“That wasn’t very nice,” I calmly stated.
She jolted awake, her body stiffening as she realized what she had been about to do. Her emotions spiraled into horror, her breathing becoming uneven.
Hmm, I didn’t like that. Swiping my gloved thumb across her lip, I opened one emotion to her—smugness. “If you wanted to fight me, Hellion, you’d have to do a lot better than that.”
Three cute lines wrinkled her forehead as her starry eyes narrowed. My angry little hellion focused on my lips… or, more accurately, my smirk.
Either way, I enjoyed her attention.
Before I knew it, she swiped a knife from my belt and had it pressed to my neck.
I enjoyed that even more, especially when she thought her puny knife could actually do any damage to me.
“Beautiful, I’d quit while you’re… well. Never mind, you’re not even ahead. I’d just quit.”
The rings around her eyes pulsed with light.
Stubborn to a fault. I suppose that was one thing I knew about her.
I raised a brow.
“What are you going to do, Hellion?” I whispered.
She scowled and nicked me. A single drop of blood trailed down my neck. Normally, that wouldn’t be possible. But no one else had the power I did. No one could block our bond as thoroughly.
She tilted her head and smirked back at me, but her emotions hinted at disappointment.
Why? About what? That I didn’t stop her? That it was too easy to cut me?
Now would be the perfect time to prove her wrong and fully open up, as MJ said. My chest tightened at the thought.
Just for a moment. Just so I could prove—to her and myself—that it was possible. That Etan hadn’t completely ruined me.
I gave her three seconds to live in her emotions and inhaled.
Then I tore away every block on the cordistella bond and pressed my neck into her knife. Immediately, her hand moved away. She attempted to push forward, her hand shaking, her emotions warring against her. The knife hovered near, but that was as far as it’d go as she fought to stab me. I caught her wrist and pulled her arm behind her back.
“We’re not able to harm each other, Hellion. Our powers already know this. It’s time you do too,” I murmured into her ear, brushing her skin with my tingling lips.
She relaxed in my arms, and for a moment, I just stood there, feeling all of her.
Not just her emotions. Her very being wove through me, dancing around the empty spaces she was supposed to fill, teasing me with peace from her light, taunting me with acceptance from her darkness. It was nothing compared to what I’d been experiencing with the little bits that had permeated the shadow block. It was remarkable.
Until I remembered she could feel everything I did. She was in my head.
A cold sweat broke out along my spine. Etan’s face flashed. Without thought, I slammed my blocks back up, forcing her out.
She hissed, her powers lashing out. They hit me like a brush of warm air.
“Is that your strategy to escape me?” I inquired, pushing her away from my pounding chest.
“Is this your strategy to infuriate me with your overpowering smugness?” she countered.
“Is it working?”
“No,” she snapped, twisting to face me. “But using the bond as your own personal tool against me is. Don’t you think I’ve already had enough of that?”
“That wasn’t my intention.”
