Lightning hit me repeatedly, scorching the skin of my stomach and creating a funnel of agony that sank into my very bones. I lay on the ground, unable to move and struggling to breathe. The dark mists floating around me created a damp film on my skin, adding to my misery.
Another bolt hit. I opened my mouth and screamed long and loud, raging at the skies to leave me in peace. The sound of my ragged inhale changed my surroundings.
The mists dissolved, and I blinked up at my bedroom ceiling. Everything ached. Not just where the mermaid had scratched but all over. My sweat-soaked clothes clung to me as I untangled myself from the damp bedding and sat up.
The bedside clock showed that my alarm had gone off over an hour ago. I was late for school, not that I really cared.
With effort, I stood and thumped down the stairs, making my way to the bathroom. I’d expected my reflection to look like I felt. Instead, other than being sweaty, I appeared fine. I turned on the cold tap and took a long drink. It helped cool the heat that seemed to be burning me from the inside. It didn’t help stop the sweating, though. Needing to cool off and get clean, I started the shower then stripped.
Before I stepped into the spray, I checked my scratches in the mirror.
The long oozing gashes from the day before were completely gone. I ran my hand over the perfect skin and wondered what it meant. I’d never healed like that in the past. The few bruises I’d managed to gain throughout the years had healed normally enough, as far as I could remember. I hadn’t bruised often, though, and had never broken a bone or scraped my skin. I’d always thought I’d been naturally tough.
I took my time washing and even more getting dressed. When I finally picked up my phone, it was well into mid-morning. I had seven texts from Eliana, wondering where I was and worried because she’d heard about the mermaid attack. And, I had one from Oanen that was less than five minutes old.
It simply said, “I’ll find you.”
That message sent a shot of warmth through me. Unable to stop my grin, I went out the back door and stood in the center of the lawn, watching the sky.
Oanen didn’t disappoint. As soon as I spotted him, he seemed to spot me. He folded his wings and dove sharply, opening them at the last minute and landing as he shifted. The impressive display of power made my heart pound. The sight of the bare expanse of his…everything, made my knees weak. I could barely keep myself from drooling as he stalked toward me.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I am now.”
He pulled me into his arms and hugged me close. The brief press of his lips against my temple began to heat my insides, and I tried not to think about what he so easily did to me.
“If you wanted to skip out today, you should have told me. I would have kept you company,” he said.
“It wasn’t an intentional skip out. I promise. I overslept and was a little slow to get ready. I just saw all your texts now.”
“I only sent one.”
He released me, and I quickly stepped back, creating enough space so I’d keep my hands to myself.
“Yeah, well, Eliana sent seven.” I grinned. “I think there’s a spare set of clothes in the guest room if you want to stay for lunch.”
After he dressed, we ate a quick lunch I’d made while waiting, then he rode with me back to the school.
“So do we all heal quickly?” I asked just before we reached town.
“Not necessarily. Often it depends on the type of injury.”
I made a noncommittal noise. First my eyes. Now freakish healing?
“What does ‘hmm’ mean, Megan? Did something happen when you went in the lake?”
“Yeah. A fish with an attitude scratched me with her claws. It hurt like a bitch and was oozing dark green slime. And, this morning, the gashes are gone. All of them.”
“Pull over.” His words were more clipped and stern than usual, and I spared him a quick glance. He looked pissed and barely in control.
“Please don’t go griffin mode in the car,” I said. “I really like being able to drive around.”
I quickly slowed and parked on the shoulder. When I stopped, though, he didn’t get out.
“Show me,” he demanded.
“What?”
“Show me where you were scratched.”
I couldn’t stop the stupid grin that pulled at my lips as I tugged up my t-shirt.
“Did I really just pull over because you’re worried about me?”
His gaze stayed locked on the unblemished skin of my stomach.
“Yes.”
The clipped word made me grin bigger.
“I kinda like this.”
He finally lifted his gaze to meet mine.
“I don’t.” He reached out and ran his fingers over my skin. My amusement fled, chased away by the heat of his touch and the intensity in his eyes.
“I don’t like the position the Council has put you in.”
“Your parents and Adira? It’s no worse than the position they put Ashlyn in. What would have happened if I hadn’t jumped in after her?”
“She’d probably be dead.”
“Exactly.” I tugged down my shirt, dislodging his touch. “I need you on my side in this, Oanen. Uttira’s view of humans needs to change.” I pulled back onto the road.
“I am on your side,” Oanen said. “I’ll always be on your side.”
The three torturously boring hours in the library hadn’t been enough to incite any level of excitement for meeting Eliana at the Roost. But, because I hadn’t spent any real time with her all week, I forced myself into the dress she’d given me at school and brushed out my hair.
