September Moon (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8)(67)

Arys caught his arm before the blow could land. He gave it a twist, and Briggs twisted with it, trying to avoid a broken arm. The move put his back to Arys who slung an arm around his neck and jerked him close. Fangs bared, Arys was about to go for Briggs’s artery.

The sound of a gun cocking was heard seconds before Juliet stepped out of the shadows. She pressed the barrel against Arys’s temple.

“Let him go. Now.”

Chapter Seventeen

“Think you’re going to kill me with that toy, little wolf?” Arys snickered. “Damn you O’Brien women are feisty creatures.”

Her response was to shove the gun barrel even harder against his temple. “Maybe it will kill you. Maybe it will just blow your brains all over the pavement and leave you with a gaping hole in your head. How bad do you want to find out?”

The commotion died down as everyone paused to watch this play out. Juliet was so much like me sometimes. What a pain in the ass.

“Do whatever you have to do,” Arys said, seemingly unaffected by the weapon pressed to his skull. “Just know that by hurting me, you’ll hurt Alexa. And haven’t you already done enough of that?”

“Shut the f*ck up,” Juliet barked, but her wild wolf gaze landed on me. She took in the sight of me atop Hunter. “Alexa, get off of him. Slowly. Don’t try anything.”

Coming to the rescue of Briggs was one thing. He was her superior and her lover. I got it. But Hunter? Hell no. He was mine.

“Too bad,” I said to Hunter. “And I wanted to play with you a little longer. I guess we’ll have to finish this fast.” To Juliet I said, “You’re really showing what an amateur you are right now. The only reason any of this happened is because you can’t keep your mouth shut.”

“I’m loyal to the FPA, Alexa. It was my job to give up that information. I’m sorry. I never thought it would go down like this. There’s no reason for anyone else to get hurt.”

Every word out of her mouth pissed me off. She had betrayed me, proven that she was not someone I could ever trust again. It hurt. Like a knife in my back, the sting of her betrayal burned.

“If you pull that trigger, Juliet, I will make Briggs take Hunter’s place here. And I will force you to watch while I make him beg like an animal.” It was a vicious threat, a truly ugly thing to say. And I meant every damn word.

It was a standoff. Juliet held her gun steady on Arys while we all waited for her to react to my threat.

Disgust marred her pretty face. She stared at me as if seeing a stranger in my place. I knew the feeling.

Her attention was so focused on me that she never realized there was a vampire slipping through the shadows in the parking lot, coming ever closer to her. I was aware of Kale’s sugary sweet energy as he blended into the dark that fell beyond the streetlight’s glow. He must have come out the back exit behind the building.

He emerged directly behind her. A few agents shouted a warning, but he was too fast. In a blur of motion, Kale grabbed Juliet’s gun arm and twisted it behind her back. The gun went off, firing a bullet into the ground beside them.

Briggs tried to take advantage of the moment to escape Arys’s hold. It didn’t work. He only succeeded in being forced to his knees. Arys didn’t stop there. He forced Briggs all the way down, pressing his face into the gritty pavement.

Kale met my eyes with a grin. “Alexa, I believe you were in the middle of something.”

Juliet struggled against him. He held her easily. She should have known better. Vampires love a struggle. She was only going to succeed in feeding his hunger.

“Yes, I was, wasn’t I?” I smiled. Everyone’s full attention was upon Hunter and me. He was afraid again. My seductive hold had slipped during Juliet’s brief stunt. That was fine. Fear worked just as well, maybe even better in this case.

“Don’t do it, Lexi,” Juliet pleaded. “Please, don’t. I know you’re better than that.”

“That’s just the thing, Juliet,” I replied, meeting her wolf eyes with my own. “You don’t know me at all. And I don’t know you. Maybe I never did.”

Hunter stared up at me with eyes wide with terror. Arys and Kale both watched me with eager expectation. They wanted to watch this happen. Having them there, anticipating the moment when I would spill Hunter’s blood, it drove me. Raising a clawed hand, I brought it down in one fell swoop. My claws tore through Hunter’s throat, and blood spattered my face. The blood gushed forth to puddle beneath his head.

I brought a hand to my mouth and dragged my tongue over my bloody fingers. Juliet’s hysterical cries were shrill, ear piercing. Her horror at witnessing my act of murder and retribution was understandable. She really didn’t know who I was. I myself was just beginning to find out.

Arys watched me suck a scarlet-stained finger into my mouth with obvious intrigue. Poor Kale wasn’t quite so restrained. The hunger in his enchanting eyes was palpable. I knew he wanted to join me. I could feel it. He and I made a deadly duo together.

“What do you want to do with them?” Arys nodded to Briggs at his feet and gestured to the remaining agents, most of which held their hands up in surrender.

I stood up slowly, licking the tip of a bloody claw. The rush of what I’d just done had me walking on air. I swayed as I stepped away from Hunter’s corpse, but I was as steady as I’d ever been. Empowered by the circuit of power I shared with every vampire present, I glided over to where Arys had Briggs pinned on the ground. Juliet watched me with a hateful glare.