Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)(61)

The guy on the couch stared at each of us in turn. I waited for him to tell a lie so I could pound the truth out of him, but he chose to fess up. “I had to give him his cut from what I made off some of his girls. He couldn’t keep up with the demand so I took some of the girls off his hands.”

“You were pimping for him?” Disgust made my tone a wolfish snarl that had the guy flinching.

Ben cackled, happy to bring someone down with him. “Bet you didn’t see this one coming, eh, Johnny boy? Sorry ’bout your luck.”

Johnny sat quaking on the couch. Apparently he hadn’t thought such activity would catch up to him. I was happy to prove otherwise.

“Uh, Alexa.” Jez reappeared in the front hall. She looked uneasy. She wasn’t alone. Allie stood awkwardly at her side, head down, staring at the floor. She was battered and bruised.

If I hadn’t been riding a power-driven urge to slaughter, my heart would have broken. The relief at seeing the young girl was crushing.

“Take her out to the Jeep,” I said. “Call Kane and tell him we have her. Make sure she’s ok.”

I tossed my phone to Jez so she could look up Brinley Kane’s number. When she disappeared outside with the girl, I shot Kale an inviting smile and unleashed my barely restrained need to kill.

“Oh, that girl ain’t ever gonna be ok again.” Ben’s disturbing remark brought my full attention back to him. He knew it was over, had probably expected to die a violent death. His acceptance made him arrogant, as if this were his choice.

“Kale,” I said, my voice low and thick with wolf. “Nobody leaves this house alive. Don’t make it too quick.”

That was all it took to start a small massacre that began with torture. A clawed hand aimed at a man’s groin could turn even the toughest * into a sniveling little creep. Ben screamed. I smiled. And the slaughter was on.

I slashed claws across his throat, reveling in the sight of the blood that gushed from the wound. I left Ben sprawled on the table to bleed out and turned to the nervous Johnny who sat frozen on the couch.

Without warning I climbed onto his lap to straddle him, using a push of sensual power to draw him in. He stiffened, like he was fighting it. The fight faded from him fast though when I reached to touch him. A caress down his jaw was all it took to put him under my thrall.

Johnny’s eyes glazed over, and he looked at me like I was a double rainbow after a storm. In no time the atmosphere was heavy with his lust. It was just too easy.

I grasped his wrist and brought it close, breathing in the scent of blood beneath the surface of his skin. I took my time dragging my tongue over the beating pulse, driving his desire higher until it satisfied my hunger for it. Knowing I was going to end this with a kill had me quivering in eager excitement. It was hard to draw it out for just the right moment.

“You like to take what you want from those weaker than you? Unable to fight back?” I heard Kale say as he slammed Beard Guy against the wall repeatedly. “Well, so do I.”

I paused to watch Kale tear into his victim. There was nothing gentle about it. It was pure aggression. He bit, and blood sprayed. Beard Guy screamed and flailed, his panic giving Kale the fear he longed for in a kill.

Johnny followed my gaze. His jaw dropped open. His lips moved, but no sound came out. Fearful tremors shook him.

I guided his gaze back to mine. “I don’t even wish I could be sorry about this,” I murmured, brushing my lips over his earlobe and down his neck.

“Please,” Johnny said, using the last of his willpower to beg. “I’ll never do it again. I’m out. I swear.”

“You’re right. You will never do it again.”

With careful manipulations I coaxed him to the highest point of arousal. His begging stopped, and he succumbed to my influence. When he was at the breaking point and almost crying for relief, I decided I’d dragged it out enough.

I bit him with a vicious hunger. Devouring his life force through energy and blood took me to a place of bliss, the one place where I lost and found myself at the same time.

I left Johnny slumped over on the couch, dead. A glance at Ben revealed that he too was dead. Blood pooled beneath him on the table. The sight of him got no reaction from me, not even satisfaction.

A thud drew my gaze to Kale. He’d dropped the bearded guy on the floor. Kale and I shared a look. At first it was just a look, then it was more, loaded with unspoken pleas and promises.

Those mismatched eyes captivated me, brown and blue wonders that gave me a glimpse of his soul. I could only see that soul so easily because he’d given me a piece of it. Our goodbye would be tonight. First thing after sunset tomorrow, he’d be on a flight to another country, another city. Without me.

Kale came toward me, slow, as if each step were painful. “Alexa, I—”

“Don’t,” I cut him off, unable to listen. Whatever he was going to say would hurt. I couldn’t take it. “Just… hold me.”

Without another word, he nodded, taking me in his arms. We stood there, ignoring the bodies around us, just clinging to each other as the hourglass began to run empty. I breathed in the scent of leather that was all Kale and squeezed my eyes shut.

“I don’t want to do this,” I whispered. “I can’t do the goodbye thing.”

He pressed his face into my hair. “We don’t have to. It’s not really goodbye. More like, see ya later.”