Page 49

Doubt weighed her limbs, taking hold, threatening to drag her under.

Would he still be alive if she’d sensed the vampires outside before they’d had a chance to attack?

Images of her father’s lifeless body flitted through her mind. She squeezed her eyes closed, trying to shut them out, but she was too tired to resist.

She pressed a hand to her mouth, stifling the sob that rose in her throat. If she could have stopped the vampires who’d attacked them, used their own aggression against them as she had Slade, her dad might still be alive today.

Unwelcome memories flooded her conscience, pulling her back to the moment she heard fists pounding on their door. Back to the moment she’d stood frozen in fear. Back to the moment she’d met her father’s eyes, just before the door exploded inward. The noise so loud it was like a gunshot.

Like gunshots fired in a crowded poker room. Gunshots that ripped through her shoulder and slammed into Liam’s chest. One after another after another.

The night Liam had been shot, she’dfeltthe menace in the room but failed to understand what it meant. Maybe if she’d had control over her ability, she could have used it to their advantage.

Tears blurred her vision, and her legs shook beneath her. Liam had taken those bullets for her. He had the ability, the skill to have gotten out of the way. Instead, he’d shielded her. And now he was lying in Claymore’s medical facilities, fighting for his life. Liam had done everything in his power to protect her that night.

Why hadn’t she done the same for him?

Short, ragged breaths tightened her chest, and her limbs tingled. Too heavy, the weight of her guilt turned her body to lead, and exhaustion pulled her to the tile floor. Sobs racked her frame, and she wrapped her arms around her knees, giving in to the pain.

They were gone. All of them, her mother, her father, Liam—her family. And it was all her fault because Alex was the freak who didn’t help them.

All her life, she’d buried her ability. Pushed it down, shoved it to the sludgy depths of that well, just as her mother insisted. She’d said Alex was cursed. That her blood was dirty, tainted. What if her mother was right?

She shivered, cold water tracking down her spine. Slade’s agonized face swam through her mind. When he’d threatened her, for one moment she’d unleashed that thing inside of her and look what happened. In that moment, she’d become the monster the Council wanted to destroy. The thing Jericho so clearly despised.

Victor had no idea what he was asking. She wasn’t a mouse. She was a dragon, burning everything she cared about in her path.

Her mother’s voice echoed in her head.“You’re cursed, Alexandra.”The voice changed, growing deeper, dripping with Victor’s disdain.“Again, Alexandra.”She pressed her hands against her ears, her heart ripping in half.

“I can’t do it.”

Jericho paced outside the bathroom.Two knocks and still she didn’t answer. Besides the sound of rushing water, there was no hint of movement. What was she doing in there? The hot water tank had to be empty by now.

He knocked once more. “Alex?”

The knob turned in his fingers, and he pushed inside. The sight of her huddled form slammed his heart into his throat.

“Alex!” He jerked the glass panel open and scooped her off the floor. Cold water sluiced down his back. Was she injured?

She shivered, her skin chilly and covered in goosebumps. He stepped out of the shower and tucked her against his chest, willing his own warmth into her.

Slick limbs and generous curves filled his hands.

He shifted his grip, but options were limited when holding a naked female. His body was quick to take notice. Heat coiled in his gut, spiraling south.

Holding her was definitely out.

He placed her on the vanity.

Head lowered, she clenched her arms over her breasts, shivering. He grabbed a towel and draped it over her shoulders, then threw another around her hips.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” He scrubbed the towel over her arms. She sniffed and shook her head, hiding behind a curtain of sodden hair.

“Talk to me,” he demanded, tilting her chin to better see her face. The anguish he saw there stabbed through him.

“I didn’t save them.” Tears tracked down her cheeks. “I didn’t even try.”

“What are you talking about?” He cupped her cheek and wiped a tear with his thumb.