Coda (Alexa O'Brien Huntress Book 13) Read online

  He had to be in there. But in survival mode his rationality never surfaced.

  So no sitting down for a calm chat.

  “Motherfucker,” I muttered. There was one way pretty much guaranteed to bring him back to himself. Giving him what he most wanted. My blood.

  Briggs wouldn’t settle down. My presence only inspired him to fight harder. A surge of power lashed out from him, striking me like a punch in the chest. It knocked me back, dislodging my hold on his throat.

  He came at me again without strategy or thought, a wild attempt at getting the treat dangled before him. I warded off blow after blow from Briggs, hitting back each time with enough force to stun him. The entity was in his head, driving him well beyond his breaking point. The damned thing made this task that much more difficult.

  “Let him go,” I hissed beneath my breath, knowing it would hear me.

  Close to my ear, like a wanton lover, it purred, ‘Be my queen and anything you ask is yours.’

  This again. A chill crawled through me. The entity wanted a queen, needed a ruler to take Lilah’s place, and it had chosen me.

  I wanted none of it. “Never gonna happen,” I told it, throwing a fist in Briggs’s face when he came at me again.

  ‘If only you knew all that you are, all you could be. I can show you. Rule them all.’ The voice grew increasingly sinister with each word.

  Briggs was mine, and I would have him back. I’d already won one battle with the entity, with a little help from Falon. I could do it again.

  Bracing myself, I waited for Briggs to lunge. I stepped back and to the side as he lumbered forward. Grabbing his arm, I spun him, using his own momentum to paste him against the cell door.

  With a raised hand I held him in place. I didn’t go easy on Briggs, hitting him with an erotically charged shot meant to pull him under hard and fast.

  He blinked at me a few times and then he was mine. Totally enthralled. It calmed his violence but didn’t subdue his hunger. He strained against the power that held him, wanting to touch me.

  Juliet watched through the window just inches from his head. Yeah, that wasn’t uncomfortable or anything.

  “Briggs.” I slapped his face. “Talk to me. I need to know you’re in there.”

  With the barest touch, I stroked a finger down his jawline. A surge of desire rolled off him. I leaned in close enough to brush my lips against his, nowhere near a kiss, just enough to elicit a groan from him.

  “You’re a goddamn cock tease, O’Brien. Nasty bitch.” Briggs muttered obscenities, betrayed by his body as he struggled to touch me.

  I slammed his arm down by his side and wagged a finger in front of his face. “Watch your idiot mouth. I came to spring you from this hellhole, but it sounds like you’d prefer to stay.” Wishing my sister wasn’t watching, I stepped close enough to rub my knee against the inside of his thigh.

  He sucked in a breath that he let out in an angry sigh. “Fucking cock tease.” An evil laugh bubbled up.

  One of my least favorite people, I fought not to take joy in his discomfort. “You want my blood or not? Call me a cock tease one more time, and I’m walking out of here without you.”

  With great effort Briggs bit off his snide retort. Even while the bloodlust lurked in his dark eyes, he refused to admit how much he wanted me to ease his pain.

  I could’ve pushed it, probably should have forced him to beg for it. But again, I chose the high road. It wasn’t nearly as fun as the low road, but I needed the practice if I wanted to resist clawing Arys’s eyes out.

  I held his gaze as I raised my wrist. “Keep in mind that I can make you my bitch. Any time I choose. With Juliet watching. Be grateful I’m not nearly as bad as you think I am.”

  His hatred for me flared to life and wrestled with his unnatural lust, until he snatched my wrist and bit deep. I winced. His bite was rough and inexperienced, not the sensual touch of Arys or the carefully commanding bite of Kale.

  A glance up at Juliet revealed a mask of revulsion. She jerked away from the window, disappearing from sight. I understood how this could be hard to watch, but this was pretty tame, all things considered.

  The moist touch of Briggs’s tongue disturbed me. There was no heat between us. No chemistry whatsoever. Even with him under my thrall, we were repulsed by one another. Briggs fell only so deep under my spell. The whole time he wanted me, he cursed me for it, fighting harder than any victim ever had. Watching him suck at the bloody punctures in my wrist, I pondered how our resentment and disgust for one another proved strong enough to break through our succubus and incubus vibes.

