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  Letting him press me against the car’s back window, I enjoyed the weight of him atop me. It was new and strange. Exciting. I wrapped my legs around his waist, grinding myself against his straining erection. Gabriel groaned, palming a handful of my ass, pressing us tighter together.

  The frequency of power spiralling around us caused a high-pitched keening in my ears. He was under my thrall entirely, eager for my blood and body. Against my skin he murmured, “You smell like sex and death and sunlight.”

  Even caught up as I was in the temptation of him, it still struck me as an odd thing to say. Although I had heard some pretty strange things from victims under the thrall. It took their mind somewhere else, opened it up to other things.

  Sex and death, I’d heard that before. Sunlight? Odd word choice. Gabriel was different though. He saw things. Did he see something now?

  I couldn’t ask. Claiming him meant keeping him enrapt. Bleeding for him.

  His fangs scraped over my flesh, and I shuddered. A steady throb between my legs urged me to rebel against my own rule and enjoy a little anarchy all over Shya’s Mercedes. The only thing that kept me from doing so was needing Gabriel to prove himself first. He was dangerous. That had to be more important than my power-driven sexual desires.

  Gabriel didn’t drag it out. He wanted to see this through for his own reasons. The sharp sting of his fangs came sudden but smooth. His experienced bite pierced my jugular, spilling my hybrid blood into Gabriel’s mouth. More pleasure than pain, the kid knew what he was doing.

  Sucking at the wound, he drew on my blood and power, drinking me in. Becoming mine. Strategically speaking, this could be a good thing for me. I could already tap Gabriel’s power through Arys, but this would strengthen my link to him. Should Gabriel ever prove more dangerous than he already had, God forbid, I’d have some leverage over him.

  I bit my lip hard, tasting my own blood, trying to keep myself grounded. I wanted him inside me. Everything dark within me demanded it.

  His tongue swirled over the bite. Arousal burned between my legs, and I moaned when he rubbed against me. Sex and power could not make my decisions. If I was going to hold my own as queen of this city, I had to be able to separate power and pleasure from logical decision making. Which wasn’t nearly as easy as I wished it was.

  When Gabriel’s mouth found the swell of my cleavage, I knew if I didn’t stop him, I never would. “Gabriel,” I whispered, summoning my willpower.

  “No sex. Got it. Hell, I won’t even touch you with my hands.” His words were lost in my breasts as he tugged my shirt up to bare my middle, which his lips quickly found. Pausing, he gazed at me with a drowning, devilish incubus stare. “Let me serve you.”

  Confident and smooth, Gabriel slid my pants and underwear down, and I let him. He propped my legs on his shoulders, and my breath caught. Head thrown back against the car’s window, I closed my eyes and tensed in expectation of what was coming.

  A nip at my inner thigh. Warm breath teased my core. The tip of his tongue followed, the slightest touch. From bottom to top he licked me, a feather light sensation meant to make me needy for more.

  It worked.

  Every lick teased. Each flick of his tongue a taunt. It wasn’t like an incubus to leave such an encounter without making their partner climax. Multiple times in most cases. I found Gabriel’s need to please neither surprising nor unwelcome.

  When he began to lick me with greater intensity, my claws left deep gouges in the car’s paintjob. My shaky moan made him grip my ass tighter, holding me in place. I had to bite my lip to keep from demanding that he screw me right there on the side of the road.

  Goosebumps broke out on my skin. An overflow of sensual energy had me soaring. Gabriel might not have had decades of experience pleasuring a woman like some vampires, but he was doing damn fine so far. His touch was delicate but intense, explorative and eager. My body quivered for him.

  He brought me fast, never touching me with anything but his tongue. Just as he’d said. Pressing his mouth against me, Gabriel rode out every wave before gently easing my legs from his shoulders.

  “Son of a bitch,” I sighed to the watching night sky. Tugging my clothing back into place, I sat up, head spinning slightly as the high of claiming him rode me.

  Gabriel held out a hand to help me off the trunk. He held it a moment longer. Flashing me a fangy grin, he said, “I really hope you can stop calling me kid now.”

