by Trina M. Lee
“It’s me you’re really mad at,” Kale said, the words stark. “So let me have it.”
“Not here.”
My second in command, I was sure it had fueled the rumor mill when he vacated town. It wouldn’t take long for the city vamps to spread the word Kale had returned. Aware of the vampires present, I scanned the room. They didn’t seem to be paying us much mind. Kale left a more lasting impression on the human women who eyed us, waiting for their chance to approach him.
“Then let’s go somewhere else.” All he left unspoken haunted his expression.
I swallowed hard. My control had improved substantially since he and I had run amok, terrorizing the city. But who could say how his presence might affect that? Just looking at him made me flush with panty-dropping heat.
My office in the back offered the perfect spot for a private conversation. Too private to be safe. Outside in the parking lot should’ve been a safe option, but our very first encounter had taken place behind this building. Remembering it made my face burn.
“Coffee shop,” I replied. “Down the street.”
Kale extended an arm in a sweeping gesture. “After you.”
* * * *
We walked down the city street to the twenty-four-hour coffee shop on the next block. Just a couple feet separated us, but the emotional chasm between us opened wider with every step. Every moment brought us closer to a brutal finality that I could not let myself accept.
“So how was Las Vegas?” Not the best attempt at small talk but I genuinely wanted to know.
“You know the rules. What happens in Vegas…” Kale trailed off with a chuckle. “There was no shortage of excitement. Especially with a guy like Jenner around.”
I could just imagine. I’d witnessed Jenner’s idea of fun firsthand. “How much trouble did he get you into? Don’t tell me he got you on stage.” Jenner’s vampire spectacle was a hit among those who discovered it. Of course the audience mistakenly believed his antics on stage to be an elaborate act.
“He tried but no. Jenner’s style doesn’t quite match mine. There was some trouble, but along with Juliet, we managed to take care of it.” He didn’t seem interested in elaborating on that.
“Juliet and Jenner? Please tell me he didn’t touch my sister.” I’d been explicit in my insistence that Jenner keep his hands off Juliet. Already I planned how I’d harm him if he’d disobeyed me.
Kale stared off across the street at a couple walking hand in hand. “He tried. She shot him down. That was the end of it. He was perfectly respectful of her refusal.”
“Good,” I quipped, “then I don’t have to kill him.”
Of course Jenner had made a play for my sister, just so like him. Ever the ladies’ man, he probably had several humans already draped all over him back at The Wicked Kiss. It came as a relief that Juliet had rejected him. It meant he hadn’t manipulated her with his thrall. Perhaps he did have a shred of decency.
Keeping the conversation light Kale smirked. “I see my car is still in one piece. Haven’t been drag racing it too much I hope.”
“Only when I know I can win,” I laughed. Kale’s fear of me driving his prized, classic ’73 Camaro had been a running joke between us. What he didn’t know was that I’d barely touched it since he left. Too many memories.
I dug the keys from my shoulder bag and dropped them into his hand. They’d been tormenting me too long. Giving them up felt good, but I didn’t like the symbolism behind the gesture. I couldn’t help but read too much into everything involving Kale right now.
We entered the coffee shop, and while I grabbed a table in the corner of the near-empty place, Kale ordered us coffee we’d never drink. We did have to maintain the illusion of being human. Not that the few people in there paid us much attention.
I chose a table near the window so I could watch people pass by as they drifted from one bar to another. The downtown core had a reputation for its nightlife. One of my favorite things about this city was how it came alive after dark.
“So how have things been here?” Kale placed both coffees on the table and sat down across from me.
Because he wasn’t going on about sacrificial death, I jumped at the chance to tell him about Willow and my immediate need to find a way to stop his crazy pursuit of twisted justice. Kale listened attentively, showing concern for my plight while offering his assurance that, if anyone could handle it, I could.
“And now you’re in Veryl’s role, working with The Circle of the Veil,” he commented. “I think that’s exactly where you belong. You’ll do great.”
