“Feel that?” I growled, eyes flashing with the beast within. “That’s me about to overload your fragile human heart.”
Fearless and angry, Arrow glared viciously into my face. “You won’t kill me.”
“Oh no?” I held up my arm to show him the demon mark I bore. “Don’t think for a second that your parlor tricks impress me. I know angels and demons. You don’t come close to what they are.”
“I am not part of your world, vampire bitch. Let’s keep it that way.”
“Call me that again, and you get my knee in the groin and a fist in the face. Now I’m going to say this just once. If you supply Jez with drugs again, I will know what it feels like to hold your heart in my hands.”
He met the eyes of my wolf unflinching. His resolve was admirable. Good for him. He was also smart enough to know vacating the situation was safer than antagonizing me.
“Fine. No drugs for Jez. Got it. Now get your hands off me.”
I let him go with a shove, ready to make him keep moving if he tried anything. He didn’t. Arrow beat a hasty retreat across the room to disappear to the second floor. If I never dealt with the slimy, little wretch again, it would be too soon.
I turned to Jez, expecting her to be pissed. Instead I found her smiling.
“Wow, look at you defending my honor,” she laughed. “I feel so loved.”
I couldn’t share her enthusiasm. “If you ever feel like you’re slipping, if you’re tempted to do something self-destructive, call me. Any time. I will drop everything and come to you. Promise me.”
Jez’s smile faded. “Geez, Lex. Way to really bring down the happy vibe here. What happened to it being a night of celebration?”
“Promise me,” I repeated. In my mind I could still see her hanging limp in Kale’s arms. Seeing the way Arrow had honed in on her weakness, attempting to exploit her, it made me desperate to protect her though I knew well that nobody could be protected from themselves.
“I promise,” she said, her joyous mask replaced with one of sincere intent.
“Thank you.” I did my best to appear apologetic. “Sorry about that, Ky.”
I returned to my seat to find my phone vibrating on the table. With an eye roll and a groan, I went to hit the button to ignore the call. Until I noticed that it was FPA Agent Briggs calling. There were many people I would ignore. He was not one of them.
Holding up a finger to show Jez and Ky I’d be back in a minute, I grabbed the phone and headed outside to take the call.
“Welcome home, Briggs,” I answered. “I see you’ve made it back safe and sound. What do you want?”
He didn’t waste time with fake small talk. Briggs was a man of few words, a likeable trait. “I’m sure your sister has called already. I felt it was only proper to call you myself. I respect you enough to give you fair warning.”
“I haven’t spoken with Juliet tonight. What’s this about?” A prickle of unease traced a path up my spine.
“You haven’t?” Briggs paused, causing my concern to grow. “Look, O’Brien, I’m going to level with you. Juliet told me that you’re to be Shya’s sacrifice. I’m sure you understand that from our perspective the most important thing is to keep Shya from completing his ritual. No matter what it takes.”
I moved further away from the crowd gathered around the door, chattering and smoking. Barely aware of them, I peered into the darkened street in jaw dropped shock.
“And since you can’t find the scroll the next best plan is to get rid of his sacrifice,” I said what he did not. Betrayal settled in to make me nauseous. How could Juliet do this to me? “Are you coming to kill me, Briggs?”
“I’m sorry, O’Brien. There is logic in taking his sacrifice out of play. At least this way your death with be used to save many rather than to condemn them. It will be honorable.”
My heart raced, and a loud ringing echoed in my ears. Perhaps this should not have come as such a shock, but it did. No way in hell was I going to lie down and let the FPA kill me.
“This isn’t your fight, Briggs. I know you think it is, but it’s not. Shya will be stopped. By me. Not like this. You know I will kill anyone you send after me.”
“Shya could find the scroll at any moment. Is that what you want? To risk the lives of so many innocents?”
I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. My breath quickened, and a shock of adrenaline made me lightheaded. “Don’t pretend to give a damn about anyone but yourself and your disgusting self-serving organization. You want me? Come get me, Briggs. But you better have the balls to face me yourself.”
His voice was void of emotion when he said, “I’m on my way to do just that.”
