Betrayal (Blood Haze: Book Three) A Paranormal Romance (8 page)

“Stay out of this!” Alexi growled.

“Just tell her why you did it!” Liam snapped.
“Doesn’t she deserve to know?”

“Liam…” Alexi snarled.

“What’s he talking about, Alexi?” I
demanded.

“Nothing,” Alexi mumbled.

“If you don’t tell her, I will,” Liam
said.

“I said stay out of this!” Alexi shouted.

“He did it to get rid of Max!” Liam suddenly
yelled. “Didn’t you, brother? You’ll do whatever it takes to get
rid of the competition!”

“Stop it!” Alexi barked. “Why are you doing
this?”

“Because she deserves to know the truth! You
have her thinking you’re Saint Alexi, but you’re not! And I’m sick
of you playing the martyr all the time!”

“Alexi, what’s going on?” I demanded,
starting to get annoyed.

“Do not let him do this,” Alexi pleaded. “I
do not understand why he is doing this, but you cannot believe
him.”

“I don’t know what to believe, anymore,” I
said. “But this kind of thing is exactly why I’m just backing off
for now. I can’t handle
any
of this!”

I ran from the library and fled to the
sanctuary of my room. I wanted to hide away from everything and
everyone until I could gather my thoughts. I was tired of conflict.
I was tired of hurting the people I loved. I was tired of being in
the middle of everything all the time. I just wanted some
peace.

I felt some alien emotion growing inside me.
I wasn’t sure what it was. It felt strange, yet comforting.
Although my stomach was twisted in knots, and I wanted to burst
into tears, I somehow felt stronger than I had in ages.

I had finally decided to stand up to everyone
and tell them exactly how I felt. I wasn’t ready for a
relationship. I wasn’t ready to make a decision about who I wanted
to be with. To tell the honest truth, I wasn’t even sure if I was
truly in love with anyone. I had deep feelings for Kai, and I
really thought it might be love. I had thought for so long I was in
love with him, but when my feelings for Max started to grow
stronger, I began to doubt whether my feelings for Kai were truly
love, or just infatuation.

Then there was Max. I had feelings for him,
too. Kissing him was incredible, and his touch was warm and
inviting. I loved being around him, and I loved his strong,
protective nature. But something was missing.

And then Alexi had come along and turned
everything upside down. At first, I thought he was crazy. With all
his talk about being in love with me before we ever met, just
because of some visions his father had, I couldn’t imagine how he
could really love me. It all seemed so strange. But the way he
looked at me, and the way he had kissed me… I could feel it. There
was something electrifying in the way he held me – like I was
exactly where I belonged. But was it love?

Whether I was betrothed to him, or not, I
couldn’t marry him if I wasn’t in love with him. I didn’t want to
dishonor the oath our fathers had made, but I knew I couldn’t marry
someone I didn’t love. It wouldn’t be right.

It was all far too much to deal with. I hoped
that perhaps stepping back for some breathing room might help me
figure out a few things. I knew I would eventually have to hurt
someone
, but I couldn’t keep hurting
everyone
. It
wasn’t fair to anyone to keep doing that.

Max had made things a little easier. He was
probably right. Although I cared for him very deeply, I didn’t
think it was love. Kissing him was incredible, but I became
convinced it was just infatuation. He was attractive, and kind, and
I’d just been sucked in by it. Now that he was leaving, things
would at least be a little easier. I would miss him, but at least
he promised to stay in touch.

Kai was going to be a problem. The way he’d
flounced out of the library in a fit really stung. He was always
doing that. Every time he’d get a little upset, he’d storm off in a
huff. Frankly, it was becoming tiring. I had lost count of how many
times he’d run off.

Then again, it was probably my fault. He’d
been through unspeakable torment from his mother, and he’d been
alone all his life. He needed me. I wanted to badly to be there for
him, and to never hurt him again. But I couldn’t let that cloud my
judgment. I needed to make the right decision for
me
, not
what I thought I needed to do based on pity. It would hurt Kai more
in the long run if I chose him solely because I pitied him than it
would if I just ended it now. He deserved to be with someone who
truly loved him, and I wasn’t yet sure if I could do that.

