Fanged Desire (Leyore Coven #3)

Chapter 23

Hunter

The taste of her blood lingered on my tongue. I leaned against the wall, my breath shallow as I tried to wrap my head around what just happened. Addison hadn’t flinched. She hadn’t screamed. She’d looked me in the eye and offered herself to me, and somehow, despite the gnawing hunger threatening to consume me, I hadn’t hurt her.

For once, I felt in control. And for the first time in what felt like forever, I felt safe.

Not because of where we were – far from it – but because of her. The way she looked at me like I wasn’t a monster. Like I could be trusted, even when I was at my worst. It was a feeling I didn’t know how to name, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

Addison’s voice snapped me out of my spiral. “Are you done staring at the wall? Because we need to focus.”

I blinked, glancing her way. She was hovering at my elbow, arms loosely folded and a suspiciously determined look on her face. Her wrist bore those telltale puncture wounds, and I swallowed hard against the wave of guilt.

“Yep, just about finished.” I pushed off the wall, forcing my thoughts back to the present. “What’s the plan?”

Addison pointed to a small, blinking sensor on the ceiling. “We could trigger the fire suppression system.”

I tilted my head. “We’re locked in. How would that help?”

Addison smiled faintly, the corners of her mouth quirking. “If this place is as fancy as it looks, it’ll have an automated evacuation protocol. That’s our way out.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, staring at the ceiling. “Risky, but it’s not the worst idea you’ve had.”

Addison’s smile widened. “That’s practically a glowing endorsement coming from you.”

I rolled my eyes but felt the faintest smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. “So how do we set it off?”

“Easy. We start a fire.”

I glanced around the sterile room. “Because there’s such an abundance of lighters and fire pits in here.”

Addison ignored my sarcasm, pacing the small space. “There’s got to be something. Electrical equipment, maybe? Something we can short-circuit.”

We simultaneously surveyed the room, both sets of eyes eventually trailing to the small, inconspicuous control panel embedded in the wall under a security camera. Bingo.

Addison moved to my side, already piecing together how to make it happen. “Do you think you could… punch it? Do your vampire thing and wreck shit?”

“Eloquent.” I strode to the wall and squinted up at the panel. “But yeah, I could probably take it out.” I glanced over my shoulder, offering her a half-hearted smirk. “The question is, can you handle what happens when the alarms start blaring?”

Addison straightened her shoulders, shooting me a pointed look. “I handled you, didn’t I?”

I had to laugh, but the sound came out way sharper than I intended. “Fair point.”

I stepped up to the wall and cracked my knuckles, then balled my hand into a fist and slammed it into the panel. Sparks erupted, and the casing crumpled under the force. Wires spilled out in a tangled mess and I yanked a handful free, the ends crackling with electricity.

“Your turn.” I stepped back, gesturing at the sparking mess I’d wrought.

Addison hovered in front of the broken panel, fingers working quickly to sort through the wires. I could hear her muttering under her breath as she worked, little snippets that almost made me smile despite the circumstances. When one of the live wires sparked in her fingers she cursed loudly, shoving the injured digit into her mouth.

“Is that part of the plan?” I asked, crossing my arms and leaning back against the wall.

“Shut up,” Addison shot back, though her focus didn’t waver. “Just give me five seconds and a little faith.”

“You shocked yourself. My faith is waning.”

She rolled her eyes without looking up. “Then fake it for me, Hunter.”

I bit back a grin and watched as Addison finally managed to get a flickering spark of fire going. The small spark quickly grew into a bolder flame, and her eyes lit up with all the crazed triumph of a pyromaniac.

Without hesitation she yanked off her shirt, leaving her in just her bra. I blinked, momentarily stunned, before realizing she was using the shirt to stoke the flames.

“Uh… You could’ve used–”

“What? Your coat?” She glanced back at me, holding the flaming shirt aloft like a torch. At my obvious grimace, she rolled her eyes. “Didn’t think so.”

