by C. M. Owens
My hand throws up, and he’s suddenly flying across the room. I can’t let him provoke me any further or I could kill him. I dash out of the room when I see him stumbling in his inebriated state to get back up, and I force my way through Wendy’s door.
“Ms. Crush,” she gasps while grabbing her heart that I’ve just forced to pound a little harder with my startling entry.
“I need olophine, now. Get it,” I strain out, and she rushes out of the room to fill my request.
I stare in the mirror to see the dilated pupils that warn me of what’s to come if I don’t get my shit under control fast. She returns with a vial and a syringe that is useless on a hybrid or a damn full blood.
“Who needs it? Did someone change?” she gasps.
“No. I need it,” I growl, and I jerk the bottle from her hand.
“Ms. Crush. That’s for full bloods who’ve just been turned. It could kill you,” she rattles out.
“It won’t kill me. Trust me,” I grumble.
It’s sure as hell not the first time I’ve had to inject myself with the damn drug to subdue the darkness within.
“Newly turned ones need five milliliters. If you’re going to take it I don’t suggest more than one or two milliliters,” she says hesitantly.
I bite into the flesh on my wrist to open it up, and I break the top of the full bottle off. I take all of the medicine into my mouth, and then I pull my wrist to my mouth to force the medicine into the opening I’ve made. I feel the burning sensation as the strong medicine takes its place in my bloodstream, and then I gasp when I feel the devil inside me climbing back into its cage.
Wendy’s mouth is gaping open in disbelief, and it flaps open and shut as if she’s trying to find the words for what she’s just witnessed.
“This doesn’t leave this room,” I murmur as the breaths of relief come in heaves.
“Yes ma’am,” she stammers out.
Then I hear yelling down the hall as a door breaks open.
Fuck.
“Hale, you selfish son of a bitch. Where the fuck is she?” Brazen screams as he breaks into Hale’s room.
Wendy follows me to the hallway, and I hide behind the mass of people that have crept out to appease their startled curiosity for the disturbance.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I hear Hale ask.
“Where is she?” Brazen slurs out, and I realize his drunken state has worsened now that he has tasted my power being used against him.
“She’s not here. What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you drunk?” Hale asks with loud bemusement.
“No. I’m pissed, you arrogant prick. Where’s my fucking fiancée?”
I stare down at the ring on my finger, and the shirt still covering my body. This is all my fault.
“How the hell am I supposed to know? What’s your fucking problem?” Hale yells.
I want to creep up to the room so I can see rather than hear the confrontation, but my legs are too wobbly from the toxin I just pushed through my veins and the breaking in my heart.
“I know she came here. She fucked you, left me, and now she’s here somewhere,” he growls, and I hear shit toppling to the ground as he starts his search in the room I’m not in.
“I can’t believe you’re acting like this, you bastard. She fucking knew you would do this,” Hale screeches, and then Brazen is suddenly flying out of the room.
Hale steps across the broken shambles of the door that got in the way. He’s still shirtless and in his track pants. He was probably asleep, unaware of the drunk full blood coming to seek revenge.
Brazen climbs to his feet, and he lowers his shoulder to ram Hale into the wall. The concrete cracks under the impact, and Hale grabs Brazen by the neck to shove him against the opposite wall.
“Why?” Brazen sighs out, as he sinks to the ground in a drunken exhaustion. “Why did you have to fuck her over again? It took her forever to let you go, and now you’re just going to break her all over again,” he sighs out, and tears fill up in my eyes.
“I wouldn’t break her all over again if she’d fucking take me back, but that’s not why we fucked. What did she tell you?” Hale snarls.
“She didn’t have to tell me anything. She was still wearing your fucking shirt. I heard you two over the damn phone,” he blares, and Wendy’s eyes almost pop out of her head now that she knows who was in the room with Hale.
