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

I leaned down to kiss him, reveling in his leather scent. “And how might that be?”


“Slow. Tender. I want to savor every second of being with you. No rush. Just us exploring each other for the first time.” To accompany that delicious visual, Kale sucked my bottom lip into his mouth.

Our one and only night had been a rushed, wild, and relatively brief encounter. It had replayed in my memory more times than I’d care to admit.

The first few nights after the turn had been difficult. Not only was the blood hunger at it’s worst, I had been desperate for comfort in any way I could get it. More than once I’d thrown myself at Kale, and each time he’d resisted, refusing to so much as kiss me in such a vulnerable state. My first day as a vampire had been spent in his arms. But since, he would only touch me when riding the high of the hunt.

After the first few kills, I’d started to come back to myself. I was different, but I was still me, somewhere deep down. And I still wanted Kale. However, what I wanted was so rarely what I needed.

Slow and sensual sounded fantastic… for another time. What I wanted right then was a mad, passionate frenzy of lovemaking that would leave us both disoriented and spent.

Kissing with vampire fangs was tricky. I bit Kale’s lip, murmuring an apology as I flicked my tongue over the blood that welled up. Metallic and tangy, it tasted like an explosion of honey-drenched power.

Laughter echoed around us. Falon announced his arrival with a malicious chuckle before he appeared. Kale and I both jumped up, like we’d been caught doing something sinful.

I smoothed back my hair and squared my shoulders, doing my best to appear composed. “Maybe I should just give you my phone number, Falon. That way you can annoy me from a distance.”

The fallen angel stood there smirking, his arms crossed and his silver wings spread wide. I hadn’t seen him since the night I died. Even though it had been for his own selfish reasons, he’d come through for me that night.

“Get a look at you two,” Falon said, silver eyes shining with dark amusement. “It didn’t take long for your reign of terror to begin. This is just some weird vampire initiation phase, right?”

“What do you care?” I asked. “I doubt you came to talk to me about my recreational activities.”

Kale was quiet, but he looked guilty as hell. Instant buzzkill. Falon studied us, assessing the sudden change in mood.

“Actually, I did.”

“Shya didn’t send you?” I found that hard to believe.

Falon scoffed. “Do you really think he would trust me again after what I did to him? You’ve got to know him better than that by now, wolf.”

My heart clenched when he called me that. It used to insult me that he refused to call me by name. Now, it made me want to cry. So many people saw me as a hybrid or a vampire. It meant a lot that Falon still saw me as the wolf.

“Have you seen him? Do you know where he is?” I didn’t want to know, but I had to ask. Shya was no quitter. He wouldn’t forget the vengeance he owed me, nor would he forget that I still owed him.

“No. I assume he’s licking his wounds on the other side. Regrouping. Whatever he’s doing, he’s keeping a low profile.” Falon paused, and his smile faded. “Eventually he’ll come after us both. Be on your guard, Alexa.”

I nodded uncertainly. Shya’s wrath was something I knew I didn’t want to see. My mind raced. “How does the other side work exactly? Is there anything we can do to trap him there?”

Falon frowned in thought. He wandered through the yard, stepping over the body in the grass, coming to a stop near an old stone birdbath.

“The other side is the realm beyond the physical. It’s where the spirits dwell. Those without bodies and those who manifest unnatural bodies dwell there. The only way to keep him there is to find a way to prevent him from crossing over into the physical realm.” Falon ran a hand over the crumbling statue. “Even if we could pull that off, which we can’t, it would only save your ass and leave mine on the line.”

“And that would be a problem?” I expected the glower he shot my way. The middle finger that followed was a surprise that made me snicker. “I’m kidding. Sort of. There’s got to be something we can do. Otherwise we’re sitting ducks. What’s stopping him anyway? Why hasn’t he already come for us?”