This is book 2 in The Ayla St. John Chronicles. As this is part of an ongoing series, you must read The Lunar Effect before reading this book. You can download it . If you already have, well then, by all means, don’t let me keep you! Happy reading! ~C.J.

“Three things cannot be long hidden: The sun, the moon, and the truth.” ~Buddha

Chapter 1

The Pour House coffee shop was crowded, but I didn’t mind. I sipped on the black coffee I’d ordered, not at all bothered by its bitterness.

As soon as Sanja got her drink, she sat down. I sensed she was fretting over something, so I set my cup on the table and stared at her.

With a little hesitation, she met my stare, and her face crumpled with stress.

Immediately, I sat forward in my chair and reached across the table to grab her hand. “What’s the matter?” I asked.

She didn’t resist me, but squeezed my hand. I remained quiet while I waited for her to speak.

She looked down at her coffee cup, running her finger along the top. “I don’t think I’m going to pass calculus. I just...” She let out a sigh.

“Hate math?” I finished for her.

She nodded. “Yeah, that.”

“Me too,” I said, leaning back and picking up my cup once more. I took a cautious sip. “Change your major to something less science-y. Something in the arts. “

She nodded and looked up at me. “I really should. Less math.”

“For sure. Why did you drop Paranormal Studies?” I asked, still thinking that was, like, the coolest major ever now that I was neck-deep in the paranormal world, and wondered why she had switched.

“Does anyone get a serious job with that degree?” she asked, eyebrow raised.

“Duh, have you ever seen Ghostbusters? Those guys are bad asses.” I laughed at my own joke.

She shook her head. “You’re crazy. They had to start their own business because the college they worked for cut off their funding.”

“Sounds awesome to me! To think... I’m going to be getting a salary now for offing vamps.” I sat up straight in my seat and looked around the crowded coffee shop. Then, lowering my voice, I said, “I’m not gonna lie. Killing off Elda for that weirdo Dean Hobbes—and getting paid—was pretty sweet. Like, addicting.”

Sanja narrowed her eyes at me. “You felt guilty about that.”

I waved a dismissive hand. “I did, but I’m over it now.”

“You’re losing it,” she said, laughing.

“I know,” I replied, smiling wickedly at her. “And I can’t wait to do it again.”

She smiled. “So this is really happening? Evan and Karina are going to pay you as a hired assassin?”

I nodded, feeling bubbles inside me. “Yep.”

“So,” Sanja replied, also lowering her voice as her eyes darted around the shop briefly, “you don’t have a care in the world that you’re actually killing someone... and getting paid for it?”

“Geez, when you put it that way,” I said, feeling like she’d taken the wind out of my sails. “Look, I’m only going to be killing the bad ones. Evan assured me of that. You know I have vampire friends. I know they’re not all bad.”

She lifted an eyebrow at me again over the rim of her cup. “Friends? Like Kellan?”

Just the mention of his name had my stomach turning over... but not in a bad way. The best fake laugh I’d ever conjured came tumbling from my lips as I waved a dismissive hand. “No, like Beckett.”

“Oh yeah, him,” she deadpanned.

“What? You don’t like him? He’s fabulous, just admit it! We all need vampire allies.”

Sanja glanced at her phone, which sat on the table, when it lit up with a notification. Then she put her attention back to me. “Look, just so you know, witches are raised to mistrust every other supernatural out there. We are a tight-knit community. Wolves are regarded as dangerous, but only when provoked, and of course during the full moon. Vampires, we’re taught, are dangerous all the time. They are cunning and cruel, and sometimes lack emotion and only care about their survival with no regard for anyone else. They can be quite frightening.”

“Sounds like most of the American population of humans, if you ask me,” I quipped.

That elicited a smile from her and she shook her head. “I guess I can’t argue with that.”

“Sorry for getting so off-track. So what are you going to do about calculus?”

She blew out a breath and pierced me with her dark, soulful brown eyes. “I don’t see how I can pass. I either pay someone to take the tests and do the homework for me, or I flunk out of it and change my major.”

With the white paper coffee cup paused at my lips, I smiled. “I vote the latter. Screw Computer Science. Get an arts degree.”

She nodded, and almost seemed relieved. “I want to open up my own magic shop anyway, so I think you may be right.”

“Girl,” I said, pushing the coffee cup away, as it was now empty. I put both elbows on the table, “I’m always right.”

She laughed and shook her head. “And so humble.”

Looking around the large, empty gym, I wrinkled my nose, and shook my head. “It stinks in here.”

Karina laughed as she whipped her long, auburn curls up into a messy bun at the back of her head. She wore shiny black yoga capri pants and a fitted black sports bra that showed off her pale, but very flat belly. With no makeup, she was still gorgeous, and I was utterly jealous.

I briefly looked down at my black leggings and the pink zip-up hoodie I’d thrown on before flying out the door. The drive to the downtown boxing ring had been a short one. Dark, with barely any streetlights to guide me, I had managed to find the warehouse where inside a secret boxing gym was housed.

“Women,” I heard Evan murmur as he lifted the rope surrounding the boxing ring and climbed through.

“Hybrids,” I heard Karina reply. “Your sense of smell is half of mine.”

He looked at his wife and narrowed his eyes. “She’s a hybrid, just like me.”

I cleared my throat. “He’s right, Karina. But it still stinks in here, and I’m fairly sure a plain ol’ human girl would say the same thing.”

Evan chuckled and shook his head. “I suppose. Now, let’s get down to business.”

I bounced from foot to foot and smiled. “Yes, let’s do this.”

“First order of business... we teach you how to be on-guard twenty-four-seven. You don’t ever want to let your guard down. Like, ever,” Karina said, a gleaming silver knife in her left hand. She had been tossing it between both hands while speaking. “We’re eventually going to get you to the point where you’re going to learn how to kill someone in your sleep.”

My eyes widened. “What? Like in my dreams? Is that a thing?”

Evan laughed. “No, blondie. Like, you get attacked while you’re sleeping. With the weapon you have stashed under your pillow, you’ll be able to kill or wound your attacker even when not fully awake.”

“How did you know I slept with a weapon under my pillow?”

“Well, we were going to have you start, but I see you’re already one step ahead. Excellent,” Karina commented.

Cocking my head to the side, I looked at them both and said, “You’re going to be interrupting my sleep a lot, aren’t you?”

“Yes, yes we are,” Karina replied, an amused twinkle in her eye.

“Can’t wait,” I replied without enthusiasm.

Evan cleared his throat. “That will come later. For now, we teach you more basics.”

I looked around the dark, dingy gym. “How did you get the keys to this place, anyway? This looks like some underground fight club.”

“My brothers own the building,” he replied, stoic and serious.

Of course they do, I thought to myself.

“Okay, let’s get started. Since you’ve already mastered the art of flying and jumping, we’re going to move past that and to hand-to-hand combat.” Karina continued to toss the dagger between her left and right hands as she spoke. “This is going to be very important to your survival. You being a wolf-vamp hybrid has given you special abilities that we’re going to help you tap into.”

“Like what?” I asked curiously.

“Like, keen eyesight and fast reflexes. Now, you can’t move as quickly as a vampire—“

Without finishing her sentence, she was suddenly gone and now behind me, her arm around my throat in a choke-hold.

“—but you do have strength,” she finished.

Pissed off she had played me, or so it felt like she had, I dipped my chin into the crook of her elbow around my neck, and I bent my knees. With all my strength, I gripped her arm and pulled forward, using gravity to flip her over my head. I grinned in triumph as she landed on her back. She looked up at me from the mat.

“Hell yeah!” I said, and began doing the running man dance.

With vampire speed, Karina was on her feet, and then I was not. Kicking my legs out from under me, I was the one now on my back. “Good one,” I wheezed out, desperate for air and looking up at her.

“I gave you the first one. Now, all bets are off,” she said, grinning while reaching down and helping me to my feet.

She then got into a defensive stance.

I noticed the silver stake was still in her hand. “Give me that.”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Give it to me now,” I said.

She licked her lips and smiled at me. “Come and get it, hybrid.”

Feeling my cheeks heating, the urge to lunge at her was overwhelming, but I somehow sensed that was what she was expecting. So instead, I plastered on a smile that was probably creepy. “Come and stab me, vampire.”

When she lunged at me with her incredible speed, I ducked forward and did a little summersault-flip before landing on my feet behind her. When she turned around, her eyes briefly went wide, and then a smile lit up her face. “Impressive. Where did you learn that?”

“At the Tumble Factory when I was eight. Gymnastics classes, baby.” Thanks, Mom!

“Well, you certainly have excellent muscle memory,” she replied, smiling.

Still in a defensive stance, I said, a little too cocky, “Is that all you got?”

Before I could blink, Evan was in front of me, smiling. He reached around and grabbed my hair, and then wrenched my head back, exposing my throat. He put his mouth near my neck, and I could feel his hot breath there.

Not okay with being bested, I reared my leg back and kicked him hard in the kneecap, and when he let go of my hair and cried out in pain, I gave him a hard shove. He fell backwards, and once he was on his back, I jumped on his midsection, straddling it. Mimicking a knife in my hand, I slammed my fist down on his chest and said, “You’re dead.”

Karina laughed. “She got you, babe.”

Evan smiled up at me. “Yes, she did.”

I got up off of him, stood, and put my hand out to help him up.

He accepted and stood with a smile on his handsome face. “Good job.”

They showed me some more moves, and soon, an hour had passed and I was ecstatic with the new forms and techniques I’d learned.

“Go hit the cardio machines for thirty minutes,” Evan instructed.

I grinned. “You got it.”

Chapter 2

The elated feeling of how well my training had gone quickly deflated as I reached my apartment. Taking the stairs up, my mind began to tire. I’d been training with Evan and Karina for less than a week in the downtown gym—and of course only at night, which was fine with me—and I was proud of the strides I’d taken. Evan had told me I was a natural. He told me to continue to let my need for vengeance drive me. He was right, of course, but I never did tell him that I didn’t need vengeance to be reminded of Austyn and the reason I was so determined to find Linden. I often found myself wondering what I would do after I drove a stake through his heart (I might do it through his head, I haven’t decided yet). Would I quit? Be happy, and go out and get a real job and be a normal girl? I decided that was not something that needed to be resolved right now.

Just thinking about him, and reliving witnessing my own brother’s murder day in and day out always wore me thin. The vampire who had bitten me—had turned me into a hybrid where once before I was just a plain ol’ werewolf—he was going to pay, too. I had committed his scent to memory, and if I ever smelled anything or anyone even close to it, I would kill without thought or question.

I used my key to open the sliding metal door to my sixth-floor apartment and dumped my gym bag and purse on the floor. I went to the window and looked at the orange and white glittering lights of Downtown Denver. This view never got old.

After starting up the shower in the only bathroom in the place, I peeled off my gym clothes and stepped under the hot water, groaning as the water pounded my sore muscles. I scrubbed myself from head to toe, then washed my hair. As I was rinsing out the conditioner, I thought I heard a noise. Quickly rinsing my face in the stream, I then wiped my face off with my hand and opened my eyes. I slowly turned the water off. Standing stock-still, I listened for the sound once more. All I could hear was the white noise of my heater as it blasted through the vents. Perhaps it had made a different noise; this place was almost a hundred years old, after all. I peeked through the shower curtain and didn’t see anything inside or beyond the small bathroom.

I squeezed out my long, thick locks and then secured them into a towel. After wrapping my body with another, I stepped out of the shower and used the flat of my hand to clear off the mirror.

I heard the noise again. It was faint, but it had definitely sounded like a floorboard creaking.

I silently cursed myself for not keeping weapons in the bathroom. I was going to have to improvise. Frantically looking around the small room, my eyes landed on the towel rack secured to the wall. With a quick yank, I pulled the rod that was set between two grooved mounts to the wall. It would have to do. So with my makeshift weapon out in front of me, gripped tightly in my fist, and my heartbeat pounding out a rhythm in my ears, I tiptoed out of the bathroom with the stealth of a ninja. The apartment was a studio, so there were no rooms to check. Once I reached the main living area, I glanced around, and not seeing anyone, I headed toward the front door.

As I reached the small alcove where the door was, a deep male voice said, “Gotcha,” a split second before I felt arms go around my waist. Instinctually, I bent at the waist and did a summersault while my attacker still held me. He lost his grip, and once I was back on my feet, both towels gone, I stood with my new weapon. I twirled it in my hand before swinging at the intruder’s head with a banshee cry.

Hitting his forearm instead, he howled in pain and then stood up, hugging his arm to his chest. “Goddammit, Ayla!”

Once the rage cleared from my brain, I blew out a breath and blinked. “Oh, my God. Ryder?”

“Seriously, you have to stop being so paranoid!” he said, now fully standing and looking at me, cradling his arm. A lustful grin lit up his face when he saw my nakedness. “How you doin’?” he mimicked a heavy New York accent.

“Bastard,” I growled. I flicked my gaze to the kitchen clock. “It’s three in the morning! What the fuck are you doing sleazing around my apartment?”

He rubbed his arm again, and knowing that the rod I’d held was little more than a hollowed out piece of metal, and along with his rapid healing ability, I added, “And stop being such a big baby.”

“What did you hit me with, anyway?” he asked, going to the kitchen and putting a bag of frozen peas from the freezer on his arm.

“Towel bar,” I said, holding it up and then setting it down. “Now answer my question.”

He sat at my small dining room table. “I missed you. I came by around midnight, after my shift, but you weren’t here.”

I went to my wardrobe and pulled out a tank top and some shorts, and threw them on. Then I found my brush on the nightstand and began combing out my sopping wet hair.

“I was training. It’s what I do on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. I thought I told you this.”

He set the peas down and cranked his elbow back and forth. “I must have forgotten.” Watching me brush out my hair, he came over and gently pried the brush from my hands, and began brushing for me. Looking at me in the mirror, he said, “I haven’t seen you for days. Yes, I wanted to scare you for fun, but I guess I’ve underestimated your paranoia.”

I stared at him in the mirror, mouth open. “Paranoia? Are you for real right now?”

He had the grace to look embarrassed. “Okay, I underestimated your training. The forward flip was pretty impressive, especially naked.”

Biting back a smile, I said, “I don’t plan to ever have to fight naked, but your sneak attack, I have to admit, was good practice for me.”

Once all the tangles were out of my hair, he picked up a towel from the floor and dabbed the rest of the water from my hair. “Well, I can think of a way you can thank me.” He waggled his eyebrows.

This had me laughing. “Dork. Get into bed and strip.”

He saluted me, and then obeyed. I shed my tank and shorts, and flipped off the lamp. Then I jumped on the bed on top of him, where I proceeded to wear him out for the next hour or so.

I slung my arm over my eyes, cursing myself for forgetting to close the heavy curtains before my tryst with Ryder earlier. My cell phone was ringing from somewhere inside the apartment, but I was loath to get up and answer it.

Glancing at my bedside alarm clock-slash-white noise device, I could see it was one p.m. I’d slept almost nine hours. Guess I should get up and stop being a bum. Plus, I was starving. I looked over to see Ryder had left. I wasn’t surprised, as his shift at the prison started at two. I slung back the covers and slogged out of bed.

The missed call was from Evan. He hadn’t left a message or a text, so I went into the kitchen and poured myself a bowl of cereal while I scrolled through my notifications on my phone. I figured he’d call back if he had something important to say.

Today was Friday, and I didn’t have training tonight, but I still had plans to hang out with a vampire or two.

I checked my email and had one from Ryder from his work email. No cell phones were allowed where he worked, so we often emailed back and forth when he was there.

Thanks for not totally kicking my ass last night. My arm is all good, and you know what else is also really good?

I groaned. Why did grown men act like teenage boys when it came to sex?

“You’re just a horny high school boy deep down.” I said aloud as I typed. I hit send on the email.

His reply was immediate: Well, I sort of was that when I met you ;)

I grinned and said as I typed, “If you’re emailing me, who’s watching the prisoners, hmmmm?”

He didn’t reply right away, and I smiled. I worried about him working there, but knew it was what he wanted. After graduating with a degree in Criminal Justice, he had applied and been accepted to the state penitentiary, where he got plenty of exercise tackling and restraining inmates. He was physically stronger than any human, criminal or not, so I didn’t worry too much, even though I knew sometimes the inmates had homemade weapons. Ryder wasn’t going to work there forever, though. To him, it was just a stepping stone. His ultimate goal was federal law enforcement, like ATF or FBI. The big time. Did they hire werewolves?

As I continued to shovel the last bite of cereal into my mouth, I began to dwell on that. Did the government even know about us? I had seen every single episode of the X-Files when I was a kid. That stuff had always fascinated me, and now I knew why. The paranormal—the supernatural—it had literally been in my blood the whole time. Little did I know I was actually part of that world.

How could I find out? I thought about doing some online searches, but that might just be futile. If the government did know about us, it wasn’t like they would advertise it on a website.

Thinking about Evan and his wife—who was much older than she looked or claimed to be—I wondered if they would know. It wasn’t particularly important, more curiosity on my part, but just sort of fascinating. I made myself a mental note to ask next time I had training.

I washed out my bowl and spoon, and set them on the towel to dry. That reminded me that I needed to call my landlord about installing a freaking dishwasher in this place. Two grand a month for a studio apartment with a view, and I couldn’t even get a dishwasher.

Cheap bastard.

After another quick shower, I plopped myself in front of the latest Viking drama on Netflix and went into full sloth mode until the sun went down and it was time for me to actually work.

Chapter 3

I chuckled at the song playing. “The club isn’t the best place to find a lover, so the bar is where I go...”

Oh contraire, mon frère. The club is an awesome place to find a lover. Case in point: Kellan Conley. The handsome vampire just entered Moon Chasers, where Beckett, Evan, Karina, and I sat. He was flanked by his security, and I watched in rapt fascination as he completely ignored me and scanned the club with his sexy eyes.

Kellan wasn’t my lover, not really, but we’d had a couple of intense private moments. One being the very tense and very intimate one in the upstairs study of the mansion owned by the Vlasé in a very posh area of a certain Denver suburb a few months ago.

Resisting a shudder at the thought of how his deft and expert hands had explored me with precision, I looked back to my friends who were having a conversation about Moon Chasers. Evan claimed he’d been here before with his vampire brothers. Karina had never been. So imagine my surprise when Evan grunted.

I looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

Following his gaze, I could see him glaring at Kellan. “That guy. He’s one of Malcolm Rich’s associates.”

“Remind me again who Malcolm is,” I said, acting disinterested, but really, I was more than interested.

As if dragging his gaze away from Kellan was a chore, he pierced me with an authoritative and serious stare. “He goes by Linden Rich now, but he’s the one who killed Karina’s and her brothers’ maker, Amos. Malcom’s evil, and my brothers have been looking for him for decades.”

“So, we are looking for the same guy. And you can’t locate him because...?” I dragged out the last word.

“He’s very elusive,” Karina finished for him.

Nodding, I said, “Another old-ass, elusive vampire. Awesome. I’ll add him to the list.”

Beckett had gone to the bar to get drinks and was returning that moment. “What list?”

I picked up the martini he had set down before me and said, “The ‘Vampires Who Are Dead Meat’ list I have right here.” I tapped the side of my head.

He chuckled. “I hope I’m not on that list.”

I narrowed my eyes at Beckett. “You stay on my good side and you won’t be.”

“Damn, girl, you can be kinda scary when you’re feeling all vengeful,” he replied, amusement dancing in his eyes.

“That’s a good thing,” Evan said, leaning back in his chair and staring at me. “We need all that righteous anger she has. “

“I was only kidding with Beck, and he knows it. But what’s this ‘we’ business?” I looked right back at Evan.

“Your, uh, what did you call it? Oh, your Vampires Who Are Dead Meat list is the same as ours. At least the top two vamps.”

I set my drink down and rested my hand on top of the glass. Then I pointed at him. “So your top two are this Linden asshole, and the vampire who bit me and turned me into hybrid freak?” Then I cleared my throat. “No offense.”

Like me, Evan was also half wolf, half vampire. The difference between us, though, was that Evan had been born human. Turned into a wolf by a freak attack by a feral wolf, his now-wife had found him and been forced to turn him into a vampire to save his life. He was, therefore, the same as me. No sun allergy, but really bizarre things would happen during a full moon that made us weirdos and outcasts with the wolf community. I had found vampires really didn’t care. Well, I only knew a couple so far, but I would never let them see what happens to me on a full moon, because it’s just... gross.

Evan chuckled. “No, not exactly.” He lowered his voice. “This probably isn’t the best place to be talking about this. Vampires have the best hearing.”

Beckett and Karina laughed in unison.

“Yeah, but it’s pretty noisy in here,” Karina said, her bright blue eyes dancing with amusement as she slid some wavy red hair behind her ear. “I mean, I could probably hone in on the conversation by that group over there, but it would take extreme concentration. And I don’t care enough to.” She darted her gaze toward a table of young people dressed in gothic clothing.

I believed her, but Evan was right. Say the wrong thing and I could have a high price on my head. As the group continued to chat, I scanned the room to see Kellan in the corner with his two security guards on either side of him. Or whatever they were. They were standing casually at a high table, trying to blend in, and he was staring at me, a blank expression on his face. The two guards talked between themselves, but Kellan seemed to be oblivious to the conversation. The weight of his stare made me squirm in my seat, and I hated that he could do that... yet, I couldn’t break his gaze; this staring contest we always seemed to get into. I had never been able to figure out what my fascination with him had been. I looked at his sharp black slacks and fitted charcoal-gray button-down shirt that hugged his chest and arms, and tried not to sigh. A shiny silver watch gleamed under the club’s lights on his left wrist, and I wondered how expensive it was.

“Wanna get out of here?” I heard him say, but his lips hadn’t moved. Glancing around the group at my table, I could see they were deep in conversation. Turning around, I didn’t see anyone there, whispering in my ear. Yet, it was Kellan’s sexy British accented voice I’d heard in my head. My eyes widened, and I watched as his beautiful mouth lifted into a grin.

“Did you just talk to me... inside my head?” I said to myself, while looking at him, feeling kind of foolish for it.

He was full-out smiling now. “Well, I didn’t know if it would work, but I guess it does.”

I bit back a smile. “So I’ve lost my wolf telepathy and gained vampire telepathy? Awesome.”

He nodded. “It would seem so, love.”

I glanced at Beckett. “Hey, pretty boy. Can you hear me?”

Beckett looked at me, as if feeling me staring at him, and smiled. Then he went back to the conversation at the table without answering me.

Looking back at Kellan, I furrowed my brow.

Kellan said, “It’s not a vampire thing. You and I have a bond. It is why we can communicate this way.”

“So, you heard me just now talking to Beckett?”

I continued to stare at Kellan across the bar when I heard his silky voice in my head once again. “Yes, I heard it.”

“But I wasn’t talking to you just then. Does that mean you can hear everything in my head?” I asked, feeling completely mortified.

“No, love. Only when you speak purposely. And only when we are close, like we are now.”

I released the breath I’d been holding. “Okay.”

“You never answered my question, Ayla.”

“What’s that?”

“I asked you if you wanted to get out of here,” he reminded, a rare playfulness coloring his gorgeous face.

“Isn’t that right, Ayla?” Beckett’s voice.

I turned to see Beckett, Evan, and Karina all staring at me, waiting for me to answer.

“Uh, what was the question?”

Beckett turned around and glanced in the direction Kellan had been, but he and his guards were gone. Then he turned his attention back to me. “You seem distracted.”

Not knowing how to respond to that, I said, “Sorta. Now, what did you ask? Sorry. Too much vodka has my brain cloudy.” No, it didn’t. I was as sober as I could be. I could barely get a buzz from alcohol, and it probably had something to do with the fact that I was a freak hybrid with the crazy fast metabolisms of both vampires and werewolves.

Beckett looked like he was about to scold me, as he and everyone at the table knew Kellan had been in the bar since Evan had commented on him earlier, but he refrained. Instead he said, “We were just discussing flying. I told them of the first time I had seen you fly, and how it shocked the both of us.”

“Oh, yes,” I said, smiling. “It was the day I met this guy here.” I elbowed Beckett. “He tried to kiss me and I chose to jump off the roof of this place rather than get kissed.”

Chuckle.

I ignored Kellan’s laugh in my head and pursed my lips. I resisted the urge to look at him.

Evan and Karina laughed. “Really?” Karina asked, looking at me.

Beckett huffed. “No, it really wasn’t like that; she kind of fell off. I was panicked as fuck. I thought I’d killed a poor human girl. Who, by the way, had told me her name was Amy.”

I chuckled. “People give fake names in bars all the time.”

Evan raised an eyebrow. “They do?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Beckett supplied. “But I have been guilty of it myself.” He picked up his drink and tossed back the rest. “This stupid town needs a gay vampire bar.”

I laughed. “Maybe we should open one.”

“There is one, but it’s not well known. I would be happy to show it to you,” Kellan said inside my head.

Sitting up straight now, I looked around to see him, now completely alone, with his elbow on the edge of the main bar of the club.

“What’s it called?” I asked.

He made a scolding noise. “No, no, little wolf. I’ll show it to you myself, then you can take your friend there. I will even let you take all the credit for finding it yourself.” He chuckled. In. My. Head.

This was way too weird.

“What’s weird, love?”

Dammit!

“Ignore my inner musings, mysterious vampire. I’m not good at the whole telepathy thing. Too much of an open book and all that.”

“Open book is good. It leads to things like... open mind, open mouth, open arms, and then... open legs.”

I gasped so loud, the conversation at my table stopped. I slapped a hand over my mouth.

“What is the problem?” Evan asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

“Uh,” I said, moving my gaze from Kellan’s amused face to my friends. “I think I left some clothes in my washer earlier today.”

Beckett narrowed his eyes at me over the rim of his cocktail. “You do your wash at the community laundry room in your building.”

I moved my hair so all of it was over my right shoulder, where I played with it absently. “I know, that’s why it hit me. I’m sure someone moved it out of the washer and it’s now reeking like mildew down there.”

The three of the watched me curiously as I batted my eyes, hoping they bought my story.

I heard Kellan laugh again. “One more time... want to get out of here?”

“Yes,” I said.

“I’ll be outside,” he replied.

I set my drink down and threw a ten dollar bill onto the table. “Well, I better go check on my laundry.” I looked at Evan and Karina. “I’ll see you at midnight at the usual place.”

They all seemed confused, but did not protest. “Bye.”

I walked toward the exit, and when I was almost to the door, I heard Karina say, “That was weird.”

Laughing, I pushed the bar’s door open and exhaled as cool night air hit me in the face.

Chapter 4

The heat flushing my skin was in direct contrast to the cold, snowflake-filled air swirling around us. With one hand around my waist, Kellan’s other hand was in my hair, controlling my head as his mouth and tongue did deliciously unspeakable things to me. Every part of my body was scorching with desire as I wrapped one leg around the back of his thighs. He needed no more prompting, because he reached around and used both hands under my ass to hoist my whole body up against the brick wall, my throbbing, hot core pushed up against him. When he thrust his hips against me, I groaned at the feel of him and how ready he was for me.

“Ayla, I’m gonna take you right here in this filthy alleyway if you don’t let me take you somewhere else.”

I didn’t respond. I just claimed his mouth once again, reveling in how delectable his kiss was. Soft and controlled, not too wet, not too dry, but sensual and inviting. It was making me crazy. I wanted him badly. Should I give in to the infuriatingly sexy but elusive vampire? Here we were, making out against the building like a couple of teenagers, when really, we were so much more than that.

Kellan finally pulled his mouth from mine and stared at me, rubbing his hand over the top of my head. When his hand continued to move to the back of my head, and then down my back, I sighed loudly.

“You want me as much as I want you, love. Let me inside you, then, when we’ve both been satiated and gotten this out of our system, we can discuss what lies ahead for us.”

Slick words from a talented mouth... I heard my inner voice say. God, I hope he didn’t hear that.

“But... I... I have a boyfriend.” Those were the only words I could formulate. Blame it on the hormones.

Kellan had the audacity to laugh... the deep, rumbling chuckle reverberating from somewhere deep in his very fine, muscular and defined chest. “So, I’m to compete with silly childhood crushes now?” He leaned down and licked a path from my collarbone to the sharp edge of my jaw. “You and I both know it’s time to put childish things aside and explore what maturity has to offer. It’s time you let me taste you. Every part of you.”

Oh, my crap.

Swallowing hard, I could only nod. Pushing thoughts of Ryder from my head, I stared into Kellan’s deep and playful eyes. The innocence of their baby-blue color did nothing to hide the mischievous darkness there. Talented tongue and slick words be damned... there was a reason they accomplished their intent, because I was nothing but putty in Kellan’s hands.

Softening, I grinned up at the persuasive vampire and said, “Lead the way.”

Soft and hard. I don’t think I’ve ever described someone that way. Such a delicious, aching contrast. Kellan both infuriated and satisfied me all in the same hour. When he was at Moon Chasers, keeping his distance, it upset me, but not to the point of anger. Just annoyance that he wasn’t approaching me. I was sure it had something to do with the company I kept. Evan had said something about Kellan being an associate of the man who’d killed his wife’s maker. That concerned me, because that person was Linden, who had gone by the name Malcolm back then.

If Kellan was in fact an associate of Linden, then I had to be very careful. I could play this any way I wanted, just as long as I remained seemingly oblivious. But hadn’t Kellan found out I had been asking about Linden when I first started hanging out at Moon Chasers? Maybe he really had no genuine romantic interest in me, and was, instead, trying to get close to me to protect Linden.

The problem was, I had no idea what kind of “associate” Kellan was to Linden—if he was one at all.