She deliberately stares anywhere but at me, and she takes a step over when she becomes worried about her proximity to the woman that just drank enough of a sedative to put down three hundred full bloods while acting like it was Sunday brunch. I roll my eyes, and I start to step up when Clay joins the fight.
“What the hell is going on?” he barks.
“Brazen thinks I fucked Araya just because I could. That just goes to show how very little he fucking knows about her. She wouldn’t have ever cheated on you, and you’re an asshole for thinking she would. She was about to fucking die, and I had no choice but to give her my blood,” Hale explains, but Brazen starts laughing hysterically, insanity seething in his eyes.
“Sure you didn’t have a choice. This whole compound has more blood than any other facility on this side of the region. There are people every-fucking-where. Don’t give me that shit,” he laughs out.
“The blood vault sealed when the explosions hit,” Clay says softly to the man he knows is about to fall apart.
“What?” Brazen asks in a more sobered tone.
“No one could get in, and they had a limited amount of blood to disperse to the full bloods. There was a hell of a lot of people that had to share blood with the hybrids. Araya almost died keeping the compound safe. According to every witness here, it looked like she had very few breaths even left,” Clay says even softer.
“Why the fuck didn’t she tell me?” Brazen gasps.
“Because you assumed her guilty before giving her the fucking chance!” Hale explodes.
“I didn’t know. She should have done much worse than throwing me into a wall,” Brazen whimpers.
“What?” Hale asks, and I see his face go pale.
“I said she should have done worse. Are you happy?” Brazen screams.
“No,” Hale says, and I tilt my head to the side as he and Clay exchange a look of terror. They’re scared… of me. “You said she threw you against the wall? Did she knock anything else over?” Hale asks.
“Fuck, I don’t know. What the hell does it matter?”
“I can’t get her to answer her phone,” Clay says to Hale while waiting anxiously for me to pick up the phone I don’t have.
“It shattered to the ground when we went to face off with the ambushers,” Hale murmurs in a ghastly tone.
“Eli, hey, it’s Clay. We’ve got a code fifteen. Call it in, and find her now,” Clay says into the phone, and Brazen’s eyes hold the same confusion as mine.
“What the fuck is a code fifteen?” he asks.
“It’s none of your fucking business, you stupid son of a bitch. You know damn how easy it is to provoke her. Why the hell would you get drunk and attack her? She can’t be handled that way, and if you loved her at all you would know that,” Hale barks, and it looks like he’s about to show his savage side as he stalks toward him to do more damage.
“Stop it right now,” I interrupt, and I walk through the crowd to take my place between Brazen and Hale.
“Araya,” Hale gushes in relief, and Clay dials a number to call off the search.
“Don’t,” I murmur as he starts to hug me. “Why the fuck did you make a code for me? Do you fear me that much?”
His eyes sadden when he sees my pain, and he shakes his head.
“I don’t fear you at all, but…” his voice trails off as he gauges all the eyes watching us, and he tugs at my hand to pull me into his room.
“Araya,” Brazen murmurs as he stands to pull me from the grasp of the wolf he felt stole me away.
His lips cover mine, his kiss seeping with apologies
his words can’t relay the depth of. I don’t return the stained affection, and I jerk away from the son of a bitch that just cut me deeper than he realizes.
“Araya, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” he pleads, and he tries pulling me to him again.
The walls rattle harder, and my fever starts to grow as the heavy medicine begins burning out of my veins from the monstrous dose of adrenaline eating it up. I start feeling the dangerous high that threatens to tear apart the Seminole.
“Go get some olophine,” Hale murmurs to Clay.
“She’s already taken a whole bottle,” Wendy says in objection.
I whip around to face Hale. My eyes dilate and pulse upon seeing his incredible, sculpted body. He’s so… perfect. He’s mine. Only mine.
“What the hell is wrong with her?” the full blood asks when he see my animalistic attributes glaring through - the real me coming up to breathe in the fresh air.
“Come on, baby,” my hybrid coos, and I carry a mischievous smirk as I stagger toward him.
