by Trina M. Lee
“So what is this?” The tall brunette questioned, glancing about uncertainly. “I’m not into group encounters.”
“Trust me,” Jenner said with a sly smile. “You’ll love this one.”
The woman, whose name I learned was Liz, began to protest. Jenner silenced her with a look. He reached to lay a gentle hand on her face, ensuring she gazed into his eyes. The power he called slowly filled the room like a balloon being inflated. It caused something to tighten in my core as my body reacted with a flush of heat.
Aware of my response to him, Jenner caught my eye and winked. He could have his moment. Once I began to play the game, he would be the one swooning.
Turning to Hayden, I draped him in the heady rush of my thrall without even a touch. His eyes glazed over as he fell easily under my spell. Almost too easy. A little resistance would have been nice. However, I hadn’t come for a kill. I’d come to take the edge off.
I was wary of Jenner’s intentions when he steered Liz over to the bed. I couldn’t help but flash back to the orgy at The Wicked Kiss Las Vegas. That was so not happening here.
“Damn, you’re good.” A wan smile played about Hayden’s nicely shaped mouth. His apprehension had vanished at my unseen touch. He reached for me, and I stepped back, a hand held up.
“Settle down there, sweetheart. I’m running the show.” With a hand on his chest, I backed him up against a chair at the small bistro table in the corner, forcing him to sit.
The hunger drove my actions as I straddled him, adjusting the sheathed dagger. Peering into him, I let the power rising up inside me overflow out of me and over Hayden, pulling him deeper under my influence.
Jenner’s head snapped up, and he turned to look at me with eyes that were drowning pools of hungry blue. A victim of my thrall himself, he seemed to wrestle with the urge to abandon Liz and come to me. I shook my head, warning him off.
Sitting atop Hayden, I was able to feel his arousal. Young and virile, he was eager, and it showed. I held Jenner’s gaze until he turned his attention back to Liz. This was going to be a problem for him. I could just see it.
Ignoring Jenner, I focused on making Hayden beg: a breathy sigh in his ear, the tip of a claw down the side of his neck, a gentle pulse of power. In no time at all, he was oblivious to the fact that we weren’t alone.
The power quickly filled the room until it buzzed audibly in my ears. My energy mixed with Jenner’s, and the two forces happily mingled, dizzying in their sameness. It brought forth the painful reminder that Jenner was not the vampire I should have been with. My longing for Arys hurt like a bitch. The longing led to frustration, which caused my fragile control to slip. Emotions were dangerous.
“Tell me what you want, darlin’.” Jenner’s husky whisper echoed in my ears, as if he’d spoken to me instead of Liz.
Liz’s response was punctuated with several sighs and moans. I risked a glance over that way to find her splayed on the bed with Jenner hovering over her. His hand was on her thigh, and she brazenly begged him for more. That hadn’t taken long.
Hayden tried to grope my breasts, but I shoved his hands down, allowing it when he settled for slipping a hand beneath the hem of my shirt to touch my stomach. The hard part was that I wanted him to touch me, and then I wanted to kill him. It was all wrong. I couldn’t do this.
In a sudden act of aggression, I grabbed one of his hands and shoved it down to his side. The other, I dragged to my mouth and ran my tongue over the veins in his wrist. His groan fed my bloodlust and my desire for the heady energy only arousal could produce.
“I want to feel you,” Hayden said, his words sounding drunken and slurred. “Please. I don’t think I can take much more.”
I could feel Jenner’s gaze on me, watching for my reaction to that request. I pushed Hayden’s head to the side and eyed his jugular. Small bite. No kill. I could do this.
“That’s not how this works, handsome. Just relax and let me take care of you.” Again I had to push his hands away. My soaring hunger was affecting him.
Before I could overthink it, I bit him. His blood was warm and thick on my tongue. I nearly fainted in relief. It wasn’t enough. His erection strained between my legs, and I pressed closer, groaning in elation as he twitched and moaned with sudden climax. The flood of erotic energy shattered what remained of my control.
