“Were you trying to drown me? You’re a fucking psychopath!”
I went to turn my head to see where I was, but Gray didn’t let me. He caught hold of my face and kissed me deeply and fiercely. The moment our lips met, liquid sunshine shot through my veins, heating me up from inside out. His tongue found its way into my mouth, and I let him.
Gods, I was stupid to have walked away from him earlier.
The sound of applause and whooping made me break away from Gray. When I turned my head, I saw the Gods I regarded as friends standing at the edge of the reflecting pool.
“Elysia? Why are we in Elysia? Am I dreaming?” I asked, looking back at Gray.
“You don’t remember what happened?”
“I was coming to find you. I had the car, but there was an earthquake. I left it and stepped onto the road. A car…”
Then something happened. It was like a thousand whispers hit me all at once, and I gripped my head in my hands. “Ow!”
Gray didn’t let go of me. “Don’t focus on them, Quentin.”
“What’s happening?”
It was like an itch that I couldn’t scratch. So many voices, some stronger than others, were coming to me, and I wasn’t sure how to get rid of them or if I was going mad. The force of them made me want to crack my skull open.
“What’s going on?” I grimaced.
“That’s exactly what I want to know.”
The voice cut through clear, and I turned to see that Hunter had joined the edge of the pool, and just like that, the colour drained from everyone.
“Grayson,” Hunter said. “I suggest you get out of the pool with that mortal, right now.”
Hunter’s tone turned my blood to ice.
Gray whispered to me, “Stay close to me, okay?”
I nodded, and we made our way out of the pool. There were still a million voices in my head, and everything looked cleaner and sharper than it did before. My focus wavered, making my feet clumsy on solid ground, but Gray kept me upright and the rest of the party crowded around us.
“This is an unauthorised visit with a mortal,” Hunter stated.
“We know,” Gray replied.
“Care to explain why exactly you are here with her and why you were both in the pool with these lot looking on?”
“I don’t particularly care to explain anything to you, if I’m blatantly honest.”
Hunter’s aura flared into life, and a rush of blue came at Gray. Months ago, I watched both of them come to blows in my lab, and then Gray came home after another run-in with Hunter and was bleeding.
I couldn’t let him get hurt again. It broke me inside every time. Immortal or not, seeing him in pain made me ache and long to take it away.
“No!” I cried.
“Quentin, no!”
There was an unfamiliar surge of warmth throughout my body. It began in the centre of my chest and radiated through each limb until my fingers and toes tingled. A blinding golden flash made me throw up my hands and squeeze my eyes shut.
Opening my eyes slowly, the flash had subsided, and I could see Hunter had been knocked on his ass a few yards away from us. I looked to the others, whose eyes were wide, and I had a sinking feeling when I saw tendrils of gold coming from my hands.
“Gray?!” I looked up at him in complete disbelief.
What was happening?
