Chapter 2

An Unexpected Breath

The howling hounds of the night taint the already eerie dark air deep in Unaligned territory. I curl up in my tent as my pounding head begs for some reprieve.

"Are you okay?" Simone asks while joining me and zipping the tent back up.

"Maybe as soon as I get some real sleep, this headache will subside."

I swear there's a small man with a viciously high-powered jackhammer and he's going crazy inside my fucking head.

"How is she?" Jase's voice asks through the thin fabric of the tent.

Without meaning to, I let the image of the figurative, angry little man pounding my head into rubble flash through my mind.

"She's seen better days," Simone sighs, and the tent starts to unzip.

"Damn it, Commander, please go away. My head hurts bad-"

My words are cut short as bullets ring, rattle, and bounce all over vehicles. I scream as they slice through our tent, and Simone's blood barely avoids my mouth as a bullet rips through her arm.

"Fuck," she squeals while grabbing her guns.

I jerk my gun belt together and then start scrambling around. We both crash out of the tent, blindly running through the storm of raining bullets before diving to the ground to escape a deadly grenade blast.

I feel cool hands jerking me to an incredible masterpiece body as Jase covers me.

"You're the one who needs covering. I'm just a tracker," I growl while forcing him off me and to the ground.

"Damn it, Aria, don't fight me on this," he scolds while jerking me back to him.

We both roll under a vehicle as the United fleet we're with tries to find out where the hell the shots are coming from.

"They're coming in from the east," Jase yells, apparently reading the direction of these vultures' minds.

"Do they have savages?" I worry.

"They have hybrids, I don't know if they're savage or not. We need to get you out of here in case this is an attack on you," he says while rolling out from underneath the vehicle and jerking me to his body as chaos erupts around us.

Uranium fueled explosions rip through the air, and men scream out as the blood truck scatters the blood supply to the ground.

"Simone!" I scream.

"I've got it! Get the hell out of here!" she yells back, and I see the rapid swirls of the spilled packs of diluted blood leaving the ground and spiraling through the air to find the open mouths of our wounded men.

Their uranium filled veins detoxify, and then their wounds close up just as another explosion bellows through the air. Jase nearly rips my arms off, jerking me away just in time, as the disgusting scent of burning uranium fills my nose.

I follow him blindly through the hailing cloud of bullets we keep dodging based on sound alone.

Just as we reach a car, the ground rips up between us. I scream when I nearly fall into the gaping abyss that has formed, and I fall backwards before scrambling away on my hands and knees.

"Damn it! You'll have to jump!" he urges, and then the ground splits more as the savage eyes of a hybrid shine through and find mine.

He's stalking toward me very deliberately, and then I see the scorpion mark on his shoulder. My eyes flash to Jase just as he runs to dive over the crater between us. I gasp as he rolls to the ground in front of me, and he fires wildly at the man whose skin just deflects the bullets.

Phase three savage. Get out!

Jase ignores my silent demand, and I use all the strength I have to force my gift to launch him. He yelps as it throws him out of the path of my stalker and into the distant fields. I'm so fucking thrilled it finally worked, and I use what's left to pin him down.

"Aria, let me go!" he calls out frantically, panic in his voice as I keep him safely distanced from the savage and the bloodbath of a battle at hand.

"You're full blood. It'll be worse on you," I almost whisper as I await my fate too willingly.

Then the man collapses to the ground as the blood draws free from his eyes, mouth, nose, ears… everything. I gasp as I scramble backwards, and I look to Simone as she holds her focus on the savage man her sane frame mind is defeating.

Holy shit. She's stronger than I thought.

"Go now, Aria!" she commands, and I scurry to my feet while whipping my guns out.

"Keep the commander away," I scream to my aunt as she joins the battle.

"Where is he?"

"I'm holding him in the fields, but I can't do it much longer."

She nods, and then I see her eyes dart in that direction to use a much stronger hold than I could.

"Aria!" he yells pleadingly when he feels the helplessness.

You're too important to the United to die saving me.

I don't know if he heard my thoughts, but I can't say it aloud. I dive between two men fighting off a savage hybrid, and I throw my hands out to see abso-fucking-lutely nothing happen.

My confidence gained by whirling Jase through the air and holding him down is completely shattered as the reality of my gifted impotence kicks in.

Fucking gift!

Suddenly, I taste blood, feel my bones cracking, and then I gasp in a deep breath as my body flings through the air.

Damn it.

"Aria!" Jase yells louder.

At least I know he has more range on his mind reading bit than I thought.

My ribs crack back into place as my body heals from the wounds just sustained.

I try to stand, and the hulking beast of a hybrid steps out in front of me while I'm perched on my hands and knees. I barely turn my head to look up, and I smirk as I wipe away a drip of blood.

"Didn't your momma ever teach you not to hit a lady? You might get your ass kicked," I taunt, and in a blur, I go from in front of him to behind him.