I stared out the window of his Porsche. As the city whizzed by at speeds I was sure exceeded the law, I wondered what I had been thinking getting into this car. I was slowly coming down from my lusty high, and now realized how dangerous that was. I didn’t even know this guy, so that had been a little careless, hadn’t it? Beckett would kill me if he found out what I was doing. But I was a big girl, and could take care of myself. It wasn’t like he could bite me and it would do any more damage than the first vampire who had bitten me had done.

I would find that piece of shit if it was the last thing I did.

“What’s on your mind?” Kellan asked, glancing sideways at me as he continued to zoom through the streets of Denver as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

“What, can’t go digging around in my head and find out yourself?” I replied with a smirk.

He laughed. “No, little wolf, I cannot. I told you, unless you address me directly, I can’t just go reading your mind.”

“Okay,” I said, not sure I believed him. So I stayed quiet and concentrated, hoping to hear some inner thoughts of his. After a couple minutes of silence, I gave up and turned and looked out the window once again.

“Find anything interesting in here?” he asked inside my head.

I turned to see him smiling at me.

I flipped him off. “Ass.”

“Very childish,” he replied, biting back a smile. He followed it up with a tsk-tsk noise.

I shouldn’t have been surprised when we pulled up to the Vlasé’s mansion. The very one where I had committed murder not more than a month ago.

“You live here?” I asked, incredulous.

“Sometimes,” he replied vaguely.

I rolled my eyes and went to get out when he put his hand on my leg. “No. I will get the door. You wait.”

“If you insist,” I said without enthusiasm, but secretly I thought it was old-school-cool.

Just then, his phone rang, and he pulled it from where it sat in its dashboard holder. “Yes?”

I could hear the caller with my awesome supersonic hearing. A deep male voice said, “Are you alone?”

He glanced at me and replied, “No.”

“Get your ass over here, now. Alone,” the caller demanded and then hung up.

“Dammit,” Kellan said after ending the call.

“Problems?” I asked, trying not to smile.

“Change of plans,” he replied, closing his door and starting up the Porsche once again.

“Where we going?” I asked, feigning innocence.

“You’re going back to the bar. I, however, have to be somewhere.”

“Oh, bummer,” I said flippantly. I was feeling regretful for agreeing to get into this guy’s—this old vampire’s car, so I knew it was better this way.

“You don’t have to act so relieved,” he replied. “I was very much looking forward to exploring more of your body tonight.”

“God, you’re so filthy. Do you need to talk like that?” I asked, my mouth’s filter totally nonexistent.

He chuckled. “You’re so childish. You need to grow up. I can help with that.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, my eyebrow quirked at him as he sped out of his neighborhood and back to the main streets.

“Most definitely, but I am enough of a gentleman to where that will be the extent of the sexy talk. The rest I plan on showing you.”

I swallowed hard. That actually sounded like fun. “I can’t wait,” I said only in my head.

He laughed. The rest of the car ride was done in silence before he dropped me off at Moon Chasers. He got out and opened the door for me, and said, “I’ll call on you later, love.”

Without looking around, he pressed me up against the car and kissed me until my toes curled in my boots. Leaving me breathless, he closed my door. As he was getting into the driver’s side, I said, “Or, just send me a message.” I tapped my temple.

“Doesn’t work like that, silly wolf.” He chuckled and took off at speed down the street.

Taking a deep breath, I shook out my hair and wiped my mouth to make sure I had no drool there, and with my shoulders back, walked into Moon Chasers. The group was still seated at the table, and they all turned around and looked at me when I came back in.

I approached the table and plopped myself back into the chair. “No laundry emergency. I’m good.”

Beckett narrowed his eyes at me. “Okaayyyy.”

“So what were you talking about?” I asked, hoping to get the subject off me.

“You,” Evan said with a grin.

Dammit!

My eyes widened. “Me? Why?”

“Just your training,” Karina said with a smile. Her Southern accent was charming and I wanted to ask her more about her upbringing. I would later.

The cocktail waitress came over and said, “The usual, Ayla?”

“Yeah, Jeannie, thanks.” I turned to my friends. “What about my training?”

“Just how well it’s going,” Evan replied, amusement in his eyes as he gained satisfaction over my squirming.

I beamed anyway. “Yeah? I’m happy to hear it.”

Jeannie brought me my Red Bull and vodka and I slurped it down loudly and greedily.

“So ladylike,” Beckett said, making a face.

I grinned at him over the rim of the glass. “So thirsty.”

“You need finishing school,” Karina commented, amused.

“What’s that?” I asked, chewing on the ice from my drink.

“Like dog obedience school, but for people,” Beckett said, biting back a smile.

I stopped chewing and narrowed my eyes at him. “Was that a wolf joke? ’Cause I have absolutely no qualms about whooping your vampire ass, pretty boy.”

Just then my phone rang. I plucked it from the back pocket of my black skinny jeans. My brother.

I hit the button and said, “Hi, Aden.”

“I need you to get down to the corner of Federal and Fifty-Fourth. Now.”

“Okayyy,” I said, standing and moving the phone to my other ear. “What’s wrong, are you all right?”

“Yes, just get here as fast as you can.”

“Is it okay if I bring—”But Aden hung up before I could finish my sentence.

“Let’s go,” Evan said, throwing some cash on the table, as he and the rest had supernaturally heard the conversation.

We all ran out of the front door and hopped in Evan’s Mercedes G-Wagon, and he raced down the road as fast as Kellan had.

Chapter 5

Two blocks from Federal and 54^th, Evan cut the lights on the SUV and then parked on the street. We quietly closed the doors and ran to the location my brother had said to meet him. We didn’t see him on the corner, or anywhere else. I pulled my phone from my pocket and put it on silent. Then I went to text him.

Evan put a hand on my arm. “No, don’t,” he whispered. “We’ll find him.”

I nodded and put the phone away. Karina handed me a silver stake she’d pulled from her bag while we’d been in the car. I thanked her with a nod, and then closed my eyes, concentrating on Aden’s scent. I opened my eyes and looked up at the almost full moon, knowing my sense of smell would be stronger right now, as would Aden’s.

The streets were dark, as thick clouds kept moving in and out from in front of the moon, and there was barely a streetlight on. I could faintly smell Aden, and I nodded in the general direction. We moved as a silent group until we reached a building with a recess built into the front of it. It was there Aden was waiting silently, leaning up against a door.

“What is it?” I whispered when we found him.

“Shh,” he mouthed, his finger to his lips. He eyed my friends, then me. “Really?” he mouthed again.

“We didn’t know if it was a trap of some kind. Your call was quite urgent,” Evan said too low for any human to hear.

Aden nodded. “Aden St. John.” He put his hand out.

“Evan Grant, and this is my wife Karina.”

He nodded and looked past Evan and acknowledged my friend. “Beckett.”

Beckett nodded in return. “Aden.”

“So what’s so urgent?” I asked, annoyed by the introductions and pleasantries.

Aden turned and looked at a tall building across the street, which sat on the corner. It was about six stories high, and had a lot of windows, none of which had lights burning inside them. “The vamp who bit you and turned you into this half-thing? I tracked his scent. I watched him go into that building. I’ve got Sam and Benson posted up around the back and side in case he decides to leave.”

I furrowed my brow. “How did you find him?”

Aden’s handsome face lit up into one his rare smiles I loved so much. “Total freak accident. We were having drinks at the Thirsty Peacock when I needed to take a piss, so I went out back, because the damn men’s room had a line. The fucker walked right by me, or rather, on the other side of the fence that was behind the bar. I knew that scent as soon as it hit me. He got into his car and left. I zipped up and ran inside and told Sam and Benson to get their asses outside. We hopped into Benson’s car and tracked him here.” He jutted his chin at the building.

I made face. “Gross. But lucky you had to pee right then, I guess.”

Beckett laughed and I shot him a look. He stopped immediately and pursed his lips.

“Right? We’re just waiting for him to come out.”

I looked at my watch. “It’s barely midnight. So... that’s the plan, we sit here and wait?”

“Yep,” he replied.

“Then what?” Evan asked. “What’s your plan for when he comes out?”

Aden looked annoyed at Evan’s question. “Then we stake his undead ass. What else?”

“We aren’t undead,” Karina said, looking hurt.

Aden raised his eyebrows and said, “You a vamp? Sorry, I thought the vampire stink was him.” He looked at Beckett and then back to Evan and Karina. “I knew he was, but I thought y’all were humans.”

Beckett gave my brother the bird.

“Evan’s a half-breed like me,” I told Aden.

“Yeah? What pack you from?” he asked.

Evan shook his head. “None, really. Was born human, got bit and scratched by a wolf. Was turned into a vampire to save my life.”

Aden sucked in a breath. “Ooh, tough break, man.”

“It was ten years ago, I’m okay with it.”

Aden cocked his head. “You don’t look a day over twenty, man. Guess you’re frozen too?”

He nodded. “It would seem.”

“Do you get all freaky wolfman on the full moon?” he asked, taking an interest in Evan all of a sudden.

“Yep,” he replied, his arms behind his back.

Aden looked at me. “See, you’re not alone!”

“Fuck off, Aden,” I said, and then looked at the building. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of just waiting around. I say we go in there and get this piece of trash.”

“No,” Evan said. “There could be an entire clan in there. We’d be walking into a trap, outnumbered.”

“Party pooper,” I said to him.

He laughed a little. “Mature, Ayla.”

“She’ll always be like that... at least for a while,” Karina said, speaking to her husband as though I wasn’t there.

I put my hands on my hips, my right hand still gripping the stake. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The vampire venom has frozen you, just like it has myself, Evan, and Beckett. It’s not only your body that will not mature. It’s your mind, too. You will have to work hard on that. It can be trained.”

I looked at her. “How old were you when you were turned?”

She smiled sadly. “I was twenty. But that was about seventy ago, so I’ve had a while to adapt.”

“Holy shit,” Aden and I said in unison.

Just then, a light popped on on the third floor of the building, and we all instinctively shrunk back into the shadow of the building we stood in front of.

With my excellent eyesight, I could see two men walking around up there. They were dressed in casual clothing, and they seemed to be arguing. With their voices undoubtedly raised, and their arms flailing around, I was waiting for one of them to start swinging.

Just then, a beautiful brunette woman walked in wearing a tight red dress that barely covered anything. The two men stopped arguing and looked at her as she appeared to be upset, too. She pointed her finger at the taller of the two men, and seemed to be yelling. Then, with vampire speed, he crossed the room to her and lifted his arm, backhanding her so hard, she went flying across the room and landed presumably on the floor, out of our sight.

This upset the other man, and the argument continued.

“Are you kidding me with this shit?” I said, pointing. “I’m gonna go kick his ass for that, and then I’m gonna cut his heart out!”

“The one who hit her isn’t the vamp who bit you. It’s the guy he’s arguing with,” Aden said, laying a straining hand on my arm.

“I don’t care! I’ll kill him first, then I’ll kill the other one.”

The vampire who bit me then raced with speed to the taller one, and in a blur, placed his hands on both sides of the other guy’s head and twisted his neck almost all the way around. He dropped like a stone, out of sight of the window.

“Oh, my God,” I whisper-yelled. “He killed that guy!”

Beckett shook his head. “No, he just broke his neck to incapacitate him. He’ll heal and wake up. Sore, and pissed off, but he’s not dead. Not if he’s a vampire.”

Before I could reply to Beckett, a small, red sports car went tearing out from the underground parking garage, and my assailant was in the driver’s seat. Sam had been posted up next to the garage. He looked over at us with his arms up, knowing he couldn’t catch a car.

Aden waved him over.

“I’m parked two blocks away, let’s go!” Evan said. We all raced at top speed toward the Mercedes and hopped in, grateful we were able to easily locate the asshole.

I looked behind me to see Benson hopping into his car and taking off.

The windows on his sports car were tinted just as darkly as the vehicle we were in, so it was hard to see his face. We kept far back, not wanting to clue him in that he was being followed. We hoped he was too pissed off to be watching his surroundings. After an agonizing fifteen-minute drive, we were rewarded when he pulled into a small house in the suburbs and parked in the garage. It was literally in the middle of suburbia. There was an elementary school around the corner, a small neighborhood park, and rows and rows of nice, new track houses with more being built, judging by the construction vehicles parked at the end of the subdivision. A fancy stone sign sat at the beginning of the street reading Sunrise Estates.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Aden asked.

“Hard to say, we’re going to have to just watch,” Evan replied.

A light on the side of the house popped on. I reached for the door handle. “I’m gonna go check it out.”

“We’re staying here, in case we need to get away fast,” Evan said, pointing to Karina then himself.

“I’ll stay, too,” Sam said. “Even if it does reek like bloodsuckers in here.”

I narrowed my eyes at Sam, and then flipped him off, as I’d never liked his perverted ass anyhow, and then got out quietly. Aden shot his friend a warning look, and then followed Beckett and me out.

I highly doubt a nest of vampires lives a house like this, I thought to myself. That would be absurd. Although, they could live in the basement where there were no windows, I supposed. Pushing those thoughts aside, we made our way to the window where the light had come on.

Without making a sound, and with the stake still in my hand, I slunk up against the house and then ducked down under the window, which had to be a bedroom of some kind, because as we had passed the front windows, we could see the kitchen and living room through the sheer curtains.

When I reached the window, I looked at Aden and Beckett and pointed up to it. They both nodded, so I slowly craned my head up and peered inside. The curtains were shut fast, but there was a gap on the side. Through it, I saw the asshole kissing a woman who looked very much human. He undressed her as he kissed her, and she was undressing him just as fast. He then threw her down on the bed, as she appeared to laugh, and put himself on top of her.

My eyes wide, I moved my head out of the way and looked at my brother and friend. I then made a very immature sexual gesture with my fingers. Beckett covered his mouth as if trying not to laugh. Aden shook his head and then switched places with me, popping his head up to peer in. He quickly popped back down and made a disgusted face.

“What?” I mouthed.

With the first two fingers of his right hand, he pretended to pierce the side of my neck.

“He bit her?” I mouthed.

Aden nodded.

“While....?” I made the sex gesture with my fingers again.

Aden nodded again.

We moved quietly away from the house and ducked down into some bushes in the neighbor’s front yard.

“You two!” Beckett scolded by whisper-yelling, but was trying not to laugh. “Just break the window and finish off this fucker. I’m hungry, and I can’t bite either of you, so I need to find something to snack on.”

I jerked a thumb behind me. “That bimbo is obviously game. You feed while we kill off the rapist.”

“He wasn’t raping her,” Aden said, rolling his eyes. “She was very willingly getting fucked and bitten.”

I smacked his arm. “I know she was. He’s a rapist for taking blood from me. Without my permission. He almost legit raped me too, had his disgusting man parts all hard against me as he fed.” I gritted my teeth. “I’m gonna kill him. Slowly.” Thoughts of how he’d restrained me to the ground of the filthy alleyway, his hand pinning my forehead down as he tore open my throat and fed flooded back to me. Anger rose to the point where I could feel my blood heating up, like I might shift.

Aden gave me an annoyed look. “No, you’re not. You’re gonna kill him fast, and then get out of there.”

His eyes suddenly glowed yellow, and then they went wide. Without my permission, mine did the same as the scent hit me, my rage turning to fear.

“What is that?” Beckett asked, alarmed.

“There’s another creature coming.” Aden jumped up.

Beckett grunted as we raced across the street toward Evan’s SUV. We all hopped in.

“What is it?” Karina asked us, alarmed.

“There’s a powerful vampire nearby,” Evan answered for us, his own eyes glowing yellow.

She gasped. “Oh, my God. Evan, I’ve only ever seen your eyes like that a few times.”

The flight part of the fight or flight syndrome was hitting me hard. “We need to leave. Now!”

Evan started up the car.

“No, just calm down,” she said, laying a hand on Evan’s arm, and then looking back at me. “That’s your wolf side. Just remain calm. I can sense a something strange nearby too, but just we don’t know what it is. Let’s wait to see.”

I was shaking; freaking out. I wanted to leave. “No, please, let’s just go,” I whined, hating myself for it, but not caring at the moment.

“She’s right, guys,” Beckett said, grabbing my hand from the backseat. “Shh. You’re shaking. Look at me.”

I stared into his kind eyes and nodded.

“It’s okay. You’re strong. You have a stake.” He brushed his fingers along it. “We will protect you.”

I then looked out the windshield of the SUV. A tall, gorgeous black woman with short, platinum-blonde hair exited a small roadster type sports car and walked up to the front of the house, opening the door as if she lived there.

“Is that the vampire?” Aden asked.

“She’s in for a surprise if that’s her man screwing some human in the room,” Beckett said, chuckling.

Evan and Karina turned to look at us, but it was Sam who spoke from behind me in the cargo area. “They were fucking?” He started laughing. “Damn, I should have come.”

I reached around and tried to slap him, but he moved out of the way too fast. “Shut up.”

“You know you want a piece of the Saminator.” He licked his lips and winked at me.

I made a gagging noise and looked back at the house, still holding Beckett’s hand like a scared schoolgirl. We all watched in silence for a few minutes.

When nothing happened, I said, “What now?”

“Sam, go look in the window,” Aden ordered.

Knowing Sam had to be as scared as we were, but refusing to show it, he shrugged and let himself out of the back. Racing fast across the street, he did the same and looked in the window. By the way he lingered at the window much longer than he needed to, and the lascivious grin on his stupid face when he got back, I already knew what he was going to say. Beckett and I looked at each other, then at Sam.

“They’re having a big ol’ orgy in there, aren’t they?” Beckett asked.

Sam nodded, a big grin on his face, his eyes glowing yellow momentarily. “The black chick is fucking the dude we followed here, and the human chick is sucking off some other dude.”

I shook my head. “Let’s get out of here. She’s obviously a very powerful creature, and we need to get this douchebag alone. At least we know where he hangs out.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Karina said, biting her lip in contemplation.

“I don’t care. I’m not going anywhere near that house with that vampire in there. She probably turns to smoke in an instant,” Aden said.

Karina laughed. “That’s just a Dracula myth. That can’t happen.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” Aden replied. “Let’s go. We come back at daylight when the leeches are sleeping, and let’s hope that scary one isn’t here.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Evan murmured, putting the Mercedes in drive and navigating all the way out of the subdivision before turning his lights on.

Chapter 6

The anniversary of Austyn’s murder hit me like an arrow to the heart. As I got out of bed this morning, the date on my phone had beamed out at me like a beacon on a lighthouse.

How had a year passed so quickly?

After putting on some coffee, I fired up my laptop and went to YouTube. I stared at the page, unable to click the video I wanted—no, needed to watch.

When the coffeemaker beeped, I quickly got up and poured some hot, black decadence into my “I Love Vampires” coffee mug, and then splashed some flavored creamer into it.

Ryder hated this coffee cup, but I thought it was awesome. I didn’t particularly love vampires, but I had gotten it as a gag gift from Austyn on my eighteenth birthday. So, of course, it was my favorite thing I owned.

Taking a cautious sip, I clicked on the video and watched the compilation of photos set to music my dad had made of Austyn’s life. It was about eight minutes long, and I had honestly not watched it since the funeral. When the eight minutes were over, I was a sobbing mess, hugging my coffee cup with both hands around its white ceramic sides.

“I miss you, Austyn,” I whispered to the screen with a hiccup, biting my lip to keep from sobbing again. “You big goof. I miss the hell out of you.”

His happy face smiled back at me on the screen. My adoptive parents had been excellent at documenting our lives. Even though I had found out our adoptive parents were witches, as our biological mother had been forced to abandon us and run for her life from our abusive wolf father, our parents had given us a beautiful and carefree childhood. I would always love them for that. The pictures on the screen in front of me proved that.

I was sad I’d never know my biological mother, Amy Bliss. Word was, she had been murdered by our biological father, the Alpha, Byron Bliss.

That ass was also on my “Vampires Who Are Dead Meat” list.

With tears streaming down my face, I closed the page to the video tribute we’d made to Austyn.

I texted Aden: I’m sad today.

He replied quickly: Me too. But we have anger and sadness fueling us. Let’s use it.

I smiled sadly, typing out a reply: I’m onboard. Who do we kill first? I need to kill something.

Aden: That asshole Linden.

Me: Okay, where do we start??

Aden: I’ve got some ideas. I also have something 4 you.

Me: Tell me where and when. I’ll be there.

Aden: Meet me for dinner tonight.

Me: 16^th Street Tacos. 6pm.

I set my phone down with a sigh and started my day.

The 16^th Street Taco Bar smelled of booze, spices, and people stink. It was pretty busy, too, but I spotted my brother easily enough. After a quick hug, I slid into a chair at the high table where he sat in the bar area, nursing a Coors.

“How did your day go?” I asked.

With the bottle paused at his lips, he lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “Same shit, different day.”

I frowned. “Sorry. Surely you want to do something else with your life other than construction work? That’s hard on the body. You can’t make a career out of it.”

Aden shot me an annoyed look. “I know that. I’d love to get paid to kill vamps, but that’s not exactly a career.”

“Actually, it is. I can talk to Evan and Karina and see if they need any more hunters,” I replied cheekily.

His eyes went wide, but before he could reply, the waitress came up and asked what I would like. In the mood for a beer, I ordered the same as Aden.

“What do you mean?” he asked after she walked away.

“Remember how Evan told you he was my trainer? Well, he and Karina are training me, but I also get paid to kill vampires.”

Aden’s blue eyes grew stormy, and he narrowed them at me. “What the fuck, Ayla!”

A few patrons turned around and looked at us because of his outburst. “Sorry,” I said sheepishly to an older couple who glared at us.

“Calm down,” I said, putting my hand on his forearm.

He nodded and raked a hand through his too-long blond hair. “Go on.”

“I don’t know exactly how, but Evan’s brothers are really old vampires, and they somehow keep track of vamps who aren’t following the rules. They are able to determine their habits, their hangouts, et cetera. When they’ve decided these vampires need to be wiped out, they kill them. However, it seems his brothers have grown too busy with their investments and whatever businesses they have, and have contracted out the work.”

Aden grinned. “Well, hell yeah. I’d be happy to be a contractor. How much does it pay?”

I hesitated a little, knowing he was going to lose his shit. So after drawing in a deep breath, I said, “About five grand a vampire.”

Instead of screaming out an obscenity like I expected, he just blinked in disbelief at me. “You’re shitting me.”

I shook my head and bit back a smile. “I am not, brother.”

The server showed up with my beer and asked if I wanted any food. I looked at Aden. “Did you order food?”

He shook his head and looked at the server. “Just bring us a bunch of tacos. Surprise us.”

She nodded and winked at my brother flirtatiously. Gag. “You got it.”

He watched her walk away—with a little too much interest, mind you—and then back to me. “You’re telling me they pay you five thousand dollars to off one vamp?”

I nodded, still trying not to grin.

“And here, stupid me, has been doing it for fucking free. Awesome,” he said dryly.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’ve only done one paid one so far. And I’m going to tell you, it kinda messes with your psyche.”

His eyebrows dipped. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” I said, running a finger along the mouth of the beer bottle and looking down, “like, why should I kill this vampire? What did he do to deserve the ‘final’ death?”

Aden laughed. “Are you serious? Who cares? Five grand and one less vampire sounds like a win-win to me.”

Of course he wasn’t going to understand my moral dilemma. Yes, I’d killed vampires before. And I had initially regretted one of those kills: Elda Stoker, my first. I had just taken the money Dean Hobbes had given me, and had killed her without asking questions. A jilted lover who’d had his wife taken away... that was not grounds for murder. Using the justification that she had already lived long enough, and that perhaps I had potentially saved countless human lives since she fed on humans was what helped me sleep at night. But at the end of the day, I had no right, and it was only because I trusted Evan and Karina implicitly that I had agreed to do this job. Plus, one kill paid my bills for a few months... and it beat answering phones at the damn Carter Homes headquarters where every single caller seemed to be angry and disgruntled. Because really, I didn’t need all that negativity in my life.

“It is worth it, but I will only off the ones the Grants tell me to,” I replied, realizing what a strange conversation this was to be having.

Aden laughed, and reached over to the empty chair between us. Setting a shoebox on the table, he said, “Well, I got you a present. It should make your new”—he cleared his throat—“job, a little easier.”

My brow furrowed, but I smiled anyway. Lifting the lid, I peered down to see the tissue paper inside covering the gift. Very carefully, I pushed the paper aside, and when I saw what lay inside, I gasped.

I looked up at my big brother, my eyes wide. “Aden.”

He smiled sadly. “Go ahead.”

I reached in and gingerly lifted the ancient-looking knife from out of the box. I briefly looked around before discreetly gazing down at it. Brushing my fingertips over the intricately carved hilt, the silver and black designs a maze of complexity, I then fondled the beveled blade, finally touching the very tip with my index finger. It was so sharp, it pricked my finger. I pulled it back briefly, and then smiled at my brother as I put my finger in my mouth to lick the blood away. “Sharp.”

He nodded. “Turn it over.”

As I gingerly flipped the dagger around, I could see the word “Austyn” engraved on the other side, and tears immediately sprung to my eyes.

“Oh, Aden, it’s beautiful,” I said, quietly.

Aden, fighting back emotion himself, nodded. “It’s a Dagestan dagger. I wanted you to have it. It’s very old, from what I’ve been told, but very effective. I even dipped it in some holy water before coming here for good measure. I want you to kill that piece of shit Linden with it.”

“I’m, like, speechless here. This is an amazing gift,” I breathed.

“Just kill as many vamps as you can with it,” he replied.

The server arrived with our tacos, my mouth watered. I looked at her. “What kind do we have here?” I asked.

She had been smiling at my brother, but almost begrudgingly turned her attention to me. “It’s our All The Tacos platter. Pork, fish, beef, chicken, and vegetarian. Black beans, Spanish rice, sour cream, salsa, and guacamole on the side. Hope you enjoy it!”

“Thank you, looks amazing,” I said.

She smiled at me, then looked at Aden again before dashing off.

“Looks like you have an admirer,” I said, chuckling as I snatched two tacos from the platter and put them on the plate the server had set in front of me.

“Yeah, right,” he replied. “I’m sure she’s just looking for good tips.”

With the fish taco paused at my mouth, I shook my head. “No way, she wants you.”

“You’re crazy...”

I didn’t hear what else he’d said, as a blinding headache hit me, along with the blackness that began to bleed along the edges of my vision. “Oh no,” I whispered before I dropped the taco, and everything went black.

“I hope whatever you’ve summoned me here for is important. I was on a date, mate.” Kellan’s face was a storm of rage and barely controlled violence.

A blond man sitting in an oversized red armchair and was sipping something from a metal cup. I was facing Kellan, my view from behind the man’s chair.

“You need to watch the way you talk to me.” His voice was not as deep as Kellan’s and sounded American. East Coast, perhaps.

Kellan’s jaw ticked in annoyance, his hands squeezing together behind his back. “My apologies.”

The blond man chuckled. “I know how you get when you need to get laid, so I’ll forgive you this time. It wasn’t my intention to interrupt that. I am just in need of an update, as I have not heard much from you.”

As if being able to feel Kellan’s emotions, I felt a conflict within him as I watched him interact with this man, who seemed to be his boss. “There really is nothing to report. I am keeping a watchful eye on the girl. She and her friends frequent Moon Chasers, and while I don’t see anything unusual, I do keep an ear on their conversations. She keeps vampire friends with seemingly no issues, and also has another hybrid as a friend, a male. I don’t know much more than that.”

The man nodded. “Very good.” With his fingers steepled in front of him, both elbows rested on the arms of the chair, he asked, “And her brother, the wolf? Have you seen him?”

Kellan quickly shook his head. “No. Never.”

“Keep your eyes peeled for him. He’s a fierce one.”

“As you wish,” Kellan responded through gritted teeth. He lifted his gaze to the man as he got up from his red chair and came around it in my direction. I gasped. The blond man was him. Linden.

“Should I call nine-one-one?” I heard a female voice ask.

I groaned and fluttered my eyes open to see my brother and the waitress staring down at me with concern in their gazes.

“No,” I said, shaking my head and trying to stand from where I was lying on my back on the floor. “I’m okay. Really. I just black out sometimes.”

Pulling me up to stand, they both helped me sit in the chair. “Sorry about that.”

Embarrassed, but less so than usual because this shit always happened when I was in public, it seemed, I shook it off and apologized a million times to the people around me.

When Aden could see I was all right, he looked at me, his brows dipped in concern, his eyes dancing in fear. “What the hell was that, Ayla?”

I cleared my throat and looked down at the Dagestan dagger. “I guess I should probably tell you about the psychic premonitions I’ve been having.”

“Yes, you fucking better,” he replied, annoyed and probably embarrassed.

Chapter 7

Evan looked at me, and then down at my hand gripping my new dagger. He lifted an eyebrow.

“What?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest, still clutching the dagger

Karina looked at my weapon, then at her husband, then back to me. “Um”—she chewed her lip, then pointed at it—“where did you get that?”

I smiled. “My brother gave it to me.” I flipped it around to show them Austyn’s name engraved on the blade. “He even dipped it in holy water. He wants me to kill as many vampires as I can with it.”

“Nice. Now, let’s continue your training so you can use that thing with precise perfection.” He glanced at Karina, then back to me. “But only the vampires we assign to you. We don’t want you going around killing every one you come across.”

“Just the asshole who killed my brother, and of course the fucker who bit me and turned me into a freak. And once that’s done, I’m gonna find my biological father and let him have it. Nobody can stop me from killing them.” And also Kellan, because he’s been using me and spying on me and he’s making me really stabby right now, I wanted to say, but kept my mouth shut. Something told me I needed to keep my relationship with him... or whatever it was... a secret from everyone.

