by Trina M. Lee
“Screw that. We need to stay together. If I were Winston, I’d be waiting for a chance to catch us apart.” Brow firmly set into a stubborn line, Arys flat out refused.
Aware that we were treading on the brink of another of our famous spats, I tried to remain calm. Just being so close to Arys was enough to light a fire under my skin. Not that it was a bad thing. We enjoyed the passion of our conflicts. I guess that was where some of the madness came into play.
“I won’t be gone long. He just needs someone to beat a little info out of a guy. Give me an hour.” I considered how to make my proposition more appealing. “I’ll come right back, and we can spend the rest of the night doing anything you want.”
Even Arys couldn’t resist taking that bait. “Anything?” he asked with a wicked grin.
That was probably when I should’ve laid down some rules regarding anything, but I just nodded. “Anything.”
* * * *
Twenty minutes later, I stood outside a seedy little bar filled with older guys drinking whiskey and brawling over illegal card games. In my grasp was a slimy little man who reeked of cigar smoke and garlic. Brinley Kane stood beside me, trickling nervous energy. Next to him stood a teenage girl with a hard glower and jaded eyes.
Pressed against the dirty brick wall with my arm across his throat, the guy sneered into my face, revealing yellowed teeth. “Pretty strong for such a petite thing. You must be on the good stuff.”
“You have no idea, asshole.” I glanced at the sullen girl. “Is this the guy?”
“Yeah, that’s the creeper who’s been hassling Kayla. She told him she was done with him after he roughed her up. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. And now nobody can find her.” The girl sidled forward, hands clenched into fists. “I swear if you did anything to her, I’ll kill you myself.”
The creeper chuckled, puffing his nasty breath in my face. “This one’s spunky. I like that. Looks like I chose the wrong girl.”
I jammed my forearm hard against his throat, cutting off his air supply. “Where’s Kayla?”
He choked and strained, face turning red. I held tight until he quaked with panic. When I let up he coughed out, “Haven’t seen her in days.”
“You’re the last one who did,” the teen shouted, surging forward with hands clenched into fists. “Where the fuck is she, you piece of shit?”
With a hand on her shoulder, Brinley held her back. “It’s ok, Megan. Just calm down.”
“Where was the last place you saw Kayla?” I asked, jamming a knee into his gut. “Don’t make me ask again.”
More coughing and some expletives. “I don’t gotta tell you shit.”
Violence tended to be quite effective in these situations. However, it could take some time if the person was determined not to talk. A little slip of my allure and he changed his tune.
Eyes glazed and head lolling, he grinned. “We took a drive. Things got tense. There was a struggle. I left her in the woods.”
“Alive?” Brinley asked, a tremor in his voice. He loved these kids as if they were his own.
The guy waggled his tongue at me in a sickening invitation. He seemed to be unaware of how close to death he treaded. “Well, if she was, then burying her was a big mistake.”
“Oh dear God.” Brinley was crushed, his heartbreak immediate and palpable on the air.
Megan burst into tears but her anger remained true. “You fucking piece of shit. I hope you burn in hell.”
“We can use this can’t we?” Brinley seemed to be thinking out loud, grasping at straws in his distress. “His confession. Kayla deserves justice.”
“There’s only one way trash like this gets what they deserve,” I said, extending claws.
I waited only until the creep realized death had arrived. When panic filled his eyes and he started to shriek like the pig he was, I slashed his throat and stepped back to avoid the blood spatter.
He choked and flailed, hitting the ground while making a feeble attempt to staunch the blood flow. Megan’s scream filled the night. She clung to Brinley, staring in wide-eyed horror at the pooling blood. He stared at me, jaw dropped, head shaking.
“Alexa, what did you do?” Slowly he backed away, dragging Megan with him.
“I delivered the justice the courts never would. You know this, Brinley. They fail you every time.” I stayed back, holding both hands up. “I’m no danger to you. You know that.”
He kept moving. Couldn’t say I blamed him. I hadn’t thought twice about killing the creep. It had seemed like the only option, the best way to deal with him. I had no regrets.
