Betrayal (Blood Haze: Book Three) A Paranormal Romance (7 page)

Liam grunted groggily and squinted.

“It’s three?” he mumbled.

“Yes, and Galen has not arrived,” Alexi told
him.

“Alright, give me a moment,” Liam said.

Liam rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up. He
looked haggard and exhausted, but he rolled out of bed. I’d never
seen him without his cloak, but he was wearing nothing but a pair
of black boxer shorts. I quickly turned away, but the sight of his
wide chest and well-toned abs stuck in my mind. He almost looked
like a rock star with his wavy brown hair and muscular
physique.

Hillary stirred in Kai’s arms, and I put her
back to sleep quickly. A moment later, Liam brushed past me and
into the hallway. He was fully dressed. His cloak billowed behind
him as he breezed down the hallway to my room, where he’d left his
phone. He appeared back in the hallway with the phone pressed to
his ear.

“Voicemail,” Liam told us, and then he
proceeded to leave a message. “Galen, it’s Liam. Just wondering
where you are. Give me a call.”

“Maybe his plane was delayed,” I offered.

“Perhaps,” Alexi said, clearly skeptical.

“Alice, you need to eat something,” Kai
mentioned.

“Oh, dear,” Alexi groaned. “I’m sorry, Alice.
I have completely forgotten about that. You do need to eat
something.”

“No, it’s fine,” I told him. “I’m not all
that hungry.”

“Nonsense. Let us all go eat something,”
Alexi said.

“Liam, can you go get Max so we can all eat
together?” I asked.

“Sure,” Liam replied. “Be right back.”

A moment later, Max joined us and we all went
to the dining hall. I insisted on bringing a mattress into the
dining hall for Hillary so we could all eat at the same time.
Everyone was getting tired of holding her.

I guess it would have been a nice breakfast,
but everyone was too anxious to eat. It seemed like nowhere on
Earth was safe, and we were all on edge. Galen’s delayed arrival
was weighing heavily on our minds, and we all wanted it to be
over.

“Master Alexi,” a voice spoke behind us just
as we were getting up from the table.

I turned to see a young man wearing the deep
amber robe of an acolyte, an apprentice Elder – the kind I’d never
been asked to wear during my training. I recognized it from seeing
others wear it at Barnabas’ compound.

“Yes, Jamison?”

“The visitor has arrived, sir,” Jamison
said.

“Thank you,” Alexi said.

Jamison bowed deeply, and then backed slowly
out of the room.

“Let’s go,” Liam said, hoisting Hillary from
the mattress.

We followed Liam into the foyer to greet
Galen. Galen appeared to be in his forties, which meant he was
likely quiet old. He had short, brown hair, which was slicked back,
and he wore a long, burgundy leather trench coat.

“Liam, it’s so good to see you,” Galen said
grandly. “I’m so sorry to hear about your grandfather.”

“Thank you, Galen,” Liam responded. “Thank
you for coming to help us with our problem. Galen, this is my
brother Alexi, Alice Wright, Kai Walker, and Maxsim Augustine.”

“Of course. It’s a pleasure to meet all of
you,” Galen responded. “Especially you, Alice. I’ve heard so much
about you.”

My face flushed, wondering what he’d heard,
and from whom he had heard it. Galen started at me silently for a
moment, and then turned his attention toward Hillary, who was
motionless in Liam’s arms. He looked at her with pity, which was
quickly replaced by scorn.

“Let us complete the process immediately,”
Galen suggested. “She’ll need to be somewhere comfortable. The
process is rather… painful.”

“We can take her upstairs to a spare
bedroom,” Alexi suggested.

“Agreed,” Liam said.

We followed Liam to one of the bedrooms, and
he placed Hillary gently on the bed. Galen stepped over and placed
one hand on her forehead, and he took one of her hands in his
other. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Within seconds, Hillary began to tremble –
gently at first, but with quickly increasing intensity. Her teeth
began to chatter, and I saw her hair begin to stand on end as if
she were being electrocuted. Soon, she was overcome by violent
seizures. Her back arched, and her eyes shot open and rolled back
into her head.

