Page 44 of Lightning Angel

She stared at him with anticipation, holding her breath.

The storm in his eyes calmed the slightest. Tristan glanced down at his hand that she clasped in both of hers before meeting her pleading, terrified eyes. “I promise.”

“I believe you,” she blurted out, slowly letting his hand slide from hers.

Tristan took another step back, holding her gaze, and in a blink, he was gone. Alexa exhaled deeply and closed her eyes. Her mind spun, but she had something more figured out about him now.

He was fast. He could teleport. He was strong. He could turn invisible.

But, what was he?

As far as she knew, though vampires were strong and fast, they couldn’t teleport or turn invisible. Nor could werewolves. And he was most definitely not a ghost.

Was he Fae?

What other options did she have to pinpoint the possibilities of who he was? Would he tell her if she asked?

Alexa paced back and forth until she heard Brandon shouting. She ran to the edge of the small terrace and glanced down at the front yard. Brandon’s shouts continued, but she couldn’t make out his words. A moment later, she saw him scrambling out of the house and tearing across the lawn, stopping to glance back only once he reached the road.

Alexa ducked from his view and peered over the half wall. Brandon was still there, staring at the house andbreathing heavily. Suddenly, he fell to the ground, holding his nose—as though someone threw a punch at his face. Exactly what she had wanted to do.

Brandon scrambled to his feet and ran down the street. Probably to his car. Alexa scanned the courtyard for any sign of Tristan, wondering if he had gone after Brandon to chase him off her neighborhood.

“Alexa.”

Alexa turned to see Tristan standing behind her, unruffled. She shot to her feet from her crouching position and, without a second thought, flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He smelled like vanilla and coffee beans, comforting and homey.

His arms came around her, hesitantly at first, before tightening and burying his face in her hair. He exhaled.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Alexa.”

Alexa pulled away from the hug to look at him. “But you saved my life, saved me from Brandon twice now. And… and you defended me from Melissa’s bullying.”

Tristan dropped his arms from her. “Yes, I did. But you don’t have to be thankful for something that’s already yours.”

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “You owe me a full explanation.”

“Shall we go back to your room?”

“Yeah,” she said and swallowed. “Should I… should I hold on?”

Tristan nodded silently and stepped close, wrapping an arm around her. In a blink, the scenery of the night changed to blank and then to her room.

Alexa didn’t realize she had a death grip on him untilhe let go of her and she looked at his elbow. She drew her hand immediately and stepped back, taking a deep breath.

“You can teleport,” she said, slowly meeting his eyes. “You can turn invisible. You’re fast, strong…” She trailed off, and watched sorrow swimming in his gaze. “What are you?”

He smiled, a cold, self-mocking one. “What do you think?”

“A vampire?” She held her breath in anticipation.

A sad laugh escaped him, and he planted his hands into the pockets of his jeans, shaking his head. “If I was, I wouldn’t have been able to enter your house unless you invited me in.”

Right.But… Twilight vampires didn’t require it. She shrugged away the thought. “Werewolf?”

This time he simply smiled. “No.”