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

  Arys had a lot of fucking nerve coming here. Coming anywhere near me right now. Like a moth to a flame, we drew one another. Always getting burned.

  “Lex.” Shaz’s hand was warm on my arm. Gently he held me back. No longer did he have that mystical calm. Yet he was still my white wolf. Nothing would change that.

  “Don’t get involved, Shaz. Please.” A blink and suddenly I saw through different eyes. The world veiled in fury. Twin-flame fury. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  There was no doubt in my mind that someone was about to know pain.

  The second Arys stepped through the entry, his midnight gaze pinned me with accusation. He’d likely felt the effects of Jenner and me before stepping foot inside. I bristled with anticipation. Something dark descended over us. I felt it in my bones.

  At his side stood Willow, and I had to do a double take. A beacon of power all his own, he sauntered through the place like he didn’t have a care in the world. Hands stuffed in his pockets, shoulders relaxed, he exuded an impressive, high-power vampire swagger.

  Every step that brought him closer turned up the volume of his power in my head. More than a little awed, I regarded him with wonder. This man had faced so much. Been so much. But this, this felt right. Like he’d been meant for it.

  I shoved away from the bar and the growing line of patrons. Easing in behind it where the tables were still relatively unoccupied, I watched Arys’s approach. Oozing power and sex, he prowled toward me. I swallowed hard, angry and excited.

  Beside me Shaz stood ready. He’d try to intervene, but he’d fail this time.

  “My, my, Alexa.” Arys crept close, his gorgeous face a mask of grim amusement. “You’ve been a bad little wolf, haven’t you?”

  I batted my eyelashes at him, affecting my most innocent expression. “Why, whatever do you mean? I’ve merely been enjoying my succubus nature, as a vampire of our calibre should. As you taught me to do.” If looks could kill I’d have been ash. A tiny smile slipped onto my lips, and I bit the bottom one in an effort to quell it.

  Arys laughed, darkness spilling out as it sought an outlet. His aura vibrated with it. “Oh, my love, you are a clever thing. I fucking love you.” His threatening declaration felt like a weapon flung to wound.

  And it was. Our love was like a cut that wouldn’t heal. It just kept bleeding. But it felt so fucking good.

  “How many bodies did you leave in your wake tonight, Arys?” Aware we stood on the edge of destruction, I was both wary of what it would take to push us too far and a little eager to find out.

  With a lazy half shrug he threw out a challenge. “Who’s counting?”

  It was impossible not to feel out Willow. He brimmed with power, like lightning in a bottle. Combined with the drowning incubus pull he got from Arys and the lively wolf vibe, care of yours truly, he felt like the closest thing to a love child we’d ever have. Not quite as powerful as Arys or myself but running such a close second, I didn’t doubt even the demons would reconsider messing with him. In his green eyes shone the near insatiable hunger of a new vampire. Hunger for me.

  Those pretty gold-flecked eyes pinned me with an invasive stare. I’d known it would be this way. He’d signed on for this. Still, that didn’t make it easy to see him leer at me like that.

  “Are you ok?” I asked him, ignoring the way Arys edged closer.

  Willow smiled, and despite the fangs he now possessed, he looked to be himself again. Sans wings. “I am. It feels … different. But better. I already miss tequila though.”

  He couldn’t help but eye my jugular. It had to be driving him mad to be so close to me with such a newborn bloodlust and not be able to have that which he most wanted. Perhaps time as both angel and demon had given him a greater inner strength than the rest of my vampires.

  “How much trouble did he get you in?” I nodded to Arys, enjoying his scowl.

  The two of them exchanged a look. That didn’t sit well with me.

  “Hardly any at all.” Willow gave his dirty-blond head a shake. “It’s cool, Alexa. Really. I’m fine. I’m more concerned with how you are.”

  There he was. My dear friend. Despite new hungers and attachments, Willow was still himself. I wanted to be relieved. Still, I worried.

  “Where’s Jenner?” Arys interrupted, jaw twitching. “Preening before he comes out here to gloat?”

  “Nothing wrong with a little preening.” Jenner ambled up, smoothing a hand through his disheveled hair. A blatant taunt. “Or a little gloating. Give me a break, Arys. Do you really think this makes us even? Hardly.”