And finally, there was Alexi. Liam had cast
some relatively serious doubt over Alexi’s true nature. It was
driving me crazy to think that perhaps Alexi had been deceiving me
in some way. He was, I thought, one of the most mature and sincere
people I’d ever met.

I flung myself backwards onto my bed and
sighed loudly at the ceiling. This would have been too much to deal
with even if we weren’t battling against Dmitri and his wraiths.
But I needed a clear head if we were going to defeat him, so I had
to shove my relationship difficulties aside for the moment.

I decided to throw myself into training.
Maybe in the process of improving my abilities, I’d become a
stronger person inside, as well. I knew I had some serious growing
up to do. At eighteen, I may have been legally an adult, but inside
I was still very much a little girl.

For the next several weeks, I went through
some intense training sessions. I worked with Liam to train several
of my abilities, and it was actually a lot of fun. When he’d
originally started training me, it had been a nightmare. He would
have to be electrocuted in order to provoke an emotional response
in me. Seeing him in severe pain made me so upset, I would have
done anything to stop it. Thus, I was able to channel my abilities
effectively. Before long, I learned to do it without him being put
through that kind of pain.

Now, training with Liam was a breath of fresh
air. He was actually a lot of fun to be around. With Liam, things
were lighthearted, and fun. I never had to worry about hurting his
feelings, and I wasn’t afraid he’d suddenly try to kiss me or
anything awkward. We could enjoy our time together without worrying
about anything romantic getting in the way.

Liam was actually a riot. We laughed more
than we trained, although that really should have been a problem.
We had some serious issues facing us, but somehow, Liam made me
forget all about Dmitri, and wraiths, and the looming threat of
being kidnapped or killed. He even made me forget, if only
temporarily, about Max leaving and me getting the cold-shoulder
from Kai.

Max had left a few days after he told me
about his father. True to his word, he kept in touch. He called me
every day to ask how my training was going, and to tell me how his
was progressing. Our talks were short, but nice.

Kai had been avoiding me completely. He
hadn’t left the compound, which was a good sign, but he’d
immediately leave the room whenever I entered one he was in. He
wouldn’t even look at me. I decided it was best if I just gave him
some space.

Things with Alexi were awkward, to say the
least. He was trying very hard to give me the space I’d requested,
but I could tell it was killing him inside. Every time he was near
me, he would get quiet, and he’d tense up.

I decided not to press the issue of his
honesty – or dishonesty. I didn’t really
want
to find out
the truth. I was hoping what Liam said wasn’t true. I didn’t want
to think of Alexi manipulating me that way. Still, it lingered in
the back of my mind and I couldn’t shake it. I must admit, it was
hard to ignore what Liam had said, even though I desperately wanted
to forget it.

I was learning to harness my abilities very
well. Under Liam’s tutelage, I learned to heal minor wounds without
experiencing Blood Haze. It wasn’t as useful around vampires,
because we could heal non-mortal wounds on our own, but it was
useful when humans were around. Grace, however, was something I
couldn’t practice. We couldn’t kill people just so I could attempt
it, and every time I used it, I became drained to the point of near
death for days. Unfortunately, I would just have to hope I could
use it whenever it was needed.

I learned better control of the weather,
though I still couldn’t manage to do it indoors. I could bring a
funnel cloud down very quickly, and I could control it fairly
accurately. I’d even managed to make lightning strike at a location
of my choice, but I was never able to repeat it. This, I also
learned to do without Blood Haze.

I even improved my ability to track. Now, I
could find people without an emotional connection of any kind, as
long as they were nearby. All I needed was to touch someone who
knew the person I was tracking, or touch an item they had once
touched. I could find people in a one-mile radius in mere minutes,
but I still had trouble locating people from miles away without an
emotional connection.

I still couldn’t control time, even for a few
seconds. Every time I’d ever done it, I’d been experiencing Blood
Haze. It had been completely incidental – not something I’d
intended to do, but more a side effect of the situation. I wouldn’t
say it was an accident, because I assumed I had control over it at
a subconscious level. However, I still had no way to use it,
because I had no idea how it worked.