“Understood,” Evan said, as if appeasing me.

“You’ll have to tell us about your biological father one day,” Karina commented.

“Besides,” I continued, ignoring her comment, “if it was my goal to kill all vampires, Beckett would be dead. And so would you, Karina.”

She smiled at me. “I don’t think so.”

I sighed. “Sorry, I’m in a bad mood today, it’s the anniversary of my brother’s death and I just want to find this Linden and kill him so I can stop being so angry.”

“Well... Killing him won’t make you less angry, and it won’t bring Austyn back. It’ll make you feel good for a little bit, but you will still have grief. Trust me, I know,” Karina said, her eyes softening.

I wanted to argue with that, but instead, I shoved the dagger into the strap wrapped around my thigh. “Let’s do this.”

Hopping up in the boxing ring, I did the same type of stretches I used to do before a big game where I knew we’d be cheering nonstop. I looked up at the dirty, stained windows at the top of the warehouse-gym, and could see the almost full moon. I groaned, knowing soon I’d be stuck for three days, hiding out as the wolf girl.

Evan came over, dragging what looked like a dummy, but it was upright and had some kind of large spring-loaded base at the bottom.

“This is Bob,” he said, shoving the dummy hard in its chest. I watched it swing toward the ground, but bounce right back upright. The dummy had an angry expression on its face, a thick neck, and wide shoulders. He basically looked like a peach-colored Hulk in dummy form.

“Hi, Bob,” I said, walking up and kicking him in the stomach. He bounced toward the ground, but then sprung back up.

“Nice kick,” Evan said. “But I’ve brought Bob out so you can use your dagger to practice with. Because you’re not using that thing during training with either one of us. And, you’re going to be leaving the sheath on it. I don’t want holes in the dummy.”

“Oh, you’re no fun,” I said, smirking.

“Hand it to me?” Karina said. She pulled the sheath off and inspected it. She bounced it in her hand, and then replaced the sheath, and gauged its weight again. She looked at her husband. “It’s heavier with the sheath on.”

He nodded and put his attention back to me. “We want you to get familiar with the weapon as you’ll be using it, and if it’s heavier, then we’ll have to let you take the sheath off.”

“Yes,” I said, smiling.

“But do not stab Bob.”

I frowned. “God, you two are a couple of party-poopers. Maybe you should make a scarecrow or something I can practice with. Get some vampire teeth from the Halloween store and put it in its mouth. That would be fun.”

They both laughed and Karina said, “You’re crazy.”

“But you admit, it’s a good plan,” I said, raising my chin while spinning the dagger in my hand, eager to train with it.

Evan shook his head. “Give me the dagger. First, I want thirty kicks on Bob. You know the regions.”

I handed Evan the dagger and nodded. I began to bounce in place a little bit, like a boxer. Then I threw a kick to Bob’s nuts, because let’s be real, that was the first place I was going for. Nothing will incapacitate a guy faster—vampire or not. That being said, vampires have super healing ability so I would have to be quick about it. Three lightning-fast kicks there, then I followed it up by twirling around and landing a kick to his stomach. After that kick, I ducked, anticipating a very angry vampire lunging at me after that. Once I’d stood up from the duck, I spun once more and landed two quick kicks to Bob’s very large, impressive jaw. Ducking again, I spun on one foot while still crouched down and swung my free leg in hopes of taking out Bob’s legs—even though he didn’t have any. Raising myself up behind the dummy now, I landed a hard kick to where I would anticipate the back of the dummy’s knee would be. Then, for good measure, I made a fist and punched Bob in both his kidneys. Spinning one last time, I kicked him in the side and landed in front of him once more. I pulled my pretend dagger from its strap on my thigh and jammed my fist into his chest.

“You’re dead, Bob!” I said in a low voice, while trying to catch my breath, and then I did a little victory dance.

Evan and Karina laughed.

“Very nice moves. You’re a natural,” Karina said. “Very flexible.”

“Twelve years of cheerleading and gymnastics,” I said proudly.

Then Evan handed me a rubber practice knife, and I put it in the thigh strap.

“This time, I’m the vampire. So we’ll try this again. Just don’t actually kick me in the balls.”

I grinned. “No guarantees.”

Karina blew a whistle I didn’t know she had, and said, “Go!”

Evan and I circled each other a few times, and when he lunged at me, I ducked, rolling in a summersault and popping back up to my feet. He turned around and I kicked him in the stomach. I did not kick him as hard as I would have kicked Bob or a real enemy, but it did knock the wind out of him. As he tried to catch his breath, I lunged at him and tackled him to the floor. Straddling him, I pulled out my rubber knife and shoved it on his chest, dead-center.

“You be dead, freaky hybrid wolf-vamp!” I cried, then I jumped up and started twerking.

Evan laughed and got up when I offered him a hand. “Are you going to do a dance every time you kill a vampire?”

I smiled. “Yep. Totally am. I call that one the hybrid-twerk.”

“Did you feel like doing a dance when you killed Johnny a few weeks ago?” Karina asked, her eyes dancing with amusement.

“No,” I said, frowning as I remembered the first contract kill. I hadn’t had much training when they had allowed me my first, but I also knew they were hiding out of sight to help at a moment’s notice. It had also taken quite a few ‘flying’ lessons with Karina to get the jumping perfected. Leaping off a tall building that high was like parachuting out of a plane, but with no parachute. I apparently had some freaky ability to be able to control my speed once I got closer to the ground. It terrified and thrilled me at the same time.

“Well, you might after killing a few more,” Evan said, laughing.

Evan handed me my dagger and waited as I handed him the rubber one back. “You can practice on Bob but leave the sheath on. I don’t think the slight weigh difference will matter.”

Nodding, I put it in my thigh strap and squared off against Bob once more.

A week later, Aden and I sat outside the suburban home where vampire asshole, whose name I still didn’t know, hung out. After our obligatory three-night shift up at Wolf Pointe, Aden had begun tracking the movements of this guy. Tonight was the fourth night.

“It’s really strange, and I have a theory, but let me tell you his pattern, because this guy rarely deviates from it. In fact, by the third night, I probably could have just taken him out myself, but I knew you wanted to do it. So here’s the deal.” Aden picked up his can of Dr. Pepper and took a swig from it, then set it back down. “So every morning, before it’s light out, he leaves the house wearing a business suit. Instead of the red sports car, he gets into his very boring four-door sedan, and drives to that building we first tracked him to. Now, at this point, I have to go to work myself, so I leave. But once my shift is over, and there were a couple days when there wasn’t much work so we got to leave early, I would then come back here and see that his car was still parked in the same spot in the underground parking garage.

“Once it’s dark outside, he leaves the building. He usually goes back to that house, but a few times I saw him park on a side street and go walk around downtown. I never saw him take any victims, but I also couldn’t watch him for hours, as I had shit to do.”

“That is really weird,” I said, looking at the house.

“Ayla, the area he stalks is very, very close to where he attacked you. This guy has a pattern. Anyway, once he gets ‘home’ to this house here, he kisses the wife, and has dinner with her and what looks like a young kid, maybe six years old? A boy. Then they all go to sleep. So I’m not sure what that orgy thing was about, but maybe they’re swingers or something.”

I furrowed my brow. “Well, that was a Saturday night, and I didn’t see no kid around. So maybe they fuck around on the weekends?”

“Maybe,” he replied, tapping the steering wheel.

“So are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked, looking at my brother.

“What? That he’s a vampire, whose wife has no idea he’s a vampire, and thinks he’s just a workaholic who works twelve hours a day?”

He nodded. “Exactly. Obviously he and the other vampires sleep somewhere in that office building all day. So strange.”

“I wonder what she thinks he does on the weekends? Works, too?”

“That’s a good question,” Aden replied. “I’ll let you take the weekend shift. I’m going camping with the guys on Saturday. Gonna get some fishing in, too.”

“Sounds nice,” I replied. “You deserve it.”

“You know,” he said. “We could go in there right now and kill this motherfucker. I could hold down the wife, and you could just stab him with the dagger.” He jutted his chin toward my leg.

“Tempting,” I replied, pulling the knife out and twirling it. “Go look in the windows and see if you can see the kid. I’m not gonna do that with him there.”

Aden nodded and ran across the street. He went around to the back of the house, and within two minutes he returned, hopping in the car. “Yeah, the kid is asleep in the back bedroom.”

“Well, I’m not a complete monster, unlike him. I will corner him on his way inside the building tomorrow morning and end this.”

“I will meet you for backup. And to make sure you have the right guy.” He winked.

“Speaking of, you’re sure this is the guy? I mean, I do remember his face and scent, but only you’ve gotten close enough. When I had to witness their swinger orgy, his back was mostly to me so I didn’t get a good look at his face.”

“You losing your sense of smell?” he asked, concerned. “Wolves have a very acute sense of smell.”

“No, but it’s changed,” I admitted. I hadn’t ever told anyone what I was about to confess to my brother, because I sometimes wondered if I was imagining it.

“Changed... how?” he asked.

“Well,” I said, still twirling the dagger in my hand. “My smells are by species, not specific to an actual person, except family. For instance, when another wolf is nearby, I smell citrus in the air around them. When a vampire is nearby, I smell something earthy and strong, and I’m trying to narrow it down. I think it might be eucalyptus because I hate the smell of that shit. And when I see Sanja or our parents, it seems rose is the witch’s scent of choice. But in their case, I know witches use fresh roses for spells, so I am gonna have to ask Sanja more about it.”

My brother looked at me with his mouth open. “That’s the weirdest fuckin’ shit I’ve ever heard. So, what do humans smell like?”

“They don’t have a smell, so that’s how I know someone is just a human.”

Aden looked at me for a minute. “Well, what does your friend smell like... Evan the hybrid?”

I smiled. “Of course his is the worst. Lemon mixed with eucalyptus. Gah.”

“You are seriously screwed. Does Evan say he smells these things, too?”

I looked at him and cocked my head. “Ya know, I’ve never asked him. I think I will next time I see him.”

“Do you ever smell anything else, and not know what to make of it?”

I nodded. “Actually, I do. Some people smell strongly of lavender, but again, it could be something in their surroundings and not them.”

“I think we’ve covered all the supernatural creatures, so it must be some popular perfume,” Aden concluded.

“On men?” I asked, my eyebrow cocked.

His eyes went wide temporarily. “You smell it on men, too?”

I nodded. “Men, women, even kids. Is it possible there’s a supernatural creature we don’t know about?”

He stared out the windshield and into the quiet suburban neighborhood and shook his head. “I don’t know, but maybe you should ask your trainers. They might know.”

“Looks like Evan and I are going to be having a long talk,” I said on a sigh.

Chapter 8

Because I was an irresponsible vampire hunter, my window of opportunity to kill asshole vampire had passed for the day. Unless I caught up with him tonight. Being that I usually stayed up all night and slept most of the morning to early afternoon, I had slept right through the alarm. I had been exhausted.

As I woke around two p.m., I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. I had a text and missed call from Aden from around six a.m., but of course had slept through those too. Aden told me he had to go into work early at the construction company and couldn’t stalk the vampire. He also said he knew I was still asleep. He knew me so well.

He also told me he had a date with the waitress from the taco bar later tonight and wouldn’t be able to stake out asshole vampire then either. I quickly replied to the text and apologized for sleeping through his call, and wished him good luck on his date.

Scrolling through the rest of my notifications, I had a text from Ryder telling me he loved me before going into work. I sighed. We were literally on opposite schedules. He worked two p.m. to ten p.m. at the prison, while two p.m. was about the time I was starting my day. When he got home at around 10:30 p.m., I was either training, or, like last night, scoping out vampires. Or at the bar with my friends, hoping to run into Kellan.

That was the plan for tonight, as it was a Thursday, but this time, I had hoped to run into him for another reason. I didn’t think he knew I was having premonitions about him, so I wasn’t going to give that secret away, but he was going to get an earful about spying on me. I didn’t give one single damn if he questioned how I knew, either, because I would never tell him.

I would just have to watch my thoughts around him. The whole telepathy thing still freaked me out, but I was beginning to learn that I could use it to my advantage.

After slogging out of bed, I walked across my apartment to the small kitchen and put on some coffee. Then I opened my laptop to see what was going on in the world. A scan of local and national news didn’t show me anything earth-shattering, so I went to pour the coffee and a fix myself a bowl of cereal.

Realizing I hadn’t checked my social media in, like... probably months... I logged into Facebook and looked around. I had a billion private messages, and after reading the newsfeed and seeing what was going on with everyone, I felt a bit sad, and a whole lot guilty. My high school best friend, Gemma, who I hadn’t talked to in months, was apparently going to be having a baby soon. My other high school friend, Kiera, was newly engaged and had a crapload of ‘likes’ on her engagement post. Found herself an Airman and would soon be leaving Colorado to be stationed with him in Texas. My mom had made random posts with her recipes, and a very long one yesterday about the anniversary of Austyn’s death. Salty tears fell into my cereal bowl by the time I was done reading it, and I sighed. My poor mom.

I picked up my phone and shot off a text to her: I just read your FB post about Austyn. I’m sorry I didn’t call yesterday. I was too busy selfishly collapsing in on myself. I love you.

Wiping my tears away, I pushed the sad thoughts away and continued reading everyone’s posts until I grew bored and closed the page.

I had an idea to do an Internet search of the house asshole vampire lived in, so I plugged his address into the search bar.

The first hit to come up was the developer’s name (Carter Homes, ugh!) and Sunrise Estates, the name of the subdivision. I didn’t bother clicking on those, but I did see a result that piqued my interest, so I clicked on it.

“Find out who lives at 1810 Dawn Avenue now! Searchme.com!” Of course, I clicked on it. It wanted me to pay to see who lived there. But then I remembered something I had learned from when I worked at Carter Homes. All home purchases were public information, available on the county’s website. I typed in “Douglas County assessor’s office” and up came a property search.

Jackpot!

I quickly typed the address in. Up popped the lot number, the date of the sale, the tax value, purchase amount, and finally, the purchaser name: Alexander Von Brass.

“Oh, is that your name, asshole?” I whispered. I quickly Googled his name and found a lot of very interesting information, including a very startling article about him. It was dated almost two years ago, titled: Missing Aurora Man.

“Alexander Von Brass, a 32-year-old architect from Aurora, has gone missing. He was last seen leaving McAllister’s Pub around one o’clock a.m. on April 24^th. If you have any information, please contact Aurora PD,” I read aloud. There was a photo attached, and when I clicked on it, a chill raced down my spine. Flashbacks of that face, a lot more pale now, with bloodshot eyes and very scary fangs, came back to me as he held me down in that alley and fed off of me. I shuddered and blew out a breath.

Then I clicked on another article headlined: Missing Man Found.

I read aloud: “Missing Aurora architect, Alexander Von Brass, has been found, safe and sound. Missing six days, he showed up at his home in southeastern Aurora, much to his wife’s surprise. He claims to have no memory of the past six days. Police have questioned him, and are looking into the matter. The Missing Person’s case has been cancelled for now.”

I shook my head and stared at his photo again. “No memory, my ass. Some vampire got to you, and now you are trying to live like a normal human. I hope you enjoy what little time you have left. Because you attacked the wrong girl, and I’m coming for you, you son-of-a-bitch.”

I slammed the laptop closed and shot off a text to my brother: Alexander Von Brass. Google him.

I saw a text from my mom, thanking me for contacting her, and telling me she understood my grief. God, she was so amazing. My brothers and I really did get so very lucky to have been adopted by such beautiful people. I shuddered to think about how much worse it could have been if we’d been sent to live with regular humans—or worse, raised in a home with an abusive Alpha for a father, and a mother who couldn’t protect us.

After a hot shower, I got dressed and blow-dried my long blonde hair and thought about cutting it all off, for the tenth time. But of course I never would. I put it up in a ponytail and threw on some makeup. I went back to the kitchen to make a shopping list. I had, like, no food in this house.

Little did I know that small errand would change a lot of how I viewed the world.

––––––––

I looked around the large grocery store, a black basket over my arm. No, I wasn’t in the floral department, so why was I smelling lavender again? Remembering the conversation with my brother, I looked around until I spotted the only other person around me in the meat section. She was about my age, and the smell of lavender coming off her was strong. Realizing I had nothing to lose, I set my basket on the meat case next to her and decided to strike up a conversation.

Smiling at her, I said, “Your perfume smells great. What is it?”

Drawing her attention away from the case of meats, which she was almost drooling over, she looked at me. Her eyes were literally purple. Not blue, or bluish-gray, purple.

“Oh, my God, you have gorgeous eyes,” I blurted out, when she fixed her gaze on me.

Slipping her hand into the pocket of her jean shorts, she narrowed those otherworldly eyes at me and said, “Are you hitting on me? Because I don’t bat for your team, chickie.”

Rude, much?

Deciding to roll with it, I shrugged and said, “I bat for both teams, so I guess I was. Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to offend.”

She softened a little at that and said, “Well, I’m not offended, but you come on a bit strong.”

“Again, sorry. But really, what kind of perfume is that? My boyfriend would love it.”

She chuckled, eyes now looking amused. “You have a boyfriend, but you’re hitting on a chick? Does he know?”

I nodded. “Of course, he lets me bring women home.”

Who am I right now? I had to bite back a laugh. Anything to keep her talking, I supposed.

She seemed entertained by that and said, “Well, to answer your question, I don’t wear perfume, so you should probably try another line.”

“Well, it has to be a scented lotion then,” I persisted.

She shook her head. “No, my mom was allergic to any type of scent so I never wear any scented lotions or perfumes. It’s kind of a habit.”

So I’m not going crazy, I thought.

“Well, maybe it was someone else’s perfume I smelled. It had a hint of lavender in it, so I was wondering where I could get some.”

Her head whipped up at my lavender comment, and she narrowed her eyes at me once again. “Lavender, you say?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I love it.” Lie. I hated the smell of lavender as much as I hated eucalyptus.

She opened her mouth as though she might say something, but then decided against it by snapping her jaw shut. Plucking up a package of frozen chicken breasts, she tossed it into her basket and said, “Well, enjoy the rest of your day.”

I watched her walk off and memorized the way she looked. She had a very small build. Thin hips, small breasts, short spiky blonde pixie haircut, and a bit of a bounce in her step. There had to be a correlation between the purple eyes and the fact that lavender was a purple flower.

I was gonna get to the bottom of this. And by get to the bottom, I meant by paying a visit to Sanja. If my theory was right, I just discovered another species of supernatural creature, and I needed to have it confirmed.

Chapter 9

Sipping my tea, I stared at Sanja over the rim of the mug. Her eyes were fixed on the big, old book in front of her. I watched as her finger traced along the words until her eyes widened momentarily, and she looked at me with a happy expression.

I grinned a little and set the tea down, the anticipation killing me. “What?”

“It says here that each supernatural creature has its own organic scent.”

Cocking my head to the side, I said, “Yeah? So... that’s good, right? I’m not crazy?”

She shook her head and put her attention back to the spell book, and began reading. “The lycanthrope have the keenest of smells.” She stopped and looked at me. “That’s what our ancestors called the wolves.”

I resisted an eye roll, and instead put on a smile. “I know lycanthrope are werewolves. Go on.”

The olive-tinted skin on her cheeks seemed to take on a blush, and she fixed me with a stare before looking back down at the book. “Their ability to detect other preternatural creatures is the sharpest of the otherworldly. So much so that each of the creatures will have a scent distinctive only to them. It seems as though these scents are very specific to each species. It has been reported to me that vampires will hold the strong scent of eucalyptus. Wolves will emit a strong citrus scent. The Elven, or the elves, will smell of lavender. And lastly, our brethren, the wiccans, witches, and warlocks will emit an overpowering scent of roses.” She paused and looked at me. “Seems appropriate if you ask me.”

I was frozen. I had continually smelled those scents my whole life, but so much more since my seventeenth birthday when I had my first shift. I fixed my friend with a serious stare. “You always smells like roses. Like, always. I thought it was your lotion.”

She looked back at me with amusement in her brown eyes. “I would never buy a rose-scented lotion or perfume. It reminds me old ladies.”

“Me too, because my grandma always smelled like roses!” I gasped as my hand flew to my mouth. “Oh, my God.”

Sanja chuckled and closed her spell book. “Yeah, because your mother’s—or your father’s—mother was most likely a witch.”

“My mom’s mom. And, yeah, oh, my God. Wow...”

“So at least you’re not imagining the smell. In fact,” she said, standing up and setting the spell book on her coffee table, “the scents should help you as a hunter.”

Nodding absently, I stared into the fireplace, where a flame was burning softly. I murmured, “You’re right.”

“More tea?” she asked on her way to the kitchen.

I shook my head. “No, I’m good.” My thumbnail went into my mouth, but I grimaced, remembering the acrylic manicure I had on them and lowered my hand to my lap. I purposely kept them long and fancy so I wouldn’t be tempted to bite them down—a bad habit I’d had to kick as a young teen.

“So what are Elven?”

She opened the fridge and said, “They used to be, like, woodland creatures. Fairies, I guess? I don’t know much about them, or what they do, but I will look into it for you.”

“Thanks.” Remembering something, I whipped my head around and looked at my friend. “Ya know, Beckett doesn’t smell like eucalyptus.”

She laughed a lot harder than she should have, and after putting the teacups into the dishwasher, she dried her hands on a hand towel. She came back with two beers and set one in front of me. I smiled and lifted it in a toast to her before taking a swig.

As she sat, she put hers on a coaster and then folded her hands in her lap. “It’s probably the gallon of cologne he wears.”

I laughed. “You’re right.”

“Still,” she said, “you should be able to smell it a little. It’s odd you don’t, but there’s probably a good reason for it.”

I swallowed the beer and then set the bottle down. “Yeah? Like what?”

Sanja lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “No idea. He could have a witch friend who did a masking spell. He was turned by a special vampire. There are a lot of reasons.”

“Uh, I doubt he has or is either of those things,” I replied with my eyebrow arched. “And his cologne already smells pretty organic. Woodsy.”

“Won’t do you any good unless you ask him,” she said, the beer paused at her lips.

I cocked my head to the side. “Since when do you drink beer?”

She swallowed a mouthful and said, “Since I became a college student.”

I studied her honest brown eyes and laughed. She laughed right along with me until I said, “I guess that would drive anyone to drink.”

“I’m going to be drinking more if I don’t pass this damn physics class. I don’t even understand why I need to take it.” She took a healthy swig of the ale and then set it down.

“Required for Paranormal Studies?” I questioned.

She nodded. “Unfortunately, but I’ll get through it. I have a good study partner.”

“Well, college doesn’t make you smarter, it just helps you get ahead. Remember?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I remember. Just two more years, I keep reminding myself.”

“You can do it,” I replied, lifting my beer and clinking it with hers.

She took another swig and set it down. “So, what’s the latest in your love life?”

I sighed as I ran my finger along the mouth of the beer bottle. “It’s complicated.”

Sanja’s brows rose and she pierced me with a stern, motherly look. “This isn’t a Facebook relationship status. I want to know what’s really going on.”

I chuckled at that and said, “I rarely see Ryder, and when I do, it’s like one night a week. I feel like we’re drifting apart, and it makes me sad.”

“So... why don’t you rekindle it then?”

I leaned back on the sofa cushion and blew out a breath. “How? I mean, he’s got this stupid weird work schedule, and I wouldn’t be lying if I said I should probably be flying solo at this point.”

She looked at me for a few long, hard seconds, and said, “So, you want to be single now? Or... you have your eye on someone else?”

A sly smile twisted up my lips and I replied, “I think you know the answer to that.”

Her arms rested on her knees and she pierced me with a serious look. “No, I don’t. Why don’t you enlighten me?”

“Come on, girl. Try to keep up. Ryder will always be my first love. But Kellan won’t leave my thoughts. I even ditched my friends to go hang out with him... but it didn’t work out.”

Sanja popped up from the couch with a squeal. “What?!”

Chuckling, I said, “Calm yourself, girl.”

“Uh no, I will not calm myself. Tell me what happened,” she demanded as she eventually sat back down, her gaze never leaving me.

I looked at her, and deciding to tell her the truth, I told her about how Kellan had beckoned me—tempted me—to leave Moon Chasers with him, and how things could have turned crazy had he not been summoned by his boss to report in.

“The weird part was that at the time, I hadn’t known why he was being summoned. My blackout in the taco bar had told me that.”

“So what happened during the blackout? Were you hurt?” she asked, intrigued.

I shook my head. “No, just my pride, obviously. Fell clean off a high-barstool. So embarrassing.”

She placed her hand on mine. “I’m sorry, girl.”

I shrugged. “I better get used to it. It’s sadly getting easier to deal with.”

“That’s not something you should have to get used to.” She frowned.

“I know.”

“So tell me what happened during the blackout,” she said, curious.

“Oh, yeah.” I proceeded to tell her exactly what I’d seen. I didn’t leave out a detail, and I found it crazy how much I was able to remember. Like no fact was missing from my memory.

Sanja’s beer paused at her lips and she arched an eyebrow at me. “So you’re telling me he ditched your... ‘date’ because he got summoned by the very vampire you’re hunting?”

I nodded. “Un-freaking-believable, right?”

“You can say that again. Geez.”

Looking down at my beer bottle, I said, “I don’t know what to do. I should just tell him to fuck off, right?”

She laughed. “Yeah, you should, but obviously you can’t. You need him to help you find Linden.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re as smart as you are pretty.” I grinned, lifting my gaze to hers.

“It’s not rocket science, Ayla. Let’s just hope he doesn’t catch on.”

I blew out a breath. “Yeah, let’s hope. I need a plan now.”

She smiled at me. “Yes, you do, and I have no doubt you’ll come up with one.”

I was almost home when my phone lit up with a text.

Aden: Holy shit.

Confused, I waited until I hit a red light and opened the text, wondering what it meant. I realized as I read the thread that he was responding to my telling him to Google Alexander Von Brass.

Another text from him came through.

Aden: Well this just made it even easier to get to him.

The light turned green and I hit the gas, resisting the urge to text and drive. The phone lit up again, but I waited until I was in the parking lot of my building to respond.

Me: How do you figure? We already know where he lives, and his schedule.

Aden: We ruin his life. His family. We drive him out of his home permanently so he has nowhere to go.

I began to understand what he meant.

Me: So we destroy his fake life?

Aden: Exactly. Let’s smoke out this motherfucker.

I smiled and threw my phone into my purse and got out of the car. The night was cold, but the stars and moon shone brightly, and I was in a good mood. I began to mentally tick off all I had to do tonight. I had training with the Grants at midnight at the gym, then I was going to practice some flying on my own from a few of the abandoned buildings downtown.

Reaching into my purse for my phone to check the time, I suddenly froze when the sound of someone—something—sniffing the air caught my attention. I reached under my jacket and pulled out the Dagestan dagger from its sheath on my belt, holding my breath.

The strong scent of eucalyptus hit me a split-second before I felt someone tackle me from behind. I fell flat on my face but flipped over quickly, just in time to see a pale, evil face jump on top of me. Unfortunately for this asshole, I hadn’t dropped the dagger.

“So pretty,” he hissed into my face, his eyes nothing more than two pale irises that creeped me the hell out. He sniffed the air again.

I smiled up at him, as little did he know I had the dagger aimed straight for his spine. “Sniff again, asshole. Go ahead, give me a whiff. Tell me what you smell.”

Confused by my lack of fear, his brow furrowed as he realized my odd scent. “Wolf?”

“Something like that,” I replied, shoving the dagger into his back and bucking my hips at the same time.

The vampire screeched so loudly, I winced as I jumped up. He was now standing, trying to grab for the dagger, but unable to reach it due to where I’d plunged it in. I’d obviously missed his spine, as he was able to stand, so I ran around to the back and twirled once before kicking the blade in harder, eliciting another otherworldly screech from the creature. He fell to the ground, face-first. Taking my time, I walked over, pulled out the blade, and then straddled his back, jamming the bloody dagger into the base of his neck, hitting the brain stem. He screamed one last time before he began to disintegrate right before my eyes. I removed the knife, picked up my purse, and ran, shakily unlocking the building’s side door, where I then ran up the steps two at a time, until I reached my floor.

Once I was inside my apartment with the door locked, I dropped my purse and keys and put my back against the wall. I slowly slid down, unable to do anything but pant for air and shake as I felt tears build along my lashes.

Chapter 10

I wasn’t sure how long I’d sat there, but I did look down at my phone, which was now sitting on the floor next to me, when it lit up with a text.

Evan: We’ll be right there. Keep the door locked.

Confused, I tilted my head and picked it up. I had somehow sent a text to Evan, but I didn’t remember doing so.

Wiping my face with the back of my hand, I got up and deposited my purse onto the kitchen counter. I absently pulled a glass down from the cabinet and filled it with water from the kitchen faucet and drank it down in one gulp.

Blowing out a breath, I set the glass down and went to the bank of windows that took up the western wall of my studio apartment. The city looked quiet, but I knew it wasn’t. It never was. Evil lurked in the dark shadows and around corners constantly, human and inhuman.

My mind flashed with what had just happened no more than ten minutes ago. The vampire and his ugly pale face. His fangs inches from me. His look of horror when I’d driven the dagger into his back. My hand on the back of his head when I’d straddled him and drove the dagger into his neck.

“Holy shit,” I breathed, shaking my head and wrapping my arms around myself to try to clear the memory.

A knock at the door startled me and I slowly made my way to it. A glance through the peephole showed Evan and Karina. I disengaged the locks and let them in, looking both ways down the hallway before closing the door and throwing the deadbolt into place.

