Lexia (The Deadwood Hunter Series) (12 page)

He walked up to her entranced with her beauty; she didn’t hear his approach as she stared into the night sky. He ran his fingers over her face making her gasp and step back. “Who made you cry?” She looked confused for a second then turned away walking around the clearing.

“No one.”

“Someone did. When you came to the door, you’d been crying.”

“It doesn’t matter, Lincoln.”

“I don’t like it when you’re sad.” He was startled by his comment but it had just slipped out and it was true. The moment he’d seen her face, he wanted to push past her dad and take her into his arms.

She turned back to him with a smile. “I’m not sad anymore; I love the forest and being here now when it’s so peaceful... It makes me feel free... alive.”

Lincoln stared at her stunned; how had she just described exactly how he felt? He followed her movements as she sat on a rock leaning back on her elbows. She tipped her head back and gazed at the stars, the moonlight lit her face and her hair cascaded onto the rock. His breath caught in his throat and he had an overwhelming urge to take her now; she was magnificent, unlike anyone he’d ever met. He strode silently toward her looking over her body, she had her leg bent up exposing her smooth, toned thigh and her top had pulled up as she’d stretched out, her breasts straining against her low neckline. Lincoln ran his finger across her skin trailing from her collarbone and over the top of her breasts; he bit back a moan as she gasped, looking at him with desire.

He waited to see what she’d do next but she just stared at him with fire burning in her eyes, so Lincoln placed his hand on her exposed skin running it up and around the back of her neck. He pulled her upright, pressing his body against hers. She sucked in a breath, eyes widening and her breaths coming out in shallow pants. He slowly lowered his head not taking his eyes from hers and softly brushed his lips across hers. Fire burned through him and she moaned softly opening her month for him. He pressed his lips to hers again and began to deepen the kiss when a howl cut through his senses and he shot upright, the panther coming to the surface.

Lexia stumbled backwards as Lincoln abruptly let go of her, she felt dizzy from his kiss and shocked that he’d just stopped. He paced the clearing and froze the second he heard another howl.

“We need to go now,” he said, striding to her. He took her hand and dragged her into the trees.

“Lincoln? It’s just a wolf.”

“Wolves can be nasty and they never travel alone.”

She heard the howl again and this time she felt afraid, she’d killed a wolf and he’d been alone. She hoped it wasn’t the wolf’s mate.

“Okay, will you walk me to my door?” He paused for a second looking into her now frightened eyes; how did she do this to him? She was supposed to be a killer and now she was afraid, looking to him for protection.

“Of course,” and he ran his knuckle over her cheek.

When they reached her house, she stood below her window and turned to him. Lincoln looked down at her and realized she was waiting for a goodnight kiss, her eyes still held fire in them. Lincoln wondered what he’d done, kissing her and taking her into the clearing all pointed to the start of a relationship. He’d made a terrible mistake, but his eyes moved to her lips without his control; he needed to kiss her, he needed to feel the rush from her touch.
Just once more,
he told himself.

Lexia stood breathless from the kiss. Lincoln smiled at her and she turned and started to climb. When she jumped quietly into her room she turned and whispered, “Goodbye, Lincoln.”

He smiled at her and for a second she thought she’d seen sadness fill his eyes but then he was gone and Lexia stood looking out into the dark night wondering why she felt filled with dread all of a sudden. She felt overwhelmed; she wanted to climb back out the window and chase him down, never let him go again. She shook her head and got ready for bed.
Of course I’m going to see him again.

Chapter 13

Lexia spent Saturday morning in bed. The past few weeks had finally caught up to her and her father was away for the weekend so when the light shone through the crack in her curtains, she rolled over and stuck a pillow over her head.

A while later some part of her brain registered the sound of vibrating but she never fully woke, until loud knocking sounded at the door, rolling over Lexia pulled her covers over her head and tried to ignore it.

“Lex get your backside down here!” Alice yelled.

Moaning Lexia walked over to her window and called out, “Keys under the pot.”

She was back in bed, her head under the pillow when Alice flopped onto her bed.

“Get up will you! We have a party to shop for.”