Brinley shoved Megan behind him as they moved farther away. “Murder was not part of our deal. I didn’t sign up for this shit.”
I stood there with a pervert bleeding out at my feet, watching the frightened youth worker edge away. He was right. This likely had not been something he expected to witness.
“I’m sorry,” I said with a shrug. “In my world, I am the justice system. He had to die. I shouldn’t have done it in front of you both. For that I apologize.”
Without another word, Brinley dragged Megan to his car and peeled away with a screech of tires. I gazed down at the mess on the sidewalk and sighed.
I’d have liked to blame my rash action on Shaz’s absence, but this had me written all over it. Reckless, violent me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Arys was nowhere to be seen when I returned. But I could feel him. What could he be up to?
Once I found him, I’d have to follow through on my promise to spend the rest of the night any way he wanted. Which sucked because I just wanted to go in after my wolf.
You’d never have known how many bodies hit the floor just two nights ago. The Wicked Kiss was back to business as usual. Except, I couldn’t help but notice that everyone seemed hyperaware of their surroundings. Still, they refused to be controlled by the FPA, and that made my heart swell with pride.
I caught Justin’s eye on my way in, and we shared one of those ‘we’re not fucking backing down’ nods. As I walked the perimeter of the building, I let Arys’s stormy energy draw me. This nightclub wouldn’t meet his needs, and yet due to the restlessness afflicting us both, I fully expected it when I found him in a darkened corner pressed against a hot-blooded woman.
What I didn’t expect was for that woman to be Izzy.
So much for Arys’s promise to keep his fangs off Doghead wolves. “Arys, what the fuck?”
Barking at him did not earn me the reaction I wanted. Slowly he turned his head and gave me a lazy grin that revealed bloodstained fangs. Izzy gazed up at him completely oblivious to anything else. Blood spilled from the twin punctures in her neck.
I gave Arys a shove fueled by anger and pushed between them. “Stop this shit right now, Arys. Let her go.”
Smirk in place, Arys rolled his eyes as he dropped the power holding Izzy enchanted. “Killjoy.”
My hand moved before I knew I planned to bitch slap him. I had to. The way he smirked at me demanded it. “I can’t even believe you right now. Have you no control at all?”
The slap didn’t shake his smirk. Arys rubbed his jaw but mischief danced in his eyes. “It was just a taste. It’s not like I killed her.”
I turned to Izzy and gave her cheek a light tap. It took her a minute to swim back up to reality. “Izzy? Are you ok, sweetie? What are you doing here?”
She took a few shaky breaths and peered at me with wide eyes. As she came back to herself, her expression soured. She shot Arys a withering glare and reached to touch the thankfully minor wound in her neck.
“I came to see you,” she said scowling at the blood on her fingertips. She jerked a thumb toward Arys. “But I found him instead. Didn’t stand a chance.”
“He’s a bit of an asshole.” Not much of an apology but it was the best I could muster with Arys standing there smirking at me. “Feel free to kick him in the balls if you like.”
Izzy gave Arys a scathing once over, considering my of
fer. She opted for a punch that snapped Arys’s head to the side and split his bottom lip. He ran his tongue over the cut and grinned. He shouldn’t be enjoying this so much.
“We’re supposed to be on the same side,” she spat at him. To me she said, “I came to ask if you have a plan yet. For getting everyone out of lockup. Hanna’s a mess. Owen can barely keep her together. If we don’t do something soon to get Dayne back, I’m afraid of what might happen to her.”
Bad news. Hanna had proven she couldn’t run the pack in Dayne’s absence. I suspected she’d earned the Alpha female title merely by being Dayne’s mate. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to earn or keep the respect of the pack. Too bad what remained of her pack was trapped inside FPA walls.
“She’s unfit to be Alpha,” Arys echoed my thoughts. “God only knows what kind of shape Dayne is in. If he’s still breathing. It would be a shame if Shaz’s new pack collapsed right after he committed to that tattoo.”
I ignored the pointed look he shot me, a definite ‘I told you so.’ There was no guarantee that things would have gone down any differently had we taken over the Doghead pack. Regardless, Izzy didn’t need to know about that discussion.
