her. I could manage to restrain myself.

I followed Jez to her Jeep, eager to get moving but also anxious about my first meeting with my wolf in several days. I doubted that she’d be happy to see me.

“She’s going to know you’re there before she even sees you, isn’t she? Better be stealthy.” Jez started the Jeep and pulled out of the parking lot with a squeal of tires, nearly sideswiping two vehicles on the way out. And Alexa thought my driving was bad?

“You go meet her first. Get her talking. I’ll follow you.” I stared out the window. My shoulders were tight with tension. I gripped the door handle so hard I thought it might come off in my hand.

“I hope she doesn’t kill me for doing this.” Jez slammed on the brakes at a red light, causing us both to swear.

We arrived at a cemetery on the north side of the downtown core. It was quiet, empty of visitors. I stared at the rows upon rows of headstones, and I knew that Alexa had chosen this location because it was the only place where she could come with the assurance that she couldn’t hurt anyone.

“I’m meeting her on the other side,” Jez said, fishing a dagger out of the center console. She held it up so the blade shone in the streetlight cascading through her window. “Just in case.” She hopped out of the Jeep and cast a glance back. “If you hear me scream, come save my ass from your blood hungry lover before she can kill me. All right?”

“Will do.” I waited for her to shut the door and walk away before I groaned aloud and said, “Fuck,” half a dozen times. I wished there were a better way.

After ten minutes had passed I made my way through the graveyard. Alexa would feel me soon enough. It was simple enough to follow Jez’s scent and residual energy trail through the paths. There was no sound of commotion ahead, which I took as a good sign.

I rounded a bend and felt her like a punch in the gut. The wild essence of wolf paired with the sensual core of vampire to make a potent force that was all Alexa. Nobody else walking this earth felt like that; I was sure of it.

I moved faster, knowing she would feel me too, hoping it wouldn’t drive her away. When I stepped through a small thatch of trees and saw her there, I stopped dead in my tracks.

We stared at one another, me in wonder and her in shock. The first thing I noticed was her brown eyes. Relief swept me at the familiar sight. Those deep, all encompassing orbs flashed with emotion.

“Arys.” My name was a whisper on her lips. The smooth alabaster of her skin made her eyes appear that much darker. I almost came undone at the sight of the vampire fangs poking out from beneath her top lip.

She threw herself into my arms, and I clutched her tight. Power sparked and zapped around us. I buried my face in her soft hair and tried not to weep my relief.

Jez walked away, joining Sinclair where he hovered several yards away. She tugged on his hand until he followed her, allowing us to be alone.

“You make me fucking crazy, you know that?” I said, kissing her like it had been years rather than days.

Her lips were soft, but her kiss was commanding. Her feelings were on overdrive due to her recent transition, and it showed. The heat of anger mingled with the depths of sorrow and the fires of passion to make her kiss violent with emotion.

In a move that came as no great surprise, she broke off the kiss and slapped me across the face. It snapped my head to the side. I was impressed with both her new, undead strength and the force driving it.

“That’s for killing me,” she said, following up with another. “And that’s for enjoying it so damn much.”

I was afraid to blink, afraid even to move. I didn’t want to give her a chance to bolt, not until she’d heard me out.

“I suppose that’s fair. But you know I had to do it. Hell, you demanded it.” I wasn’t protesting her wrath; I certainly deserved far worse than a few slaps.

“I know that,” she snapped. Then her face fell, and her lip trembled. “But did you have to enjoy it so fucking much? I felt the way you loved it. You got off on it.”

There was no sense denying allegations that were true. I reached for her, and she let me pull her back into my embrace. With her head on my chest, I stroked a hand through her hair. “I’ve been worried sick about you, Alexa. Being apart is hurting you more than it’s helping.”

“Is that why you came? To stop me from acting like a vampire? That’s a bit hypocritical coming from you, Arys.” Despite her accusatory words, her tone held a note of sadness.

The way she felt in my arms was so right. I couldn’t bear the thought of letting go. Not now, after all this. “No, of course not. I came to stop you from doing things now that you will regret for several lifetimes over.”

She peered up at me with blood tears brimming in her eyes. “It’s too late for that.”

I couldn’t help the dark glare that twisted my expression into something ugly. I stared in the direction Jez had pulled Sinclair and vibrated with the exertion it took not to go after him.

“No,” Alexa said, her voice hard and brittle. “None of this is his fault. He kept it from being worse than it was those first few nights.”

I took her face in my hands and searched her for the flicker of myself that so often lurked behind her eyes. “You don’t belong with him, my love. And as much as you think you need him, you know it’s true.”

She pulled my hand from her cheek and pressed her lips against my fingertips. “I don’t know who I am anymore, Arys. You are so entangled in every part of me. It’s like there is no distinction between us anymore. I do belong with you. I know it. But I need to still be me. I’m trying to do that.”

“And that’s why you’re losing your mind, my beautiful wolf.” She thought I didn’t understand, but she still didn’t realize that where she was now, I had already been. “I know what you’re going through. And I know that if we’re not careful, we’re going to end up like Lilah and Salem and who knows how many others.”

“I know. You’re right.” She nodded vigorously, drawing me to twist a lock of blonde hair around my finger. “I just need some time.”

“You don’t have a lot of time to find yourself right now. The FPA is all over you. They’re launching a hunt for you. Tonight.” From her hair to the curve of her waist and then the elegant expanse of her slender neck, I couldn’t stop touching her. “Briggs is issuing a capture order. There will be agents scouring the city for you, Alexa.”

This didn’t appear to be news to her. She nodded, as if it had been expected. “Because of Sylvia. Figures. That bitch had it coming.”

“I don’t care about that. All I want is for you to get some control over yourself and to stay out of the FPA lockup. Briggs is up to something. Something bad. You don’t want to go inside that building as a vampire. Trust me.”

She nodded, and I could almost hear her thinking that it was just like me to always be right about shit like this. There was a strong, ethereal quality to her energy, as if she now hummed at a much higher frequency. It still felt like Alexa but more vast and complex.

I was still just as drawn to her as I’d ever been, quite possibly more so. She had feared that would change. Though she hadn’t said so, I knew. I felt it. I also knew that I would always want her.

“I’ll handle the FPA,” she said. “I always do.”

“No, you always did. But now you’re public enemy number one. Briggs isn’t going to take it easy on you this time.” I pulled her close for a kiss, tender this time. Soft and delicate. “Please, come home with me.”

She pulled away, a hand going to her face to swipe away a few stray tears. “I can’t. Not yet.”

“Alexa, please. The longer you drag this out, the worse it gets for both of us. You know that.”

