Page 20 of Fanged Desire
I stopped, choking on the words, too many emotions bubbling to the surface. I hadn't let myself cry about Penelope in so long, hadn’t let myself feel the full weight of my failure.
"I don’t know what to do anymore," I whispered. “I thought if I could just get close enough, if I could keep working at that club, maybe I’d find a clue. Something,anythingthat would lead me to her. When those guys showed up, I thought maybe I’d been caught out – got too close to the truth…"
I stopped again, breath hitching. Fresh tears welled in my eyes and I turned away, small and ashamed next to a stranger. Strong, composed, self-sufficient Addison Moore was falling apart. But I was so, so tired of handling this alone.
Beside me, Hunter was quiet for a long moment. I half expected her to kick me out of her car and speed away, never to return.
And then, without a word, she reached out and pulled me into her arms.
I stiffened at first, startled by the sudden closeness, but she was warm and all-encompassing, gentle like I could shatter in her hands, and I felt something inside me crack.
My breaths came in shallow, uneven bursts. I was always so guarded, so in control, but here – now – I couldn’t hold it together any more.
The facade crumbled, and Hunter held on until her shirt was soaked through with my tears.
Chapter 9
Hunter
On the outside, I was calm, cool, and definitely not panicking as I sat in the car alongside a sniveling Kinsley – Addison? On the inside, I was a nervous wreck.
I gripped the steering wheel so tight I thought it might snap in my hands. My mind raced, replaying the events outside the club in painful detail. I’d taken down the group of men in the parking lot, no fangs, no transformation – just pure vampiric strength. And God, did it feel good.
But the aftermath was anything but pleasant, and my head buzzed with the consequences of what I'd done.Elves. They were elves.Their language was unmistakable, Elvish was as ear-piercing as it was pretentious.
This was bad. This was – well, politics.
Jordan’s voice echoed in my mind, a reminder of the fragile balance between the supernatural factions. And I’d just snapped it like a twig.
If word got out that a Leyore vampire had attacked a group of elves, on their own turf, it would mean trouble for both factions. It would also leave Jordan’s business venture dead in the water.
“Fuck.” I rattled off a mental checklist as I pressed my forehead to the steering wheel.
I had been careful not to leave any incriminating evidence, careful to cover my tracks. I hadn’t used my fangs, so no bite marks could be traced back to me or my coven. I had wiped their minds after the fight, but even that was hasty. There were no guarantees they wouldn’t remembersomething. And those talismans they wore? They blocked my powers like a brick wall.
That detail didn’t sit right with me either.
From what I could glean from their minds, an angry elf woman had paid them a lot of money to rough up the dancer her husband had been spending too much time around. Petty jealousy paid well, apparently.
Addison – no,Dr. Moore– had already spilled her tangled web of secrets, and left me with even more questions. But my mind wasn’t clear enough to focus on the bigger picture.Focus on the immediate problem, I told myself.
At my elbow, Kinsley – Addison, whatever she was calling herself these days – was talking, her voice pulling me out of my frantic thoughts.
“Ethan just texted me.”
I lifted my head warily, taking in her expression. Her face was still pale after the attack, and her cheeks were streaked with makeup, wet with tears. But she seemed calmer than before, having expelled all her turmoil over my pristine white shirt.Oh my god, does mascara stain?
“What?” I asked, dazed and exhausted. The night had not gone at all how I had expected it to.
"Ethan said one of the guys we... well, that I was involved with... is friends with the club manager. He’s claiming I helpedset them up for a robbery. He’s telling the manager I was bait and that someone jumped them after they tried hitting on me."
I gritted my teeth.Great.I hadn’t wiped enough of their memories after all. My rush had left loose ends, and now it was coming back to bite me in the ass.
“Godammit!” I whacked the steering wheel, leaning back in my seat and trying to think clearly. “I should have just finished them off.”
Addison’s face paled further at the implication of my words. "If they check the security cameras..." she began, her voice trailing off.
My head snapped toward her, tone sharp. "Security cameras?"
