The Wicked Kiss (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #2)(89)

The blood hunger didn't leave me, but I was in control now that Kale had stepped in.

He was an amazing friend, one that I owed dearly. Despite that, the sinister vampire essence within me couldn't help but want to toy with him. The look he fixed me with insinuated that he wasn't new to this game. Of course not. The guy had centuries on me.

“Cut it out, Alexa. Don't you understand that you're playing with fire?”

“Why? What am I doing?”

“You know damn well what you're doing.”

Kale and I faced off, and I couldn't help the grin that spread over my face.

Regardless of how wrong I knew it was to continue down that path, I didn't want to stop.

However, I did know what I was doing. I couldn't help but think about what Jez had said at dinner. Kale had been seeing me in his dreams, unable to escape his attraction to my power. Knowing his history and his dependence on The Wicked Kiss, I knew I couldn't be just another power hungry female that would use and abuse him. He'd had enough of that in his past.

It actually hurt to deny the many hungers and urges commanding me. Yet, it wasn't as if being a werewolf hadn't been much the same in its own way. This was just a new kind of pain. I was able to make it back to the office without eating another silver blast from Kale.

Arys' presence lingered in the back of my mind, but I didn't acknowledge it. It was still too strange, and I didn't want to share my thoughts with anyone. Jez laughed and joked as if I hadn't been ready to bite into her jugular vein, already brushing it off like no big deal. I wished I could roll with the punches as easily. Although, it was refreshing to have someone in my life who could so simply shrug it off, knowing it wasn't worth altering her life. I could learn a lot from Jez' take on things.

Despite her attempts to loosen Kale and me up, the tension between us couldn't be dismissed. I watched the clock tick past one am in the kitchen of our office building. Jez wasted no time closing up her office and heading for the door.

“Since I have made it through yet another night without facing certain death, I will be celebrating by sipping wine by a crackling fire with a smoking hot redhead.” She announced. “I assume you two will be out of here right away?”

I knew what she was really asking. Was it safe for her to leave us alone together? All I knew was that it was safer for me to be alone with Kale at that moment than with her.

The cut on her head wasn't critical, but the blood drying there was taunting me.

“Yeah, I won't be here much longer.” I gave her a look, one of those that women share, which enables them to have an entire conversation with others present, with no more than the right expression. Without batting an eye, she quickly bid us goodnight before sashaying to the exit.

I couldn't shake the feeling that Kale was waiting for us to be alone. He had something to say. I leaned against the small kitchen counter and considered but then abandoned the notion of feigning nonchalance. Why bother? He would see right through it anyway. So instead, when the door had closed behind Jez on her way out, I looked at Kale expectantly.

“How's Kylarai?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest. A moment later, he uncrossed them and stuck his hands in the pockets of his black leather duster. He didn't seem to know what to do with himself.

I could see by the look on his face that he already knew about Ky and Julian. I could attribute that to Jez and her willingness to talk. He really wanted to know though. There was no faking the concern in his eyes.

“Are you really asking how she is, or are you asking about him?”

“Both.”

That was fair. “She's good, although, I'm not sure that she's really happy. I don't think Kylarai really knows what she wants right now.”

“I heard Shaz kicked his ass.” He didn't have to say Julian's name, and I understood why he chose not to.

I nodded and thought back to that night. It had been an intense scrap. “Hell yeah, he did. It's been a little awkward at home since. Shaz and I have been spending a lot of our time at Raoul's.”

“If he hurts her, I'll tear him to pieces.” Kale promised with a glint in his eyes as if he was hoping to get a shot at Julian himself.

“He's all yours.”

Kale studied me, and though his gaze was heavy, I didn't flinch beneath it. I merely waited calmly for him to speak. I knew him well by now, and it wasn't hard to tell when he had something to say. When his eyes fell to my wrist, I knew he was thinking about the night in the car when he'd bitten me. Though the bite was long gone, I had to resist the temptation to rub the place where it had been.

He looked away before he spoke, as if suddenly intrigued by the pattern on the linoleum. “I understand why you made the choice that you did, but do you really think it was the best option?”

“Honestly,” I replied. “I don't know. It feels very surreal right now. If I didn't bond myself to Arys, it would have been anybody with enough power to force me.”

Kale nodded, his gaze coming to land on me again. I felt the weight of his analysis as he truly studied me. “It's going to change you, you know. Tonight … that kind of thing isn't going to end, even if it gets easier to deal with.”

That wasn't really what I wanted to hear though I couldn't say I was surprised.