Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)

Slipping into my underwear, I frowned. This was not good after-lovemaking conversation. “Well, I guess that fits with what Falon said.”


An awkwardness settled, and I hated it for tainting what should have been a special moment. Kale slipped into his leather jacket, looking like he wanted to say more. I motioned for him to go ahead and spit it out. Might as well now.

“Juliet said they’ll be hunting you if the public kills don’t stop.”

I laughed hard then. With the power buzzing so hard through my system that my hands shook and my head fogged with the high of it all, I found it impossible to take Juliet’s threat seriously.

“They can try,” I snickered.

“You don’t mean that.”

“Like hell I don’t.”

Kale surprised me by grabbing my arm and forcing me to meet his gaze. I was half-dressed, about to slip my shirt on.

“Don’t laugh this off,” he said, stern and hard. “I would never forgive myself if you ended up inside that building. Trust me. You don’t want that.”

I might have been power drunk and too cocky for my own good, but I wasn’t stupid. “No, I don’t. You’re right. It has to stop. I don’t want to be one of the vampires that I’ve spent so many years hunting.”

Kale’s face fell. “That’s why you shouldn’t be with me. I can’t help you. I am one of those vampires. You’ve just never been willing to accept that.”

“Kale, don’t.”

We stared at one another until he let go. I finished dressing and ran my fingers through my tangled hair but gave up. So quickly we’d gone from mad passion to sobering discomfort.

“I’ll meet you back at the house?” Kale lingered, clearly waiting for me to leave the graveyard first.

“Yeah. I’ll see you there.”

Feeling confused, I got into my car and started the engine. My good mood crashed hard as I swung from one extreme to another. My emotions were scattered, and I didn’t know whether I wanted to laugh, scream, or cry.

On impulse, I reached for my phone and called Jez who answered on the first ring. “Alexa? It’s about damn time you called. Are you ok?”

“No,” I said, crumbling at the sound of her voice. “I don’t think I am.”

I felt better after a brief talk with Jez. She promised to meet me the following evening. I needed to see someone who could talk me down from the ledge I’d been walking.

The rest of the drive back to Kale’s was spent wrestling with my inner demons. I took a longer route than necessary, needing the time to think. Or to try to stop thinking.

I missed the musky smell of wolf when I awoke next to Shaz. My wolf longed for the forest outside my house. She also longed to break free of this vampire form, to run wild through the night. It had been too long since my last shift.

The way my house smelled after a rain with the windows open. The sound of birds in the trees outside my bedroom. Watching my wolf and my vampire argue about everything from something as mundane as a sports game to something as serious as my life and death. All of these things I missed dreadfully.

The last time I saw Shaz, I had tried to kill him. Out of my mind on that first night as a vampire, I’d acted on instinct with no conscious thought to guide me. Would it be like that next time?

As I drove through the quiet streets, I tortured myself with questions that had no answer. What the hell was I doing with Kale? Did I think we could terrorize the city without repercussion? And why didn’t I care more about going so far off the rails?

This wasn’t what I wanted for either Kale or me. We didn’t belong together. I belonged somewhere else, with someone else. However, going home and expecting to step back into my life like I’d never left would be delusional.

Arys was being so patient. For the first few nights, I had expected him to come for me. When he didn’t, I realized he was leaving this entirely in my hands. It couldn’t have been easy for him. He was so headstrong and always ready to challenge me. Not this time.

Arys was giving me space because it was what I wanted. And yet, I almost wished he wouldn’t because, the longer I went without seeing him, the more certain I grew that without him I would continue this descent into madness.

After taking a few rides on the emotional rollercoaster, I was ready to get off. When I pulled up in front of Kale’s house, I was calm. I’d reached a place of temporary acceptance. My world had changed. I had changed.

I glanced at the house. A dim light glowed beyond the heavy drapes. Kale waited in there for me, and I would go to him. This time together would be short lived. I could feel it. This time of transition was important for me, even though parts of it hurt like hell.

I strode up the front walk with a purposeful gait. I left my emotional turmoil back in the car. Kale had enough of his own without having to face mine too.