“Yes, I do know that!” Her sudden shout echoed around us. “But forcing me to do something before I’m ready isn’t going to help.”

Alexa’s outburst brought Kale back with an angry outburst of his own. He jerked away from Jez who sought to hold onto his arm and came at me.

Sinclair shoved me away from her, backing me up against the closest headstone. Venom dripped from every word he snarled into my face. “Back the fuck off, Arys. Nobody is forcing Alexa to do anything against her will.”

“Oh, is that so?” A vicious, grim smile crossed my face. “Try telling that to the FPA. Remember your time in lockup well, my friend? Because that’s what Briggs has planned for Alexa. He’s coming for her. Think you’ve got what it takes to keep her safe?”

“I don’t need anyone to keep me safe, you damn Neanderthals,” Alexa interjected. She buzzed with a frustration I could feel both inside and out. “I’m not afraid of Briggs.”

“Briggs isn’t what I’m worried about,” I snapped, shoving Sinclair out of my face. “It’s what’s going to happen to you when that place gets inside your head. You can’t even keep your shit together now.” To Kale, I added, “No thanks to you.”

Sinclair was seething. Alexa tried to pull him away from me, but he shook her off. “You have no fucking idea what it’s been like. Keep your accusations to yourself. I’m the one cleaning up your mess.”

“Is that how you see her?” I challenged, finding his aggressiveness very enticing. “As my mess? Well, I’m not the one teaching her how to be a cold-blooded killer, am I?”

“No, you just made her one.”

“Guys, come on. You’re acting like jackasses.” This from Jez who watched us all as if she couldn’t decide which vampire was most volatile.

Ignoring her, I held up both hands to show Kale I didn’t want any trouble. I knew that if I put my hands on him, I wouldn’t stop until he was dust.

“When you take her to bed, it’s me that she thinks of,” I said, low and deadly. “But you already know that, don’t you?”

Alexa gasped my name. Jez muttered an obscenity.

Kale glared with the sheer hatred of one who knew the truth. Rubbing it in his face had been low but ultimately necessary.

“I am always there because I am part of her,” I continued. “You will never change that. Maybe it’s time for you to move on, Sinclair. This city has run its course for you, don’t you think?”

“Is that a threat?”

It wasn’t. Not really. “More like a suggestion.”

Sinclair backed off a few paces, but he was still fuming. I didn’t blame him. I would hate me too if I were in his place. Falling in love with Alexa was easy. She had a strong side that I admired, a soft side that I adored, and a personality that would give even the most patient man a challenge. She was an enigma, fascinating in every way. Loving Alexa was easy. Losing her would be devastating.

“Well, I didn’t ask for your opinion,” he said, doing a good job of keeping his emotions off his face.

We stood there staring at one another. The atmosphere grew thick with the violent intentions we both harbored. Alexa looked back and forth between us and broke down. With a frustrated cry, she fled, leaving us looking after her.

“The FPA is hunting her,” I said, calm despite the roiling mass of animosity overflowing inside of me. “If you really love her as much as you claim to, do what’s best for her. Walk away. There’s an open invitation for you at The Wicked Kiss Las Vegas. You wanted to escape her anyway, didn’t you? All you have to do is be the one to make the break.”

“It doesn’t fucking work that way, and you know it.” Sinclair cast a helpless glance at Jez whose expression revealed nothing of her thoughts or opinions.

“Perhaps some time apart would give you a new perspective on things. Las Vegas is the perfect city for a guy like you. It’s high strung, restless, and a little mad. I think you’d enjoy it.” Winning the poker game against Jenner had been a small victory. However, if I could convince Sinclair to actually go, it would be huge.

Sinclair was no idiot, which was one thing I respected about him. His jaw dropped, and he eyed me in disgust. “You must be really proud of yourself for concocting such a scheme. She’s going to hate you for this.”

“Only if you leave. And that, I can handle.” I crossed my arms and shrugged. “Besides, it only makes sense that Alexa’s second should join my second in my city. Jenner could use the backup, and you could use the escape. Don’t tell me it doesn’t appeal to you just a little.”

His gaze dropped to the ground, and he stared in silence for a moment before saying, “Let me guess. You’ve already discussed this with Jenner.” When I didn’t deny it, he continued. “I knew you were a selfish prick, but I didn’t know you were such a low life piece of shit.”

That one took some restraint. There was only so much crap I could take from him before I snapped. Knowing that’s what he wanted, I somehow resisted. “If you want to protect her from the things that will only feed her darkness, then consider that the best way to do that is to start with you.” Rage called forth the power. The effort it took to hold it back burned like the sting of a poisonous beast intent on escape.

Before Kale could respond or react, Jez stepped between us. “I think this little meeting is over.” With a hand on his arm, she gave him a solemn look. “Kale, go now, please. Find Alexa before the FPA does.” To me she said with a glower, “Move it. Now. Unless you want to walk back to your car.”

Stiff and silent, Kale exuded a menacing calm. I thought for certain he was going to lose it and take a swing at me. Instead, he gave Jez’s ponytail a friendly tug and turned to go.

When I didn’t budge from where I stood, Jez gave me a shove. Fearless and furious, she herded me back the way we’d come.

“That was really low,” she said when we’d almost reached her Jeep. “I get why you did it. I see the logic there, but that was a shitty way to deal with things.”

“I know.” I nodded, entirely in agreement with her. “What choice did I have though? If you were in my position, what would you do?”

She glanced back into the quiet cemetery. “I don’t know. But that kind of controlling behavior is what drove Lilah and Salem to where they are now. Is that what you want to happen with you and Alexa?”

“Of course not. Don’t you think this is all making me crazy too?” I was already plagued with guilt, an emotion I did not deal with well. “I made him an offer, a suggestion really. That’s all. It’s all on him now.”

Once inside the darkened confines of the Jeep, Jez turned to me with a strange, sad look on her heart-shaped face. “You’d better be careful, Arys. Or you’re going to lose her.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Less than an hour later, I was back at The Spirit Room parking lot, awaiting the arrival of Shaz and Jenner. My gaze flicked over Jez who stood chain smoking beside me, leaning against the Jeep.

“Are you sure you want to be part of this?” I asked.

“Fucking right,” she quipped. “No damn humans are going to hunt my best friend and get away with it.”

On a whim, I’d decided that if Agent Briggs wanted a vampire hunt, I would give him one. Including Jenner just went without saying. I’d considered leaving Shaz out of it but knew him well enough to know that I’d never hear the end of it if I did.

My plan wasn’t entirely thought out just yet. I was playing it by ear for the most part. I figured a nice distraction would be enough to pull Briggs off Alexa’s trail. If he thought he’d seen a public display of vampire killing, well, he hadn’t seen jack shit yet.

