My perplexity soars. "How?"
His gaze drops to my lips, and he audibly gulps. "By showing you."
One, two, three seconds tick by before what he's saying clicks.
"You want to kiss me?" My squeaky voice is worse than the scraping metal noise that made me go deaf.
His eyes enlarge as he sputters, "We don't have to, if you don't want to." He stands up. "You know what? Forget I said it. I have no damn clue what I'm thinking." He turns his back on me and starts to walk off mumbling, "Ryder was right; I seriously misread people."
Feeling awful, I rush around in front of him. "That's not what I meant." Tiny, erratic breaths rush from my lips as self-doubt and nervousness surges through me. "It's just ... I'm afraid you might be wrong. And that little bit of fear makes me hesitant to try." I reach out and twine our fingers together. "Unless I know that I definitely won't hurt you, I can't take that risk, even if I want to."
He studies me with suspicion. "Are you sure that's not the only reason? Maybe, deep down, you're afraid of me, and you're just realizing it."
"No, that's not it at all," I admit truthfully. Sure, I'm afraid, but of myself, not him. Besides, kissing is ... well, foreign. While my memories are a jigsaw puzzle with tons of missing pieces, I'm almost positive I've never kissed anyone before. Not fully, not without hunger ending it quickly. "I don't want to hurt you--"
His lips collide with mine, silencing whatever I was going to say, and a thick haze instantly clouds my mind as my eyes close.
Kiss ... I'm kissing someone ... Kissing Blaise.
The kiss is rough, reckless, and we're both a bundle of nerves, unsure where to put our hands or what to do with our mouths. But for an unordinary moment, I feel content, at peace, warmth cascading over my body.
His lips are so soft.
He tastes so good.
I want more ...
A spark ignites in my chest; a powerful flame that craves more fuel.
Taste. Drink. Live forever.
I suck in a breath and grasp his arms, obeying the hunger.
No! Don't! a familiar voice screams through my mind. You can't do this to him or yourself!
My eyes snap open, and I start to pull back, but my lips magnetize toward his again, seeking more.
Peace.
So at peace.
I part his lips with my tongue, and a husky noise escapes the back of his throat as his trembling fingers dig into my waist.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
Blaise and I both tense at the same time, and a shiver slithers up my spine. Not the good kind of shiver. It's the foul, sickening, this-is-terribly-bad kind of shiver.
That voice ... I know it.
My heart nearly stops as my mind makes the connection.
The guy who murdered me in my memories.
Chapter 9
The Time Traveler
"Kissing, Allura?" he tsks. "I thought you would've learned your lesson by now."
Blaise and I jerk back at the same time. I start to spin around, but Blaise seizes me by the waist, practically lifts me up, and deposits me on the ground behind him.
"Stay away from her," he snarls with his arms expanded at his sides.
"You act like I'm here to harm her." Amusement dances in the stranger's tone. "Yet, you know nothing about me."
"You're a stranger in a strange world filled with death," Blaise snaps, the veins in his arms bulging. "That's all I need to know."
I stand on my tiptoes and peer over Blaise's shoulder to look at the guy's face, which has been a mystery to me both times we've crossed paths.
He's casually leaning against one of the over-sized trucks with his arms folded across his chest. His black jeans blend in with his black boots, hoodie, and gloves. With the hood drawn over his head and the collar of his jacket pulled over his mouth, I can't see his face, only the shadow of his eyes and nose.
"And how do you know I did it?" I can feel the guy's eyes shift to me. "There you are. I've been waiting for you to show up here again. Although, I figured you'd be alone like you always are. Looks like you learned something new since the last time I killed you."
"Killed?" Blaise bites out the word, stepping forward to charge at the stranger.
"No, don't." I latch onto a belt loop in his jeans and dig my heels into the ground, but Blaise throws his weight forward, and I trip, stumbling after him.
The stranger laughs as we near him. "Relax, Blaise, I'm not going to hurt her right now."
Blaise screeches to an abrupt stop, causing me to plow into him. My cheek smacks against his back, and my palms splay his sides as I steady my balance. Blaise hardly notices the contact, his muscles barely spasm.