The dress seemed a step up from the last. The flowing skirt tastefully fell to just above the knee, and the modest neckline scooped to give just a hint of cleavage. The back packed all the wow. The see-through, stretch black lace panel of material started just below the neckline and ran to just above the swell of my butt. It was a dress that demanded no bra. I went with the flow and skipped the garment, knowing Eliana would be happy.
The drive to the Roost didn’t take long. When I got out of the car, the music thumped as usual.
“This town needs some diversity in hang out spots,” I mumbled, staring at the red doors.
I so did not want to go in. Based on the cars lining the street, the Roost was very busy. Busy meant more people. More people meant more of a chance that I’d flip my shit. And, odds were Oanen would show up at some point and probably witness me doing it, too. Seeing him get all upset and protective was cute. Seeing me bloody someone’s face was not. Yet, despite openly acknowledging all of that, I reached out and opened the damn doors. I was obviously messed-up in the head.
Music blasted me as I stepped inside.
Tonight, the Roost seemed especially popular. Bodies clogged the dance area from tables to doors. It looked like the entire student body of Girderon had shown up. The bold ones were on the stage, publicly making out to the sultry voices of the sirens at the microphones.
“Perfect.”
People bumped against me as I attempted to make my way around the crowded dance floor. The bumps I didn’t mind. The grinds got old quickly.
Through the chaos, I spotted Fenris with his her-herd. His gaze met mine, and he grinned. I lifted a hand to wave in return, but my fingers never got higher than my head. Fenris’ grin widened the moment someone’s strong fingers wrapped around mine. Before I could elbow the person, an arm encircled my waist and anchored me to a familiarly hard chest.
I leaned my head back against Oanen’s shoulder and looked up at his beautiful eyes.
His hold on my hand loosened and traced its way down my arm. I shivered at the sensation and closed my eyes. The room felt ten degrees warmer by the time he reached my ribs.
“Dance with me,” he whispered in my ear.
I opened my eyes as he turned me in his arms and held me close. We swayed to the music, and I lost myself to the feel of him. The feel of his hands on my back. The feel of his shirt under my palms. The brush of his hips against mine.
Heat pooled inside of me, twisting and coiling. Oanen watched me closely as I stared at him.
Unable to resist any longer, I tipped my head up to him. The barest hint of a smile touched his mouth before he lowered his head. His breath teased my lips while his fingers traced the lace where my bra should have been. Anticipation boiled me from the inside as he moved his hand upward to cradle the back of my head.
The first touch of his lips to mine made my breath catch. He tasted like hope and home. Like air and freedom. He tasted like he was mine, and I was his.
I gripped his shoulder, pressing against him so not a speck of space remained. He groaned and swept his tongue inside, taking and demanding and billowing the flames of need that roared inside of me even higher.
The faint scent of smoke touched my nose, and I broke the kiss.
“Not yet,” he said before claiming my lips again.
The second kiss stole my will to think or worry. Oanen controlled me with each stroke of his tongue. Like a marionette, I responded to each pull of my strings and continue to sway against him.
When he grunted and finally pulled back, it took several blinks for reality to intrude. The sound of the music. The voices talking and laughing. The smell of something smoldering.
My gaze dropped to my hand where I still touched his shirt. When I lifted my palm, I saw the dark brown patch that outlined the shape of my hand.
Oanen gripped my chin and tilted my head up until I met his gaze.
“I’m fine,” he said, his words almost nonexistent in the beat of the music.
“I’m not.”
When I tried to pull out of his hold, he wouldn’t let me escape. He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist and leaned in so his cheek rested against the side of my head. The position brought his lips close to my ear.
“You are fine,” he said. “Just afraid. Don’t be. Not when we’re together.”
That was exactly the root of my fears. Being together.
I reached up between us and pulled his shirt aside enough to look at the red hand print. This time, I’d blistered his skin right in the center of where my palm had rested. Being with him the way he wanted only seemed to cause him pain. We were both just kidding ourselves if either of us thought this would end in any way that didn’t result in him lying on the floor, burnt to a crisp.
Tipping my head back, I looked up at him.
“I think this is a mistake.”
His fingers pressed more firmly into my back.
“I know it’s not.”
I wanted to believe him. He seemed so confident, so sure that whatever was growing between us would work. I knew better. Life wouldn’t give us what we wanted. Why should it? It hadn’t ever cooperated yet.
