18-BLOODSUCKING BITCH

I didn’t slow down.

The engine screamed beneath me as I drove the bike straight at her, the road narrowing into nothing but Bianca standing there, perfectly still, daring me.

At the last split second, she moved.

A clean, fluid shift that let the bike tear past her.

I dragged the bike sideways, tires screaming against the asphalt, forcing it into a hard turn that nearly threw me off before I slammed it back under control and spun it around to face her again.

The engine idled low and angry between us.

Bianca laughed like this was a sport.

She didn’t even try to hide it as she began walking toward me, slow and deliberate, as if she owned the road, as if she had been waiting for this exact moment.

“You really are a mongrel little dog,” she said as she looked me up and down. “I knew you’d come running.”

I swung off the bike.

“I’m going to give you one chance,” I said, stepping toward her. “Explain why you thought it was a good idea to break into my friend’s house and threaten her.”

Her eyes sharpened, something cold and vicious settling into them.

“What gives you the right to question me?” she asked, her voice dropping into something dangerous. “You’re nothing more than a stray mutt, beneath me.”

“What gives you the right,” I shot back, closing the distance between us, “to go after innocent humans because you can’t control your own mental issues?”

Her lip curled viciously, breaking her poise.

“Innocent humans?” she repeated softly. “Is that what you think they are, or is that just what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night?”

“You’re jealous,” I said flatly, cutting through it. “Kaelyn came after me, not the other way around, and you can’t stand it.”

The words hit her hard. I saw it in the way her jaw tightened.

“It wouldn’t have happened,” she said, her voice turning sharp, “if you hadn’t inserted yourself where you didn’t belong.”

“What was that lame story about the inquisitors?” I demanded, stepping closer. “You think I wouldn’t see through that?”

She smiled again, but it looked wrong on her.

“Kaelyn believes what I tell him,” she said quietly, leaning in just enough that her voice dropped between us. “Do you know why?”

I didn’t give her the satisfaction of an answer.

“Because he loves me, I’m his mate,” she finished. “And you?” she added, looking me over with open disdain. “You’re a new distraction. An interesting one,  but nothing more.”

My wolf snapped at the disrespect, a low growl coming from within.

“You’re wrong,” I said, my voice rough now, my wolf pushing hard beneath my skin. “You’ve been wrong since the moment you came after me.”

Her fangs slid down slowly, deliberately.

“Wild Rose,” she said, the name dripping with mockery. “You might impress the lowlifes in your little underground fights, but you have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

“Try me,” I growled.

We moved at the same time.

She came in faster than I could track, her hand lashing out for my throat as I twisted aside and drove my shoulder into her chest, forcing her back a step before she recovered and slammed her elbow into my ribs hard enough to make something crack.

I caught her wrist, twisted, and slammed her into the ground. She rolled with it, her legs snapping up to hook mine and drag me down with her before flipping us both and pinning me long enough to drive her fist into my face.

Pain burst bright and sharp as she leaned over and whispered.

“Your friend needs to keep an eye on all those children. I would hate for one to go missing.”

My vision flickered as my wolf came to the fore. Rage flooded my senses, my body moved, instinct taking over as I drove my knee into her side and forced her off me, rolling to my feet just as she came at me again.

This time, I met her head-on.

My energy flared without permission, a sharp pulse running through my hands as I caught her and slammed her backward, the force sending her skidding across the road before she hit the ground and came up with a snarl that was no longer even trying to pretend she was anything close to human.

“You think that makes you special? I’ve killed better than you,” she spat, launching herself at me again.

“I don’t think,” I shot back, catching her mid-strike and driving her down hard enough to crack the asphalt beneath us, “I know it does.”

She laughed even as I pinned her.

“Do you think he won’t warm my bed again? He always comes back.”

Then her hand shot up into my hair, yanking hard enough to rip strands free as she twisted and sank her fangs into my shoulder.

For a moment, I was paralyzed; something between pain and pleasure forced me into stillness.

“NO you bloodsucking bitch.” I cried as my energy shifted, forcing her teeth out.

I drove my fist into her face in response, feeling bone give before she twisted again and kicked me off, both of us scrambling to our feet, breathing hard, circling.

“You’re sloppy,” she said, wiping blood from her mouth with the back of her hand, her smile wide and vicious. “I know why Kaelyn wants you so much, your blood, it tastes like a fine wine.”

“You’re desperate,” I shot back, shifting my weight as my wolf pushed harder, closer to the surface. “All that power and still so desperate.”

Her eyes burned.

This time, it turned brutal as we tore into each other, slamming into the ground, into the road, into anything that would break beneath us, my energy flaring in sharp bursts that sent her stumbling back more than once, her speed and precision cutting through my defenses just as often.