The room began to fill with smoke, curling up toward the ceiling. Almost immediately, alarms began to blare and the light on the ceiling started up a frantic flashing. I grabbed Addison’s hand, pulling her to the door as a hiss of hydraulic locks released. It slid open a crack, and I shoved it wide.

“Let’s move.”

We darted through the corridors, sticking to the shadows wherever we could, but there was no need. The rest of the building was eerily empty, quiet aside from the distant wail of the alarm. The men I’d battled earlier were nowhere to be seen and every corner we turned was met with nothing but abandoned desks and the occasional hum of machinery.

Addison clutched at my sleeve as we reached another empty room. “Where is everyone? Where’s Penelope?”

I scanned the space, my jaw tight. There were no signs of struggle, no echo of footsteps or evidence of life. Just… nothing. “They must’ve cleared out.”

“Cleared out?” Addison’s voice wavered, frustration bleeding through her words. “You think they moved everyone?”

“It’s possible,” I admitted, though the thought churned uneasily in my stomach. “Maybe they thought it would be easier to leave you behind – I assume they weren’t prepared to deal with putting down a vampire.”

We crept down the hallway, moving with careful, measured steps. Every creak of the floor, every flicker of light overhead was amplified in the oppressive stillness. All the while, my senses stayed on high alert, scanning for the slightest hint of movement, but the place was abandoned.

As we turned a corner, Addison yanked my arm.

“Look!” she whisper-screamed, pointing to a small office space protected behind a glass sliding door. Inside, papers were scattered across a cluttered desk.

“We don’t have time to play detective,” I hissed and tugged at her forearm, but Addison held fast.

“It could be important. We need to know what Cathy wants with people like Penelope – people like me.”

With a resigned sigh I yanked at the sliding door, and when it refused to give put my foot through the glass. The panel shattered under my boot and Addison picked her way through the jagged mess before rifling through the stacked papers on the desk.

“Anything interesting?” I leaned over her shoulder, listening intently for footsteps all the while.

“Notes,” Addison murmured, holding up a page covered in intricate diagrams and familiar handwriting scrawled in red ink. “It’s all about the A-gene.”

My brow furrowed as I read over her shoulder. "Angelic DNA. Scent-detectable, first traces appearing at puberty..."

I flipped through another stack of papers, my eyes catching on a file filled with pictures. Ordinary people, their faces marked with dates and scribbled notes. “These are all targets who have the A-gene. But there’s no mention of what Cathy does after identifying them.”

Addison’s hands shook as she sifted through another folder. “This one… it mentions scent. Something special about a person’s scent. That’s what Cathy said about me.”

I frowned, my mind racing. “So she got a whiff of you and now she suspects you have… angelic DNA?”

Addison nodded, her eyes wide. “I mean, angelic DNA is a crazy term but the rest of it adds up... But why does it matter ? Why is she doing this?”

“We can ponder on that later.” I thrust a stack of files into her arms and dragged Addison back into the hallway. “Right now, we need to get out of here.”

We made it to the street without encountering a soul, though we did encounter a new problem. I had parked my car in an alley nearby and thought myself smart for leaving the keys in the ignition for a quick getaway. Now that alleyway was empty, and I was left kicking myself for thinking plans would ever go as smoothly as they did in my head.

At the sight of the very empty alley and my sheepish grin, Addison rolled her eyes and rifled through her pockets. She handed me a few crumpled notes and a handful of spare change before we hailed a taxi.

Needless to say, the ride was tense.

Addison sat in the backseat next to me – still shirtless – the files we snagged clutched in her hands, and she held them like a makeshift shield. The cab driver glanced at her in the rearview mirror, his eyebrows slowly creeping toward his hairline.

I caught his eye and narrowed my own, scowling intently. The guy immediately looked away and I settled back beside Addison, slinging an arm over her shoulders to further emphasize my silent territorial statement.

