Electric Anomaly (Necrolectric Book 3) Page 4

  “No you’re not.” Of course Jax would protest.

  And of course Alaric couldn’t stay out of this disagreement. He’d told Eve that she didn’t need an excuse to stay near him, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t going to grab on to this opportunity with both hands. He put his arm around her and grinned his approval. “Yes. She is.”

  Jax glared at Alaric. “This is not acceptable protocol.”

  If I had a dollar for every protocol I broke to save the day…

  Eve chimed in, singsong, “I’ll bring Z, if she’s up to it.”

  Alaric stifled a chuckle at Eve’s irresistible bargaining chip, then had to stifle another chuckle at the conflicted emotions washing over Jax’s face as he realized he’d been outplayed. One long breath tinged with a “Dammit” later, and Jax nodded his acquiescence. Poor kid. His desire for protocol was trumped by his desire to get to know Z better. Alaric squeezed Eve to him a little tighter. Yeah, he could sympathize.

  Triumphantly, Eve smiled at Alaric before slipping out of his grip and heading toward Z and Cas. Damn, that woman was hot and sassy and smart and—

  “There’s been another death.” Voice lowered, Jax squared off with Alaric. “Three of five. We’re running out of time.”

  “Yeah, and I’m still hungry.” Until the people whose blood he drank were eliminated, the uncontrollable-killer beast inside him would always be on the verge of coming out.

  “I don’t think bringing in outside people is such a good idea.”

  Maybe he should let Jax and his unyielding adherence to protocol be right. Eve had bravely accepted the unruly monster within him, but what would happen when she got a front-row seat to the unavoidable conclusion to his curse, when he ripped and chewed and gutted until only visceral pulp and blood remained?

  He looked back at Eve, the woman who’d broken his love curse, who’d held back his monster, who’d changed him just by walking into his life. He needed her with him. Needed her. He’d figure this out—anything to keep her at his side.

  Forcing a comfortable nonchalance he wasn’t quite feeling, he told Jax, “C’mon, live a little. We’ll finish the assignment, and maybe Z’ll warm up to you.”

  “Yeah. Maybe.” Jax turned his attention back to the couch and sighed.

  Alaric turned his attention back to Eve and prayed.

  Please stay with me.

  Chapter 9

  Eve crossed the room to check on Z, ready to get the hell out of this murder house. Z looked so much better, healthy color back in her skin, pain no longer tightening her brow, and the blood nothing but a fading memory on her eyes and face. The warm euphoria of relief washed through Eve. No one else would die today. Alaric’s brother might be a grumpy asshole, but his healing success with Z trumped the grump in Eve’s book.

  Z didn’t glance up at Eve’s approach, her eyes on Cas alone, studying his face with an expression of awkward, hopeful wonder. “So if this happens again…”

  Eve slammed on the brakes so hard she left skid marks on the carpet.

  Was Z rummaging for an excuse to keep in touch with Cas?

  Eve had to be reading this wrong. Right? Z wasn’t trying to forge a connection with Alaric’s brother. She was just double-checking there wouldn’t be side effects from her recent brush with death. Until the next one. And the next one. And the next one. In Z’s line of work, there’d always be another death to live through. Still, though, just because it was a damn good idea for Z to make friends with someone who could be a healing backup, didn’t mean she’d want to.

  Except as Cas’s fingers flexed on Z’s stomach and head, bare skin against bare skin, the slight glow of sparks and electricity brimming between them, Eve would’ve sworn on a pile of holy relics that Z was leaning into Cas’s touch. Not pulling away. Not flinching.

  Wanting.

  Hot damn.

  “Just don’t let it happen again,” Cas stated, all seriousness, not even looking at Z as he said it, and Eve jammed her boot into the carpet to keep from shoving it up his ass. Z was interested in him—how could he not see the awkward cartoon hearts clumsily fluttering his direction?—and he was either clueless or actively shutting her down. Stupid, grumpy, idiot man.