“Good,” I said, frowning as she reached for another cigarette. “Shifter or not, those things can’t be safe.”

“Spare me the warning, Dr. Oz. Unless you’re my mother, I don’t want to hear it. Actually, scratch that. I don’t want to hear it from her either.” Jez fired up another smoke, taking a long, slow drag. “I’m going to quit. Again. I just need something to help get me through this slump.”

She was certainly stronger than I was. The things I did for a rush had gone much deeper than a mere addiction. There wasn’t a damn thing that would make me give them up.

The black Jaguar that Alexa had inherited pulled into the parking lot with much more aggression than required. If Alexa knew I’d taken it, she’d probably kick my ass to the moon. It was all she had left of the man who had turned her, a piece of crap of a wolf who had seduced her in her teens. Killing him had always been on my agenda. Waiting until she and I had established our twin flame bond had robbed me of the chance. Oh well, he was dead now, and if there were any justice in this world, he was burning in hell.

“This car can fly,” Jenner proclaimed as he climbed out of the driver’s seat. “I’ve never driven a Jag before. I think I might want one.”

Shaz stepped out of the passenger side looking ill. “You shouldn’t be allowed to drive anything anywhere, ever.”

“Suck it up, blondie,” Jenner said with a snicker. To me he said, “So did I hear you right? Are we really going to have some fun with the FPA tonight? Don’t joke about shit like that.”

“It’s no joke. We’re going to stop them from hunting Alexa. It’s high time Briggs realized how out of his league he is. Having several of his men roasted by a demon apparently wasn’t enough for him.” Despite my big plan to derail Briggs’s night, all I could think about was Alexa. She was the driving force behind my need for action.

“Distraction?” Jenner asked, a brow raised and a devious smile in place.

I shook my head. “No. Bigger than that. A little bit of mayhem.”

Jenner rubbed his hands together like a movie villain and cackled dramatically. “Yes. That I can do.”

Skepticism pulled Shaz’s face into a frown. “And just what do you plan to do?”

“I’m going to make Briggs watch while I kill every person he brought to hunt Alexa.” Of course that excluded Juliet. Regardless of what a pain in the ass she was, no harm could come to her.

“So what do you want us to do?” Shaz asked, indicating himself and Jez.

“Go to the FPA building and see if you can tail the team that Briggs is sending out tonight. It’s likely that they haven’t left yet. If they find Alexa, do whatever it takes to stop them from grabbing her. Otherwise, wait for my call. That’s when you call in a report to the cops about a dead body with bite marks on the neck. Mention seeing a blonde woman in the area. I’m betting Briggs will intercept the report and look into it himself.”

“That’s it?” Shaz said, his skepticism growing. “Doesn’t sound like much of a plan.”

I chuckled, enjoying his underestimation of me. “Haven’t you been paying attention, pup? I don’t need much of a plan.”

“All right. Whatever you say.” Shaz’s tone didn’t match his words, but he dutifully headed for Jez’s Jeep.

She paused with her hand on the door handle, her lips pursed in thought. “What happens if the FPA just happens to grab us? Just saying, hypothetically.”

“Then we come for you.” There was no room for compromise. The FPA would not get any damn one of us into their lockup if I had anything to say about it. “They’ve been doing some weapon upgrades. Be careful.”

Swiping the keys from Jenner’s hand, I slid into the driver’s side of the Jag. It was a nice car for the most part. Typical of what a guy like Raoul would drive, it was pricey, fast, and sleek.

Jenner got in on the other side and turned to me, excitement causing his pale blue eyes to glow. “And here I thought you’d never leave the house. It’s about time you did something. So, did you see Alexa?”

“I did.” After adjusting the mirrors, I put the car into gear and settled back against the seat. “She’s afraid of me and afraid of herself. But otherwise, she’s ok. Or she will be anyway.”

“And Kale?”

“I had a chance to suggest that leaving town might be best for him and for her. It’s not like I’m wrong about that. I guess we’ll see what he decides.”

It would have been easy enough to grab a random person off the street in order to send Briggs to a real murder scene. However, seeing Alexa had awakened the spark of light within me that was all her. Knowing she wouldn’t want me to kill a so-called innocent, I chose instead to fake it.

Seeking a relatively private place to lure Briggs and his team to, I headed for the river valley. The walking trails there would be perfect. Foot traffic should be minimal at this hour, and the surrounding trees and brush would prevent witnesses.

We parked the car and walked the trails until we came to a spot where we could easily ambush approaching agents from the trees. I called Jez who informed me that the FPA building was surrounded by armed guards. They couldn’t get very close. From what she could tell Briggs was already gone. He’d gotten an early start. I asked her to call in the false attack report, and then we waited.

“I can see why you like it here,” Jenner mused as we listened to the sound of the nearby river. “Definitely a lot greener than Sin City. Not quite as fun though.”

“Are you kidding me?” I laughed. “You were almost roasted by a dragon and now you’re hunting Feds. How much more fun do you need?”

Jenner leaned back against a tree, gazing up at the sky. “I’m starting to miss my nightclub. The orgies in the den, the swooning women on stage. Hell, I actually miss the sound of all those damn slot machines. I didn’t realize how loud they were until they were gone.”

“And you say that I need to get out more,” I scoffed. “Shit, Jenner. When was the last time you left Vegas?”

“I’m not sure. Back in the 80s I think. Who needs to leave though when you have an all you can eat buffet in a city that never sleeps?” There was a glimmer of nostalgia in him when he looked at me. “Don’t tell me you don’t miss it. We made a hell of a lot of memories there.”

“Of course I miss it. There are nights when I crave that desert air and the non-stop flow of human traffic down The Strip. But I was just biding my time there. Waiting. I belong here now.”

Jenner’s laugh came out sounding more like a hiss. “I never thought I’d see the day when you were more in love with a person than with that city. It’s unnatural.”

Las Vegas meant a great deal to me. It was where I’d really come into my own, taking a stand against the one who sired me. It was where I was when I knew with absolute certainty that Alexa lived. It would always be home, in its own bizarre way.

We sat there shooting the shit and reminiscing about the good old days and some of the not so good old days. It wasn’t long before I sensed the approaching human task force. They were loud. Even as they tried to be stealthy I could hear their breathing, the beat of their hearts, and the occasional scuff of shoes.

Briggs was smart enough to have his team approach from both sides. He’d sent nearly a dozen agents in total, all of them with weapons drawn. I waited until I saw Briggs himself. He brought up the rear of one group, hissing orders at his team. I didn’t see Juliet.

