Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)(24)

Arys stood ready for a fight, which did nothing to untie the knot forming in my stomach. “Is that how you see her? As my mess? Well, I’m not the one teaching her how to be a cold-blooded killer, am I?”

“No, you just made her one.”

“Guys, come on. You’re acting like jackasses.” Jez spoke up with a huff. She looked back and forth between the two of them and shook her head in derision.

Much to my surprise Arys backed down first. Hands up in a show of neutrality, he got in a blow by saying, “When you take her to bed, it’s me that she thinks of. But you already know that, don’t you?”

“Arys,” I gasped, horrified that it had come to this.

The look on Kale’s face was dark and menacing but also grudgingly accepting. He knew it was true, and I cringed, wishing I could drop through a hole in the ground.

“I am always there because I am part of her,” Arys continued, unable to leave well enough alone. “You will never change that. Maybe it’s time for you to move on, Sinclair. This city has run its course for you, don’t you think?”

“Is that a threat?” Kale seemed hopeful, like he wanted a reason to have a go at Arys.

“More like a suggestion.”

I stared at Arys, aghast at where he’d taken this. What the f*ck? The mental and emotional strain was beginning to weigh on me.

Kale took a few steps back as if he too couldn’t believe what he’d heard. “Well, I didn’t ask for your opinion,” he said with an expression so carefully controlled that I knew he had to be falling apart inside.

Arys seemed to know it too. He almost looked sympathetic, but ultimately he looked satisfied. They stared at each other. I stared at them. Then I broke. Unable to bear the weight of this horrible moment any longer, I ran.

I ran back to the Camaro, stopping suddenly. It sat there gleaming in the dark, mocking me for my failure. It represented everything I had been running from since the night I died. I hated it. I hated myself.

Veryl’s voice echoed from the depths of my memories. Protector of Mankind. A Hound of God. One of the last. If I couldn’t stop running from who I was, then I would fail. And Shya would win after all.

An emotion-driven madness reigned in Kale when he rejoined me at the car. I had missed something, and whatever it was, it had affected him deeply. A melancholy rage stained his aura, making it heavy with a negativity that scraped at my senses. With anguish resonating in his every step, Kale strode up to me looking devastated.

“What happened?” I asked, gripped by a sudden urgency.

Kale jerked to a halt right in front of me. Looking absolutely tortured, he pulled me close and rested his forehead against mine. His energy rolled over me, feeling like tiny pinpricks all over my body.

“Do you want me to leave?” His words came out in a rush. Eyes closed and shoulders shaking, Kale gripped me so tight it hurt. “Tell me to go if that’s what you want, Alexa, and I will go.”

Completely overwhelmed by everything that had just taken place, I abruptly burst into tears. Blood tears rolled down my face. My heart broke.

Arys, how could you be so cruel? I asked myself though I already knew the answer. He was willing to do whatever it took to accomplish what he believed was right. Arys was ruthless. But this time he’d gone too far.

I shook my head, my shoulders shaking with silent sobs. Getting the words out was so damn hard. “I don’t want you to go,” I managed, holding Kale as tight as he held me.

“He’s right though, isn’t he?” Kale kissed my forehead and then my lips. “As long as I’m here, you won’t find yourself. You can’t do that with me.”

“Stop,” I pleaded, pressing a finger to his lips. “Please, just don’t.”

Who was I kidding? Arys had an uncanny knack of being right in most cases. It was one of his biggest flaws if only because it meant that I was often wrong.

“God, Alexa, we are so f*cking wrong for each other. And it feels so right. How can that even be? It doesn’t make any damn sense.”

It didn’t make any sense to me though I knew what he meant. Every moment we spent together fed the madness that threatened to claim us both. And yet, it felt good. It made me feel reckless and carefree only the way accepting madness can.

Standing there together, clinging to the insanity that bound us, we slipped even further into it. Resentment for what Arys had done welled up inside me. Who the hell was he to dictate who was allowed to be in my life? He killed me. I would not be ruled by him.

It wasn’t the cleanest line of thinking, but backed into a corner, I was going to come out swinging. If Arys wanted to cross the line, he would regret it. Even as I stood there thinking horrible things about my twin flame, I missed him. And resented him for it.

“I don’t want to feel anymore,” I said, my voice cracking with the pain I fought to keep inside. “Take me somewhere so I can leave it behind. Escape with me, Kale.”

What I was asking was dangerous, but I didn’t care. Power roiled about inside me, seeking, demanding, coaxing.

When Kale pulled back to peer into my eyes, a dark hunger lurked within him. It brought a wild smile to my face. He wiped my tears away with a gentleness that didn’t match the mischievous glint in his brown and blue gaze.

“Anything for you, my queen.”

Crashing a frat party wasn’t what I’d expected, but it worked for me. It was a large house but a small party. The loud, obnoxious, drunk college students in various states of intoxication felt kind of perfect. These parties were notorious for date rape scenarios, which was exactly what I sought when we entered the house unnoticed. Beating the hell out of an * was just what I needed to unleash this unholy aggression ruling me.