  On the flipside, why was the loathing Falon and I shared not enough to keep us from enjoying our trysts? Could it be that I felt some demented version of respect for Falon that I couldn’t dredge up for Briggs? Ludicrous.

  I shook Briggs off and swiped a blood bag from the floor, tossing it to him. “Get your shit together. Juliet is worried sick about you. She’s not sleeping, probably not eating. We’re moving you out of here before that thing gets you killed.”

  Briggs tore into the blood pack with his teeth. “Moving me? Where?” he grunted around the plastic.

  “I have no idea. Honestly, I think if you can’t be trusted to hang with the rest of us, we should just kill you.” Arms crossed, I eyed him with haughty derision as he sucked down the contents of the bag. “See Juliet has this wild idea that you can function like a normal vampire. We both know that’s bullshit, but if I were you, I’d humor her.”

  Briggs paused, blood smeared over his mouth. “Function like a normal vampire? I don’t deserve to be in here. I did nothing wrong.”

  “Nothing wrong? Um, you created a zombie. Did you forget that part?” I picked up the cuffs from where they’d landed and smiled. “Never thought I’d get the chance to do this. Not gonna lie. It feels pretty fucking good.”

  “I am not putting those on.” Tossing the empty blood pack, Briggs bristled. The atmosphere tightened as he tapped his power.

  “Don’t bother,” I warned. “I’ll kick your ass. Also, don’t be stupid. Do you want to get out of here or not?”

  “Of course I want to get out of here, but I won’t be treated like a run-of-the-mill monster.” He took a step toward me. The fool.

  A flick of my hand and I slammed him against the door. None too gentle I grabbed his arms, wrung them behind his back, and slapped the cuffs on each wrist.

  A little extra tug on his shoulder and he grunted in protest.

  “Don’t make me strip you down to a bag of bones. I’ll do it. Either show us you deserve to be free, or we’ll keep you prisoner.” A swipe of the key card and the door opened. “And try to use your power with these on. Please. I want you to know how that feels.” I pushed Briggs out ahead of me.

  Juliet stood there with hands on her hips, all business in the face of her lover turned mad-science vampire. She forced a tough front that was almost believable.

  “Were you going to let me rot in there?” Briggs hissed at her as he jerked away from me.

  I let him go; he couldn’t do much cuffed.

  She eyed him coolly. “I was hoping you’d come to your senses, realize you’d taken things too far.”

  “All I realized is that you’re capable of torturing someone you claim to love.” Chin raised, Briggs refused to acknowledge his sins. And like all lovers, he knew how to hit her where it hurt.

  “Don’t give me that shit. You lied to me too.” Juliet’s careful words sent a message she didn’t want Falon or me to be privy to.

  “I’ve never lied to you,” Briggs challenged. He met her gaze head on, unwilling to admit his shortcomings. The idiot should’ve been begging her forgiveness.

  Juliet remained rigid, expression void of emotion. “That right there is a lie.”

  My sister may have become a real hardass over the years, but she hadn’t changed so much that I didn’t recognize the tiny twitch in her cheek that meant she was fighting tears. Something about seeing it after a
ll this time made me want to kick Briggs in the crotch.

  “Juliet,” I interrupted, trying to keep her focussed on the immediate task. “Where are we moving him?”

  A few agents stood at the end of the hall, awaiting instruction. Falon leaned against the wall nearby, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world, annoying as I hadn’t asked him to come.

  Conflicted, Juliet’s gaze darted to the waiting agents. “I don’t know. This is the best place for him. It’s secure.”

  “No, it’s making him crazy.” I elbowed Briggs when he opened his mouth to speak. “I can take him to The Wicked Kiss. Or back to Shya’s house.”

  “I’m firmly against both of those options.” Briggs scanned the hall, assessing his odds of escaping with his hands cuffed behind his back.

  “Nobody asked you.” I kicked the back of his knee, snickering when he almost went down before catching himself.

