Page 31 of Bullets and Blood (Hunting Hearts #1)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lance parked the car. He was sure his aunt knew exactly where he was, even though he hadn’t passed on Nix’s message.

It had been very tempting to destroy the phone, but that wouldn’t help him.

His name would only be added to the list of traitors to be brought in for questioning. No one escaped his family alive.

If he didn’t bring Nix in, he was slowly dead, and even if he did bring him in, his ability would be doubted.

His commitment questioned. He was fucked no matter what he did.

He sat in the car a little longer, not sure when his plans had gone awry, only that the moment he got out of the car, he was a target, and he wasn’t sure Nix wouldn’t shoot him.

The only thing protecting him was the truce and Nix’s family honor.

He got out and closed the door as quietly as he could, then locked the vehicle and walked along the track. He was armed: gun, knife, the usual. One man stood by the edge of the cliff looking out at the ocean, his dark hair catching in the sharp breeze.

There was no one else around. It was too cold for most, even though this was a popular tourist spot. Lance took a few steps toward Nix. One bullet, and he could end this…and he’d be the one breaking the truce. He wouldn’t prove Nix right. He was Orlan by birth but not an oath breaker by blood.

The sun bled over the ocean in gold and pink.

Nix turned. He was dressed casually in jeans, shirt, and jacket, but the way he held his body was like so many of the photos he’d studied.

This wasn’t the Nix he knew; this was the killer from the dossier.

The man who made his aunt nervous and who’d been the most efficient killer in the Hadley family.

And he’d managed to take down Scott, his aunt’s favorite.

Nix would be armed to the teeth and then some.

There was no point in stopping or keeping a safe distance, so Lance kept walking toward him.

Nix pulled his gun when Lance got within ten paces. “You aren’t meant to be here.”

“I didn’t tell her.” He held his hands palms up. “I came to talk.”

“We’ve talked.” Nix shrugged. “What’s left to say? It’s not just you. It’s your whole damn family after my blood.”

“We can still disappear into the bush. Or leave the country. I have money, you can get an emergency passport.”

“Don’t you think the federal police will have my name flagged?

They aren’t going to let me leave the country because of the gang war I was involved in.

People like me don’t get to start over, no matter how much we want to.

” He lowered the gun. “Thank you for the extra time. I had fun.” He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“But we always knew this is how it ended.”

“No. We still have time. I’ll tell my aunt about the truce.”

“You don’t get to say no.” Nix closed the distance until he was close enough that Lance could lift his hand and cup his cheek.

He didn’t. “You think she’ll care about our truce?

That’s just one more nail in your coffin.

You make it clean. You kill me and take back my corpse.

Do that for me if you care at all.” He thrust the gun at Lance but kept the muzzle pointed at his own heart.

Something flickered across his face. “You have to, or you’ll be treated as cruelly as me. ”

Lance closed his fingers around the grip, and Nix kept his hand there.

“I trust you to do it right.” Nix held his gaze.

“I don’t want to.” His mouth was dry. “I can’t.”

“Then you’re a fucking fool with a death wish.”

“Says the man asking me to break my oath. We swore a truce.”

“I release you.”

“I don’t release you.”

“So we stand here for two days and another hour? It’s not me who’s out of time.

It’s you. I can’t save myself, but I can at least spare you.

” He lifted his hand. Lance felt rather than saw the slap that snapped his head back.

Lance stepped back, the gun still in his hand and blood in his mouth.

He wiped his lip, and they both stared at the red on his skin.

“Truce broken, Orlan. Your move.”

Lance licked the inside of his cheek where his teeth had cut the flesh. His skin was hot with the print of Nix’s hand. He glared at Nix and spat blood on the ground. “No.”

Nix blinked, and his eyebrows knitted together. “No?”

“You aren’t an oath breaker.” Lance’s voice was steady.

“I am now,” Nix snarled.

“This isn’t you.”

“How the fuck would you know? You have a dossier filled with half-truths and a week and a half of my dick up your ass. You don’t know me or what I’m capable of.” He took a step and closed the gap. “I could rip your throat out and leave you for the scavengers and tourists to find.”

“So do it.” Lance gave him a little push, and Nix stepped back.

Lance took a step forward, keeping the gap between them to barely anything.

Nix’s fangs weren’t even down. “Bite me bad and make me bleed, but then who’ll give you the quick death you claim to want?

I know you don’t want to die. I know you want that shitty little winery. ”

“There’s no way for me to live. If we run together, one of your cousins will chase us both.” He grabbed the gun and put it between them. “It will never end. It’s not a life.”

For a few seconds, they struggled. It shouldn’t have been a struggle. Nix was faster and stronger. The barrel of the gun clipped Nix under jaw, drawing blood. Lance tossed the gun aside.

Nix touched the wound. “Most definitely broken now. Come on, Orlan, you’ve been chasing me for months.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to bag yourself a Hadley and save your skin in the process.

” He made loose fists with his hands, ready to fight.

“I’m all yours if you have the balls to see this through. ”

Lance shrugged out of his coat. He dropped his gun on the ground, then charged Nix. Nix didn’t resist. He let himself be taken to the ground with a thump.

Nix’s eyes widened. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Lance shut him up with a kiss. Nix’s mouth opened, and Lance ran his tongue over Nix’s teeth and teased his tongue. He didn’t want to hear another stupid word out of Nix’s mouth.

Nix pulled the knife free from the small of Lance’s back. Lance slapped his hand to the ground and pinned it there. “You aren’t even trying.”

Nix broke the hold and tossed Lance onto his back, momentarily winding him.

The sunset was brilliant. Before Nix could grab him, he scrambled away, but Nix was on him just as fast, knife in hand.

Lance blocked, not sure if Nix would actually hurt him or if he was doing just enough to piss him off so he did shoot him.

Either way, they were both getting hurt. He lifted a knee, catching Nix in the ribs and dragging him down so he could whisper in his ear. “I know you. I have studied you. You don’t want this.”

Nix punched him in the armpit. “I do what has to be done. You know that. You need to learn that. A blooded Orlan would get it done.”

Pain radiated from the hit. “Yeah, well, I’m not blooded.”

They grappled, twisting and clawing, Nix never seizing the upper hand even though he could’ve used his strength to end the fight. Lance ended up on top again, the knife several meters away. Both were breathing hard, but they were enjoying the fight far too much.

Lance really wanted to adjust his jeans as they were pinching his hard-on, and Nix’s fangs were down, glinting in the fading sunlight.

Lance leaned down and kissed him again, nipping at his lip and then along his jaw to taste his blood.

The heat in his blood and the ache in the roof of his mouth demanded to be fed.

He wasn’t blooded, but he was still a vampire, and his body craved to be more than what he was.

The blood was salty and metallic on his tongue.

He moved his hips against Nix, loving the feel of his erection grinding again his own, and drawing a sweet groan from him.

He kissed him again, wanting to feel Nix’s fangs break the skin.