Gifted Curse (Curse Trilogy) (15 page)

“She’s already taken a whole bottle,” Wendy says in objection.

I whip around to face Hale.  My eyes dilate and pulse upon seeing his incredible, sculpted body.  He’s so… perfect.  He’s mine. 
Only mine.

“What the hell is wrong with her?” the full blood asks when he see my animalistic attributes glaring through - the real me coming up to breathe in the fresh air.

“Come on, baby,” my hybrid coos, and I carry a mischievous smirk as I stagger toward him.

“Don’t you fucking touch her,” the damn full blood growls, and I use my power to slam him into the far wall when he charges.

“Stop, baby,” my hybrid soothes, and I step up to put my hand on his face as the toxic lust consumes me.

“Araya,” the full blood gasps out through strain, and I release him when Hale draws all of my attention to him.

“Brazen,” Clay says gently as he returns with a vial of medicine in his hand.  “Right now she’s in a state of devolvement.  In this trance she seeks the touch of a hybrid - more specifically, Hale.  We have to medicate her and let her come down gently.  I promise we’ll fill you and the others in on this when she’s better.”

“I’m not letting her fucking go with him,” he spits, and I turn to attack the full blood threatening my union.

My hybrid grabs me, and he pulls me back to follow his eyes.  I sway beneath his gaze, everything in me burning to be with him right now.  His lips won’t touch mine despite my attempts to take them, and I feel a soft bed greeting me as the door to his bedroom shuts.

Clay still argues with the belligerent full blood, and then I hear him screaming for me while his voice echoes away.

“I had him taken to sober up,” Clay murmurs as he walks into the room.

Hale nods, but his eyes stay completely focused on mine as I continue to try to pull him to me.

“I need you to open your veins and push in this medicine, baby.  One more will make you feel better,” he murmurs, but I finally catch him off guard enough to force him under me.

“You can open my veins,” I seduce, and my mouth covers his before he can object.

“Fuck,” he murmurs against my kiss, and his hands grip against my ass with hesitance and tortured reluctance.

“Oh, I fucking wish this was you right now,” he murmurs through gritted teeth as he forces me back.

“I am, and it feels so fucking good to be me right now,” I growl out, and my lips stroll over his neck.

“Araya, please don’t do this to me right now.  You have to take the medicine.  It’ll help me if you do,” he says so sweetly, and I grind my hips against his as I straddle his lap a little more intimately.

“You okay?” Clay almost chuckles out.

Hale’s eyes narrow at him, and then he takes in a deep, dreadful breath before putting the medicine in front of my face.

“Take this for me, and you can have me,” he exhales.

“You swear?” I breathe into his ear, and his breath hitches when my body slides against his, my teeth grazing the lobe of his ear.

He lets his breath come out in a weary flow, and then he jerks my hips to his body before responding.

“You can have me anywhere, anyway, and anytime you want me,” he smolders, and my mouth moves against his once more to invite the pent up passion.

“Please,” he whispers.

I draw back with half-cocked smirk, and then I bite into my wrist while he breaks the top of the bottle off.  He hands me the small vial, and I push the medicine into my veins to appease his request. 
Now I can have him.

The medicine burns as it shoots through my veins to attack the wakened devil.  My lips move back to Hale’s to taste the delicious flavor of his as my sanity tries to creep back into place.

I gasp when I realize what I’ve just been doing, and Hale’s arms wrap around me to steady to convulsing trembles.

“I’ll go get her something to drink,” Clay murmurs almost too quietly.

He leaves the room, and I lean into the man who just brought me away from a nearly dangerous place.

“You okay, baby?” he says softly while kissing my forehead when he feels I’ve returned.

“Just a little shaky,” I mumble.

“You probably need to lie down,” he coos softly, and he gently places me on tousled sheets of the bed while covering me up.

“Here’s you some water,” Clay says while handing me a cup.

I guzzle it down, and then I cover my head with my hands to hide my eyes from the world that has seen a hint of my dark secret
- our dark secret
.

“Oh damn,” I blurt out while rising up in panic.  “Did I hurt him?”

“He’s fine.  He’s too drunk to talk to right now, and his fellow full bloods are restraining him for the night,” Clay says to ease my terrified mind.

“I’ll be back in a bit,” Hale says while starting out of the bedroom.

“Where are you going?” Clay asks.

“I’m going to try to find something to fix my damn door, and then I’m going to get ice,” he grumbles.

“Ice?” I muse.

“Yeah,” he sighs, and he heads out the door while murmuring to himself, “Lots and lots of fucking ice.”

I suddenly realize why he needs the ice, and I blush behind the closing door when Clay covers his mouth to hide the chuckling grin he couldn’t suppress.

“That bad, huh?” I grumble.

“I’ve seen you worse off in this phase, but he always got to have you afterwards.  This is the first time he’s ever had to deal with the after without an
after. 
If you know what I mean,” he snickers out.

I sigh while covering up my head, and huff out my embarrassment for my savagery. 
He already had a fucking before.

“I can’t believe I did that in front of the others,” I grumble.  “I knew that wasn’t going to be enough meds, but I thought I would have more time than that.  How bad is it now that they know?”

Clay’s humor turns more serious, and he lies down beside me on the bed to join me in my venture of staring up at the ceiling.

“I don’t know yet.  They really don’t know what happened, and I just hope they listen to the explanation without freaking out.  It was just the hypnotic phase, not the destructive one, so they might be okay with just hearing a partial explanation instead of the whole thing.”

Hale walks back in - though he’s still walking very stiffly.  I struggle to keep my body still from the repressed laughter when I see his awkward posture.

“Can the meeting wait until tomorrow.  Araya needs to rest, and to be honest, I do too.”