"How do you know my name?" he asks. When the guy doesn't answer, his fingers curl into fists at his sides. "Who are you?"
"Why don't you ask Allura?" the stranger taunts. "I bet she's dying to tell you."
I move up next to Blaise with my shoulders squared, but my stomach clenches with trepidation. "I don't know who you are, either."
He mumbles, "Must we go through this every single time?"
Blaise glances at me with his brows furrowed and mouths, "What's going on?"
I shrug. I want to tell him about how I saw the guy twice in my memories, but I'm unsure if I should say this in front of the stranger.
As if sensing my need for secrecy, Blaise presses two fingers to the corner of my eye, keeping his gaze secured on the stranger.
Okay, what's going on? he asks. Who is this guy?
I'm not sure. I glance at the stranger from the corner of my eye and find him observing us with curiosity. I've seen him in my memories twice. Once he was dragging me to my death, and the other, he ... I bottle down my nerves. He killed me.
Blaise snarls with anger flaring in his eyes.
He knew I'd come back to life, I quickly add. He said he killed me a ton of times, but I always came back ... And that the Grim couldn't get ahold of me. Then lives and worlds would be destroyed.
But they've already gotten ahold of you.
I know ... And maybe that's why your world was destroyed. The thought throat punches me from out of nowhere, and I suck in a startled breath. Oh, my God, I think I ruined your planet.
Blaise hastily shakes his head. No, there's no way. It happened way before you or I were born.
I steal a glance at the guy, questioning if he can somehow hear our conversation. Go ahead, his body posture teases. Tell him.
I return my focus back on Blaise, guilt clutching my throat. Can I do it? Can I tell him what I heard the guy say in the memory?
Allura, you can tell me anything, Blaise says, reminding me that he can hear every single one of my thoughts. I won't judge you. I'd be a hypocrite if I did.
With my lips smashed together, I suck in a steady breath through my nose. In one of my memories, the guy said he had
n't seen me for over a century, which would make me much older than I look. Maybe old enough to have been around when the Grim ruined your planet.
How can that be possible? Blaise keeps a neutral expression, but I can feel his pulse thundering in his fingertips.
I shrug. Maybe it has something to do with my rapid healing rate. Maybe it makes me age slower, too.
I didn't mean your age. I meant, how can the Grim getting ahold of you ruin our planet, especially since, when they had you, all they did was lock you in a cell and let the occasional visitor feed off you? He shakes his head. No, I'm not buying it. This guy ... He glares at the stranger. He's lying.
"You think so?" the guy questions with a hint of hilarity.
The air electrifies with piercing tension as reality slaps me hard across the face.
He could hear our entire telepathic conversation?
"You're a Forbidden," Blaise states, his hand falling to his side.
"Nope." The stranger straightens and takes a deliberate step toward us. "But I do have some of your abilities."
"How is that possible?" Blaise moves his arm in front of me possessively as the man takes another step closer. "That's close enough."
The guy dares another step before pausing. "So protective of her." His gaze skirts to me. "If you knew her whole story, you might not be."
"Doubtful." Blaise doesn't budge. "Now, are you going to tell us why you're here and how you know us? Or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"
The guy wags his finger at us. "Such violence. I forgot you were like that."
"Tell me how you know me," Blaise says threateningly. "I sure as hell can't remember you."
"Oh, that's because you haven't met me yet," he replies simply. "But one day you will."
Blaise hesitates. "How have we never met, yet you know me?"
"Because I've met you already ..." He tugs his collar down just far enough that we can see the smirk on his face. "In the future."
"If you've met us in the future, then that would make you a ..." Blaise drifts off, struggling for an answer.
"Time traveler." The answer falls off my tongue absentmindedly. I stand taller, moving around Blaise's arm. I inch toward the man, but Blaise latches on to the hem of my jacket, forcing me to stay back. "You're a time traveler, and so am I."
His smile broadens as he shakes his head. "No, you're not, sweetheart. And this is a conversation we've had many, many times before."