I laughed silently to myself. Briggs thought a dozen humans were enough to take Alexa down?

Meeting Jenner’s gaze, we shared a look and a nod. One benefit to knowing someone for several decades is the ability to read so much in a look. Words weren’t necessary.

When every agent was gathered at the place that I’d told Jez to describe in the report, we converged on them. We didn’t leap out of the trees with a loud display of violence. No, we slid from the brush with soundless steps and grabbed the closest agents first. Clapping a hand over the guy’s mouth, I bit deep into his carotid before tossing him aside and grabbing another. Jenner mirrored my actions, taking it a step further by also breaking his victim’s neck. We dropped four of them in just seconds. That’s when the first shout rang out.

With our presence revealed, we abandoned stealth in favor of a savage attack. Briggs shouted orders that included the command to take us out. Laughter poured from me as I spilled their blood. Shots went off, and I held one agent in front of me as a human shield. The crossbow bolts meant for me embedded in his chest, and he screamed in agony. I silenced him quickly with a twist of his neck.

“Not him,” I shouted when Jenner went for Briggs. “That one lives. But only that one.”

With a shrug, Jenner slammed Briggs with enough power to take his feet out from beneath him. The Fed went down hard on the paved walking path, and I took the opportunity to relieve him of his weapons and his phone.

“You’re making a big fucking mistake here,” he snarled through teeth clenched in agony.

I whirled around in time to take a bolt in the shoulder. “Cocksucker,” I swore, retaliating with a psi ball big enough to tear the guy’s head off his shoulders.

The bolt lodged in my flesh hurt like a bitch. I tore it free and plunged it into the neck of the nearest agent I could get my hands on. Blood spurted from the puncture, and the guy went down grabbing uselessly at the wound.

A wolfish growl rumbled in my throat. The walking path was littered with bodies. The remaining two agents surrendered, hands held high and guns on the ground. There would be no mercy for them. Despite their pleas, we killed them. I threw one guy down in front of Briggs. His wide, gaping eyes stared at his superior as the life faded from them. Briggs looked about in horror, trying to take in what he’d just witnessed. It had all happened so fast.

“Now, who were you saying made a mistake here?” I asked, standing back to allow him to get to his feet. Blood stained my face, and I knew by the disbelief on Briggs’s face that Alexa’s wolf was showing in my eyes.

“You’re not doing anything to help her with a display like this,” Briggs said, meeting my gaze head on. “Why stop there? Why not kill me too?”

“Because they’ll just replace you with some other douchebag. And I kind of like you.” My smile was met with a scowl. “You’ve got balls. I can respect that. But I can’t let you hunt Alexa.”

Briggs stared at the carnage, his face incredulous. “These people didn’t deserve to die like this. I can’t imagine how you thought slaughtering innocent men serving their country was the best way to prove either of you shouldn’t be hunted.”

“Serving their country? I see you’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid, Briggs. I thought you were smarter than that.”

“You won’t get away with this, Arys. I know you think you’re doing the honorable thing by defending your woman, but you’re wrong. You’re just another fucking monster that deserves to die.” Briggs was uneasy but he wasn’t afraid. It was admirable. It was also stupid.

“Give me a break, Briggs. I killed several of your men outside your own building, and you didn’t do fuck-all. Alexa barely scratches the surface of trouble, and you launch a hunt?” Shaking my head, I got close enough to the Fed to hear his heart rate increase. Maybe he wasn’t immune to fear after all. “I’m on to you, Briggs. I know what men like you are after. You call it justice, but I call it control. You always wanted Alexa to join the FPA. I’m willing to bet you haven’t given up on that. Have you?”

He stared past me to the bloody mess Jenner and I had made. His expression was stony, his silent refusal louder than words.

When he refused to speak, I continued. “You think if you get her back into that building you can warp her mind, turn her into one of your weapons. It was always her that you wanted. You settled for Juliet, but it never really ended there in your mind, did it? You tried to take Alexa in for the Abigail Irving hit, and when that didn’t work, you had to dream up something else. This was what you were waiting for. An opportunity to cage her and program her.”

A muscle twitched in his jaw. I’d nailed the truth.

Jenner sidled up to sneer into Briggs’s face. “You’re a clever piece of shit, aren’t you? Too bad. You chose the wrong vampire to fuck with. I’ve known this guy a long time, and nothing makes him as ruthless as messing with his girl does.”

I shot Jenner a dark look, seeing that personal blow for what it was. Leave it to him to choose a time like this to remind me that though we were brothers, we were also frequently rivals. Evidence suggested that Jenner was still pissed about what went down between us all in Vegas.

“So what then? You kill me now?” Agent Briggs had accepted that fate. His resignation showed in the hard set of his shoulders.

“I don’t think so,” I said, studying him closely. “Perhaps we should perform some experiments on you. I can’t help but wonder what the FPA would think of one of their star agents becoming a vampire. I’m sure they would love to pick you apart if that were to happen. What do you think?”

Sweat broke out on Briggs’s brow. His energy stank of fright. My words had touched the place where his fears lived.

“What the hell do you want from me?” he demanded. “I won’t negotiate with a supernatural terrorist.”

Jenner laughed long and hard at that. “Terrorists,” he gasped between chuckles. “Oh man, that’s rich.”

“I want you to stay away from Alexa. She is off limits to you and your people.”

Briggs was stubborn and headstrong despite his predicament. “She’s a menace. She’s been killing. If I turn a blind eye to that then I wouldn’t be doing my job.”

“So you would rather become your job?” Jenner taunted, baring bloodstained fangs.

Turning Briggs had never crossed my mind until now. A man like him would make a formidable vampire. Though having Alexa enthrall him would make him controllable to an extent. It would serve him right to be enslaved to her.

“Is there any right way to answer that?” Briggs glared, knowing I had him trapped.

“Probably not,” I admitted with a grin. I was close enough to smell his aftershave. It wouldn’t take much to bridge that gap. “You’re not making the best decisions these days. That’s how many FPA agents dead now because they followed your command?”

“It’s just part of the job.” He refused to be budged. Holding his ground was all he had left.

“I can respect that. Or at least, I would if you had a legitimate job. So I’m sure you understand that there are things I must do as well.”

Without giving him a chance to reply, I grabbed him by the shoulders and bit into his jugular. It was a small nip, nothing he couldn’t walk off. His blood was warm and rich. It hit my tongue, and I had to remind myself that killing him hadn’t been the plan. At this point, I wasn’t sure what my plan was. Running on instinct was more my style.

Once I’d taken enough to instill a sense of terror in him, I reluctantly released him. It hadn’t been enough to turn him, but I bit my wrist and thrust it at him anyway.

