Chapter 17

Alexia had no idea how fast they were going. Fast. The dead wizard up front was flopping around and smearing blood like something out of a bad horror movie. Hell, it was a bad horror movie. She held on in the backseat and tried to breathe.

“I hope you’re happy with yourself for that sassy little production of yours, Lex.” Lee’s square jaw and sharp fangs were menacing from her view of his profile, and his eyes glowed from the light of all the instruments and dials and whatnot up front in the car when he turned back to growl at her. “On the upside, you helped to confirm our suspicions that we’ve got wizards hiding in the local public sector. Pretty sure we could have found a way to do that, though, that didn’t involve me ditching a body and a cop car in the woods off Route 9 on the way back to the estate.”

How had she not foreseen how that would play out? In a way they’d been lucky. She had been lucky. The wizard had been no match for Lee, and the kill had been quick. Except for speeding away in a cop car, which had probably raised a few eyebrows, they’d gotten away easily enough. “I thought maybe I could get him to tell me where Tyra was. I was trying to help,” she muttered. Honestly, she hadn’t really considered that Lee would kill the guy. Sometimes it was easy to forget what he was capable of.

She wouldn’t forget again.

And now, as they sped along the back roads, it was so late that no cars were on these winding turns. Most of the folks around here were farmers who went to bed at the appropriate times. She held back the urge to suggest maybe he should keep his eyes on the road, given how fast he was going.

He didn’t seem interested in her opinion just now.

When they reached an isolated stretch of road, he pulled the car off into a wooded area. “Where are we?” she asked. They seemed to be near the estate; the area struck her as familiar. But jeez. This time of night, everything around the area looked the same. Trees. Road. More trees. For someone like Alexia who was used to navigating by visual landmarks, it was hellishly easy to get lost.

Up front, Lee grumbled but didn’t answer. Something in Lexi’s chest tightened. She hated—hated—knowing someone was angry with her. Okay, she’d fucked up and she deserved this one, so she’d take whatever lumps she had to. And hell, maybe having Lee mad at her wasn’t such a huge loss anyway. It wasn’t as if they were anything to each other. Really, they hardly knew each other.

Still, she couldn’t stop herself from apologizing. “Lee, I’m sorry. I knew what he was, and he could tell that I knew, and he was asking all these questions. I wasn’t sure what to say. I’m sorry I said the wrong thing.”

Small trees bumped and cracked and gave way under the vehicle’s weight. He killed the headlights and they bounced along in darkness, probably aided by the sharpness of his acute night vision. At least she sure hoped so. Lexi couldn’t see where they were going at all.

“Lee, I really am sorry.”

Her voice, usually full of bitch and defiance, had just the tiniest crack in it. She pressed her lips together. Damn being a woman with emotions. He was sitting there judging her for it right now; she just knew it. Thinking she was stupid. Thinking she was weak and inferior. Too human. Well, she couldn’t go back in time. For damn sure, she couldn’t do a thing about her place in the evolutionary food chain. If apologizing wasn’t good enough, he could go fuck himself.

Fury at his constant superiority roiled in her gut and helped her to get a handle on things. She breathed long and loud and a bit shakily, but she said nothing more after that. Probably better that way. Nothing good happened when they talked to each other.

As soon as he threw the car into park, he was in some kind of weird, robotic disposal mode. Body on the ground. Slice. Slice. Slice. Kick. “Bye, asshole.” It might have been disgusting if it hadn’t been so damned fascinating. She could have sworn the wizard’s body was shriveling up right there on the spot. Lee came around to the back door, on the opposite side so Lexi wouldn’t have to step past the gore. “Come on.”

She scooted toward the door but stopped when he reached to grab her arm. “I can get out myself.”

He took hold of her arm anyway. She hadn’t realized she still was wearing a cuff until he helped remove it. “Yeah, well I’m sorry to tell you this but we’re gonna have to get out of here fast. I can move a hell of a lot quicker than you.”

Next thing she knew, she was being slung over a very large shoulder. “Lee. Are you out of your freaking mind? Put me the hell down, you son of a bitch. I’m going to tell Thad about this.”

“Excellent. I hope you do.” Dead leaves and dirt and branches flew beneath her as they sped along what was probably the tree line parallel to Route 9. Alexia expressed her displeasure by pounding Lee on the back with her fists. He’d get tired of it and put her down eventually.

Or maybe he wouldn’t. They’d made it back to the vampire estate, and she was still calling him every name in the book and had resorted to biting him on the shoulder. Which didn’t have one fricking ounce of fat on it. Still no dice on getting out of the sack-of-potatoes gig.

Finally he stopped to set her down on a fallen log, which allowed them to be at eye level. Tears streamed down her face, and if looks could kill, she hoped he’d be fucking on fire by now. She pulled up the edge of her shirt to wipe the tears away, for what little good that did. They kept coming.

“Do you have any idea how close you came to dying tonight?”

She hiccupped and swiped a hand over her face. She struggled to keep her voice even. “I guess I didn’t, at first,” she admitted.

Lee flexed his fingers and reached forward like he was about to make a grab, but he stopped and pulled back. “I am so fucking mad at you.”

Grr. Alexia’s toes curled up inside her Doc Martens. “I’m pretty fucking mad at you too.” Little did he know that it had nothing to do with the dead wizard.

She shivered and her foot slipped on some loose tree bark, which tossed her right into his arms. He was aroused. Holy crap, was he ever. The hard length of him pressed against her, and his grip, awkward at first, tightened. The fingers of his large hands spread across her back into something more intimate and familiar. She tilted her face up to look into those aqua-colored eyes, which glowed in the moonlight, dilated with desire she would’ve given almost anything to see a week or two ago. A few hours ago, even.

Before he threw her over his shoulder and humiliated her.

“Lee…” His nose brushed against hers, and her body tensed. She pushed against his chest, but fear took away her words. Without another second of thought, her knee made contact with his family jewels.

“Fuck. Alexia…”

His hold loosened and she ran, not looking back to check on him or apologize. He was a badass vampire; it wasn’t like he needed her to wait for him. He’d be fine.