  “Guys,” I warned. “I don’t know who the hell she was, but I am not her. I have no interest in being used as a weapon in your war. Kill each other if you want but leave me out of it.”

  Easier said than done maybe. Although Jenner’s fiancée had ditched him for Arys decades before I was born, our similar appearance linked me to that fiasco.

  “For the record.” Jenner pushed too close to Arys for good things to follow. “Alexa came to me. And you know I was all over that. Just like you were with the woman I loved.” Closer still, he got right in Arys’s face. “That’s right. I’ve been where you live, brother. I’ve felt your wolf from the inside. I bet you can smell her on me right now.”

  The temptation to punch Jenner in the side of the head grew strong, but I resisted. Their stare down intensified. I watched for Arys’s response, hyperaware of the buzz building between them. It stroked my desire. I kind of wanted to see them go at it.

  “You belong to her, Jenner.” Cool and smooth, Arys threw his jibe with precision. “You always will. She’ll take what she wants from you when she wants it, and you’ll wait eagerly for the next time. Don’t fool yourself into thinking it means more than it does.”

  Eyes narrowed, Jenner clenched a fist. “So then why do you care?”

  Neither of them cared that the three of us looked on, bracing for the fight we could feel brewing. They glared into one another’s face, a century-old vendetta demanding closure. As long as either of them was alive, that would never happen.

  Arys had fucked up. He’d wronged Jenner in a way that no one should ever wrong someone they consider family. I didn’t blame Jenner for holding a grudge. And yet, I couldn’t quite blame Arys entirely either. He’d been losing his mind over me, tormented by dreams and visions.

  Nobody would come out of this a victor. They had to lay it to rest.

  “Why are you here, Jenner?” Arys snarled into the other vampire’s face. “Do you really expect me to believe you and Sinclair became such bosom buddies that you hung out in this winter city for a month instead of staying in your precious Las Vegas? What’s scared you out of Sin City?”

  I hadn’t entirely bought Jenner’s claim to be here for Kale either. It didn’t feel like the Jenner I knew, though I didn’t know him all that well.

  He stared Arys straight in the eye. “Not a damn thing. I told you why I came.”

  He lied. But I wasn’t saying shit. I planned to stand back and watch this play out.

  “Then perhaps you should be leaving now.” Arys gave him no room for argument. It wasn’t a request but a command.

  The tension thickened. I backed up a few feet, but it didn’t make a difference. The atmosphere writhed with their animosity.

  The stare down continued. With every passing second, Jenner grew angrier, more vehement. Finally he spat, “Why do you think I came, Arys? The two of you left me with an itch I can never scratch and a vendetta that will never die. I came to fuck your wolf.”

  Whether it was the force with which Jenner threw his words or the declaration behind them I didn’t know. But it worked.

  Arys’s fist was a blur. It struck Jenner’s jaw hard enough to snap his head to the side. He went down hard. Ready for it, he rolled and got back to his feet, both hands raised.

  “Well I hope knowing what she feels like only serves to torment you further.” Arys landed another punch with a snicker. “Haven’t you le
arned by now that you cannot win a war of women with me?”

  I frowned, exchanging a glance with Shaz who shrugged. He’d gone down this road with Arys. Back in the beginning, when none of us really knew what Arys and I were or how it would affect our relationships with everyone else.

  Still, this wasn’t really about me. It never had been. It was about her, Jenner’s blonde fiancée.

  Jenner blocked a punch while jabbing with the other fist, nailing Arys right in the nose. “You’re a selfish egomaniac who had to seduce another man’s fiancée to feed that festering ego. Who the fuck does that? To family? A brother.”

  My fingertips danced with gold and blue. Ready to split them up the moment it went too far, I decided to let it go further. This could be therapeutic for them. Or not. And it was kind of hot.

  “I was out of my mind that night.” Arys blocked the next hit and shoved Jenner back so his arms flailed. “Mad with visions of Alexa. How many times do I have to explain this?”

