And why did my body respond in such a heated way that I was consciously looking for a place to push her against so I could trap that soft body and capture those lips? Was it this hard for all humans? My thoughts went into dangerous territory as she nervously licked her lips over and over again. Body dizzy with want, it was getting hard to walk in a straight line.
“My car’s over here.” Stephanie pointed to Ethan’s newest Lexus.
“Don’t you mean Ethan’s car?” I smirked, quite cheered at the fact that she’d most likely scratch the piece of machinery before the week’s end. Ethan and I had always been at odds, now even more so.
He was arrogant.
And ever since our falling out over his first mate’s death—it had been easy to let him hate me, to blame me for her death and everything since, when none of it was really my fault. Rules were not meant to be broken.
Yet as I thought those very words, I had to wonder, what part of me being fully human fit into the strict set of rules and guidelines given to the immortals since the beginning of time.
“We’re sharing.” She shrugged.
“I bet.” I chuckled.
It sounded funny.
Stephanie let out a little gasp.
I shrugged because, really, what else could I do? Laugh more?
Once we were on the freeway heading back toward Ethan’s, Stephanie finally started talking. Maybe she needed those minutes to process. Hell, I’d taken a whole day, and I still wasn’t sure what my plan was.
Touching her would do nothing—I was without any of my angelic power. She wouldn’t be seduced by it, and even if I was still a Dark One, so was she, which meant… what? Would our powers equalize? Or destroy us both? Was I playing at heartache even now?
“You even sound different,” Stephanie muttered under her breath. “Your voice is gruffer.”
“Yes.” The word caught at the back of my throat making me sound like an idiot.
“Do you bruise?” She pulled to a stop at the next light and stared at me.
I licked my lips and ran my fingers through my dark hair. “I guess so—”
The punch was so hard I was pretty confident one of my ribs simply broke in half.
“What the HELL?” I roared rubbing my left side while trying to suck in enough air so I didn’t pass out. It hurt to breathe.
“How dare you leave me!” She hit the accelerator causing me to slam back against the seat.
“Stephanie.” I held out my shaking hands. “Damn it, calm down.”
The car picked up speed. Shit.
Fear wasn’t something I was accustomed to but there it was slamming against my chest as she weaved in and out of traffic gaining speed.
I gripped my seatbelt. “Steph, just calm down for a minute. If you liste
n I think you’ll understand and—”
“Understand?” She laughed. “You left me! Alone! I don’t even know what I am! And you left me!”
“I had no choice!” I roared as the car damn near collided with a semi.
The atmosphere in the car turned to ice. I knew the look in her eyes well. It was the same as I’d seen reflected on my face a few thousand times.
Her eyes turned a stormy white.
Icicles formed around the steering wheel.