  Before he could further stomp on Z’s cautiously offered affection, Eve leaned over Cas from behind, squeezed his shoulder a little tighter and more painfully than she probably should have, and said, “So, how’s the patient?” She’s amazingly awesome, you dumbass. That’s the only acceptable answer.

  Cas jumped like he’d been struck by lightning, whipping away from Eve and Z, but it was too late. Sparks shot into Z, and she jerked against the leather couch, yelped, quivered, body tensing and releasing as the electricity buzzed through her.

  “Whoa, you okay?” Eve fisted her hand and yanked it back against her side so she couldn’t do any more damage. Shit, shit, shit. These surprising, uncontrollable sparks were more common when she was edging up on gotta-die time, and rarely this early in her life cycle. Although, with as hard as she’d been riding this new body—not enough food, not enough rest, too much magic, too much stress—was it really any wonder her electricity was on the fritz? The oomph of annoyance she’d felt toward Cas must’ve caused her to discharge when she touched him, making him the conduit by which Z suffered, amplifying his own magic against her.

  Z’s eyes were wide, but rather than hurt or scared, she looked like an adrenaline junky who’d just gotten a fix, like she’d cliff-dived or bungee-jumped or, you know, gotten zapped with volts of electricity by the guy she liked and couldn’t wait to do it all over again.

  “Damn, what a rush,” she exhaled on an unsteady breath.

  “I’m sorry,” Cas whispered, shaken, horrified, regret heavy in each word. “I...I’m sorry.”

  “No, really.” Z smiled up at Cas like he was hanging the moon for her. “It’s good.”

  Fuck. Eve had screwed the pooch this time, and what an awful metaphor that was. She couldn’t take any of it back though—not bringing Z here to help with the case, not the accidental zap. So she’d let Z think it was Cas who lit her up physically, since he was lighting her up emotionally too.

  Though it seemed Cas was more likely to get the hell out of dodge than get close to Z again, dammit. It was time for all of them to vamoose.

  Surreptitiously, Eve glanced at her palm—no sparks—before holding it out to Z. “That’s my girl. Ready to get out of here, then?”

  Avoiding Eve’s hand like she was offering a dead rat instead of help up, Z pushed to her feet and shouldered her backpack. “Where we going?” she asked warily.

  There was the Z Eve knew and loved. She pretended the pinch in her stomach was only hunger, not regret.

  “With them.” Eve jerked her head toward Jax and Alaric.

  Z moved to Cas’s side and quietly, genuinely said, “I’m okay. Really. Thank you.”

  Cas nodded in acknowledgment and gave Z the smallest of smiles in return.

  The pinch in Eve’s stomach lessened a bit. Cas had worked magic with Z, in more ways than one. Maybe Alaric wasn’t the only charmer in the family.

  Wearing the smile that made her toes curl, Eve’s personal charmer walked over, circled a strong arm around her waist, tugged her close, and nuzzled her temple. “Ready to fly?”

  “Stay away from her.” The cold, sharply admonishing voice could only belong to Cas. But who was he talking to? And was Z the her in question, or—?

  “What? No.” Alaric exhaled a confused laugh. Clearly he thought his brother was talking to him, and by Cas’s angry advance, he wasn’t wrong. Was Cas worried that Alaric would kill Z?

  “Annie. Duangta. Reese. Deren. Eirianedd. Franka. Llion.” Each name Cas spoke caused Alaric to flinch, his pain further betrayed by the wounded look in his eyes.

  Alaric peeled away from Eve and faced off with his brother, his expression going blank. “Enough.”

  Cas continued as though Alaric hadn’t spoken. “All dead because of you. You gonna kill her
too?”

  “Hell no! Why do you care, brother?”

  “Brother,” Cas scoffed.

  The hair rose on the back of Eve’s neck. No way this was only about what had happened to Z.

  “You never cared about any of the others,” Alaric shot back.

  Cas snarled. “You disgust me.”

  “Ouch,” Alaric said without feeling, and stepped closer, nose to nose with his brother. “You know, we’re family, you and I.”

  “I’m ashamed I ever called you brother.”

  Alaric slowly shook his head. “Who the hell are you, Jekyll or Hyde?”

