Stunner (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress 0.75)(12)

Arys chuckled but there was a seriousness in his eyes that didn’t match his laughter. His midnight eyes followed me from head to toe and back up again. I raised a brow, glaring my hardest.

“You’re a real fighter, aren’t you? Calm down, lovely wolf. I’m not here to get a face full of claws. Or another bitch slap of a psi ball. I just want to talk.”

He stood there in jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket looking gorgeous and deadly. His black hair was stylishly messy, taunting me to run my hands through it. There was a seductive vibe to his energy. I was starting to think it was just a natural part of him. No vampire should have that kind of sex appeal.

“I don’t trust you and I sure don’t like you creeping around my town. Start talking before I get impatient. I may not have as much power as you do but I have a hell of a mean right hook.” I swallowed my apprehension but I didn’t relax my ready stance.

“Is that how you welcome someone who is new to town?” He raised a dark brow, studying me more intently than I was comfortable with. “And besides, you have no reason not to trust me. I let you go, didn’t I?”

I knew it. I should have stayed home in bed tonight. “New to town? No. Just no. There is an entire city of people for you to pick off just ten minutes down the highway. You are not coming here to terrorize my small town.”

Arys watched me with thinly veiled amusement. “I assure you, there is only one person in this town I want a taste of.” He laughed when I scowled, flashing fangs in the dim glow of a nearby streetlight. “I bought a house here. Looks like I’ll be around a while. It’s quiet. And good to have a place outside the city. The wolves run this town. I know that. Which is why I’m here. To proclaim my intent to live peacefully among you and your pack.”

It smacked of suspicious. I let my feelings show on my face with a skeptical frown. “I hope you don’t think I’m stupid enough to believe that. I don’t know what you’re up to, but I’ll be ready when you slip up.”

“Goddamn it, you’re sexy. I bet you’re this feisty in the sack too, aren’t you?”

After the strange encounter with him during the Octavia incident, I didn’t know what to make of this vampire. He had a reputation that preceded him though it was impossible to know how much of it was based on fact. Sure he may have let me go that night and he was damn fine to look at, but there’s no way he could be trusted. The guy practically oozed a snake-like charm.

“Oh I’m feisty alright. But I’m not an idiot. If you want to kill me, I’d rather you just get it over with. Don’t make this a game.” My wolf rose up inside me, feeling threatened. My four fangs filled my mouth, two on the top and two on the bottom. My eyes were wolf. I could feel the beast inside, ready to break free and tear him apart.

The smile vanished from Arys’s face. His cool energy grew cold as ice and goosebumps broke out on my skin in response. It tickled me inside, in places unseen.

“If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have saved your ass the other night. You were a fool to walk into that place alone. If I hadn’t been there…” he trailed off, letting that thought go unfinished.

“Why would you care whether I live or die?” I challenged. “I’m pretty sure I don’t have a lot of fans in the vampire community. So what gives? What could you possibly want with me?”

I never saw him move. With inhuman ease, he was suddenly much closer than I wanted him to be. I stood my ground and stared into his eyes but I was ready to run. I could handle most vampires one on one. But Arys Knight wasn’t most vampires.

“You really don’t have a clue, do you?” In a bold move, he grabbed my hand, sliding his fingers in between mine. “You feel that. I know you do.”

My eyes widened and my breath caught. Power sparked in our joined hands, sending a jolt of electricity racing up my arm. His power wasn’t an assault. Like last time, it sought to join mine, to become something bigger.

“Why are you doing this?” I gasped. He wasn’t trying to harm me but it didn’t alleviate my fear.

“I’m not doing a damn thing, beautiful. This is not within my control. Have you ever experienced this before?”

“No, and I don’t want to experience it now.” I attempted to pull my hand away but he held tight. I was growing increasingly aware of Arys’s closeness. My stomach tightened and a strange tingle crawled through me, leaving me flushed.

Arys’s gaze strayed to my cut lip. His tone dropped lower, smooth with menace. “Who smacked you around tonight?”

I tried to duck my head, to hide the injury from his sight. “It doesn’t matter. I can take care of myself. Really.”

“Oh, right. That was made very apparent the other night when you were bound and bleeding.” His tone dripped sarcasm. “I must have missed the part where you busted out the heroics and saved your own ass.”

My temper flared and with it, the power flowing between us grew hot. I shoved away from him and this time he released me. With the connection broken, the power fell away and for just a second, it felt like something was missing.

“I think we’re done here.” I’d had enough of this cocky vampire. Not only was he freaking me out, he was starting to piss me off.

He caught my arm and spun me back around to face him. My angry protest died unspoken when he kissed me. The silver ring in his bottom lip was smooth and cold. He didn’t waste any time slipping his tongue between my lips. There was a possessiveness to his kiss that thrilled me against my will. I expected my wolf to rise up in a fury that this arrogant stranger was so daring. Instead it lay quiet inside me, curious and more than a little intrigued.