Gifted Curse (Curse Trilogy)

by C. M. Owens

  “I’m so sorry, and I can’t say it enough. I know I fucked up, but I swear I never meant to hurt you,” he pleads.

  “No. Don’t. you just never thought you’d lose me because I loved you too fucking much. You think because you’re my counter-”

  His lips pound against mine suddenly as he uses his passionate need to shut me up. I feel the wall against my back cracking more and more as his hips dig in, and I almost give into the savage lusting at play. I grip the back of his head, my hands weaving through the soft strands of hair, to pull him closer, deeper into the kiss.

  My sanity returns as quickly as it fled, and I shove him off me once again before slapping him hard across the face.

  “Fuck you. Don’t ever touch me again,” I snarl, and then I stalk away from the party and him.

  My phone rings in my purse at almost the exact same time his does, and my heart almost breaks into pieces when I see the name. It’s Brazen.

  I’m such a stupid bitch for ever having dabbled in such a foolish thing with Hale.

  “Hey,” I breathe into the phone, my well deserved guilt weighing me down.

  “Araya, get everyone to safety now!” he blares into my ear.

  “What?” I ask with complete bewilderment.

  “Javeline, it’s gone… completely gone. Get everyone to safety now. There should be bomb shelters there. Find one, and stay low until we can get there.”

  “Javeline?” I squeal, and tears pour free from my eyes. “What about the people?”

  He sighs hard into the phone, hesitance radiating around his silent breaths. In the absence of his response, my mind is forced to play out horrific scenarios I can’t bear to imagine.

  “Brazen,” I prompt through the emotional ball in my chest.

  “Gone,” he finally exhales. “Listen to me, there’s several hundred men traveling in your direction right now, and they’ve got a huge head start. They could be there at any time, and-”

  The sound of a loud buzzer going wild across the building interrupts Brazen’s instructions. The phone drops from my hand and shatters against the ground when Hale jerks my hand in his. Panic and hysteria break free from the partiers as everyone rushes to duck and cover.

  “Get everyone into the bomb shelters now. I’ll head to the towers to see what’s going on,” he barks to several uniformed men, and then he whips me around to be in front of him as he speaks very worriedly. “Go with them. Take shelter and keep everyone calm. I’ll come get you when it’s safe.”

  I jerk free from his grip while blaring, “Like hell you will. You’re going to need me. Over half your men went to go help out with the Hensen investigation. I’m not letting you go up there without me.”

  “Araya, I really don’t have time to argue right now,” he growls.

  “Then stop arguing,” I hiss, and then I swish away too fast for him to catch up as I race to the towers.

  I see cars coming in by the swarms just miles down the road, and I hear the first blasts connecting before I even see the warning signs. Screams erupt as the explosions pound against the wall, but the sturdy structure holds steady against the attack.

  It won’t take them long to reach us at this pace. I see men catching missiles and throwing them back at our attackers, but they’re armed to the guild. We shouldn’t be outmatched, but we are. It’s as though they know what we’re capable of.

  Blinding flares and deafening booms continue to litter the once peaceful night air. Blood spews and splatters across the compound as the wounded collapse and scream out their agony.

  “Send them a taste of what’s to come,” Hale commands.

  A man fires a loud, screeching missile from a launcher attached to the wall. It connects with three of the approaching vehicles, and the explosions after take out several more.

  “There’s too many. There are kids in here. I’m not watching anyone else die tonight,” I assert as I stalk over to the wall.

  “Araya, don’t,” Hale screams, but he’s not stopping me.

  I’m devastated, I’m in pain, and I’m fucking pissed right now. My home, my friends, and so much more rested in Javeline… now it’s all gone. Now they want to take even more. I won’t let them take Hale. I won’t let them take from him away from me too. I won’t let them touch him.

  I rush toward the oncoming fleet, and I hear more screams as the explosions reach inside the compound. I pull out a gun filled with the uranium dipped bullets, and I start firing through the windows of the oncoming sons of bitches heading straight for me.