“I appreciate your optimism, but I think we need to get real. I’ve burned you twice with just—”
Yelling and shouting broke out behind me. A tingle of annoyance raced up my spine, and I turned toward the back tables. An invisible string tugged me forward. I wedged my way through people, barely noticing when Oanen reached out to stop a few incubi from grabbing me as I passed.
Near the back, a group of bodies crowded around the booth where Ashlyn usually sat. Worried, I pushed forward harder.
“Move, dammit!” I yelled at a huge boy. He turned back to glare at me but stopped short when he glanced over my shoulder.
“Hey, Oanen,” he said, stepping aside.
Ignoring the boy and Oanen, I focused on the cause of the commotion. Two boys held Kelsey back from attacking another boy who was kissing the hell out of her younger sister, Zoe. Zoe’s fingers clenched the boy’s hair. At first, I thought her hold was out of passion, then I saw her tears and pale cheeks. Had Zoe looked like she was enjoying herself, I would have turned around. Seeing her being forced into a kiss, though, ignited my temper, not only at the boy but at the Council. Kelsey and Zoe had no business being “on duty” at the Roost already.
I rushed forward, grabbed the incubus’s shoulder, and pulled him away from his prize.
He grinned at me.
“You’ll get your turn after I’m done with these two,” he said.
I hit him square in his still glistening lips. His head jerked to the side at the contact, and his eyes turned black. Zoe tried to step away, but his hold tightened on her arm.
“I’m not done with you, human. Not until I drink every bit of that passion you’re trying so desperately to hide.”
“Oh, you’re done,” I said.
He hissed at me and reached out to caress Zoe’s breast. The girl whimpered at the contact, and I snapped.
“Touch her again, and tip the balance. Become wicked. Become mine.” My voice sounded strange to my own ears. Angry. Commanding.
The boy who gripped Zoe paled and released her. The ones holding Kelsey released her as well. Kelsey grabbed her sister and hugged her close. The pair shook together, their cheeks wet with tears.
“I’m not wicked,” the incubus said, reclaiming my attention. “She agreed to kiss me.”
“Asshole!” Kelsey yelled. “You tricked her.”
“Darling, that’s not my problem. She agreed. That’s all that mattered.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “Because if that were true, I wouldn’t be itching to punish you.”
The boy narrowed his eyes.
“The fact that you haven’t already, fury, means I’m right. I’m not wicked, and you have no fight with me.”
“Maybe not as a fury, but as a pissed off girl, I sure do.”
I laid into him, hitting his pretty face again and again. It took a lot more effort to make him bleed than it would have a human, but I didn’t mind taking the time to do the job right. By the time I finished a few minutes later, he looked satisfactorily messed up.
“Next time, consider the consequence before messing with a human. There’s always a bigger, badder monster out there; and that monster might take offense to what you do.”
“The same applies to you, fury,” the boy said, turning his head and spitting blood on the floor. When he looked at me again, there was retribution in his gaze. “There just might be more powerful creatures out there than you, who will take offense at what you just did.”
“I look forward to hearing them complain.” I turned my back on the boy and looked at Kelsey and Zoe. “Can I give you two a ride home?”
“We have a car. We can’t leave yet, though. Adira said until eight.”
“And I’m saying now. If Adira has a problem with it, it’ll be my fault, not yours.”
Kelsey nodded and moved toward me, not releasing her hold on Zoe.
“We’ll walk you out and follow you home,” Oanen said from just behind me.
He led, and I followed the pair. No one messed with the girls, and everyone moved out of Oanen’s way.
Outside, the cool night air brought my attention to my temperature. I hadn’t realized how warm I’d grown inside.
“Thank you for your help, Megan,” Kelsey said.
“Don’t thank me. If I’d really been helpful, you wouldn’t have been in there in the first place. You’ve only been in Uttira for a few days. Why did the Council have you working at the Roost already?”
“We wanted to know what we were getting into before too many days passed.”
“You should have talked to Ashlyn, then. She would have been able to give you an honest view of life in Uttira for a human.”
“Ashlyn? Is she human like us?”
I felt my temper twinge that the Council hadn’t even introduced them.
“Human, and not a fan of this place. Hold on.” I turned to Oanen. “Can I use your phone?”
“What happened to yours?” he asked as he handed it over.
“Where on this dress do you think I’d stash my phone? I left it in the car.”
His gaze swept over my dress, and I knew he wasn’t thinking of my phone. Trying to ignore him, I sent a quick text to Ashlyn to see if she was home and had time for some company.
Oanen’s phone immediately rang. Eliana’s number.
“Hey, we’re almost there. What’s up?” she asked.
I felt a twinge of guilt. I hadn’t even thought of Eliana since arriving, and it definitely hadn’t occurred to me that Ashlyn would come to the Roost willingly for a night out.