I pulled back to stare down at him through a bloodlust haze. He’d only scratched the surface of my need. One pitiful, willing human wriggling beneath me with joy was not what I wanted. Not even close. Where was the fight? The resistance? Staring at Hayden’s dopey expression, I understood completely why Arys could not exist this way. Why had Kale clung so hard to this way of life? It was a total farce, a mockery of what we were.
Eyeing his carotid artery, some monstrous part of me decided that at the very least, I deserved that much.
As soon as I bared my fangs to go in for the kill, Jenner’s hand closed on my arm. He dragged me off Hayden and forced me to meet his gaze of ice. The touch of his power was like stepping into a warm house on a cold winter day, that first bite of a favorite food, or the familiar caress of a well-known lover. Jenner felt so much like Arys that I could have wept.
I needed to wrap myself in that sensation. Like a starved animal, I craved it as if it were my reason for existence. Jenner wasn’t Arys, not by a long shot. But he would do. For now. Just a little scratch for the itch I could never fully satisfy.
“Alexa, don’t,” he said, but there was no force to his tone. When I turned my thrall on him, he fought to stay in control, appeasing my need for a victim willing to put up a fight.
“You guys should go,” I said to our human companions though I never took my eyes off Jenner. “Now.”
Liz sprang off the bed and made a beeline for the door. She didn’t look back. Hayden lingered as the high kept him foggy. Slowly he staggered after her, one hand pressed to his bleeding neck. It was minor. He’d be fine.
The door slammed closed behind him though I wasn’t sure if I had done it or Jenner. With a hand on his shoulder, I pressed close, forcing him up against the wall.
“Look, Alexa, I get that you’re feeling pretty messed up right now and you’re sowing some wild oats. But I can’t be one of them. Arys would fucking kill me. When I’m good and ready to die, I will happily fuck you senseless. But until then, no deal.”
A peal of laughter slipped from me. I ran a finger over Jenner’s arm, tracing the lines of his tattoo. “Is that what you think? That I want to fuck you? Oh my, you sad, egotistical jackass. You’ve got it all wrong. I just want to make you want it so I can splash about in all that power you’ve got.”
Jenner grinned, surprising me by pushing back against my energy with his, creating a strange resistance, the way one magnet repels another. “So it’s different with Kale then, is it? He’s more to you than a fling.”
“Do you really care?” I asked, pushing back harder against Jenner. The wall he’d built was sturdy, but I would break it down.
“Not really. But this might be the part where I tell you that if you break my brother’s heart, I will make you pay.” Even as he uttered the threat, Jenner’s resistance was crumbling. His steely gaze fell to my neck, betraying him.
The threat was impressive, not because I thought he could do it, but because I knew he meant it. There was reassurance in that. I wanted Arys to be on good terms with Jenner. I knew it meant something to him to repair and maintain their rocky relationship.
“Good. I’m going to hold you to that.” Gliding my finger over the swirls of ink in his flesh, I leaned in close and tilted my head in a wicked invitation. “Do you still crave my blood, Jenner? Or has that changed?”
His arm was taut beneath my hand and thrumming with tension. “I still very much dislike you. I mean, you’ve got good qualities, but you’re ultimately nothing but a power-hungry tease.”
Feeling mischievous, I pressed closer, wedging my thigh between his legs. “You know, Jenner, I like you more e
very time I see you. Never change. It’s people like you that keep me laughing. Now, answer my question.”
It was his turn to laugh though it was a bit of a strained, desperate sound. His hands were in fists at his sides as he fought the urge to touch me. “Oh, it’s changed. I still crave you. But it’s stronger now. You’re stronger now. Damn rights I want a taste of you.”
“Make me a promise.” My demand was a sensual murmur. My lips brushed against his ear. “Promise me that Kale will be safe in that city, that no harm will come to him from a Harley Kayson vampire. Swear it, and I’ll let you have a little taste.”
Jenner had good control. I’d seen it. The years had been good to him. He’d mastered the worst parts of our bloodline and, in fact, learned how to make it work for him. But everything about his energy screamed with painstaking yearning.
“You’re evil,” he said, but the erection pressed against my thigh confirmed my pending success.