  I feel the impact of a car slamming into my back, but they’re a little stunned when I don’t budge from the ground. The car curls around me as the iron folds and distorts, the crunching of metal and bones sounding out in unison - not my bones though. I dust it off of me as though it’s a speck of sand.

  More wails burst out from our night attackers when another vehicle crashes into me. This time I grab the man in the driver’s seat and launch him into the window of another car to take out their driver. My gun runs out of bullets, and suddenly Hale is beside me handing me a fresh litter of ammunition.

  “You need a vest,” I scold.

  “You didn’t give me any fucking time to put one on,” he scoffs.

  I smirk a little, and then I jump in front of him as a launched missile nearly impacts him. It shatters explosively against my hand, and the dress I’m wearing suffers more than my unscathed flesh.

  The bombs keep breaching the walls, and I can’t give them anymore time to keep attacking. The power starts growing inside me, and I turn to Hale.

  “Get the fuck out of here, now,” I command.

  “Damn it. Don’t do it. You’ll be out here without any fucking protection if you do it. You can only use one gift at a time,” he screams.

  “Go,” I blare, and then I feel the roaring engines screaming into the air as they lift into the sky.

  More crunching bones and exploding glass rattle the air as I release them to fall from their impossibly high drop. They all begin rushing toward me when the live ones break free.

  These assholes definitely aren’t human.

  I feel the first tear of a bullet slicing into me, and I grimace before sending a wave of them back toward the buzzing bastards. Blood scatters across the ground and me as the body count begins piling up, but I can’t control the exploding power that always follows the floorshow. It’s building and building, and I know this is going to fucking hurt so bad.

  I scream as the power exudes from me, and the stray bullets are released from my freezing hold to continue on their paths. The sickening sound of my own flesh tearing sticks in my ears. More of my blood flows free from the piercing shards whistling through the air and ravaging my body. The pain is excruciatiîg as the uranium bleeds into my blood, and the explosion from my body waves through the air to shred the cars and men to pieces, flesh peeling from their bones as easily as the paint peels from the side of the wall.

  I scream again as the pain forces the power to be stronger, my survival instincts taking over. I dig up the ground as the waves of the air burst open and knock me to my back with a terrible thudding bounce. I hear the echoes of voices as shadows race through the flames of my disaster, and I’m almost scared I missed some.

  I sure as hell don’t have anything left.

  “Araya!” Hale screams.

  I climb to my feet and stagger slightly when my dizziness sets in far too heavily to keep my balance.

  “I’m okay,” I say to the encroaching shadow.

  “Fuck. How the hell did you keep it away from the compound?” he gasps, and his arm wraps around me for support.

  I wince, but I do so discreetly. He can’t see me yet, and I don’t want him to know how badly I’ve been hit.

  “I don’t know. It just worked right for once. It’s not like I was actually controlling it. Believe me, I wish I knew how to,” I exasperate while doing my best to play down my excruciating pain.

  He keeps his arm gripped to my wai
st, and I can’t bear to tell him how painful his grasp is right now. I can taste my blood pooling in my mouth, thankful the dark sky is hiding the horrific mess I know I am.

  “What’s the count?” Hale yells to a guy near the entrance when we make it back.

  “Fifteen humans dead and thirty-four injured. Twelve full bloods dead and sixty injured. Three hybrids dead and seventy-five injured - but most of the injuries are almost fatal, Sir. That’s not counting her,” he murmurs softly as he stares at my limping posture hidden under the pitch black sky.

  “How bad is it?” he asks.

  I can feel the blood running down my leg, but I don’t want him to know right now. He’s got enough shit to worry about, and I can find some blood when we get a damn minute.

  “I’m fine,” I strain out. “I’ve had worse.”

  “The blood bank is under lockdown for twenty-four hours due to the explosions rupturing its stability. The vault has sealed, Sir.”

  Damn it. Now what?

  “Fuck,” Hale says with heavy worry.