“The new girls had a run-in with an incubus. I was thinking they should have a frank talk with Ashlyn before attempting any more assignments from the Council.”
Eliana was quiet for a moment.
“Are they okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. Just shaken up.”
“We’re pulling up now.” The call disconnected, and I saw the blinker go on for the set of headlights coming down the road.
A moment later, Eliana parked and got out. She and Ashlyn both wore cute, modest dresses and sad expressions.
“Kelsey, Zoe, this is Ashlyn and Eliana.”
“Hi, Ashlyn. Nice to see you again, Eliana,” Kelsey said.
“What happened?” Ashlyn asked.
“Some guy tricked Zoe into making out with him in front of everyone. Then a few more guys came up and said they were next. I tried to stop them, but every time I looked one of them in the eyes, I forgot what I was doing. He wouldn’t even stop when Zoe started to cry. He said the salt of her tears gave the kiss more flavor.
“Then Megan showed up, eyes glowing, and kicked his ass.”
The asskickery hadn’t been nearly enough now that I’d heard the whole story. I wanted to go back inside and find the guy again.
“Eyes glowing?” Eliana said looking at me.
“It’s nothing.” I definitely did not want to talk about my freakish changes just then. “Kelsey and Zoe were here because they wanted to know what it would be like for them if they decide to live in Uttira.”
The door behind us opened and the incubus who’d met my fist walked out with his two friends. His eye had swollen shut and his bottom lip had puffed up on the right side. Despite that, he grinned when he saw Eliana.
“About time you acted like what you are. I warmed the little one up for you. You’re welcome.”
Before I could take a step, Oanen’s hands settled on my shoulders.
“Leave now, Eras.”
The boy’s eyes settled on Oanen and his hold on me.
“Your parents’ influence doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “I’m not going to cower and bow like the other mindless idiots inside. There’s three of us, and that fury can’t do a thing if we haven’t broken any rules.”
The door had opened during his little speech, and a familiar chuckle reached my ears.
“It doesn’t look like your opinion stopped her from doing something to your face a few minutes ago.”
The incubi parted, and Fenris strolled toward us.
“It’s always fun when you show up, Megan,” he said with a grin.
“Not sure I’d call tonight fun,” I said.
He winked and looked back at the other guys.
“You’re in no position to continue this fight. Go home. I’m sure your mother will give you some love after she sees your face.”
Eras’s face grew red, and his eyes blackened. I fisted my hands, more than ready for him to make his move. Instead of giving me another reason to hit him, he pivoted and stalked away, taking his little followers with him.
“You coming back inside?” Fenris asked.
“If Megan wants to go back in, that’s fine. But, maybe we should postpone our night out,” Ashlyn said, her gaze flicking between Zoe, Kelsey, and Eliana.
Eliana nodded, a look of guilt on her face.
“I think we’ll all pass tonight,” I said to Fenris.
He sighed and nodded.
“Next time.” He turned and went back inside.
“I’m really sorry that guy kissed you, Zoe,” Eliana said softly after the door closed.
I suddenly understood Eliana’s guilt and shrugged out of Oanen’s light hold to wrap her in a hug.
“You didn’t do this; they did. And, you are not them,” I whispered in her ear.
She nodded against me.
“Let’s take this back to my house,” Ashlyn said. “We can all watch a movie and talk Uttira.”
I released Eliana.
“You’re invited too, Megan. Oanen,” Ashlyn said.
“Thanks, but I think it would be better for everyone if I headed home. Take Eliana with you. If anyone can teach Kelsey and Zoe how to resist the creatures here, Eliana can.”
Eliana tried to protest, but Ashlyn won her over quickly with a pleading look. The four of them walked away, leaving me alone with Oanen.
Sighing, I faced him. The fight had been a nice distraction, but it hadn’t erased the issue of us. His shirt still hung open, and I could see the edge of the red handprint. I knew he wanted me to not worry about it. To go with the flow and pretend like it had never happened. But I couldn’t. I’d hurt him just like I’d feared I would.
His gaze held mine, and he reached up to smooth back some of my hair.
“I know what you’re thinking. You’re wrong. This burn doesn’t matter just like the one before didn’t matter. Just like all the future burns won’t matter.”
Panic hit me hard right in the sternum. Future burns? Hell no!
He exhaled heavily.
“I’ll let you run and hide for now, but only for a little while.”
He leaned in and kissed me tenderly, creating a familiar heat in my middle. This time I had the sense to keep my hands to myself. Barely.
When he pulled away, I almost followed him.
“Don’t make me wait too long,” he said.
He touched me one last time then went inside.
