Page 47 of Twice Bitten

“Alex.”

I closed my eyes and let out a breath. “Almost had it,” I muttered, knowing without a doubt that Alric was behind me.

Leo glanced at me and shook his head. He wiped his mouth to keep the Prime from seeing him speak. “Careful,” he whispered.

I turned to watch as the Prime came down the steps, hispace unhurried. He looked at Leo, seconds before the driver turned and got inside the vehicle, shutting the door behind him.

Alric stopped before me, reaching around to close the passenger door—whether to keep me here or to keep Leo from overhearing, I wasn’t sure.

“I have nothing to say to you.”

A small smile curved one side of his lips. “You’re displeased with me.”

It took a herculean effort not to fire off a scathing retort. “I’d like to leave now.”

“In a moment. I did not finish my proposal.”

“You had no proposal, only a show of power I didn’t appreciate.”

Alric lifted a shoulder in a careless shrug. “You needed to understand how powerful a vampire can be, even to those who believe they are immune.”

“Everyone already knows. There was zero reason to do that, other than to flaunt your own greatness right under my nose.”

“I assure you I am quite secure in my power, Alex. But you are vulnerable not only to me, but to Beckett. I think you are intelligent enough to know which of us is the bigger threat.”

A surprised laugh broke from me. “I think I’d rather take my chances with the crazy one.”

He lifted a pale finger and ran it down my cheek. I jerked away with a hiss, even as I wanted to rub my face against his skin. “Stop it,” I growled, the feel of his insidious magic flowing over my shoulders. Something tugged inside me, a pulse drawn from deep inside my blood that urged me to go to him, to surrender.

Fear pierced my heart. Everything else could wait. I had to figure out a way to break Alric’s hold on me. He was toying with me now because I interested him, but he wouldn’t wait much longer for me to come to him.

I didn’t expect his next words.

“I can purge Beckett’s blood from your body if you allow it.”

Something about this was bothering me. Alric was too calm, too superior. His best chance to grab Beckett was slipping away, and he seemed unbothered.

That sent a skitter of warning down my spine.

I reached up and pulled the flower from my hair, freeing the rest of the upswept curls. Alric blinked as my hair flowed around my shoulders, the curls bouncing as they fell.

“You could do so without my permission.” I suspected Alric could do whatever he wanted and no one would question him. What would it be like to have such unrestrained power?

Alric’s pupils dilated. “You know less about us than you believe. I do need your permission. I am the Prime, but Beckett has a claim on you that usurps mine. While my blood is far more powerful, Beckett’s claim came first. We do not take our people’s humans unless they allow us.”

It sounded like he could, but he wanted to play nice. For now.

“You would do this at no cost?”

Alric’s smile was slow and sexy. “I am not a philanthropist, little witch.”

“And yet you fed a pretty lady dinner this evening and didn’t charge her.”

“Hmm. Perhaps I did, but even that was not without an ulterior motive.”

I lay my hand against my heart. “Color me shocked.”

The flower rested in my hand, a deep black and burgundy peony. Its heady fragrance rose and teased my senses, along with a hint of a little extra something I’d added to the sharpened stem and the piece of silver I’d threaded through the wood to act as a hair pin.