“Give it up, Selena. I may not be able to hear your thoughts anymore, but I can still hear his,” he said darkly.
“Oh really? Because last I checked, his thoughts have nothing to do with my actions—which everyone seems to have forgotten—and even if they did, it’s none of your damn business.” My heart and head hammered out a dangerous melody.
“So, you admit something’s going on with him?” he said haughtily.
I wanted to facepalm myself at the insanity behind his statement, and this entire conversation.
“For Christ’s sake, Lucas, you’re the mind reader. You tell me, since you seem to know more about my life than I do.”
“You’ve changed. Ever since we got back here, you’ve been keeping secrets. Avoiding me. Fighting with him.”
My mouth fell open, gaping at him in disbelief. Fighting with him? Excuse me?
“Well, I’m glad you’ve come to the same conclusion then, Lucas, because we’ve both changed,” I spat, pushing him off me. “Ever since we’ve gotten back here, you’ve been nothing but a territorial prick. You’ve let jealousy of the fact that you cannot and will not be everything to me blind you.” I swung my legs off the ring, prepared to pull no punches if it came to that. “For god’s sake, I can hit him in the face, and you’re the one fuming. At least he knows how to act. He knows how to—”
Crack.
The slap rang hard and clear, and I stared at him, dumbfounded. Had he actually just slapped me? The feeling was surreal. I didn’t know what to think or how to feel about it. I’d barely even processed the sting coming from the left side of my face. We’d fought many times before, and a slap was nothing in comparison…except we weren’t training right now. He’d hit me because he couldn’t control his temper. Pulling my shoulders back, I cracked my knuckles in passive warning. I’d had enough of his manhandling for one day. I wasn’t an object. He didn’t own me. Apparently, he needed reminding, because this situation was so blown out of proportion at this point that there was no coming back.
“Get out,” I said. I was two seconds from putting him down, quite literally, and this time it had nothing to do with the killing gene. I could forcibly remove him, and it wouldn’t be pretty, but I was giving him one chance. The lights flickered, and he smiled cruelly, stepping away entirely.
“As you wish. Next time you need a fix, you can go to your half-breed signa—”
I punched him in the face.
He hit the floor with a thud, face-first, his body crumpling. For once, I didn’t give a damn. He could stay there, for all I cared. My pulse calmed very slowly.
What did he say? Something about Aaron being a half-breed?
“Maybe I should’ve let him finish before I knocked him out,” I muttered to myself.
At least this makes us even, I thought gloomily.
Blair had warned me. Amber had warned me. I’d seen what I’d wanted to see, though, because I’d been desperate not to be lonely anymore, to have one friend. I’d wanted to escape myself and be someone else, and somehow, he’d fallen in love with that person, and it had consumed him.
I didn’t know what had happened, or how we’d gotten here, but I was stronger now. I might not have known who I was yet, but I knew who I wasn’t. If he’d thought I was heartless before…he was in for a very rude awakening.
Chapter 80
“Who crapped in your coco puffs?” Amber said crudely.
I rolled my eyes and took another bite of toast. Two days had passed since I’d done a number on Lucas, while I stewed and decided how I was going to handle this situation.
The month was halfway over, and we were growing more divided by the day.
“Don’t start with me,” I said around a mouthful of cereal.
She raised her eyebrows, swirling her coffee in its mug. “Touchy today, I see.”
“Then keep your mouth shut and mind your own business,” I said.
Amusement flitted across her features until there was a thunk under the table.
“Hey, what’s your—” she said to Blair, whose gaze flicked between Lucas and me.
Realization dawned on Amber as her mouth snapped shut. She stared at her coffee like it was the most fascinating thing, never mind the insane bruising on Lucas’s face or that one of his eyes was swollen shut.
Unable to stand the tension any longer, I left my half-eaten cereal and exited the room. I took the stairs two at a time on my way up to the simulator. Vonlowsky was lounging against his desk, staring into the psych-ward lookalike room.
