Gifted Curse (Curse Trilogy) (11 page)

He smiles when he sees me and motions for me to join him when I finally snap out of my drooling trance - my foolish eyes removing themselves from his sculpted physique.

“Thanks, Hubert.  I’ll make sure the others are well aware when they return,” he says into the phone.

“Good evening, Captain,” a gruff voice from the other end of the phone offers.

“Good evening indeed,” Hale replies somewhat salaciously, his eyes running the full length of my body just as mine did his.

He casually drops his phone to the couch while bringing his eyes back to stare directly into my trembling ones.

“You look incredible,” he gushes.

You look fucking hot.

“Thanks.  You look like I got here too early,” I mumble, my terrified eyes trying not to look at his slice-of-heaven body… again.

He smirks as he pulls my hand in his and leads me over to the window.

“That’s what I wanted you to see,” he murmurs while pointing to a large building not too far away.

“What is it?” I muse.

I swallow hard as the slight reflection offered by the enormous window shows Hale’s half naked body pressing against my back.  The aroma of his cologne mingles with his freshly showered smell and his scent - Hale’s delicious scent - making my eyes almost close so my fantasies can return.

“It’s a school specifically for hybrids.  When I get done with it, it’ll have playgrounds and so much more.  We already hold dances for the older ones, but now the younger ones can just be kids.  I thought you might appreciate it.  I’m running it by the board to have them installed for all the compounds in the future.”

In an instant, my lust turns to adoration.  Tears water up in my eyes, and I stare at the building with a whole new gaze as I think of how much better life could have been.

“That’s amazing,” I choke out, and then I feel his lips pressing against the back of my hand.  “What are you doing?” I sigh out.

“I’ve just wanted to share this moment with you for a really long time, and seeing your reaction made me lose my place.  I’m sorry.”

I turn to stare into his perfect eyes, and then I feel him pulling me closer to his body.

“I think the school is amazing,”
and so is your body
, “but I should probably go back to my room to wait on you to get ready.  This isn’t exactly appropriate behavior for two colleagues,” I breathe out with a rattling tone.

“I’m not trying to be two colleagues.”

Oh damn.

His slightly damp chest finds its way under my hands as I slowly let them creep up, and then I forcefully push him away when the heat becomes unbearable.

“Stop,” I assert, but I can’t stifle my stupid grin.

“Fine,” he chuckles out.  “Stay though.  I won’t take long, and we can head down.”

I hold back my grin until he leaves, and then I return to the window.  I see my reflection  more than I see the outside when he cuts the lights up brighter.  My long, dark hair is curled loosely, and it dangles around my shoulders.

The tinted sky is almost too dim to even see a glow now.  My sparkly jewels dangle from my ears with more light than the outside, and my eyes glisten with a bit too much anxiety - my hybrid blue eyes circled by the purple rim.

I walk over to pull out a bottle of whiskey, and I pour a generous glassful.  The soft music begins playing, and my eyes begin rolling immediately.  He walks back out with a wolfish grin, and my jaw tries not to hit the floor when I see how ridiculously hot he looks.

His suit is tailored to fit his body with custom finesse, and his light eyes match the brilliant tie.  His darker blue shirt is crisp with buttons that would be so easy to rip free.  He stalks toward me with his brilliant, full-flashing grin, and I roll my eyes while releasing my lower lip from the hold my teeth had on it.

“I take it you like the way I look,” he teases, and I just turn my glass up to hide my smile.

“You’re still cocky I see,” I say jokingly.

“Very,” he snickers out, and then his hand takes mine to lead me toward the door.

“I need to set my cup down,” I murmur in an effort to make an excuse to drop his hand, and then my eyes catch sight of a picture hanging in the bedroom, drawing me toward it.

The door he had shut behind him has slowly slid back open, and I make my way to his room without permission.

“Araya?  You okay?” he calls from the hallway.

I ignore him as I continue on my prying mission, and I gasp when I open the door the rest of the way to see a large frame holding an enlarged picture of me sleeping in our old room we had together.

There’s a rose delicately resting on  the pillow beside my cheek.  I remember that day so well.  He had been gone for over a month, and he bought that rose for me as a way of saying he was sorry for an argument we had before he left.  I had woken up to it, and he was sitting on the bed beside me.

The love we made that morning was phenomenal, and we lay in bed all day long just holding our naked bodies against each other.  I never knew such a picture existed, and now here it is in his room, hanging above his bed like a piece of artwork.

“That was one of the best days we ever had together,” his gentle voice interjects from behind.

“It was,” I sigh with a reminiscing tone.

“You ready now that you’ve inspected my bedroom?” he teases.

“I just wanted to see the picture,” I say with a touch of embarrassment.

“I’ll gladly give you a tour of the rest of it if you want to get better acquainted.  We can start with the bed,” he provocatively jokes, and I nudge his side with my elbow as I head out of the room.

His hand takes mine once more, but I don’t fight it this time.  I know this is wrong, and I still love Brazen, but I can’t just deny that Hale means something to me.  I have to get the hell out of Seminole before I ruin the best thing for me.  Brazen would never forgive me if this went too far, and I wouldn’t blame him.

The light strikes me in
a blinding fashion when we walk into the laser show going on in the banquet hall.  A girl runs up to Hale, her giggles shrill to blare her excitement.

“Captain Banner, would you dance with me tonight?”

He grins kindly at her before he delivers his cushioned rejection.

“I’m sorry, Penelope.  I’ve got a date this evening, and I feel it would be rather rude to dance with someone else.”

“I thought she was engaged to that full blood, Captain… Mordel,” she says with baffled shock.

Oh damn.  What am I doing?

“Excuse me,” I say with shame lining my words.  “I need to go grab a drink.”

