Darker (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #6)(56)

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I repeated. Arys stood beside me, frowning at this latest revelation.

“You didn’t need to know.” Kale came closer, each step an unspoken promise.

“Why, goddammit?” My temper surged, and my hands burst into flames. It didn’t hurt, but it scared the shit out of me.

Willow waved a hand from where he stood, and the flames went out. I’d have to be grateful later. Right then, it was Kale that mattered.

We faced off like the enemies we were never meant to be. Kale’s expression was carefully vacant, impossible to read. “Because it doesn’t matter. That time of my life was short. Almost non-existent compared to my years as a vampire. It meant nothing.”

“It means something to me. You could have told me I’d lose the wolf. You could have…” I fell silent, realizing I’d been about to say you could have stopped me. I was distinctly aware of the tension and anger thrumming through Arys.

“Could have what?” Kale snapped. “Could have warned you? It wouldn’t have made a difference. Look at you. Your choices are driven by your lust for power.”

I had an anguished urge to hurt him the way he was hurting me. The loss of my wolf was a devastating fate. I merely had the inclination to strike him, and it happened without having to lift a finger. The power went out from me in a rush that left me breathless. It knocked Kale off his feet, flipping him head over heels. I gasped. I didn’t mean to do it.

“I see how it is,” he said, getting to his feet with a shake of his head. “You have regrets. Does it really make you feel better to take it out on me? I can help if you like.” He moved fast. Pressing close enough to touch, Kale made a show of inhaling my scent. “I promise, Alexa, I’m going to finish what I started with you.”

My bravado fled. Kale was staring at me as if I were prey. With the memory of what he’d done to me so fresh, I froze in fear. I’d trusted him; in some way, I’d even loved him. Until he’d made me a victim, that is, and then everything had changed.

Arys was done waiting. His energy turned scalding hot to match his hate-filled rage. When he came at Kale this time, he didn’t let up. Kale did his best to defend himself, but after several weeks of being locked up, he had weakened. On a good day, he wouldn’t have been a match for Arys. On a bad day, he quickly got his ass kicked.

I watched in horror as Arys threw a flurry of punches that all found their mark. A number of shots to the face had Kale bruised and bloody. A well-timed kick knocked him down. Several patrons turned their attention to the fight, many of them looking on in surprise as a vampire most of them knew well took a beating.

It all happened so fast. Judging by Arys’s fierce aggression, he had wanted to do this for longer than the past few days.

“You’re never going to touch her again.” Arys doubled his attack by throwing power at Kale along with every punch.

“That’s enough, Arys,” I cried. My high-running emotions fed the foreign power inside me.

“There’s only one way to guarantee that.” Kale’s smile had faded.

He kept on rising, inviting every hit he took. The deranged glint in his eyes, wild and ruthless showed his total abandon. He wanted this.

Through the insanity of voices in my head, his stood out above the rest. Do it, you bastard. Save her from me. Do what she couldn’t. As mind f**ked as he was by the blood hunger, Kale still had enough coherency for that thought. It spurred me into action.

I targeted Arys without a second thought. The force drove me to my knees. A bright, blinding light exploded behind my eyes, tearing a shriek from me. I could project Falon’s power, but I couldn’t control it. It was a force bigger than I was, one that I was pretty sure could kill me.

It slammed into Arys. Not only did it stop him from throwing another hit, it lifted him right off his feet and pinned him against the ceiling. I panicked, unable to manipulate the force commanding me. Thinking fast, Arys slapped me with a psi ball the size of a basketball. I pitched ass over elbows, coming to a stop against Willow, who hauled me to my feet.

He eased Arys back to the floor before turning to me. “You should get out of here, away from the crowd.”

“I can’t leave them like this.” My vision swam, and I reached out to grab Willow for support but missed entirely. I slid to the floor, vaguely aware of the sticky residue of a spilled drink beneath me. My temperature rose. My palms grew sweaty, and I gasped for a breath that didn’t smell like humans, blood and sex.

I watched in a dizzy haze as Arys grabbed Kale by the collar and jerked him close. His lips moved, but I couldn’t hear what he said. The noise inside my head was too loud. A spark of gold-tinted blue lit up the place. Arys drew on the power we shared, pulling energy from me. It hit Kale at point blank range. He flipped over the bar and crashed into the bottles stacked on the back shelves. A shower of broken glass and liquor rained down on his motionless form. I held my breath, waiting. He didn’t get up, but I suspected he wouldn’t be down for long. There were only a few ways to kill a vampire. A hell of a beating wasn’t one of them.

“Come on, Alexa. We have to get you out of here,” Willow insisted.

Arms slipped around me, but it wasn’t Willow dragging me to my feet this time. I knew that touch well. Arys guided me outside as I struggled to be free of him. After what I’d just seen him do, I was enraged, or I would be as soon as my head cleared.