Chapter 4
~Velra~
Lazriel Thaine.
Werewolf-Vampire hybrid.
Fellow member of Crossborn.
And currently stealing my breath in a whole other way to what had just occurred.
He filled the space with his broad-shouldered and unyielding physical presence that demanded attention without the need to utter the words.
He embodied the black tactical gear that clung to him, the fabric molded to every muscle carved into his frame.
His sleeves were pushed up to his elbows revealing forearms with jagged scars.
More trailed up his neck—vicious claw marks, it looked like. One even traced down his cheek.
Streaks of green in his black hair stood out from all the rest, vibrant and defiant.
He wasn’t just attractive, he was a rugged contradiction that heated my blood every time he came near. Raw and collected. Wild and controlled. He looked like he could snap at any moment and unleash all over somebody.
Over me.
A thrill went through me as that thought hit for me.
I blinked. I was just… off.
I’d almost blown up back there in a majorly magically destructive way.
My body and mind alike were fighting to come down from all that insanity.
I accidentally scented him, a refreshing minty scent infusing me.
Holy hell.
He was so close.
All that hardness of his pushed right up against me.
Concern lit his eyes, those steel-gray orbs flickering with clear worry.
“Are you okay?”
“I… yeah. Why did you… I mean—”
“It was a shitshow back there. You couldn’t get out because you were having an episode. So I made it happen.”
“Episode. How do you know?”
“I saw it. I’ve seen it from you before once when we all stepped out for a break during one of our Crossborn meetings. You thought no one was watching, but I was also sneaking out into a quiet spot for a blood bag feed when I caught sight of you.”
“You never said anything.”
“I was going to, but Nyx snagged my arm and stopped me, told me you were at the tail end of it and just needed a few quiet moments at that point.”
Nyx Laryn. I smiled inwardly. Another fellow Crossborn member and my only actual friend—outside of Warlow and Cornelius, of course. He had a wealth of abilities as an Incubus-Sorcerer hybrid, but one powerful ability was reading people’s emotions.
“Right… yeah,” was all I managed.
“Don’t worry about that cunt back there.”
I jolted at his wording. “What?”
“That Dark Fae who said all that shit about you? Shit that wasn’t true and was deeply misinformed and fucking ignorant, by the way.
Her name is Kelsana Torl. She got kicked out of Maven Academy for using Dark Fae magic on fellow students that violated their free will.
Now she’s here. Not for long if she keeps that bull up. ”
“I… wow.”
“Yeah, she’s a real piece of work. That boyfriend of hers, too. Rennick. He’s a sorcerer. One of the arrogant ones who can’t actually back up what he’s laying down.”
A small laugh escaped me, just tumbling out of me.
Lazriel’s eyes shone.
Actually, they flamed.
It was his wolf side.
Was he… turned on? By a laugh?
No. I had to be misreading it.
“This alcove is at the rear of the building out of the way, so no one can see us.”
I tensed, especially with that comment being combined with what I’d just seen and possibly only misinterpreted. “Why… why would we need that?”
“So you can gather yourself,” he answered, matter of fact.
Oh. Oh my God. Get a grip, girl.
“Yeah. Right. Good idea.” I looked up at him. “Thank you. I didn’t expect that.”
“Me saving you?”
“Anyone saving me actually. But, yeah, especially not you.”
“After I stormed off in a tantrum when you turned me down at the Compound that day?”
I winced.
The awkwardness was real.
“I shouldn’t have reacted that way. I don’t do well with… dismissal. Not you turning me down, but the way you discounted my feelings as being real, and put it down to my vampire side instead. What I was, not who I am.”
“It came out wrong. I’m not the best with… with people.”
“You seem just fine. That was just a situation that you weren’t ready for. And I get that now. We’re cool, all right? I mean, if you are on your end?”
“Yeah. I’m good. Plus, you spiriting me away just now really helped to smooth all that over too.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “Good to know.”
He shifted his weight, seeming uncomfortable.
His hands were still glued to my arms, basically pinning me against the wall.
“Can you back up a little? I’m not going to keel over or anything.”
“I can’t.”
“What?”
He gestured with his eyes to where we were connected skin-to-skin.
A choked gasp escaped me.
“I first had hold of you around the waist, but I shifted to your arms for more stability so I didn’t hurt you, and you kind of… chilled me.” He winked. “Not talking about the same kind of chill as when you blew me off before.”
His joke was clearly intended to lighten the situation.
Lighten just how bad this was.