I heard the sound of arcing electricity, and
a faint blue lightning began to pass back and forth over her body,
emanating from Galen’s hands and bouncing around her as though it
were scanning her. Her body finally settled into a rigid state,
with her head titled backward and her arms and legs out at straight
as boards.

Galen finally withdrew his hands, and her
entire body relaxed instantly. A deep sigh escaped her lips, and
she fell into a deep sleep.

“It’s done,” Galen said.

“So that’s it? Her power is just gone?” I
asked.

Galen turned to me and nodded.

“That’s it,” he agreed.

“Thank you so much for coming,” Liam said,
taking Galen’s hand and shaking it.

“I understand it was unavoidable,” Galen
returned. “Let us hope you will not find yourselves in need of my
assistance again in the foreseeable future.”

“Indeed,” Liam agreed.

“If you’ll excuse me, I must return home
immediately,” Galen excused himself. “I have pressing matters to
attend to.”

“Certainly,” Liam agreed. “Thank you
again.”

Galen turned to me and nodded.

“Alice,” he said. “It was an honor to meet
you. I do hope we meet again one day.”

“Thank you,” I responded, unsure of what else
to say.

With that, Galen made a hasty exit.

“At least
that’s
over,” Max said.

“Yeah, that’s one less thing to worry about,”
Kai agreed.

“When she wakes up, she will be banished,”
Alexi said. “I do not even want her on the premises.”

“Where will she go?” I asked.

“Who cares?” Max snapped.

“
I
care, Max!” I shouted. “No matter
what she did, she doesn’t deserve to just be thrown aside like
she’s nothing!”

“You’re really defending her after what she
did?” Liam grumbled.

“Look,” I said. “I know what she did was
terrible. It’s unforgiveable. But she’s a tormented individual.
She’s heartbroken, and lovesick, and probably not in her right
mind. Admittedly, I didn’t know her before. But was she the type of
person to do something like this before I came along?”

“I really don’t know, anymore,” Liam
admitted. “I didn’t think so, but maybe she’s not who we thought
she was.”

“Liam, try to be a little more
understanding,” I said gently. “You know how she feels about your
brother. Maybe it made her ‘crazy’, for lack of a better word.
Maybe she didn’t think before she acted. Besides, she’s paid for
what she did, now. She doesn’t deserve more punishment.”

“I think you’re wrong,” Liam argued. “But
since you feel so strongly about it, we’ll give her some money so
she can get a life started somewhere else. Does that make you feel
better?”

“Yes, it does,” I told him, giving him a
thankful hug.

“Okay, okay,” Liam joked, pulling away from
the hug and chuckling. “I get it. You’re welcome.”

“Alright, now to more pressing matters,” I
said. “We have to figure out what to do about Dmitri.”

“I do not think we should be worrying about
him right now,” Alexi interjected. “We are not strong enough. You
need more training, Alice.”

“About that…” I said. “There’s something
important I need to talk to you, Kai, and Max about. Can we go sit
down?”

“Of course,” Alexi said. “Let’s meet in the
library.”

“Aww, I’m not invited?” Liam joked.

“It has nothing to do with you, but you’re
welcome to come, if you want,” I told him.

“I’ll be there,” he said. “I don’t want to
miss anything important.”

I shrugged, and said, “See you in the
library, then.”

A few minutes later, we all gathered in the
library. The room was warm and inviting, and we all gathered around
the fireplace. It would have been a cozy evening, except for the
fact that I had bad news to tell everyone.

“Alright, so I have something very important
to talk to all of you about,” I said. “Well… all of you except
Liam
.”

I shot him a scowl, and then grinned to let
him know I was just joking.

“Look,” I continued. “Life is really
complicated right now. I need to be able to devote all of my time
and attention to training, and I can’t keep dealing with all this
emo relationship stuff right now. So, I’m putting you all on notice
that until further notice, I’m off the relationship market. This
applies to
all
of you.”

“What does that mean?” Kai asked quickly.

“It means I’m effectively ‘single’ for the
moment,” I clarified.

“You’re breaking up with me?” Kai shouted,
jumping to his feet and looking extremely alarmed.

“Kai, calm down,” I assured him, standing up
and putting my hands on his arms. “It’s not like I’m dumping you.
I’m just putting everything on hold for the moment. I need some
time to think. This is all too much for me, especially with
everything that’s going on. It’s time for me to grow up, and I
can’t do that without a clear head.”

