by Kailin Gow
They felt hotter now.
I wanted to tear his shirt off. I wanted him to tear all
my clothes off. From the look in his eyes, he seemed to want
the same thing, but we were being watched by men holding
spears…
“That’s my woman,” Chance groaned, “giving me
what I want, when I want it.” He gave me a deep passionate
kiss while his hands grasp my butt tight against his groin,
grinding into me as though he was making love to me.
And then Chance turned away, facing one of the
warriors, the one who was carrying the boar's head under his
arm. “I see you've found my woman,” he said.
“What?” I cut in.
But Chance ignored me. “I see she wandered up here
to find me – she thought she could find my hiding place. You
know how it is, my friends. She misses the warmth of my
bed.”
My eyebrows shot straight up.
“She's likely gotten a bit cold – haven't you, Mac?”
“Freezing,” I muttered through gritted teeth.
“So you see, I can vouch for her. She has no interest
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in intruding upon your ways. She wants only a bit of what
I'm afraid, friends, you cannot give her. At least, I hope you
don't try.”
The warrior's grim face crinkled into a smile.
“She'll never reveal your secret – I can vouch for that.
I take responsibility for her. You remember, don't you, of
how I spoke of my twin? I showed you the picture, my
friend?”
The warrior nodded.
“Well, this is she. In all the delicious flesh.” Chance
shot me a look that showed how much he admired my
“delicious flesh”. I was going to retort with something
clever, but his look was not that of a leering pervert, but was
one of a man truly admiring the beauty of a woman. That
look said it all: he wanted me. But he wasn’t going to let me
have him that easily.
To my shock, the warrior bowed, tapping his chest as
the others all dropped to their knees. “Great god,” the warrior
touched his forehead to the ground. “You have found your
goddess at last.”
Chance did not break his gaze on me as he said,
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“Yes.” He smiled. “It appears I have.” He paused lightly, and
then put his arm around me. “To that end,” he continued, “I'd
awfully like to give the girl what she came for, don't you
think? It would be a shame to deprive her – after she came
all this way.”
The men laughed.
“So I think I'll lead her away from you – if you don't
mind. I know how you are with women, Ailani.” He turned
to the warrior. “I think it's better if I keep her safe from you.
You’re too handsome for your own good.”
The warrior continued his bow as Chance led me
away, his arm around my shoulder as we walked further
down the mountain path. I was still reeling from confusion
and fear. Who were these men – and why did they worship
Chance as a god? And what had happened to me? That kiss,
so tender and yet so rough, still burned on my lips. I could
still taste his mouth – spicy and sweet – on mine. I felt my
body start to ache: from exhaustion, from pain, from desire.
I felt myself grow weak at the knees as I staggered to the
ground, but Chance quickly propped me up. At his touch, I
felt as I had felt before: drunk, exhausted, overcomed, yet
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excited.
“What was all that about?” I asked him. “What's
going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean – what do I mean? You just
kissed me and more?” I wasn’t going to blush in front of him.
“Well, aren't you going to thank me?” His eyes
twinkled mischievously.
“For kissing me?”
“For getting you out of there alive, Miss Evers. And
don't go blabbing what's happened to anyone, either – or else
I won't be able to save you. It's lucky for you I passed by
when I did. They respect me. They know me. They trust me
not to give away their secrets. If they trust you it's because I
vouched for you – and they're risking their whole way of life
by letting you leave here unharmed. My father would be all
over that land in a heartbeat – let alone far less scrupulous
developers – if he knew they were there. He'd turn the Veteri
into a tourist attraction the way he's done with the fire-
dancing.” He scoffed.
“They were treating you like you were a god,” I said.
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“I thought you'd had enough of that at Eton.”
At the mention of his old school, Chance scowled.
“They treat me with respect,” he said. “It's part of their ways
– you wouldn't understand.”
“Try me,” I insisted.
“It's a long story,” said Chance. He didn't look at me.
At last my house came into view, and I breathed a sigh of
relief. It had been a harrowing day, and all I wanted to do
was go home.