“Maybe if I didn’t have to work side by side with a shithead like Falon.” The words tumbled from my mouth before I could stop them.
Mentioning the fallen angel had been a grave error on my part. Kale had seen Briggs’s damned blackmail video. Understandably Kale had been upset, a discomfort that showed on his face now. Not an ideal topic for his first night in town.
Jaw clenched, he asked, “Is that all you do with Falon? Work? Are you… Is that an ongoing thing?”
Me and my big damn mouth.
How did I answer this without delving too deep into the truth but also avoiding a lie? Whatever I said, Falon would likely paint a much uglier picture for Kale when he got the chance. Better for me to clarify now.
“Falon is a victim. And a pain in my ass. That’s all.” What more could I say?
Thankfully Kale didn’t want to hear any more.
“Did you know about The Circle?” I rushed on, changing the subject. “Everyone behind the scenes. It’s a bit intimidating, knowing angels and demons pull all the strings.” I clutched the cup of coffee, breathing in the heavenly aroma. Oh, how I missed it.
Kale didn’t even bother to pretend with his coffee. Not so much as a sniff. “I knew only as much as you did when Veryl was alive. Now I only know what Jez has told me since The Circle took you on. She’s excited to get back to it.”
“It won’t be the same without you.” Wistful, I ran my finger around the rim of the cup. “I have a team to build. You belong on it.”
His groan gutted me. “Alexa, don’t do this. Why make it harder than it has to be?”
“I’m not the one asking you to kill me. Kale, please, don’t ask that of me.”
Could this night just end already? I didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to do this. Every moment those eyes were on me, the wound opened deeper. It hurt him too, I could see that. All I wanted was to take him back to The Wicked Kiss and ride him until morning light. But the sun had long set on our time together. It was over.
Kale leaned forward, voice low. “You know we can’t go on like this. It’s pure selfishness that draws us together. We want something we can never have, so we choose to suffer rather than walk away. It doesn’t have to be like this anymore. Shya doesn’t know it, but he gave us a way out. A gift. Freedom.”
“A gift?” Disgust marred the word’s beauty. I couldn’t swallow the crap he tried to feed me. “Nothing about this feels like a gift. After everything Shya’s done to me and all the ways he’s hurt me, nothing tops what you’re asking me to do.” My voice broke, and I had to sit back and break eye contact to keep from falling apart.
He’d been in town for what, an hour, and this was our reunion. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been so shocking. We’d always been a mess. And he’d longed for a way to cut the tie that bound us since the night it was created.
I had done this.
“Don’t blame yourself.” Elbows propped on the table, Kale’s head dropped into his hands. “I know you. But we both played our part in this.”
“Just stop,” I begged, barely able to speak. “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Because I couldn’t think of any way to escape other than to just get up and leave, I shoved my chair back and rose.
Kale stood too, blocking my exit. “You have to hear me out. You owe me that.”
I couldn’t argue. We’d been horrible to one another. And we�
�d loved the hell out of one another. Grudgingly I sat back down and motioned for him to continue.
He didn’t sit but knelt in front of me. The sweetness of him toyed with my senses and my emotions. It would just be so easy to bask in him. He was mine after all.
“Doing this won’t just be a sacrifice for me but a sacrifice for you as well. But it will be the most selfless thing you could ever do for me. I don’t ask much from you, but I’m asking for this.” Kale took both my hands, bringing them to his lips. He kissed my fingers before resting his cheek against them. “Let me go out my way, with a sense of honor. Deep down you know that I’m right. It’s the best way.”
I felt sick. Physically and emotionally. The urge to scream built until I thought I might just do it. Shaking my head I choked on the outburst I fought so hard to keep down. I needed to get away. I needed to kill something. I needed to unleash this agony.
“We can save each other,” Kale whispered, unable to hide the swell of blood in his eyes.
I almost knocked my chair over in my haste to shove by him. How could he do this to me? I had enough on my plate with Willow and The Circle. Of course, Shya’s curse hung like a weight over my head. Eventually it would crush me, drive me to total insanity if the visit from my victims were any indication of what lay ahead.