“Last chance to make me happy, Briggs. Tell me what I want to hear.” I grabbed the back of his head and shoved his face toward my bleeding arm. “I know you’re used to dealing with Alexa, but I’m running the show right now, and I’m just not as personable as she is.”

“You’re a goddamn maniac,” he grunted, fighting me off as I pressed my bloody wrist against his face. My blood smeared across his lips, and he bellowed, “You win. I’ll call off the hunt for Alexa. Just get the fuck off me.”

I patted his head like a dog who’d just performed a new trick, then gave him a shove. “Well done. I knew you had it in you.”

“Obviously I’ve been hunting the wrong vampire.” Briggs used his sleeve to wipe the blood from his face. His glare held the promise of revenge.

Crooking my fingers in invitation, I encouraged his anger. Retaliation would come. I would be expecting it.

“I’m flattered. Do remember that I’ve survived three centuries of human bullshit. You’re just one of many, and there will always be more where you came from. Think carefully on that.” It was good advice, though I doubted he would take it.

Briggs stooped to retrieve his phone, which I allowed. He was smart enough to avoid making a play for his weapon. “I thought the two of you were supposed to be some kind of good guys, according to Alexa. Twin flames. I read up on it. From what I can see, they got that all wrong. You’re nothing but a cold-blooded killer.”

I held a hand to my heart in mock anguish. “Well, you can thank this cold-blooded killer for stopping Shya. In case you weren’t aware, I had to kill Alexa to do that. Because of us, you’re not groveling at that demon’s feet right now as a slave in his hell-born empire. You’re welcome.”

I had nothing more to say to Agent Briggs. It was good of him to try to understand what Alexa and I were. Of course, I doubted there was a soul alive that really understood it.

With Jenner at my side, I walked away, leaving Briggs standing there surrounded by the bodies of his fallen comrades. In just over a week, he had successfully destroyed three teams of his own people. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do to him that he wasn’t already doing to himself.

I paused to add one last parting remark. “Alexa is the good one here. It may not look that way right now, but it’s true. She’s the hero. I’m the villain. Don’t forget that.”

The FPA was not about to disappear any time soon. Hopefully I’d shaken him up enough to question his tactics from here on out.

Cold-blooded killer.  His words echoed in my thoughts. It wasn’t the first time such an accusation had been flung at me. It was unlikely to be the last. There was a fine line between who I am and what I am. Cold-blooded killer? Perhaps. Monster? Sure, why not? Sorry? Not a chance in hell.

CHAPTER NINE

“That was bullshit, Arys. You sent us over there knowing damn well there’d be nothing for us to do.” The feisty leopard was all fired up. Jez flung accusations at me, her eyes flashing an angry green.

Shaz nodded his agreement, letting his scowl speak for him. The two of them were upset with me for sending them on a pointless errand. I offered no apology. Risking two of the mortal people that Alexa loved most in this world hadn’t been an option. It had been easier to just get rid of them for a while.

“I hadn’t expected Briggs to launch his hunt so early in the evening. Don’t blame me.” It was the best they were going to get out of me.

Jez pointed a long finger at me, tipped with red, claw-like nails. “You suck. If you have nothing else for me to further waste my time with, I’m taking off.”

“You’re not going in there, are you?” I nodded toward The Spirit Room. We were back in the parking lot where Jenner and I had filled the two shifters in on the events of our encounter with Briggs.

“What’s it to you?” Jez demanded, though there was a softness in her gaze that didn’t match her tone.

I mustered a shred of a shrug and waved a hand dismissively. “Nothing at all. I just happen to know that there are people who would never get over it if you OD and die in that place.”

“Thanks, Dad,” she quipped sarcastically. “I appreciate the concern.” She stubbed out her cigarette and stared at the building that vibrated with heavy bass tones. I was reminded of what Alexa had told me about Jez’s true father and the darkness she’d inherited from him.

“Jez, if you need anything, even if you just want to talk, give me a call. Ok?” Shaz, the ever generous, caring soul that he was, followed her to the Jeep where they spoke in low tones.

After she’d gone, Shaz turned to me with a look on his face that I had come to know was his pre-fight look. “I want to see Alexa. You can’t keep shutting me out of everything. I have just as much a right to be part of this as you do.”

He expected an argument. The hard set to his jaw and the square of his shoulders gave his stance an air of menace. The young wolf was certainly a virile creature.

“You do,” I agreed. “When the time is right.”

“Oh for fuck’s sakes. Are you kidding me?” Shaz’s fist clenched, revealing how pent up his frustration was.

“Come on, pup. Let’s go talk about this somewhere else. Preferably somewhere relaxing. Low key.” To Jenner, I said, “I need some time with Shaz. I’ll see you back at home. Be careful with that car.”

A gleeful smile lit up Jenner’s face. “But of course.”

“I don’t want to go anywhere with you unless it’s to see Lex.” The stubborn wolf stood his ground. “You owe me that much.”

“I don’t owe you a damn thing. Let’s go to Lucy’s Lounge. It’s been a while. We’ll shoot some pool. You’ll drink some beer. We’ll talk.”

Suspicion marred Shaz’s face. The protests were there, waiting to be delivered. After a moment of consideration, he gave in, much to my delight.

“Fine. But you’re buying.”

Lucy’s Lounge was the only decent place in Stony Plain to hang out socially after dark. Getting Shaz out of the city and back into the small town was better for everyone. The city was teeming with violence and unrest. He was already so wound up due to the events of the last week that I saw no need to feed that fire.

It had been quite some time since I’d been to the small town bar. Back when Alexa and the younger pack wolves had spent a substantial amount of time there, I too had frequented the place. Playing poker with a small group of humans had allowed me to keep an eye on her back in the days before she knew what we were to one another.

The bar had seen better days. It was rather unkempt, making no attempt to be anything other than what it was: a place to drink without any unnecessary frills.

“It feels different,” Shaz observed. “It’s all wrong without the others.”

By others I knew that he meant the young wolves who had once frequented the place along with him and Alexa. Two of those wolves were dead. There was just one wolf present now, other than Shaz, a middle-aged guy who was already shooting ugly glances our way.

“What’s that all about?” I asked, nodding to the watching wolf.

Shaz studied him, boldly meeting his gaze. “I’m not sure. I thought I left on good terms. Maybe I was wrong.”

“Fuck him.” I headed for a pool table, ignoring the watchful wolf gaze upon us. The loud, raucous calls of my former poker buddies drew me to their table where I made small talk, careful not to flash them any fang.

I made up a few excuses to explain my absence. It was easy enough. Humans love to complain about anything and everything. Once I mentioned the business and stress of daily life, they were quick to take that topic and run.