  Dismissing Alaric, Cas turned to Eve. “You’re using too much energy. You need to eat.”

  Why was Cas now focusing on her? The switch from cruel animosity to explicit concern gave Eve whiplash. “I’m fine,” she stated matter-of-factly, because no way no how was she getting pulled into this brotherly battle. “I’m not the reason you were asked here today.”

  He gave her a disapproving once-over. “Take off that ridiculous costume. You’ve only been back, what, six hours, Rose, and you’re already playing dress-up? You need to take better care of yourself.”

  He might as well have cold-cocked her. Her head spun, world flipped, the private scraps of her identity scattering like confetti in a windstorm. What. The. Fuck.

  How did Cas know?

  The truth was laid out like breadcrumbs for her to follow.

  Only one person should know she’d died and that the body she was wearing now wasn’t the one she’d respawned in…Cas was right, just about six hours ago. No one else should know but the man who so tenderly, so sweetly, gave her the name that Cas used now. The same man she’d shared her life-and-death secrets with, ones he’d sworn to keep.

  She turned the full force of her anger on the brother who’d deceived her. “You told him?”

  What else had Alaric lied about?

  It didn’t matter. Secrets couldn’t be unlearned. Trust couldn’t be rebuilt. And this level of betrayal couldn’t be forgiven.

  “Well...I...” Alaric stuttered with what little unaddled brainpower he had left. Everything had just gone from weird to shit before he could catch up. He reached out to Eve, to regain the strong connection they’d had only minutes ago, but she backed away.

  “They’re my secrets, Alaric. Not yours to share.” The victimized, go-to-hell look on her face made it pretty clear she wanted nothing to do with him.

  “Just your name,” Alaric swore, not having a single clue how Cas had put two and two together, that the dead woman he took from Alaric’s arms last night was the living woman standing between them now. “I didn’t tell him anything else. I promised you.”

  While Alaric scrambled to find reasons for her to believe him—how could he prove something he didn’t do when there was no other obvious reason for his brother to know?—Cas stole the moment. “Like he promised he wouldn’t hurt all those girls, and the thousands more like them. Jekyll and Hyde...”

  “Screw you both, Jekyll and Hyde. I don’t need this.” Eve made for the front door, not even glancing behind her as she tried to storm out of his life.

  Alaric followed—he couldn’t lose her—but Cas cut him off and reached Eve first. As she circled the doorknob, his brother grabbed her arm and spun her to face him. “No,” he barked, mirroring Alaric’s thoughts.

  What was he going to do to her? She looked up at Cas as they began to shimmer, eyes and voice angry as she spat, “What the f—?”

  Alaric blinked, and they were gone.

  Gone.

  The bastard had teleported. He’d fucking teleported her away. The puddle of orange sparks on the tile floor taunted Alaric, a heart-wrenching reminder that his suddenly conniving brother had stolen the love of Alaric’s life. Eve had changed him. Straightened him out. Effortlessly made him want to be a better man and helped him find that path amid all his cursed chaos. Cas should’ve been grateful, but instead of being supportive, he’d snapped. Why?

  The teleportation sparks faded, disappearing into nothingness. Staring at them wouldn’t bring her back.

  Finding Eve not once, but twice, was the best thing that had ever happened to Alaric. Nothing, not his brother, not the case, not a damn thing, would stop him from finding her again.

  Keep turning the pages for a chapter one sneak peek from Splice Electric, the next installment of the Necrolectric series, coming soon.

  Thank You

  Thanks for reading Electric Anomaly, part three of the Necrolectric series. It means so much to us that you spent time reading one of our stories. We hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.

  Want to know when the next installment of Necrolectric is available for purchase? For release day notifications and access to exclusive contests, subscribe to our newsletter at www.ashleighraine.com.

  Fun fact: The story you just read, Electric Anomaly, is also available for your viewing pleasure as part of the Necrolectric web series, which we wrote and produced. You can watch the series on our YouTube channel for free. https://www.youtube.com/user/NecrolectricSeries. Fall in love with Alaric, Cas, Eve, Jax, and Z, both on the page and on the screen. There’s more to come, both in book and web series form!