“You okay?” Karina asked as I turned around and face my friends.

Wrapping my arms around myself again, I nodded. “I think so.”

She came closer to me as Evan watched in concern. “Let’s take off your jacket and shoes. You’re okay. Let’s relax.”

I nodded and let her remove my jacket. “Now, go sit,” she said.

Once I reached the sofa, I leaned down and began unlacing my boots. Content that I had it, they sat on the loveseat opposite of me and stared at me.

“I’m okay, guys,” I said. “It was just so unexpected. So completely different than a planned attack where I’m in control.”

Karina brushed away a stray red curl that had escaped her ponytail. “That’s the problem with vampires. They don’t give a warning.”

I met her gaze and paused for a few long seconds. “Tell me something; how do you eat?”

Her eyes widened momentarily, and then softened. “I knew you’d ask me that one day.”

I didn’t respond to that, just sat and waited for a response.

“Blood bags, mostly.”

Looking at Evan, I said, “Does she feed from you?”

Karina said, “Yes,” at the exact same time Evan replied, “We feed on each other.”

My lips twitched in amusement, and I said, “Oh really?”

They looked at each other, and Karina nodded. “Only during... ah, certain times.” Both having the grace to look embarrassed, I realized what they meant.

My face fell. “Wait, back up. What did you say, Evan? You feed on her, too?” I asked, eyebrows raised.

“You...” He ran his hand along the back of his neck. “You don’t drink blood at all? Like ever?”

I made a face. “Yes, unfortunately, I have, but usually when I’m the wolf. You?”

“Yes, but only from Karina, since I don’t need—”

I shook my head and got up as I held up a hand. “I get it, no need to elaborate. Didn’t mean to get into your personal lives. I was just trying to prove that vampires don’t need to go around attacking randoms in the dead of night.”

“No, they most certainly don’t. He was probably newly made, if he hadn’t detected your scent before he attacked. No seasoned vampire would attack a fellow vamp, nor would they prey on one who smelled of wolf, even if only slightly,” Evan said.

I had reached my small kitchen and was filling an old teakettle with water. I looked lovingly at it. My mom had given it to me as a graduation present. It had been passed down through the generations—having belonged to a long line of witches, I could only assume. It was cornflower blue with a white floral pattern on it.

I switched on the burner and set the kettle down on it after wiping excess water from it rusty bottom. I busied myself by rummaging through my cabinets for some teabags.

“We’re proud of you,” Karina said, suddenly in my kitchen.

“Don’t do that,” I said, clamping my jaw shut and staring at her crystal-blue eyes.

“Do what?” she asked, smiling. “We really are proud of you. I’m not patronizing—”

I put my hand up. “No, not what you said, what you did. Don’t use vampire speed in my house. Please. I’m already on edge.”

Evan laughed, and I looked over him. Damn handsome devil he was. His dark hair had just been cut and he had his hands in the pockets of his khaki pants. His dark polo shirt fit him perfectly. “She didn’t use vampire speed. We just walked over here. It’s not like this place is gigantic.”

I found the box of tea and looked him. “Fuck you, Evan. I like this place.”

They both laughed. Karina grabbed the box from my hand and set it on the counter. She forced me to face her, and then wrapped me in a hug. Being a little bit taller than me, she rested the side of her jaw against my temple. “It’s okay to be upset. Just be happy you had the training to take out that stupid baby vamp. We are beaming with pride right now, Ayla. You can cry and scream if you need to. You’ve been victimized by vampires one too many times in your young life.” She squeezed me tighter as a small cry jerked out of my lips. She wasn’t warm, but she was comforting, and I was grateful. I nodded as she continued. “These experiences are going to make you a very powerful hunter. Evan and I saw something very unique in you—even before we met you.”

I pulled back and looked up at her with tears clouding my vision. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something. How did you guys find me to begin with? Like, know who I was?”

Evan spoke first. “There is a member of your pack named Sam—”

The teakettle whistled that it was ready and I went over to it. Putting three teabags into three mugs, I poured the hot water into each and set the kettle back onto the stove after shutting off the burners.

I looked at Evan. “Continue.” I went to my fridge to pull out some milk. I splashed some into one cup.

He cleared his throat. “So Sam’s parents belong to my ‘pack’.” He put up air quotes with his fingers.

“You have a pack?” I asked as I stirred the milk around. “Milk?” I asked, pointing to the cup.

“Sure,” he said.

I looked at Karina and pointed. She nodded.

“I do have one,” Evan continued. “I just don’t shift with them. I mean, what’s the point?”

Chuckling without much humor, I handed a teacup to Karina, then to him, and said, “I can understand that. I think I’m done going to Wolfe Point with my brother and boyfriend. I mean, it’s a stupid waste of time. I can just stay in my apartment and be ugly.”

Evan laughed as I grabbed my own cup and joined them back in the living room.

“Wolfe Point?” he asked, grinning.

I lifted my chin, biting back a smile. “Austyn named it that. It just kind of stuck.”

He nodded. “So where is it?”

Waving a hand, I said, “Somewhere up by Golden Gate State Park. But don’t worry, we stay away from the campers and tourists.”

Evan grinned. “Of that, I have no doubt.”

I sipped my tea and then looked at Karina, who was just staring at me with curious eyes. Her steaming tea sat untouched on the coffee table. Indicating it with my chin, I said, “You can’t drink tea?”

She looked at it, then back to me. “I can, I just don’t want to right now. I just, ah, fed before we came here.”

I didn’t want to know how, especially if I had interrupted something between her and Evan, so I simply nodded and put my attention back to Evan.

“It’s good tea,” he said before I could ask him a question.

“I’m sure,” Karina said, winking at her husband.

I stared at him, envious of the way he looked at her. Ryder used to look at me like that. Now, I never see him. Shaking him from my thoughts, I said, “So, you just shift in the house at the full moon, and your vampire brothers don’t care?”

He put his gaze back to me and his lips twitched. “They used to lock me in a cage in the basement when we lived in Texas.”

My eyes widened temporarily and then I bit back a laugh. “Yeah?”

He nodded. “Yep. Now the basement’s mine. Full man-cave down there. I just chill down there three days a month. Fully stocked fridge, satellite TV, X-Box, and the best part, no clothes, and no vampires. Aside from the pain and the rage, I look forward to the full moon sometimes.”

Karina tinkled out a laugh, at the same I snorted.

“He’s exaggerating. He hates being separated from me for three days,” she said, amusement in her eyes.

I shrugged. “Sounds great to me. I’d invite myself to spend a full moon with you, but no thanks if you’re not wearing clothes.” I made a face.

“I can put on shorts.”

I laughed, then paused before asking, “Ever go out on Halloween when there’s a full moon?”

He furrowed his brow for a minute and said, “No, but that might be fun.”

“There’s not another full moon on Halloween for four years,” Karina commented.

“Damn. Well, we’ll have to remember that,” I said, winking at Evan.

“Mature,” Karina said, getting up and going to look out the bank of windows.

I chanced a glance at Evan and worried my lip. He looked at me too, and said, “Babe, we’re joking, I hope you know that. Isn’t that right, Ayla?”

I set my teacup down and went over to her. “Of course we are. I think it’s just because...” I was struggling to find the right words.

“Because you’re both hybrids. I am glad you two have found each other,” she said turning around to face us. “I really am. It’s been so hard on Evan.” She reached up and put her hand on his face, as he was staring down at her with that same look.

“Gag, you two,” I said, shaking my head.

I went to the table to grab my tea and saw it was almost empty. I made my way to the kitchen and set my cup down. “Oh hey, Evan, guess what?”

“What?” he asked, but I didn’t look up to see if they were still being gross.

“I had a psychic blackout about Linden,” I said casually, biting back a smile.

I looked up and they were both in my space before I could blink. My eyes widened and Karina grinned. “I used vampire speed that time.”

“No, really?” I deadpanned.

“Well?” Evan asked eagerly.

I narrowed my eyes at him after pouring some more hot water into my cup. “You have vampire speed?”

He looked amused. “Yes, of course. You don’t?”

“No,” I replied, feeling envious.

“You sure?” Karina asked. “Actually, let’s finish up this tea party and go find out. You can tell us about your dream-vision on the way.”

“Fine,” I said, leaving the teacup full of tea and going to the living room to put on my boots.

Chapter 11

Evan looked at Karina, and his frustration matched mine. “I don’t know how to teach her,” he said.

She flicked her gaze briefly at her husband, and then gestured to the track stretched out in front of us, looking at me. “Just run, Ayla.”

I groaned. “You had to bring me back to my high school? I mean, I was more of a cheerleader type back then. I left the track-and-field shit to the real athletes.”

She laughed. “We know. Go ahead and just run. We’ve worked on fighting, but we’ve failed to see if you can blitz.”

I did a double-take at to her. “Blitz?”

“Yeah, what you refer to as ‘vampire speed’. We call it blitzing.”

“Okay, that’s laaame,” I murmured.

A hard shove from behind had me pin-wheeling my arms in order to keep from falling.

“Hey!” I yelled and then looked behind me.

Karina was smirking at me. “Go. Fucking. Run.”

That was the first time I’d heard her curse, so I figured she meant business. I laughed and took off in a sprint around the track. As I ran, I recalled the conversation I’d had with them on the way here in his G-Wagon.

“He sits on a big, red throne?” Evan asked, amused.

“Yes, at least that’s what it looked like. Was drinking something from a metal cup, very weird,” I replied.

“He thinks he’s a god, so that makes sense,” he replied.

“You know him at all?” I had asked.

He glanced at me in the rearview mirror, then put his eyes back on the road. “Yes, I know a lot about him like we told you at the bar. We just can’t seem to locate him.”

“I know a witch,” I said, suddenly remembering something I’d seen in a TV show a few years ago.

Karina turned and looked at me. “Don’t bother, we already tried a locator spell with one of Raf’s witch friends. He has his own witch, apparently, who’s put a block on locator spells to find him.”

“Raf?”

“My brother,” she replied.

I sighed. “Well, I’m gonna find him, and I’m gonna kill him.”

Evan chuckled as he turned the corner. “You better get in line, sister. He has a lot of enemies. But if you find him first, you get first crack. I just hope I’m there to give you a hand.”

I strange feeling of relief washed over me. “You’re gonna help me?”

Karina twisted around in the front seat and looked at me. “Of course we are. You’ll do the killing, and we’ll handle the cleanup.”

This made me smile. “Can Aden come?” I asked, feeling like I was twelve again and had been invited to a roller-skating party.

“Sure, the more, the merrier. We could use all the help we can get,” Evan said.

I hadn’t realized I’d reached the end of the track when Karina was suddenly in my face. I halted quickly and put my hands on my hips.

She looked down at a stopwatch in her hand. “Sixty-two seconds.” She made a tsking noise. “Not good enough.”

I turned and looked at the track, remembering, that, on a good day, Ryder had run that track in one minute, eighteen seconds. I pierced her with a serious stare. “You’re joking.”

She lifted her chin, her serious gaze drilling into mine. “I am not.”

I grew angry and was about to pop off a smartass comeback about her vampire speed when I suddenly realized something odd. “Huh... this is... weird. I’m not even winded.”

Evan joined us. “Not really.” He looked at his wife. “I think it’ll kick in when she’s scared.”

Karina turned her attention to him. “That’s the problem; she’s a fighter not a flighter, so we may never know.”

I huffed, my hands on my hips. “How is that a problem?”

Evan grinned and put his hand on my shoulder. “It’s not, my friend. Don’t worry.”

“Maybe I just don’t have vampire speed... er, I mean... ah, blitzing ability.”

“Can you hypnotize people? Evan suddenly asked. We call it allusion.”

My eyes went wide. “What? No?”

“I can,” he replied, amused.

“Well, I don’t think I can.”

“We’ll try it on your brother later,” he replied, chuckling. “I bet he has allusion abilities himself.”

“It’s a werewolf thing?”

“No,” Karina answered for him. “Both vamps and wolves have it. You have probably used it and not even known it.”

“Great,” I replied dryly. “I had this cool ability this whole time and didn’t know it?”

“Your brothers should have told you,” Evan said, a serious expression coloring his face.

“Well, they didn’t.” I shook my head and began walking away, getting irrationally angry. “You suck, Evan. You can ‘blitz’, and ‘allure’ people. You’re the more superior hybrid, we get it.” I stopped walking and looked over my shoulder at him. “What I don’t get is... I was born a wolf. By blood! You were just a human and now you get all the cool tricks.” I shook my head and walked away. “Why do the gods hate me?”

With his arms folded over his chest, he replied, “They don’t hate you, Ayla St. John. You are destined for something great. We just have to figure out what your secret weapon is.”

I stopped walking and pulled out my dagger from my waistband. I held it up and watched as the moonlight glinted off it. I craned my head around to face him. “This is my secret weapon.”

With an eyebrow cocked at me, Evan said, “It is, indeed, but you’ll need more than metal and muscle to take down an Old One like Linden.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Okay, wait. Firstly, ‘Old One’?” I asked, making air quotes with my fingers. “What the crap does that mean?”

Evan looked at Karina, and she answered for him. “Any vampire older than five hundred is an Old One. They’re stronger and faster, and a have a hell of a lot of followers willing to do anything for them.”

Twirling the dagger between my fingers, I looked down at it, then back to Evan. “Okaaayy, but why are these younger vampires so willing to do anything for an Old One? Fear?”

He looked at Karina, and she nodded. “And they have money. You live a long time, you accumulate a lot of it.”

The thought had never occurred to me before, but I guessed it made sense. Still, I was not gonna kiss anyone’s ass for anything. “Well, that’s just pathetic.”

Karina laughed. “Yeah, to you. Not to others. Especially those turned against their will and have lost everything human they once had for security.”

“I guess I could see that,” I said on a sigh, immediately feeling sympathetic toward those who were turned involuntarily. Although, on the flip side, I wasn’t sure why anyone would choose to be a vampire. I myself was turned against my will, so I could certainly relate.

Evan looked at his watch. “Let’s go to the gym for some training and then we’ll pay your attacker a visit at his suburban home.”

“Oh, about that,” I said. “He’s got a name. Alexander Von Brass.”

His gaze flicked up to mine. “Wow, you found out his name? That’s amazing.”

“Google is my friend,” I replied, winking at him.

A glance at the dash clock on the Mercedes read 3:11 a.m. We were parked in front of the business building where we knew Alexander and other vamps hung out at this time of night. The problem was, this time, that scary female vampire creature was inside, and she and Alexander were having sex. We hadn’t seen her since the so-called orgy the first night we’d stalked his house. Something about her caused us all to shudder, and not in a good way.

Karina had her finger to her lip as she stared at the building, from the front seat. “Ya know, she could be an essential demon,” she said, almost to herself.

Evan looked over at her. “But we saw her feeding, like a vampire. I thought people couldn’t switch species.”

She shook her head. “They can’t, but demons can masquerade as any species they want. Remember we were talking about their powers of allusion? So much stronger than ours.”

I groaned. “Great. So how do we kill this demon? Because frankly, she’s in my way and her creepy factor is messing with my mojo.”

“Yeah,” Aden said from beside me in the backseat, “no way I’d hit that. Way too scary. She obviously has tricked him into it.”

I laughed. “Wow, Aden, I didn’t think you had standards. Good to know!”

“Fuck you, Ayla. You know I don’t mess with vampires anyway.” He shot a look at Karina. “No offense.”

She laughed, with a wave of her hand. “None taken. I’d never go near a wolf anyway, too much of a chance of getting scratched or bitten.”

She didn’t need to explain why she was with Evan, who was half wolf, but their situation was different.

“So, how do we kill it?” I asked, pointing at the building.

Karina’s brow furrowed. “You need a blessed dagger or weapon. Regular ones don’t work.”

“Even if I lop her head off with a machete or something?” Aden asked.

“I don’t know,” Karina said. “But I imagine they have some kind of protection against beheadings.”

“Blessed by whom?” I asked, curious.

“Any holy man will do. Catholic priests are the most common because they are most accessible.”

Note to self: Visit a church tomorrow.

“Think there are any open now? What if we stick it in holy water?” I asked.

“I already did that before I gave it to you, remember?” Aden reminded me.

“No,” Evan said. “Churches are locked up tight at this hour. Furthermore, no, holy water alone won’t do it. Doesn’t even work on vampires.”

“Good to know,” I replied.

“Because we aren’t evil,” Karina added.

“I got it,” I said, biting back a smile.

My phone rang. Speaking of vampires.

“Hi, Beck, long time no talk.”

“Hey, girl. I miss your face. We need to get together soon,” he replied.

“I agree. What are you up to?”

“Nothing, just chillin’ at home, working. I was just thinking about you.”

The three in the car were staring at me as if the call was life-changing or something. I turned away from their prying gazes. “Aw that’s sweet. I miss you, too. We could hang out tomorrow.”

“What are you doing right now?” he asked.

“On a stakeout. Gonna try to kill my attacker.”

He made a scoffing noise. “You still haven’t taken care of that? What’s wrong with you? Just meet him outside his house and put an end to him!”

“It’s not that easy, I’m afraid. He leaves out through the garage, then drives straight to a building full of vamps. Although tonight I suspect he’s bumping uglies with an ‘essential demon’—whatever the hell that is.”

“Ew! Are you serious? Those things are nasty and scary. He must be under a serious allusion.”

Annoyed that he had never told me about allusion, I decided to address it later. “Remember the scary frightening woman he was having an orgy with? Yeah, that’s her.”

“Holy crap,” he breathed. “That makes sense now. You’re sure she’s a demon, though?”

“What other explanation is there? Of how terrified we all felt?”

He was quiet for a minute, and replied, “You’re right. Scary-ass bitch. Make sure you get your fancy new dagger blessed by a priest or else you won’t be able to kill her.”

I laughed. “I just love how everyone has all this information about the supernatural world, but nobody ever bothers to fill me in on it. It’s like Ayla gets to learn the hard way!”

“Hey,” he said, and I heard some keys clacking from where he was typing, “you don’t ask, we don’t know what to tell you. I can’t read minds, you know.”

I rolled my eyes, and then put my sights back on the building, where I saw my two targets emerge and begin walking freely on the street.

“Gotta go, Beck. See you tomorrow. Text me with the when and where.”

I hung up and watched curiously as they actually held hands and began strolling down the street as if it were a nice spring day and they were on their way to the lake to have a picnic.

“What the hell?” Aden whispered as we all watched the couple continue to walk.

“Fuck it, let’s follow them,” I said, pointing at them.

Evan nodded and started up the SUV, leaving his headlights off.

He waited until the couple went around the corner of the next block and then drove slowly in that direction.

“So, what can this so-called demon do to us?” I asked to no one in particular as we quietly parked on the corner and watched them continue to walk.

“Possession, mind control. Like that woman. She’s not actually the demon, there’s just one inside the poor lady,” Karina answered quietly.

I shuddered. “No shit. Well, how do we get it out?”

Karina glanced at her husband, then looked back at me. “We have to kill the host.”

“What!” My eyes went wide. “We can’t save her?”

Evan shook his head. “I don’t think so. The only other option is if the demon chooses to leave the host, then she might live.”

“I’m gonna call Sanja,” I said under my breath, pulling my phone out.

“A witch might help,” Karina said thoughtfully.

Aden put his hand on my arm. “Ayla, it’s three in the morning. She’s a student. Don’t wake her up.”

I nodded and put my phone away. “You’re right. Man, I am losing all sense of reality anymore.”

The couple stopped walking and we watched as Alexander put the demon woman up against the wall of a closed deli window and began kissing her.

“Gross,” Aden groaned.

“What is this mind-control said you said about demons earlier?” I pointed at the couple, but then looked at Karina. “Is that what she’s doing to him?”

“Most likely,” she replied, putting a pale finger to her mouth. “But maybe not. She is very beautiful.”

“But she’s scary as fuck,” Aden said. “How is he not scared of her, when even you guys know to keep your distance?”

“He’s very young,” Evan replied. “It probably didn’t take much allusion.”

Through the darkly tinted windows of the SUV, we watched as Alexander reared his head back and bared his fangs. The demon twisted her neck to the side to allow him access, and as he bit down into her jugular, a strange gray cloud seemed to float out of her smiling mouth and hover over the both of them, before it shot lightning-fast into Alexander’s mouth, at which time they both dropped unconscious to the ground below.

“Holy shit!” I gasped, grabbing the door handle and rushing out of the vehicle along with the rest of the group. We ran over and Evan picked up the woman’s body and blitzed back to the car with it. I stood over Alexander’s body while Karina yelled at me to get in the car.

With my dagger twirling in my fingers, I spun it one last time in my fingers.

“Ayla, no! Leave it alone! Get away from that thing!” I faintly heard my brother yell.

I grinned. “Fuck that, I’m finishing this.”

I heard Karina behind me. “We don’t know what happens to the demon when you kill the host. It could jump into you, me, or any one of us. Please, let’s do this the right way and get the dagger blessed so we can send it back to Hell. You’ll most likely just end up pissing it off.”

“I don’t care about the demon. I just want to kill Alexander,” I snarled.

I felt arms grab me around the waist and drag me away. Aden. “Let’s go, we do this another day.”

Just then, Alexander opened both eyes, which were jet-black with no whites at all, and smiled up at us, fangs proudly on display. “You want to play, wolf?”

It jumped up and lunged at us. Aden let go of me and snatched the dagger from my fist. He lifted his arm up high and then sliced downward. He took off Alexander’s hand, to which he began to shriek as the blood squirted out of it in gory red arcs.

I screamed like a banshee as the blood hit me in the face, and Aden dragged me to the G-Wagon. I pushed the woman’s body to the middle of the seat and got in. Aden hopped in, practically on top of me, and slammed the doors closed as Evan drove off, tires screeching.

“Head to the hospital. We’ll drop this woman off, and then figure out what to do after that,” Karina ordered.

Evan nodded.

I looked at the unconscious woman, still a little scared of her, but I knew the demon was gone. I could hear her heart beating faintly and was glad we were going to get her to the hospital.

I turned around and watched as Alexander-demon ran toward the SUV holding his bleeding stump and looking murderous.

I put up both middle fingers and said, “Explain that to your fake family, asshole!”

Chapter 12

Just when I thought I had gotten all the blood out of my hair, I peered closer to the bathroom mirror and saw more blackish sludge in my blonde bangs. I groaned and wetted another paper towel and began to scrub. When I was sure that was out, I inspected my face and neck carefully to see if I had any more blood. Satisfied it was clean, I left the bathroom to head back into the bar.

It was close to four a.m. and I loved that Moon Chasers stayed open until six. I needed a breather.

As I walked down the hall, I smacked right into a tall, solid wall of delicious-smelling goodness. I looked up slowly to see Kellan smiling down at me.

“Hello little wolf,” he said silkily.

I swallowed hard. “Hi.”

He slithered an arm around my waist and pulled me to him. I involuntarily wrapped my arms around him, resting my head on his chest, and almost melted. I hadn’t realized until that very moment how much comforting I’d needed.

Kellan pulled back slightly and looked at me with alarm in his eyes. “Why do you smell like demon blood?”

My eyes widened, and as I was about to tell him the story about what had happened, I remembered my vision from earlier. I wanted to be mad at him for spying on me, but knew I couldn’t. I had to remain on his side in order to get to Linden. Plus, his scent and damn sexy voice just seemed to disarm me every time.

I’m so weak.

I pulled back slightly and cleared my voice. “Uh, Aden cut the hand off a demon, and I kinda got in the way.”

His jaw tightened with what I could only assume was annoyance, and he gripped me gently by both arms. “Why is your brother slaying demons? That is very dangerous! You both stay away from them, do you hear me?”

I yanked an arm out of his grip. “Geez, Kellan, I haven’t even told you the full story. He didn’t start out his night intent on slaying a demon. It wasn’t like that...”

Before I could finish my sentence, Kellan blitzed into the men’s room so fast my ponytail blew in his wind. I shook my head. I would never understand that silly, infuriating vampire.

Until I saw Aden come down the hall toward me. “Are you okay? You’d been in the bathroom a while, just came to check on you.”

I looped my arm through his. “Yep, just great. I need a drink, then my bed.”

He laughed. “Me, too. Except I gotta be at the jobsite at nine, so I will have one drink with you, then I need to get a couple hours’ sleep.”

We sat at the table where Evan and Karina were nursing beers, and I ordered a round of tequila shots from the server. When she returned and asked if we needed anything else, I realized we all hadn’t eaten anything all night, so I ordered burgers for the wolves and let the vampire girl sip her beer.

I looked around the bar, and was a little astounded to see it somewhat busy. Although it really shouldn’t have surprised me, since they were all vampires and the sun wasn’t close to being up yet.

Kellan caught my eye as he came out from the hallway leading to the restrooms. His eyes met mine, and with the slightest incline of his head, indicated for me to follow him.

I nodded slightly back at him.

“To be-handing Alexander the Asshole,” I said, lifting my tequila shot. The others lifted theirs, and after clinking them together, we slammed them back.

A hot shudder ran down my insides, and I set the glass down. I stood up and said, “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Karina asked.

“I’ll be right back, I promise.” I smiled at her. “Just need some air.”

She lifted an eyebrow, but I ignored her.

I pushed the front door to the bar open and stepped out into the cool mountain air. Kellan stood on the corner of the street, and I turned right and walked toward him.

Once I reached him, I shoved my hands into my pockets like some nervous teenager. “What’s up?” I asked.

He reached down and pulled both hands out and placed them around his neck. Then he looped his arms around my waist and pulled me flush against his body. “What have you been up to, Ayla? I need you to be truthful with me.”

I wasn’t sure I was crazy about his demanding attitude, but I had to remind myself of how old he truly was, and that he probably came from a completely different era.

Flicking my gaze between his two burning blue orbs, I slowly nodded and said, “Can we go somewhere else and do this?”

“Absolutely, love,” he replied, smiling. He grabbed my hand and led me around the corner to where his Porsche was parked. He opened the door, helped me inside, then went around and got into the driver’s seat, starting it up.

Kellan put the car in drive and squealed out of the parking lot, driving at blinding speeds down the downtown streets.

“Do you always drive this fast?” I asked, barely able to see the passing landscape as it blurred past.

A half-smirk ticked up on his cheek, but he kept his eyes on the road. “Yes.”

“Where are we going?” I asked, curious.

“Somewhere else to ‘do this’,” he replied, quoting me.

After deciding fastening my seatbelt was a good idea, I looked up and shifted my entire body toward him. “Okay, and where is that?”

He didn’t answer me, but instead punched the accelerator and went even faster.

I decided I’d better shoot off a text to my brother, and I did, telling him I was going home. I shoved the phone into my pocket, and after a few short, silent minutes, we arrived at my apartment complex. Confusion on my features, I looked at him. “You know where I live?”

He parked the sports car and killed the engine. He turned his head slightly at me with faux confusion on his face. “Oh. You live here?”

I bit back a smile. “Stop screwing around.”

He chuckled and pulled put the key in his pocket, got out of the car, and opened my door. Helping me out with one hand on mine, I stood, and he closed the door behind me. Before I could walk, he chuckled and said, “Of course I know where you live, little wolf.”

As I was about to protest some more, he pressed me against the side of the car. Reaching up with one hand, he gently slid the ponytail holder from my hair and dropped it to the ground without breaking eye contact with me. Kellan then reached up and tangled his fingers in my hair, gently gripping it at the scalp. He used my head to push me closer toward him, and when he captured my mouth with his, I groaned and gave up no resistance.

What was it about this vampire that made me all gooey and compliant?

I couldn’t put a finger on it, but I wasn’t sure I liked the vulnerability he brought out in me.

While his warm tongue mingled with mine, I reached up and raked my fingernails through his hair, scraping them around to the back of his head where I drew circles against his skin as he continued to devour my mouth in a hungry, possessive move.

When he finally broke the kiss, his chest was heaving. “Let’s go inside.”

I nodded absently and let him lead me toward the building, where I used my key to get us inside. We kissed all the way up inside the elevator—which I never, ever used for safety reasons. But Kellan made me feel safe. Which was the exact opposite of how I should feel with a vampire who I knew had been spying on me.

Why? I didn’t know, but I would find out.

I unlocked my door and after we were inside, Kellan locked it quickly. He then turned around and grabbed my hand and led me to the couch, which sat near the bank of windows.

A quick glance at the oven clock told me it was almost five in the morning. I wasn’t tired; I was actually feeling invigorated. I just wasn’t sure why I had a very sexy, mysterious vampire in my apartment.

What am I doing?

Did I want Kellan? Hell yes, I did. I hadn’t been this attracted to anyone for as long as I could remember.

But, then I did remember.

Ryder.

What was going on with us? It seemed as though we were just going through the motions, wearing labels: Boyfriend/girlfriend.

Truth was, I hadn’t seen him in almost two weeks. A text here, a call here. Our relationship was beginning to fizzle out, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. All he talked about was his career, how the job at the prison was just a stepping-stone for what he really wanted to do: Big time federal law enforcement. And I was happy for him. I knew he would be good at it. I just worried about how the whole werewolf thing would affect him.

We’d been together since we were teens. Were we even the same people anymore? I still loved him, I knew that. But how much could I actually love him if I so willingly let Kellan into my apartment, and from the way things were looking... into my bed soon?

Kellan’s slow-running tongue up my neck distracted me from all thoughts of Ryder as we sat on my sofa, the twinkling lights of downtown Denver the only light inside my apartment.

