September Moon (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8)(55)

“I’ll take off so you two can talk. Remember, you have everything you need to fulfill your purpose, but there will always be forces trying to stop you. That’s where the conflict comes in. Pick your battles carefully.” Willow slid off the stool and pulled me into a warm hug. Then with a ripple of the atmosphere around us, he was gone.

I turned toward the front door, waiting for the knob to turn. Willow had great advice. However, he could only see the situation from the outside. Being on the inside, having my twin turn on me, there was no letting that go. Emotion spilled through me. I was mad, hurt, and humiliated. The door opened, and it all came pouring out.

“You have a lot of f*cking nerve to show up here after that crap you pulled at Shya’s.” I faced Arys with my hands on my hips and my body thrumming with electricity.

He stopped just inside the door with Jenner a few steps behind. The door swung shut with an ominous creak. Arys held both hands up, ready for my temper. The fact that he’d walked in expecting a tirade didn’t make me feel any better.

“Alexa, let me explain.” He approached as if expecting me to start hurling dishes down the hallway. “Can we just talk, please?”

“You want to try to explain what I saw you do tonight? Sure. Go ahead and tell me why you threw me across Shya’s kitchen.” I stared into Arys, letting him see the raw emotion in my eyes.

He kept coming down the long front hall toward me where I stood in the entry to the kitchen. Jenner crept over to the stairs and stealthily escaped to the top floor, leaving us the illusion of privacy.

“I’m sorry about that,” Arys said, his gaze heavy upon me. “I had to turn Gabriel. Shya and I had a deal. If I didn’t make good on that, he would never have removed that mark.”

“You know, so far, you’re off to a pretty shitty start. Try again.”

He stopped about ten feet away. Close enough to face me like a man but too far away to slap. “I made that deal intending to keep it. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but you know me. That can’t possibly surprise you. As long as we bear Shya’s mark, he owns us. I will not be owned by a demon.”

“So you took the life of a young man barely into adulthood. You ignored Hurst’s warning and we are going to pay for that.” Accusation dripped from my tone. The image of Gabriel’s body was burned into my memory. It shouldn’t have happened. Not on my watch. I felt like I had failed him somehow.

“I upheld my end of the deal. Look how much control Shya has over you because of that mark. I had to get rid of mine. He can’t have us both.” Shoulders stiff, a frown creased his brow as Arys stared at me, pleading with those midnight eyes.

Guilt rose up to join the onslaught of feelings. Keeping Shya’s mark was not by choice. The only way to get rid of it was to give him a dreamwalker. The FPA had one in lockup; I saw her. But I could never do that to her. She was safer where she was now.

“You know I’d get rid of this mark if I could.” I sniffed as my temper flared. “The only way to do that is to hand an innocent person over to Shya. And I will not do that. Maybe it was easy for you, but I’m not quite that far gone yet.”

I turned my back on Arys and went to clean up the dishes. He wasn’t convincing me that killing Gabriel was necessary. He was just showing me how different we were.

I shoved things into the dishwasher with more force than required. The plates crashed against each other, somehow not breaking. I slammed the door shut and whirled around to find Arys right behind me.

“I understand why you haven’t paid your debt to Shya,” he said. “Can you try to understand why I had to pay mine?” He reached to take my hand. The heat of his skin reminded me of where that stolen warmth had come from, and I pulled away.

“Arys, you killed someone. In front of me while I begged you not to. Then you threw me across the room. No, I’m sorry, but I do not understand that, and I don’t even want to.” I was backed into a corner, up against the dishwasher. I needed some distance. “You should go home. I need some time alone.”

“I’m not leaving you alone. We’ve already been over this.”

“Give me a break.”

“I’m not going.”

We glared at one another until the power flowed between us with a scorching hot intensity. There were so many ways I wanted to react. Still, I thought of what Willow said, and I opted to take the high road by simply walking away.

“Fine. Stay then. You can bunk with Jenner or take the couch. I’m going to bed. Alone.” I shoved by him, expecting resistance. He didn’t stop me, but he didn’t let me go either.

“We are not done talking about this, Alexa.” Arys was hot on my heels as I climbed the stairs.

I rushed into the bedroom and swung the door shut. “You might not be, but I am.”

The door bounced off Arys’s foot as he kicked it open. My jaw dropped. He came closer, and I threw my hands up to ward him off. A burst of power went out from me, throwing him out of the room where he crashed against the stair railing. The wood creaked but didn’t give.

Arys got up uttering obscenities. I was ready when he appeared in the doorway again. My fingers crackled with power.

“Go ahead. Do it,” he taunted, holding his hands up in invitation. “I know you’re pissed off, so get it all out of your system. Let me have it.”