“I think it is a marvelous idea,” Alexi
interjected.

“You would,” Kai growled at Alexi with a
scowl.

“She’s right,” Liam said. “You’re all pawing
at her like a pack of wolves all the time. Give the poor girl some
space, for God’s sake.”

“Butt out!” Kai snapped. “This isn’t even any
of your business!”

“Kai, stop it,” I demanded. “This isn’t
helping. I know you’re upset, but don’t take it out on Liam.”

“I just don’t understand why you’re doing
this!” Kai pleaded. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No!” I gasped. “I just need some time to
sort things out. This whole business of loving multiple people…
it’s just wrong. People keep getting hurt.
I
keep getting
hurt! Please try to understand. I just need time.”

“This isn’t fair,” Kai sighed. “I’ve done
everything I could do be there for you, and to give you space when
you needed it. I’ve stood back and watched Max and Alexi fawn all
over you, and I hardly said a word. I’ve even stayed away from you
at Alexi’s command, because he said it was best for you. And now
you’re doing this to me?”

“Kai, please,” I begged. “I’m not doing this
to you
. I’m doing this
for me
. For all of us,
really.”

“For all of us,” Kai parroted. “Right.”

“I’m doing this whether you like it or not,”
I said frankly. “I don’t need your permission, and I’m not asking
for it.”

“Fine!” Kai shouted. “You do what you want!
I’m so done with this!”

Kai flounced out of the room like a little
girl having a temper tantrum, leaving me with my mouth hanging
open. Alexi reached over and pushed my chin upward with his finger,
effectively closing my mouth.

“Unbelievable…” I mumbled, shaking my head in
disbelief.

Alexi sighed.

“You had to know he would react badly to such
news,” Alexi said.

“I should have, I suppose,” I agreed. “I just
thought maybe he’d matured enough to deal with it by now.”

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell
you, too,” Max said suddenly.

I turned to face him. His face was stolid,
but his dark eyes held a glint of sadness.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“I’ve located my father.”

“What?” I gasped. “Where is he? Is he okay?
When did this happen?”

“I located him a few days ago. He’s in a
hunter compound in New York,” Max said. “He’s fine.”

“The hunters aren’t mad at him?” I asked.

“Well, it was Alexi who helped me find him,”
Max admitted. “He sent word out to the hunters that the Council
wouldn’t tolerate anything being done to him.”

“You did that?” I asked Alexi.

He nodded, his face flushing faintly.

“I’m going to start my training with him next
week,” he said.

“Oh. How long will you be gone?” I asked.

“I’m not coming back,” Max said flatly.

“Ever?” I gasped.

“I’m not saying I’ll never see you again,”
Max answered. “But… well, look. I know you’re not in love with me.
You never will be. It kills me. It’s like… well, I can’t explain
it. But I’ve finally realized it’s not meant to be.”

Max stood up and walked over to me. He put
his finger under my chin and lifted my face, staring deep into my
eyes.

“I’ll always love you, Alice,” he said, his
voice breaking.

He bent over and pressed his lips gently to
mine, wrapping his arms around me and holding me close to him.
Then, he brushed my cheek gently.

“I promise I’ll keep in contact with you,”
Max vowed. “And if you ever need me for anything, I’ll be here. No
matter what, I will always be here for you.”

“Oh, Max!” I gushed, tears filling my eyes.
“I’m going to miss you so much!”

“I’ll miss you, too,” he admitted. “You have
no idea how much. But now that my father is okay, he wants me to
return to my training. I think he’s right. It’s the right thing for
me to do.”

I sniffled, and I wrapped my arms around his
waist. I nuzzled his chest, and I listened to his heartbeat as his
chest rose and fell. I was going to miss his warmth so much.

“I understand,” I whispered. “Thank you for
understand me, too.”

He kissed the top of my head.

“I only want you to be happy, and I hope you
find what you’re looking for,” Max told me.

Planting one last kiss on my lips, he left
the room.

“Thank you,” I said.

“For what?” Alexi asked.

I turned to face him.

“For what you did for Max,” I answered.

“He didn’t do it for Max,” Liam
interjected.