I groaned out loud and reached up, unbuttoning his shirt as quickly as my nimble fingers would allow. Once I had reached the bottom button, I broke the kiss, and, without breaking eye contact, shoved the black silk obtrusion off his shoulders. The pale, sculpted chest and stomach underneath caused another groan to float out of my mouth, which in turn made a small smile twist up on his beautiful mouth.

“My turn, gorgeous,” he said in that delicious accent of his. My black leather jacket came off easily enough, but the skintight black tee was a bit of challenge. Growing inpatient, Kellan grabbed it at the V-neck and used both hands to tear it down the center.

I gasped.

Smiling in triumph, he tossed the shreds over his shoulder. That left me in nothing but a black-and-white polka dotted bra and my black leather pants.

“Fuck,” he groaned, looking down at me.

Biting my lip, I stared at him, completely aroused by his response to my body. I finally whispered, “Like what you see?”

He nodded, then looked at me and breathed, “Oh, yes I do.”

Leaning down, he kissed me again. I arched my head back, and as I slowly closed my eyes, a headache ripped through my skull, and then my world went dark.

“I’ve got two grand here, take it or leave it. You don’t get to raise the price as soon as you see that I’m serious about doing business with you,” said the strange vampire, his jaw bunching in anger.

Alexander smiled wickedly at the man. “Actually, I do. It’s twenty-five hundred. It’s an entire fuckin’ trunkful. I’m not gonna let it go cheap. Come on, dude. It’s B-positive and O-neg only. The good stuff.”

The vampire, whose jet-black hair and once-olive skin looked sickly under the orange streetlamp of the parking lot, narrowed his eyes at Alexander, who I just now noticed had his left arm tucked into the pocket of his jacket.

The other vampire stared him down for a bit, then relented, reaching into his pants pocket. “Fine.” He counted out the bills and slapped them into Alexander’s open right hand, where Alexander quickly folded them and tucked them into his pants pocket.

The other vampire grabbed the three large Igloo coolers out of the trunk and set them on the ground. Alexander closed the trunk and said, “Pleasure doing business with you.”

The vampire blitzed off toward an SUV, loaded the coolers inside, and took off.

Alexander slowly went into the sedan and drove away with one hand on the steering wheel and a wicked grin on his ugly mouth.

“Ayla!” A stinging slap to my cheek had me bolting upright.

“Ow!” I cried, rubbing my face.

Kellan’s concerned eyes were inches from mine. “Oh, thank God. What in the hell happened to you?”

“Did you have to slap me?” I asked, hurt both physically and a little emotionally.

“I’m so sorry, love. I didn’t know what else to do. I could hear your heartbeat, but you weren’t waking up. Are you a diabetic or something?”

I shook my head and looked at him. “Have you ever met a diabetic werewolf, Kellan? Come on now.”

“Actually, yes. I agree it’s rare, but—”

I stood up and sighed, going to stand in front of the windows. I looked out on the city and the horizon, which was beginning to lighten with pinks and oranges. “Sometimes I black out. It’s happened a few times since... the incident.” Crap. Why was I telling him this?

He was suddenly behind me, his cool, bare chest pressed up against my nearly bare back. “What do you mean you black out?”

Without turning around, I sighed again. No way was I going to tell him about the visions. He was a very smart and very old vampire. He would catch on way too fast. “I just do. Since I became a hybrid. It sucks.”

He gently turned me around to face him. “What happens during these... blackouts?” The look on his face and the concern in his eyes almost had me defused.

The urge to spill my secret was so great, I almost caved to the pressure. Biting my lip in contemplation, I hesitated for a minute before saying, “Nothing. I black out, then I come to a couple minutes later.”

His eyes slightly narrowed as if he didn’t believe me, or he thought I was holding something back. I mean, in reality, I was. But I held steady, not revealing more, and he slightly relaxed, and then he finally spoke. “That’s very bizarre. I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Know a lot of hybrids, do you? I mean, what would happen if you were scratched or bitten by a wolf?”

His eyes widened temporarily, then he recovered. “I would become very ill. Possibly die.”

I jutted my chin toward the couch. “Yet, you sit there and kiss me like you don’t have a care in the world. What if I bit your lip or your tongue while we’re making out? What if I were to scratch your back while you’re making love to me? Hmm?”

“I do not believe your scratch or bite would cause enough harm for death. I may get a little sickness, but nothing I couldn’t recover from. Not only are you not a full wolf anymore, it would take you being in your wolf form to harm me that badly. Besides, you don’t strike me as a biter.”

I grinned. “Oh really? What about a scratcher? What if I’m so out of control during sex, I rip your back open with my claws?”

He made a tsk-tsk sound with his tongue, and said, “First off, such filthy talk from such a pretty mouth. Secondly, I don’t believe you are that out of control. You strike me as a very controlled girl in... that arena.”

I reached up and ran my thumb along his jaw, which was covered in a thin layer of dark brown scruff. “So only you get to talk filthy to me?”

He stared down at me and nodded very slightly.

“Is that so?”

“Is what so?” he came back.

“That I’m a controlled girl in that... arena.” I chewed my lip.

“It is so, and I will find out.” He brushed my hair out of my eyes and smoothed it over my shoulder. “One day.”

Surprised, I looked up at him. “Not tonight?”

He shook his head. “No.” He looked out the windows to the quickly pinking horizon and said, “I don’t see any blackout curtains on these windows, and I would rather not die by the sun, so I will be back another time, early in the evening, where we will have all night to devour each other.” He leaned down and nipped my bottom lip with his perfectly straight, white teeth. I giggled—freaking giggled—and then launched into a searing kiss with him.

It made me breathless and, well, horny. But when I opened my eyes, he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him.

With a sigh, I fell into bed, pondering the vision of Alexander and his selling of human blood.

“You just keep giving me reasons to murder you,” I whispered before falling asleep.

Chapter 13

Truth was, I did have curtains for the big block of windows; I just never used them. Technically they weren’t hotel-quality blackout curtains, but they worked when I needed them to. I probably should have used them more often, but for some reason I didn’t have any problems sleeping during the day with just the regular blinds drawn. I didn’t need that much sleep anyway, so when I fell asleep at six a.m. and woke at one-thirty p.m., I was totally rested.

My cell was almost dead when I checked it. A few angry texts from Aden replying to the message I’d sent him from Kellan’s car. He really had no idea who Kellan was, but I had a hard time explaining him to my brother. By my casual comments, I had passed Kellan off as just a hookup, casual sex thing, and as a guy himself, he sort of understood. But he also knew I was still entangled with Ryder, and while he would never ‘tell’ on me to him, I definitely had some ’splainin’ to do.

I shot off a quick text to Aden, telling him I needed to see him, and then plugged it into the charger. I stalked to the bathroom for a much-needed shower. As I stripped off the clothes I’d slept in—and by clothes I mean the leather pants and bra, I kicked the door shut, and then stepped into the steamy shower, groaning as the hot water pounded my back and head.

So much had happened last night. I used a double dose of shampoo to make sure all the vampire blood—or was it demon blood?—was out of my hair, and then scrubbed my body clean into oblivion. I had a busy evening ahead of me. After what my blackout-vision had showed me of what Alexander was up to, he was gonna die tonight. Fuck all this pussyfooting around. If I had to break into his house and kill him and everyone in the house, I was gonna do it and be done with it.

Once I was as clean as I was gonna get, I stepped out and wrapped my hair in a towel, then another around my body. I could hear my cell ringing from the kitchen, but I paid it no mind.

Once I was dried off and dressed, I blow-dried my hair and then pinned it up into a messy bun before stalking to the kitchen to get something to eat for my grumbling belly.

The fridge and pantry were both in a sad state, so I grabbed my little purse and keys and headed out the door for some coffee and food. I took the stairs down two at a time, and once I reached the lobby, I smiled and waved at the resident security guard, Tim, and stalked out into the late afternoon sunshine.

As I walked to the local grocery, I thought about my night with Kellan. How awful it would be not to be able to feel the sun on my face. And why was he living in a state that had over 300 days of sun a year? That was just dumb.

I grinned, thinking about the popular vampire novel I had read in middle school about how vampires were forced to live in upper Washington State where there was hardly any sun.

Smart.

I grabbed a cart from the front of the store, then headed straight to the back where they always had the coffee samples. I filled the tiny paper cup with some from the machine, and proceeded to slam down four more cups. I then filled up a fifth to drink while I walked around the store.

As I turned down the second aisle, I made eye contact with a young woman in a fitted black business suit, a red shirt underneath unbuttoned down to her cleavage. She nodded at me without smiling, which I thought was odd, but whatever. I also noticed she didn’t have a basket or any items in her hands. I ignored her and put some frozen meals into my cart and keep rolling until I reached the next aisle. As I was deciding on which cereal to get, I saw her again, and she was watching me. I decided to just finish my shopping and ignore her. If she kept staring at me or, God forbid, followed me out, I would deal with it. I did try to get close enough to her as I passed by to get a scent, but there was nothing. She was just human, as far as I could tell.

Once I had everything I needed, I went to the register to pay, and noticed my strange stalker was gone. I took a brief look around the store and didn’t see her. I tossed my coffee cup into a nearby trashcan on my way out of the store, and as I was fishing for my sunglasses from my purse, I froze when I saw the lady standing against a car parked in the first aisle. She wasn’t looking at it or getting in, she was just leaning on it. It was a newer-looking plain sedan with federal government plates.

I found my sunglasses and put them on my face as I stared her down. She watched me carefully as I went to go around the building to walk back to my apartment. The bags were heavy, but nothing I couldn’t handle. When she lifted off the car and followed me down the sidewalk, I immediately stopped and turned around.

“What do you want?” I asked her. She was now about five feet from me, her own sunglasses on.

She reached into the breast pocket of her suit and produced an official-looking badge. “Ms. St. John, do you have somewhere we can go and talk?”

I was alarmed, wondering what was going on. Was I in trouble for cutting off Alexander’s hand last night? (Even though I hadn’t done the actual cutting). Did he call the cops on me for stalking his house? As far as I was aware, he didn’t even know we’d been watching him.

I glanced down at her badge and read it:

Special Agent Jessica Swift

U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

BSI Division

I looked up at her. “Well, I’m on my way home, so why don’t you let me drop these off and I’ll meet you at the coffee shop over there.” I used a bag to indicate The Pour House across the street. The same one I’d met with Evan for the first time.

She nodded. “Very well, I’ll be waiting.”

I rushed home, taking the elevators to save time. I quickly dumped the fridge and freezer things into their respective places, then flew back out the door. I was dying to find out what the frickin’ FBI wanted to talk to me about. If I was in trouble, I would have assumed she wouldn’t have let me out of her sight.

Although, I had no doubts they knew where I lived.

After I arrived at the coffee shop, I ordered a cobb salad and a water at the counter, and brought them over to where Jessica sat.

She was sipping coffee.

“Thank you for agreeing to talk to me,” she said, piercing me with a pair of light bluish-gray eyes. They looked pretty with her light-blonde hair, which she had pinned up into a twist on the back of her head.

“Sure. What’s this about?” I asked.

She set her coffee cup down and folded her hands on the table in front of her. “First, I think I should explain that I work for a sub-department of the FBI called the BSI. It stands for the Bureau of Supernatural Investigation.”

With my fork paused at my mouth, I lifted an eyebrow. “What did you just say?”

She stared hard at me. “You heard me, Ayla.”

“I didn’t think I’d heard you right. So... that’s, like, a real thing? The government knows about us?”

She nodded. “Yes, of course. And it’s my job to make sure that all the supes in my district are behaving themselves.”

I set my fork down and looked around the coffee shop. It was busy, and therefore noisy with the low chatter of voices. Nobody could hear us. Plus, she knew she didn’t need to speak very loudly in order for me to hear her.

“And what makes you think I’m not behaving myself?”

“We don’t think that,” she replied. “We just happen to know that you’ve got your sights set on a certain vampire, and we want to issue a word of warning.”

“Okay, first, which vampire? Because there are a couple on my ‘Vampires Who Are Dead Meat’ list,” I said, finally taking a bite of my salad.

She bit back a smile and continued, “Alexander Von Brass. He’s high-profile because of having been in the news as a missing person. There are more people other than you and your friends watching him, and who want him dead.”

“So, what are you going to do? Arrest me if I kill him? It’s not murder if the fucker is already dead.”

She smiled a little, and I was jealous of her full, red lips. She looked more like a stripper than a special agent. “No, we’re not going to arrest you. We don’t care what other supernaturals you kill. Our only job is to protect humans from you. If you’re caught harming any humans—and I mean any—then you and I are gonna have some problems. We do have a justice system set up for supernaturals, and it’s nothing like the American or human jails and courts.”

My eyes went wide. “Really? You just execute us on the spot?”

“No. We’re not barbarians, Ms. St. John. We have a supernatural prison on a remote island. Pray you never have to visit it.”

“Yikes, okay, duly noted.” I took a drink of my water and watched her watch me. “So you guys really don’t care if I take this guy out? I mean, now that you’ve told me others are watching him, you’ve turned this into a major competition for me. I have to be the one to do it.”

“No, we don’t, but you clean up your messes, you hear me? That mess you made with Elda Stoker was a nightmare.”

“Damn, does anything get past you people? It was my first kill, okay? I did it for money, which was wrong. I only kill for vengeance now.”

Her lip twitched and her eyes danced with amusement. “That’s not true, and you know it, young lady.”

I made a scoffing noise. “Who are you ‘young ladying’? You don’t look any older than me.”

She shook her head. “I am much older than you, but we’re not here to talk about me.”

“I have two very good teachers. They help me clean up when I kill vamps.”

“DustBuster, I know. Very inventive. Probably gets clogged easily, though.”

I lifted a shoulder in a shrug, then swallowed my bite. “I guess. Besides, Evan and Karina only give me jobs where the vamp is a bad guy and needs to die. I don’t go around killing random vampires just for existing. In fact, I have vampire friends.”

“So who’s the other vampire you have your eye on?”

I popped a cherry tomato into my mouth and studied her for a minute, trying to decide if I should tell her. After I swallowed, I decided I had nothing to lose. Maybe she could help me locate him. “Linden. I think his last name is Rich. He’s some kind of leader of the Vlasé.”

She sat back in her set and whistled through her teeth. “Well, you sure aim high.”

I lifted my chin. “I have my reason.”

She folded her arms over her large breasts and said, “Let me guess, he killed your brother.”

“You’re smarter than you look,” I quipped.

She grinned. “Like I’ve never heard that before.”

I nodded. “To answer your question, yes, he did. In cold blood, right in front of me. It’s been a year, and I can’t even get close to the bastard.”

“Good luck with that. He’s very well protected, not to mention, an Old One. He would never be outwitted by a young hunter.”

My eyes twinkled. “Watch me.”

“I would love to. Even we can’t get very close to him.”

“Where does he live or hang out? Do you know?” I asked, feeling excitement bubble up inside me.

“In Aspen, mostly, but he keeps a place here in the Denver area.”

“Can’t tell me where?” I asked, desperate.

She leaned forward and put her hands on the table, lacing them together. “We don’t exactly know, but if you can find him, knock yourself out. He’s a serious menace. Feeds on humans without their consent, kills other supes for what we have determined is really no reason other than to instill fear into lesser vampires, and because he has a temper. Just like he killed your brother for no reason.”

“He didn’t kill Austyn for no reason. I killed his vampire brother, or whatever he was, while I was the wolf. He was just getting revenge.”

“Well, then... aren’t you two even now? A sibling for a sibling.”

That made my blood heat, and I could feel the red creep into my cheeks. “No way. Not even close. I killed the vampire because he was hunting during our shifts. My brothers were trying to chase him out of the area. He jumped out of a tree and we pounced. My pack did what wolves do, we killed a natural enemy. We had no idea who this vampire was. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Linden killed my brother out of pure spite, and on purpose. He’s gonna die for that,” I spat.

“Well, good luck.” She stood up and pulled a business card from the flap of her FBI credentials. She handed it to me. “You call me if you need to report anything, or if you get yourself into a jam. Meanwhile, you remember what we said about humans. They are off-limits, no matter how much they might seem to be in the way.”

I got the message loud and clear: No wiping out Alexander’s family. I smiled and nodded at her, then watched her leave. Remembering the very important errand I had to do today, I quickly finished my salad and left the café, turning left down the street until I saw my destination: St. Matthew’s Cathedral.

Chapter 14

For a church, it was pretty dark in here. I looked around at the ornate ceiling, floors, and colorful stained-glass windows depicting cherubs and saints, and made my way to a set of highly polished wood doors. I slowly pulled one open to see the large sanctuary decorated similarly to the lobby. There were a few people kneeling in front of the statue of Jesus on the cross, candles burning lazily in front of it, and some sitting in the pews, rosaries clutched in their hands, silently praying. An older lady was tidying up around the church, but I didn’t see a priest.

I turned around to leave, but then something caught my eye: a confessional booth. Knowing that was the quickest way to a priest, I slipped inside and waited for about five minutes but nothing happened.

I slipped out of the booth and began to wander through the church until I came to a set of offices. I found a small office marked Father Atkinson on the door in gold lettering.

I knocked and waited until the door eventually opened.

Standing before me was a tall white man with cloudy green eyes and wisdom lining his face. A shock of thinning white hair sat on top of his head, and he wore a crisp black suit with a white collar around his neck. He looked me up and down, seeing how I was dressed, and eventually asked, “May I help you, child?”

I patted my hip. “Sorry to cut right to the point, Father, but I have a Dagestan dagger, and I need you to bless it. I have a demon to fight.”

He opened the door wide, and indicated to a chair. “Please, have a seat.”

I did as I was told and watched as he went around his desk and sat. It was then he put his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers in front of him. He pierced me with an intense stare through those green eyes of his. After a few long seconds, he said, “Tell me about this demon.”

Well, I wasn’t expecting that.

Realizing he may help me, I took a deep breath and said, “I don’t know how to describe it. Scary, I guess? It was inside a woman. We sort of discovered her by mistake, as we were following—”

“We?” he interrupted. “You and your werewolf friends?”

That caught me off-guard for a minute, but I didn’t let it break my stride. I did a double-take at him and cleared my throat. “Yeah, my brother and I. And my vampire friends.”

He nodded, completely unfazed by the vampire comment. “Go on, young wolf.”

“So this demon was inside a woman we saw while following a certain newly turned vampire. This vampire attacked me a while back.”

A gasp he couldn’t hide escaped his wrinkled lips. “A... vampire attacked a wolf? That is practically unheard of.”

I looked up to see a hint of shock dancing in his eyes.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, imagine that, right, Father? Well, it’s not how you think. I was in my human form. The venom was not extracted in time. I am now what you might call a hybrid. I need to end this vampire for what he did to me.”

“And what did he do to you, child?” he asked, now leaning forward in his chair, intrigued.

“He turned me into a freak. I can no longer shift into the beautiful, sleek wolf during the full moon. I just turn into something... beastly and unspeakable. See, I’m no longer wolf, and not a vampire. I’m somewhere in between. I can drink blood, but don’t really seem to need it. My blood heats up during the full moon, and I have the urge to hunt, but cannot for fear of anyone seeing me in my strange, bigfoot-like form. He’s trapped me into a lifetime of monthly torture. He may or may not have known he was doing it, but he’s gonna be sent to Hell where he belongs for it.”

“That’s quite a tall order to hand down to someone.”

I stared at him for a few seconds and said, “Where else is he supposed to go? He deserves no less.”

“Everyone is worthy of redemption, child,” he replied quietly.

I nodded. “So I was taught in Sunday School as a kid. And I believe you... as far as humans are concerned. But not this guy. He’s a monster now, and even more so, as he now has a living, breathing demonic spirit inside of him. I’m being told I cannot exorcise him unless my precious dagger is blessed by a holy man. That’s where you come in.”

He smiled. “I can do that for you, and I will. I can sense the passion of your mission through your words. But young wolf, I must issue you a word of warning.”

I nodded and waved my hand. “By all means, Father.”

“Revenge—vengeance for your lost wolf life, it will not satisfy you. You will continue to grow in anger and spite. You can kill dozens, hundreds... even thousands of vampires and demons, but you will not ever calm the storm of your soul until you make peace with the One who has given you life. He will quiet your spirit and give you peace where you feel like you may never find any.”

“So noted. I will definitely keep that in mind.” I pulled out the dagger from where it sat against my belt. I laid it on his desk and ran a gentle finger over the engraving of my brother’s name.

He looked at me hard, and then picked up the heavy metal piece. He, too, ran his finger over Austyn’s name, then up at me. “Your wolf brother,” he said, more of a statement rather than a question.

I nodded once.

He stood. “Follow me.”

I trailed him out of his office and to the foyer of the church, where he completely submerged the dagger into the small pool of holy water set at the fountain, which had many candles burning next to it. He slowly lifted it from the water, closed his eyes, and began to chant in almost inaudible tones something I could assume was Latin. It sounded like the stuff Sanja said when she was doing her spell thing.

He slowly opened his eyes, and for a short split-second I thought I might have been imagining it—his irises flashed red and then quickly went back to green. He handed me the dagger and said, “The Lord’s blessing is upon this weapon. Any demon killed with it will be sent straight back to Hell, to wreak havoc on this Earth no more.” He made the sign of the cross over it as I held it in my hands.

I looked down at my dagger. It felt no different. Dragging my gaze back to the priest, I said, “Wow, cool. Thanks, Father.”

As I went to walk away, he said, “Young hybrid?”

I turned and said, “Yes?”

“Please do not forget what I said. Vengeance and hate leave a dirty mark on the soul. Find peace with the Creator of this earth before you destroy yourself.”

I nodded and walked out of the church, back out into the sunlight.

––––––––

I had forgotten to ask Jessica Swift if I could tell anyone about her, and since she didn’t say I couldn’t, I called a meeting that night at Moon Chasers.

I got there early and put two tables together where we could all fit. Once I had them set up, I ordered three pitchers of beer and waited for my friends to arrive. Karina and Evan arrived first, followed by Aden and Sam, and then Beckett, and lastly, Ryder. I was so glad he had the night off.

When everyone was seated, and I had given Ryder a very long kiss hello, I sat on his lap and it felt good to have his arms around my waist. I had missed him.

“So, what’s up, Ayla?” Beckett asked, ignoring the beer and ordering a gin and tonic from Jeannie when she came to check on us.

I tried to lower my voice, but knew it wouldn’t really do much good. It was only seven p.m. and the place wasn’t busy yet, so I wasn’t too worried. So I just blurted out the question. “Have you guys ever heard of the B.S.I.?”

Not surprisingly, Karina spoke up. “Yes, why. Did they pay you a visit?”

I nodded. “Sure did. The lady was pretty nice, just warned me not to hurt humans. It was a little strange, but definitely took me by surprise.”

“It’s what they do,” Evan commented. “I got a visit from an agent in Texas when I was first turned. They keep tabs on every supernatural in their district. They’re like paranormal probation officers.”

Everyone at the table let out of a low chuckle.

“Good to know. Do I need to be worried about this lady? She gave me her card.”

“Not at all, just don’t hurt humans and clean up your messes. They will leave you and all of us alone.”

“I’ve never been visited by one,” Beckett said. “I’d heard of them, though. Just thought they were an urban legend or something.”

“They’re nothing to be worried about,” Karina said. “Really.”

Ryder had been quiet, but finally spoke up. “What a cool freaking job. I would love to do that.”

“Do they let werewolves work there? This lady was totally human. Although she spoke very maturely and made some weird comments about being ‘much older than me’, but she didn’t look older than maybe thirty.”

Evan shrugged and took a sip of his beer. “Who knows? I’ve heard most of them are odd ducks.”

I chuckled. “She was gorgeous, but yeah, a little strange. Followed me around the damn Trader Joe’s for a half hour before approaching me in the parking lot.”

“Maybe she wanted to see what you eat,” Beckett said. “You do eat some weird shit.”

“Says the guy who drinks gin and blood for a diet,” I replied dryly.

He grinned proudly. “Sometimes at the same time. Bloody Mary, anyone?”

I wrinkled my nose. “No.”

“You drink blood, so stop,” he chastised.

“I have a couple times, but I don’t need it. So I don’t see the point.”

Ryder shook his head. “Nasty.”

“Says the boy who tore the raw flesh off of a doe last shift with his bare fangs,” I continued.

“She was delicious too. Mmmm.” He rubbed his stomach.

I smacked his arm and he grabbed it and pulled me in for a kiss, and then murmured, “You busy tonight?”

“God, get a room,” Sam commented.

“Fuck you, Sam,” Ryder said.

“I am busy tonight. We’re going to kill Alexander once and for all, and you all are going to help me. Not only did I have a vision that told me he’s selling blood bags he steals from local blood banks—or maybe hospitals—that agent told me he’s got other people after him. Nobody kills that piece of shit but me.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Aden said. “Finish your beers, I have a plan.”

Chapter 15

Since we knew from his habits that Alexander usually left his home between four and five a.m., Aden had the idea to beat him to his daytime resting place. At 4:40 a.m., we parked our vehicles around the back of the office building, and snuck in through the back door. It was unlocked, which we found odd, but then figured some of the vampires were probably already inside for the day.

This was going to prove to be a problem, but nothing we couldn’t handle. I had the blessed Dagestan dagger, plus my sharpening tool. Beckett liked to carry a regular .22 pistol loaded with silver bullets, along with a wooden stake, and the rest of the crew carried combinations of both. Karina and Sam even had high-powered Tasers. We weren’t unprepared. We just lacked a strong plan, which was: Disable but don’t kill any vampires who got in our way. Only Alexander had to die today.

We quietly entered through the heavy, steel door and went through a series of hallways, which led us to a lobby type area. We paused at the doorway while Evan looked for cameras. He pointed at four mounted to the ceiling from the corners of the room. The lenses were already smashed, though, no doubt having been done by the vampires who hung out here.

“I think we’re good. Let’s take the stairs to the third floor. Sam and Beckett, can you stay here and make sure nobody comes in?” Evan then looked at all of us and pointed. “Y’all have that walkie-talkie app downloaded on your phones so we can communicate?”

We all nodded.

“Good. Okay, Sam, Beckett, wait five minutes, then meet us up there.”

“Fine,” Beckett said, not thrilled with being paired with Sam, but he’d get over it.

“Wait,” I said, looking around. “What if Alexander’s still a zombie-vampire-demon? Will he still keep the same routine?”

Karina bit her lip. “I don’t know. We would hope so, but it’s hard to say. I hope he hasn’t harmed his wife and kid. It’s possible he didn’t even go home, but we can’t take that chance. You get that dagger blessed by a holy man?” She pointed to my precious weapon.

I nodded. “Just today. We’re good.”

She smiled and I followed the others as we rushed up the stairs with our weapons drawn. Once we reached the landing of the third floor, Evan slowly opened the door with his own dagger out in front of him. Aden had a small .22 handgun out and ready.

The door opened up into a large office space littered with cubicles, just like we had seen through the window the first night we’d discovered Alexander had been holing up here during the day. Two vampires were making up beds in one of the empty cubicles. They didn’t see us. I looked around the space and it didn’t look like this particular floor was used at all, as most of the cubicles were empty but already had air mattresses with pillows and blankets in them.

The smell of eucalyptus was strong.

The two vampires finally spotted us and said, “Who are you guys? Are you new?”

“Yeah,” Karina said. “We’re looking for Alexander. He here yet?”

“Not for a couple days, actually,” the female answered. She looked very young and like she may be one step away from living on the streets. I kinda felt sorry for her.

“Why do I smell a wolf?” the male answered. He was in the same state as her.

I quickly looked around to make sure nobody else was there and walked slowly toward them. “Where does Alexander sleep?”

The female was now suspicious and crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you want with him?”

“He owes me money,” I replied, pulling the lie out of my ass.

“You stink,” the male said to me. “You been hanging out with wolves?”

“Just killed one earlier, and it got messy. He lost at a pool game; wouldn’t pay up. You know how their egos are,” I said, chuckling.

They both relaxed and the male nodded. “Alex sleeps in that cubicle over there. But he ain’t got no shit in there. We take it with us when we leave each night.”

“Cool, thanks,” I said. They both put their eyes back on my friends, who were still standing by the door. Then they went back to blowing up the air mattresses.

As I approached the cubicle, which was by the window, I saw that it was empty. Then my phone made a loud chime, which was chorused by all the phones my friends had on them.

Then I heard Sam’s panicked voice, “Get down here now! Oh sh—”

This caused the couple’s heads to perk up, but I ignored them. We all ran toward the door and took the stairs down two at a time, flying through the concrete stairwell toward our friends.

When we reached the lobby, we saw Alexander standing in front of Sam and Beckett, red drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth. And somehow, his left hand was there, intact. He had his black gaze focused on Beckett.

“You’re a sinner,” it said, pointing at Beckett, the words slithering out of its mouth like a snake. “You have the curse of homosexuality. You’re going to hell, fa—”

My skin heated up and my vision blurred. I began to see red around the edges of my vision and a growl escaped my mouth. Aside from when Austyn was murdered, I couldn’t recall ever being this blinded by rage. I ran so fast over to Alexander-demon, I didn’t even recall being in one place before the next.

I barely registered a small chuckle coming from Evan. “Guess she’s learned how to blitz.”

I didn’t even care about that at the moment. The demon fixed its gaze on me. “Hello, Ayla. You’re dying to kill Alexander Von Brass, but he is not here. It is only me.”

I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Bitch, I don’t care. Both of you are gonna be dead very soon.” I twirled the dagger in my hand.

Imagine my surprise when Alexander-demon reached up and knocked it out of my hand.