Though my strength and speed are meant to stay a secret, I use it anyway as I wrap my legs around his neck and send him flying backwards into a burning pile of uranium.

He screams as the flames consume him, and I smirk when I see his weakness.

"Fire. Hit him with fire!"

Several men pull out flamethrowers to bring down Goliath, and I turn back to dodge a fist that almost connects with my face. I screech as I duck and dive past several firing storms, and then I feel the impossibly painful tearing of my body as several bullets collide and break through my skin.

More of them pour in, proving we're being outwitted by our ambushers. They're tracking us better than we're tracking them.

"You want me, come get me," I grunt out while standing back up, my body wobbling slightly from the extreme blood loss.

I feel myself trying to heal, a little faster than usual, but not fast enough. I don't have long to try something. We don't have a drop of packaged blood left. Everyone will die if I don't lead the ambushers away or use my gift. Since my damn gift or gifts refuse to work, option number one it is.

"Aria, no!" Simone screams upon seeing the look in my eyes.

"There are too many full bloods from our side for Unc to go savage. There are too many of them for us to keep fighting. I've got a plan. Get everyone the hell out when they follow me."

"Damn it, Aria, no!" she screams, but she's too busy drawing out the blood from veins of the invincible savages with no obvious weaknesses.

She can only do a few at a time, and with their numbers, we'll never make it.

I rush over to the edge, and I make sure to lock eyes with all my stalkers before diving into the woods and running like hell towards a place I've only ever been once. I've never come this way, and I hope my sense of direction is as good as I've credited it to be. I know that tunnel had several passages, and I pray I'm right about this.

Then I feel another burn as a gifted hybrid slashes me up with its invisible knife. I scream before running faster to get out of range. My pants start singeing as I pull away, the impossible speed I'm exerting causing too much friction, and I grab out my phone to hit the panic button my masked hero has preached to me about.

I slip it back into my pocket while running faster, and I pray there's a secret entrance I can access without a remote of some sort.

Then I feel another sharp stabbing pain that ends my retreat. My body collapses with a hellacious thud as I bounce across the ground from the far too excessive momentum.

I taste the dirt before I feel it clumped against my bloody face, and then I roll onto my back to see my massive, hulking attackers coming toward me.

I should have pressed that damn button sooner. I hope he's close by.

The dilated eyes promise death or torture. Either way, I'm not ready to go easily.

My gift flows out, knocking them off their feet, and I scramble to my feet as I dive into the middle of them, slinging up my invisible power and breaking the bones of several.

Hoards of them are flocking in for this full fledged Scorpion attack. We're too far north for this many hybrids to be in one place. Hybrids prefer heat. It's in our nature. Stupid fucking psychos.

With one massively surprising blast, I'm able to knock them all down, killing several instantly.

Hell fucking yes.

I get a dose of my own medicine when a blue ball of energy connects with my stomach and knocks me on my ass. I cry out as the burn of it singes my skin, and I pat out the smoking flames it's left behind.

I start crawling away when my gift refuses to cooperate any further. I don't hear the car until I hear the door open, and I'm worried I'm about to be thrown in a trunk. I stop crawling face the savages standing up and coming after me again.

I fire my guns uselessly at the invincible beasts, and then I smell dark cherry and melted chocolate coming to the rescue just before I see those gloriously, deep-hued purple streaks of energy flashing against my attackers.

The savages scream out in pain, and my mouth falls open from the sheer brute force of his power as the army of invincible mercenaries fold to the ground almost in unison.

Holy hot hybrid.

I feel arms scooping me up, and then I feel the seat of the car I never heard pull up. I wince as the blood rushes from my body, and in a blink he's in the driver's seat and slinging dirt up behind the car as he speeds away from my attackers.

His black mask isn't like his first black mask. It's another half mask, his perfect lips turned into a serious line as he focuses on leaving a confusing trail behind us. His dark blue hooded sweatshirt doesn't match for once, and I let a small smirk spread.

"Took you long enough," I strain out.

He lets a laugh escape, the seriousness of the situation suddenly dulled down by the flakes of humor.

"I was trying to find a shirt to match my mask," he teases, and then I'm the one to let out a laugh, followed my a shriek of pain caused by my cracked bones.

"Damn it," he murmurs softly while diving underground through the lifted doorway. "I swear I think you try to see how fucked up you can get."

The tunnel lights come on moments before we pass under them. I shut my eyes as my headache worsens, and I feel the speeding car barreling through the narrow concrete passage.

"I'm… just… just… just…"

"Shit," he growls while skidding the car to a halt, and I feel my door opening before I ever hear his shut.

His arms wrap around me, but I don't move, wince, or even react. I'm in so much pain that my body is shutting down. My head flops back as the weight of what little blood I have rushes to pound against my skull.

