Page 11 of All Your Deadly Truths (The Filthy Duet #2)

Kairhyse

Present

I vaguely register the sound of the gunshot. The darkness that had consumed me moments ago lasted mere seconds. My ability to fight slipping into unconsciousness surprises me, but I don’t question it.

Sydni’s pink hair fades from my vision as someone drags her carelessly from the car.

“No…”

My shoulders tremble as the acrid scent of gasoline and burning metal fills the air. They’d leave me here to burn, and that would surely kill me. My arm is jammed, and I know I’ll have to tear it off to escape this death trap.

Suddenly, my door is ripped completely from its hinges. Blinking through the smoke, I watch as the haze clears, revealing two piercing yellow eyes framed by the gray fur of a wolf—larger than its animal counterpart.

A fucking Werewolf.

“Get the girl.” The voice sounds familiar, but fuck, I can barely gather anything beyond seeing the beast staring at me like I am its next meal.

It steps away and moments later, someone new appears.

A hand reaches in and grabs at my bicep. “My arm—” I’m surprised I can even get a singular word out “—stuck.”

I know I need to get out. The fumes from the car are starting to seep through the vents, filling the air with a suffocating toxicity.

The figure leans in, and the flash of white hair and familiar scent make it clear who it is. Despite the rising bile of anger in my chest—knowing exactly who has come to “help”—I’m in no position to fight the assistance being forced on me.

“Alaric,” I spit his name through clenched teeth, my tone dripping with disdain. He leans over me, his body uncomfortably close as he works to unclasp the seatbelt holding me in place.

His eyes narrow when he spots the pole that’s shattered through the windshield and pierced my right bicep.

“You’ll lose your arm,” he warns flatly, slipping one arm under my shoulder and the other around my neck.

“It’ll grow back,” I grind out, my voice laced with fury and pain. “Pull.”

The moment the word leaves my mouth, he obeys. The sickening tear of my flesh is muffled beneath the groans spilling from me. My foot braces against the car, every ounce of strength I have left pushing to help free me from the wreckage.

As my arm separates from my body, we’re thrown several feet away from the fiery wreckage, the car on the verge of explosion.

“Sydni—” I rasp, trying to push myself up, but my crushed leg refuses to cooperate, leaving me helpless.

Lifting my head, I catch a flash of pink hair on the far side of the chaos, being carried away from us. Alaric grabs hold of me and drags me farther from the inferno, his movements rough but decisive.

“Bring her…” My chest tightens as I struggle to get the words out. “…to me—” Before I can finish the demand, the car explodes.

The blast, magnified by the semi-truck lodged inside it, is deafening. The force slams into us like a hurricane, sending us tumbling backward.

And that’s when I finally lose consciousness. As much as I fight to stay awake, the abyss comes for me, pulling me into the void, leaving nothing but darkness in its wake.

Xera… I’m coming… I swear it…

“Why do you stare so much?”

I’m one wrong word away from her decapitating me, and even with that knowledge, I can’t help but smile.

“Do you not like it when I stare at you?” Xera steps from the shower and grabs a towel, narrowing her eyes. “Would you like me to stop?”

“I didn’t say that, asshole, I’m just asking why you stare.” Her towel lazily falls as she begins to dry her hair, scrunching it up to give it a natural curl .

Leaning against the vanity, I give her a slow look from her cute toes up to her moonlit eyes. “Why would I not want to look at you? You are perfection wrapped in a tortilla made of madness. If I can’t eat you all day with my tongue, then you better fucking believe I will with my eyes.”

She keeps her breasts free from being covered, and fuck, they are so perfect.

Rounded to be the right size that even my hands have a hard time grasping their entirety.

The delectable pink nipples that harden just by my gaze.

I know it’s because of her being a Succubus, but both are equal in size; one isn’t bigger than the other as is the case with nearly every other race of women.

My tongue brushes across my upper teeth and I bite down on my lip. I huff out a breath, and shake my head in disbelief that I’ve got her here in my home.

“Okay, I’ll accept that answer.”

I cross one leg over the other at my ankles. “Don’t act like you don’t stare at my cock when it’s out.” As it is right now, completely at full attention, even if I just came twice in the shower with her.

Her gaze, as if magnetized, draws downward. “It’s a godsdamn monster, it’s hard not to. I’m also afraid it’ll attack me if I take my eyes off of it.”

Throwing my head back, I bark out a laugh.

“Seriously, when was the last time you measured that thing? Could go into some record book somewhere.”

As she moves to me, I command, “Open that pretty mouth.” She eyes me quizzically. “Go on, humor me, little demon.”

When she’s standing before me, she opens up. “Stick out your tongue.” Without hesitation, she does as I say, and I slide my fingers in, moving them all the way back until my knuckles hit her teeth.

Her eyes widen, a slight line of drool falling from the corner of her lips.

“Measuring….” A bright red stains her cheeks as I feel the back of her tongue and find her gag reflex. I get it, some women aren’t born with one, but it’s so fucking hot hearing her choke on me.