  “I don’t want your explanations,” seethed Jenner, veins bulging in his arms and neck. “All I ever wanted was a genuine apology. But that will never happen. Because you are not sorry. You never will be. You’re too arrogant to be sorry. Just like Harley.”

  A psi ball exploded against Arys’s chest in a burst of light. Once things moved from punches and shoves to psi balls and explosions, a vampire rumble could quickly end in dust.

  Arys’s sudden burst of temper produced a wave of anger that hit all of us. Like a shot in the lungs, it left me breathless, burning on the inside. Hands raised, he prepared to let Jenner really have it.

  “I hated myself for what I did to you,” Arys blurted, emotion driving his confession. “Hurting you was never my intent, Jenner. It was always about Alexa.”

  “It always is,” Jenner seethed. “But it wasn’t enough that she made you crazy. You wanted her to make me crazy too. Congratulations, brother. You got your wish.”

  My temper flared. “Sorry to interrupt your brotherly spat, but kindly remember that I didn’t ask for any of this either.” To emphasize, I snapped my fingers and slapped them both with a shock of electricity that brought them to their knees.

  Though my attention focused on Arys and Jenner, I was keenly aware of the way Willow watched me. Captivated.

  I stepped between the two kneeling vampires who still glared at each other. With a touch to both of their faces, I glanced from one to the other. “Now, boys, you’re both going to shut up about the past because nothing you do here will change it. Jenner, you need to be leaving soon. And Arys, my love, don’t ever use Willow to lash out at me again.”

  Arys captured my hand and kissed it, his eyes never leaving mine. The tip of his tongue flicked between my fingers, sending a tremor to rack me. “I suppose you’ve won this round then.” Mischief gleamed in his gaze.

  That was what our love had come to. Rounds. Each one tearing us farther apart.

  My sister chose that moment to walk in the door. Her brown curls tumbling over her shoulders, lips pursed, and hip cocked in a sassy stance, she scanned the interior.

  Arys stood, following my gaze to Juliet. Wickedness spread across his face in a fang-baring grin. “Or maybe not. Looks like I’m still in the game after all.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “Don’t even think about it,” I hissed. Too late.

  In that moment Arys eyed up my sister like she existed solely to please him. “Thinking? More like planning. Definitely planning.”

  “Fuck no.” Jenner lunged at Arys, but I shoved him back with a hand and a power push.

  It was no secret Jenner had a thing for Juliet. As long as she kept shutting him down, it was fine with me. The minute he put his hands on her, well, then we’d have a problem.

  Juliet spotted me and headed our way. The two vampires on either side of me watched her come with lascivious intent. With deadly calm, I said, “If either of you touch her, I’ll make you wish you’d never been born.”

  “Just keeping it in the family, my love.” Arys chuckled, a sound that warmed my groin. “As you’ve done.”

  “The one person you asked me to stay away from is dead. You were fangs deep in our wolf this morning while I cried on my hallway floor. You’ve already won, Arys.” I stumbled over my words when his gaze pierced me. Trying to keep calm in the turbulent waters of our bond was impossible when I kept going under. Drowning in it. In him. “What more could you possibly want?”

  For a heartbeat, a split second, I saw my wolf flash in his eyes from the place where my light lived. “I want to stop hating myself every time I look at you. I want to be able to believe this is a gift. Because it feels like a curse.”

  Those were Lilah’s words. Spoken as if she’d said them herself. The things she’d said about the twin-flame bond, they lived within us. The presence of our keystone had kept the worst at bay. Without that anchor to hold us together, we were unraveling fast.

  Juliet was upon us before I could reply. Her harsh, federal-agent glower softened, and she threw her arms around me. “Lexi, I’m so sorry about Kale. He was a good guy. I’ll miss him too.”

  Stiff in her embrace, I hugged her back. Not knowing what to say, I settled for an awkward, “Thanks.”

  “I’m here to see Thomas. Can you take me to him?” She spared a glance for the men gathered around. Willow and Shaz stood close together, speaking away from the rest of us. Jenner she graced with a small smile and nod. She ignored Arys entirely.

  “You’re not here to see me?” Jenner poured on his best flirtatious smile. “I thought we were best friends after that shit in Vegas.”

