Free Betrayal (Blood Haze: Book Three) A Paranormal Romance by Tara Shuler

was a good sign, but he’d
immediately leave the room whenever I entered one he was in. He
wouldn’t even look at me. I decided it was best if I just gave him
some space.
    Things with Alexi were awkward, to say the
least. He was trying very hard to give me the space I’d requested,
but I could tell it was killing him inside. Every time he was near
me, he would get quiet, and he’d tense up.
    I decided not to press the issue of his
honesty – or dishonesty. I didn’t really want to find out
the truth. I was hoping what Liam said wasn’t true. I didn’t want
to think of Alexi manipulating me that way. Still, it lingered in
the back of my mind and I couldn’t shake it. I must admit, it was
hard to ignore what Liam had said, even though I desperately wanted
to forget it.
    I was learning to harness my abilities very
well. Under Liam’s tutelage, I learned to heal minor wounds without
experiencing Blood Haze. It wasn’t as useful around vampires,
because we could heal non-mortal wounds on our own, but it was
useful when humans were around. Grace, however, was something I
couldn’t practice. We couldn’t kill people just so I could attempt
it, and every time I used it, I became drained to the point of near
death for days. Unfortunately, I would just have to hope I could
use it whenever it was needed.
    I learned better control of the weather,
though I still couldn’t manage to do it indoors. I could bring a
funnel cloud down very quickly, and I could control it fairly
accurately. I’d even managed to make lightning strike at a location
of my choice, but I was never able to repeat it. This, I also
learned to do without Blood Haze.
    I even improved my ability to track. Now, I
could find people without an emotional connection of any kind, as
long as they were nearby. All I needed was to touch someone who
knew the person I was tracking, or touch an item they had once
touched. I could find people in a one-mile radius in mere minutes,
but I still had trouble locating people from miles away without an
emotional connection.
    I still couldn’t control time, even for a few
seconds. Every time I’d ever done it, I’d been experiencing Blood
Haze. It had been completely incidental – not something I’d
intended to do, but more a side effect of the situation. I wouldn’t
say it was an accident, because I assumed I had control over it at
a subconscious level. However, I still had no way to use it,
because I had no idea how it worked.
    I knew I was getting stronger, but I still
wasn’t anywhere near ready to take on Dmitri and his wraiths. The
most I could do would be to hold them off for a while. We needed a
way to put the wraiths out of commission completely.
    One morning, Alexi greeted me in the dining
hall while Liam and I were eating and discussing the day’s training
schedule. His mouth was twisted into a grim frown.
    “We need to talk,” Alexi said to Liam and
me.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked, suddenly
concerned.
    “Dmitri has made contact.”
    I dropped my spoon into my cereal, and it
splashed milk and bits of bran flakes onto my shirt.
    “Damn it!” I cursed, grabbing a napkin and
dabbing mindlessly at the mess. “What do you mean he’s made
contact? What did he say?”
    “He called,” Alexi answered. “He said we had
forty-eight hours to turn you over or he would level the
compound.”
    I felt the contents of my stomach start to
churn, and I inhaled sharply.
    “Can he do that?” I asked.
    “He knows where we are, now,” Alexi admitted.
“It is entirely possible. No one really knows the extent of
Dmitri’s abilities. Nor do we know who he has working with him,
now.”
    “So, basically, we’re completely in the dark.
We’re at his mercy. Is that what you’re saying?” I questioned.
    “No, I am not saying that,” Alexi said. “I am
just saying… well, I do not know what I am saying. Just do not
panic.”
    “Don’t panic?” I shrieked, standing up so
quickly my chair turned over and I bumped