“Am I interrupting something?”
He bristled at my comment, but let his scowl speak for itself. “And here I thought you were taking this more seriously after—”
“I am. Don’t get your knickers in a twist—or whatever you call them,” I said quickly before he got pissed again. The last thing I needed was one of his ‘motivational speeches.’
“You are doing better. You’ve seemed less distracted this week. That mindset will serve you well in the field,” he said. This was high praise coming from the man who referred to my telekinetic abilities like they were some parlor trick.
“Speaking of the field, when’s the next elimination?” I asked. Unlike Blair, I didn’t try to schmooze my way into getting information, and I wasn’t waiting around for Johanna to tell me the day before again. Not if I could help it. Brute force always appealed the most; I didn’t have the patience to beat around the bush.
“Now that my simulator is fixed, soon,” he said ambiguously. His eyes cut across the room, narrowing on me with suspicion. They may have covered for me, but Vonlowsky wasn’t a fool. Ceilings don’t just collapse, because bathrooms don’t just blow up. Yet between me and Alexandra, that was exactly what had happened.
I rolled my eyes. There wasn’t much else to say. Vonlowsky wasn’t much of a talker, and I preferred the silence. I had enough drama going on in my life right now without picking a fight with him.
A dark shadow crossed in front of me, and my mood plummeted again with the reminder of Lucas.
“All right, you know the drill. Everyone in the simulator,” Vonlowsky said as people came through the hidden staircase.
Feet shuffled as they groggily entered the simulator, but the tension was thick.
Alexandra was hurt by something beyond my understanding. Blair wouldn’t tell me what. Lucas was being a douche. Everything came back to one person—Aaron, and whatever he’d done that had made everyone hate me.
I stalked toward him, ignoring everyone else as I crossed the room. When I was only a few feet away, he looked up from the small girl in front of him. Her opaque, cloud-like eyes widened as she regarded us.
“Camilla, you’ll need to spar with someone else today,” he said.
She nodded, and her dark brown cornrows swung side-to-side as she ran to Johanna. The other girl, my honorary second, met my eyes and nodded once, pairing the younger girl with the Graeme twins instead.
“I’m surprised you find her a challenge,” I said.
His eyes followed mine, watching the young Supernatural weave back and forth between them with expert skill. She was always a step ahead. “Someone once taught me not to judge a book by its cover.” A smirk touched his lips.
I rolled my eyes and unzipped my jacket. “Hmm, let’s see if you learned your lesson.”
The banter flowed too easily. You don’t know him. You don’t even like him.
Stop that, I berated myself. You have a job to do.
“Oh please,” he purred. “Like you could teach me anything.” His eyes flashed gold as he took a step forward.
An almost animalist urge to growl at him went through me. I tossed my jacket to the floor and lunged.
He was quick—sidestepping just enough that I only caught his shoulder. There was a crunch, but he’d moved all the same. I didn’t waste my time waiting for him to heal. He could take it. He’d said so himself.
I planted a roundhouse kick right into his rock-hard side. The snap sh
ould’ve been sickening. And I probably should’ve stopped when he started laughing and blood came up.
“What’s so funny?” I demanded.
He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand, looking unperturbed as usual. “The lengths you go to to deny yourself.”
What does that even mean? You know what? It doesn’t matter.
His cocky grin was maddening, and I wanted nothing more than to wipe it from his face. I brought my hand up, prepared to slap him into his next life, but stopped in midair when he grabbed my hand. He held us there in a stalemate, his rough callouses brushing against my sensitive skin to the point of pain and pleasure. I yelped.
Stepping back, I suddenly found myself pinned to a wall with nowhere to go. His black eyes stared down, intense, hot, and heavy. It was as if the blinders were ripped from my eyes, and I saw the sun. They were right.
