Once Bitten (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #1)(35)

“Come on, Arys, you know why I’m here.” He stared at me like a feline on catnip, and I resisted the urge to smack him upside the head.

“I assume it’s to explain to me why I made a chew toy out of Mrs. Olson’s dog last night.”

“You say that as if I know.”

“Don’t you?”

“Of course not!” I was incredulous.

What the hell was he trying to insinuate? That I had done this on purpose? I shouldered my way inside and fixed him with eyes blazing with anger. “You’re not the only one suffering, Arys.”

“Oh?” He cocked his head to the side and studied me. I told him about the previous night: the blood tears, the eye color and the memories plagued with bloodlust.

He knew all too well. A glint of something new and unsettled haunted his eyes.

“I think the memories may have been the worst part,” he said, and I frowned, insulted. My memories couldn’t have been worse than his. His were much more gruesome. “But then again, perhaps it was the pain.”

“The pain?” I asked. I wanted to hear his side now.

“After you left in the morning, I slept through the day. I woke, and everything hit me.” He seemed to sober considerably as he spoke. “I was hungry but not just for blood, for the rush of running on four legs and the thrill of being one with nature. I couldn’t shake the need to hunt, to tear into a fresh, meaty kill, so soft and warm.” He paused for a minute.

He was sickened, but I found that funny considering his way of survival. I nodded and encouraged him to continue.

“That wasn’t the worst part though. The worst part was the change.”

“The change?” I was flabbergasted.

“Well, the need to shift would be more precise. It was like a wolf had been trapped inside me, scratching and biting to get out. Only I couldn’t let it out, Alexa. It burned. God, it burned. I thought that was it for me.”

I stared at him with a terror-stricken expression. We had been inside one another’s minds, seen each other’s souls, but I didn’t realize the exchange had truly been to the core. This was so not funny.

“You had the need to change form?” I shook my head. This was dangerous. I anticipated a backlash of some kind, but a wolf trying to tear itself from a form unable to shift was downright scary.

“I’m surprised claws didn’t spring from my fingertips. I could feel them, like torturous little needles pricking right beneath the surface.” Arys shuddered then and stared at his hands as if they were foreign objects. “It ate at me for most of the night. I went to Lucy’s Lounge but couldn’t sit still. I had to get out of there.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I cast a glance around me as if searching for the unspoken answer.

I had called Lena earlier, but she’d been busy with her store and only had time to scold me for acting impulsively. Lena had used some pretty colorful language to describe our actions. “Loss of control is your undoing every time. It’s all about security, Alexa, mental shields. I can’t stress that enough.”

Lena added that the real problem wasn’t the power itself. We’d bonded. We’d joined on a metaphysical level, which could last forever or until one of us was dead.

“What do you mean bonded?” Arys’s reply sounded similar to the one that I’d given Lena.

“We didn’t just call power. We bonded our own personal powers which created something else entirely. Some of this is never going away.” Why did I feel so insulted by the suspicious look he wore?

“How bad is it really?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged and cast a glance around his country-style kitchen. It didn’t look lived in enough. “I guess we find out.”

“Well damn. I bet you could take down a lot of vampires with that tactic.”

“What the hell are you saying, Arys? That I did this on purpose?” I took a step toward him, and he stood his ground.

Staring down his nose at me with those steely blue eyes, I remained unflinching under his predatory stare. It was my stare.

“The thought crossed my mind,” he admitted. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for you forever and this is just too good to be true. I still want you though.”

His admission was shocking. I went on as if he hadn’t said that, but the pressure inside me was beginning to strip away my control. I couldn’t be here. I had a meeting.

“There is a plus side to this,” I stammered. “Lena said we should be able to call on each other’s power now, like vampires can when they create a blood bond.”

A vampire formed a blood bond at siring, by draining a human to the point of death then feeding the dark blood in return. However, two totally unrelated vampires could share blood. The bond would let them access one another’s thoughts and power whether together or apart. Vampires never created a blood bond lightly.

“We didn’t exchange blood. I took yours, you didn’t take mine.” His gaze dropped to my throat, and I felt my breath catch. My stomach knotted at the memory. He licked his lips, and I knew he was remembering the taste of me.

“I know, but I still took your power.” My head began to cloud with the energy surrounding us. “I’ve got to get out of here. I have a meeting I’m going to be late for.”