Blonde & Blue (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #4)(61)

Arys was tightly wound, ready to break. My wolf looked out from behind his eyes. “Yeah well, he failed, didn’t he?”

Maxwell regarded Arys with astonishment. With wide eyes, he almost took a step toward Arys before catching himself. “She’s the one. The one you’ve been waiting for.”

“Shut up!”

Before Maxwell could utter another word, Arys smashed through his circle. It jerked hard on the earth magic running through me, and I stumbled under the pressure. Sunrise wasn’t far off. We were running out of time to safely escape.

Maxwell and Arys grappled with both fists and metaphysical fury. With a deafening smash, they hit the big picture window. It cracked in many places but didn’t give way. Sparks of red and blue rained down as their energies collided, throwing each vampire in opposite directions.

I grabbed for Shaz, pushing him out of the trashed living room toward the front door. He still clutched the shard of table leg, ready to use it. I drew a circle around us, but it was weak.

“I want those wolves, Arys. The blood of the killers of Harley Kayson would make Vegas mine. As it was meant to be.” Maxwell wore the crazed expression of a man seeing a way to secure himself a stronghold.

Arys slowly made his way toward us. “It was suicide to come here.”

“I’m not leaving.” Standing his ground, Maxwell watched with narrowed eyes as we fled the house.

“Then I guess we’ll be doing this again real soon.” Arys hesitated before tossing a parting shot. “Remember Max, you just f**ked with two day-walkers. Sleep tight.”

Inside, Claire demanded that Maxwell stop us from leaving. I was already dragging Shaz down the front porch, unable to hear Maxwell’s reply.

I didn’t appreciate being a pawn in his attempt to gain control of his city. Harley had a reputation in many places. It made sense that the one capable of killing him would be of interest to others. How would they react if they knew Harley had taught me how to kill him?

Arys’ old Firebird looked like a godsend sitting in front of the house. I couldn’t possibly get in fast enough. The last few hours of the night had been a gong show, and I wanted nothing more than to hide out at home until I was at full strength. Though I didn’t usually trust Arys’ driving, it was of no concern to me then.

We drove through the city, headed for The Wicked Kiss, in a strained silence. There had to be less than an hour until sunrise. I knew Maxwell and Claire would use that hour to vacate the premises and find a new haunt. They wouldn’t stick around for me to come back for them when the sun was high in the sky.

“Here.” Shaz leaned forward from the backseat. He held his hand out, but I didn’t see anything. “Careful, don’t drop it. It’s just a few strands.”

I turned on the interior light, and the auburn hairs in his hand glinted beneath the dim light. I turned to him with excitement. “Claire’s hair? Amazing. You’re a genius, Shaz.”

He shrugged and turned his attention to the scenery flying by outside. Now that we weren’t in a fight for our freedom, the awkwardness of our prior conversation came back to haunt us with words neither of us were ready to say.

Turning in my seat to face forward, I gingerly held the hairs, fearing I would lose them. This would enable us to track Claire. A good enough witch could do it regardless of the shields Maxwell used to hide their presence. We had a part of her; it had to work.

With a screech of tires, Arys decided last-minute to stop as the light turned red. I didn’t have the energy to be worried about his chaotic driving. If we got there in one piece, I’d consider the night to have had a silver lining.

“Arys, is there something you want to tell me?” A bitter edge crept into my tone.

“No. Should there be?” He didn’t even so much as glance my way.

I sucked in a deep breath and held it until my lungs threatened to burst. My stress quota had been reached hours ago. “Fine. Have it your way.”

I wasn’t up for a fight with Arys on top of everything else. Fuck it. Maxwell had revealed enough to make me suspicious. Whatever Arys was hiding, it already lived in his memories housed in my subconscious. It would come out one way or another.

Chapter Sixteen

I drove down the highway for home with the beam of Arys’ headlights in my rear-view mirror. Being alone with my thoughts was exhausting. A dull throb in my temples served as a reminder of how easily Maxwell had stripped my strength and power. That wouldn’t happen again.

We were cutting it close to sunrise, but after more than three hundred years, Arys knew how far he could push it before endangering himself. Ten minutes down the highway, we reached the Stony Plain exit. I wanted to go home, to bed, where I could hide beneath the covers and cry. I was relieved when Arys turned off to go to his own house. I needed to be alone.

What a night. If I’d known how it all was to play out, I’d have just stayed home. Too late for that. I’d heard Maxwell’s strange comment about me being the one Arys was waiting for. I’d discovered Shaz’ little secret. The recent memory was enough to make me cry. Maybe if I hadn’t been so damn tired.

The darkness was thinning. As I navigated the small town streets toward home, the stars overhead disappeared from sight. The sun was coming, and with it, the promise of payback. Arys had a point. Nocturnal as werewolves were, nothing stopped us from walking in the sun. Now that I had a way to locate Claire any time I wanted, a daytime attack seemed like the best way to exploit their few weaknesses. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be today.