  Juliet chewed her lip. She stared hard at Briggs. “What about his house? Could Gabriel spell the house so he can’t leave?”

  “So that’s it?” Briggs butted in again. “You’re really in charge now?”

  Ignoring him, I answered her, “Possibly, but leaving him there unattended would be a mistake.”

  Juliet nodded. “I’ll keep someone there.”

  “I don’t need to be locked up anywhere, and I sure as hell don’t need a babysitter.” Offended, Briggs huffed as he glanced between us. He opted to plea with Juliet. “I can be trusted. Get me out of this place, somewhere nothing will fuck with my head. I won’t come back to work. Just don’t fucking lock me up anymore. Please.”

  Seeing my own skepticism on Juliet’s face brought a strange sense of satisfaction. So rarely we saw eye to eye on anything. We both knew Briggs couldn’t be trusted. But would we be able to agree on what to do with him?

  The way he looked at her, the way his expression softened, I didn’t trust him. When I saw Juliet’s icy demeanor begin to melt, I knew I had to make the final call. Briggs might not be the most powerful vamp in this city, but he was a damn impressive incubus, if I did say so myself. All he needed was one opportunity to enthrall her, and she’d do whatever he wanted.

  Not on my watch.

  “I’m taking him to the Kiss.” My declaration left no room for argument. “He’ll be safe there. Properly fed. And he can’t manipulate anyone.”

  A frown creased Juliet’s brow. “He won’t manipulate me. I’m not an easy target.”

  “He’s doing it right now.”

  Juliet scowled but made no protest.

  “Two minutes alone with him and you’ll do whatever he wants. Don’t forget what he’s capable of.”

  The entity lingered. I could feel it. If it wasn’t talking to me, it had to be talking to Briggs or Falon. We had to leave.

  I grabbed Briggs’s arm and guided him toward the exit.

  Juliet stepped into the middle of the hall. “He’s my prisoner, Alexa. I’ll make the decisions regarding his whereabouts.”

  So much for making a mutual decision together. As two of the city’s leaders, not to mention siblings, negotiation shouldn’t be such a pain in the ass for us.

  “Need I remind you that he’s my vampire? As much as that sucks for all of us, it is what it is. Nobody can handle the shit he’ll try to pull as well as me.” I tugged on Briggs again, marching forward despite the haughty little werewolf in my path.

  Falon ambled along behind us. I could almost feel how much he enjoyed our sisterly spat.

  “You can’t take him.” The growl in Juliet’s tone was followed by her hand on her gun.

  “Are you going to shoot me?” I laughed a little in disbelief. “You know there’s a reason I didn’t come alone, right?”

  Juliet’s gaze flicked to Falon. “Must be nice having so many men jump when you snap your fingers.”

  I let out an annoyed huff. “It’s not about that. It’s about not being able to trust my own sister not to pull a gun on me. Do you realize how fucked up that is?”

  Taking her hand from the butt of the gun, she crossed her arms and stood aside. “Fine. Take him. But I expect to be allowed into your nightclub any time I like.”

  “Fine. Don’t bring your goons.” Knowing that we stood on the brink of a real throw down, I hastily dragged Briggs along, determined to get the hell out of there.

  Going in I had hoped Juliet and I could prove to ourselves and each other that we were capable of working together. I guess we hadn’t yet reached the point of coming to an agreement without it devolving into an argument.

  She held a grudge, a legitimate one. I’d thrown blackmail material in her face. Still, she hadn’t given me much choice. So hard headed, she refused to compromise on anything.

  And I blamed Briggs for that. He’d spent years forming her, encouraging her to see the supernatural world from his point of view. Now he belonged to that world, and she had yet to accept that so did she.

  As we left the building the entity made one last-ditch attempt at bargaining with me. ‘Stay,’ it whispered. ‘Queen of the city. I can make you queen of the underworld. They will all fall at your feet.’

  I didn’t bother telling it off. Every step took me further away. Outside its slimy voice faded.

  On the way to the car, Briggs snickered. “Never thought I’d have the O’Brien sisters bickering over who gets to imprison me. What a fucked-up turn of events.”