I caught her hair and yanked hard enough to rip a handful free, sending her staggering back with a snarl that turned into something feral.

“Say that again,” she hissed.

“Which part?” I asked, breathing hard, blood running warm down my arm. “The part where you’re losing?”

Her eyes went black.

She came at me with everything she had.

And I met her with energy.

I drove her back.

Step by step, hit by hit.

Until she faltered, just enough for me to end it.

Headlights cut across us as a car roared up beside us, coming to a stop.

She froze in that moment.

I didn’t; I continued to hurt her.

I didn’t stop until the door slammed, and that presence hit the air like a storm breaking.

“What the fuck,” Kaelyn said, his voice low and dangerous, “is going on here?”

Bianca moved first.

She stepped back, letting her posture shift, her expression changing in an instant from vicious to wounded, her hand lifting to her face as if she had been the one on the receiving end of everything.

“I tracked the inquisitors here,” she said, her voice tight, controlled, perfectly pitched. “She saw me and attacked without warning. I tried to reason with her, but she…”

“That’s a lie,” I cut in, stepping forward.

Kaelyn didn’t even look at me.

“Get in the car,” he said to Bianca.

She didn’t move.

“Kaelyn…”

“Get. In. The. Car.”

The command cracked through the air, sharp enough that even she hesitated before turning and doing as she was told, though the look she shot me over her shoulder promised this wasn’t finished.

I took a quiet, vicious satisfaction in the fact that her hair was a mess, strands torn free and hanging unevenly, her perfect composure frazzled just enough to show.

Kaelyn turned to me then, whatever was in his eyes made my pulse spike, with nothing to do with the fight.

“You attacked her, a key member of the Blackhand Mafia,” he said. “There are consequences for that.”

“You’re unbelievable,” I shot back, stepping toward him, refusing to give an inch. “She broke into my friend’s house, she tried to set me up, and you’re standing here taking her side?”

“She is my right hand,” he said.

“I don’t care who she is; she’s a psycho bitch.” I snapped.

We closed the distance between us without thinking.

Chest to chest.

Breath to breath.

His presence hit me like heat, like something I should have stepped away from but couldn’t.

His eyes went black in warning.

I didn’t back down.

“You can only be stupid enough to be a stubborn alpha,” he said.

“I know exactly what I am,”  I replied, my voice steady, “I’m a woman who won’t put up with any man's crap.”

He moved as if to attack me, then slowed.

I braced myself, ready to throw up a shield.

He stood as a menacing force before me.

“You have caused me nothing but trouble since I met you.”

“I know the feeling.” I practically shouted at him.

Tension snaked through the air as we both stood there, sizing each other up.

He looked like he was deciding whether to kill me or not.

My wolf would not let me back down.

We stood there in silence, danger rolled off him in waves.

Our eyes locked together, and I lifted my chin in defiance.

Let him take me, I would give him a fight.

He moved so quickly that I couldn’t predict his attack, but he didn’t. Instead, his hand was in my hair, pulling me forward as his mouth crashed into mine, the kiss rough, demanding, nothing gentle about it.

I responded with equal fire.

I hated that I did.

But I did.

The hunger between us was undeniable, as if we needed each other as much as the very air we breathed.

My body wanted to fight him as much as it wanted to fuck him.  With my self-control on the edge, I tore myself back, stepping away hard enough to break the contact completely.

We both stood there, breathing harder now for a completely different reason.

“We can’t keep doing this,” I said, my voice unsteady. “You ask me to trust you, but you don’t trust me, and your right hand is hellbent on destroying everything around me while you stand there and pretend you don’t see it.”

The anger drained.

“I can’t do this,” I said quietly.

I turned away and moved toward my bike.

“Do we have to keep doing this?” he asked, following behind me.

“No,” I said, the word tamer than anything I had said all night. “I don’t think we do.”

“Don’t you dare walk away from me now,” he threatened.

The car door opened behind us.

Bianca stepped out, her eyes still shone with malevolence that apparently only I could see.

“The inquisitors are still within our borders,” she said, her tone all business now. “Kaelyn, we need to move.”

Kaelyn turned slightly.

Bianca wore a sullen look now.

“If I see her anywhere near my friends again,” I said, my voice cold now, empty of everything except certainty, “I won’t stop next time.”

I didn’t wait for an answer.

I got on my bike.

I turned back one last time.

Kaelyn looked like he was fit to murder someone.

“She told me she was your mate. You don’t get to have us both.”

I let the bike drown out any reply and roared off, not looking back.

My wolf rose up inside, lending me her strength, but inside I prayed that I hadn’t just made a fatal mistake.

Those who went against the Blackhand Mafia tended to wind up very…dead.