But what gave Kale the right to ride to my rescue? You did, said an ugly voice that sounded too much like me. When you claimed him.
And according to far too many others, I’d claimed Falon too. This shit had to stop. What the hell was wrong with me?
Kale let me flee the coffee shop, but he followed hot on my heels. “Alexa, you can’t run from this.”
“I can try.” With a stubborn streak a mile wide, I could fight this for a while longer. I’d been doing it for months already.
Outside on the street he caught my arm and spun me around. “You will never escape this. I ran fourteen hundred miles away, and every night you plagued me. I lost count of how many women I tried to lose myself in, but always I came back to you.”
Ouch. My wound that never healed bled once again at his words. “I missed you like crazy. I try not to think about it, but you haunt me too. That fucking car just sitting there, mocking me like this sleeping dragon, ready to wake and devour me at any moment.” I swiped a hand across my eyes. For all the horrible things I’d done and would yet do, I deserved this moment of pain.
A frustrated shout ripped from Kale as he flung a psi ball at a nearby trash can. With a crash it flipped over, spilling its contents. “We can’t do this anymore. I won’t.”
His tone grabbed my attention. Wary now, I studied him.
Kale could be unpredictable. It didn’t take much to set him off. How many women had bled and suffered in his bed because of me?
That alone should have been reason enough. But it wasn’t. Because he brought out the worst, most twisted, selfish parts of me. “Don’t you dare go back to wanton killings,” I warned. Doomed to eternally desire me, Kale had embarked upon a desperate path of destruction, intent on sealing his fate as too dangerous to live. He couldn’t just return to that toxic strategy. “That’s not how this is going down.”
He turned eyes that blazed with anguish upon me. “I came here to do whatever it takes to be free of you. If you won’t step up and play your part, then you leave me no choice.”
“Don’t.” Crushing pain swelled within me. “Don’t do this.” Kale’s dark side frightened me, but there was no stopping him from going back there now.
“I love you,” he said, spoken as if the admission cut him like broken glass in his mouth. “You know how this ends for us. Let yourself accept it.”
“Or else you force my hand?” I challenged.
The atmosphere vibrated with the agony he tried to restrain. It tainted his energy with an alluring vibe that promised satisfaction. Mourning all we’d lost I lacked the will to resist its call. I pushed him against the brick wall of the building next to the coffee shop and pressed my face to his neck. Closing my eyes, I caught hold of his essence and pulled, wrapping myself in him. Warmth filled me. A three-month hunger reared its ugly head, demanding more.
Kale swore before claiming my lips in a possessive kiss. His hunger for me palpable, I knew I should stop. Memories of blood, sex, and death surfaced, inviting me to travel that road once again. I knew he felt it too.
“I don’t want to force you to do anything,” he murmured against my lips. “I want you to see that we can set each other free. And if that’s not love, then I don’t know what is.”
With a strangled sound I flung myself from his embrace. I clutched the back of a bus bench to steady myself. My entire being quaked with my need for him. His saccharine presence fogged my mind.
“I need some time, Kale. This is all so sudden. I just… I just can’t right now.”
He never said a word or made so much as a noise. But I knew the moment he’d slipped away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Talking myself out of going on a rampage was hard. So fucking hard.
The swell of anger, pain, and heartbreak overloaded my senses. All I wanted was to make someone hurt. Only the thought of Kale doing the very same thing to countless women, an effort to purge feelings that would never die, stopped me.
I did, however, beat the crap out of two guys hassling a homeless man. Leaving them a bloody mess on the sidewalk while their victim gaped after me didn’t feel as good as I’d hoped. Well, it was something.
By the time I returned to The Wicked Kiss, Kale’s Camaro was gone. And a personal hell had broken loose. Jenner had contacted Arys on his arrival. Both Arys and Shaz stood in the parking lot with him. My lovers were none too happy Kale had come back to town.
Now I had to tell them why.