“Don’t you fucking touch her,” the damn full blood growls, and I use my power to slam him into the far wall when he charges.
“Stop, baby,” my hybrid soothes, and I step up to put my hand on his face as the toxic lust consumes me.
“Araya,” the full blood gasps out through strain, and I release him when Hale draws all of my attention to him.
“Brazen,” Clay says gently as he returns with a vial of medicine in his hand. “Right now she’s in a state of devolvement. In this trance she seeks the touch of a hybrid - more specifically, Hale. We have to medicate her and let her come down gently. I promise we’ll fill you and the others in on this when she’s better.”
“I’m not letting her fucking go with him,” he spits, and I turn to attack the full blood threatening my union.
My hybrid grabs me, and he pulls me back to follow his eyes. I sway beneath his gaze, everything in me burning to be with him right now. His lips won’t touch mine despite my attempts to take them, and I feel a soft bed greeting me as the door to his bedroom shuts.
Clay still argues with the belligerent full blood, and then I hear him screaming for me while his voice echoes away.
“I had him taken to sober up,” Clay murmurs as he walks into the room.
Hale nods, but his eyes stay completely focused on mine as I continue to try to pull him to me.
“I need you to open your veins and push in this medicine, baby. One more will make you feel better,” he murmurs, but I finally catch him off guard enough to force him under me.
“You can open my veins,” I seduce, and my mouth covers his before he can object.
“Fuck,” he murmurs against my kiss, and his hands grip against my ass with hesitance and tortured reluctance.
“Oh, I fucking wish this was you right now,” he murmurs through gritted teeth as he forces me back.
“I am, and it feels so fucking good to be me right now,” I growl out, and my lips stroll over his neck.
“Araya, please don’t do this to me right now. You have to take the medicine. It’ll help me if you do,” he says so sweetly, and I grind my hips against his as I straddle his lap a little more intimately.
“You okay?” Clay almost chuckles out.
Hale’s eyes narrow at him, and then he takes in a deep, dreadful breath before putting the medicine in front of my face.
“Take this for me, and you can have me,” he exhales.
“You swear?” I breathe into his ear, and his breath hitches when my body slides against his, my teeth grazing the lobe of his ear.
He lets his breath come out in a weary flow, and then he jerks my hips to his body before responding.
“You can have me anywhere, anyway, and anytime you want me,” he smolders, and my mouth moves against his once more to invite the pent up passion.
“Please,” he whispers.
I draw back with half-cocked smirk, and then I bite into my wrist while he breaks the top of the bottle off. He hands me the small vial, and I push the medicine into my veins to appease his request. Now I can have him.
The medicine burns as it shoots through my veins to attack the wakened devil. My lips move back to Hale’s to taste the delicious flavor of his as my sanity tries to creep back into place.
I gasp when I realize what I’ve just been doing, and Hale’s arms wrap around me to steady to convulsing trembles.
“I’ll go get her something to drink,” Clay murmurs almost too quietly.
He leaves the room, and I lean into the man who just brought me away from a nearly dangerous place.
“You okay, baby?” he says softly while kissing my forehead when he feels I’ve returned.
“Just a little shaky,” I mumble.
“You probably need to lie down,” he coos softly, and he gently places me on tousled sheets of the bed while covering me up.
“Here’s you some water,” Clay says while handing me a cup.
I guzzle it down, and then I cover my head with my hands to hide my eyes from the world that has seen a hint of my dark secret - our dark secret.
“Oh damn,” I blurt out while rising up in panic. “Did I hurt him?”
“He’s fine. He’s too drunk to talk to right now, and his fellow full bloods are restraining him for the night,” Clay says to ease my terrified mind.
“I’ll be back in a bit,” Hale says while starting out of the bedroom.
“Where are you going?” Clay asks.
“I’m going to try to find something to fix my damn door, and then I’m going to get ice,” he grumbles.
“Ice?” I muse.