The look he was giving me wasn’t just the thrill of the fight. It was the challenge of one creature claiming dominance over another. It was a mating call. This was why Alexandra wouldn’t speak to me. The reason Blair wouldn’t talk. Why Lucas was so jealous. Aaron had it for me; Amber hadn’t been lying. The only problem, the thing all of them failed to see, was that I didn’t return the sentiment.
I brought my knee up between us, forcing him to move back or lose his manhood forever. Using both hands, I shoved forward, only to find the other wrist ensnared. He had me, but this wasn’t over.
The look he gave me was his undoing, as I mentally tore him from me and blasted the bastard through the only double-paned glass window in the room.
“Again?” Vonlowsky frowned from the other side, motioning to the broken window. I rolled my eyes. “The least you can do is fix it,” he muttered.
I reached out with my other sense, feeling where the glass had fallen and how each piece fit together. Bringing my hands up, I traced the cracks with my eyes as I melded them shut. This was the part I enjoyed about being telekinetic. I saw a puzzle in every creation. Just as easily as I could destroy, I knew how to put it back together in a way others never would. The very essence of matter called to me. I was the master puppeteer of everything.
A guttural, almost wild growl alerted me. I turned from the glass to see Aaron stalking toward me. Rage mixed with something else in a deadly and heady combination. He was hunting me, but not in the way I’d imagined. I stilled, curious to see what he would do.
“Did you really think that would work on me?” His voice was deeper. Darker. Something in it told me I’d been warned. Something in it made me see his face. His eyes. Gold rimmed in black, more animalistic than demon for once.
“I certainly hoped it would.” Cracking my neck, I walked right up to him.
He was pumped and pissed off. It made him sloppy as he tried to take me down.
Block left.
Block right.
Duck.
Jump.
We fell into the neverending dance of the sun and moon, always fighting for power.
Always fighting for dominance.
He landed a punch to my stomach, and I hunched forward into him. I took short, quick breaths—and instantly regretted that decision. Something about him smelled wild. Untamed, even. It was like a wildfire in the dead of winter, crisp. There was no mistaking it. Underneath it, I smelled something else too. Something I’d never noticed before. Something I couldn’t name. It was almost warm…
“Ugh,” I groaned, finding myself backed into a wall yet again. He trapped my wrists above my head, effectively holding me in place for the second time. Leaning in, he brushed his lips against the soft spot just underneath my ear.
“Pinned,” he whispered.
“As long as we’re here, you plan on telling me what the hell happened in that bathroom?” I shot back. His touch was far too gentle for my liking.
“You’re not ready.”
“Mr. White, I don’t know what you’re doing, but you have a bed downstairs for that. Get back to work!” Vonlowsky shouted.
The sudden intimacy of the moment hit me. Taking no time to rethink the decision, I waited for him to loosen his grip just enough…before I kicked his ass ten feet through the air.
My boot made a dull thunk against his chest as the bastard went sailing. I watched him land on his ass with my hands on my hips.
“Apparently you didn’t get that message loud and clear the first time,” I said, leaving his punk ass lying there groaning and wheezing.
“And you,” I said to Vonlowsky from the other side of the window. “Keep your comments to yourself next time, please.”
He rolled his eyes, looking at the rest of the group. His piss-poor attitude toward me was waning the closer we got to the month ending. I could only guess he’d decided I had my act together.
“What are you looking at? What are any of you looking at? Get back to work,” he said, clapping his hands together as if that would make them move faster.
I looked back at Aaron, who was dusting himself off. It was now or never. He couldn’t run from me here. I walked over, standing directly in front of him. There was a glint of gold in his eyes that was coming out more everyday.
“Why did Lucas call you a half-breed?” I asked.
That got his attention, as well as everyone else’s in the room.
Aaron went completely still, no longer acting like this was a game. Behind him, Johanna’s eyes glowed gold as she narrowed them at a slowly backing away Lucas.
“He said what?” Aaron asked, very, very quietly. It wasn’t hurt that softened his voice, but fury. Why, though?