Chapter Sixteen
He hung up without giving me a chance to respond. It didn’t matter. There was nothing I could say to that. I couldn’t tell how much time I had until Briggs caught up with me. I assumed he would track my phone; he’d done it before. I could always ditch it somewhere, but that would only prolong this showdown. It was as cowardly as tracking it was. No, I’d keep it. Let them find me.
I listened to Juliet’s message as I rushed back inside. In her frantic message, my sister pleaded for my forgiveness and warned me that Briggs was coming for me. She swore up and down that she hadn’t expected him to react that way.
Too late for sorry now, little sister.
“I have to get out of here,” I blurted upon reaching the table where I’d left Ky and Jez. “The FPA know that I’m Shya’s sacrifice. They’re hunting me down.”
“What?” Kylarai was aghast.
Jez nodded and said, “Those sons-a-bitches don’t waste any time, do they?”
“You two should stay here. Watch the band and have a good time. They’re tracking my phone so I have to take off. I’ll lead them back to The Wicked Kiss. I want to do this on my terms.”
I leaned in to give Kylarai a quick hug, but she stopped me by standing up and grabbing her purse. “Let’s go then.”
Jez was already up and waiting. I had never doubted she would want to have my back. But Kylarai could not be endangered.
“Ky, no. You can’t come. Not in your…condition.” It just popped out. When her jaw dropped, I rushed to add, “It’s too dangerous.”
“You know?” She squeaked out. “I just found out. I didn’t want to say anything until more time had passed. Coby doesn’t even know yet.”
“I can feel it in your energy,” I admitted. “It won’t be long before others can scent it or hear the heartbeat. You should be lying low, Kylarai. This is incredible and rare. Don’t take a stupid chance for me.”
Her joyful smile was twisted into a mask of concern. “I can’t just run off home and leave you to be hunted by the government, Lex. I may not be your beta anymore, but I’ll always have your back.”
“I can’t let you do this. Go home.”
“Don’t give me orders. It’s not your place anymore.”
Kylarai was one of the nicest people I knew. She was also a passive aggressive werewolf who had killed her own abusive husband. If she didn’t want to listen, I couldn’t make her.
“Fine. Just remember, if anything happens to you, it will haunt me forever.”
It didn’t take long for me to hightail it across the river to the downtown core where my nightclub sat like a pulsing, living entity drawing in victims like moths to a flame. Jez and Kylarai had taken Ky’s Escalade. It seemed safer to drive alone in my car in case of a ballsy street attack.
Both Arys’s Firebird and Kale’s Camaro sat in the parking lot when I turned in with a screech of tires. Already? The sun hadn’t been down all that long. Kale had probably spent the day here fornicating and feeding. Arys was definitely waiting for me.
“Shit.” I pulled into the closest available spot and jumped out of the car. After fetching the Dragon Claw from the trunk, I headed inside, slinging it around my waist as I went.
Justin looked up from where he stood checking I.D. to give me a nod. I skidded to a stop beside him. “The Feds are on their way. Don’t let them in. Tell them to wait outside and let me know when they get here.”
I waited for him to nod in understanding before slipping away, dodging between people as I went. Arys was at the bar with Willow and Jenner. Kale was nowhere to be seen, meaning he was in the back.
Having Arys within my sights brought on a surge of strength and confidence. The scattered thoughts and emotions that had plagued me on the way over were silenced. He turned to me with a dark brow raised expectantly, and against my will I swooned just a little.
“I was wondering when you’d show up,” he said, that deep-blue gaze traveling over me.
“Look, Arys, I don’t have time to get into what happened last night. Briggs is on his—”
He pulled me close and laid one hell of a kiss on me. Aggressive, needy, passionate, and even vulnerable, it set butterflies loose in my stomach. Swept up in the power of that sudden sensual act, I slid a hand into his hair and kissed him back with an urgency that rivaled his own.
When at last we pulled apart, I became embarrassingly aware of our small audience. Kylarai and Jez had just arrived to join Willow and Jenner as they waited for us to come back to our senses.
“I don’t think this is the best time for some hot vampire action,” Jez quipped. “Survive now. Screw later.”
“What’s going on?” Arys held tight to my hand as if afraid to let go.
