As I explained last night to my ex, I was secretly hoping that he would have an explanation for me but already knew he wouldn’t. These guys weren’t of this world, and they wanted something from me, though I had no clue what it could be.
“Well, we all know your little super strength trick is kinda funky. Maybe they just saw you fight and wanted to ask how you can beat a girl to the ground without even batting an eye.” He laughed off my worry like it was no big deal.
“No, you don’t get it, Joe. It was more—”
“What can I get you, Vixen?” a voice interrupted.
Fuck me, that tone.
I turned to see a very angry Seafoam behind the bar. He looked as devastating as he had the night before, dripping with male confidence and brutality. His midnight black hair was a disheveled mess, the color nearly matching my own. Just a hint of blue when the light was right.
A tic in his jaw pulsed with barely contained rage, but he wasn’t looking at me—he was looking at Joey. He was glaring daggers at my ex-boyfriend, and I had to hold in my shocked laugh.
If looks could kill, Joey would be dead.
It wasn’t necessary though. “Hey, fucktard.” I snapped my fingers in his face, gaining his attention. “I believe you asked me a question.”
His hand came up between us to grab my wrist. As soon as his skin touched mine, he closed his eyes. My soul fucking sang, my breath catching in my throat as I stared at where he touched me. His anger seemed to fall off his face like water from a showerhead. His emotions rained down on me, giving me a taste of their intensity. My wrist was on fucking fire and yet, I couldn’t pull my hand away.
We both just stared at where our skin touched. It lasted all of three seconds before he threw my hand down with his brute strength—if I were a weaker girl, my ass would have been on the ground.
“Did you just call me Vixen?” I glared at him, my breathing oddly labored for doing no physical work. He glared right back. “What the fuck is up with you assholes calling me these goddamn nicknames? My name is Annalise. How about you just stick to calling me that.”
His lip upturned a fraction, hinting at a smile. His sharp features caught me off guard again, threatening to give him all the power. His face was so hard, so closed off, but he was beautiful...as if he’d been born on a bloody battlefield but was raised by dark royalty. “What do you want to drink, Vix?”
“For fuck’s sake.” I smashed my fist against the marble countertop, and some guy barked out a frustrated sound as his beer bottle toppled off the bar from the weight of my fist.
“Jesus, Anna,” Joey cursed, giving me a “what the fuck is wrong with you?” face before looking back to Seafoam. “She’ll have a vodka on the rocks. Slice of lemon. A thick one.”
Seafoam’s jaw clenched as Joey answered for me, but neither of us said anything as we glared at each other.
He pulled his bottom lip in his mouth and bit down until the skin beneath his teeth turned white. My focus was drawn to the spot he bit down on, a heavy concentration settling over me as I craved, salivated, fucking begged for him to break skin.
I wanted to see those pearly whites painted red.
What. The. Fuck?
“Annalise,” I heard another voice call from beside Seafoam. I growled a low sound as my gaze flew toward the intrusive voice—Blue Eyes. His stare was like a cold glass of water on a hundred-degree day.
I settled immediately with one look from him, a calmness floating in the air between us before it fell like a blanket over my shoulders.
I could feel the residual anger underneath the warm sense of calm, but I couldn’t access it.
What the fuck was happening to me?
Who are these guys?
I looked at Blue, taking in his honey blond hair, his deliciously tanned skin. He was a beautifully muscled version of the boy next door. Only with tattoos. He was stunning, but I wasn’t sure about anything else. I brought my eyes back to his, searching beneath the calm he was exuding and seeing past his walls.
I got lost.
I tumbled down into the depths of him until I saw straight into his soul and sucked in a breath. Turns out, beneath the impressive outside, he was magnificent on the inside. He was a calm I’d never experienced before. His soul wasn’t anywhere close to pure. In fact, it was dark and haunted, but I could see a white speck floating in its murky depths. My own soul clung to it—I wanted to take his essence with me and take care of it. Protect the piece of goodness he kept hidden like a dirty secret.
Or a precious one.
It was only when I heard him suck in a sharp breath that I pulled back to reality and saw his eyes wide and glimmering. That’s when I knew he was seeing my soul.
He noticed that mine matched his.
One speck of white.
But unlike his, mine was surrounded in flames. Flames that burned blue, the hottest setting. So hot that they threatened to char anyone who tried to come close. The flame was protecting what little innocence I had left.
I felt him try and reach forward to push past my walls, but I pushed back. I gave a hard shove, throwing him away from me and sending him crashing back to Hellhound.
He was pissed, even hurt.
I didn’t care.
The past four minutes were the most confusing of my life. These guys didn’t come without risk; they looked fucking delicious, but their attitudes screamed Trouble with a capital T.
“Dirty martini, extra dry, extra cold, two olives,” I said to Seafoam who was back to glaring daggers, but this time, he was looking at his friend.
I studied them, turning briefly to seek out Quint. He was standing by the front, talking to one of the bouncers, his impressive arms crossed over his chest as his eyes locked on mine.
I turned around, shaking off the weight of his stare.
Quint was sexy as sin, with a cocky exterior, but when he looked at me, it was with a staggering need—like he couldn’t believe I was real.
Seafoam burned hot with flames like mine, but he wanted a fight, wanted to push me to my limits and see what I’d do when he tried to break me.
And the last one, Blue Eyes, saw the little piece of purity I kept hidden. He saw me guard the broken, abandoned, little girl that I protected from the evils of this world. Much to my shock, he had one too—a hidden lost boy within himself.
And it seemed that Bestia—who was whimpering and pacing restlessly within me—wanted to know more.
She turned back to her ex-boyfriend as if she didn’t just rock our world, flipping it on its axis. We set this up, we got her here, but she brought the challenge with her. The same energy, the same vicious vibe she had the other night. She burned so bright I had to fight the urge to cover my eyes, but even if I tried, it wouldn’t matter, her flames would follow me into the dark. She was a force.
Because of that, I was about four seconds from reaching across this bartop, ripping my claws into her ex-boyfriend’s throat and tearing the flesh from his body.
No remorse.
He clearly still loved her. It was obvious to anyone with two eyes. But much to my fucking delight, she didn’t return the feelings. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the little creature was completely heartless.
Stone-cold.
Emotionless.
But I knew that wasn’t true. I could see right through the bullshit she fed everyone who tried to get close to her. She was just angry as hell and in a whole world of pain. I knew something about that.