But I couldn’t see past it.
His hands were literally covered in frost and frozen to where he was holding my arms.
“God, why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t want to stress you out when you were coming down from an episode.”
“Doesn’t it hurt like a bitch?”
He grinned. “Not like a bitch. Just a little uncomfortable.”
He must’ve noticed my distress, because he added, “It’s not a big deal. I’m wolf and vampire, my temperature is already all over the place. Sometimes I’m burning hot, other times I’m freezing cold. This frost of yours is more normal to me than you might think.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “You’re being too forgiving.”
“Doesn’t the world need more of that? Especially yours, love?”
Our gazes clashed.
I swallowed hard at the undeniable intensity.
“Yes,” I managed. “Yes, it does.”
He smiled. “Well, then.”
“Stay still.”
“Not much of a choice there.”
“I meant your head, legs, and whatever else.”
He smirked. “Whatever else? And what might that refer to?”
“Ah, there’s the Lazriel I remember.”
“It’s all me. You just don’t like the bluster and flirtatious side. That’s why I’ve been toning it down. You know, on account of you needing to be given a break right now?”
“Ah, so it’s forthcoming?”
He flinched. “Did you just make a joke? An almost flirty kind of joke at that?”
I looked away. “No idea what you’re talking about. Sounds like a misread to me.”
He chuckled—a full, rough-edged sound that curled right down my spine and did something to me.
“Shut up,” I said, unable to suppress a little laugh as well. “Let me do this… fix this frost situation.”
I steadied myself, then slid my hands up and pressed my palms over his forearms while he remained locked to me, his hands wrapped around my upper arms.
“This is going to feel strange and disconcerting.”
“I’ve been meaning to experiment more. Sounds perfect.”
My God, he was another level.
I pulled on my power, feeling my connection to the frost surging through me.
It registered my command, much like when I pulled back my Dark Fae power after using it.
And then I began the draw to pull it back, my magic traveling down his forearms and toward his hands and the place where they were currently glued to my upper arms.
Several moments passed and I saw Lazriel looking on seemingly enchanted.
The frost began to crack at the site, around his hands, delicate fractures spidering outward.
I pushed harder and felt it start to give, slivers loosening and dissolving into the air as warmth slowly returned to his skin, other parts melting away.
A groan escaped him and I looked up at him again to see his eyes rolling back in his head.
“Ah… shit… cocksucker… that’s… ungh.”
His left hand came free and he slammed it down on the wall beside my head then leaned in over me, groaning and struggling to handle the sensations.
“Like liquid heat… and not just at the site… shit, woman.”
A tremble went through me and it most definitely wasn’t the unwelcome kind.
I somehow managed to continue, working on his right hand, even as he shuddered against me and shifted his weight. A gasp escaped me as I felt his hard cock pressing against my lower stomach.
When his right hand came free, he suddenly lashed out with it in an unchecked, primal way and grasped my thigh in a harsh grip, yanking on it and curling it around his hip.
It was hot as fuck. So raw and intense.
I’d never felt anything like it.
I’d never imagined wanting anything like it.
I didn’t pull away. I didn’t do anything to stop it.
It was the opposite, and I softened against the wall as he ground against me.
With the shift in position, him holding my thigh, essentially holding me open, it was right on point, his cock rubbing right against my core and sending sparks of sharp pleasure through me.
“Lazriel,” I panted.
He stilled.
And then he released my thigh and blew back with a startling burst of vampire speed, smashing into the other side of the alcove, which was barely six feet away, so it had him jarring painfully, a curse escaping him.
His eyes were flaming gold with the sign of being right on the verge of shifting.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?”
“You just had an episode and I’m… I did that.”
“If I hadn’t wanted it, I would have stopped it. I certainly wouldn’t have responded favorably.”
He started shaking his head vehemently. “Not like this. It’s not right… not right for us. No. Not like this.”
“Lazriel,” I said, moving to step up to him.
He held up his hand, keeping me back.
“My control is hanging on by a thread.”
“It’s okay, I—”
“You don’t understand. I’m seconds away from unleashing on you. Hard, rough, and fucking brutal. Way more than a bit of dry humping against the wall. Can you handle that?”
A coldness settled over me. Bleakness. That barrier that kept getting in the way whenever I even thought too long about something sexual. That fear attached to it, to being vulnerable and open in that manner.
“I don’t know.”
Those three words hung between us.
All too heavily.
And then he pushed off the wall. “All right.” He stepped out of the alcove.
It was happening again.