“Alice I’m really not in the mood for a party.”

“Lexia,” she moaned.

“Aww Alice don’t make me feel bad, I’m not in the mood for people.”

“But Lex I can’t go alone! Come on you’re supposed to be my best friend!”

Lexia pulled the pillow off her head and glared at Alice, “I am your best friend and I still don’t want to go!”

“Fine! But you’re still coming shopping!” Alice hit her with the pillow. “I’ll be in the car you have five minutes!”

**********

Hours later Lexia walked the street of Deadwood, bags in her hands, which mostly contained the many clothes Alice had bought.

“Can we go to your house now please?” Lexia Begged Alice.

“Okay! Are you sure you don’t want to buy a dress for tonight?”

“I’ve told you I’m not coming!”

“Fine” she huffed.

They started to walk in the direction of Alice’s house but then Alice stopped, looking into a shop window.

“Alice, no! You said we could leave”

“Oh come on Lex! Look at that dress,” the door chimed as she walked into the store.

“I’m going to kill you!” Lexia huffed following her.

She sank into a chair and waited as Alice chatted to the shop assistant and they wandered off towards the changing room together.

Lexia’s eyes narrowed, her mouth a hard line.
Why am I always running around after her!

Alice emerged out of the changing room, the multicoloured dress clinging to her skinny frame. She laughed and joked with the assistant and each time Alice smiled in delight, Lexia’s fists squeezed tighter. Were they really going to keep talking like she wasn’t there?

Lexia almost laughed at herself; why did she feel so mad? This is how it had always been between them.

“Oh sweetie, that looks lovely on you!” The shop assistant almost sang.

Lexia stood abruptly and the chair fell to the floor making the two of them jump. Alice turned around and looked at her like she was being hysterical and the wave peaked; all that anger that had been building finally crashed.

She stood there trembling. It boiled in her blood and then a small part of her asked, what are you doing?

She felt so mad, out of control even, and her friend looked at her in confusion and then her eyes met the shop assistant; the bright, sparkly girl had fear in her eyes.

That’s when Lexia realized she’d lost control, she needed to leave before another wave hit.

“Lex, wait!” Alice called at Lexia as she ran from the store.

Lexia never heard her. She crashed through the door and straight into a group of people, two of whom tumbled to the floor and Lexia just carried on, barging past them. She needed to get away; she could feel it now, the power in her blood taking over, controlling her rational thinking.
What’s wrong with me?

She barrelled through another set of people and then into a man as he walked alone but instead of him staggering out of the way, he felt like a brick wall and Lexia stumbled. She bent over, gasping, as a cloud of darkness swept over her. She looked up but the man had gone.

An echo of a memory tumbled through her mind. Lexia was back in the club with Lincoln, they were dancing and his every touch made Lexia lose a bit of herself. She was lost in the feel of him, his hands on her body, the heat that seemed to seep into her bones but someone knocked into her...the spell was broken and the feeling she’d felt then still lingered in the air now; it was exactly the same.

She’d brushed it off before putting it down to being drunk, only her instinct hadn’t been wrong because that man was here now; she’d felt him, could still feel his energy, his darkness.

Lexia straightened up and looked around her for a sign of the man. She felt strangely calm and this time as the power within her was awakened, she didn’t feel out of control like at any moment it would all be too much to contain, but strong and powerful. She saw everything in a new light, felt everything differently; it was like both her sides were in harmony, working together instead of against each other.

Lexia ran past Alice barely registering her look of bewilderment, she’d just become another face in the crowd. She had only one goal and that was to hunt down and kill that man.

At the end of the street, Lexia stopped. She was sure he was around here somewhere; it was like she could almost feel the energy he gave off. She spun in a circle, her eyes taking in every corner, doorway, and window but he wasn’t there.

“Lexia,” someone shouted.

“Where are you? I know you’re here somewhere,” she mumbled, turning slowly again... Something moved in the corner of her eye...
There!

His hand curled around the edge of a building, each calloused finger gripping into the wood, and slowly he peered out. Lexia started to take a step, her whole body humming with adrenaline ready to run after him when their eyes locked.