  “How much do we have on hand?” he asks the guy.

  “We do have some inside the main building, Sir, but it’s not going to be enough for the hybrids and full bloods both.”

  “Will it be enough for the full bloods only?”

  “Just barely, Sir.”

  “Fine. Get the humans into the medical center, and pass out the blood to the full bloods. I’ll speak to our people.”

  Hale holds onto me while heading to the gathering of scared people showing relief for having survived the surprise attack. Slowly the lights start to shine on us, but Hale is too preoccupied with his people’s safety to notice the gory sight he’s clinging to. All eyes find him as he starts addressing them very softly, controlled, and genuinely despaired.

  “I’m about to ask you to do something I know you aren’t really going to be too thrilled about, but it’s necessary. We have a limited amount of blood to go around, and the full bloods need it worse than the hybrids due to their inability to feed any other way. If you are unaffected, then please share your blood with an injured hybrid in need. If you can wait until backup arrives, then do so. I’ll be sending people around to take volunteers, and we’ll be assessing the damages as well. Thank you in advance for answering the request I’ve made.”

  He turns his attention back to me, the lights inside finally revealing the truth about my severely tattered state, and a gasp erupts from his throat. His face distorts in terror, and then he pulls back his hand to see the tremendous amount of blood I’ve lost against him.

  “Fuck, Araya. You fucking lied to me. You’re barely in one damn piece,” he blares.

  I feel my body collapsing when there’s no reason to act strong any longer. He catches me and scoops me up to pull me against his chest before rushing his pace inside the building.

  “I’ll be fine,” I cough out, but a gushing flow of blood escapes from my lips to prove otherwise.

  “No the fuck you won’t. You need blood,” he growls, and then he turns to a guy rushing by.

  “Is there any blood left at all?” he asks.

  “No, Sir. They full bloods have already consumed it, Sir,” the man answers, and Hale’s lips tighten while returning to his fervent pace.

  “Where are we going?” I strain out.

  “My room,” he says softly, and his lips lightly kiss my forehead as we cross the threshold.

  He gently places me on the bed, and then he pulls his shirt off quickly.

  “No,” I grumble, and then I cough again as the fluid fills up in my lungs.

  It’s becoming all the more unbearable now, and what he’s offering is too fucking tempting for me to fight for long.

  “You have to, Araya. You’ll fucking die if you don’t,” he asserts with stern force.

  “No. I’m engaged to Brazen, and he’ll leave me if I do this,” I whimper, and tears start pouring from my eyes as he raises me up to pull me against his glorious, shirtless body.

  “I don’t give a fuck about your boyfriend. I love you, and I’m not going to let you die because he’ll get pissed. If he loves you, he’ll get the fuck over it,” he growls, and he strums his thumb across my lips to try to provoke my blood bringers from their hiding spot.

  “No,” I whimper again. “It’s going to make all this worse,” I cry.

  “I swear it won’t. Brazen won’t even fucking know about it. I won’t ever speak of it after you leave this room, but baby, you’ll die if you don’t do this. I’m sorry, but I’m not letting that happen,” he coos, and I can’t take the pain any longer.

  My lips press against his chest to kiss the spot I’m about to bleed, and he breathes in deeply when he feels my submission. My teeth lightly scrape over my spot as I hesitate about this really being my only option, but the blood falling freely from my body reminds me how dire this truly is.

  I take a deep breath before doing something I never thought I would do again. My teeth bear down to break through the delicious flesh on his magnificent body. He gasps as he feels the burning attacking his blood as the drug fills us both, and then the warmth of his perfection flows into my mouth. I don’t taste the blood; I taste him - his desire, his passion, his lust for me… all of it.

  My wounds start closing almost instantly, and then his lips inhale mine when the passion erupts like an erotic bomb being set free inside of us. My nails grip into his back as the pounding of my insides travels lower to my center, and then I feel my rear sliding across the counter of the bar when he swishes me over to there.