  “Not gonna make any promises, but I’ll see what I can do.” I gave him a playful shove and smoothed my hair down. Maybe it would feel weird later, maybe it wouldn’t. Right then I was too high to give a damn.

  I fished for my phone in my dropped bag. “Guess all we can do is wait for Jez to update us if they get anything and wait for Lizzy to make her next move. No point wandering the streets aimlessly if we can’t track her.” No recent updates from my watchdogs. “I’m going to head back to the Kiss. Come with? I could use you.”

  It wasn’t what it sounded like. The more vampire power Arys and I had to keep us apart, the better. If Gabriel wanted to prove himself, he could start now.

  Gabriel nodded, brows knit together in contemplation. Before I could get away, he said, “Alexa, wait a sec. I have to say this. When I took your blood, I saw something. Just now. A vision.”

  Of course he did. I’d given him shit before, warned him not to tell me what he saw. I couldn’t handle the pressure. Something about the expression he wore said I didn’t have that luxury now.

  “What did you see?” I asked, swallowing hard. Wary.

  He glanced up and down the empty side street, like he thought that perhaps we were not alone. My skin crawled when, in a hushed tone, he said, “You can’t trust Salem.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  I took my sweet time getting back to The Wicked Kiss. Like I was out for a leisurely drive, I steered the Charger through the city streets, lost in thought.

  Gabriel had put me in a tough position. Warning me not to trust Salem meant that my only alternative was to trust that he spoke the truth. Under Shya’s influence he’d done some shady shit. But I knew Shya had threatened his mother’s life, using anything he could to bend Gabriel’s will. He’d apologized and all but begged Arys and I to give him a chance. To spare him. So far he’d proven trustworthy despite Hurst’s warning about him, despite this whole Lizzy situation.

  Sure Salem was an angel. That should make him a good candidate for trustworthiness, but it didn’t. Linked to Lilah, he was tainted with darkness. I’d learned not to forget that every demon was once an angel. The temptation was always there. For all of us. All the time.

  With a frustrated curse I turned the radio off. I couldn’t hear myself think. Probably because there were already so many voices in my head.

  The white Mercedes sat in the parking lot when I arrived. Beside it, the blacked-out SUVs driven by Briggs and Juliet screamed federal agent. Those morons. I was curious as to how their little chat was going.

  I got out of the car and had to pause to take in the audible buzz that surrounded the building, emanating from within. It reverberated through me, into my bones. The nightclub was a blazing beacon of power to anyone with the ability to see, hear, or feel it. The humans standing out front smoking and talking remained oblivious.

  Four vampires from our bloodline lurked inside. I felt each of them, knowing their personal energy signatures. I imagined how I could pick them apart from here was how Falon could feel me as well when seeking me out. On a much grander scale of course, due to that whole truly immortal thing he had going for him.

  As I stepped through the front entry I wondered how the presence of so many of us would affect those inside. A few seconds later, I had my answer. A sex-charged vibe laced the atmosphere. Like an airborne aphrodisiac the entire place had been seduced. People were dancing closer, grinding harder. Any vampires not of our bloodline were just as caught up in the charge.

  Two of my vampires were tapping power at this very moment,
feeding the current. Jenner and Briggs. I felt them. The skin on my arms prickled all the way to the back of my neck. Shielding tight beat back the onslaught of energy, but I couldn’t block it completely. I was too tightly joined to these vampires.

  The worst part was that I wanted to feel it. To let it all roll over me and catch me in its hold.

  But I had to make sure an orgy didn’t break out on the dance floor. And more importantly, figure out why the hell Briggs was rolling my sister. What else could he be doing?

  A sharp stab in the gut doubled me over, followed by one in my head. Momentarily blinded, I reached out for the back of the nearest chair. Failing to stay on my feet, I hit the floor on my knees. A hand on my head, I bit back a screech.

  Arys’s anguish tore through me like a knife. Cutting through my deepest parts. My heart and soul. He was suffering. So I was suffering. The weight of his absence hit me suddenly, like a rock crushing my lungs.

  The link between us opened without either of us reaching out. We were just there, inside each other’s heads. I saw Arys’s hand clutching Shaz’s, their fingers entwined. Holding desperately to one another.