I disentangled myself, joining Shaz at the pool table where he racked the balls. As I rubbed chalk onto the end of a cue, I scanned the vicinity for signs of anything amiss. Other than one testy wolf, the place was all human.

The sense that something was missing was strong. Shaz wasn’t wrong about that. It felt strange to be in a place where I had once so looked forward to the moment Alexa would walk in the door, knowing that it would not happen tonight.

A waitress was quick to discover that Shaz hadn’t been served. In no time she’d supplied him with a beer. When she asked me if I wanted anything my gaze slid to her neck.

“No,” I lied. “Nothing for me.” It wasn’t the need for blood that made such thoughts flit through my mind. It was merely the constant want of it.

“So,” Shaz said when we were alone again. “Why did you really bring me here? I doubt it was so I could kick your ass at pool.”

I watched him break the carefully racked balls. The muscles in his arms and back moved with fine definition as he smacked the balls with the cue. He was a fine creature, well formed and built with the intensity of a wrecking ball.

“I thought we could talk. And I really mean talk. No fists and foul words.”

He eyed me with a glimmer of a grin. “Yeah, right.”

“Well, it’s worth a try.” When he lined up his next shot, I tapped the end of his cue with my own, knocking his shot off course.

“You son of a bitch,” he said with a laugh. “I knew you were going to do that.”

I took my shot, keeping him in my vision to avoid any retaliation. “Let’s try some of that male bonding stuff. Tell me about when you first met Alexa.”

His smile vanished, and he stared off across the bar, remembering. “One of my first memories of her was on a full moon pack run. I’d just been initiated into the pack here in town. I was this awkward teenager, and she was head over heels for the pack Alpha. But she was so nice. Welcoming. She made me feel less like an outsider. She was a friend from the start. Right away, I was attracted to her. The wolf, my wolf, it wanted her from day one.”

His face lit up as he talked. It fascinated me that we both knew her in such different ways. As he spoke his smile returned.

“That must have been hell,” I commented. “Having to watch her with Raoul.”

“You have no idea. It was torture to see them together. It was even worse to hear them in his bedroom.” Shaz shuddered visibly at the memory. “But the absolute worst was when he tossed her aside like yesterday’s news so he could move on to his newest conquest. I watched him break her heart, and I wanted to fucking kill him.”

With grim amusement, I noted that we shared more than our love for the same woman. We shared the desire to protect her. “I had that same fantasy, my friend. Many, many times.”

“I’ll bet.” Shaz’s gaze was pensive upon me, seeking the answer to a question he hadn’t yet asked. “Why did you wait so long? I mean, you came to town years before you and Alexa even…got together. Why not tell her everything right away?”

I smiled. Shaz was more intuitive than I’d given him credit for.

I used lining up my next shot as a way to break eye contact. My answer would be truthful, but I didn’t want to look at him when I revealed it.

“I came because I needed to see her. I needed to know she was alive. That she was real.” I took the shot, sinking the eight ball early and losing the game. “I almost didn’t stay. When I saw her with you, I knew there was something there. I knew that if I stayed, that would change. And I didn’t feel that it was my right to do that to her.”

Shaz was quiet, thinking. His jaw twitched. Something like anguish trickled from him. Then it was gone.

“You did that on purpose,” he said gesturing to the game. He began to gather the balls, placing them back inside the rack. “We were just friends then. Alexa and me. How did you know? And what changed your mind about leaving?”

Ignoring his accusation, I spun the cue lightly between my fingers. “I knew the way I always know. Because she’s part of me. Even before our first night together, I knew her. As for why I didn’t leave…that’s a good question. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. We had a mission together, and I had waited so long.”

Shaz took his sweet time racking the balls, moving them and then moving them again. Finally, he stopped and said, “And here we are.”

“Yes. Here we are.”

There was a tense silence as Shaz took a large drink of beer. Then he pointed at the table. “You break.”

Aware that he was wrestling with himself about something due to our discussion, I stayed quiet and lined up to take the shot. This time I sunk the eight ball right off the break.

“Now that I did not do on purpose,” I laughed, feeling some of the tension lift when he chuckled. “What can I say? Pool just isn’t my game.”

“It’s better that you stayed,” he said, surprising me with his candid claim. “Who knows what might have happened if you hadn’t? She could have gone crazy without you and never known why.”

“She’s going crazy without me now.” It was a statement probably best left unsaid. We exchanged an awkward look that made me feel pressured to share with Shaz what he had shared with me. “It’s not just about me though. You know that, right? You’re the one who keeps her from being consumed by her dark side. The balance between. It’s always been you.”

He ducked his blond head, avoiding my gaze when he muttered, “Don’t bother, Arys. If Alexa thought she needed me, she wouldn’t be pushing me away.”

His flippant tone was meant to mislead, but it didn’t work on me. Regardless of all that both Alexa and I had dealt with over the last year, it was perhaps Shaz who had suffered greatest of all. He was no victim of circumstance though. His role was vital.

“Shaz,” I paused, turning the pool cue, choosing my words. “Alexa loves you more than anything. She thinks the only way to give you a happily ever after is to push you into finding it with someone else. I, however, think that’s a mistake. She needs you. Don’t give up on her.”

His platinum head snapped up, and there was confusion written all over his face. “Are you serious right now? Wouldn’t you love a chance to get rid of me?”

I snickered and shoved him aside so I could rack the balls for another game. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Look, I’m not going to tell you what to do. If you want to move on, build a fairytale life with someone else, then I wish you all the best. But if you want her, and you can accept her as she is now, then I ask only that you cut her some slack. Give her some time.”

“Why me?” He asked suddenly. “Why are you only willing to share her with me?”

I motioned for him to take a shot. He resisted at first, as if he might hold out until I’d answered. When I stayed quiet, he let out his breath in a huff and hit the cue ball. Then he held up his hands in a demanding gesture.

“I told you before, pup. She was meant to love you whether I lived in her lifetime or not.”

“And?”

“And I trust you to protect her.” Admitting it felt like showing him a vulnerability. It made me uncomfortable.

Shaz scoffed and signaled the waitress for one more beer. “I’m pretty sure Alexa can protect herself just fine.” He laughed until he saw my expression and then sobered immediately. “Oh. You mean if…hey, Arys, nothing is going to happen to you. I’m pretty sure you’re unkillable. Besides, I’ll die of old age long before that.”

“Well,” I mused. “You don’t have to.”

A warning flashed across his face. “Don’t even go there. I’d rather be dead than be what you are. No offense.”

“This conversation has taken a depressing turn. Hasn’t it?”