  His lips scour my neck in search of more, and then I feel his teeth sinking in once he reaches his favorite spot. I gasp as the shock of the long missed feeling drives an arousing stake through my lower body, and then the fire inflames my veins as it travels through them. The pain feels so fucking good as he takes my blood in his mouth.

  The erotic venom spreads more, and the high is surreal as his body tries to break into mine. My lips find his, and I feel the crazy, wild, and maddening sensations being stimulated more than I remembered they could be. I gasp as he slides my dress up, and his lips find mine again as his pants drop to the floor. He pulls me to his body more forcefully, and then he throws me against the cracking tile beside the fire place. He thrusts into me once with more force and passion than I’ve felt in three years.

  The abruptness is countered with the familiar wonder of his body connecting with mine, and his teeth tug at my lower lip as he thrusts in even deeper. The pace quickens, and his brutal rhythm is almost punishing as he plows into me without mercy. His pants echo against my ear as our bodies bash against each other like two intoxicated storms colliding.

  Oh I’ve missed this so fucking much.

  He throws me into another wall, and more shit shatters against the ground as we savagely rip apart the room. My teeth sink into his flesh again to release more of the toxic seduction to erotically fuel the fire blistering inside. His hands grip my breasts as he flips me over a counter, and I feel him pounding all the harder as he pumps in his desire.

  I feel the build of the most powerful release I’ve ever felt gradually brewing in my belly, and suddenly I scream out, “Hale,” as I explode around him with a vicious eruption.

  He doesn’t stop or even slow down.

  “I’m not done with you yet, baby,” he growls into my ear, and then I feel the bed against my back as he slides in and out with his fervent pace.

  I cry out when the surreal climax has left me too sensitive for such a violent assault, but then I feel it starting to build again. Tears escape when the sensations become overwhelming, and his lips fold over mine as his hands grip my ass to jerk me harder against his thrusts.

  “I love you,” he breathes, and I just grip him tighter as his breath flows with its incredible heat into my mouth.

  His hands use my hips bones as handles when I’m suddenly on top of him, and I feel him gripping my ass so tight I’m worried I’m going to need to heal again. My nails slide up his
arms, and I bend to hover over him. I let him take me as hard and fast as he wants to from underneath me. He grips tighter, his jaw clenching shut as our eyes fearlessly connect.

  His lips attack mine again, and my hands grip against his shoulders as I hear the incredible sound of our bodies melding together. I scream out loud enough to shatter glass when I find my release yet again, and this time he moans as he follows me. I feel his warmth rushing through me to prove he’s done… for now.

  “Fuck,” he murmurs in such elation, and I fall to his body with my languid, exhausted, and thoroughly depleted body.

  His arms grip me tightly to him, and he stays inside me as if he’s scared to let me go. I cling to him, and our wild kisses turn to softer ones as our lips play against each other’s. My legs continue quivering around him, and he slowly starts moving while still inside of me.

  “Stop,” I murmur as the drug of the blood fuck starts to lose its full hold on me.

  “Just take my blood one more time,” he pleads, and I shake my head.

  I can’t move though. Feeling him inside of me just feels too fucking good right now to give up.

  “No. I’m healed now. Anything else will just complicate this,” I murmur, but my lips still slightly stroke his, contradicting my words.

  “You’re still under the effects of it right now. Just take my blood again, or I’ll take yours,” he seduces.

  “Take mine,” I murmur, and his eyes light up with menace as I allow him access to his spot between my shoulder and neck.

  I’m aching now as the poison returns with his sharp bite, and the mind-blowing sensations beg to be pleasured. He slides out of me, and the loss of the deep intimacy is almost painful. The dress I’m still barely wearing shreds like paper when he rips it free from my healed body, and his lips return to mine as he flips me to be under him.

  He jerks my legs to force my body against his again, and I fill his hip bones thrash against the insides of my thighs as he violently picks up the pace. I grunt and moan each time I feel him go deep, and I start clinging to the sheets as the merciless rhythm carries on.