The Wicked Kiss (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #2)(88)

You’ve had one hell of an effect on that man.”

Why did she have to look so pleased when she said that? “What do you mean, dreaming about me?”

She shrugged and sipped from her coffee. “I’m not sure. He didn’t go into detail. I think he just needed to say it out loud to someone and that happened to be me. I just wanted to let you know.”

“Shit.” I let out an exasperated sigh and reclined in my chair. “That’s just what I needed to hear.”

“Sorry.”

Kale meant a lot to me. He was more than a colleague; he was a friend. And, because of the power I had, I now had power over him. There was something so wrong about that.

“Anyway,” Jez quickly changed the subject. “Kale and I have been taking out new vampires all week.”

That caught my attention. “New ones all week?”

She nodded, and her golden waves bounced. “Yeah. We haven’t been able to determine where they’re coming from yet. So … you want to come out tonight?”

That was intriguing. After the past couple of weeks I’d had, I was certainly up for a challenging hunt. “Definitely. Count me in.”

* * * *

The evening had been going splendidly. Hunting down a coven of new vampires with Jez and Kale had been a release that I'd desperately needed. It had taken no time at all to locate a handful of new vampires lurking in a local cemetery. It was typical really. Many of them wound up in such places, either from seeing it in Hollywood films or because it was guaranteed to be free of anyone else.

It had been almost too easy to take out the two we had followed to the cemetery.

Upon arriving we had discovered another four of them nesting there. From the looks of it, they had been up to no good. There was more than one old corpse decomposing beneath some trees. Nasty.

The last two put up a nice fight that had Jez smiling as she slashed her way through one of them with clawed hands as he shrieked like a little girl. After slashing a hole in his throat the size of her fist, she pulled out the stake she carried strapped to her wrist and plunged it deep into his chest.

No sooner had she done so than the last one escaped me and rushed her head on. She had just a split second to defend herself. Throwing her arms up in front of her, she took the brunt of his force as they tumbled and rolled as one.

I moved abnormally fast as my legs carried me across the distance. I snapped his neck with a powerful twist; the resulting crunch echoed as I went for the heart, stake in hand. He had already succeeded in lashing out at Jez, drawing blood from a deep cut above her eye. The scent of her living and highly potent blood caused a tightly wound string inside me to snap, and I lost all control.

One moment, I was focused on the pathetic vampire on top of Jez, and the next, I was tossing him aside so that I could get to her myself. I shudder to imagine how that would have played out if Kale hadn't been there.

Being as in tune to my energy as he was, he felt the shift in the atmosphere when the blood lust dominated my actions. All of a sudden, he was just there, throwing me off her so that I landed in a sprawled heap not far from one of the decomposing victims. As I leaped to my feet, there was no conscious thought in my mind. I was acting on instinct.

With a snarl, I turned on Kale. I didn't want him though. I wanted the natural born Were blood, the blood that had never been human. I practically salivated as the scent drove me into a frenzy.

The pain was like a punch right in the guts when Kale knocked me on my ass with a blast of power. It didn't hurt me otherwise, but it successfully knocked the breath out of me. Before I could get up, he was on top of me, straddling my body with his strong frame, a silver psi ball burning in the palm of one hand.

It was as if a cool breeze blew through my mind then, bringing with it the presence of my dark vampire. Arys' voice was soothing, snapping me back to myself as if I was jolting awake from a nightmare. My wolf, what's happening? I knew I never should have left your side.

I stared up at Kale, struggling to reply with something sensible to Arys. Kale's sweet energy was alluring in its own right, and I found myself falling into his enchanting eyes.

“Alexa?” Kale lightly slapped the side of my face, a frown creasing his fine features.

“You never should have done this. The blood bond is not meant for one as free spirited as you.”

I was confused by his words. All I could think about was reaching to touch the lock of dark brown hair that fell in his eyes. As I remembered the taste of his blood, I licked my lips seductively. “Kale…” The word fell on a hushed whisper, and I knew that he was mine if I wanted him.

“Don't do this,” he pleaded, and I could feel his resistance crumbling. “I'm trying to stop you from making a huge mistake here. Don't draw me into another one. You know I can't deny you.”

Jez came to stand nearby, careful not to get too close. I concentrated on Arys, on his cold blue energy raging inside my mind. I'm going to self-destruct before I can begin to have regrets.

It was strange, knowing I could share my thoughts with him and finding that I could also shut him out. I wondered if I would ever get used to it. Arys could feel my edgy emotion, yet he could only know what I revealed to him. There was something very reassuring in that.

Wrapping a strong hand around my wrist, Kale jerked me upright and pulled me to my feet. He didn't let me go, though. As much as it killed him to touch me, reaching right into my personal energy, he did it anyway.