I knew I was getting stronger, but I still
wasn’t anywhere near ready to take on Dmitri and his wraiths. The
most I could do would be to hold them off for a while. We needed a
way to put the wraiths out of commission completely.

One morning, Alexi greeted me in the dining
hall while Liam and I were eating and discussing the day’s training
schedule. His mouth was twisted into a grim frown.

“We need to talk,” Alexi said to Liam and
me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, suddenly
concerned.

“Dmitri has made contact.”

I dropped my spoon into my cereal, and it
splashed milk and bits of bran flakes onto my shirt.

“Damn it!” I cursed, grabbing a napkin and
dabbing mindlessly at the mess. “What do you mean he’s made
contact? What did he say?”

“He called,” Alexi answered. “He said we had
forty-eight hours to turn you over or he would level the
compound.”

I felt the contents of my stomach start to
churn, and I inhaled sharply.

“Can he do that?” I asked.

“He knows where we are, now,” Alexi admitted.
“It is entirely possible. No one really knows the extent of
Dmitri’s abilities. Nor do we know who he has working with him,
now.”

“So, basically, we’re completely in the dark.
We’re at his mercy. Is that what you’re saying?” I questioned.

“No, I am not saying that,” Alexi said. “I am
just saying… well, I do not know what I am saying. Just do not
panic.”

“Don’t panic?” I shrieked, standing up so
quickly my chair turned over and I bumped the table, knocking
Liam’s orange juice into his lap.

“Shit,” he mumbled, quickly trying to mop up
the mess with napkins.

“Sorry,” I shot at Liam quickly. “Alexi, I’m
sorry, I’m freaking out. I should just go to him. I can’t let
anything happen to all of you because of me.”

“No!” shouted Alexi and Liam in unison.

“Look, I…” I started to say.

“Forget it!” Alexi yelled. “I will not just
turn you over to him! If he wants you, he will have to go through
me!”

“And me!” Liam added.

“And me,” Kai interjected.

I turned to face the sound of is voice. He’d
been listening in from the doorway. I shook my head.

“I’m not having this discussion with all of
you,” I snapped. “I’m going!”

“I am afraid you are not,” Alexi challenged
me.

“Alexi, don’t make me put you to sleep,” I
threatened. “I will if I have to.”

“Alice, please just listen,” Alexi begged. “I
think I may know of a way we could defeat the wraiths, but I just
need a few hours to figure it all out. Will you give me that?”

“Dmitri said forty-eight hours, right?” I
asked.

“Yes,” Alexi replied.

“You have twelve hours,” I agreed. “Not a
minute more. In twelve hours, I’m going to figure out how to
contact Dmitri, and I’m telling him I’m turning myself over to
him.”

“Thank you,” Alexi breathed, clearly
relieved. “I will let you know as soon as I figure it all out.”

With that, Alexi quickly breezed out of the
room, his black cloak billowing behind him.

“Are you really going to just turn yourself
over to Dmitri if he doesn’t figure something out?” Liam asked.
“You don’t even know what Dmitri has in mind. He might kill
you.”

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take if it
means protecting all of you,” I said flatly.

“But we don’t
want
you to do that,
Alice,” Liam said. “Every one of us would
die
to protect
you! Turning you over is the last thing
any
of us
wants!”

“He’s right, Alice,” Kai said gently. “Look,
I know I’ve been angry lately, but I love you. If anything happened
to you… I would
die
. Like… I’d
literally die
.”

“I can’t just let you all risk your lives
over me. I’m not worth it,” I argued.

“You’re worth anything…
everything
,”
Kai said.

Liam was oddly silent.

“Please don’t ask me to risk your lives,” I
begged. “Please, please don’t.”

“
You
won’t be risking our lives.
We
will,” Kai argued.

“No. Not if I just sit back and allow it. If
anything happens to any of you, it will be my fault,” I said.

“It won’t be your fault,” Kai contended.

“He’s right,” Liam added. “It will be
Dmitri’s fault, and no one else’s.”