“You know, normally that cottage is reserved for
VIPs,” said Chance, pointing at my house. “It's usually
rented out. But my father decided to turn it into an employee
residence instead. Because that's how the Cutter family
operates, of course.” He smiled grimly. “We’re one big
happy family. According to Antonio.”
There was an awkward silence.
“Well, thanks.” I stuck out my hand for him to shake,
but he did not. “I should have stayed on the path. But I was
stubborn. I wanted to go out and collect some stones, but...”
“Stones?” Suddenly Chance's brow furrowed. He
looked almost worried. “What do you want with stones
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around here?”
“I collect them,” I said. “Really – it's just a hobby.
Some people like bird-watching, other people collect
baseball cards. I like stones. And on the path today, I had this
feeling – just this weird feeling – that what I was looking for
wasn't on the path.”
Chance said nothing, but his eyes were full of
concern. Even now they were so dazzling – like the blue
burning of a flame.
“Don't judge!” I said. “I love finding new stones.
That feeling you get when you hold them in the palm of your
hand – kind of warm…how they change colors, how
sometimes the stones can tell you things…” I broke off,
feeling embarrassed telling Chance about the stones and
almost telling him about my connection with nature. How I
can sometimes tell about a place, its history, what went on
there just by picking up a stone, studying some of the plants
and rocks around. “We don't have that kind of connection
with nature. Not since the Erosion. Now it's all ferries and
airplanes and gadgets and dams and trying to fight nature
every step of the way. It wasn't like that, once. We were more
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connected then. Now we're just trying to have power over
nature – and it isn't working. No matter how many scientists
try to restore the land mass.” I stopped short, afraid I had
said too much.
“Not everyone, Miss Evers.”
“How many times have I told you?” I sighed. “Mac.
Just Mac, Chance.”
“I don't use pet names,” said Chance. “And I prefer
not to use first names.”
“Why, too much trouble to remember them?” The
familiar anger sparked in me. How could Chance dance with
me so passionately, kiss me so passionately, only to be so
cold to me when we spoke?
“No,” he said. “Calling you by your first name – it
means we're close. And we're not. I'm not interested in being
particularly close to anyone.”
I remembered what Varun had said about Jana –
about the girl who died in the fire at Eton. What was Chance
not telling me? What was he so afraid of? “Why not?” I said.
“What's wrong with getting close to someone?”
“Because!” Chance threw up his hands, turning away
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from me.
“Because why?” I wasn't about to let him walk away
again. Chance had messed with my head one too many times
this weekend for my liking. I wasn't going to give him that
power over me anymore. And as much as his kiss made me
weak at the knees, I wasn't about to wait for him to decide to
give me another one.
“Because it's not for me – just let it go.” He was
growing angry now; I could sense it.
“Why not for you? When it's fine for everyone else?”
“It just isn't, okay?”
“Why?” I took a step closer.
At last he exploded. “Because it's too dangerous,
damn it!” He turned back towards me, and in his eyes I saw
something there I had not seen before. Not cruelty. Not
disdain. Not arrogance. Only pain – bare, unmasked,
vulnerable.
And I wanted nothing more than to soothe it.
“I'm not afraid,” I said, stepping forward. “I don't
scare easy, Chance. And you're not going to get rid of me that
easily. Whatever weirdness is going on between us – I want
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to see it through to the end. Properly.”
He wasn't going to call the shots anymore. I was.
I stepped closer and, before he could figure out what
I was doing, reached my arms around his neck and pulled
him close into a kiss. I could feel his lips parting beneath
mine; I could feel the heat of his tongue exploring my
own…his groan as he pressed his hard-on against my crotch,
grinding against me as I opened up to him. I could feel his
pulse quicken, his hands grow warm as he tightened his hold
on me.
And then he pulled away, leaving me frustrated.
“I did warn you, Miss Evers,” he said.
“Mac.”
“I'll warn you again.” Chance turned away from me
and began to storm off into the distance. “Stay away from
me, Miss Evers. For your own sake – and for mine, if you
want to live!” And with that, he vanished into the night.
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Chapter 10
I woke up Monday morning feeling more confused
than ever. The weekend had been an overwhelming one. I'd
hoped to start my senior year fresh – ready to make friends,
to have adventures, to get good grades, to maybe join a
sports team or two and start hunting for college scholarships.
