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

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Did you miss the part where I told you that he bit Thomas?”


It was weird to hear her call Agent Briggs by his first name, as if he were a person and everything. I didn’t like to think of him that way. He might have been human but that didn’t make him any less monstrous than me. The man was hell bent on policing the supernatural and, even worse, controlling it.

“Is he ok? I mean, is that all that happened?”

“Is that all?” Juliet’s voice rose. There was a slam in the background, as if she’d pounded a fist on a hard object. “Arys threatened to turn him. I’d say that’s pretty goddamn serious. We can’t just act like this never happened. Thomas is outraged. I’ve never seen him so upset.”

“Does he make you call him Thomas?” I blurted. The man seemed so tightly wound. Eventually, he was going to snap. “Never just Tom?”

“What the hell does that have to do with anything?” she snapped. Then, suddenly calmer, she said, “Lexi, we need to keep this from getting worse than it already is. I’ve been trying to keep your kills under wraps by redirecting the blame, but Arys has screwed that all up. I don’t think I can protect you anymore.”

My poor sister had taken on too much responsibility too young. She should have been a university student chasing the dreams of normal people, living a normal life. Cleaning up my messes and bearing the burden of a government agenda was going to age her or get her killed.

“What does that mean for you?” I hedged the question, not really wanting an answer but needing one anyway. “Are you going to get in some kind of shit for all this?”

Her moment of silence lasted a little too long. “Don’t worry about me. Just stay off Thomas’s radar, ok? Arys too.” A muffled voice sounded in the background. It sounded like Briggs. When Juliet spoke again, it was hushed, as if she didn’t want to be overheard by him. “Can we talk tonight at your nightclub? Please, Lexi, I need to see you. After everything that’s happened, you shouldn’t be alone right now.”

“I’m not alone.” My gaze strayed down the hallway toward the bedroom. A heavy weight dragged on my heart. “Maybe it’s not such a good idea for us to meet right now, if things are shaky there.”

Blowing off my sister wasn’t going to be easy. She wouldn’t allow it. “You fucking died, Alexa. Give me a reason to believe that it’s still you in there. Because all I’ve seen are the bodies I’ve been cleaning up.”

The use of my whole name meant she was in ruthless little sister mode. She wouldn’t be deterred. An argument with her would never end. There could be no winner when the two of us locked horns. I was meeting Jenner anyway. What was one more?

“Fine. I’ll meet you. Come alone and come armed.” I didn’t have to tell her why. If I lost control, I would want her to stop me before I could hurt her.

When I ended the call, I looked up to find Kale standing in the hallway watching me. Clad in only sweat pants, his bare chest drew my gaze. “Come back to bed.”

There was something in the way he said it, like it was more than a casual statement. It was the plea of someone who knew time was running out and wanted to grasp each moment left until they had all slipped away. He was really going to leave me.

The gravity of it was more than I could bear. It wasn’t like when Shaz had left. He had needed to do that for himself. It was hard, but I had taken solace in the fact that he’d been on a personal quest. Though I questioned it, in my heart, I’d known he would return.

With Kale it was all so different. He was leaving because we turned each other into the worst kind of vampire. Leaving me was the only way he’d find even a shred of freedom from the hold I had on him. He would always be mine though, which meant returning would always be dangerous for us both. He might never come back.

I’d always expected that Arys would bring out the worst of what I was. I found no pleasure in being wrong about that.

With a nod I rose and went to Kale. Slipping into his arms, I pressed my face to his shoulder and basked in his honey-sweet vibe. He coaxed me back into the bedroom where we shed what little clothing we wore and became entangled in one another.

Was it right? Was it wrong? It didn’t matter. It was the beginning of goodbye.

My hair hung long and loose; my makeup, a blend of dramatic dark lines and shadows. I kept pulling my hair up into a ponytail before dropping it against my back in frustration. I was nervous about seeing Juliet. Midnight-blue eyes didn’t make me look or feel any more like myself.