Page 15 of Of Flame and Fate

His eyes widen, but his shock is only brief. Long nails stab against my skin. I barely feel the pointy tips. As lethal as his dagger-like fingernails are, they’re no match for the magic protecting my arm.

I lift him higher and fire another bolt to snag his attention. His legs rattle and his feet fling out like snapping sheets. “You think you’re the one in charge,” I tell him. I give him another squeeze, my fury helping me ignore the ache wringing my throat. “You’re wrong.”

His stare shifts to the side, alerting me someone else has arrived half a second before he’s wrenched from my grasp.

A stream of warm blood splashes across my chest. Gemini leans with his back against the wall, gripping the decapitated vampire’s head by his long, messy hair. I should be used to decapitated vampires. I should be used to a lot of things. Except I’m not completely desensitized,yet.

I beat down the splash of acid burning its way up my throat. “I need him alive,” I say, swallowing hard. “His friends have Emme.”

“No. We do,” he replies. Every muscle strains against his dark gray T-shirt as he pushes off the wall and tosses the head aside, marching to where the vamps body is desperately trying to crawl away.

The body can’t see where it is. It only senses danger, leaving a streak of red as it scuttles across the concrete.

Gemini kicks it over, bringing down his heel into the chest. With a sickening crunch the sternum cracks and ash explodes in a small mushroom cloud.

There’s a plus to killing a vamp, no traces that he ever was, when he goes. The downside is, whatever blood spills pre-death stains like a murder scene, which is why I won’t be wearing this dress again.

I bat at the stain. What hasn’t soaked through as blood has already turned to ash. “She’s okay?” I croak, trying to hide my injuries and very much avoiding eye contact.

“She’s fine,” he says. His superior vision hones in on my neck the moment I tilt my chin. He rushes forward, lifting my jaw gently. “You’re hurt.”

“No, just a few bruises,” I assure him.

“They could have been more,” he says, his voice gruff.

He has a valid point. If my arm didn’t possess all the mojo that it does, that vamp would have killed me and tossed aside my broken body. But I don’t want to agree, and I definitely don’t want to argue, not when his features turn feral and I sense the essence of his beast caress my skin.

“You said you were going out with the girls,” he reminds me.

“I was,” I say, keeping my voice gentle and casual, like he didn’t just break a vamp in two. “And we did.”

“No,” he responds, his expression seething with ire. “You went hunting.”

I clutch his wrists. “Baby, I know this looks bad—”

“Dude!” Shayna grinds to a halt at the other end of the alley, her sword out and a decapitated head swinging merrily in her opposite hand.

Perhaps “merrily” isn’t the best word seeing how the head is snapping its fangs and trying to bite her.

I groan. I have a way of leaping from bad to worse, straight into a pool of trouble where I can do little more than doggy paddle around the edge.

Shayna’s focus bounces from me to Gemini. “Um, hey, Gem.” He doesn’t answer. She looks down the street and away from us. “Koda’s here. Isn’t he?”

“He is,” Gemini replies. “I think I should warn you, he’s about as happy as I am.”

So, likely homicidal.

“The wolves have Emme,” I say, hoping to ease her mind and lessen our current dilemma. Nothing lifts a mood like a thwarted kidnapping. Yay, us.

She lifts her arm. “I’m guessing we don’t need him?” she asks, pointing at the head with the tip of her sword.

“No,” Gemini answers.

She sighs, her shoulders slumping. “I’ll go find the body.”

Like a little kid being sent home, she marches back in the direction she arrived, leaving me with Gemini. His hands fall away as I ease away from him. I walk to the opposite end of the alley, retrieving Emme’s phone and thanking God Almighty she’s not hurt.

“I’m sorry,” I begin. “I wasn’t trying to upset you.”

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