The Wicked Kiss (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #2)(67)

I honestly hadn’t expected him to show up in a costume. Not after the comments he’d made about Halloween. So, I was definitely taken aback to see him dressed to the hilt as Johnny Depp’s Sweeney Todd. It couldn’t have been a more perfect fit.

He had the outfit down to a tee. I had never seen him dressed like that. He looked as if he had stepped out of another time.

Desire slammed through me. His hair couldn’t have looked hotter. It was still typically mussed up but with a strategically placed style. Down to the white streak in the front, he had it. He looked sensational.

From the moment his eyes locked on mine, I was frozen in place. Nothing drew his attention from me as the distance separating us fell away.

“You are easily the most heart stopping creature I have ever laid eyes on.” He greeted me, his velvety smooth voice tantalizingly beautiful.

“You're insanely gorgeous yourself.” I reached up to brush a strand of hair away from his eye where it had fallen. “I can’t believe you dressed up.”

He grinned and leaned in to kiss me softly. “Only for you, my precious wolf.”

Everything about him tested my control. The inviting power of our bond enticed me to sink into the pull, to allow it to control us. It was agony to resist.

“I’m glad.” I beamed up at him, my hand clasped in his. It was warmer than usual.

That was a good sign. He slid a hand beneath the front of my skirt where it trailed along the edge of my thigh high stocking. The breath was knocked out of me, and I blushed.

“I knew you’d look sensational. I couldn’t come underdressed.” Despite his neutral tone, the heat from his hand on my thigh caused a rush of blood to flood the private place between my legs. I sucked in my breath and quivered uncontrollably. This brought a smile to his lips, revealing fangs.

Between him and Shaz, I wasn’t sure how I could handle this much smoking hot man flesh. I wanted them both with an equal ferocity but for very different reasons. Was that even possible? I forced the thought from my mind, scoffing at the absurdity of it.

I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder, towards the bar where Shaz had gone. “I seem to have my hands full tonight.”

Those entrancing eyes gazed at me with their perfect frame of silky black lashes. “Is that so?” He followed my gaze to the bar before looking back at me. “Do you think you can handle both of us?”

The blush that warmed my cheeks was instant. Only this bold vampire would head down that trail of thought.

“That’s not what I meant,” I laughed nervously and looked away. “Though I can’t say that I wouldn’t love to find out.” It was something that slipped out freely, something I never would have said to Shaz.

I felt Arys studying me, enjoying my discomfort and embarrassment. He leaned in close so that his lips brushed my ear, whispering, “Be careful what you wish for.”

A jolt of electricity slammed through me from where his lips touched me, all the way down my spine. His words were shocking due to the passivity of his tone. There was a lot about Arys that I had yet to understand.

When he pulled back, he wore a strangely disconcerted expression. I felt the shift in his energy as if it had been my own. His instant wariness had me glancing around suspiciously.

“What?” I asked him, a little too fast. I didn’t sense anything amiss. “What do you feel?”

He looked over my shoulder to where Shaz now waited in front of the staircase. A petite redhead dressed like a cop was showing him her handcuffs.

“I’m not sure. Go to your wolf. I’ll come find you.” He was gone in the time it took me to blink, moving rapidly through the crowd in search of something I could neither see nor feel. A chill stole over me in his sudden absence.

I went to Shaz but couldn’t deny the urge to look over my shoulder. The redhead looked up at my approach, vacating promptly when I boldly kissed him full on the lips, sliding my tongue between them.

The passion he kissed me back with matched my own in its fierceness. When he pulled back and gazed deeply into my eyes, the first question out of his mouth was,

“Where did Arys go?”

I’d kind of hoped my kiss would have swept the vampire from his thoughts. I was feeling the lively pull of the moon. I’d just have to get his mind to focus on other things.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.” I didn’t hesitate to run my hands over his hard chest the way I wanted to. “So where do you want to go?”

Shaz trailed a hand through my hair, entangling it in his fist. A playful smile danced along his lips. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Here?”

“Here.” I nodded, ignoring the curious looks from those going up and down the stairs. “I just have this ache inside me that I need you to ease.”

Between the moon, the power I shared with Arys and my own wanton desires, I was ready for him. I had been since arriving.

Shaz appeared to consider it. It didn’t take long. “Where would you like to go?”

“Anywhere you want.”

He surveyed the club before saying, “Let’s go out back.”

Honestly, I’d expected more resistance from Shaz. It was clear that the rousing atmosphere was stripping away his inhibitions and riding him hard, too.

He entwined his fingers in mine and pulled me along toward the back exit. Nobody used the exit except for staff. The back door led into a dark alley that just led to another alley and the back of the neighboring buildings.