  “Alexa?” Gabriel’s voice next to my ear pulled me back into my own head. His arms went around me, and he lifted me to my feet. “Are you ok? What just happened?”

  My yearning for Arys hit hard and cut deep. I missed him. Every second it hurt more. It would continue to grow until it drove us together and we killed each other. How much more of this could we take?

  “It’s Arys,” I said, my voice shaky. “Things are bad, Gabriel. I don’t think we have much time.”

  He nodded, his expression pinched. “I’m sorry. I’ll do anything I can to help.”

  Aware of the erotic heat creeping among us, Gabriel released me when I proved to be steady. Good idea. Even though everyone acted as if they’d done copious amounts of ecstasy, for the most part everything continued as it should.

  Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I said, “I know you will. Keep an eye on things out here, will you? I’ll be back in five.”

  I slipped through the crowd to the back in search of my sister. If Briggs was defiling her, I’d decapitate him.

  The back hall was rife with the essence of blood and sex. Not unusual. Ambling along at a casual pace I headed toward the room near my office. The one Briggs usually occupied despite it no longer being his prison. I think he just liked to be near my office. I wouldn’t doubt that he’d snooped around in there. Not that I was dumb enough to leave him anything to find.

  Before I reached his room, the door swung open. I froze, then forced myself to continue on as if heading to my office. Sure I was. They couldn’t prove otherwise.

  Juliet stepped out first. She stared back into the room, a smile on her face. A dopey smile. Son of a bitch. Right away my gaze found the small bite on her wrist. I was going to kill that motherfucker.

  Briggs appeared behind her, pulling her in for a kiss. I tried not to see it. She was my little sister, and he was a man I loathed beyond all reason. She might love him, but I didn’t have to love that.

  He felt me, because he couldn’t not feel me no matter how bad he wanted to. So for my benefit he turned up the heat on their kiss. A hand on Juliet’s ass tugged her against his groin while he plundered her mouth with his tongue.

  Gag me.

  They broke apart as I reached his doorway. Juliet blushed and pulled away from Briggs, embarrassed at having been caught despite doing it in my club. She turned her bitten wrist inward, out of view, like that would keep me from knowing. I wanted to slap her and ask if she was new.

  A swell of darkness rippled through me, grabbing hold of my ire and running like hell with it. I didn’t even consider fighting it.

  I grabbed Briggs by the throat and slammed him against the open door, knocking Juliet aside in the process. With wolf fangs bared, I snarled into his face. “You’ve got a lot of fucking nerve.”

  “Alexa, what the hell? Stop it.” Juliet grabbed my arm.

  Mistake. She realized it too late. A snap of the fingers of my free hand and I’d pasted her against the hallway wall across from Briggs’s room.

  Briggs sneered, but despite his fearless front, he couldn’t hide the way his constant craving for me slammed him like a Mack truck. His gaze fell to Gabriel’s bite on the side of my neck. It was just one of three bites I wore, from three different men. The scent must have been driving him nuts.

  “We’re consenting adults, O’Brien. Mind your own fucking business. I didn’t hurt her. I would never hurt her. Screw you for thinking otherwise.” He tapped his power but didn’t use it. Couldn’t really. Not without me kicking his ass all over the place.

  “Alexa, please,” Juliet pleaded, fear in her voice. Fear for Briggs and what I might do to him. “I was willing. I swear.”

  Keeping Briggs pinned in place, I glanced at Juliet. “Why? Tell me why the hell you want to be a bite junkie.”

  She strained against the force pasting her to the wall. Rage shook her pretty features into something close to ugly. “You think I want to be a bite junkie? Your goddamn vampire did this to me.”

  Fuck. The worst part was that she was right. Unable to keep my face from falling, I looked away, down the hall at my closed office door. Arys and me, we fucking sucked at not hurting everyone around us.

  Beside me, straining against my hand on his throat, Briggs grunted. “You’re both addictive as sin and evil as fuck.”

  I jerked him away from the door only to slam him back against it. The hinges groaned and wood splintered. “That doesn’t sound like someone who enjoys freedom. Try again.”