His resistance dropped, and our powers crashed together. I basked in the head-spinning force, drawing on it so that it was inside me and all around me. Every part of my being soared as I hit my own high. Jenner grasped the back of my neck, and he jerked me so close our lips almost touched.
“You win,” he snarled. Jenner wasn’t so good at losing, even when he enjoyed it. “I promise. No harm comes to your precious Kale.”
In a sudden and swift motion, Jenner grabbed my waist and turned me so that my back was now against the wall. Shoving a hand into my hair, he jerked my head to bare my neck. I trembled in expectation.
He hesitated long enough to prove that he was still very much in control. Then he bit me. His sharp fangs plunged into my vein, spilling my hybrid blood. I gasped and stiffened, overcome by the eroticism of the moment. Waves of desire emanated from Jenner, and I drank it in.
The warmth of his tongue against the punctures stoked the fires of my own lust. Heat flooded my groin, and I clutched at him with clawed fingertips. My mind raced down a forbidden path, teasing me with fantasies that could never be fulfilled. Not with Jenner.
As he fed on my blood and power, the atmosphere began to pulse. The lights flickered. White noise roared through my ears. It was fucking magic.
My head lolled against the wall, and my eyes closed in utter bliss. Jenner’s hand was warm on my waist. Then my thigh. When he went for the soft place between my legs, I stopped him with a hand tight on his wrist.
“Not a chance,” I whispered. Oh, I wanted it. But that was the illusion of our power. The desire was a manipulation. It was real because we made it real. That was why it was so dangerous.
“We won’t fuck,” he said, his words muffled against my neck. “I just want to get you off.”
“Trust me.” I dragged his hand back to the curve of my waist. “You already have.”
I didn’t need a physical climax to enjoy this. Sure, it was always nice, but it wasn’t necessary, not when the power was running this high. As reckless as I was feeling these days, I wasn’t so far gone that I was willing to cross that line with Jenner. Though some might argue that the intimacy of what we were doing was far greater than sex alone.
Before he could try again, I decided to take advantage of his willing-to-please mindset. “Tell me how Arys convinced you to take Kale back to Las Vegas.”
Jenner’s mouth became aggressive on my neck, demanding. “He won a poker game.”
The already very short fuse on my temper got even shorter. My eyes snapped open. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? And what were you playing for?”
His laughter, so close to my ear, sent a shiver down my spine. A good shiver. That laugh promised dirty, delicious things. “You don’t want to know.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. Maybe I didn’t want to know, but now I felt that I needed to.
“Tell me,” I insisted, using a little metaphysical convincing to encourage an honest response.
The warmth of Jenner’s power-ravaged body against mine felt damn good because it felt so much like Arys. And yet it wasn’t, leaving me wanting.
Jenner kissed his way down my neck. The hand he gripped my waist with inched up toward my breast. “If I won, he was going to let me make a play for your sexy sister.”
“What?” Those words cut through the fog, jerking me back to myself. I shoved him away hard enough that he almost tripped. “What did you say?”
“I was just going to invite her to go to bed with me. No power persuasion.” Hands up, he shook his head and tried to appear charming. My blood stained his lips and fangs an incriminating shade of crimson. “I lost, Alexa. It’s a moot point.”
“Like hell it is. That’s my little sister you’re talking about.”
“She’s not so little anymore. I guess you haven’t noticed.” His grin was downright nasty, implying the horrible things he wanted to do to my sibling.
With a flick of my wrist, he was on his knees. I stood over him, irritated at the turn this had taken. “I don’t care who you put your filthy hands on, but if they ever touch Juliet, I will personally hack them off. Got it?”
Jenner gazed up at me with a sexy smile meant to dazzle. Despite the power that flowed around us, gently lifting the ends of my hair, his charm had lost some of its appeal.
“Anything you say, Your Highness. I seek only to please.” To accompany his facetious remark, he brazenly ran a hand up the inside of my leg.
“I’m starting to think you’ve overstayed your welcome in my city, Jenner.” I regarded him coolly, considering the many ways I might torture him. Juliet’s impending arrival dashed that idea. I didn’t want him here when she showed up.