My mouth falls open involuntarily, and my eyes refuse to reopen.

"Aria, you have to take my blood. I don't have any packaged blood," he urges as he lays me down on something very soft.

I smell his scent all over the soft surface I can't see, and I'm lost in how tragic this fluffy haven will look, considering my blood loss.

"It's… too… too-"

"Fuck the too intimate shit, Aria. You're going to fucking die. You don't heal quick enough to compensate for the blood you're loosing," he scolds, but his voice seems so distant - hollow almost.

It's as though he's at the end of a train tunnel, and the train is between us, sounding its horns of warning and drowning out his plea.

I feel something smooth, almost silky, being tied around my closed eyes as my breaths forget to enter my lungs. Then I feel skin pressing against me as soft lips press against my cheek.

I feel breaths panting against me as if words are being spoken, but all I hear is a muffled voice thousands of miles away. Then I taste something so divinely sweet falling into my mouth as soft lips press against mine.

Those lips withdraw briefly, and then I feel them once more as they pour the sweet nectar into my mouth again. I hum out the pleasure exuding and bursting free in my mouth, and then I feel my wounds closing up as a burning, a raging fire surges within me and spirals into erotica.

I gasp as my mind slowly starts to return, and then I feel more wounds closing up as blood… his blood, falls into my mouth more. The burning in my veins becomes unbearable, and the longing for his touch becomes a necessity.

I open my eyes to see the veiled darkness behind the gentle caress of a soft fabric. Then I feel skin pressing against my lips.

"You don't have a choice now," he murmurs through a restrained desire flooding him.

He's right. The blood has already entered my mouth and there's nothing left to do but heal. He took away my right to die by saving my life.

My blood bringers unsheathe, and his delicious breath hitches as they press down against his skin. I finally feel the break of the flesh on his shoulder as more of his divine nectar falls into my mouth, and then I feel his body between my legs as I bleed him, heal, and connect us all the more.

"Fuck," he breathes as the frustrating desire builds to be almost excruciating.

Then his lips consume mine - his passion, lust, and desire filling me as he jerks my tattered clothes off. I've never felt so disconnected and connected at the same time. With Jase, this was so incredibly intimate, but this… this is just carnal, raw, and pretty fucking hot.

My shirt rips free from my body, and my hands feel the face I've never seen. There's nothing about him that wouldn't seem sexy under this spell right now. I start to pull off the blindfold, but he pins my hands beside my head.

I feel skin on skin as his bare body slides in closer to mine, between my legs, and my mouth waters as I feel the tip of his erection just barely out of reach.

"Let me see you," I almost whisper through the painful desire that is in complete control.

"Not yet," his salacious tone responds as his smiling lips find mine again.

I quiver as I lie there bare, exposed, and expectant. My heart pounds against my chest, and then my hips buck up involuntarily as I try to end the painful suspense.

Then I feel his body surging into mine, filling me. I gush out my breaths and moans in unison, and his lips cover mine again. It shouldn't feel this good, but it does. It feels so incredible right now - his body inside mine, owning me in a way I never thought I'd let another - and my body curves to his as if it belongs there.

His breaths fall to my shoulder as he leans down, and then his powerful, ungodly force slams into me over and over to bring my own breaths out in girly grunts mingling with my ridiculously uncontrollable moans.

"Harder," my rasp breath requests without my permission, and I feel his smile growing as he rips me up from the soft spot and throws me against the wall before slamming into me again.

His grunts grow louder with each powerful thrust, and he has to release his lips from mine as he cradles my hips at an unbelievably perfect angle. My head flops back, and my hands tangle in the ribbon-like strands of his hair. The face I can't see presses against mine as our hybrid heat scorches the wall behind my body.

Each merciless thrust brings me closer to my release, and each girly cry I exude is almost his undoing. I clutch him tighter, my body curling into his arms, and then his lips find mine again. His tongue twists and plays with mine in the most intoxicating tango.

Then he grips my ass so tightly it hurts just the right amount before I scream out my release, and he thrusts in twice more before finding his own.

I gasp as I feel his body melding with mine in the most powerful way, and his ragged pants find my ear as I try to peek out from under my blindfold.

I hear him laugh while shaking his head, and he tugs it back into place - only offering me a glimpse of the perfectly golden skin on his shoulder.

"Really?" I grumble. "After what we just did, you're still not going to tell me who you are?"

He laughs again, and then his lips find mine as the burn for closeness ensues. He smiles against the kiss, and I tilt my head curiously for the grin I can only feel.

"Why are you smiling?"

He just smiles bigger before withdrawing, and I feel us cross the threshold to another room while my legs stay tightly bound around him. His strong arms hold me in place as we make our way through the underground secret, and then I feel a wonderfully plush bed beneath me.

His body leaves mine for a second, and the painful loss of skin contact forces me to grunt out my pain.

