Blonde & Blue (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #4)(64)

‘I gathered.’ Even telepathically his cynical tone came across just fine. ‘Go to sleep, Alexa. You’ll know when I’m ready for you to know.’

That chauvinist attitude ticked me off, and I let him feel my anger. It was just like him to boss me around because he wasn’t in control of a situation. ‘Don’t tell me what to do, Arys. You’ll have a fight on your hands.’

His low, velvet smooth chuckle floated through my mind to touch me intimately. ‘Do what you will then, you feisty little pain in the ass.’

He was gone, closing the door between us with a force I felt. He didn’t think I could do it. If Arys believed I could sift through his memories like rifling through a file folder, there’s no way he would have laughed it off. Cocky vampire.

Sleep came and with it the deep dreamless slumber that often accompanied extreme fatigue. If I was going to get the information I felt entitled to, it wasn’t going to be easy.

Waking just past sunset, I felt momentarily disoriented. As much as I would have loved to stay in bed, I had things to do. Once Maxwell and Claire were dealt with, I was having a movies in bed weekend come hell or high water.

Rather than attempt a last-minute wolf pack meeting, I decided to call select members one by one. The town pack was small and for the most part, tightly knit. However, a few pack members had a family, children from before the change. I wouldn’t call them. I wouldn’t risk anyone’s mother or father.

I didn’t want to ask Kylarai because I knew she’d say yes. Endangering her was not what I wanted. Yet, she was my beta wolf, and she would be insulted if I didn’t call her first. While I peered into the bathroom mirror and applied smoky black eyeliner, she returned my call.

“Julian wants to come,” she informed me as soon as I picked up. “I think you should let him. Zak’s coming, too. How many do you want to bring? That will make five altogether, us included.”

I leaned in close to the mirror to double-check the liner framing my brown eyes. “Four. I don’t plan on shifting. Four should be plenty. I don’t want to drag too many innocent pack members into this either. Julian has dues to pay. I’ll gladly let him put his life on the line. I guess Zak’s a big boy. But, are you sure you want to come, Ky? Don’t feel obligated.”

“Of course I feel obligated. We’re pack. You know I’ve got your back if you need me. I want to back you up, Alexa.” She paused, and I heard papers rustling in the background. “Besides, I could use a little excitement.”

Kylarai had been itching to break away from the same old routine for a while now. I couldn’t blame her in the least. It was hard enough to see how my world had affected Shaz. I wasn’t letting it happen to Ky, too.

“Excitement that could get you killed isn’t necessarily the best way to break away from the everyday.” I recalled the utter horror and disgust on Kylarai’s face when we were in The Kiss.

“Trust me, Alexa. It will be good for me to help you kick some vampire ass. Just say when, and I’ll be ready.”

Ah. It made sense now. Kylarai saw a chance to sink fangs into some vampires, and she wanted to take it. Since Arys and I had bonded through blood, Ky had been less than enthusiastic about my relationship with him. If tearing a strip out of Claire and Maxwell made her feel any better about it, then so be it. I was suddenly relieved. She could handle this.

It would be several hours yet before sunrise drew near. Perhaps it would be smart to lay low until then. I had no such intentions.

“I have some things to do. I’ll call you later. Be ready by dawn.”

Chapter Seventeen

A vampire lover with something to hide, a wolf mate with his own dirty secrets and a birthday in less than a week. If I lived to see my twenty-seventh birthday without losing my last shred of sanity, it would be a miracle. By that time I might be hard pressed to find a reason to celebrate. If I didn’t self destruct by then, I’d drink to that.

The bloodlust that had me currently stalking the slums was just the icing on the proverbial cake. I was giving in on my terms. Hunting down my own victim had to be better than letting the hunger choose one for me. By starving the bloodlust, I only weakened myself. I was through with that shit.

I knew exactly what I wanted.

A few blocks away from Chinatown, the real street people showed their faces. A couple of crackheads harassed a prostitute for money half a block away. I watched from the shadows as she lipped them off while threatening them with a can of pepper spray. She was young, too young to be selling herself for drug money. Perhaps what she was about to see would be enough to get her off the streets.

I didn’t want her nor the junkies ambling away, chased off by the sight of the pepper spray. Some vampires might not mind some illegal narcotics in the blood, but to me it just stank of toxicity. I was counting on stereotypes to deliver me a victim I could sink my teeth into.

The need to satisfy the hunger was constant, but I was content to wait. It would be worth it. I didn’t have to wait long before a simple beige sedan rolled to a stop beside her. Excitement thrilled through me. Any john that was willing to pick up a streetwalker as young as her was fair game as far as I was concerned.

She leaned down near the driver’s window to speak with him. He looked like your everyday guy. Short, dark hair and glasses, he was clean-cut with a professional appearance. He could have been a doctor or a banker, a regular professional with a regular life. But here he was, stopping off for a piece of underage action on his way home. So now, he was mine.