As I bent to retrieve it, a gunshot rang out. It hit the demon in the shoulder, which caused him to stumble back, but not fall. I glanced over to see Aden with his pistol in his hand, a murderous look coloring his face.

Beckett also had his gun in his fist, his jaw bunching in rage.

I glanced over at Alexander-demon. “Little wolf girl, you cannot kill me, and neither can your filthy wolf brother. The queer can take a shot at me, but he won’t kill me, either. Demons cannot die.”

The anger in me was rising to fever-pitch levels. “Yeah? But I can send you both back to Hell where you belong.”

With a banshee scream, I crouched down low and then sprung up like a gymnast, channeling my inner cheerleader. I flew so far in the air, I almost hit the dusty chandelier which hung in the lobby of the building. Flipping one time, I landed on Alexander-demon’s shoulders, straddling them like I had so many times on the male cheerleaders in high school who were in charge of catching us. I covered his eyes with the palm of my left hand. “Guess who, asshole?”

Without waiting for a response, I speared the side of his neck with my dagger and watched in satisfaction as black blood spurted out.

The demon cried out an unholy screech that made me hop down from him. When I landed on my feet, my friends and I all had our ears covered with our hands. Its screeches were so loud and disturbing, I found I had squeezed my eyes shut in the hopes that they would stop.

I slowly opened my eyes to see it was clutching at my dagger in the side of its neck, but Ryder, Sam, and Aden had tackled it. While all of their eyes were glowing yellow, I watched in horror as they all seemed as though they might turn into wolves at any moment. But that wasn’t possible, the full moon wasn’t for another two and a half weeks. They held Alexander down and I stared in awe as a thick, gray cloud began to float from its mouth and hover above the body before it violently rushed into the ground. What I didn’t like, however, was that Alexander’s body wasn’t turning into ash, as the stab to the neck should have ended him.

A deep yelling-groaning sound replaced the screech, and I stepped back when I saw him begin to stand up. The wolves backed away, too. I was mortified, because I remembered the human female passing out once the demon had left her body to jump into his as he fed from her. In fact, she was still unconscious when we had dropped her at the ER. This was not the case now.

With his hand to the side of his neck, he looked around, staggering like a drunk and looking thoroughly confused. “Where am I?” he asked, slurring.

“Alexander Von Brass,” I said, walking up to him and yanking my dagger from his neck with a sucking-slurping sound, “do you remember me?”

I reached over and grabbed the hem of his trench coat, using it to wipe off the blood. I really shouldn’t play these games. I should just end him. But I needed him to remember me. I needed him to acknowledge what he had done to me and God knew who else. I wasn’t sure why I needed these things, but I did, and what Ayla wants, Ayla gets.

Mirroring my thoughts, Beckett growled. “Freaking end him, Ayla! Now. Before more vamps show up.”

I put up a finger to silence him. “I will. Give me a minute.”

Alexander’s face was a mixture of confusion and horror. “Why do you want to end me?”

I began to circle him as he stood there, alternating his gaze between me and my friends. With my dagger pointed at him, I said, “Alexander, do you have any recollection of the past couple days?”

With his hand still on his neck, his wound quickly healing as I’d obviously missed the carotid artery, he narrowed his now-brown eyes at me. Which I was glad for, as the black demon eyes freaked me the hell out. “First off, who in the world are you, little girl?” He flicked his gaze once more to my group of friends, then back to me. “I can see you are in charge. Just tell me what is going on here.”

“No, dickhead. First off”—Using the dagger, I pointed to the lobby full of my friends—“you aren’t runnin’ anything here, so you don’t get to make any demands. Shut the fuck up and listen to me very carefully.” I continued to circle him, and he never took his eyes off me, nor me him. “Secondly, your fake little human life is over. After I kill you, my friends and I will make sure your wife and kid get a very sane, logical explanation for your death. After all, you’ve gone missing once before, haven’t you? I doubt they’ll be surprised when they hear you’ve finally met the final death and aren’t coming back this time.”

His eyes widened, and he moved his hand from his neck and put both of them up in surrender. “Wait, lady. Just wait. Final death? I’m immortal. I can’t die.”

That elicited a chorus of laughs from my friends, me included. “Now, see, there’s your first problem, dumbass. Immortal doesn’t equate to unkillable. I chop your head off or rip out your heart, I’m fairly sure you aren’t going to go on existing.” I ran my finger gently over the blade of my dagger and looked at him in the eyes. “And while we’re on the subject, I want you to think back about a year or so, to when you attacked a young woman in an alley near Seventy-Sixth Avenue downtown. Remember her telling you she was a wolf, and you scampering off like a damn cockroach? Ring any bells, Alex?”

He studied me hard, and then put his hands behind his back. “I do remember. You were that wolf? You look fine to me. What’s your issue?”

I opened my mouth to speak, and then closed it again. What was my issue? Oh, my God.

“Oh, shit,” I heard my brother say under his breath as he caught the homicidal look on my face.

The screech that flew out of my mouth was probably one the whole city heard. “My issue? Do you know what happens when a fucking vampire bites a wolf? Huh? Do you, Baby Vamp Alexander? You ruined me for life. My wolf is gone, replaced with something I’m not even going to take the time to discuss with the likes of you.”

“Dude, you should probably shut up and just listen to her at this point, because you’re just digging yourself a bigger hole than you were already in,” Ryder said, his arms folded across his hard chest, his eyes burning yellow and looking full of ire.

I pointed in Ryder’s direction. “You should listen to the wolf over there. Maybe I should treat you to a scratch or bite from my boyfriend, or my brother, or his friend. Would you like to see what happens to a fairly young vampire who gets scratched or bitten by a wolf? Seeing you die slowly would almost be worth it.”

Alexander’s eyes went wide. “No, God, please. What do you want? Just tell me. Why are you playing games here...? Just kill me and get it over with. Or else let me go so I can say goodbye to my wife and son.”

I shook my head, annoyed at his manipulation. “You should have said goodbye to them two years ago. You’re dead, dude. You can’t maintain your human life and your vampire one. Who the hell turned you anyway? They should have taught you.”

“I... I don’t know. Some whore in a club. I think she bit me. I woke up three days later without a clue.”

Fuck. The guy was trying to make me feel sorry for him, until something dawned on me. I pierced him with a long stare, until I found my voice again. “Wait. You were hooking up with whores and one was a vamp? Is this some misguided manipulation to make me feel sorry for you? Because I don’t. Whores! Really, Alex?”

He had the grace to look embarrassed and shrugged. He looked really stupid, too, with dried blood running down the side of his neck. “What can I say?”

“Say you’re sorry,” I ground out, walking up to him and shoving the dagger up under his chin. “Say sorry for attacking me in that alley and leaving me for dead. Blood bags, Alex, blood bags. You can eat just fine without killing humans—or those you thought were human.”

“I promise, that’s all I use now is blood bags. I didn’t know back then. I was just so hungry.”

“Oh and by the way, I’ve heard all about your blood bag dealing. What do you do? Break into a blood bank or hospital and steal all their reserves? I know you sell them from the trunk of your car.” I clamped my jaw shut and huffed. Shaking my head, I said, “Ya know what? You’re a real piece of shit, Alexander.”

He said nothing, just looked at me.

I glanced at my brother, Ryder, and Sam, and nodded. “Have at him.”

“No!” Alexander screamed, trying to blitz away, but my wolf brothers were too fast for him. Knocking him to the ground, I watched as they pummeled him with their fists and boots while he lay there helpless against the strong, angry werewolves.

I listened closely to make sure his heart was still beating, and then I yelled, “Stop!”

Ryder, Aden, and Sam halted and stood up, looking at me.

I shook my head. “You’re done. My turn.”

They nodded with smiles, and backed away, huffing with blood caked on their fists and boots.

Alexander lay on the ground bleeding and panting, his chest heaving. I crouched down and got within inches of his face. “First off, you should be thanking me for removing that demon from you. Maybe, just maybe, you will have a chance of not burning in Hell. Secondly, after what you did to me—and God knows who else—your time on Earth is done. Third: I’ll make sure your wife and kid know you didn’t suffer.” I looked over his quickly swelling face and missing bloody teeth. “Well, you didn’t suffer that much.”

I raised my dagger and with both hands wrapped around its hilt.

“No, please,” he whimpered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your life. Please let me live.”

“You’re already dead,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him, the dagger still in the air above my head.”

“I’ll leave, I promise. I’ll make something up to my family and I’ll leave town.”

I lowered the dagger and tilted my head to the side. “And go where?”

“I... I don’t know. Just out of Colorado. I’ll fake my own death.”

I chuckled. “That shouldn’t be hard, since you’re already dead.”

“For God’s sake, Ayla, would you stop with the dead shit?” Beckett said. I looked over to see his arms folded across his chest, his foot tapping in annoyance.

I winked at him. “Later, Becks.”

“Finish this, Ayla,” Aden said, sounding worried. “I hear a lot of cars pulling up in front of the building. I think the rest of the vamps are arriving.”

I stared down at Alexander, his face colored in fear and a small bit of hopefulness. And as I gazed at him, I knew that he wasn’t innocent of anything. He had been whoring around on his wife when he’d been turned. He’d attacked me in that alley and had altered my life forever. He was stealing blood bags and selling then for profit, no doubt to pay his bills since he quite obviously didn’t have a day job anymore to make his mortgage payment. He also didn’t ask to be a vampire any more than I asked for my own fate. I could see a hint of exhaustion behind his brown eyes, and a desperation there, too.

I re-sheathed my blade and hopped up off him. “Get up, asshole.”

“Really?” he asked.

I nodded. “Now, before I change my mind. Go pack a bag and get out of town. As of today, you’re officially dead. I’ll handle your wife and kid.”

“You’re not serious!” Sam said, his eyes flashing from brown to yellow.

“Shut up, Sam, don’t talk.”

He groaned, and I was pretty sure my brother and Ryder did, too.

“You won’t ever see me again,” Alexander said, relief evident in his voice. “Thank you, Miss Ayla.” He bowed slightly and blitzed out of the building.

I turned to my friends. “Don’t hate me, or even comment. I had my reasons.”

Karina came up and put an arm around my shoulder. “I know that wasn’t easy.”

I nodded. “You think I did the right thing?”

She nodded. “In a way, you’ve actually set him free from the double life he’s been leading. After your little scare, I believe he will leave and never come back. And he will certainly think twice about attacking women in alleys.”

I felt a little of the stress drain from me. “Thank you, Karina.”

“Let’s go, I got shit to do,” Aden said, sounding annoyed and a little defeated.

We walked out of the building through the back door which we had come, and I grabbed my brother’s hand as we walked to the car. “Doing the right thing isn’t always the most fun option. Thank you for having my back regardless.”

He glanced sideways at me, then turned his gaze front. “He ruined your life, Ay. You should have ended his, not made it better.”

“There’s nothing I can do to reverse what’s been done to me. Not that I know of, anyway. I doubt killing him would have changed that. If Alexander truly does leave town, he’s going to have a very long and lonely life by himself. And if he fucks up, I’m sure they’ll be another supernatural around to take care of him.”

He nodded. “I guess.”

I squeezed his hand.

“And are you going to adopt that same attitude about Linden?” he asked, seriousness lacing his tone.

I let out a laugh that was completely void of humor. “Oh, hell no. That motherfucker is gonna die for sure.”

Since everyone heard me, they all laughed.

But I wasn’t kidding. He was a dead man for what he’d done to my family.

Chapter 16

As we drove toward my apartment so and Evan and Karina could drop me off and get home before the sun came up, I stared out the window at the concrete jungle. I looked up at Karina in the front seat and asked, “How did Alexander grow another hand?”

“I wondered about that, too,” she replied. “The only explanation I can think of is dark magic. The demon somehow used it to regenerate another hand while it had been inside Alexander.”

“Figures,” I grumbled.

We were almost to my apartment when I had an idea. I fished Jessica Swift’s card from my tiny purse. I quickly dialed her number. I barely noted the time as I heard the line connect and ring on the other end.

“Special Agent Swift,” came a sleepy voice.

“Uh... I hi, Jessica. This is Ayla St. John. Do you remember me?”

“Who is it, babe?” I heard a muffled male voice ask.

Some rustling sounds, followed by, “Shh!”

I bit back a smile.

She cleared her throat. “Of course I remember you. What can I do for you, Ayla?”

“So... I almost killed Alexander Von Brass tonight. But... I... didn’t.”

A small silence filled the other end of the line, and then she said, “You couldn’t do it. Got an attack of the conscience, did you?”

With a heavy sigh, I said, “Yeah. I guess I did.”

“So, what is it you’re needing, young Ayla?” she asked, a little amusement in her voice.

“He... shit.” I raked a hand through my hair. “Dammit. The guy was trying to keep up his human pretense. Instead of shoving a dagger through his heart, I told him to skip town.”

“That’s a good thing, though... no?” she asked, sounding genuinely intrigued.

“Yeah, I guess? The problem is... I told him I’d handle his wife and kid. You got time to pay them a visit tomorrow? Tell them he bit it in a car accident or something?”

More silence ensued, then she said, “Yeah, Ayla. We can do that. But... out of just mere curiosity, where is Alexander Von Brass at the moment?”

I rubbed my forehead. “No idea. I told him to get lost and never come back to Colorado. The problem is... he’s been masquerading as a human, and his wife and kid are gonna need some kind of closure. Can your, ah, agency fake an accident? Like, no body to identify?”

“Yes, we can. But, I think it would be best if you went to his place to make sure he didn’t go back there.”

“Well, he probably did. I told him to go say goodbye...” I felt a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Oh no.”

“Yeah, head over there immediately, Ayla. I’ll meet you there shortly.”

“Okay,” I replied, whimpering a little. “It’s 1810 Dawn Ave—”

“I know.” She hung up.

I threw the phone and screamed, “Fuck!”

“What’s wrong?” Evan asked from the driver’s seat.

“Go to Alexander’s house now!”

He nodded and began to drive quickly through the darkened streets.

“That BSI agent thinks he’s going to harm his family?” Karina asked, even though I knew she’d probably heard the conversation through the phone.

Since we had taken separate cars, it was only me, Karina, and Evan. I worried my lip as the dark city landscape blurred by.

In record time, we reached Alexander’s suburbia home. His flashy sports car was parked in the driveway, and all the lights were off in the house. My stomach did a flip.

“This can’t be good,” I whispered.

Evan parked the G-Wagon a block away and we all ran up to the house. Karina had the best hearing so she led us to the side of the house where the couple’s bedroom was. She put her finger to her lips and we all went silent.

“Listen,” she said, pointing to the window, which was cracked about two inches, a screen the only thing preventing anything from entering.

I closed my eyes.

“But don’t you want to live forever, baby?” I heard Alexander ask. “I can’t go on knowing you will grow old and die. We will bring Jordan. Raise him in the mountains. When he’s old enough, I’ll turn him, too.”

My eyes slammed open. “Oh, my God!” I mouthed to my friends.

“What’s going on?” we heard a voice whisper.

We all whirled around to find Agent Swift standing there in a dark-colored velour tracksuit. A clean-cut man with sandy blond hair stood by her in jeans and a trench coat.

I shooed them all away from the window and we made our way back to the SUV to talk.

“This is my husband, Special Agent Jason Swift,” Jessica said, introducing us. “He’s BSI, too.”

“Nice to meet you,” I murmured. “These are my trainers, Evan and Karina Grant.”

My friends nodded to the agents.

“So, you were right, Alexander came back here, but by the conversation he and his wife are having, he’s about to turn her. Isn’t that against the rules?”

Jessica glanced at her husband, and he nodded, his hands in the pockets of the coat.

She used both hands to pull her long, platinum hair to the side and over her right shoulder. She looked at me as she stroked it, as if she was debating on answering.

She finally said, “Well, vampires and other supernaturals are not to harm humans. However, if a human chooses to be turned into a vampire, we do not interfere.”

I stomped my boot. “But turning her is killing her!”

“We’re not dead,” Karina reminding me the way Beckett had earlier. “We have heartbeats.”

“She’s right,” Jason answered, speaking for the first time.

“Our hearts just beat extremely slow, almost like it isn’t beating at all, but if you listen closely, you can hear it,” Jessica replied, nodding at Karina.

“What are we going to do about this?” I asked, jabbing my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the house.

“Did she consent to be turned?” Jessica asked.

“He was talking about moving to the mountains with her, and then turning their kid when he got older,” Aden supplied.

Jessica’s brow furrowed. “How old is the kid?”

I shrugged, but Evan answered, “No older than seven, by my guess.”

“We don’t interfere in vampire business. Kids don’t survive the turning process, so if he does it when he’s an adult, that’s on them.”

“So we just let him turn the wife?” I asked, incredulous.

Before anyone could answer, a scream pierced the night.

Evan, Karina, and I blitzed back to the house. Evan kicked in the front door and we all rushed in, where we followed the sounds of whimpering and moaning to a back bedroom.

As we all arrived at the bedroom’s doorway, Alexander lifted himself off of his wife, blood dribbling down his chin, and looked at us. Thank God they both still had clothes on.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I roared, the dagger now in my hands faster than I could blink. “I tell you to leave town and you assault your poor wife? When I told you to say goodbye, I meant kiss them in their sleep then leave! You are one stupid asshole!”

I charged toward him, dagger out. He jumped up, and with preternatural speed, snatched something from the nightstand drawer.

His wife, appearing to be asleep or unconscious, lay still on the bed.

I looked back to Alexander to see him pointing a gun at me. “Get the hell out of my house, right now. I’m not hurting Beth, I’m giving her eternal life. Now get the fuck out, all of you. I’m leaving town as soon as I get packed.”

Jessica was already at Beth’s side, feeling for a pulse. She looked up at us. “It’s weak, but she’s dying.”

“Of course she is!” Alexander roared, a wildness in his eyes, as his crazy began to show. “She has to die, then I feed her my blood, then in three days, she’s like me.” He looked at Karina. “Like us.”

“Did she even agree to this?” I asked on the verge of snapping.

“She will see it was the right decision,” Alexander said, waving the gun around carelessly.

“Daddy?” a small voice said from behind us. We all turned to see the young boy stood there in Spiderman pajamas, brown hair sticking up He rubbed his eyes.

Alexander immediately lowered the gun and walked to him, forcing a smile. “Jordan, go back to bed. I have some good news for you, but not until tomorrow, okay?”

The child looked frightened as he gazed at all of us, until his eyes landed on his mother. He ran over to her. “What’s wrong with Mommy? She’s all bloody!”

“You happy now?” I asked under my breath, staring at Alexander, knowing he could hear me.

He shot me a murderous look, then glanced back at his son. He shoved the gun into the back waistband of his pants, then picked up the boy and carried him out of the room.

“What do we do?” I asked Jessica.

We all looked over to see Beth’s body now lying prone and still, like a corpse in a coffin. Blood was smeared all over the right side of her neck, staining her pale-pink pajama top.

I lifted the dagger and stalked toward the doomed woman. But as soon as Alexander entered the room, he had his handgun up, pointed at all of us.

“Get away from my wife. I’m taking her and my son away from here.”

“Put the gun away, you maniac,” Evan growled, his jaw clenching in anger. “You can’t kill any of us with that thing.”

He smiled and glanced at Jessica and Jason, then back to Evan. “I could, but I won’t if you just let us leave in peace.”

“If your wife did not consent to being turned, I’m going to have to arrest you,” Jason spoke up, flashing him his badge and pulling a pair of strange-looking handcuffs from his belt’s holster.

“She consented enough. Besides, you think a regular jail will hold me?!” He laughed maniacally.

“We don’t have regular jails, nor are we regular police,” Jason replied, taking a business card from his pocket and flicking it in Alexander’s direction.

Alexander looked at the card on the floor, picked it up and pocketed it, and then snatched up Beth from the bed. Her head lolled to the side, her mouth slightly open. Before we could all blink, he blitzed to the window and jumped out of it, smashing glass and destroying the screen. I followed him out and watched as he shoved her into the car, then pointed the gun at us briefly when we got too close. Without taking his eyes off us, he got in himself and pealed out of the driveway.

I went to run after them, but Jessica grabbed my arm. “Don’t. We’ll track his credit cards and put an APB out on the license plate.”

“Oh, my God. His kid!” I said, blitzing through the door and to the child’s bedroom.

It was empty.

Reappearing outside, I looked at my friends, my brother, and the agents. “I guess he must have put the kid in the car earlier.”

“We’ll keep tabs on him,” Jessica promised. “Don’t worry.”

I nodded.

“I need to ask, though... why do you even care about Von Brass’s wife and kid?”

I sighed and rubbed my hand along the back of my neck. “I don’t. Not really, but I just want this behind me, Jessica. I’m exhausted.”

“I get it. Vengeance is a tiring game. Get some sleep, and the BSI will handle the details.”

“Thank you. From the bottom of my cold heart, thank you.”

“It’s what we do, kid.”

We said our goodbyes, and I got into the SUV, ready to go home and sleep for a hundred years.

Chapter 17

The sky was barely beginning to lighten along the horizon as I was dropped off at home by Evan. I rushed up the stairs, and could barely put the key in the lock, I was so exhausted.

After a shower, I slipped into my favorite oversized T-shirt, shut the curtains, not knowing how long I’d sleep, and fell into bed, rolling onto my side. My body was utterly fatigued, but my mind just wouldn’t shut off. I lay there wondering if I had done the right thing by sort of letting Alexander go. I could argue that he had gotten away from me, but the truth was, I could have easily killed him. I had plenty of backup. I was still angry at him for what he’d done to me, but I was more angry for falling for his victim mentality and manipulation. And at the end of the day, it seemed all he wanted was to whisk his wife and kid away from everything. I knew, though, that Beth had not really consented to being turned, and in less than three days, she was going to wake up thirsty, confused, and extremely upset.

And what of their kid? Were they just going to lock him away from society until he was an adult? What if they used him to feed?

I really wished my mind would shut off. I pushed all thoughts of Alexander from it, and it eventually drifted to Austyn. That goofy half-smile of his. Those dark-blue eyes. The mop of dirty-blond hair on his head he never styled or kept groomed regularly. His laugh when he would tell us a dumb joke and only he thought it was the funniest thing ever.

The terror on his face when Linden had attacked him. Even as the wolf, the horror in his eyes was something I would never forget.

A tear slipped out and ran down my face, absorbed by the pillow. Then more tears came. I missed him so much. Every time I looked at Aden, all I could see was Austyn. They always looked so much alike, even their mannerisms sometimes. My chest hurt, and my eyes burned with hot tears. Alone in the quiet of my room, knowing nobody could see or hear me, I let go of my grief and began to sob for my loss. Great, big, racking sobs. Wrapping my arms around myself, I curled into the smallest ball I could and tried to calm myself of my hysteria. I wished more than anything I had someone to hold me right now. I could use some comfort.

After drifting off for a couple hours, I awoke and looked at the clock: 9:18 am. I then realized I hadn’t checked my phone in hours. Should I get up and check it?

Deciding a distraction would be good, with a sigh, I pushed back the covers and got up and fished my phone from my purse. It was almost dead, so I took it back to my bed, plugged it into my charger, and read my three texts.

Ryder: I hope you got home okay. Don’t worry about Alex, you did the right thing for now. Love you.

Aden: I love you, sis. Don’t let what he did fuck with your mind.

Beckett: We need to get together and have drinks and discuss all this crazy drama in your life!

I smiled through my tears at the amazing support system I had. I then replied a thanks to all of them, then scrolled through the rest of my notifications until I was satisfied I had addressed them all. Exhausted, I put the phone on my nightstand and blessedly fell back to sleep.

Before I could even see his face, I could feel the rage and annoyance floating off of him in waves. The fact that his hands were turning white as they were clenched behind his back was a good indicator of how much he was holding back. I lifted my gaze from Kellan’s amazing backside to the one he was facing.

“That’s all you have for me?” Linden asked, sitting in that ridiculous red throne-like chair, looking almost bored.

“I’m not sure what else you expect me to tell you,” Kellan replied, trying hard to remain respectful, but seeming as if he was about to lose his shit. “I have informants everywhere. I don’t know who this vampire is.”

Linden’s icy gray eyes never left Kellan’s, and his white hair was barely a shade darker than his skin as he tried to intimidate him. “Very well. When you find this vampire filth, you are to bring him or her to me. You understand?”

Kellan nodded. “Understood.”

Linden nodded at two men standing on either side of Kellan, and soon he was whisked away by them. These weren’t the same two men I always saw Kellan with at Moon Chasers.

“Get your bloody hands off me!” he growled to the men as soon as they were outside.

I could see they were in a parking circle outside a large mansion, very similar to the one I had come with Beckett to and I had spent time with Kellan—ya know, after murdering Elda.

When the two enforcers went back through the ornate and elegant front door, Kellan shook his head and walked toward his Porsche, and once inside the car, he hit a few buttons and set the phone in its holder near the car’s lit console.

“Turn right on Fifty-Third Street,” a robotic, female GPS voice said.

A look at the screen, and it showed that he was headed straight for my apartment building.

I bolted upright, just as a knock sounded on the door. I glanced at the hugely lit alarm on my bedside clock and saw it was 4:30 p.m.

Afraid my dream was, in fact, another psychic vision, I got out of bed, checked myself in the mirror, and went to the door. A peek through the door showed Sanja standing there.

Half relieved, half disappointed it wasn’t Kellan, I opened the door and her smile fell as she took in my appearance. “Uh, did I wake you?”

I smiled. “Sorta. This is a nice surprise.”

She flat-out scowled at me as she came inside. “Surprise? We had plans tonight. You are losing it, girl.”

I slapped my hand over my mouth. “Crap! Is it Friday? Dammit, I have all my days mixed up. Hell, I had to think when I looked at the clock just now, if it was a.m. or p.m.”

She looked adorable in some skinny jeans, furry boots, and a fur vest over a red thermal top. I noticed she set a big basket on the counter. I pointed at it. “What’s in there?”

“Go shower, and I will set everything up,” she replied, ignoring my question.

I looked down at myself, then lifted my arm and gave myself a smelfie. “Do I smell that bad?”

She laughed. “No, I just need clean, warm skin to do the facial.”

That’s right, we were going to have a ‘girlie’ night. I smiled; it was just what I needed. I obeyed her orders and hopped into the shower and scrubbed myself, realizing I still had blood in my hair, yet again.

After throwing on a tee and some yoga pants, I combed out my hair and put it up in a clip. As I walked out and toward the dining room table, I said to my best friend, “I hope you brought food. I’m starving. I don’t think I’ve eaten since,” I paused, trying to remember the last thing I ate, and could not, “well, I don’t know when.”

“I thought we’d order takeout. I only brought booze and cake.”

I laughed. “I could have cake and booze for dinner.”

She shook her head. “No, let’s get some Thai food.”

“Sounds good, I’ll order.”

As I unplugged my phone from the charger on my nightstand, I watched as she removed mud masks, nail files, nail polishes, and all kinds of other grooming materials. I quickly found a local Thai place that delivered and ordered two sesame chicken dinners with sides online.

“Twenty minutes,” I said, setting my phone down.

“Pedicures or facials first?” she asked, pointing at all the stuff spread out on my tiny dining room table. She had even brought towels.

“Booze first,” I said, pointing to the two bottles of wine. “And, uh, I hope you brought a corkscrew, because I don’t have a wine opener.”

She flicked her big chocolate eyes at me and said, “Seriously? How are we even friends?”

I laughed. “Right? I just usually drink at the bar.”

She pulled out a wine opener from the basket. “I keep one in my car.”

“You would,” I replied, laughing.

I pulled two plastic cups from my cupboard and set them down next to the facial and nail stuff. She popped the cork, poured us some white wine, and then set the bottle down.

I lifted my cup and clinked it with hers. “To good friends, meaning you, and bad friends who need good friends like you.”

She smiled. “I’ll drink to that.”

We both took big gulps of our wine, and I shuddered a little. I never drank wine, and wasn’t used to the taste. It was much sweeter than the gin or beer I usually drank.

“Let’s just chill until the food gets here, then we can get to the pampering,” I said.

She nodded and followed me to the couch, where we both sat.

“Tell me the latest,” she said before taking a sip of her wine.

“You’re not going to believe what happened last night.” I shook my head as the memories flooded my brain. “Well, I guess it was more like this morning.”

“Try me,” she quipped, smiling.

I launched into the entire story, with her adding some “Oh, my God” and “No way” comments thrown in. I ended it by telling her about the dream/vision that she had woke me from.

“Wow. I mean, wow,” she responded.

“I can’t help but think letting Alexander go was the wrong thing to do. I am sick with worry about his wife and kid,” I said, chewing my lip.

“But you said that the BSI was going to handle it,” she replied.

“Handle it how? They seem kinda passive when it comes to dealing with supernaturals. Like, they’ll only do something if they harm a human.”

“But he did harm a human. He turned her into a monster,” she replied, sounding as frustrated as I felt.

The doorbell rang and I got up to answer it. A look through the peephole showed a teen holding a large paper bag. I opened it up, signed the credit card receipt, and then closed and locked the door. I set the food on the coffee table and we began to eat while talking. I was feeling a little woozy from the wine and was glad to get some food in me.

“I was thinking the same thing; no way his wife consented. I think I need to just finish him off.” I shoved some noodles in my mouth.

“Yeah, but the problem with that is... now his wife’s a vampire. He could barely function as one, who is going to teach her what to do? Prevent her from literally eating her own child?”

I slumped back against the couch. “Damn, now I’m gonna have to kill her, too. I have enough shit to do.”

And then we both laughed so hard, we could hardly breathe. Who laughs about that? We were a couple of sick supernaturals.