  Neither of them were wrong. I didn’t have a damn leg to stand on when it came to arguing their accusations. All truth. Arys and I made slaves of those we touched, even those we loved. And especially each other.

  For me, it was my blood. For Arys, his bite. But always it was rooted in the power.

  There is no saving us from this curse.

  Lilah’s words, uttered to Salem when he’d taken me to her. I couldn’t let her be right.

  “Damn, woman.” Jenner’s voice came from behind as he appeared in the hallway several doors down. “You’re a real spitfire tonight. If Arys is running as high and hard as you are, I’m thinking neither of you should be left unattended anymore.”

  Releasing both Briggs and my sister, I stepped back and turned to face Jenner. “Are you offering?”

  “Anything for the queen.” Bare chested, clad in only sweat pants, Jenner made sure Juliet got a good, long look at his firm, tattooed torso. Pretty sure he flexed a little too. It hadn’t taken him long to find someone happy to relieve the tension I’d left him with.

  His flippant remark served to further prove Briggs’s accusation right. So I might have a handful of vampires and one angel bound to me. At least I wasn’t cruel about it. I gave of my blood to keep them from succumbing to hunger-obsessed madness. Even Briggs.

  Admittedly, I gave him blood while hurling warnings and threats, but I gave it regardless. Albeit less often for him than the others. Couldn’t make it too easy for him. The man had tried to kill me, replicate me, and God only knew what else. Probably clone me if he could.

  “Helpful, Jenner,” I huffed a loose tendril of hair out of my face.

  It had been though. He’d interrupted before I tore Briggs’s head off his shoulders in front of my sister.

  Juliet devoured the sight of Jenner like she didn’t just mess around with a sexy man. Yeah, I hated Briggs with an undying passion, but the guy was a Fed who’d stayed in damn good shape. I noticed. But not with near the intensity Juliet noticed Jenner.

  With a further reddening of her cheeks, she averted her gaze. Not before Briggs had seen her gaze eat Jenner up. Without a word she stalked away, speed walking toward the exit at the other end of the hall. Briggs followed hot on her heels, calling her name.

  “She wanted me. She settled for him.” Smug as all get out, Jenner eyed my sister’s retreatin
g form with delight.

  “You’re an arrogant thing, aren’t you?” I observed, not for the first time. “Get over yourself, Jenner. Get over your dick too. It’s nice but it’s not God’s gift.”

  He smirked, sliding that ice-blue gaze over me like an explorative hand. “You loved it.”

  “I liked it,” I was quick to correct. “Don’t get carried away.”

  Unable to handle a slap to his ego, Jenner jerked a head toward my office door. “Give me a chance to change your mind about that.”

  I laughed, enjoying myself. “You had your chance.”

  As I sauntered away with a sashay to my hips, I could feel his stare. “It takes a lot more than one fuck to experience all of me, Alexa. You’ve barely scratched the surface.”

  I didn’t look back. Chuckling to myself, I turned to go back into the club. In the dimly lit corridor where the restrooms are located, a body suddenly materialized before me. With a startled shriek I ran smack into Salem.

  “Holy crap,” I shouted. “You can’t just pop out like that.”

  The warrior angel was disheveled and dirty. His hair was unkempt, his clothing torn. Like he’d been fighting. Gold eyes wide, he grabbed my shoulders, almost pulling me off balance.

  “We have to act now,” he said, frantic and afraid. “Before Lilah finds out that I’m here.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  I pulled away, suddenly needing him to not touch me. His frazzled energy tried to leap to me, and I didn’t want any of it.

  “Is everything alright? What’s the emergency?” Being alone with him in a dark corner didn’t feel safe. So soon I had to decide whether to trust Gabriel or not. Searching Salem’s wild eyes, seeing the unbalance that I saw in my own eyes, I knew he walked a dangerous line.

  “Lilah forbade me to help you. She wants nothing to do with mending the twin flame rift.” Salem glanced around like he expected Lilah to appear. It made me fear the same. “She’s been tracking my every move, forcing her way into my head. Making sure I don’t come here.”