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  You’ve just read the third installment of the Necrolectric series. Up next is Splice Electric, which will continue the story of Eve, Alaric, Cas, Jax and Z.

  Turn the page to read the first chapter of Splice Electric, part four of the Necrolectric series, coming soon.

  Excerpt of Splice Electric, Necrolectric Part 4

  Chapter One

  Alaric stared at the road, houses flashing by in a blur of neighborhood normal, his hands gripping the wheel of his ’68 Mustang Fastback. The rumble of the engine nearly drowned out the ringing in his earbud, so he focused down on the most important sound. He’d been calling incessantly since he got in the car, waiting, hoping… “Pick up the damn phone, Cas,” he growled.

  Glancing in the rearview mirror, he saw Z in the backseat looking at her phone like she’d just hung up. The expression on her face wasn’t one of relief, so she must not have gotten a hold of Eve. In the passenger seat, Jax was calling in to central, probably getting some intel about where the fucking fuck to go next for this damned case, but all Alaric wanted was Eve.

  Cas had been a dick on many occasions, but he’d never—ever—said he was ashamed of Alaric, at least not to his face. And that Alaric disgusted him? Thousands of years of hurtful, damning invectives, but this was far worse, meant to sting harder, deeper. He’d directly stained Alaric’s reputation with intent to drive Eve away and then physically stole her. What had provoked him to act so reprehensibly? Over a woman?

  She was incredible. So what godforsaken thing was this really about?

  Alaric tapped the dial button one more time. It wasn’t uncommon for Cas to not pick up, but come on.

  “Any luck, Z?” he asked, already knowing the answer but praying he was wrong.

  “Still nothing. Direct to voicemail.”

  Alaric opened his mouth, but she beat him to the punch. “And yes, I left Eve another message. Where do you think he took her?”

  “Could be anywhere.” Any motherfucking, back-of-beyond place on this entire planet. “Anywhere…”

  Worse, if Cas had come unglued, she could be in serious danger. When he got angry, his electricity became even less controllable. He’d weaponized Alaric’s huge accidental death count, but his wasn’t much smaller. After all
the vitriol he’d spewed, if he wanted to spite Alaric, would he kill Eve…intentionally?

  Alaric stared at the rose choker wrapped around his wrist and tightened his hold on the steering wheel. Hold on, my love. I’ll find you.

  Jax huffed out a breath and spoke into the phone. “Q, I don’t think that’s a good idea... No.” Great, the orders must be changing, and if by-the-book Jax was speaking out against them, clearly not for the better. “Yes. I’ll make it happen, but I strongly do not agree...” He shook his head, frustration thick in every word as he finished with, “Put a healer on standby,” and hung up. He turned to Alaric. “Four and five are missing. Three has been transferred to the coroner. She jumped off a building. Right.”

  Fucking awesome, but not the info he gave a good goddamn about. “So am I still tracking, or what are we doing?”

  “No. We’ll track later. Go to the coroner.” Jax shifted uncomfortably. “Slade wants Z’s expertise.”

  Z leaned forward between the two front seats. “Oh really? I don’t just give it away for free, you know.”

  “You’ll get paid.” Jax pocketed his phone and grumbled, “A lot.”

  Z smacked her hands together, rubbing them in the age-old sign of someone pleased as punch to be getting a big payday. Except she had no idea that it could end up costing her. Fatally. No wonder Jax was pissed.

  “Slade knows what happens?” Alaric asked his partner. “All of it?” Not that he imagined Jax would have left out that oh-so-important nugget of information when he gave Q the 4-1-1 on Z, so the case must have big enough ramifications that Slade wasn’t concerned about potential collateral damage. This was clearly a job interview and test-drive all rolled into one, though Z didn’t know it. If she came through unscathed, Slade would offer the irresistible full-court press with lots of dollar signs and perks galore, and another person with paranormal abilities would be added to the roster. Once someone was on Slade’s radar, there was no escape.