“No worries, my queen. I’ve already booked my flight home. Apparently, I’ll be bringing your lover with me.” The bastard smirked. “But I’ll honor my promise. It was worth it for another taste of you.”
It was a struggle to keep the emotion off my face in front of a vampire adept at reading people. He knew a good poker face. I was sure he saw right through mine.
I leaned down to take his chin in my hand. Ever so softly, I brushed my lips against his. It was a chaste kiss really. No passion, no open mouthed exploration. Just an unspoken promise. Or a threat.
“Thank you, Jenner,” I murmured. “You’ve been most helpful tonight. Leave through the back.”
Then I left him there on his knees and stalked from the room without a glance back.
Chapter Eleven
More time had passed than I’d realized. I worried that Juliet might have shown up already, but when I returned to the club, she was nowhere to be seen. However, Kale and Jez were seated at a booth along the wall. Jez jumped up and waved me over, as if I somehow would’ve missed them. I’d felt Kale before I walked in.
“Alexa, how the hell can you let Kale go to Vegas?” Jez demanded as soon as I came within earshot. She shook her drink at me, and some of the pink cocktail splashed over the side of the glass, landing on my boots.
On one hand I was horrified. She was putting me on the spot, and I didn’t think it was an ideal topic for discussion just now. On the other hand, she was exuberant and loud, typical Jez, treating me like nothing had changed. That meant a lot.
I shot a glance at the back hall entry, hoping like hell Jenner wouldn’t come through the door. If he were smart, he’d go out the back as instructed. Of course I couldn’t hide my cloud of power from Kale.
“I don’t think it’s really up to me, Jezzy. Besides, Vegas kind of needs him. You saw how bad it was.”
She flung her arms around me in a tipsy hug. She smelled slightly of cigarettes, alcohol, lilac perfume, and shifter. I breathed it in, and my wolf raised its head, pawing at my insides. It had been too long since my last shift.
“Fuck Vegas,” she said, pulling me down in the booth beside her, across from Kale. “It doesn’t deserve someone like you, Kale. It will change you, and it won’t be for the better.”
My gaze met Kale’s, and I shrugged apologetically. Jez’s opinion on the matter was less than s
urprising.
“It can’t do any worse to me than what’s already been done,” he said. He reached across the table to take her hand, holding tight when she tried to pull away out of spite. “I’ll come back. It’s not forever. You can always come visit.”
“Are you seriously giving me this crap, as if you think I’ll buy it? I’m not a child.” Jez leaned back against the wall, settling herself so she could see us both. “Although it does feel a little like mom and dad are splitting up.”
“Jez, come on,” I protested, holding a hand up to silence her.
With green eyes flashing in annoyance, she batted my hand away. “I’m sorry if that’s too dramatic for you, but it does. Don’t tell me you guys aren’t banging your brains out. And then it’s over? Just like that?” Blunt with a total disregard for touchy subjects, that was Jez. Damn, I loved that girl, but right then I wanted to slap her.
I risked a glance at Kale. He looked as horrified and awkward as I felt. He shook his head, just once, and sat back with a sigh.
“You know it’s not that easy.” I pinned her with a fierce stare, my eyes all wolf. I could feel it strong beneath the surface. “Do you have any idea how many people we’ve killed together? Too many. We are dangerous together, Jez.”
What I wasn’t saying was that I didn’t want him to go either and that I fully understood her stance. I didn’t tell her how badly I wanted him to stay and that numbing out was the only way to cope. There was so much I didn’t, couldn’t say. But as I looked into her eyes, beast to beast, she saw it. She knew.
She softened and laid a hand on my arm. “I know. I’m sorry, guys. This just really bums me out. I’m going to miss the team hunts.”
We hadn’t hunted as a team in some time. I missed it too. Jez had popped a hole in my bubble, destroying the afterglow I was riding.
“I’m not going to leave and never look back.” Kale spoke up, drawing both our gazes his way. “Is that what you think? We’ll stay in touch. Like I said, I’ll be back.”
