September Moon (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8)(108)

His warning left me feeling sad in a place that didn’t seem to recognize such an emotion. Sadness just didn’t belong here.

“What if I don’t want to go back?” I challenged. “Can’t I just stay here with you?”

Veryl patted my hand in a fatherly way and gave me a gentle smile. “I’m afraid not. You’re needed among the living. There are things you must do yet. A role to play that is yours and yours alone.”

Hadn’t I done enough? Was the face off with Shya only the beginning? I wasn’t sure I could take any more of that.

“And if I refuse?” It was a stubborn, childish remark. Feeling backed into a corner, I had an irrational urge to argue his words though he had given me no reason to.

“You won’t. It isn’t your way.” Veryl rose and held his arms out to me expectantly.

I moved lightly, as if my feet never touched the ground. His embrace was strong but gentle, parental and encouraging. Veryl had cared for me as if I were his daughter. And I hadn’t known that until now, when I could feel it without him ever having to say so.

“I’m sorry for the ways I’ve wronged you.” The words were not enough, but I had nothing else to offer.

He patted my back and smoothed my hair back before peering deep into my eyes. “Don’t be sorry. Just be who you’re called to be, a protector of mankind.”

I stared at him in wonder. Only Willow had spoken those words to me. Had Veryl always known?

There were so many questions I needed him to answer. Before I could utter a single one, I was pulled away, drawn by an unseen force. It felt as if I were being sucked through a shrinking tunnel, watching the white room grow smaller in the distance.

Veryl’s final words reverberated through my thoughts, an echo that followed me back to where I belonged: protector of mankind.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

A hurricane of sensations welcomed me back. From the overbearing scent of cologne, wolf, and paint to the immaculate touch of satin sheets on my skin, it all hit me at once.

Voices carried to me. They belonged to Arys and Shaz, and though they spoke in low tones, I heard every word as if they shouted in my ears.

“It’s almost sunrise,” Arys was saying. “She probably won’t rise tonight.”

“I don’t care. I’m not leaving. And neither should you.” There was such vindication in Shaz’s tone. “Do you think she’ll still have the wolf?”

“She died with the amulet on. If Lena knew what she was doing when she made that thing, then yeah, Alexa should still have her wolf. Don’t worry, pup. She’ll still love you either way.”

My eyes popped open, and I sat up slowly. A dim lamp lit the room. Harley’s room. I was at The Wicked Kiss. In my current state, I couldn’t make much of that. Aside from an inner sense of disappointment, it didn’t mean much to me.

My vision was impeccable. The wolf had given me superior eyesight, but it paled compared to how I now saw. It was like stepping into the light for the first time after wandering around in the dark. There were no words for how detailed and pure everything was. From the cracks in the ceiling to the fibers of the carpet, it all was richer and more complex than I’d ever noticed before.

With a vague curiosity, I slid my tongue over the tiny but deadly fangs in my mouth. They were much smaller than I was used to.

No conscious thought commanded my mental state. In a state of strange observation, I merely took in my surroundings, thinking and feeling nothing.

I wore the same clothes I’d had on when Arys killed me. It felt like two days ago though I wasn’t certain. The dragon on my forearm looked especially black against my alabaster skin. I studied it for a moment and shrugged.

“I still can’t believe you did it.” There was judgment in Shaz’s voice from beyond the door. “You loved it. Didn’t you?”

A sense of detached surprise drifted through me when I lightly tossed the blankets aside and they slapped against the wall as if I’d hurled them in violence. Weird.

“Do you really want an answer to that?” came Arys’s mysterious reply.

There was silence for a minute. The door opened and the two of them entered. They stopped dead in the doorway at finding me sitting up in bed.

I stared at them, uncertain and suspicious. They were familiar to me somehow. I knew that. But in that moment, I could only think in terms of instinctive feelings. The new dark, undead entity dominated.

“Lex?” Shaz barely breathed my name. Wide-eyed and speechless, he stared in disbelief.

The sound of his mortal heartbeat reverberated in my ears. His blood smelled wild and earthy. It called to me, and nothing else mattered. I needed it.

I sprang off the bed and cleared the room in a bound. The speed with which I moved was impossibly inhuman. It was invigorating, bringing me a gleeful victory when I easily took Shaz down beneath me.

Kneeling on his chest, I pinned him down and went for his throat. With a low growl, he flung an arm up to block me. My attack was vicious as I retaliated, fighting to get to that fount of hot, pumping scarlet nectar.

Suddenly I was airborne. I flew into the hallway, head over feet before smacking the wall and rolling into the middle of the hall. Feeling no pain, I was up and ready to face my attacker.

Arys stood in the doorway to Harley’s room. He shoved Shaz behind him and faced me with hands crackling with power. There was a melancholy element to him. It confused me in my predatory state.