Then he kissed me.
Before I even saw him coming … his lips were on mine, and I was pulled tightly against his body. I lost all time and space, my breathing cut off as my head spun. Before the pressure could deepen, Yael stepped away from me and I barely managed to remain on my feet.
“I win,” he said, turning and strolling away. All causal. Like he hadn’t just … kissed the hell out of me.
“You cheated,” I shouted after him. My eyes flicked between the other four. “He cheated!”
Siret shook his head. “What did you expect? He fights dirty. We all do.”
I was breathing really deeply. Almost embarrassingly deeply.Just a kiss.My body was reacting like I’d just run up and down the steps to Blesswood a few hundred times. I wanted to go after Yael, probably to smack him in the face, since the chest-poking had done nothing. I should use a knife or something next time. Get all badass and sol-like.
Coen distracted me by stepping in at my back, his giant form crowding over me and wiping all Yael-revenge-thoughts from my mind. I could see flickers of fire and the promise of pain in his eyes, but maybe I was just hallucinating because Yael’s kiss had fried my mind. His hand dragged along my arm and with it came these strange little sparks of energy. They hurt … sort of, but they also felt good. Like he was igniting all of the receptors along my skin, bringing my body to life. I almost missed his words, my eyes glued to the hand trailing my arm.
“Willa,” his deep voice caught my attention. “We have to be up early tomorrow for the moon-cycle trials in the arena. The gods will be sitting on their pampered asses expecting us to perform like street monkeys, which means you have exactly one click to tell us what you’re hiding from us.”
I looked down at my feet, trying to block him out. His hand moved again, drawing those strange, aching sparks over my skin, and my breath shuddered out, my eyes closing. His grip suddenly shifted, the light brushing motion disappearing as his fingers curled around my arm, just above my elbow. He pulled roughly, forcing me against his chest. His free-hand fell to the back of my head.
Is he … hugging me right now?
Someone snorted, and Coen’s chest vibrated with a laugh that he quickly cut off.
“Talk, Willa,” he demanded.
Maybe it was the hug, or maybe it was the small spark of pain that accompanied his words, flashing low against the base of my spine, but I suddenly wanted to tell them everything. I twitched a little bit, but mostly clamped down on my reaction to Coen’s ‘gift,’ because my reaction was to jump him, and that was hardly appropriate.
“Did you guys do something?” My voice was muffled against Coen’s chest, but I refused to turn my head and look at the other three.
“What was that?” Aros asked, moving behind me, seeming almost to gravitate toward me.
I suspected that he was attracted to the desire swirling through me right now. Yael had lit the match, Coen wasdeliberatelystoking the fire, and Aros was the moth, drawn to the flame. I could feel him pressing against my back, his chest brushing my shoulders, his hand curving around the front of my neck. My eyes drew closed before I could stop them, and my legs were suddenly weak, my head spinning dizzily.
“She’s going to drop,” I heard Siret drawl.
Coen’s chest rumbled again, and this time, the spark of pain was somewhere in the vicinity of my chest, forcing my eyes back open and my breath to catch.
“Don’t start acting like a dweller now, Willa,” Coen mumbled.
Aros’s hand moved against my neck, applying just enough pressure to pull my head back against his chest, and then I was staring right up into Coen’s face. The green in his eyes had disappeared completely, leaving only darkness and violence. It was pitch black, closing in around me, drawing me away from the world.
“Did you all do something to save me back at the cave?” I heard my own voice, but it didn’t even feel like it wasmespeaking. I had drifted out of my body and into the darkness of Coen’s soul.
“No,” someone answered. Siret, I thought. “Why? What happened, Rocks?”
“Now … I need you all,” I muttered. Dual growls vibrated through me, and I quickly amended the statement. “I need to be near at least one of you. Ever since the cave. It hurts me, here …” I tried to raise my hand to my chest, but Coen and Aros must have pushed closer. Every inch of my body seemed to be plastered up against hard muscle. When I raised my arm, it only bumped against Coen’s massive chest. He refused to back up.
“Where?” Siret asked, sounding frustrated. “Guys?Seduction! Pain!Get the fuck off her so that I can concentrate.”
Aros pulled away so fast that I almost suspected him to have been yanked off by Siret, but when Coen spun me around so that I was facing the other way, Siret was still standing in the same place and Aros was striding down the hall toward his dorm room. He disappeared inside, the door slamming violently behind him.
“And then there were two.” Siret rolled his eyes.
“Two?” I muttered, looking around for Rome, who also seemed to have disappeared.
Coen’s hands were wrapping around my arms from behind, still holding me close to him.
“I’m taking her to my room,” Coen announced, ignoring my question. “Tell the others to get their shit together and meet us there. If we put some clothes on the dweller, we might actually be able to have a full conversation.”
I snorted. “Thedwellercan speak just fine, thanks.” Okay. I lied. That was a lie.