“I didn’t plan on meeting tonight.  Tensions are still high, and too much of any emotion could send Araya back into the tailspin.  It’d be best if she stayed with you, considering the obvious,” Clay says while revealing a slight smirk.

I roll my eyes, and I stumble out of the bed when I try to stand up too quick.

“Not happening.  I’ll stay in Wendy’s room or something,” I mumble.

“No, you won’t,” Hale says in objection, and I feel my body lifting from the floor to be put back in the bed.  “You’ve still got blood staining your face and body.  Your eyes are scorched with the remnants of pained tears, and you came pretty damn close to venturing to our wilder side.  You’re staying here.”  He puts me down gently, pulling the sheets up over my body before his hands leave me again.  “If you relapse, I don’t need to be far away.”

“I feel like an animal, and I fucking hate it.”

“We all hate that feeling, but we’ve gotta do what we gotta do,” Clay chirps, and then he heads out the door, leaving me alone with the hybrid that I can’t seem to escape no matter how hard I try.

The room around us lacks any character since we destroyed everything earlier, but my picture still remains above the bed, intact.

“Did you lose anything of any value during our earlier tantrum?” I mumble, and he laughs instantly, covering his mouth with his hand to muffle some of the roar.

“Nothing I can’t replace.  I’ll have to buy some new frames soon, but the rest can wait until I have a minute to deal with it.”

“This is torture,” I grumble, and I stare down at the ring that is supposed to mean I belong to Brazen.

“No.  Torture is having the woman you love go super-hot-wild-girl on you, and then revert back into the standoffish creature you lost,” he sighs.

I feel like a piece of shit now.

“I’m sorry.  I can just go sleep on the couch.”

I start to get up, but he pulls my hand in his and forces me to return to his side.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight until I know you’re okay,” he says so genuinely sincere.

“I’m not staying in here.  You’ll try to fuck me, and if I let you, I’ll hate myself all the more,” I grouse.

“I’m not going to try anything at all.  Tell me what Brazen did to set you off the first time,” he says gently, and he pulls me into an embrace that radiates fire between us.

“He didn’t
do
anything besides flip the fuck out, and he had every right to.  It was his words that crossed a line, and I don’t want to discuss that with you.”

“Okay.  Sorry.  I wasn’t trying to stir you up,” he murmurs softly while kissing my forehead.

“Don’t do that.  If anyone has ever understood me, it has been you.  Don’t start saying whatever you can to bring me down before I get too worked up,” I gripe.

He sighs out, and then stands to his feet to walk into the bathroom.  I hear the water running in the shower, and then he reemerges to come claim me from the bed.

“You need a shower,” he murmurs with a menacing smirk.

I stifle my grin, and then I roll my eyes.  “You’re not coming in with me.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” he says with a snicker.  “I told you I’m not trying to fuck you tonight,” he says over his shoulder while disappearing from the room.

I grin foolishly, and then tears stain my eyes as all the horrible few days scroll through my mind.  First Brazen nearly dies, Javeline gets leveled, we get attacked, and then this shit with Brazen just ices the morbid cake.  Not to mention, I went devolved Araya on them. 
Sheesh.
  I need more than a shower.  I need a whole damn liquor cabinet.

I tiptoe into the bathroom, feeling dirtier than the water can ever cleanse me of.  The hot shower rushes over my skin, and the red runs free from me as the warmth washes it away.  The stained outlines of the dried pools stubbornly try to cling to me after having set up for too long.  My hair drips down my back as the water relaxes it to be less stiff and more flexible, and then the steam rises to clear my head somewhat.

“I’m putting your towel on the rack, babe,” Hale says when I hear the door open.

“Thanks,” I murmur graciously, and then I poke my head out before he walks out the door.  “And thank you for everything else too.”

He turns to look at me with a soft smile on his face and those secretive eyes that are begging to tell me so much.

“You know I’d do anything for you,” he mutters gently, and then he closes the door behind him.

He can do everything but tell me the truth about whatever he’s hiding.  What could it possibly be that he doesn’t want me to know?  Why does it fucking matter?

I was so sure I was finally over him, but now that I’ve spent so much time with him, I know I’m not.  I can’t do it all over again though.  He’d break me again if I fell back into his trap once more.

I turn the water off, and realize I have nothing to wear.  The shirt of his I had been wearing was his to begin with, and it’s still slightly stained from the wet blood that had been on my body.

I timidly wrap the towel around me, and I walk back into the bedroom to see that a new shirt has been laid out for me to wear.  I smile at the thoughtful gesture, and then I smell food cooking on the other side of the door.

I button up the white, sleek shirt that feels like heaven was made into a fabric, and then I towel dry my hair the best I can before joining the wonderful scent.

“You’re cooking?” I chuckle out when I see him dumping an omelet onto a plate.

“You sound so surprised,” he scoffs playfully.

“I spent five years with you, and you couldn’t even use a can opener.  Yes, I’m surprised,” I giggle out.

He smirks a little, and then he motions for me to join him at the bar.

“I told you a lot has changed.  You really need to learn to listen better,” he plays, and I find myself grinning once more.

“I guess this is something else I need to thank you for - along with the shirt,” I murmur while tugging lightly on the ends of the white shirt.

“You’re welcome,” he says with a smug smirk, and then he forks a bite of the delicious food he has cooked.  “I’ll have all of your stuff brought over.”

I swallow the bite in my mouth so hard it almost hurts, and then I wince as I turn to him.

“I can’t stay here with you.  If there aren’t any other rooms available, then I need to stay with another girl or Clay maybe.  This - you and me - it’s painful, and I’m still not over the past no matter how incredible you keep making yourself look.  I spent a long time with you, Hale.”