We shared a laugh, and I found myself enjoying it more than I wanted him to know. It was quite possible that over the last year I’d grown to feel more than respect for him. Hell, I suspected I might actually like him.

Before I could steer the conversation in a lighter direction, Shaz was approached by the other wolf. He sauntered up with a sneer, his intent evident in his cocky stride. He eyed me warily.

“Do you think it’s a good idea for you to be in here?” He asked Shaz, trying to draw himself up to the younger wolf’s height. “The point of Alexa leaving the pack was the safety of this town. You went with her. So what the hell are you doing in here with her vampire?”

Shaz and I shared a look. His green eyes glinted with amusement. “I’m playing pool, Mitch. What the hell does it look like?”

Mitch nodded slowly. His stance was tense, strained. He stank of liquor.

“This is a wolf town. Vampires don’t belong here. Seeing as you like ’em so much, you don’t belong here either, Shaz. Are you trying to get us killed?” Mitch garbled his drunken spiel, going so far as to poke Shaz in the chest with a fat finger.

“Go and sit down, Mitch. Before I sit you down.” The way Shaz stared at the other wolf made it pretty clear that he was open to a fight. He’d already been scrapping this week.

“Yeah? Try it.”

With his eyes bloodshot and his words slurred, Mitch was in no shape to fight. He took a swing at Shaz, his fist heavy and misguided. Shaz blocked it with ease while delivering a return blow. His fist connected with the older wolf’s jaw, and he stumbled backward into the pool table. Due to his drunkenness, Mitch didn’t appear to feel the punch he’d just taken.

I dropped my cue on the table and stepped between them. Though I’d have loved to watch Shaz beat the mouthy wolf bloody, it would serve only to prove the wolf’s claim that we didn’t belong there. With a pulse of assertive energy, I pushed Mitch away. Shaz was the difficult one. He attempted to shove me aside, eager to throw another fist.

“Enough.” I fixed my gaze on Mitch, ready to put him on his ass if needed. He wavered, unsteady on his feet. “The two of you have nothing to say to each other. Mind your own damn business, and we’ll mind ours.”

As drunk as he was, the wolf still knew better than to antagonize me. Being feared had its advantages, though at times it could be quite the opposite. It meant that I was no longer underestimated. And I did so love a chance to prove that I should not be misjudged.

Mitch muttered something that involved several curse words before hurling what was left of his beer at us. It hit the corner of the pool table before shattering against the floor. He staggered to the bar where he proceeded to argue with the bartender about being cut off.

Shaz strained against me, wanting to go after him. “Hey,” I said, a hand firmly on his shoulder. “That was not a fight worth getting into.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” His eyes were wolf when he pushed me. When I held my ground and wouldn’t be moved, he snarled, “Get out of my way, Arys.”

“Not until you calm down. When did you become such a maniac anyway?” A thin ribbon of my power reached out to wrap around him. Subtle but effective, I calmed him with my touch.

His gaze dropped to my hand, and he glowered. “Cut that out you manipulat—”

“Careful now,” I interrupted. “You don’t want to piss off the one person in here that can actually take you.”

The small force I exuded smoldered with erotic heat, something I couldn’t help. It was in my nature. Shaz groaned, a sound that was both angry and sensual.

“I really fucking hate you sometimes,” he said, knocking my hand away.

“What happened to bonding? We were doing so good before you let yourself be so easily coerced into a bar brawl. Come on, Shaz. You’re better than that.”

He glared at Mitch who was now pleading his case to the bouncer trying to escort him out. Shaz sighed and swore. Then he nodded.

“Fine. You want to bond? Then come with me. Time for you to see things from our side.” He abandoned his beer bottle, dropped his cue on the table, and headed for the door.

I followed, not because he was being a tad dramatic but because he’d captured my interest. For all I knew he could have been leading me to the parking lot to instigate a brawl that nobody would break up.

His stride was purposeful, his jaw set with determination. Curious, I sauntered along behind him, noting how he trusted me enough to turn his back to me. That small act revealed much.

Hiding my smile, I called after him, “Where are we going?”

Without a glance back, he said, “To Alexa’s house.”

EPILOGUE

Standing in Alexa’s backyard, I was painfully aware of her absence. The house stood dark and silent. Everything about it was wrong.

Shaz pointed beyond the property line to the trees in the distance. “Out there is a place that’s very special to Alexa. I’m going to show it to you.”

He pulled his t-shirt off and laid it on the stone wall of the fire pit. His hands went to his pants, and he shot a glance my way, one brow raised in an unspoken question.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Though I had seen through the eyes of Alexa’s wolf, I had never accompanied her into the forest. Shaz’s willingness to take me to a place they had been together caused a swell of emotion to rise within me.

When he stood there in his boxers, oblivious to the autumn chill in the air, I felt the stirrings of the ghostly beast that dwelled within. His gaze narrowed as he seemed to sense it.

“Arys? Are you ok? You smell like wolf.”

“As do you, pup,” I said, avoiding his question. “Lead the way. I’m right behind you.”

There was some hesitation on his part. Then he slipped out of the boxers and stretched. His limbs were long and pale in the dark of the night. Without another word he became wolf, a change so fast and fluid it was near impossible to see in its entirety.

He was one of the most beautiful creatures I’d ever seen, second only to Alexa. Fur the same white blond as his hair, the green of his eyes seemed to glow in contrast. He loped out of the yard without checking to ensure that I followed.

I most certainly did. We cut a path across the small expanse of field to the waiting forest. It was nice to walk beneath a blanket of stars with the white wolf. The city suddenly felt so far away.

The echo of wolf was alive with excitement inside me. The scent of the earth at my feet and the wolf beside me brought memories swimming up from the depths of my subconscious, all of them Alexa’s. Being wolf meant so much to her. I would never have forgiven myself if she had lost it.

Entering the closely packed trees meant leaving the rest of the world behind. It ceased to exist as we went deeper. Shaz paused here and there to sniff at everything from a small animal carcass to a pile of dry leaves.

I stepped with care, feeling very much aware that I did not belong here. The forest seemed to watch us, to know why we’d come. It was a strange sensation. The forest almost breathed as the wind played in the treetops. The occasional call of an owl was met with the yip of coyotes in the distance. It was peaceful, a world unto its own. A pang of envy struck me. I would never know this place the way Alexa and Shaz did. Together they had something that excluded me. It was beautiful and precious.

I yearned to speak but felt that my voice was unwelcome here. It merely didn’t belong. Shaz bumped against my side and knowing I risked a vicious wolf bite, I reached for a handful of his fur. It slid through my fingers, wiry and tough but soft as well.