“Winston wants me to come alone,” I told Izzy. “If I don’t play by her rules, Shaz and Jez pay the price.”
Izzy shook her wild mane of dark curls. “Owen doesn’t want to wait. Hanna’s melting down. The pack’s all but been destroyed. We need Dayne back.”
Alarmed, I grabbed hold of her arm a little rougher than intended. “You guys can’t go in there without us. You’ll never make it out. Owen needs to wait until I say it’s time to go in. And Hanna won’t be coming with us. She’s a liability.”
“I won’t argue with you there.” Looking annoyed, Izzy pulled free of my grasp. “But we have to do something. Without the others, we’re all that’s left. How can you be ok with waiting?”
The meek, reserved Izzy I’d first met had been replaced by an angrier, more desperate version. I understood. Just days ago I’d pitied Hanna for her loss of Dayne and now Shaz was right there with him. Desperation plagued me too, but it couldn’t be allowed to make my decisions.
“She has Shaz,” I snapped. “As well as my best friend.”
“Even more reason to go in now. Before she gets the chance to really fuck them up.” Izzy flung a hand toward a booth where a vampire snuggled up with an eager, willing human. “You know why your club is still operating just two nights after a raid? Because the vampires in this city believe you can and will handle this shit. Well, we believed that too. Please, Alexa, don’t let us down.”
Her plea cut deep. She was right. Waiting any longer meant subjecting the captives to more torment and experimentation.
I glanced at Arys who regarded me knowingly, aware of what played out in my head. He’d been holding me back. Perhaps this time Arys was wrong.
“Give me time to gather those who will come,” I said, fumbling for the best I could offer right then. “I have to go in alone, but I’ll bring backup. You can be part of that.”
Izzy nodded. “Fine. Keep us posted. I don’t know how much longer I can keep Owen from going in there.”
She stalked away, leaving me with pressure and worry. If Owen went in there alone, it would be a suicide mission. Or worse.
Turning to Arys with a scathing glare, I said, “We’re going in tomorrow night. I’m done waiting for the right time. There is no right time. I want my people back.”
His silent appraisal ended with a short nod.
For some reason that added to my soaring frustration. “You know, Arys, I’ve had just about enough of your shit.” Too many times he’d slipped up with the wolves, and I just didn’t find it as funny as he seemed to. “Those wolves are off limits. You know that. How many times do we have to—”
A strange sensation struck me, a mild headache that seemed to tap at the inside of my skull. Anger and bloodlust gripped me, but they didn’t belong to me. I put a hand to my head and leaned against the wall, as I tried to sort out the sudden confusion in my mind.
“Aren’t you going to finish tearing me a new one?” Arys asked, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know for sure,” I said. “But I think Briggs has risen.”
Arys’s grin became impossibly wide. “Remember how you said we could do anything I want tonight?”
“No,” I lied, “afraid not.”
Ignoring me, Arys continued. “I want to initiate Briggs into the fold.”
“Wait, what does that mean?” A vibration from my phone alerted me to a text from Gabriel confirming what I already knew. Briggs was up and he was hungry.
“It means we’re going to have some fun tonight.”
* * * *
“This is a terrible idea. I don’t like this, Arys.” Even as I protested, exhilaration shot through me. It was wrong. So wrong.
“Don’t lie. I can feel your excitement. You want this as bad as I do. We need this, especially if we’re going to take the fight to the FPA, as you’re so intent on doing.” Arys glanced around the VIP lounge, eyeing up our fellow patrons.
We sat in an upper floor lounge of a ritzy nightclub overlooking the main floor below. I knew I should stop this before it started, but sitting there with my dark half, breathing in human musk, listening to multiple heartbeats amid the bass boom, I didn’t want to.
Temptation was a relentless, unforgiving bitch.
Gabriel and Briggs sat at our table, the former looking pinched, the latter seemingly pained and in a real mood. Briggs had yet to say a word to me. Somehow he managed to remain calm and steady, a testament to the strength he’d exhibited when fighting my thrall. Perhaps he’d have immaculate control like Jenner.
