Page 42 of The Curse Trilogy

She deliberately stares anywhere but at me, and she takes a step over when she becomes worried about her proximity to the woman that just drank enough of a sedative to put down three hundred full bloods while acting like it was Sunday brunch. I roll my eyes, and I start to step up when Clay joins the fight.

“What the hell is going on?” he barks.

“Brazen thinks I fucked Araya just because I could. That just goes to show how very little he fucking knows about her. She wouldn’t have ever cheated on you, and you’re an asshole for thinking she would. She was about to fucking die, and I had no choice but to give her my blood,” Hale explains, but Brazen starts laughing hysterically, insanity seething in his eyes.

“Sure you didn’t have a choice. This whole compound has more blood than any other facility on this side of the region. There are people every-fucking-where. Don’t give me that shit,” he laughs out.

“The blood vault sealed when the explosions hit,” Clay says softly to the man he knows is about to fall apart.

“What?” Brazen asks in a more sobered tone.

“No one could get in, and they had a limited amount of blood to disperse to the full bloods. There was a hell of a lot of people that had to share blood with the hybrids. Araya almost died keeping the compound safe. According to every witness here, it looked like she had very few breaths even left,” Clay says even softer.

“Why the fuck didn’t she tell me?” Brazen gasps.

“Because you assumed her guilty before giving her the fucking chance!” Hale explodes.

“I didn’t know. She should have done much worse than throwing me into a wall,” Brazen whimpers.

“What?” Hale asks, and I see his face go pale.

“I said she should have done worse. Are you happy?” Brazen screams.

“No,” Hale says, and I tilt my head to the side as he and Clay exchange a look of terror. They’re scared… of me. “You said she threw you against the wall? Did she knock anything else over?” Hale asks.

“Fuck, I don’t know. What the hell does it matter?”

“I can’t get her to answer her phone,” Clay says to Hale while waiting anxiously for me to pick up the phone I don’t have.

“It shattered to the ground when we went to face off with the ambushers,” Hale murmurs in a ghastly tone.

“Eli, hey, it’s Clay. We’ve got a code fifteen. Call it in, and find her now,” Clay says into the phone, and Brazen’s eyes hold the same confusion as mine.

“What the fuck is a code fifteen?” he asks.

“It’s none of your fucking business, you stupid son of a bitch. You know damn how easy it is to provoke her. Why the hell would you get drunk and attack her? She can’t be handled that way, and if you loved her at all you would know that,” Hale barks, and it looks like he’s about to show his savage side as he stalks toward him to do more damage.

“Stop it right now,” I interrupt, and I walk through the crowd to take my place between Brazen and Hale.

“Araya,” Hale gushes in relief, and Clay dials a number to call off the search.

“Don’t,” I murmur as he starts to hug me. “Why the fuck did you make a code for me? Do you fear me that much?”

His eyes sadden when he sees my pain, and he shakes his head.

“I don’t fear you at all, but…” his voice trails off as he gauges all the eyes watching us, and he tugs at my hand to pull me into his room.

“Araya,” Brazen murmurs as he stands to pull me from the grasp of the wolf he felt stole me away.

His lips cover mine, his kiss seeping with apologies his words can’t relay the depth of. I don’t return the stained affection, and I jerk away from the son of a bitch that just cut me deeper than he realizes.

“Araya, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” he pleads, and he tries pulling me to him again.

The walls rattle harder, and my fever starts to grow as the heavy medicine begins burning out of my veins from the monstrous dose of adrenaline eating it up. I start feeling the dangerous high that threatens to tear apart the Seminole.

“Go get some olophine,” Hale murmurs to Clay.

“She’s already taken a whole bottle,” Wendy says in objection.