Death Wish (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #5)(53)

I gave in to the urge to slide a hand through his hair. I had done a pretty good job at burying my confusing feelings for Kale, but this made the wounds new again. Raw.

He stepped back, freeing me from his hold. I gave his hand a squeeze before turning toward the glowing red exit sign. “Goodnight, Kale.”

Chapter Fifteen

“You reek like booze. And Sinclair.” Arys waited for me outside, leaning against my car with arms crossed and a sexy scowl on his face. “Sure you should be driving?”

Ignoring his jibe, I tossed my keys at him. “Feel free.”

I hated it when Arys drove. He was a menace behind the wheel though he somehow managed to escape incident. However, driving would keep him from glowering at me in the dark while I drove, which made it an easy decision.

I winced when he peeled out of the parking lot with a squeal of tires. “What’s the rush? It won’t be sunrise for two more hours.”

“Shaz needs you to give him a hand with your new wolf. When you didn’t answer your phone, he called me. Sounds like Coby’s losing his marbles.”

I groaned as the worst-case scenario played out in my head. “He wolfed out in public a few days ago. That can’t happen again.”

“Better keep your fingers crossed then.”

The drive back to town was spent in silence. I stared out the window as the scenery whipped by. Arys’s discontent marched across my skin like an angry troop of fire ants. So, he was ticked about my choice to save Kale’s ass. But, how could he expect anything less of me? Arys and I belonged together. That didn’t mean I would never form bonds with or have feelings for others. Kale and I were friends. I wasn’t turning my back on that.

Arys drove to the park on the edge of town. A concrete walking path wound through the grass and trees in a wide circle that led around a large pond complete with a fountain.

As I drew close to the gazebo at the park’s entrance, I saw Shaz and Coby. The glow of a streetlight illuminated their silhouettes. Shaz stood stiffly, braced as if ready to pounce. Coby’s hunched frame and arched back alerted me to exactly how close he was to the change. My pace quickened.

“Thank God you’re here.” Shaz’s tension was palpable. He fixed me with eyes that were pure wolf. The strain of keeping Coby from losing it was showing. A sniff in my direction drew him right to the wounds on my neck. He looked from me to Arys but said nothing.

I crouched near Coby and gently pulled his shaky hands from his face. Claws protruded from his fingertips. His hazel eyes were wild, all wolf. He bared fangs, and a growl rumbled low in his throat.

“What happened?” I asked Shaz though my gaze was locked on the man about to burst into a wolf. Coby’s energy ran hot. I focused on it, letting it flow over me. He was barely hanging on.

“We went to Lucy’s Lounge to have a beer and shoot some pool. I think it all just overwhelmed him, being there with so many people. So many smells.” Shaz shrugged as if it was self-explanatory.

In some ways it was.

A bar was filled with a wide array of human scents. Any one of them could trigger the wolf. Fear, pheromones, and sensuality all caught the wolf’s attention and enticed the predator to hunt. This wasn’t like the bloodlust; the change was confusing when it was new. If the wolf suddenly decided to break free and prowl after a particular enticing scent, it was nearly impossible to stop it.

Coby stank of fear, rage and wolf. His energy was a mess of ever changing vibes, taunting the vampire power lying in quiet wait inside me. I took a deep breath, focusing on the night air entering my lungs. I could feel the bloodlust lurking, anticipating the moment when the quaking wolf would push me too far.

“Coby.” His head jerked at the sound of my voice. “You can control this. You have no choice.”

His eyes were wide as he looked from me to Shaz with a whimper. “It hurts. I feel like I’m dying.”

“That’s because you’re fighting it. You are the wolf, Coby. It can’t hurt you.” I waited, giving him a chance to believe that. I wanted him to handle this because I couldn’t bear the thought of having to watch it destroy him. It would be my fault.

He backed away, his body contorting violently as he fought the change. It was hurting him, I knew that. It did hurt, even when giving in and allowing it to happen, but then the pain was brief and quickly became relief and even bliss. Fighting it was excruciating. Watching him stirred my wolf’s sympathy.

“Alexa, do something.” The touch of Shaz’s hand on my arm pulled my gaze to him. He was trembling. Coby’s frightened wolf was affecting him, too.

I’d used my power to manipulate the wolf before. I had forced Zoey, a hybrid trapped in wolf form, back into her human body. I didn’t have time to think about the root of that power, the twin flame revelation or the events of the evening thus far. My wolf was in pain, and I reacted.

The moment I touched Coby, my wolf recognized him as mine. He was a part of me in a way that no other wolf I knew was. I sensed the connection of our wolves deep down inside me. Had Raoul felt this way towards me? As the one he’d turned, I had been unaware of our connection.

He growled and snapped but didn’t pull away. I rested my hand against his forehead, bracing against the onslaught of energy pouring from him like an angry wave. He was on his knees before me, our eyes locked.

There was a roar of white noise in my ears. Pushing through the attack of emotion and pain in his energy, I concentrated on the wolf straining to break free. Coby’s wolf was strong and desperate, anxious to give in to instinct and break free from the prison of his human form.