  Juliet rolled her eyes in her over-the-top dramatic fashion. “Jenner, you smell like sex and my sister. And you’re a hard-up incubus willing to flash that smile at anyone with a vagina. I am most definitely not here to see you.”

  Arys stood by in silence, his gaze sliding over Juliet. He held himself relaxed but ready, waiting for the best time to make his move. And he would make it. He was in that headspace, fresh off a kill and seeking to prolong the rush. Coupled with his dark-flame desire to hurt me, he was easily the most dangerous one in the building.

  Juliet knew it too. So she stood casually, hand resting on her hip near her gun. Despite refusing to acknowledge him, her beast tracked his every move.

  No way in hell was I leaving her alone with Arys. Turning to Shaz, I nudged him. “Would you mind telling Briggs that Juliet is here to see him?”

  She couldn’t go back to see him unannounced. I’d never let her walk in on him as I had. She didn’t need to see Briggs in all his incubus glory. I had no idea where her relationship with Agent Briggs stood, but I wouldn’t let her get hurt that way by something she couldn’t understand.

  With a reluctant glance at Arys, Shaz nodded and departed for the back. He wanted so much to save us from ourselves. Neither Arys nor I deserved him. We were lucky to be so loved.

  Watching Shaz go, I just couldn’t believe this was a curse. It had brought us hardship and pain, but also an unconventional relationship with a man who loved us both, in his own way. Having to stand back and watch us burn had to hurt Shaz too.

  “You’re looking good tonight.” Having no regard for boundaries, Jenner feasted on Juliet’s jean-clad ass before ogling her cleavage. “It’s a shame you want to waste all that on Briggs.”

  Her lip curled in disgust, but she couldn’t hide the blush that stole over her cheeks. “It’s a shame you have no self-respect. How many times do I have to reject you, Jenner?”

  “As many times as it takes for you to stop saying no and start saying yes.” Jenner softened when he looked her in the eyes. “No worries, beauty. I’m headed home soon.”

  My phone vibrated in my boot, startling me. I snatched it out to see Smudge’s name on the screen.

  “What the hell happened with Jez last night? She won’t take my calls, and something is extremely wrong.” Smudge’s voice was panicked. I’d never heard her anything but calm and collected. �
��I found something, Alexa. A body. Drained dry of its life force. Jez did it. We need to find her.”

  A chill shook me. What the hell was going on with that leopard? “Ok, Smudge. Meet me at The Wicked Kiss. We’ll find her together.”

  I stuffed the phone back in my boot and looked up to find Juliet in Arys’s arms.

  Wait, what? I did a double take.

  She blinked up at him like a smitten virgin, eager for that first taste of erotic delight. His murmur in her ear had her giggling.

  In mere seconds he’d completely rolled her. I’d looked away long enough for him to snap his fingers, and that was all it had taken. I lunged for them only to slam against the circle Arys suddenly erected.

  “Arys.” I growled his name. “Don’t do this. You don’t want to hurt Juliet. You want to hurt me. So do it. Come get me.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to hurt Juliet.” He caught her hand when she caressed his face and pressed his lips to the pulse in her wrist. “I want to taste her. You, however, I plan to hurt. After.”

  Pupils huge, smile wide and drunken, Juliet tried to kiss him. She was so far under. He’d hit her hard with the allure.

  Beside me Jenner fumed, powerless to do anything but watch Arys seduce another woman he had a thing for. It was just a thing, wasn’t it? A closer look at Jenner and I wasn’t so sure. Body rigid, fists clenched, he slammed a fist against Arys’s circle. It rippled but stayed put.

  However, I could bring it down. Placing a hand on the circle’s surface, I focused on the energy feeding it. Then I twisted it to my will.

  I both loved and hated that twist to our bond. We were the reflection of one another, in reverse. The same but different. Sometimes I struggled to wrap my mind around it, while other times it all made sense, a snake eating its own tail. Brook had used that reference to describe Willow at one time. It could also be applied to Arys and me now, a powerful creature driven mad enough to self-destruct.

  Arys didn’t piss around wasting the little time he had. No, he grabbed a handful of glossy, chocolate-brown hair and forced Juliet’s head to the side with far more brutality than necessary.