Page 36 of Awakened Gifts
“I’m sorry,” I say, mocking him as his other leg starts to tear. His wrists slice open, and I mock him further as he cries and sobs in pain. “I’m sorry.”
Another man fires at me, and I catch the bullet in my hand, crunching it in my fist and turning it to dust as my first toy tries to die. The new man’s breath leaves in a heave when I close my other fist, and he grabs his chest that is trying to explode.
“I’m sorry,” I say again, giggling deliriously as I continue. This feels so damn good. I never want to stop.
“Aria!” a hybrid yells, and I turn to see the oddly familiar face, though I can’t place him. His eyes try to dilate as he makes his way to me, almost seeming intoxicated or in a trance. Does he want to play also?
“Don’t!” a taller, less muscular hybrid yells to him, looking to the suicidal hybrid who lacks the fear he needs.
Only the wise one shudders when he sees me. The other is just an idiot with a death wish.
“Do,” I taunt, giggling as I throw my arm out. The hybrid with lust in his eyes is thrown backwards, and his body crashes to a vehicle as yells erupt. The fear he was remiss to give is now there and clearly dominant. Much better.
“Kellan!” one hybrid girl screams, rushing to his side while throwing up a wall of blood she draws from the ground, acting as though that’s enough to halt my assault.
I watch in mild amusement as she tries to inspect his wounds. She wants to help the hybrid who was interrupting my fun. None of their emotions read as harmful to me. They all read cautious and worried. For some unknown reason, they feel affection toward me.
It all grows boring, and they weren’t the ones trying to kill me. There are others who were; others who want my blood.
I turn back to my toys, but another hybrid stands before me, blocking my path. His eyes mismatched blue eyes are trained on mine with no fear. Foolish full blood hybrid.
“You won’t hurt me, baby,” the hybrid says, taking another step toward me.
The hybrid is bloody, his face is badly beaten, and blood seeps from the wounds on his chest to stain the ragged shirt he’s wearing. It’s almost… distracting. Something primal inside me stirs, and I narrow my eyes on him.
“I’m playing,” I say with an eerie smile, one laced with so much freedom. Free. I feel so free, and I never want it to leave me again.
He turns, pulling out his gun, and puts a bullet into the heads of my toys. I growl and raise my hand to strike him, but it’s as though my freedom has been stolen. No power comes out, and he turns back toward me with that same fearlessness.
“You’ve played with them. Now come play with me,” he says with a seductive edge.
More bullets claim the lives of the few stray toys I had left, and I hiss while turning around to face all the scared hybrids looking at me. The drugged hybrid from before stares into my eyes, trying to get to me as several others hold him back. His fear has once again been replaced by lust. All I want to do is shed their blood, make them stop hindering my fun.
“If you want blood,” the hybrid behind me says, drawing my attention back to him, “then take mine. It’s yours.”
He pulls what’s left of the tattered shirt over his head, and I lick my lips while staring at the lines of his body, the wounded chest now exposed and leaking even more blood than I originally realized. Temptation weakens me, and I snarl while he takes another step toward me.
“I’m yours,” he says, still not regarding me with the fear he should.
I hear his blood pumping through his veins, the thrumming of it almost singing to me. His blood becomes a siren, a calling I almost can’t deny. Hunger races through me, and his veins tempt me that much more.
He continues to reduce the distance between us as my mouth waters, and a wave of desire and need crashes over me. In a blur of motion, his arms wrap around me, and he draws me close, forcing his mouth against mine in a powerful kiss that steals my breath.
His tongue swipes through my lips, and a moan escapes me as I grow even weaker. The male hybrid behind me roars his displeasure, but the hybrid holding me only kisses me harder when I start to punish the other for trying to interrupt.
He tugs my bottom lip between his teeth, and then he trails a set of kisses down my neck. “I can’t bite. Your skin is too unbreakable right now, baby. Let me bite you,” he murmurs against my skin, forcing me to shudder as I dig my hands into his hair.
“Get her inside the compound,” a girl yells. “Kellan is close to losing it and she might just fucking kill him at this moment.”
I growl at their interruption once more, but the hybrid holding me picks me up, and forces my legs around his waist while breaking the kiss. The broken doors of the gate beside us fall open when he bursts a powerful flame from his hand, still holding me with his other. The desire unfurls that much more after witnessing his show of power, and our kiss resume as my hunger grows.
His grip becomes painful as the whispers around us spur. “What the hell is going on?”
“Shhh. Keep your voice down. Just find them a room. We’ll handle the explanations.”
“We just had ten people killed because of a war outside. And you want me to—”
The man speaking starts coughing and gurgling on his blood when I grow annoyed, and a few muttered curses surround us.