“Yeah,” he sighs, and he heads out the door while murmuring to himself, “Lots and lots of fucking ice.”
I suddenly realize why he needs the ice, and I blush behind the closing door when Clay covers his mouth to hide the chuckling grin he couldn’t suppress.
“That bad, huh?” I grumble.
“I’ve seen you worse off in this phase, but he always got to have you afterwards. This is the first time he’s ever had to deal with the after without an after. If you know what I mean,” he snickers out.
I sigh while covering up my head, and huff out my embarrassment for my savagery. He already had a fucking before.
“I can’t believe I did that in front of the others,” I grumble. “I knew that wasn’t going to be enough meds, but I thought I would have more time than that. How bad is it now that they know?”
Clay’s humor turns more serious, and he lies down beside me on the bed to join me in my venture of staring up at the ceiling.
“I don’t know yet. They really don’t know what happened, and I just hope they listen to the explanation without freaking out. It was just the hypnotic phase, not the destructive one, so they might be okay with just hearing a partial explanation instead of the whole thing.”
Hale walks back in - though he’s still walking very stiffly. I struggle to keep my body still from the repressed laughter when I see his awkward posture.
“Can the meeting wait until tomorrow. Araya needs to rest, and to be honest, I do too.”
“I didn’t plan on meeting tonight. Tensions are still high, and too much of any emotion could send Araya back into the tailspin. It’d be best if she stayed with you, considering the obvious,” Clay says while revealing a slight smirk.
I roll my eyes, and I stumble out of the bed when I try to stand up too quick.
“Not happening. I’ll stay in Wendy’s room or something,” I mumble.
“No, you won’t,” Hale says in objection, and I feel my body lifting from the floor to be put back in the bed. “You’ve still got blood staining your face and body. Your eyes are scorched with the remnants of pained tears, and you came pretty damn close to venturing to our wilder side. You’re staying here.” He puts me down gently, pulling the sheets up over my body before his hands leave me again. “If you relapse, I don’t need to be far away.”
“I feel like an animal, and I fucking hate it.”<
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“We all hate that feeling, but we’ve gotta do what we gotta do,” Clay chirps, and then he heads out the door, leaving me alone with the hybrid that I can’t seem to escape no matter how hard I try.
The room around us lacks any character since we destroyed everything earlier, but my picture still remains above the bed, intact.
“Did you lose anything of any value during our earlier tantrum?” I mumble, and he laughs instantly, covering his mouth with his hand to muffle some of the roar.
“Nothing I can’t replace. I’ll have to buy some new frames soon, but the rest can wait until I have a minute to deal with it.”
“This is torture,” I grumble, and I stare down at the ring that is supposed to mean I belong to Brazen.
“No. Torture is having the woman you love go super-hot-wild-girl on you, and then revert back into the standoffish creature you lost,” he sighs.
I feel like a piece of shit now.
“I’m sorry. I can just go sleep on the couch.”
I start to get up, but he pulls my hand in his and forces me to return to his side.
“I’m not letting you out of my sight until I know you’re okay,” he says so genuinely sincere.
“I’m not staying in here. You’ll try to fuck me, and if I let you, I’ll hate myself all the more,” I grouse.
“I’m not going to try anything at all. Tell me what Brazen did to set you off the first time,” he says gently, and he pulls me into an embrace that radiates fire between us.
“He didn’t do anything besides flip the fuck out, and he had every right to. It was his words that crossed a line, and I don’t want to discuss that with you.”
“Okay. Sorry. I wasn’t trying to stir you up,” he murmurs softly while kissing my forehead.
“Don’t do that. If anyone has ever understood me, it has been you. Don’t start saying whatever you can to bring me down before I get too worked up,” I gripe.
He sighs out, and then stands to his feet to walk into the bathroom. I hear the water running in the shower, and then he reemerges to come claim me from the bed.
“You need a shower,” he murmurs with a menacing smirk.
I stifle my grin, and then I roll my eyes. “You’re not coming in with me.”