Lexia froze as she took in his appearance. Everything about him was ordinary from his messy brown hair to his sun-kissed skin except his eyes. They shocked her, made her question what she was doing, what she was seeing, because they weren’t ordinary eyes. They were gold, and not the golden-brown like Lincoln’s eyes, but bright, pure gold; it bled out almost covering all the white of his eyes and they held no emotion, there was no depth to them. They weren’t human eyes and they were just like her eyes when she changed.

He smiled at her; it was cruel and twisted and turned his ordinary face into a monster’s face. Her hands clenched into fists but then an arm linked through hers. Lexia snapped back to herself and suddenly felt drained. She looked back to the building but the man was gone, and then looked into her friends’ eyes filled with concern.

“Babe, you ok?” Alice asked.

She didn’t answer her because she had no idea.
What just happened? What’s happening to me?

“Hey Lex, did you see someone?” Alice asked pulling her arm.

Lexia forced her eyes to move from the building to Alice’s face. Her instinct to hide what was happening to her kicked in and the lies rolled easily off her tongue.

“Yeah, I thought I saw Lincoln.”

“I thought you were leaving him alone?”

“I am, come on”

Lexia gripped Alice’s arm and walked away, she couldn’t deal with this anymore.

Chapter 14

Lexia sat watching Alice try on a hundred different outfits; she’d stopped paying attention about half an hour ago, all the clothes seemed to blur together. The gold-eyed man and Lincoln floated around her head, taunting her.

“Lexia!” Alice all but screamed at her.

“What?” she sighed.

Alice flopped down on the bed and took Lexia’s hand. “What’s up, babe?”

“Okay, but no shouting at me!” Alice glared. “Lincoln went away this week and I thought he’d be back Friday morning, that’s why I dressed up, I thought he’d meet me after school.”

“I knew you were meeting him!” she almost growled.

“Listen! He never showed... He was late getting home and he came straight to my house at nine and my dad answered the door.”

“Oh shit!”

“Yeah, but anyway I climbed out the window and met him instead.”

“You really must stop climbing out the window. And what about our deal?”

“Alice! The night was amazing and...He kissed me.”

“What!”

“Shush! When Lincoln left he had this funny look in his eyes.”

“What do you mean he looked funny?”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Well has he called or text?”

“I don’t have his number!”

“What! Lex you need to get it! Look, stop worrying and get yourself into a mood to party! Best cure for the blues is a good party!”

“But I don’t want to go!”

“Tough!” Lexia didn’t argue there was no point; Alice had always had a special talent at getting what she wanted.

*********

A few hours later Lexia found herself dressed in a short, silver dress that she’d borrowed off Alice, it only just covered her backside; Alice was a lot shorter than her. Her hair was pulled up high with tumbling curls crowning her head, her shoulders and neck were bare, exposed and with a deep plunging neckline which left no room for the imagination. Lexia knew she looked good and plenty of people had noticed but she still couldn’t get in the mood to dance.

Lexia stood on the sidelines watching Alice dance with some boy she liked; she had a ridiculous grin on her face that Lexia couldn’t help laughing at. She tried not to be bothered about being ignored and thought maybe she should just let go and have fun like Alice but there were just too many things swirling around in her brain. Alice always left her when a boy was about; she’d been that way from the moment they’d met, erratic, demanding and very loyal. At least Lexia could always depend on Alice being a constant in her life. She downed her drink in one gulp hoping the alcohol would numb her brain. Pushing off the wall, Lexia went to find another.

“Hey Lexia, I brought you a drink.” Josh smiled at her holding out the drink.

“Oh, thanks.” Lexia took it smiling at him, he was cute she thought.

“So why you so sad, Lexia?”

“It’s been one of those weeks.” Lexia gulped down the drink and Josh’s grin widened.

“I’ll get you another.” He ran off before Lexia could say a word.

“Here finish this and we can dance.” Lexia looked at the drink, she’d only had two another one wouldn’t hurt. Maybe Alice was right and she just needed to have fun tonight, the drink went down in one.