After eating, Sanja proceeded to work her magic on my face with a heavenly facial,

and then prettied up my toes. I knew the red nail polish wouldn’t last, but it was fun.

Then I did my best on her fingers, and as I was painting, she asked, “What are you going to do about Kellan?”

I sighed and said, “I don’t know. I truly believe these psychic visions, or dreams, or whatever they are... are what is actually happening to him. I think he can lead me to Linden, but I’m not sure how to proceed. I could ask him, but then he would know what I was up to. I’m at a loss.”

Sanja smiled over the rim of her plastic cup. It looked devious and full of trouble.

I lifted an eyebrow as my fork was paused at my mouth. “What?”

“Kellan is a man.”

With my brow furrowed, I nodded slowly. “Yes, he’s a man. But he’s also a vampire.”

“But a man, nonetheless. Use that rockin’ body of yours. Don’t you know? Men are stupid when they’re horny.”

I shoved the sesame chicken in my mouth, chewing as I contemplated her statement. She was one hundred percent right. They really were. I had two brothers and a boyfriend and felt like I had heard it all. I recalled the countless brags from Sam about his conquests when we’d be up at Wolfe Point. Sometimes he would go into seriously unnecessary detail, and I remember thinking about how stupid he was.

I pointed my fork at her. “So... get him into bed and coerce the information out of him? That’s what you’re saying?”

She nodded. “In a roundabout way. And it’s not like it would be a huge chore. You said the guy was hot.”

I smiled. “I’m crazy attracted to him. He makes me all soft and gooey when I’m around him.”

“Use it to your advantage then,” she said. “But...” She shot me an apologetic look. You should probably end things with Ryder.”

I sighed dramatically. “I know. I don’t want to, but I need to. I will always love him, but... five years has changed me a lot. I feel like we’re different people. I feel like I still need him in my life, though.”

She looked at me, sympathy coloring her expression. With her hand on my arm, she said, “Of course you do. He was your first love. But he deserves to be happy, too. You guys never see each other. It’s not really a romantic relationship anymore, is it, sweetie?”

Her words stung because they were true. It had been weeks since he’d stayed the night, or we’d been on a real date, or had comforted me when I needed it. Not because he didn’t want to, but because I probably just never told him I needed it, or he was working and couldn’t get away. Every time we were together, it was because one of us had something going on, not because we just wanted to just be.

“I don’t even know how I’m gonna have that conversation,” I said on a quiet sigh.

“You can do it. You’re strong, and he will understand. He might be angry, but I really don’t picture Ryder as the illogical type. He has to be feeling the same way, if you think about it.”

“You’re right,” I said. “When should I tell him?”

“Soon. You need to pin down Kellan and strike while the iron is hot. I have a strong feeling he can lead you to Linden.”

I ran my finger over the edge of my wine cup, deep in thought. I finally lifted my gaze to hers, and said, “That’s just it. I don’t think I want to just ‘pin him down’. Anything Kellan and I do will be consensual. I can promise you that.”

“I can’t wait for the details,” she replied, a rare wicked gleam in her brown eyes.

Chapter 18

We watched a couple movies, and after Sanja left at around one a.m., I was anything but tired. I felt invigorated by the pampering, and I knew there was training to do.

After Evan and Karina’s help with Alexander the asshole, I didn’t want to disturb them, so I went to the gym and let myself in using the code they’d given me. After punching it into the keypad and then flipping on the lights, I went to the small women’s locker room and took my shirt and shoes off. In nothing but a sports bra and spandex capris, I made my way to the boxing ring. I did a few warmup stretches and then pulled out my precious dagger. I controlled my breathing like they had taught me, and then proceeded to attack “Bob” from a multitude of ways. I stabbed him in the head, the neck, the chest, even below the belt. No, I didn’t actually penetrate the rubber and plastic dummy, I pretended to. I didn’t need Evan murdering me for ruining his beloved training tool.

Dripping with sweat, I looked at the clock on my phone and saw that two hours had passed. Wow. It was nearing four a.m. at this point, and it kinda felt good that I’d spent the whole night by myself. Yeah, Sanja was there for a girls’ night, but the training usually included Evan and Karina, or me up at Wolfe Point with my brother, Ryder, and the rest of the pack.

Speaking of, I looked at the calendar and realized the full moon would be next weekend. Instead of going to Wolfe Point, I contemplated just staying home. Evan said he did it. He normally spent the three days in his basement. I didn’t have a basement—well, I did, but it was where I did laundry—but I could chill in my sixth-floor flat as the wolf-girl for a couple days. Right?

As I left the gym, I felt my mood lighten a little. On my drive back to my apartment, I took in the darkness and quiet of the city. Downtown Denver was absolutely dead this time of morning, and it was kind of cool. The sky was still dark, with a mass of stars overhead, and the cool, quietness of that time just before the world woke up and the rat-race started all over again. I took a deep, calming breath and drove the rest of the way to my apartment. My plan was to get a shower, eat something, and then hop into bed.

I parked my little dark-blue Volkswagen Jetta in a spot near the front and made my way to the building. As I climbed the stairs, I smiled to myself. The last twenty-four hours had been good. Friends, food, and serious bad-assery.

No sooner had I closed and locked the door, than I heard a knock at the door. Confused and unsure what could be going on, I pulled my dagger from it sheath and glanced through the peephole.

I sucked in a breath and then forgot to breathe again when I saw Kellan’s face peering back at me. A glance at his body showed me he was looking more casual than usual in dark blue jeans and a button-up green shirt, sleeves rolled to the elbow. I swallowed hard as I slowly disengaged the locks and pulled open the door. Unable to formulate any intelligible words, I said, “Why... uh, um, what are you doing... I mean, I wasn’t expecting—”

He cut me off with a laugh as he shook his head. “Just invite me in, little wolf, then I will explain.”

“Please come in, Kellan,” I said with a grin as I opened the door wide and ushered him in with a flourish.

He grinned at me as he stepped inside my place and looked around.

“Do you actually need an invitation—”

“No,” he replied quickly. “Myth. I’m a gentleman with manners, that’s why I asked.”

I chuckled and went over to my fridge and opened it. The way his eyes had raked over my body, wearing nothing but the sports bra and spandex capris, had told me otherwise. “Good to know. Would you like some water? Or, I have coffee, I guess...”

“I’m good, love,” he replied.

I cracked open a water bottle and drank it without breaking eye contact with him. His intense stare back at me made me almost choke on the water, but I managed to keep my composure—just barely.

When I’d had my fill, I set the bottle down and continued to look at him. I briefly chanced a glance down to replace the cap on the bottle, and was startled when I then looked up to find him six inches from my face.

I sucked in a breath when his hand reached up and cupped my jaw. Resisting a sigh, I blinked up into his blue eyes and my breath caught in my throat. When he wrapped his left arm around my backside and began drawing circles with his fingers against the exposed skin above my pants on my lower back, I may have gasped.

Kellan stared down at me for what felt like forever. Being the stubborn, obstinate girl I was, I held his stare and did not back down when his gaze grew so intense, I thought it would break me.

You can do this, Ayla. Hold your ground. He’s worth it.

When he finally spoke, I blew out a breath and grinned. “I’m going to kiss you, Ayla,” he whispered against my lips a split second before his crashed down onto mine.

Melting into him, I kissed him back, looping my arms around his neck and pressing my entire body wantonly against his. My excitement only escalated when, without breaking the kiss, he led me over to the bed, which sat at the far end of my studio apartment. He pulled back slightly once the backs of my knees hit the bed’s edge. He began peppering kisses across my face, along my jaw, and then down my neck, at which time I craned it back to allow him better access.

A slight moan slipped from my lips, at about the exact time I could swear Kellan growled in the back of his throat. I was so weak from what his lips were doing to me that my body turned to jelly and I fell backwards onto the bed. Kellan followed suit until I was spread-eagle—still fully dressed—on top of my comforter, with him on top, kissing me into oblivion. I wanted nothing more than for him to tear the garments from my body and worship me until we could no longer breathe.

“You are going to completely unravel me, Ayla St. John,” he whispered in my ear as his hands gripped my thighs and then moved up to my bare stomach, finally landing on my breasts.

“I can’t wait,” I groaned into his ear before nipping it with my teeth.

One of his hands left my chest to unbutton his shirt. His mouth found mine again, and as our tongues mingled, I put every doubtful thought out of my mind. This burning chemistry between Kellan and me had been simmering for quite some time, and it was past time I took him for a test drive.

Once Kellan had unfastened the last button and pressed his bare chest to mine, I reached up with both hands to drag the garment off his body. Unfortunately, the sound of keys jingling into my lock and the door opening had stopped that completely.

With both hands, I pushed him off me, and looked toward my front door.

Imagine my horror when I saw Ryder striding in through the door wearing his prison guard uniform... and a scowl I knew meant that I was in huge fucking trouble.

Chapter 19

Faster than the eye could see, Kellan had hopped off the bed and was now near the front door.

“What the fuck, Ayla? You have a vampire in here?” Ryder roared, trying to come near me, but was blocked by Kellan.

“Calm yourself, mate,” Kellan said, both hands pressed against Ryder’s chest.

“Get your goddamn hands off me!” Ryder said, pushing the vampire away with all his strength as his eyes flashed yellow.

Kellan barely moved, and then slammed into Ryder with all his might, causing him to land on his ass.

Crap.

I hopped off my bed and blitzed over to the duo, hoping to prevent a homicide.

“Stop!” I screamed, panicked and starting to feel sick. “Just stop!”

Ryder got up from the floor in a flash, barging into Kellan with a football-style tackle as both of them crashed to the floor.

Kellan was fast, but Ryder was strong, and between the growls and swear words, I couldn’t keep track of who was who so I could break it up.

Fists flew and teeth were bared, and after a minute or so, I drew my dagger from its sheath where it lay on the dining room table, and stabbed at the first one I could make contact with.

With a roar, Ryder stopped the punching and collapsed on the floor on his belly, reaching around and slowly withdrawing the dagger from his right shoulder.

He looked around and his eyes locked with mine. “Dammit, Ayla, you could have killed me!” he said, standing up breathing hard as the bloody wound in his shoulder began to heal.

Kellan wasn’t so lucky. He was still lying on the floor, clutching his chest. I looked down to see blood seeping from between his hands.

I gasped, and my gaze flicked up to Ryder. “Did you scratch him?”

Ryder threw the dagger to the ground, and he pressed his hand to the wound in his shoulder. “Fuck yeah, I did. Filthy vampire. What was he doing here anyway?”

My eyes immediately filled with tears, and I rushed over to Kellan. I looked down at the four bloody, gaping gashes in his chest, and then up to his pained face. “Is this going to kill you?”

A laugh from behind me had me turning around.

“No, he’s not gonna die from a werewolf scratch while I’m in this form,” Ryder said. “He will be pretty, uh, uncomfortable for a couple days, though.”

I narrowed my eyes at Ryder. “You insensitive bastard.”

Ryder’s jaw was set firmly, and then bounced and bunched before he answered me. “Why do you care about a fuckin’ vampire? Come on, Ayla. One killed your brother...” He shook his head. “I never, in a million years, thought you’d be protecting one.”

“You don’t get a say in what I—”

Ryder cut me off. “Stop. Just stop. You obviously have a thing for this... creature. I came over here today to surprise you. I just came off a sixteen-hour overtime shift, and headed straight here to tell you I have an interview with the Justice Department next week about a position with that secret government agency... but you don’t care about that, do you? You want to commiserate with vampires and witches and hybrids and... God knows what else.”

I bristled at his words, and got up from where Kellan lay, knowing he was old enough to heal from a wolf scratch, regardless of how painful it might be.

I tried to soften my heart. “Ryder, I didn’t know. I’m happy for you. I know it’s your dream to work in bigtime law enforcement.”

He made a scoffing noise. “You don’t give two shits about me, Ayla. We haven’t really been together in weeks. You are busy killing vampires... and while you’re not doing that, you’re hunting them or hooking up with them, apparently.” He glanced at Kellan, who was beginning to sit up. He fixed his eyes on me once more. “I don’t feel like I have a place in your life anymore.”

When he raked a hand through his short hair, I was immediately reminiscent of the old days, where we would make out in his car, then go up to Wolfe Point, kissing and sometimes getting intimate before stripping naked and then turning into wolves once a month.

Confusion and nostalgia gripped me, and I felt sad when I looked at my first love. I took a step toward him, but he didn’t move; he just stood there and stared down at me once I was within touching distance. With my hands still at my side, I replied, “You will always have a place in my heart. I just feel like we’ve grown apart. It hurts me more than you will know... but...” I paused and looked down at the floor.

Ryder had softened a little, and he reached out his hand to grip mine. “But what?”

“I think we need to take some time apart,” I replied as I met his stare once more, the words snaking from my mouth like they had the many times I’d rehearsed them. But however much I had practiced these words, they still stung. To me, to him... it was the sad reality that he was moving in a completely different direction than I was. And it wasn’t just Kellan being here that made me confess. It was all the stuff that had been building up.

The soft, agreeable breakup I had been hoping for was shattered when Ryder’s face crumpled with grief and sadness, and then was quickly replaced with anger.

“You’re choosing a filthy vampire over me?” He glanced in Kellan’s direction.

I also flicked my gaze at Kellan, who had gotten up and was now leaning against a wall, his arms folded across his bloodied chest, pain coloring his eyes. “Filthy? Seriously, this coming from a bloody wolf—”

“I don’t think you understand what I mean,” I replied, cutting Kellan off before the situation escalated again.

Moving his gaze between Kellan and me, Ryder pursed his lips and then huffed. “I’m outta here. Have fun with your undead night crawler.”

“We aren’t undead...” Kellan said, followed by something else I couldn’t understand.

I ignored him again and followed Ryder to the door. He opened it and stormed into the hallway.

“Why are you following me, Ayla?” Ryder asked, his eyes full of pain and anger.

“I...” Unsure of what to say, I looked down at the ugly teal carpeting of the hallway. When I lifted my face back to Ryder, all I saw was his backside striding toward the elevators. He punched the button and stood there still, not saying a word.

Knowing he was needing some space, I didn’t go after him, I just stood there, feeling like the biggest asshole ever. And when the elevator doors opened, I whispered, “I will always love you, Ryder Robinson.”

With an agony-filled glance in my direction, Ryder’s eyes met mine, and then he stepped into the car, and disappeared from my view.

I felt like crying, but the tears wouldn’t come. I felt like I should be on my knees, sobbing for the loss, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Was it because I just didn’t feel it? Or had I been all cried out over all of the shit I had endured over the past year?

I wasn’t lying when I said I would always love him, because it was true. He had been my first love, but after five-plus years, people change.

With regret stirring in my gut, I turned to go back into my apartment. Kellan stood at the doorway, his eyes searching mine for some kind of response. I had nothing left to give, and I could tell he sensed that.

“The daylight is approaching soon, and I can see you need some time to process. So I leave you with a kiss“—he leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to my temple—“and when I return, I promise to be the one you need to unload all your sorrows onto. Until then... sleep well, little wolf.”

He brushed my cheek with the back of his hand, and then he was gone, blitzing down the hallway to the stairwell.

My chest felt like it would explode with all the emotional bullshit I had been bombarded with the past twenty minutes. Not only was it way too much to process, it was downright exhausting. I closed and locked my door, and on my way to my bed, I picked up my bloody dagger from the floor. I then drew the heavy curtains to the windows, stripped off all my clothes, and set the weapon on my nightstand before pulling back the covers and falling into bed.

As I crawled under the covers, I curled up into a ball and squeezed my eyes closed, hoping that when I woke this evening, I would have some kind of clarity, because as of now, I was lost as hell.

I cried myself to sleep.

Some tough slayer I am.

“Well, that went over like a lead balloon,” I sighed into the phone as soon as I saw it was Sanja calling.

Silence.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at it, then replaced it back against my head. “You there?”

“What does that even mean?” she finally responded.

“It’s a saying my mom used to use...” I stopped. “Never mind. I broke up with Ryder... I guess. It did not go well.”

I pushed the shopping cart down the aisle but didn’t really look too closely at the stuff I was supposed to be shopping for as I waited for her response.

“What do you mean, you guess?”

I sighed and stopped in front of the small selection of protein powders. “Well, Kellan came over, and we were about to, uh, get into things, and Ryder used his key to come in and kinda caught us. They got into a wicked fight. Kellan got scratched... it was a frickin’ mess.”

“Hooooly shit, woman. This is serious! Is Kellan all right?”

I picked up a large tub of chocolate protein powder and began to read the nutritional facts—something I had been doing lately. “Yes, he’s okay. I think. He seemed to be healing as he left my apartment this morning. He’s pretty old. I don’t think the scratch hurt him too bad.”

“Well, if Ryder was in his human form, it definitely won’t. If he had been the wolf, it might have not turned out so well for Kellan.”

I tossed the protein powder into my shopping cart and sighed. “I’m just so tired, Sanja. I just want a normal boyfriend I can hang with. Netflix and chill and all that.”

She laughed, the high-pitched tinkling coming through the phone. “Girl, I just don’t think a normal boyfriend is in the cards for you. Regardless, it seems they both work nights and sleep all day. But... that’s what you do yourself, right?”

“Yes—” I stopped when my phone chimed with a notification. I pulled it away from my ear to see I had a text coming through from Evan. “It is what I do. Look, I need to go, I’m at the store, and need to finish getting some toiletries and stuff.”

“I hear ya,” Sanja replied. “I got finals to study for. Keep that beautiful chin up, and please... keep me updated. I care about you.”

With a heavy sigh, and a smile on my lips, I replied, “I know. And I love you, too, girl.”

I ended the call and looked at my text from Evan: Got a job for you. Meet me in an hour at the Starbucks on Fifth and Rio Grande.

Smiling at his command, I quickly texted my reply: I’ll be there.

Hurrying around the store and picking up shampoo, soap, makeup, and other things (and the chocolate protein powder), I went to the checkout, paid for my items, and fast-walked home. I had to change for my big night.

Chapter 20

I was barely to the door of my building when I heard one of my neighbors talking animatedly to Tim, the security guard who sat at the desk in the lobby. I looked up to see the woman with her elbow on the desk, her other hand by her side, a grocery bag swinging from her fist.

“It totally woke me up!” she said, her voice too loud for indoors. “There was screaming and a lot of thuds. I thought they were going to come through the ceiling at me! I was about to call the police, but suddenly it stopped.”

Tim nodded, his shiny pale head gleaming under the light from the windows. He ran a hand over his gray and blond goatee. “Is that so? Did the sounds ever pick up again?”

The woman shook her head in the negative, her hair so shellacked to her head, the dark red locks didn’t even move. “No, it stopped, which is why I never called security.”

“Huh, well...”

Done with my eavesdropping, I went to the stairwell with my shopping bags and proceeded to trek up them until I reached the sixth floor. Obviously, that woman was my downstairs neighbor, and obviously, she was a snitch. No more jealousy-induced fights allowed, I vowed.

After putting everything away, I quickly changed into black leather pants and a blood-red T-shirt. I shrugged on my black leather jacket and made sure the straps to my weapons were firmly in place around my waist before I grabbed my little purse.

As I flew down the stairs, I felt a little invigorated. Once I got outside, I checked my surroundings to make sure no creeps were lurking, and got into my car, and sped down the road.

The Starbucks wasn’t far, and when I walked in, I saw Evan and Karina there waiting for me, both of them sipping on coffee.

I acknowledged them before going to the counter and ordering a chai latte. Once it was ready, I sat down at their table and said, “What’s up?”

Evan slid a manila envelope over to me and said, “Open it.”

Obeying, I lifted the flap, and took out its contents. An eight-by-ten color photograph of a man sitting in a restaurant, clearly taken from a distance and through the restaurant’s window, was the first I saw. The next photo was similar. The next, him walking down the street with a scantily-clad woman on his arm. The man looked to be in his fifties, if that, and wore expensive clothes.

I looked at my friends. “Who is this guy?”

“Vampire, believe it or not,” Karina started. “Was turned in his late forties, which was about twenty years ago. It has been to his advantage, too, because younger vampires look up to him like he’s really old because he claims to be over two hundred years old. But he’s a liar. He’s nothing but a teen vamp.”

I laughed at her analogy of his vampire age. Baby vamp... teenage vamp. Did that make her a senior citizen vamp? I kept that comment to myself and said, “Okaayyy... but besides the dumb lie, what’s his deal? Like, is he not following the rules?”

Evan shook his head. “Not at all. He thinks he’s a god. Feeds on humans and kills them. Destroys young vampires when he perceives they’ve disrespected him. Keeps human blood slaves for himself and his minions. He’s just a cruel individual and while they’ve given him many chances to stop the behavior, the Vlasé has had enough of—”

I was about to take a sip of my latte, but set it down again. I looked at him incredulously. “Wait. You’re telling me you two work for the Vlasé?”

Evan chuckled. “Work for them? No. Take their money for contract killings of rogue vampires? Absolutely. We don’t take any jobs that we aren’t sure are legit, though. My brothers do the checking, then give us the jobs. And that’s what we’re training you for. We think you can get close enough to this guy to take him out.”

I nodded, then picked my drink up and took a sip. After the hot, spicy tea slid down my throat, I said, “Okay. Good to know. So what’s the dude’s name?”

“Sheldon Wells,” Karina said. “It’s his real name, too, hasn’t bothered in getting an alias. We’re told he’s from the East Coast, so he probably figures no one here in Colorado knows him.”

I chuckled. “Smart, yet stupid.”

“Agreed,” Evan said.

“So, where are we doing this?” I asked, my body beginning to buzz with excitement; my stomach beginning to swirl with anticipation. I had to be one sick individual to get excited over murdering someone—something.

Karina inclined her head toward the door of the Starbucks and said, “He’s having a late dinner at Chez LaRue about two blocks down. We’ve watched his habits and we know that after he dines, he tends to walk a few blocks until he finds a prostitute, then he takes her home. We know the ones he prefers hang out about four blocks east of here. You’ll wait two blocks east, and strike while he’s walking alone.”

I grinned. “Sounds fun.”

Evan chuckled. “I’m glad you find this fun. And I mean that sincerely.”

“If you don’t love what you do, then do what you love, right? I’m lucky I found my calling so early.”

Karina grinned at me, her coffee cup paused at her lips, “Your calling? That’s pretty cool. You definitely have a gift.”

I sucked down the last of my latte and stood. “Let’s go.”

We threw our cups into the trash can near the exit, and walked out into the brisk night.

“Who’s the guy he’s having dinner with?” I asked, pointing to the restaurant where Sheldon Wells sat with a plateful of untouched food, his wine glass to his lips. He seemed to be completely enraptured in whatever his dinner mate was saying.

“We don’t know who he is, just that he’s human,” Evan answered. “He seems to have a lot of business dinners with humans. We haven’t quite figured out what ‘business’ he has.” He made finger quotes as he said the word business.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter, I suppose, since he’ll be dead by sunrise.” I grinned wickedly at my trainers.

“I do love your attitude,” Karina said, high-fiving me.

We watched as the server brought the bill to the table, to which Sheldon quickly snatched up. He made a large production of pulling out his wallet and laying a one-hundred dollar bill on the small tray the bill had been delivered on. Then he waved his hand dismissively at something the server had said.

Sheldon and the man stood up, shook hands, and headed toward the door. While his date produced a ticket for the valet, Sheldon proceeded to walk east down the street, just as Evan predicted he would.

“Go about two blocks east and wait for him,” Evan whispered to me.

I gave a brief nod and blitzed down the street, stopping at the Third Street corner. I was quite enjoying my new skill. I found blitzing to be very easy now that I knew how to. I could see why Evan and Karina were having such a hard time trying to teach me. It wasn’t something that could be described in words.

Skulking into the shadows, I crouched down low, waiting for my target to pass. I was rewarded when Sheldon came into view, strolling down the street, whistling out a tune in his very expensive business suit and black coat without a care in the world.

I spotted the women before he did. Four ladies of the night, all of different sizes, colors, and shapes, came slinking around the corner of Third and Rio Grande, approaching the vampire with their painted lips and short skirts.

Sheldon smiled when he saw them. I watched from across the street as his gaze raked over their scantily-clad bodies. His focus seemed to land on the tallest one, an olive-skinned beauty with exotic good looks and jet-black hair that cascaded down her back and teased the top of her perfectly curved butt.

I was happy he had a distraction; I would use it to my benefit.

Sheldon waved off the other women, and they walked away. As he gripped the hand of the exotic beauty, he seemed completely enraptured by her. The diversion would pay off—for me, at least.

As they strolled hand-in-hand, I tilted my head to the side, contemplating on how I was going to take this guy out. I didn’t want to harm the obviously human prostitute, but I didn’t see how this scenario would end without her getting hurt—or at least exposed to our world in a way she should never have to.

Evan was in a car about two blocks away. I pulled out my phone and sent Evan a text:. I need a distraction. A little help?

The reply was immediate: What do u need?

Me: The vamp has a whore with him. I need you to act like a mugger or something. I don’t want to hurt the human.

Evan replied: U got it.

Before I could barely blink, Evan was standing on the sidewalk, hidden in the shadows of the corner they were approaching.

Once they reached the corner, Evan popped out and grabbed the prostitute’s arm. “Where’s my money, bitch?” he asked, yanking her into the deserted street.

Confusion and fear colored both the prostitute’s and Sheldon’s faces. The woman then screamed, “Get your hands off me!” and began with futility to squirm out of Evan’s superhuman grip.

“Hey, I don’t know you, man, but I would advise you get the hell out of here,” Sheldon said, trying to sound tough and commanding. But we knew better.

Evan laughed, and even threw Sheldon a flash of yellow eyes.

“Wolf... fuck,” Sheldon stammered, and then turned in the opposite direction, where he unfortunately ran into me.

“Hi,” I said with a grin.

His gaze was angry. “What the hell...?” He tried to scoot around me, but I blocked his path. He looked stressed, and chanced a glance behind him before trying to circumvent me again. One more glance behind him showed that Evan had disappeared from sight, so he turned to face me once more. Sheldon raked his gaze from my boots to my ponytail. “Well, hello, blondie.”

Biting back a scowl at the nickname, I purred, “Sheldon, is it?”

Surprise colored his face as he replied, “How do you know my name?”

I slunk forward, the Dagestan dagger behind my back. With a smile on my lips, I murmured, “I know a lot of things, Sheldon. Are you in a hurry? Have somewhere you need to be?”

He looked confused, but then quickly put a confident mask on his features. Raising his chin, he said, “As a matter of fact I do.” He looked down briefly to adjust the cufflinks on his wrists, then moved his brown-eyed gaze back to mine. “Not really, you wanna go somewhere and... talk, sweetheart?”

I took a step in his direction, wrapped my arms around his neck, and looked up into his eyes. Unfortunately for him, he hadn’t noticed the dagger in my right hand.

With all the confidence I could muster, I leaned up and whispered in his ear. “Here’s what’s up, you filthy piece of shit. Your days of murdering humans and vampires is over.”

With that, I slammed my dagger into the back of his neck, and then yanked it out just as quick, blood dripping from it to the concrete below. He jumped back in surprise, his eyes wide with fear and rage. Before he could stagger out of my reach, I jammed the weapon into his chest. Black blood blossomed across the white dress shirt he wore underneath the suit jacket, and when I removed the blade from his chest, I watched with satisfaction as he fell to the ground, clutching his chest.

“Why,” he managed to eke out as he lay there dying.

“Because you don’t deserve to be a vampire,” I gritted out, the bloody dagger still gripped in my fist.

With wide eyes, he looked up at me before he began to turn pale, then a scary gray. Once that color spread to the rest of his body, his skin began to crack until it dissipated into nothing but ash underneath the expensive suit he left behind.

I bent down and used the sleeve of his discarded shirt to wipe off my beloved dagger, and then slid it effortlessly back into its sheath on my right hip.

The Grants were standing behind me, and I heard Evan whistle through his teeth.

I bit back a smile and turned around with my hands on my hips. “Okay, so do you have a real job for me, or was that just practice?”

Evan’s gaze flicked down to the ash, the clothing, then to his wife, then back to me. “Practice? Maybe... but it appears we’re beyond that now.” He handed me a thick envelope. I held his gaze for a hard second, and then peered inside. There, I saw enough cash to pay my all bills for a few months, with enough drinking money left over.

The couple quickly put the deceased vampire’s clothes into a bag and vacuumed up the ashes before we blitzed back to the coffee shop where our cars were parked.

Chapter 21

On the rooftop of Moon Chasers, Beckett and I sat sipping cocktails with an electric fire pit between us. I always loved coming up here rather than staying inside where it was stuffy and full of so many smells it made my stomach churn. Recently, the bar had revamped—no pun intended—the entire rooftop to be a hangout, with padded patio-type furniture, fire pits, and a full bar, complete with human bartender at the southeast corner of the roof.

This rooftop was where Beckett and I had, in a way, found each other. It was where I discovered I could fly. Literally and figuratively. Sure, I could jump really far and fast, but it wasn’t like I could soar through the sky like Superman. The last few months had been intense; all the learning I’d had to do, between the flying and the blitzing... the training and the use of weapons. I wondered when I would be able to look at the beautiful dagger Aden had given me without getting emotional. Every time I looked at Austyn’s name on it, I was overwhelmed with sadness. It had been years since he’d died, and I still felt a pit of grief in my belly at his loss.

With a sigh, I pushed his silly, beautiful face from my memory for now, and looked at Beckett. His perfectly styled dark-blond hair looked like it could use a cut, and playful but wise eyes regarded me carefully. “You’re a million miles away, girl.”

