Death Wish (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #5)(74)

“Fuck,” I repeated. “I miss the days of hunting down idiot vampires. I don’t have the stress capacity for this shit.”

“With great power comes–”

“Yeah, yeah,” I cut him off, holding a hand up to stop his clichéd comment. “I know.”

Shya drained his teacup. In a motion almost dainty, he ran a finger along the rim. “The night of the full moon. That’s when we do it.”

“That’s in three days. It’s also a risky time for me. You know, the whole werewolf thing.” I waited for his response, but he only stared blankly at me so I continued. “The wolf will be really strong. I’ve never denied it on a full moon night.” I purposely left out the fact that I couldn’t tap my power when in wolf form. That would be revealing a weakness to a demon; I wasn’t going to blunder into such a mistake.

“You can though, correct? The change isn’t dependent on the moon.”

“No. I can shift at will. The moon, it encourages the change. It calls to the wolf. I can resist it, but for how long I’m not sure.”

I’d seldom been in such a predicament when it came to the wolf or the full moon. I’d been doing this for enough years to be where I both wanted and needed to be when the moon was full, in the forest where I belonged.

“Then I guess we’ll have to find out.” Rising to leave, Shya added, “All magicks are at their strongest during the full moon. We need to do it that night. Be at my place before midnight. I’ll get Lilah there.”

I stood too, abandoning the last of my coffee. “Then there’s no reason why I can’t go after the FPA for Kale tonight.”

“I’d advise against it.”

I fell into step beside him. “I can’t leave Kale there. He wouldn’t leave me.”

The demon threw his head back and laughed, a sound so chilly in its intensity that it made my skin crawl. “And, here I recall you being so insistent the two of you are not lovers.”

“We’re not.” I shrugged it off. No point trying to explain it to him.

Shya held the door open for me, waiting for me to pass through. It was a polite gesture, but it also put a demon at my back. When we reached the parking lot, he stopped me with a light touch on my shoulder. Again, my skin crawled. Damn demons.

“I want to send Falon with you if you go. Don’t argue. I know he’s difficult, but the FPA has nothing in their arsenal that can harm him. He can protect you.”

I pursed my lips thoughtfully, searching his snake-like eyes for the real reason. “Or, he can spy on me for you. Make sure I’m not striking any deals with the FPA that you should know about.”

“That too.” The dazzling smile he flashed at me wasn’t without its charm. He seemed to be eternally pleased with himself.

“I think I’ll pass.” I headed for my car before he could stop me. “I’ll see you in three days.”

I was prepared for Arys’s adamant refusal upon returning to the house. So, when he met my announcement with a shrug, I was more than a little stunned. We stood in the kitchen. He watched me closely as I cleaned up after making a sandwich.

“What’s your deal, Arys? What happened to the fight you promised to give me over this?”

He swung the fridge door open and pointed at a splash of ketchup spilled on a shelf. “Did you plan on using this later? Or, is this just how you are?”

I wanted to be offended, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “Hey, rudeness. Just because your refrigerator has never had food inside it before doesn’t mean you have to be anal about it. I was going to clean it up. Eventually.”

Living together was not something either of us had been prepared for. Funny, considering we were part of one another. Unfortunately, our bond didn’t translate well into day-to-day living situations. We were both very much the lone-wolf type. If I didn’t find a place to live soon, we would drive each other crazy.

“I’ve decided it’s not worth fighting with you.” He jumped back to the original subject. “Like the ketchup splatters in my kitchen, your stubbornness is part of who you are. I want to protect you, but I don’t want to change you. So, if you want to go get Sinclair’s sorry ass, all I can do is support you.”

My eyes narrowed, and I paused partway to the fridge with a wet sponge in my hand. “Hmm… smacks of suspicious.”

“Let’s be honest. You’ll go whether I want you to or not. So fighting about it with you is irrelevant and a waste of time.” He watched me scrub the ketchup mess with a satisfied grin on his handsome face. “So, when do we leave?”

“I knew it.” I shook the dirty sponge at him before throwing it in the sink. “Always a catch.”

“Sorry, sweetheart but we share some serious power. Time to start acting like it.”

“Fair enough.” I knew he was right. It had taken time to accept and adjust to the power we shared. After a year, I was just finally feeling comfortable with it. Still, our union had sparked a firestorm in the paranormal rumor mill, and most of what they said about us was true. Now, we had to be ready to prove it when push came to shove.

I couldn’t be certain how much the FPA knew. Juliet had always known I was born with strange abilities. If they didn’t know about twin flames yet, they soon would.