It’s the right thing to do…
There was just something about him, something I couldn’t quite identify. And my friends wouldn’t let me go too far, right?
“Just a walk,” I whispered.
“Yes.” The word was a promise against my mouth, followed by the briefest of touches that left me needing more.
“For a kiss,” I all but begged.
He arched a perfectly sculpted brow. “Another one?”
“The other didn’t count.” We’d barely brushed our mouths, let alone kissed.
His hand slid up my arm, leaving a trail of goose bumps in its wake. My chest burned with expectation, my legs shaking in anticipation. He wrapped his palm around the back of my neck, holding me tig
htly as if he owned me, and firmly pressed his lips to mine.
Fire licked through my veins, heating my body in a way I’d never experienced, the energy inside me roaring to the surface to meet his in a foreign mating I couldn’t describe, only feel. His touch inflamed my very being, his hand anchoring me to him in the most delicious manner.
And then he cursed.
Loudly.
People around us were screaming.
I blinked, confused. Startled by the chaos erupting throughout the bar.
Then I noticed the scorched walls.
Smelled the scent of burning wood.
Felt the hot wave traveling over the crowd as an inferno surged across the room.
My lips parted on a scream, the stranger wrapping his arms around me, sheltering me from the tornado of sensation beating down upon us just as the world went black.
Exos
“She burned down the bar?” Elana’s question felt weighted, accusatory. “What did you do to her?”
Oh, it wasn’t what I did to her but what she did to me. “Nothing.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell the truth, to admit that I’d let her kiss me.
What the hell had she been thinking, anyway? Kissing a complete stranger? For fuck’s sake.
Right, more importantly, why had I allowed it?
Because she was gorgeous.
Because she seduced me with her elemental gift for spirit.
Because I’d wanted to taste her plump lips all night despite knowing it was wrong.
I shook my head. “I managed to help most of the mortals survive, but there were a few casualties.” Including one of her friends, which I imagined would not go over well when Claire awoke.
Shit. I scrubbed my hand over my face, exhausted. It’d taken every ounce of my strength to mitigate the damage. My affinity for fire was negligible at best. And Claire had done a number on that bar, her power exploding out of her and diminishing the establishment to ash.
“Well, on a positive note, we have an adequate cover story for her disappearance.” Vape lounged in a chair near the floor-to-ceiling windows of Elana’s living area, his casual slacks and button-down shirt suggesting he’d been about to retire for the evening when I’d called.
I hadn’t known where else to take Claire, Elana being the only Council member I truly trusted with her safety and the story of the bar. She’d brought in Vape, but no one else, and allowed me to lay Claire upstairs in one of the myriad of guest rooms.