“You really want to help me?” His low chuckle gave the room an eerie quality. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
With my defenses raised, I tensed for what was coming. “Don’t waste your breath on my account. Please.”
He must have moved when I bent to slip my shoes on because he suddenly felt much closer than before. Against my will, my heart began to race as the air shifted around us.
“What has it been, Lex, three or four years since you’ve been in my bed?”
“Is that all? I haven’t kept track. It really doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.” I bit back all of the things that I wanted to say. I should have said nothing in the first place.
“Hey, you said you wanted to help. I’m simply refusing to beat around the bush. I’m not interested in rehashing the past either.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Getting laid is your biggest concern right now? You, sir, are a lost cause.”
“That’s not fair. I could be a dead man walking, and you expect me to avoid the greatest things in life while I’m still able to enjoy them? Not a chance.” He didn’t really believe his days were numbered. His arrogance wouldn’t allow it.
“Nice try. I hope you don’t think I’m hard up enough to take you up on that.”
His dark eyes narrowed, and the desire to leave was unbearable. I wished desperately for him to get out of my personal space.
“I don’t suppose you would be with a young thing like Shaz. I’ll bet he’s a real aim-to-please kind of guy.”
I made a sound somewhere between a snort and a laugh which earned me a dirty look. Of course, he would assume that Shaz and I were lovers. He wouldn’t be the first to think so, but he would be wrong. Still, I didn’t like being reminded of the awkward intimacy between me and Shaz. I hated the fear that I had now destroyed it for good.
“I don’t stick my nose in your many personal affairs. I’ll thank you to stay the hell out of mine.”
“Fair enough.” With another step, he closed the remaining space between us. With a forward tilt of his head, his black hair fell like a silky curtain against my face. “How about we cut to the chase then?”
I fought to deny the resurgence of a memory, a time when I’d known the touch of that soft hair on my naked flesh. I was resisting the impulse to scream so intently that I expected my skull to burst into a million little pieces. I needed to calm down. Losing control wasn’t an option.
His breath was hot on my neck as he nuzzled my hair and breathed in my scent deeply. The soft tip of his tongue was wet against my skin as he licked the sensitive spot beneath my ear. A sigh escaped me, and I flashed back to another time and place. Though it was the same wolf in the same house, it was all wrong.
Raoul thought he could seduce me with the lusty power of the werewolf. Perhaps he could charm the pants off a human or even a new Were, but I’d been seduced by the ultimate vampire, and Raoul just couldn’t compare to that. At just the thought of Arys, Raoul’s touch ceased to hold any sway over me.
“That’s never going to happen.” I gently pushed him with both hands. He resisted and pressed me into the wall. “I’ve got issues you can’t even begin to understand. Trust me when I say, you don’t want to play with me anymore. Stick with Belle, she’s more your type.”
The negative energy of his sudden anger pushed against me, and a menacing temptation to play with him taunted me from the cooled depths of Arys’s magic. I wanted to manipulate him like the pathetic animal that he was, until I’d consumed all that he had to give: blood, anger, fear and sex. I just could suck him dry. The promise of pleasure encouraged the sadistic urge, and I licked my lips eagerly when he brought his face to mine.
I thought he was going to kiss me, so I was caught between relief and outrage when he bit my bottom lip instead. I tasted blood, which fuelled my sudden fury. The power flowed from me in a casual and effortless gesture that I’d seen Arys do many times. It had taken scarcely more than a thought to throw Raoul against the far wall.
I was pleased at the ease of wielding Arys’s power. From the sound that Raoul made against the wall, I’d thrown him harder than I’d intended. I could feel an icy wave shoot through me, and I shuddered as Arys’s power licked my insides.
I broke the energy that held Raoul, and he fell to his knees on the floor. He was speechless, a rarity for him. The weight of his wide, dark eyes bore into me. A series of emotions swam in his dark stare. His glare triggered my defenses, and I tensed. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I never expected what came next.
“Get out.” Raoul got to his feet, unsteady.
“What?”
“You heard me. Take your secrets, your vampire powers, or whatever the hell that was, and get the f**k out. That certainly explains what you did to Shaz, you crazy bitch.”
“You know it’s not vampire powers. You’ve seen what I can do.” I was so full of shit, and we both knew it.