"Shh," he coos softly while pulling me back into his arms, and then I feel the blindfold falling free as my eyes squint in the dark.

I feel butterflies rush my stomach as the moment I've been waiting for finally falls into my lap. My night vision finally takes over, and I frown while letting out a disappointed breath when I see him wearing his red mask.

He smiles his beautiful, full-teeth-flashing grin while rolling his eyes - the only thing I can see through the half-mask.

"I told you you're not ready to know who I am," he teases, and then his lips lightly stroke mine to fill the need for closeness.

I wrap my body around him like ivy, and then I feel his smile again.

"Why am I not ready?"

"Because you're just not. It'll all make sense later. For now, just don't leave my side. It'll hurt both of us if you move too suddenly. A first blood fuck for two people is incredibly strong."

I know.

"Will you at least tell me what I can call you?" I huff out, and he tilts my chin up to gently kiss my lips.

"Um… call me… hmm. Nothing really seems good enough," he cockily teases, and I stifle my foolish grin. "Call me Ace for now."

I smirk as my eyes leave his and run down the full length of his bare body. The sheet just barely covers the piece of his body I felt so intimately moments ago. Those fucking hiplines seem a little more tempting to bleed now that I've already blood fucked him.

"Are those scandalous thoughts rolling around in your head?" he pokes, and my cheeks heat up while I look away.

"Are you sure you can't read minds?"

He laughs ridiculously hard, and then he flips on the lamp beside the bed while keeping his arm firmly wrapped around me.

"You're just easy to read when you pull that bottom lip between those sexy teeth. I'm glad to see you're getting a little more hybrid these days."

I huff out in a little dismay. A few months ago I would have never allowed myself a blood fuck just to heal. Now I've done it with two men in less than a month. I held onto that piece of me that no one could have for so long, and now I've freely dispersed it twice - of course he did force his blood into my mouth.

I roll over to rest on top of his perfectly strong, delectably toned chest. My fingers trail over him, and a pang of guilt strikes when I stare into those hybrid blues. I shouldn't feel guilty, but I do.

Jase is the only person I've ever been in love with, and here I am in another man's arms after sharing one of the most intimate things two people can.

"What are you thinking right now?" he asks while running one hand through my hair and placing his other behind his head.

"Nothing."

I smile lightly as I think back to how Jase never had to ask that question, and then I look away from the hybrid blues. My headache is slowly returning after having diminished momentarily, and a sinking feeling slaps my gut - an indescribable feeling.

"What?" he prompts as he stares at my changing expression.

"Have you ever felt like you were supposed to be somewhere, but you didn't know where?" I ask curiously.

"Not really, why?"

"I just… I don't know. I feel like I'm late for something… almost like there's someone expecting me, but I don't know who and I don't know where I'm supposed to be. It's… I don't know... it's weird."

My headache only intensifies, and then his lips find mine again as he flips me to be on my back. His bare, gloriously perfect body slides over mine as he moves between my legs, and my hands clasp behind his neck to draw him in tighter. He barely draws back enough to speak.

"Well, my need for closeness isn't being satisfied with simple cuddling anymore. It's possible that's what's wrong with you too," he murmurs as his lips move to mine with more fervency.

"Maybe," I whisper against his lips, and then those indescribably feather soft lips stroll down my neck and to my chest as he makes his way down to my most sensitive area.

"Mmm," I hum out, and I feel his smile against me as we start this incredible game again.

I gasp as he reignites those amazingly sensitive feelings, and my hands tangle in his hair as his devilish tongue goes to work. It's just a teasing game though, and I feel him toying with me - as if he's trying to make me want him more than I already do right now.

"Can I?" he whispers while moving over to my hipline with his unsheathed blood bringers.

I throb upon hearing the request. His game has been unveiled, but my need for closeness and my reawakened desires force a need for me to say yes.

"You didn't ask last time," I tease as his lips press against the line.

"Last time was life or death. This time I want permission," he says far too seductively, the heat of his breath burning against my skin.

"Yes," I whisper in a nearly muted tone when my voice tries to escape.

I feel his smile, and then my eyes shut tight as he starts coming back up my body with his delicious lips. The soft fabric finds my eyes once more, and he kisses my lips when they pout.

I lose the touch of his lips momentarily, and then I feel his face back to my body - no mask covering his secret. If I lifted my blindfold after he bit me, he couldn't run away. Then again, I might not like what I see, and that wouldn't be too fun for me either. His face feels so perfect though. Why cover it?

I smile when his hair falls low enough to tickle me as it follows his kissing trail. Then his lips smooth over my hipline, making my breath hitch slightly when I feel what's coming next.

His blood bringers break the skin, and erotica bursts free through my veins again as his lust-filling toxin burns through me, forcing me to moan.

I can't believe I'm fucking a guy I can't see.