Page 54 of The Curse Trilogy

“Because it’s not completely ready. We need one more thing, and then it will be time. Then we’ll take down so many more… just like we did Sherry and all those hybrid scum too young to change,” he says without an ounce of heart.

I feel my pupils starting to dilate now, and I’m worried I won’t have time to finish before I have to sedate the beast within. I feel the burning as the savage tries to run free in my veins, and I shake my head to steady my emotions.

“If such a thing existed, there would already be prototypes. Hell, you look the type to charge into such a thing without any regard for safety, but here you are… still human. Your blood runs through your veins and begs to be milked now that you’ve been proven to be part of a more powerful threat. You’ll be sentenced to death row and drained of all your blood to feed the full bloods. You’ll walk among the living long enough to taste death. You’re no more a threat than a fly - a simple buzzing annoyance at best. I don’t need this,” I murmur while tossing the gun I had brought in as a prop onto the table.

It clanks against the steel while the holster still clasps to my leg. His eyes stare at the opening of my dress, and I smirk when I lean over to him.

“It’s hard to be human when everyone else is enjoying a good blood fuck. It makes you curious, excited, and aroused, but you can’t do anything about it because my kind doesn’t usually find any need in tasting your blood. We prefer our own or that of the full bloods because it’s so much more powerful,” I chuckle out, and then I turn my back on him to prove how completely unafraid I am.

Suddenly I hear a snap, and I turn just in time to see the human moving far too fast for a human. The sound of my gun firing rattles in my ears as the uranium bullet shatters against my forehead. His eyes widen at the unexpected reaction, and I kick him into the wall on the far side just as the door to the room swings open.

The man charges me with lightning quick speed, but a hand grips his throat and rips it from its place before the fight can pick back up. I see Hale’s eyes have darkened, and it was his hand that destroyed the man in front of me.

“Fuck,” he hisses.

“What the hell was that?” Brazen interjects with an anxious tone, and he quickly takes my side to inspect my head.

“I don’t know,” I murmur as I stare at the folded body limply tossed on the floor while the blood rushes out to stain the tile.

“I’m damn glad you pulled up your invincibility, but what made you do that?” Clay asks, and I turn to face him to let him see my dark secret has started to stir.

“I suppose it was just a survival instinct,” I murmur softly, and he takes note of my dilated pupils.

“Brazen, could you assemble a team to head out to the stoke houses? There are tons of humans there that hear more outside the walls than anyone else. They might have heard rumors of such a possibility, and we’ll need any lead we can get.”

“That sounds perfect actually. Where we were going tomorrow was going to be a dead end. It was just a desperate maneuver to grasp at something. This has promise though. We’ll leave at daybreak,” he says, and he returns to keep his body next to mine.

His lips graze my forehead where the bullet had shattered, and Hale’s lips tighten at the show of affection even though he’s not willing to show me the same.

“I was hoping tonight instead of tomorrow. The sooner we know, the better,” Clay adds, and then another full blood steps up.

“He’s right. If there’s a possibility of a new species being manufactured, we need to know. We’ve already learned the consequences of such science experiments before when it was too late to do anything about it. I’ll meet you outside in five minutes,” the man asserts, and now Brazen tightens his lips.

“I’ll call you later to find out how you’re feeling,” he coos, and his lips try to touch mine again.

I barely let him before I draw back, and then he pulls my hand up to kiss the back of it instead. He leaves, and I feel Hale’s arms holding me steady as the intoxicating fever consumes me.

“I’ll be back with the meds,” Clay whispers, and he shuts the door behind him to leave Hale and me alone.

“You back with him?” he sighs.

“No,” I strain out as the fire warms up. “He just doesn’t understand that,” I grumble, and then I feel the snap.

It’s too late for medicine now, and Hale’s eyes widen when the split of my dress scratches out its ripping hem for my legs to wrap around him.

“Damn it. Araya, stay with me, please. Clay will be back any minute now, and you’ll feel better.”

I smile at his gorgeous face that brings my blood to a rapid boil, and then I hear the shirt sounding off as I rip the buttons from their placement.

“I feel incredible,” I daringly reply, and then I jerk his face down to mine to wrap my lips against his.

“Fuck, Araya,” he murmurs against the kiss, and then he rips free to pin me down on the steel table.

“Clay will be right back,” he almost barks, and now I’m too fucking pissed to let him out of this room.

I hit the panic button, and the chains shoot out from the walls to rip him off me. He’s bound to the blocks, and I can do anything I fucking want to do without objection.

“Araya, damn it, let me go,” he orders.