Gifted Curse (Curse Trilogy) by C.M. Owens

filled with all the memories I have of healing myself on the incredibly erotic blood filling Hale’s veins.  His grin continues when he sees my forced arousal, and I actually shake my head to try to free myself from the intense memories.
    I almost break the door on the armored vehicle when I bail out at the compound, and Hale lets a wry grin turn up in its cocked position.  Smug son of a bitch.
    “So we’ll head back out on the road tomorrow then?” Clay asks Brazen.
    “I’m fine with that.  They’ve been weakened now, and the cleanup crew will have time to assess which of our species it was.  It’ll be easier to track them down once that knowledge is required, and then we’ll let Araya interrogate the hell out of them,” he huffs out, and his lips show mine affection briefly before turning back to a wincing Hale and an agreeing Clay.
    “You’ll have to keep the training charade up for a while longer.  We may need you to stay close,” Clay says to me.
    “I’m going this time,” I growl.
    “Not a chance.  You saw what happened today,” he rebukes.
    “It wouldn’t have happened if I had been there.”
    “You don’t know that, Araya,” Brazen scolds.
    Thanks for taking my side, babe.
    “We came into the situation knowing what was ahead.  In an ambush, you could have peaked too early, and you would have been weakened by the oncoming assaults.  It’s happened before,” Hale adds, and I see I’ve gravely wounded Clay with my snide remark.
    “I’m sorry, Clay.  I’m just a little worked up about how wrong this all could have gone,” I grumble, and Brazen’s hand intertwines with mine.
    “It’s fine.  You’re probably right, but I can’t risk it.  Not with you.  You’re too important to the United to be put at risk unnecessarily ever again.”
    I see the mounds of guilt, pain, and fatigue in his eyes.  I shouldn’t have said that.  I had no right to.
    “Were there any witnesses left?” Hale asks a man passing by.
    “None, Sir.  She took them all out.”
    “Doubting me?” I playfully scoff.
    “Just being thorough,” Hale says very seriously while flipping through photos of the attackers before I skinned them alive.  “None of these look familiar.  I can’t tell from the pictures if they’re human, full blood, or hybrid.  How were their movements?” Hale asks Brazen and Clay.
    “I don’t know.  I was too busy firing at anything that moved to tell how fast it was or wasn’t moving,” Clay sighs.
    “Same here.  They threw grenades right off the bat, and we were scrambling to get our human companions to cover.  There wasn’t a whole lot of time to gauge anything, and the dust stirred too violently to view anything once we were under fire.”
    “I saw them,” I say to answer the question he neglected to ask me.
    “What were they?” Hale prompts.
    “I wish I knew.  Some moved slow, some moved in blurs like us, and some seemed to move even faster than us.  I never saw any demonstration of gifts, so I’m assuming they are lower on the chain of command.  It’s possible we have a species mingle here.”
    “That’s impossible.  Humans won’t dare mix with our kind outside of the safety of our compound walls.  Not to mention, it’s illegal unless you have the right gene.  How could there be humans we don’t know about?” Brazen inquires.
    “I don’t know, but they didn’t show any speed when my attacks started coming in.  The ones that could dodge me made an effort.  I think the two species have some how mingled.  It’s possible all three have,” I say with intrigue.
    “Doubtful.  Full bloods usually loathe our kind outside of the United army,” Clay says while in deep thought.
    “I suppose it’s a good thing I’m part of the United,” Brazen says with an adorable smirk, and then he takes my hand in his.
    “For now I’m going to go get cleaned up.  I’m stained in blood, sweat, and death.  I need clean clothes and a moment of peace