Briggs now possessed an inhuman vibe that buzzed with an impressive amount of power. Although he lacked supercharged extras like the rest of us present, he was no lightweight, and I found some satisfaction in that. His dark eyes held that spellbinding glint known to incubus vampires, and when the light struck them just right, they appeared to flash deep blue.
“Ready to pop your cherry, Briggs?” Arys snickered. Leaning in close, he tilted his head toward a blonde sipping a martini a few tables over. “How about her? It might be therapeutic to slaughter a blonde.”
I grimaced, disgusted by his suggestion.
Briggs, however, seemed to consider it. How could he not? As a brand new vampire, his hunger could only be satisfied one way.
Nervous, I sat stiff, knowing the moment that first blood spilled I’d be lost to the bloodlust. A war raged inside me. Light versus dark. Wolf versus vampire. My control remained precarious, though I’d come a long way from my early days of killing with Kale.
Memories surfaced. Bloodshed. Screams. Pleasure. Why couldn’t it always be that way? Because that is not who you are. Right. That.
The scent of blood running through the veins of every person in the lounge mingled into the finest cocktail of aromas. It demanded my attention, taunting me with the promise of gratification. It teased me with visions of an unholy spiritual experience that would take me to a place of extraordinary madness and mayhem.
“Arys, stay out of my head.” His darkness sought to lure me. His voice always lurked there in the back of my mind.
He reached to run his thumb over my bottom lip before leaning in to kiss me. “Sorry, love, I live there.”
Briggs clung to the table as if it were the only thing keeping him in his seat. Finally he spoke. “Why is it that, of everyone here, it’s her I want the most?” He jerked his chin in my direction, refusing to meet my eyes.
Arys chuckled. “That’s the power of Alexa’s blood. She’s always the one I want a taste of most. Nature of the beast, my friend.”
That did it. Briggs’s gaze snapped to mine. A vicious sneer adorned his face. “So there’s the clincher. This wasn’t about making me a monster. It was about making me your bitch. You are a real piece of fucking work, O’Brien.”
I had no sympat
hy for him and no remorse for my actions. “You brought this on yourself, Briggs. Need I remind you of everything your lust for power has caused? Well, now you have power, and that’s what’s really going to make you its bitch. You asked for this. You got it.”
Briggs snapped. He launched himself out of his seat. I raised both hands, fingertips crackling with power, expecting an attack. But he targeted the martini-sipping blonde.
Her scream was lost amid the music and chatter of voices floating up from below. Before her companion could react, Gabriel was on him. Arys wasted no time joining in the fun while I sat there gawking at the three of them.
Blood scented the air. My stomach tightened, and I itched to sink fangs into flesh. When Arys turned on two businessmen drinking scotch over some paperwork, I quickly came undone.
The first one he bled and dropped in mere seconds. The other guy didn’t get so lucky. Arys quickly pulled him under with a glance. Meeting my eyes, he beckoned me with a finger.
Unable to resist the call of my dark vampire, I went to him, quaking as my dual natures battled for control. Shaz’s absence ate at me like a gaping hole in my middle. My anchor couldn’t always save me from the dark, but I’d succumbed without him many times before. This one would be no different.
“Take him,” Arys said, gesturing to the man seated before him, staring at us in dumbstruck wonder.
I wanted to. And yet I resisted.
Frustration furrowed Arys’s brow. “Why the hell are you so afraid of this? You have no problem enjoying it without me. Why are you so insistent on shutting me out? We should be together. In all things.”
“Because I don’t want us to end up like Kale and me.” The truth fell from my lips before I could stop it. “Two vicious killers terrorizing the city. I want better for us. And I seem to have this way of bringing out the worst in the men who love me.”
Arys surprised me by laughing. “Oh my love, you and Kale together can’t even begin to compare to you and me. We’re heads and tails above the rest. Let me show you.” Cryptic but sexy, Arys brought my hand to his lips and kissed his way to the pulse in my wrist. Inclining his head to our waiting victim, he said, “He’s all yours.”