“He told me you’re a half-breed. What does that mean, and why is it important?” I asked again.
“Is that all he told you?” Aaron asked. His eyes were entirely gold. The ring of black around them was so thin that, for the first time, it changed his looks completely. Before, he’d been handsome, in a pretty way, but still rugged and unrefined. When his eyes turned, it sent a shiver down my spine—the way he looked at me. Dangerous. His body rippling with a power I’d never seen in him before. Is that what Lucas had meant? Something told me telling Aaron that wasn’t a good idea.
“He called you something else. My sig—” I didn’t even get to finish the half-word I’d heard when Aaron roared. An all-out, animalistic, monstrous sound. His form blurred, almost like he was shaking to fast for me too see…but that couldn’t be right.
“Aaron!” Amber yelled, charging him with everything she had. Her body slammed into his, but he didn’t budge an inch. His eyes were wholly focused on Lucas, who was backing away faster now.
“What’s going on?” I asked, but for once, no one was paying attention to me. Really? Right now? Of all the times to ignore me…
“You need to step back, Selena,” Alexandra said. For someone perfectly happy giving me the silent treatment when I’d gone to her for information first, she seemed pretty concerned about what was going down.
“No! Not until someone tells me—”
“What is going on in there?” Vonlowsky yelled over the intercom, but still no one cared.
“I’m going to kill him.” Aaron growled low, his voice not entirely his.
“The boy crossed a line. One too many, it appears,” Johanna said.
I wanted to pull my hair out. While that may have been an answer, it wasn’t really.
“You gotta calm down, Aaron. It ain’t worth it. You can’t afford to provoke the Council’s wrath—” Amber started.
“What the hell?” I yelled. That got their attention. My rage was growing more volatile by the minute, as my own monsters stirred beneath the surface. The room rattled.
“Selena. I don’t have it in me to do it again. You need to calm down,” Alexandra said. Very slowly, she started walking toward me, taking deliberate steps. As much as I wanted to cycle down, though, whatever was happening in me only grew.
“Aaron, you gotta chill, bud. You’re getting her worked up. We can deal with the boy later, but right now, you need to help her,” Amb
er spoke quickly and quietly, but it only angered me more.
Energy was pouring out of every orifice of my body. Covering me. Bathing me. Consuming me.
“By the dragon…” Johanna murmured, watching me like she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“She’s going to blow. Time for plan B,” Blair said, coming up on the other side of Alexandra.
Plan B? Let my sister drain me, and hope for the best.
Not today.
I flicked my wrist, and they flew. There was a monster inside me, and they’d just woken it.
Tori disappeared from the back corner in an instant as my sister and cousin came crashing down. I clenched my hand into a fist, and every knife in my belt came alive and pointed at one thing.
Amber gasped, trying to cry out a warning, but it was too late. Something deep down inside me snapped.
I was tired of the secrets.
Tired of never having answers, and some primal part of me lost all sense of reason. The daggers went flying through the air. Aimed right for Aaron’s heart.
Chapter 81
Aaron turned to face me, wide-eyed and determined, in less than half a second. The daggers sailed straight for him, but he plucked them out of the air like they were paper planes instead of deadly weapons.
He’d once told me his gift was enhanced senses, and so far, that was the only thing he’d done to make me believe that.
His eyes glowed with the most brilliant of golds, and again I wondered why. I cocked my head to the side, watching him through narrowed slits. Any and every sound around me came out warped, and raw. Instead of hearing words, I heard screeching and panting, but one thing stood out among it all. His breathing.
Slow and steady, it calmed me, and I didn’t know why. The door in my mind was shaking violently, letting streams of golden light slip through the cracks. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but something made me reach out. Just to touch it. The handle wiggled in my grip, warm under my hand. It wanted me to open it.
Until time sped up. A hand latched around my arm, ripping me from the surreal moment.
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