by Trina M. Lee
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.
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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 replie
d 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.