Addison stifled a laugh, her cheeks flushed as she mumbled under her breath, “I think he’s more concerned than curious. Do you have to butt heads with every guy who looks my way?”

I shrugged, crossing my legs. “It’s a talent.”

The rest of the ride passed in relative silence, save for the occasional side-eye from the driver, which I quickly quelled with another glare. When we pulled up to a pay phone in a shabby corner of the city I tossed him some change and ushered Addison out of the car.

She hugged herself against the chill of the night air. “Well, that wasn’t humiliating or anything.”

“Could’ve been worse,” I offered as I stepped up to the pay phone and dialed Maxine’s number.

I shrugged off my coat while I waited for the dial tone and handed it to Addison – who shot me a withering glare. “You couldn’t have offered it earlier, huh?”

I held up a finger to shush her, slyly gesturing at the phone pressed to my ear.

Maxine picked up on the second ring, shrill voice screaming through the receiver, “Hunter, where the hell have you been?! The city’s buzzing with rumors about what you did to Esmerelde.”

Oh right. That.

“I don’t have time for a lecture, Maxine.” I stifled the rising panic, keeping my cool despite the harrowing consequences of my reckless actions rushing to deck me in the face. “What’s the damage?”

“Damage?” Maxine scoffed. “The elves are furious. They’re saying someone ripped into her mind with brute force, left her a babbling mess, and they’re convinced it was a vampire – telepathic, strong. You know, someone like you .”

I grimaced, pressing the phone tighter against my ear. “So I’m suspect number one.”

“There aren’t many like you in the city, Hunter. If you’re involved, you’d better start talking – now.”

“I’ll explain everything soon,” I promised, my eyes flicking to Addison. She was watching me with a curious tilt to her head, her arms crossed against the chill. “But first, I have something important to take care of.”

Maxine sighed. “You’d better. Because if the elves decide you’re guilty, they’re going to stir up hell. And Jordan’s not going to be able to protect you.”

“I’ll handle it,” I said, and hung up before she could press further.

Addison raised an eyebrow. “That didn’t sound good.”

“It’s not,” I admitted, stepping away from the phone. “The elves are out for blood – mine, specifically.”

Before she could respond, I dialed another number, this time for Caden. He picked up after an excruciatingly long ring.

“Hunter,” he said, his voice calm but tinged with annoyance. “I was starting to think you’d dropped off the face of the earth.”

“Something like that,” I replied. “Have you heard what’s happening with the elves?”

“I’ve heard plenty,” Caden droned. “If you’re responsible for Esmerelde Flawne, you’d better keep your head down. The elves are already calling for action, and the Leyore aren’t exactly in a position to take on a war right now.”

“Noted,” I muttered. “But listen, I need a favor. You’ve been keeping an eye on Cathy’s place, right? I need you to head there now and let me know what you see. I think something big is going down.”

Caden sighed. “Last I checked there were unlabeled trucks entering the property in droves – Oh, and what looked suspiciously like your car . I tried to call you but you didn’t pick up. I thought you were already in.”

“No. I was otherwise occupied.” I ignored his accusatory tone, pleading through the phone. “I’ll fill you in when I can – just take a look, find out what she’s up to. I’ll call you later.”

After a tense goodbye, I turned back to Addison. “Everybody is a little angry at me right now.”

“Does anyone in your life ever just say, ‘Great job, Hunter’?”

“Not lately.” I sighed. “But listen – Caden has been keeping an eye on Cathy’s mansion. Apparently, a bunch of anonymous vans have been pouring in. Right around the time I landed up stuck in that cell with you.”

Addison’s face tightened with worry. “Do you think they moved Penelope there?”

“It’s possible,” I mused, scratching at the peeling paint on the side of the booth. “But we need to lay low until Caden can get us more intel. We can’t go to your place or mine. Both are too risky.”

Addison’s brow furrowed. “So where do we go?”

“There’s only one place I can think of.” I hesitated, then sighed. “And you’re not going to like it.”