“That, I am,” I replied, crossing one leg over the other, which wasn’t very easy in skintight leather pants.

“Talk to me,” Beckett implored.

With a sigh, I set down my gin and tonic. “I feel guilty about the breakup with Ryder. I feel guilty about wanting Kellan. I feel guilty about letting Alexander go. I feel guilty about the fact that Alexander, or his wife, could be harming their kid right now.”

Beckett stared at me for a hard minute before I finally looked away. With a sigh, he also set his drink down and came around the table to sit next to me. “Ayla. Feeling guilty about things isn’t going to change them. I’m not going to tell you how to feel, but I will say this; only you can control what you do with those feelings. You and Ryder were great once, but you’re moving in polar opposite directions, sweetie. It’s not your fault... or his. Life’s circumstances have taken you to different chapters of your lives. I think it’s great he’s pursuing a career with the BSI. But Kellan... he’s old, and most likely knows what he wants and won’t stop until he has it.”

I sighed and picked up my drink. “I know all this... in my head. I really do, Beck.” I pierced him with a sincere look. “It’s my heart that’s having a hard time catching up. What’s wrong with me?”

He laughed, that wonderful laugh that always made me feel better, no matter what was going on. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his jeans and clasped his hands together. “Nothing is wrong with you at all, honey. You’re a“—he held up his arms in a genie-style pose, crossing one arm over the other—“beautiful disaster.” When he relaxed against the chair, he inclined his head at the tattoos on my outer forearms.

I looked down at the pink and blue ink. I stroked the word ‘beautiful’ on my right arm with the fingertips of my left hand, and looked up at my friend. “I got these tats because that was how I felt at the time. I had just found out I was not human, but yet... I still felt beautiful for whatever reason. Beautiful as a human girl; beautiful as a sleek, white wolf. But... deep inside my soul, I knew I was a disaster. Learning I was wolf had devastated me. I didn’t want that, like not at all. I knew I was a big ol’ mess. I wish I’d been warned that I was a werewolf, but I couldn’t go back and change the fact that I hadn’t been. That’s why I had ‘disaster’ tatted on the other arm. I had committed murder as the wolf. I’d killed Linden’s vampire friend, or brother, or whatever he was, and my mind was a big, fat mess—a disaster.”

Beckett looked at me with softness and sympathy swimming in his eyes. “You may have, girlfriend... but his vengeance had been completely uncalled for. First of all, Linden’s an Old One—a very old and smart vampire, so for him to have let a young and inexperienced vamp roam free in the mountains of Colorado was a very careless mistake. Secondly, you killed him because you, too, were young and inexperienced, goaded to do so by your pack, if I recall what you told me. Linden knows the rules: come into the other’s territory, you risk your life. But he broke those rules when he killed Austyn just for the thrill of it; just to exert his power.” Beckett picked up his drink and took a swig, then set it down.

With a shake of his head, he added, “Oh, and there’s no way that the vamp you killed was his actual brother, anyway. More like one of his many progenies.”

“I thought so,” I replied, using the little black straw from my drink as a chew toy. “But I’m still gonna kill him, Beck.” I took the straw from my mouth and pointed at him with it. “Not someone close to him... not one of his friends... him.”

Beckett reached over and put his hand on my arm. “I know, sweetie, I know. And I hope it gives you the peace you need to move on.”

I stared back and pulled my bottom lip between my teeth. Then I looked away from his caring gaze. “I don’t think it will, but the guy is evil and needs to go.” I reined in my emotions with a deep breath and continued, “I know Kellan works for him in some capacity—”

Just then, the rooftop band—a new thing Moon Chasers has been trying out—began to play a song. A few commanding drumbeats from the drummer, and then the twangy zing of the electric guitar began to fill the night.

Beckett immediately got up and sat next to me so he could hear me better. Both of us had exceptional hearing, but that came with a price. We could also hear the band much louder than the average human. Although I couldn’t tell the difference between when I was a teen and would go to a concert and it would seem extra loud, to now. Before my first transformation, my senses hadn’t been as magnified as they were now.

With wide, curious eyes, Beckett looked at me, his drink still in his hand. “What do you mean Kellan works for Linden? I’m confused.”

“In one of those stupid blackout-vision things... I saw Kellan go and talk to him. Now, I can say this, he didn’t seem to be too thrilled in having to report in with him. He seemed almost, uh, annoyed.”

With his brow dipped in confusion, he replied, “That is bizarre... and you couldn’t see where, exactly, this was?”

I shook my head. “No. But, I don’t think it’s far from here. In fact, the house looked similar to the one I went to on the night”—I lowered my voice just enough to be heard over the screaming guitar—“the night I killed Elda. It definitely looks like something the Vlasé would invest in.”

“So you think Linden is part of the Vlasé?” Beckett asked, completely enraptured in my story.

“I do, but it’s just rumor for now,” I said. “I know next to nothing about that damned secret vampire organization, but if I were a betting woman, I would say that Linden-asshole-Rich was probably part of its hierarchy. A high-ranking member at the very least. He reminds me of that vampire in that movie who sits on a proverbial throne and has minions do his dirty work for him.”

Beckett chuckled and downed the rest of his drink. “Vampire movies are so dumb. Not even close or accurate.”

“I see that now,” I deadpanned. “Anyway, what should I do about Kellan? This wicked attraction to him just can’t be healthy. But I feel like I need to keep him tethered to me, so I can get close to Linden.”

Beckett grinned at me and set his empty glass down on the small glass table next to the padded chair on which he sat. “I’m fairly sure you want to keep him ‘tethered to you’ for more than just access to his boss. From what you’ve told me, you’re falling for him. And while I know you can hold your own, I would just caution you to be careful where your heart is concerned. A man—a vampire—like him doesn’t seem like the type to take it slow, but... you never know. He’s pretty old, from what I’ve heard, so you may want to play on his old-school mentality. Don’t rush into things, Ayla. Get a feel for him as a person. Get to know what’s deep inside. It’s obvious you’ve got the attraction thing down, but you might want to get him into a situation where you have to talk and just be.”

“I get what you’re saying, but... I don’t know. I suck at this stuff. Just talking? That’s it? Are guys really into that anymore?” I asked, feeling frustrated, but knowing that my friend had a lot of years of experience with this stuff.

He nodded. “I know it sounds kinda corny, but... I wish someone would have given me this advice before I got so wrapped up with Jacquez,” he replied, looking away, his expression turning sad for a split-second, and then it went back to stony-faced again.

Beckett’s tale of how he was turned had never left my mind or my heart, and he hadn’t ever mentioned his maker except the one time when he shared his story with me. But... I could tell it still hurt him, even some thirty years later.

I put my arm around his shoulder and pulled him to me, resting my head on his shoulder. “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have such a wise and cute friend on my side. Every girl should have a Beck to lean on.” I let out a dramatic, girly sigh.

“You think I’m cute?” he asked with a half-grin.

I rolled my eyes and pulled back to look into his flawless face. “Duh, I wouldn’t have let you try to kiss me that first night if hadn’t thought so.”

Chapter 22

It wasn’t too much later when Beckett and I found ourselves back down in the bar to avoid the noise of the live band. Yes, there was still music playing from the jukebox here, but it wasn’t blasting out of gigantic, vibrating speakers.

We attempted to continue our conversation as we found a corner table near the door. The place was still busy, but there weren’t as many people inside. As we sat down, Jeannie asked if we needed anything. I told her I was still good with the cocktail I was nursing, but Beckett ordered a beer.

“Beer, huh?” I asked with a little chuckle.

He lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “Why not.”

“I agree; why not?” I replied, smiling.

I noticed he was staring beyond me, so I slowly turned my head around and could see a guy at the bar looking in our direction. He was young, good-looking, and was dressed nicely. He sipped on what looked like a tumbler half full of whiskey or brandy.

Turning back around, I said to my friend, “Do you know him?”

As if tearing his gaze from the man was a chore, Beckett eventually looked at me and grinned. “No, but I would like to.”

Resisting the urge to turn around again, I asked him, “Vampire?”

“Probably, but you never know,” he replied.

“Here’s your beer,” the waitress said. I hadn’t noticed her come up to the table. She set the beer down on a Moon Chasers cocktail napkin.

Beckett pulled his wallet out and handed her a card. “Start a tab please, Jeannie.”

She took the card and said, “I can, but the beer’s paid for.”

We both looked up at her.

“What?” Beckett asked.

She inclined her head toward the handsome stranger at the bar. “By him.”

“Oh really? I’ll take the card back, then. I don’t think I’ll be drinking very much tonight after all.”

Jeanine handed him back the card and walked off laughing.

“Very interesting,” I said with a sing-song teasing tone.

He waggled his eyebrows at me. “Very interesting, indeed.”

Beckett lifted his bottle in thanks to the stranger, and then put it to his lips.

“So are you going to go talk to him?” I asked.

He set the beer down and then raised his eyebrow at something in the direction of the front door. “Yes, I am, so let me get to it. And... you can deal with that.”

I followed his gaze to the front door where Kellan and his two guards stood. Our eyes met, and he smiled.

Kellan Conley actually smiled.

Shivering at the way he was staring at me, I looked away slightly and then downed the rest of my gin and tonic. I took a deep breath and fished a five dollar bill from my purse for the tip and threw it on the table. By the time I turned around, Kellan was standing two feet in front of me, all up in my space.

I startled. “Geez, you scared me.”

He chuckled, low and deep. “Sorry.”

“Uh, do you want to sit?” I asked, indicating the table.

Without breaking eye contact, he nodded. “Absolutely.”

His two goons took off and posted up in the corner of the bar, and Kellan sat next to me at the four-person table. We were so close, our knees were touching. As he stared at me, not saying anything, I felt like it should be uncomfortable, but it wasn’t. His light-blue eyes were intense, but they also stirred something in me that caused butterflies to swarm low in my belly.

When he didn’t say anything, I reached up and traced my finger on the top of his hand, which lay on the table. He looked down at it, and then back up at me, a small smile on his full lips.

“Why do you come here all the time?” I asked, a question I had always wanted to ask, but never found the opportunity to.

“I believe the line goes, ‘Come here often?’ You really should work on your flirting skills,” he said cheekily in that thick, beautiful accent of his.

I bit back a smile and shook my head. “No, really, I’m just curious. You always come in with those two guys. You seem more like security than customers.”

“Well,” he replied, slipping his hand out from where I was touching it and then grabbing mine, interlocking our fingers, “Why do you come here all the time?”

“Because it’s my place. My hangout. My jam.”

He chuckled. “Your jam? Doesn’t that refer to a song?”

“Yeah, I think so. But this bar is also my jam.”

“All right,” he replied, smiling. He reached our linked hands up and kissed my knuckles, while keeping our gazes locked.

I swallowed hard, my eyes widening. What is this guy doing to me?

“You are so beautiful, little wolf.”

Now I couldn’t swallow. I couldn’t even breathe. What do I say to that? I stared at him long, and then whispered just low enough for him to hear me, “So are you.”

He set our hands down on the table and put his other one on my knee.

We stared at each other for a bit longer, until I asked, “Are you going to answer the question?”

His brows dipped momentarily on his perfect face before he asked, “And what was the question again?”

“Why you come here all the time, smooth-talker?” I replied with a small smile.

“You weren’t one-hundred percent wrong when you said we seem like security. The Vlasé owns this bar, and it’s in my district. Therefore, it’s my responsibility to make sure things run smoothly.”

I pulled my hand away from his and used it to make a stopping motion, palm out. “Wait. You work for the Vlasé?” I mean, I kind of already knew this, thanks to the freaky blackout visions, but I needed to hear him admit it.

He nodded and snatched my hand up again, placing it on his knee. “Yes, love, but I think you already knew that.”

“So... there are districts then? Like by state or city?” I asked, totally captivated.

“City coordinates, mostly, but this is boring business talk, and I would rather discuss other things.”

Not me, I wanted to say. This stuff was very intriguing, and I wanted to know more. But as I went to ask, I remembered Beckett’s words of advice ringing in my ear: ... you may want to play on his old-school upbringing. Don’t rush into things. Get a feel for him as a person.

So instead, I said, “And what things would you like to discuss, Kellan?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you start by telling me about your wolf family?”

I frowned. “I don’t know what to say... I lost my brother recently, and it’s been kinda hard on us, ya know?

“Oh, Ayla, I’m so sorry, love. I didn’t know. How did it happen?”

“We were wolves, a vampire attacked him, it was... awful.”

“I don’t understand. You were out, just being wolves and doing whatever wolves do in your wolf form, and a vampire came out of nowhere and attacked and killed your brother?” he asked, not with malice, but seeming curious.

Knowing I needed to tread carefully, I shrugged. “Something like that. Look, can we talk about something else? I’m too sober for this.”

He chuckled and then turned around and signaled the waitress. She came right over. With a wink, Jeanine said, “Hey, Kellan, what can I get ya?”

“Just a tonic water, and whatever Ayla wants.”

I glanced at him, then to Jeanine. “I’ll take a Red Bull and vodka double, please.”

“You got it,” she replied, flouncing away.

I watched her walk off, and my gaze landed on Beckett. He and the handsome stranger were at the bar, talking. As if sensing the weight of my stare, he turned and looked at me. I smiled at him, and he did the same back to me with a wink. That made me happy.

I eventually returned my attention to Kellan, and grinned. “I wasn’t implying that I wanted to get drunk. Just didn’t want to delve into all the feels tonight.”

He nodded. “I understand. So... let’s change the subject. Tell me what you have been doing. Do you work a job?”

Oh, God, why does he keep asking the hard questions? I plastered on a smile. “I do. I, uh, do contract work.”

“Doing what?” he asked, his hand on mine once again.

“Oh, this and that.”

“And by this and that... you mean killing vampires for money, Ayla?” he asked, a sincerity in his tone. And he still had that smile.

My eyes widened, I was sure, but it was far too late to try to recover. “How did you know about that?”

Just then, Jeanine set our drinks down. “Anything else? Can I get you some food?” she asked.

Kellan looked at me. “You hungry, love?”

Yes, for you.

Instead, I nodded, and then looked at her. “Could you bring me some chicken strips, please?”

“You got it,” she replied.

“Hungry like the wolf,” Kellan replied, mischief dancing in his eyes.

“That, I am,” I replied, clearly not meaning just for food.

“Are you going to answer my question?” he said, still staring intensely at me.

“And what question was that?” I quipped, throwing his earlier words back at him.

“Ayla, the Vampire Slayer, is that what they call you?”

I lifted an eyebrow at him, and contemplated how to answer. I looked down at my cocktail and lifted the straw to my lips while staring at the vampire I was falling for. Taking a long pull, I let the carbonated drink slide down my throat. I had learned early on that it took a hell of a lot of alcohol to get me actually drunk, but sometimes I could get a small buzz from the vodka and energy drink combination, so I took my time setting the drink down onto the cocktail napkin.

“Kellan,” I said, now placing my hand on top of his on the table, “let’s be clear here; I am not officially a vampire slayer.” I lifted my fingers and made air quotes around the words. “I would kill anything, or anyone for money... as long—”

“As long as they deserved it,” he finished for me.

I grinned. “And as long as the price was right.”

“That too,” he replied, staring at me.

I sighed, ready to launch into my justification of the job, but I wasn’t sure what I should say. As my mind scrambled for something to come up with, my teeth found my bottom lip. The lip-chewing seemed like such an immature and vulnerable thing to do, but it was also a knee-jerk reaction sometimes, and I wished I could stop doing it.

“Please do not do that, little wolf,” Kellan replied, his attention now completely on my mouth.

I quickly stopped, and then feigned innocence. “What are you talking about?”

As his gaze moved from my mouth to my eyes, his jaw was set firmly until he spoke. “You know what I mean. I am the only one who can bite and taste those lips.”

A small gasp floated from my mouth, and for the second time tonight, he had rendered me temporarily speechless. I just stared at him, until some words finally found me. Unfortunately, they were dumb words. “Well, they’re my lips, so I can bite them, too,” I replied, proud of my defiance and sass.

“Oh, is that right?” he replied, biting back a smile.

Before I could retort, he gripped both my knees and pulled me so our chairs were touching. He then leaned in and sealed his mouth on mine. I quickly realized he was going to get what he wanted regardless, and gave in and kissed him back. As our lips and tongues moved together, I felt like my head was getting dizzy... but in a good way.

When we pulled apart, I stared at him, heaving for breath.

His stare moved down to my lips, and then he reached the index finger of his right hand up and traced it along my bottom lip. His gaze temporarily flicked down to his finger, then back into my eyes. “Yes, that’s right. Mine.”

I found myself nodding in agreement, which was something that normally went against everything I believed in. Nobody owned me, and I owned nobody. But for some reason, I felt myself totally being okay with him owning my lips... and any other body part he felt he wanted lay claim to.

Chapter 23

The heat from his body, his stare, his finger on my lips... it was making me crazy. I forced myself to pull back, enjoying the way we were having a tense, but still... very easy conversation. I didn’t want it to end. I felt like if we kept up this dance, the finale once we were alone would be that much sweeter.

“Have I offended you, love?” he asked, looking concerned.

I shook my head. “Not at all. I just... we’re in public and all that, and...” I paused, and my teeth went to my lip, but I immediately stopped. “I was enjoying our conversation.” I lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Call me old-fashioned or something, but the talking is definitely making me... ah, happy.”

With that, Kellan smiled with those beautiful lips and perfectly straight teeth, and laughed. “Funny you say that, because I completely agree.” He interlaced our fingers once again on the table.

A movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned my head to see Beckett and the hot guy heading toward the front door. My friend quickly winked at me before disappearing into the night with the hottie.

“You friend looks like he’s going to be getting lucky,” Kellan said, amusement in his voice.

I turned my attention back to the handsome vampire as he spoke, and slowly nodded. “It would seem that way. I just hope he’s safe.”

Kellan’s eyes flicked to the door where the couple had left out of, then to me. “You have nothing to worry about. That stranger is human. Your vampire friend can surely handle himself.”

Breathing a sigh of relief I didn’t know I had been holding, I nodded. “Yes, he can... and he will.”

The electricity and tension between us was damn near crackling as we sat there and stared at each other. Finally finding some words, he asked, “So what else do you want to talk about? Surely you have some fun tales to share with me.”

He was right, but I was sure he had even more fun ‘tales’. However, I decided I was just going to be honest with him. “I have a few stories I could tell, though I’m sure your stories are much more interesting than mine.”

His thumb stroked the soft skin of the top of my hand, and after he inhaled a big breath and let it out, he replied, “I have a lot of history, that’s for sure, but I am not interested in sharing that right now. In fact, most of it I’d like to forget. What I want to hear is your beautiful voice sharing with me what is going on with your life, sincerity and truth speaking from those gorgeous lips of yours. Because once you’re done telling me all about it, I plan to claim those lips as my own, rendering them speechless except to call out my name once we’re alone.”

Well.

What in the hell was I supposed to say to that?

I tried to play it off... be cool like his words hadn’t affected me... but they had.

Clearing my throat unnecessarily, I finally found my voice. “If you’re quite done making me hot and bothered, I can tell you about a certain vampire I’m searching for.”

That seemed to get his attention, as he sort of perked up. The intensity in the air around him seemed to electrify as he asked, “You’re searching for a particular vampire?”

I nodded. “I am. The one who bit me and turned me into a freak.”

His eyes bounced back and forth between mine, and it seemed like forever before Kellan said, “I don’t think I’m following here. The vampire who bit you is still alive?”

I nodded, my face a mask of seriousness. “He is.”

“Knowing what I know about you, I find that hard to believe,” he replied.

“Well, I was pretty much left for dead in that alley, unconscious.”

Kellan’s face immediately appeared stormy. “He meant to murder you?”

I nodded. “I’m fairly sure. I remember him saying, ‘this will be quick and painless’, or something along those lines. I only got him to stop feeding when I managed to tell him I was a wolf before I passed out from the pain and blood loss.”

Kellan shook his head, rage still flashing in his eyes. “He sounds like he may have been a baby vampire, since he couldn’t sense you were a wolf.”

“He was; not even a year turned.”

“So... you know who this bloke is?” he asked, staring at me.

I nodded. “Well, here’s the thing. I had the chance to kill him, and I kinda... lost it.”

“What do you mean?”

After a deep breath, I launched into the entire story about how we’d tracked down and cornered Alexander after weeks of stakeouts and stalking. When I was done with my story, I stayed quiet and kind of waited, expecting to get a scolding from him for being so soft. I really was mad at myself, and I couldn’t stop thinking about where Alexander and his family might be. I really needed to grow some thicker skin and just not care. It sometimes baffled me how I could take a vampire’s life and not feel bad, but when I let one go, I couldn’t stop feeling guilty. I was so messed up. I remembered the first vampire kill I’d made in the woods as the wolf, and how I was in post-homicidal depression for weeks.

Kellan looked at me and said, “That child is in grave danger. We need to find him.”

Without my permission, my eyes got misty and I looked away. “I know.”

I stood up to excuse myself to the bathroom so I could try to get a grip on myself, when I felt what I suspected was probably my other monthly curse coming to visit me.

Dammit!

I grabbed his hand, since he had stood when I had. Such manners. “I’m going to the ladies’ room. I’ll be back. Please don’t leave?” I asked, sounding a little whiny and hating it.

He smiled. “I’ll be right here when you get back, beautiful.” He lifted our linked hands and kissed my knuckles

I swooned as I grabbed my little purse I reluctantly let go of his hand so I could make my way toward the restrooms.

Once inside, I was relieved I was alone in there and went into the first stall. A quick check confirmed my suspicions, and I cursed myself for not keeping better track of my cycle. Thankful I had supplies in my purse, I took care of business, and stood and buttoned up. As I went to grab my purse from the hook on the stall door, my vision began to swim and the room started to spin slightly, I began to wonder if I had really had that much to drink when the headache hit me in a split-second. I quickly sat on the toilet seat and put my head between my knees right before everything faded to black.

“I don’t know if this park is beautiful or not, because I’m sure it was meant to be enjoyed during the frickin’ daylight!” she snapped, snatching her arm from his grip.

“Oh, come on, honey. It’s not so bad, you’ll get used it,” Alexander replied, a desperate look on his face.

“I’m tired, Mom. Can we go home?” the little boy asked.

She shot her husband an annoyed look and picked up the child with ease, as he wrapped his arms and legs around her, resting his head on her shoulder. “Yes, baby, we can leave soon.”

“Please don’t pick him up like that,” Alexander said, a panicked look on his face.

His fears were confirmed when she closed her eyes and inhaled sharply into the child’s neck.

He blitzed over to her and snatched the boy from her arms. He started crying as Alexander tried to console him. “I’m sorry, kid. Mom’s not feeling well; let’s go back to the camp.”

Beth shot him a murderous look and put her fingers to her mouth, touching where her eyeteeth had grown into points, and followed behind them. She shuddered, and the eyeteeth seemed to go back to normal. “This is just so stupid, Alex,” Beth said, still confused. “How are we supposed to keep an eye on him when he’s up all day and we sleep all day? You screwed our entire lives, you asshole.”

Learning I could be more than a casual observer, I tried my hardest to look at their surroundings. It seemed they were in some kind of national park, with colossal rocks, a walking trail, trees, and the backdrop of a huge mountain range. So they were still in Colorado. Well I’d hoped so, could be Utah maybe, but I didn’t know which way was west so I couldn’t be sure. Then the couple went around a corner and the trail sort of ended. I noticed we were on a small ledge overlooking a large pond. The water was so still, the light from the three-quarter moon reflected perfectly on it like a mirror.

Suddenly, a chilling feeling of déjà vu hit me; I’d seen this before. The trio kept walking and I followed them to where a large tent had been erected. I noticed a snuffed-out campfire a few feet away. They went inside the tent, and as they did, I suddenly realized where I had seen that pond before. That was Beaver Pond... Oh, my God, they are camping out in the Rocky Mountain National Park!

Blinking my eyes open, I was grateful I hadn’t fallen from the toilet. I was sort of slumped against the wall. I stood up, grabbed my purse, took a quick look in the mirror, and left the restroom.

To my relief, Kellan sat at the table, and he was typing something on his phone.

“Oh, there you are,” he said, looking up at me and smiling. “I hope everything is all right. You were gone for quite a spell.”

I nodded. “Sorry, girl trouble. I’m good now, though.”

I didn’t think he knew about my little psychic visions, and it needed to stay that way. So what I said next was probably foolish, but I couldn’t be concerned with truths and pleasantries at the moment.

“Aren’t you going to sit?” he asked as we stood there and he had the chair pulled out.

I shook my head. “No. Do you fancy a road trip?”

He smiled. “Sounds fun. To where?”

“Estes Park,” I replied, feeling urgent.

“Oh. Well, all right, but obviously we will have to not stay long. Daylight will be here in,”—he glanced at his wristwatch“—about four hours.”

“It won’t take long, I promise. Please let’s go.”

He nodded to his two guards and they both nodded back. Then he ushered me toward the front entrance door, where we went around to the lot and got into his Porsche. He took off down the road at a high rate of speed I was beginning to get used to.

“Want to explain to me why this sudden urge to go to Estes Park?” he asked, pronouncing Estes like “esteez”, and it made me grin a little.

“Because that’s where Alexander and his family are. They are camping out in the Rocky Mountain National Park, and I need to just end this—and them—once and for all.”

Aside from glancing sideways at me, and then putting his eyes back on the road, he cleared his throat a little, and said, “And how, exactly, do you know this now, when fifteen minutes ago you didn’t know where he was?”

Shit, I knew he was going to ask me that. “Well, would you get mad if I told you to just trust me?”

“I do trust you, Ayla,” he said, taking the onramp to the freeway so fast, I thought we would surely crash into something. Of course, we didn’t. I had to remind myself of how long Kellan had probably been driving. “But, these vague answers, they have piqued my curiosity, and if I’m being honest, it unnerves me a little bit.”

I put my hand on his knee and looked at his profile. God, he was so perfect. That nose was flawlessly straight, his brow jutted out just enough to be masculine, his jawline was disgustingly perfect and straight, and the Adam’s apple wasn’t too big or too small. I swallowed and said, “I promise that one day I will tell you all my secrets. But you have to promise me something, too.”

He turned and looked at me, curiosity and something else I couldn’t decipher in his gaze. “And what’s that, sweet little wolf?”

“You have to tell me your secrets, as well. Because I know you have them.”

He chuckled. “We all have secrets. Some are best left buried, though.”

Huh. That was intriguingly vague, yet so true. “I can’t argue with that.”

As the car continued to fly down the interstate, I wondered what was waiting for us in Estes Park. The visions were so strange, as sometimes they were things happening at the very moment, and sometimes they were events that were about to happen. But usually they were events that had happened in the not-so-distant past.

After a little more than an hour, the signs to Estes Park came into view. I sucked in a deep breath, hoping I was making the right decision to go after Alexander now. The regret that swirled in my belly every time I thought about him would not go away, and I knew what I had to do.

I just hoped Kellan would be there to back me up, because not only would I need all the help and strength I could get ... I needed him... irrevocably and completely.

The End

––––––––

Book 3 in The Ayla St. John Chronicles, The Lunar Secret, comes out in late spring 2018! Watch my social media pages, newsletter, or my website for exact dates.

Song List:

Shape Of You—Ed Sheeran

Wolves—Marshmello & Selena Gomez

Dusk Till Dawn—Zayn (Feat. Sia)

Highway To Hell—AC/DC

I Can’t Do This—Plumb

Bad At Love—Halsey

Whereabouts Unknown—Endgame

There’s Your Trouble—Dixie Chicks

Never Be The Same—Camila Cabello

Lithium—Evanescence

For Those Who Wait—Fireflight

Gone Away—Five Finger Death Punch

Whisper—Evanescence

How Far I’ll Go—Alessia Cara

Beautiful Trauma—P!nk

Remembrance—God Is An Astronaut

Better—Plumb

Forever—Fireflight

Walk On Water—Thirty Seconds To Mars

Wheel In The Sky—Journey

The Devil Within—Digital Daggers

Panic Ghost—Common Velvet

My Demons—Starset

Our Solemn Hour—Within Temptation

OTHER BOOKS BY C.J. PINARD:

Paranormal Fantasy:

Enchanted Immortals 1

Enchanted Immortals 2: The Vortex

Enchanted Immortals 3: The Vampyre

Enchanted Immortals 4: The Vixen

BSI: Bureau of Supernatural Investigation

Enchanted Immortals Box Set: 4 Books + Novella

New Adult Contemporary Romance:

Patriotic Duty (Duty & Desire, #1)

Tour of Duty (Duty & Desire #2)

Boots Beneath My Bed (Duty & Desire #3)

Playing the Field (Duty & Desire #4)

Romantic Suspense:

Antihero (Imperfect Heroes, Book 1)

Above Protection (Imperfect Heroes, Book 2)

Beneath Broken (Imperfect Heroes, Book 3)

Beyond Love (Imperfect Heroes, Book 4)

Paranormal Romance:

Unscathed (A paranormal romance novel with Tim O’Rourke)

Soul Rebel (Rebel Riders #1)

Soul Redemption (Rebel Riders #2)

Soul Release (Rebel Riders #3)

Kovah: Soul Seeker (A Rebel Riders Novel)

Lotus (Daughter of Darkness) Lotus’s Journey Part I

Watcher (Daughter of Darkness) Lotus’s Journey, Part II

Guardian (Daughter of Darkness) Lotus’s Journey, Part III

All books available where eBooks are sold. Click for a complete list.

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