Darker (Alexa O'Brien Huntress Book 6) - By Trina M. Lee Page 0,81

have if Shya hadn’t blocked my attack. With a sweep of his wings, he knocked me off my feet. I cleared the library, sprawling on the floor of the foyer.

“We’ve won this round, Alexa. Time to leave.” Shya came to stand over me, watching as I dragged my exhausted self to my feet.

“Fuck that. I’m putting that bitch back where she belongs.” I shot Shya a dark glare.

“Leave,” he said, shoving me along with those impressive wings.

Jez followed with a growl rumbling in her throat. I saw no sign of Shawn or anyone else. He’d probably met his end in the library along with many others. Just as well, he’d proven that he couldn’t be trusted.

The sky was still dark, but sunrise was close; I could feel it in my bones. Shya would be forced to leave with the dawn. Demons couldn’t maintain form on the physical plane during daylight. I could wait.

After ushering us out, Shya waved a hand over the front door. A barrier snapped into place, and I swore.

“Why the fuck are you protecting her? She’s killing my wolves. She tried to kill me and Jez.” What little energy I had left, I poured into my anger. Shya was getting on my nerves.

Moving fast, he grabbed my wounded arm and pulled me dangerously close. “You’ll get your chance. She is my queen. There are things I cannot do no matter how far her kingdom has fallen. I don’t expect you to understand.”

“Good because I don’t. She’s a washed up queen with a curse. She knows she’s going down, and she wants to take as many of us with her as she can. I won’t let it happen.”

I tried to pull my arm from Shya’s grasp, but he held tight. I winced but bit back a pained noise. Jez paced beside us, her emerald eyes flitting back and forth between us. Her beast had my wolf pushing to break free from my exhausted human body.

“You have many fine qualities, Alexa. Patience, unfortunately, isn’t one of them. Work on that. Knowing when to wait it out can mean the difference between victory and death.” He let go of me abruptly. “I’ll be having a word with Falon about what he did to you tonight.”

“Don’t bother. I’m sure I had it coming. I trapped him in a circle and bullied him with silver.”

“I’m aware. You should know that what he did can have a lasting effect on people like you. He crossed a line.”

Fatigue made it hard to care enough to continue the conversation, but anger kept me going.

“If anyone has crossed a line, Shya, it’s you,” I said bitterly. “You have Arys convinced that you’re some reliable ally. You and I both know that isn’t true. You’ve got some kind of ill-conceived plan for me. Whatever that is, leave Arys out of it.”

“I said I’d protect you; I just proved good on my word.” Shya cast a glance toward the sky, gauging how much time remained. He turned back to me and said with a wink, “I’m going to unleash hell on this city, and you’re going to help me.”

With his bemused smirk firmly in place, he unfurled his wings and vanished. My lips twisted into a scowl. “That was unnecessarily dramatic.”

Jez bumped her furry face against my hand. She was right. We needed to get back to the car before the neighborhood woke up. As eccentric as these rich types tended to be, walking a leopard through the streets likely wouldn’t go over well.

“Nothing more we can do here, thanks to Shya. Let’s get going. I’m feeling the need to get furry, too.”

I wasn’t going to react visibly in case Shya lingered unseen, but his words had chilled me to the bone. It left so much open to interpretation. Lilah’s need for a little blood paled in comparison.

Chapter Sixteen

For the first time in a long while, I slept a deep, uninterrupted sleep. A night of power binging was enough to grant me a dreamless slumber. It was similar to the effects of a human booze binge but intensified several times over.

I flung my arm out at one point, searching for Arys and finding the rest of the bed empty. Disappointment crushed me. I rolled over and hugged my pillow, falling back into the depths of sleep. Then, I slipped into Arys’s mind, and the bloodstained images flooded me with an unholy hunger.

Screams rang in my ears, accompanied by his wicked laughter. He wanted to make someone hurt the