I hum. “Eleven, possibly twelve, inches.” I honestly have no idea, but it’s fascinating to watch her pupils dilate as she tilts her head back, gulping in a deep breath of air.

“You take me so well, so who cares?” Grabbing her around the waist, I tug her to me.

“I’ll get the tape measure, and you can find out for yourself before drowning in my cum. How’s that, little demon?”

As she bites her lip, I’m digging my nails into her flesh, holding her tighter to me.

“Go get it, I’ll meet you in bed,” she coos.

A groan escapes my raw throat. It hurts, but not nearly as much as the ache in my chest.

Deep down, I already know I won’t open my eyes to see my woman sleeping peacefully beside me. Part of me wants to stay under, lost in the recesses of my mind where she still exists, where the memory of her feels almost real. But I know I can’t. I have to wake up.

The surface beneath me is a mattress, but it’s hard and uncomfortable, like it’s laying directly on the floor.

As I force my eyes open, the sight of cold, unyielding stone walls surrounding me confirms my unease. A low, bitter growl of frustration rumbles from my throat.

I blink rapidly, trying to clear the fog clouding my vision, and slowly begin to take in my surroundings.

Three walls of rough-hewn stone, and on the fourth side… bars.

I’m in a cell. A prison. But not like any I’ve seen before. This looks ancient, like something out of a medieval dungeon.

Where the fuck am I?

“Don’t touch the bars.” A female voice comes over what I can only assume is an intercom. The static that echoes as she closes the line is indication enough.

“Where am I?” My voice is rough, scraping against my throat like sandpaper as I scan the room, searching for a camera.

It isn’t in the cell with me. My gaze shifts beyond the bars, and there it is—a blinking red light. Perched like an eye, watching me.

No answer comes, but it isn’t as though I expect one.

Where I am matters, but right now, how I feel matters more. I glance at my right arm and freeze.

It’s completely healed.

The tattoos that once decorated my skin are gone, leaving behind my naturally darker complexion, unmarked and foreign to me now. My legs, too, are fully restored—a realization made all the more vivid by my lack of pants. I’m left wearing only shorts, the rest of my body exposed.

Footsteps echo down the corridor, and every muscle in my body tenses instinctively.

I shouldn’t feel this good. That fact alone sets me on edge. My body feels… incredible, almost unnaturally so .

Curiosity churns with dread. How long has it been? Limbs take at least a week to regenerate for us Vampires—maybe even two. My unease deepens with every step approaching my cell.

“You…”

I’m on my feet in an instant, my body moving before my mind catches up. The instant he steps into view, all control evaporates.

“Relax.” Alaric puts his hands up in defense. “I’m here to help.”

I swear I nearly forgo the warning about the bars and lunge for his throat. My hands twitch with restrained violence as my voice cuts through the heavy air. “Why am I in a fucking prison?”

I could punch through the walls if I wanted to. Shit, I could rip these metal bars apart, but I’m unsure of what would be beyond them. More pressing is the fact that Sydni isn’t here. That’s a bigger problem than this cell could ever be.

“You were healing a lot faster than we thought you would,” he says, unfazed by my fury. His hand lifts, fingers splaying into four distinct points. “Did you feed off Xeraphine?”

The sound of her name cleaves through my chest like a hot blade. I can’t tell if it’s the bitterness of hearing it from his lips, or the hollow ache of knowing she isn’t here with me.

“How long have I been out?” I don’t owe him shit. If anyone here should be answering questions, it’s him.

He sighs, dragging a hand through his long, white hair, the strands tumbling over his shoulder. His glowing blue eyes seem almost unnatural against the dimness of the room. Or maybe it’s just the shadows playing tricks on me.

After a moment of silence, he finally speaks. “You’ve been out for only three days.”

Three days. That’s impossible…

There should be absolutely no reason why my arm is completely healed after that short of a time. The timeline doesn’t add up, and I hate that his answer gives me more questions than it resolves.

“You drank from Xeraphine.” He doesn’t question me this time. “Do you know how dangerous that is?—”

“Who are you…” I cut him off, furious that he even knows what my Xera is. The rage surges in my chest, threatening to overpower me. I’m on the edge of caring about nothing but escaping.

“I will tell you everything.” He lowers one of his held up fingers, bringing the count to three. “Will you behave?”

He speaks to me as though I’m some feral beast. As if the chaos I’m prepared to unleash isn’t entirely justified .

My glare sharpens, radiating all the malice I’m holding back, ready to unleash on anyone who dares stand between me and getting her back.

“No.”

He drops another finger, now holding up only two. “I’m here to help, Kairhyse.”

My nose twitches as I wrestle with my need for answers. Who is this guy, and what connection does he have to Xera?

Now he’s down to one finger. “I’ll take you to Sydni, and we can all go find her.”

Fuck him. The moment I have Sydni, we’re gone. She’s going to help me burn this fucking world to the ground to get our girl back.