I start guzzling the first thing I smell alcohol in, and Hale’s front is suddenly pressed against my back.

“You have to stop this.  It’s brutal,” I whimper.

“It’s not so easy on me either.  Dance with me,” he murmurs against the back of my head.

“We shouldn’t.”

“Who gives a damn if two old friends dance?  I promise I’ll behave,” he says playfully.

I laugh lightly while wiping away a stray tear.  He pulls me to his body, and then I feel us moving to the music before I ever give my consent.  I nestle my head into his chest, and his arms tighten around me as if he’s clinging to me for the last time. 
It needs to be the last time.

“I can’t do this,” I whimper, tears falling more fiercely, and I run out of the room to the hallway of the enormous building.

“Araya,” he calls out, and I feel my body whipping around - almost reflexively - to face him.  “I love you, and I’m so sorry for everything I ever did wrong.  I swear I’ll be the man you always wanted me to be if you just take me back.  I need you,” he pleads.

“No!” I yell.  “You keep acting like I just up and left, but I didn’t.  You pushed me away for two fucking years.  The second they took me, you started disappearing more and more.  That’s when I needed you the most.  I spent days in a basement chained up and feeling electricity surging through my body so they could provoke my power.  They did everything they fucking could to get me to do it, and if I had of, people for miles would have been killed from my overworked state.  There’s not telling how bad it would have gotten before you found me.

“I had to deal with all that shit on my own when I finally got rescued because you were never home.  I would wake up screaming for hours because of the nightmares that ensued, but you weren’t there to comfort me.  I would cry myself to sleep because the shadows felt like people coming to take me away again.  I shattered three houses just because my dreams and fears became too overwhelming.  If it hadn’t been for Brazen, I would have probably been locked away in some asylum with medicine to numb my wild mind from doing more harm.  Do you get that?” I cry out, and I see tears wavering in his eyes now.

“I’m so sorry, and I can’t say it enough.  I know I fucked up, but I swear I never meant to hurt you,” he pleads.

“No.  Don’t.  you just never thought you’d lose me because I loved you too fucking much.  You think because you’re my counter-”

His lips pound against mine suddenly as he uses his passionate need to shut me up.  I feel the wall against my back cracking more and more as his hips dig in, and I almost give into the savage lusting at play.  I grip the back of his head, my hands weaving through the soft strands of hair, to pull him closer, deeper into the kiss.

My sanity returns as quickly as it fled, and I shove him off me once again before slapping him hard across the face.

“Fuck you.  Don’t ever touch me again,” I snarl, and then I stalk away from the party and him.

My phone rings in my purse at almost the exact same time his does, and my heart almost breaks into pieces when I see the name.  It’s Brazen
.

I’m such a stupid bitch for ever having dabbled in such a foolish thing with Hale.

“Hey,” I breathe into the phone, my well deserved guilt weighing me down.

“Araya, get everyone to safety now!” he blares into my ear.

“What?” I ask with complete bewilderment.

“Javeline, it’s gone… completely gone.  Get everyone to safety now.  There should be bomb shelters there.  Find one, and stay low until we can get there.”

“Javeline?” I squeal, and tears pour free from my eyes.  “What about the people?”

He sighs hard into the phone, hesitance radiating around his silent breaths.  In the absence of his response, my mind is forced to play out horrific scenarios I can’t bear to imagine.

“Brazen,” I prompt through the emotional ball in my chest.
“Gone,” he finally exhales.  “Listen to me, there’s several hundred men traveling in your direction right now, and they’ve got a huge head start.  They could be there at any time, and-”

The sound of a loud buzzer going wild across the building interrupts Brazen’s instructions.  The phone drops from my hand and shatters against the ground when Hale jerks my hand in his.  Panic and hysteria break free from the partiers as everyone rushes to duck and cover.

“Get everyone into the bomb shelters now.  I’ll head to the towers to see what’s going on,” he barks to several uniformed men, and then he whips me around to be in front of him as he speaks very worriedly.  “Go with them.  Take shelter and keep everyone calm.  I’ll come get you when it’s safe.”

I jerk free from his grip while blaring, “Like hell you will.  You’re going to need me.  Over half your men went to go help out with the Hensen investigation.  I’m not letting you go up there without me.”

“Araya, I really don’t have time to argue right now,” he growls.

“Then stop arguing,” I hiss, and then I swish away too fast for him to catch up as I race to the towers.

I see cars coming in by the swarms just miles down the road, and I hear the first blasts connecting before I even see the warning signs.  Screams erupt as the explosions pound against the wall, but the sturdy structure holds steady against the attack.

It won’t take them long to reach us at this pace.  I see men catching missiles and throwing them back at our attackers, but they’re armed to the guild.  We shouldn’t be outmatched, but we are.  It’s as though they know what we’re capable of.

Blinding flares and deafening
booms
continue to litter the once peaceful night air.  Blood spews and splatters across the compound as the wounded collapse and scream out their agony.

“Send them a taste of what’s to come,” Hale commands.

A man fires a loud, screeching missile from a launcher attached to the wall.  It connects with three of the approaching vehicles, and the explosions after take out several more.

“There’s too many.  There are kids in here.  I’m not watching anyone else die tonight,” I assert as I stalk over to the wall.

“Araya, don’t,” Hale screams, but he’s not stopping me.

I’m devastated, I’m in pain, and I’m fucking pissed right now.  My home, my friends, and so much more rested in Javeline… now it’s all gone.  Now they want to take even more.  I won’t let them take Hale.  I won’t let them take from him away from me too.  I won’t let them touch him.

I rush toward the oncoming fleet, and I hear more screams as the explosions reach inside the compound.  I pull out a gun filled with the uranium dipped bullets, and I start firing through the windows of the oncoming sons of bitches heading straight for me.