Smiling apologetically when he turned a wary stare my way, I let go and reached to touch the bark of a large spruce tree instead. The old tree hummed with the natural vibrations of the earth. Closing my eyes, I could feel the way its energy was linked to everything around it. Connected. All of us. In one way or another.

For just a moment, I thought perhaps the wolf essence inside me would manifest itself after all. The tips of my fingers stung with the prick of claws. The insistent pressure inside me grew until I was sure it could be contained no longer.

I opened my eyes to find Shaz staring at me, concern etched on his furry face. Motioning for him to continue, I followed, wondering if it was possible that it was not Alexa’s wolf that reigned within me but my own instead.

A vampire could not become a shifter. We were beyond human life and death. Of course no vampire was bound to a shifter the way I was. It was a curious thing. The essence of a wolf dwelled in me, lacking only a body. Otherwise, it was very real.

I thought about Alexa, likely with Sinclair at that moment, when she should have been here. Things would get better. She would recover from the startling initiation to the vampire world and reclaim her role as one of the last Hounds. She simply had to. Anything less would be a failure. My failure.

Shaz slipped between a tight group of trees, and I followed, careful not to bend or break any branches. I found him there, in human form, sitting naked beside a small pond.

“This is where she goes when she needs to get away,” he said softly. He sat with his knees drawn up, hiding his nudity. “It’s dried up some since summer, but it’s still beautiful.”

“It really is.” I sat beside him on the dry grass, giving him enough space so as not to feel uncomfortable. Studying the pond, I was disappointed that summer had passed. The coming winter promised to steal the life away from this place. “I’d like to see it in the summer. Perhaps we can come back.”

Shaz pushed a hand through his hair several times. It was a sign that he was feeling emotional, for whatever reason. “Sure. We can do that.”

He seemed to have a hard time looking at me. I tried to lighten the mood. “What’s wrong, pup? Would you feel better if I got naked too?”

“Please, don’t.” His laughter cut through the night, echoing all around us. “It’s just your eyes. They’re wolf. I haven’t seen that in a while.”

Shaz had been the first one to see Alexa’s wolf in me. That night had been one of the worst. Not only had I lost control, something that so rarely happened now, but I’d killed my lovely neighbor’s dog in a fit of werewolf-induced rage.

“It’s not always this strong,” I said. “You must know that what you share with her will always be more profound than what I share with her. You have something special there.”

Picking a twig off the ground, he began to scratch in the dirt. “We do. I know that. I’m not sure I’d call it profound though.”

I watched as he dragged the small stick through the dirt, drawing a poorly formed heart. “Shaz, the two of you share something that is filled with wonder and beauty. What she and I have is all about blood and death. Don’t underestimate what you are together.”

A wan smile graced his lips. “You know for such a supreme jackass, you can be a pretty decent guy.”

“I know.”

He flicked the twig at me. It bounced off my arm to disappear into the yellow grass. I pointed at the clumsy heart he’d carved into the dirt beside him. “Did you know that style of heart has some pretty strange origins? According to some sources, you just drew a little ball sack. Or possibly a lady’s ass.”

“See what I mean? Jackass.” Shaz’s soft laughter was infectious. It likely wouldn’t be long until we were throwing punches at each other again. This was nice though. It was worth savoring.

We sat in a comfortable silence, each lost in the isolation of our own thoughts. In the still of the forest night, sitting with a man I’d once warred with, I wondered if perhaps it should be me returning to Las Vegas with Jenner.

“I arranged for Kale to go back to Vegas with Jenner,” I said suddenly, the confession dropped from my lips like a toxin I needed to spit out. “It’s his choice, although I may have laid it on thick when I suggested it would be best for Alexa.”

Shaz’s sharp laugh broke the stillness, startling a bird overhead. It took flight, its wings beating rapidly as it fled.

“Is that guilt I hear?” he asked with obvious amusement. “I never thought I’d see the day. So you do have it in you.”

“If you tell anyone, I’ll have to kill you.” I grinned. The unfortunate part was that my guilt was fed entirely by the fact that I didn’t feel bad about making such arrangements for Sinclair.

“Would it make you feel like less of an asshole if I told you that I like the sound of that plan?” His laugh turned bitter. “He brings out the worst in her. I wouldn’t be sorry to see him go.”

“She’s going to kick my ass.”

“Oh, hell yeah, she will.”

“Thanks, pup. That helps.”

Shaz punched me in the shoulder. “Now that you’ve told me about it, I’ll go down with you.”

It wasn’t funny, but all we could do was laugh. This was a dark time for all of us. Alexa was strong. She would come out the other side of this. If separating her from Kale was what it took, then so be it. I could live with her wrath if it meant saving what was left of her sanity.

I wasn’t disillusioned enough to believe that I had the answers she needed. There was nothing I could teach her about being a hybrid. There was no secret to be revealed that would make this any easier. However, I knew firsthand the blissful agony of being a new vampire. I would see her through this.

“We’d better head back,” Shaz said, eyeing the sky.

I nodded my agreement and rose to follow him. He shifted back to wolf, bumped his head against my hand and trotted through the trees, back the way we’d come. For just a moment I considered reaching out to Alexa through the mental connection we shared. I didn’t, choosing instead to leave it to her to make that move when she was ready.

Shaz was a white streak up ahead, pausing occasionally to glance back at me. I took my time though I could have matched his pace. Leaving the forest left me feeling melancholy.

I had to laugh to myself. If Alexa could see Shaz and me now, it would blow her mind. It might be best that she couldn’t. There was no telling how long this camaraderie would last.

Difficult times had come upon us. It was the worst it had ever been. Chances were good that it was far from over.

Two demons MIA. A federal agency with a deadly agenda. An unwelcome premonition from a witch turned vampire. And that was just the beginning. Shit was about to go down. Again. I had to admit, I was kind of looking forward to it.

Check out  TrinaMLee.com  for news and information on the next book in the Alexa O’Brien Huntress series,  Forget About Midnight .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Trina writes urban fantasy that is dark and gritty with a twist of romance and horror but which is ultimately about people in dark places discovering who they are and what they’re made of.

A lover of rock music, vampires and muscle cars, Trina is a dreamer who always secretly wanted to be a rockstar. She lives in Alberta, Canada with her bass player husband, fierce teenage daughter and three annoying but super cute cats. She has a Venus Fly Trap that loves baby talk and a Dodge Charger named Delilah.

Trina loves to hear from readers so don’t hesitate to drop her a line.

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SMASHED

Copyright 2014 by   Trina M. Lee

Smashwords Edition

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Manufactured in the United States of America.

Editor

B. Leigh Hogan

Cover Artist

Michael Hart

Published by

Dark Mountain Books

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

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