  As we neared the Charger I tripped him. With his hands behind his back, he fell face first on the cold, hard ground. Jerking him to his feet, I slammed him against the car. “You asked to be let out of there. I just did you a favor, and I damn well expect you to never forget it.” Opening the back door, I shoved him inside so he splayed awkwardly across the seat.

  Turning to find Falon watching with a wicked gleam in his eye, I prepared to lay into him too. He cut me off with a low chuckle. “You’re crazy sexy when you throw people around.”

  I rolled my eyes and pointed to the passenger door. “And you’re just crazy. Too much time in that building. Get in. Keep an eye on Briggs for me, would you?”

  Falon slid into the car. “I’m offended that she thinks I jump when you tell me to.”

  Thinking about the entity’s last words, I hurried around to the driver’s side, muttering to myself before opening the door. “So am I.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Back at The Wicked Kiss I got Briggs settled into a room across from my office. Only after I’d humored him with a sultry “pretty please” did Falon put a ward on the room, trapping Briggs inside.

  “You’re starting to owe me a lot of favors.” Falon surveyed the small room with a grimace. It might not be a five-star hotel, but the bedroom and attached bathroom was more than enough for most vamps’ purposes.

  “We’re partners. This is work. I don’t owe you shit.” I judged the room to be clean enough for Briggs.

  He stood beside the bed. Mouth agape, he twisted sideways and held his cuffed hands out toward me. “O’Brien, did you think to get the keys for these things?”

  I glanced at Falon. He could get those things off Briggs, no problem. Had Briggs earned that though?

  “Nope. No keys. If you’re really well behaved, maybe I’ll have Falon remove them.” I headed for the door, pleased when Briggs followed but was forced to a stop near the threshold.

  Falon stepped into the hall with me. “Taking those cuffs off will be another favor. You’re racking up quite the debt.” The teasing grin gave his beautiful features an element of mischief.

  “Put it on my tab,” I quipped, pretending like that smile didn’t go straight to my groin.

  Losing myself in Falon sounded damn good right about now. But as much as I’d have liked to hide out in our hotel with him, wishing the full moon away, I couldn’t. Because it was coming, whether I liked it or not. And soon.

  “So cuffs or no cuffs?” he asked. “I’m about to take off. If you’re done needing a bodyguard now.”

  We both k
new I’d never needed him to shadow me tonight. Well, I knew it anyway. Although his presence had helped me walk out with Briggs without having my sister’s gun in my face.

  Something in Falon’s silver eyes flashed me back to that night in the hotel. It reminded me that, even though I often sought him out to satisfy a need, he had needs too. And this arrangement we had must serve us both if we wanted it to remain fulfilling.

  Too bad our needs were far from conventional. Instead of needing some affection or mere physical satisfaction, we leaned more in the direction of needing to lose ourselves in someone who could wipe away the worst of what we lived with. Our passions freed us from the anguish of who and what we were. And the many regrets that shackled us.

  The lack of emotion between us made our arrangement work. As much of a pain as he was, Falon was the most low-maintenance lover I had. Or so I liked to believe.

  The way he looked at me then made me question that. And then his need was gone, his cocky sneer back in place.

  “If you’re sure there’s no way he can breach that ward, then go ahead and get rid of the cuffs.” I glanced at my closed office door. Willow had better be safe in there. We’d brought Briggs in through the back. I didn’t see Arys, but I knew he was here somewhere.

  Falon easily snapped the magical cuffs off Briggs who followed him as far as the ward would allow. “What now, O’Brien? Gonna send a pretty young thing in here? I’ve been eating pig blood for days. I need a little pick me up.”

  “You’ve had your pick me up for tonight.” I grabbed the door and swung it shut in his face. Keeping Briggs prisoner had grown tiresome already. If he couldn’t prove himself worthy of being released, I’d have to kill him. Soon.

  Falon gestured to my closed office door. “I guess I’ll leave you to it. Try to stay out of trouble. I won’t be around to save your ass for a while.”

  “Oh? Big job of the immortal kind?” Naturally I was curious about what kept Falon occupied from night to night.