“Where’ve you been?” Shaz took in my bloodied fists, disheveled hair, and ripped attire.
“Fighting.” I shrugged. “Needed to let off a little steam.”
His brow pinched, he glanced at Arys, then back to me. “Did you know Kale was coming?” Tension emanated from him.
Arys was pretty chill. Funny considering he’d driven Kale out of town.
“Of course not,” I answered. “It came as a surprise to me too. But I do know why he came back. I guess I might as well tell you. It’s going to come out eventually.”
Jenner eyed me, his icy-blue gaze traveling over me from head to toe. “Nice to see you again, Alexa.”
“Liar.” I smirked. He’d never been my biggest fan, and we all knew it.
The pointed glare he shot me spoke louder than words. I hadn’t yet told Arys about Jenner’s proposition to me, but his smoldering anticipation conveyed that Jenner hadn’t forgotten about that. Bummer.
Impatient and far more irritated than I liked to see him, Shaz refused to let the conversation be derailed. “Ok, so why is he here?”
“I’d hoped we could do this at a better time. No, that’s a lie. I’d hoped to never have to tell you this at all, but clearly that was delusional of me.” I glanced about the near-empty lot. Other than a few smokers chatting and laughing near the entry we were alone. “It’s about Shya’s curse.” My gaze dropped to my feet. I studied my boots, scuffing my toe against a chunk of hard packed snow.
“What is it, my wolf?” Arys prodded, coming to stand close. The warmth of his hand on my back made for a welcome sensation.
“Shya told me how to break the curse. It requires a sacrifice. The sacrifice of someone I love, and the kicker is, I have to be the one to kill them.” I forced myself to meet the eyes of both my lovers in turn. “Kale came to be that sacrifice.”
They went quiet as they took that in.
Jenner stood there with a knowing expression. If Kale had told him, then surely they’d bonded in the past few months.
Arys wore his poker face. But even that didn’t keep me from sensing his satisfaction. No part of Arys would mourn the loss of Kale. If anything, he was relieved. The curse would be broken. Kale would die. Two birds, one sto
ne.
My dark half’s reaction came as no surprise. No, it was my white wolf who floored me with his response. Maybe I’d expected him to be calmer. Relieved even, like Arys.
I wasn’t ready for his erratic display of temper.
With a snarl Shaz punched the nearest car, which just so happened to be mine. A huge dent caved in the rear quarter panel. A scattered blast of fragmented energy exploded from him, spider webbing outward to scorch anything in its path. Jenner, Arys, and I all took the hit. I threw up a shield against it, but the brunt of it had already socked me like a punch to the gut.
“Who the hell does Kale think he is?” Shaz’s voice echoed. “Riding in here to the rescue like he’s some kind of fucking hero. Like he can save the fucking day after everything he’s done.”
Arys glided in to grab Shaz’s arm. “Chill out, pup; it’s not—”
Shaz jerked out of reach. “He brought out the worst in her. Nothing good can come from him being back here.”
Another sporadic shot had us all shielding hard. Needless to say I deemed none of this as promising. Would Shaz ever be free of what the FPA had done to him? Watching him suffer was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do.
“Nothing?” Jenner questioned. “He’s willing to die to save her. Pretty sure you should cut the guy some slack.”
Yep, Kale and Jenner had definitely formed a friendship of sorts. Couldn’t imagine Arys would be real thrilled about that.
“Who fucking asked you?” Shaz turned on Jenner with a growl. “Why are you here anyway? Don’t you have some wolf fights to whip up?”
So Shaz held a grudge about that time he’d been forced to fight another wolf to the death in Vegas. Even a guy as easy going and forgiving as him didn’t let everything go. Not that I could blame him. That night had been hell.
Unmoved by Shaz’s instigation, Jenner crossed his arms and sat on the hood of my car. His control was admirable.
Shaz’s temper taunted my wolf. “Please, calm down,” I tried to appease him with a gentle tone and hands raised. “There’s no reason to be this upset. I didn’t ask Kale to come back, and I won’t be running the streets with him.”