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

the table, knocking
Liam’s orange juice into his lap.
    “Shit,” he mumbled, quickly trying to mop up
the mess with napkins.
    “Sorry,” I shot at Liam quickly. “Alexi, I’m
sorry, I’m freaking out. I should just go to him. I can’t let
anything happen to all of you because of me.”
    “No!” shouted Alexi and Liam in unison.
    “Look, I…” I started to say.
    “Forget it!” Alexi yelled. “I will not just
turn you over to him! If he wants you, he will have to go through
me!”
    “And me!” Liam added.
    “And me,” Kai interjected.
    I turned to face the sound of is voice. He’d
been listening in from the doorway. I shook my head.
    “I’m not having this discussion with all of
you,” I snapped. “I’m going!”
    “I am afraid you are not,” Alexi challenged
me.
    “Alexi, don’t make me put you to sleep,” I
threatened. “I will if I have to.”
    “Alice, please just listen,” Alexi begged. “I
think I may know of a way we could defeat the wraiths, but I just
need a few hours to figure it all out. Will you give me that?”
    “Dmitri said forty-eight hours, right?” I
asked.
    “Yes,” Alexi replied.
    “You have twelve hours,” I agreed. “Not a
minute more. In twelve hours, I’m going to figure out how to
contact Dmitri, and I’m telling him I’m turning myself over to
him.”
    “Thank you,” Alexi breathed, clearly
relieved. “I will let you know as soon as I figure it all out.”
    With that, Alexi quickly breezed out of the
room, his black cloak billowing behind him.
    “Are you really going to just turn yourself
over to Dmitri if he doesn’t figure something out?” Liam asked.
“You don’t even know what Dmitri has in mind. He might kill
you.”
    “That’s a chance I’m willing to take if it
means protecting all of you,” I said flatly.
    “But we don’t want you to do that,
Alice,” Liam said. “Every one of us would die to protect
you! Turning you over is the last thing any of us
wants!”
    “He’s right, Alice,” Kai said gently. “Look,
I know I’ve been angry lately, but I love you. If anything happened
to you… I would die . Like… I’d literally die .”
    “I can’t just let you all risk your lives
over me. I’m not worth it,” I argued.
    “You’re worth anything… everything ,”
Kai said.
    Liam was oddly silent.
    “Please don’t ask me to risk your lives,” I
begged. “Please, please don’t.”
    “ You won’t be risking our lives. We will,” Kai argued.
    “No. Not if I just sit back and allow it. If
anything happens to any of you, it will be my fault,” I said.
    “It won’t be your fault,” Kai contended.
    “He’s right,” Liam added. “It will be
Dmitri’s fault, and no one else’s.”
    “I can’t just sit here and do nothing,” I
complained.
    “You promised Alexi twelve hours,” Liam said
quickly. “Don’t go doing anything rash.”
    “I know what I promised!” I snapped. “I’ll
give him the twelve hours, but if he can’t give me a plausible
plan, I’m out of here.”
    Kai and Liam both sighed deeply.
    “Alice?” Kai asked meekly.
    “Yes?”
    “I know you wanted some space, and as much as
it’s killed me to do it, I’ve been giving it to you,” he said.
    “I thought you hated me,” I grumbled.
    “What?” he gasped. “Hated you? Why would you…
No! You wanted space, so I’ve been giving it to you!”
    “But you wouldn’t even look at me,” I told
him. “You always look so angry whenever I see you, and you leave
the room whenever I walk in.”
    “Because I couldn’t stand looking at you or
being around you!” Kai shouted. “Alice, it kills me to be
near you and to not be able to touch you, to hold you, to kiss you.
Just being near you right now is eating me alive!”
    “I’m sorry,” I whispered, turning my eyes
down toward the floor guiltily.
    “No, I’m sorry,” Kai said quickly. “I didn’t
mean to make you feel bad. I just wanted to ask…”
    “Ask what?” I asked, when he