Instead I'd kissed two guys and almost one guy in twenty-
four hours. My own body felt like a stranger to me.
Something kept taking over me – first at the flames at the
bonfire, then again in the woods – as if I had been possessed
by some unknown creature. I didn't have any control over
my thoughts anymore; my mind felt as if it had been
submerged in water. Fuzzy. Overwhelmed. I kept thinking
about Varun, Chance, and Brandon. Then Chance, Brandon,
and Varun, my thoughts flitting back and forth between them
all. I spent Sunday forcing myself to concentrate on my
homework, trying to forget Varun's sweetness, Chance's
passion, and Brandon’s promises but by the end of the day I
was a nervous mess.
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What was I doing? This wasn't me at all. It had been
years since I'd been interested in one boy – let alone three –
and it certainly wasn't like me to go after all at the same time.
Leading guys on, I'd always thought, was reserved for girls
like Haven, girls who didn't care who they were dating as
long as it gave them a better shot of making prom queen. But
here I was, thinking of Chance, Brandon, and Varun, wanting
them both beside me, wanting both sets of arms around me.
Varun was so kind, so warm – he knew how to make me
laugh. He knew how to make me feel calm, feel safe, even
in the midst of all my stress and troubles. And certainly
Chance made me feel anything but safe. With him I lost
control of my emotions; with him anger and desire melded
into a single blazing force. I wanted to slap him; I wanted to
kiss him. I wanted to make him feel as confused and out-of-
control as I felt now. Brandon…there was more to him than
his outrageous flirtatiousness too.
And somehow, it seemed, this all had to do with the
secrets of Aeros, the secrets I was only just beginning to
discover. What was the truth about what happened to Jana,
about Chance's secrecy, about the girl who died in England?
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Who were the men I had seen in the mountains, and why did
they really worship Chance as a god?
And what was it that he had said about a goddess?
Something was going on. I had felt it ever since that
first night at the luau, when Antonio Cutter had looked at me
so intently when talking about Chance. And now I knew that
Antonio Cutter was behind our family's successes – from my
scholarship to the fact that we were living on VIP property
instead of normal staff quarters. Varun had told me that
Antonio cared about his staff, that he wanted everyone to be
like a family – but it seemed like more than that now.
Something was going on. Something strange as if everything
has been in place, set in place years before me. And I wanted
to know what it was.
That Monday, I arrived at school on time for morning
wrestling, wearing my own set of gym clothes, much to the
snickering disappointment of the boys who had enjoyed
seeing me in my tight clothes earlier. I hadn't seen Varun in
the hallway, much to my disappointment, but although I
longed to see him I was a little bit relieved. How could I look
him in the eyes, taking in his adorable puppy-dog smile,
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when I knew that I had kissed his cousin and rival mere hours
after I had succumbed to his own charms?
Did I want Chance, or did I want Varun? Brandon?
Chance's cruelty towards me was making me competitive –
the more he pulled away, the harder I wanted to pull him
back towards me, to make him mine. He wanted me as badly
as I wanted him – I was sure of it now – the arrogance and
the boorishness was all an act. He'd admitted as much when
he talked about danger.
But what was I in danger from? Or who?
I did not look at Chance when I walked into class,
and he was just as clear about not looking at me. He kept his
chin high in the air and focused his gaze out the window. But
I could feel his desire even without looking at him. We can
feel each other’s presence – the air was thick with tension
between us. His energy filled the room and made me
shudder.
But I wasn't going to let him distract me from my
goal. Last Friday, Alice had beaten me easily. But this time
it was going to be different. I followed the warm ups Coach
Matthews gave us to the letter, running an extra lap around
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the gym when the others were tired out. I watched as he
showed us the various moves we needed to perform, using
Alice as an example, and I tried out the various methods of
felling an opponent with Bobby, a tall, lanky boy with whom
I had been partnered for the technique portion of the class.
At last it was time for the “square-offs,” the final
fifteen minutes of class, where we were each matched
against each other to apply what we learned. I watched the
other wrestlers – Bobby, Tim, Chance – like a hawk,
watching exactly what it was that they did, trying to mirror