“Briggs is on his way here to kill me,” I heard myself say. I repeated the gist of my conversation with the FPA agent, which earned immediate protests from both Arys and Willow. While they made claims of making the FPA sorry for such an attempt, I was wondering if Kale was sane enough to keep Kylarai out of harm’s way.
Deciding against that idea, I determined it would be best if Kale never emerged from his den of debauchery in the back. I wasn’t sure he’d survive another confrontation with the FPA.
“Like I was saying back in Vegas,” Jenner piped up. “You need to have the FPA working for you. If they won’t do it willingly, you have to force them into it. Get some dirt on the right guy at the top, and they’ll be all yours.”
“That actually makes sense,” I admitted. “Right now the only dirt I have is that Agent Briggs is doing my sister. I doubt that’s good enough to make him see things my way.”
“Then find something bigger.”
Jenner was right. Blackmail might just be the only way to get through to a guy like Briggs. It was worth a try anyway. If I could just find the right tidbit of dirt.
Arys pulled me aside so we could speak privately. I noticed that both Willow and Jenner watched us closely.
“You told Willow about last night, didn’t you?” I said, my gaze darting toward the door in anticipation.
“I had to. He needs to be aware of how close I came to losing it. That can’t happen again. Not until the right time. I don’t want to blow this, but I can’t help but want it.” Arys leaned his forehead against mine and sighed. “It’s gotten so much harder than I thought it would be. I feel like I should hate myself, but I don’t. I just want you.”
A chill stole over me. Nothing quite like having my lover confess that he can’t wait to kill me. “I know. It terrifies me, but I get it. At least, I think I do.” I breathed in his cologne, finding the scent now triggered the memory of every time he had ever treated me as prey.
He reached to pull the clip from my hair. It tumbled down, a mess of long ash blonde which he plunged his hands into. “I knew this would be hard, but I never dreamed it would be this bad. I don’t want to lose what we have.”
“We won’t. We will always be one. You know that.” I leaned into his touch, finding comfort in the same hands that would kill me.
“It will be different though. All dark. I can handle it. I’m already there. But you belong to the light, my beautiful Hound. I don’t want darkness for you.” The emotion in his touch was an echo inside me. It brought too many things to the surface that we had no time to deal with right then.
I thought about the yin yang balance between us. There was a spark of my light in him. I had seen it there, small but significant. It kept him from being all monster. I would mourn the loss of that.
“I don’t want it for you either,” I said, stuffing an onslaught of worry and fear back down inside me. “You’re not all dark either. Not yet.”
“We can’t be alone together. Not until this is over.”
“I know.”
I held tight to him, enjoying the way it felt to be in his arms. A lurking certainty haunted me, telling me that I’d better savor it while I still could because things were about to change.
The sound of raised voices drew my attention back to the bar. A couple of vampires were sniffing around Kylarai. From the looks of it, they weren’t taking her brush off very well, even with Jez in their face threating to tear their eyes out.
Arys followed my gaze. “Kylarai shouldn’t be in here. Not in her state.”
“You knew right away, huh?” I nodded. “I guess that explains why every vampire in here is looking at her like she’s a hot new item on the menu. We better go put a stop to that.”
“You need to get her out of here. She’s no use to you by being a liability.” Arys took my hand and pulled me along beside him. He was repressing a lot of pent up shit, and his energy burned with it.
Jenner caught my eye as we approached. His unspoken question was met with a nod from me. He moved fast, a blur as he clotheslined the nearest vamp, laying him out flat on the floor. His fist smashed the face of the other, and a brawl broke out.
I pulled Kylarai aside, trying to shield her with my body. “Do you believe me now that you shouldn’t have come here? I love you, and I know how deeply you care for me. But now you have someone else to put first.”
I forced her to see how serious I was. This was not up for discussion. If I had to drag her stubborn ass out of there myself, I would.
Arys jumped into the melee and promptly killed one of the offending vampires. A shower of dust coated the floor. A moment later a barstool came careening over to us, smacking the back of my legs. I swore like a sailor but was thankful it hadn’t hit Ky.
“You don’t have to ask me again,” she said. “I didn’t realize I’d be making this much trouble for you. I just wanted to help. I’ll head home, but you better call me the second this is over.”