“You’re acting like this is a good thing.”
“It could be, Alex. With two of you—”
“You sound like Lucian!” I moved away from him. “Next you’re going to be tel ing me I’m Seth’s super-special other half and I belong to him, as if I’m some sort of object instead of a person!”
“I’m not saying that.” He closed the distance, putting his hands on my shoulders. I shivered under the weight of his hands. “Do you remember what I said about fate?” I shook my head. I remembered how he’d found my shorts distracting. I had that wonderful subjective memory feature.
“Only you have control over your future, Alex. Only you have control over what you want.”
“You real y think so?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
I shook my head, doubtful that I could believe in anything at this point, and started to slip away, but Aiden’s hands tightened around my shoulders. An instant later, he gathered me close to him. I hesitated, because being this close to him was possibly the sweetest kind of torture.
I needed to break away… move as far away as possible, but his arms circled my shoulders. Slowly, careful y, I rested my head against his chest. My hands fel to the curve of his back and I inhaled deeply. His scent, a mixture of the sea and soap, fil ed me. The steady beat of his heart under my cheek warmed and comforted me. It was just a hug, but gods, it meant so much. It meant everything.
“I don’t want to be to this Apol yon thing.” I closed my eyes. “I don’t even like to be in the same country as Seth. I don’t want any of this.”
Aiden smoothed his hand down my back. “I know. It’s overwhelming and scary, but you’re not alone. We’l figure this out. Everything is going to be okay.”
I pressed closer. Time seemed to slow down, al owing me a few moments of the simple pleasure of being in his arms, but then his fingers sifted through my hair, finding their way to my scalp, and from there, he guided my head back.
“You don’t have anything to worry about, Alex. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
Those forbidden words wrapped around my heart, forever etching into my soul. Our eyes met. Silence stretched between us as we stared at each other. His eyes shifted to fierce silver and his other arm slid to my waist, tightening. His fingers drifted from my hair and slowly traced the curve of my cheekbone. My pulsed thrummed through me as his intense stare fol owed his fingertips. He moved them down my face and then over my parted lips.
We shouldn’t be doing this. He was a pure-blood.
Everything could come to a crashing end for us if we were caught, but it didn’t matter. Right now, being with him seemed worth whatever consequence could come from it.
This was right, like it was meant to be. There was no logical explanation for it.
Then he leaned forward and rested his cheek against mine. Hot tingles spread through me as his lips moved against my ear. “You should tel me to stop.”
I didn’t say a word.
Aiden made a deep sound in his throat. His hand slid up my back, leaving a trail of fire in its wake, and his lips moved across my cheek, stopping to hover above mine. I forgot how to breathe, and most importantly, how to think.
He moved, ever so slightly, and his lips brushed across mine once, and then twice. It was such a soft, beautiful kiss, but when the kiss deepened, it wasn’t a shy one. This was one of dangerously pent-up need, a desire that’d been denied far too long. The kiss felt fierce, demanding, and soul burning.
Aiden pul ed me to him, pressing me right up against his body. And when he kissed me again, it left both of us breathless. Our hands tangled with each other’s bodies as we made it back to his bedroom. My hands found their way under his shirt and over the taut skin of his sides. We separated long enough for me to get the shirt off, and gods, each hard ripple was as breathtaking as I’d imagined.
Easing me down on his bed, his hands glided from my face to my arms. Next his hand traveled over my stomach, then my hip, and under the hem of my dress. Somehow, the top of my dress ended up at my waist, and his mouth moved over my body. I melted into him, his kisses, and his touch. My fingers dug into the tight skin of his arms, and my insides were in tight coils. Every place our bodies touched, sparks flew.
Aiden pul ed his lips away from mine, and I made a sound of protest, but then his mouth trailed across my throat and to the base of my neck. My skin burned and my thoughts were on fire. His name was barely a whisper, but I felt his lips curve against my skin.
His gaze and fingers fol owed some unseen path as he rol ed me on top. “You’re so beautiful. So brave, so ful of life.” He guided my head down and dropped a sweet kiss against the scar on my neck. “You have no idea, do you?
You have so much life in you, so much.”
I tipped my head and he kissed the tip of my nose.
“Real y?”
“Yes.” He brushed my hair back from my face. “Since the night I saw you in Georgia, you’ve been under my skin. You got inside me, became a part of me. I can’t shake it. It’s wrong.” He shifted us, rol ing me across the bed until he leaned above me. “Agapi mou, I can’t…” He brought his lips down to mine once more.
There were no more words. Our kisses hardened, his lips and hands took on a purpose that could only mean one thing. I’d never gone this far with a guy before, but I knew I wanted to be with him. There was no doubt, only certainty.
Everything in my world hinged on this moment.
Aiden lifted his head, staring down at me with that question in his eyes. “Do you trust me?”
I ran my fingers over his cheek, then his parted lips.
“Yes.”
He made a deep sound in his throat and caught my hand.
Bringing it to his lips, he pressed a kiss against each fingertip, then my palm and then my lips.
And that was when someone knocked on the door.
We both froze against one another. His eyes, stil cloudy with hunger, met mine. A second passed, and another. I thought he was going to ignore it. Gods, I wanted him to ignore it. Badly. Deeply. My life depended on it. But the knock came again, and this time a voice accompanied it.
“Aiden, open this door. Now.”
Leon.
Crap. That was al I could think. We were so busted. I didn’t know what to do. I just lay there, wide-eyed and naked. Total y freaking naked.
Never taking his eyes off me, Aiden slowly lifted himself and stood. Only when he bent to retrieve the shirt I’d tossed aside did he break eye contact. He left the bedroom without a sound and closed the door behind him.
I stayed there for a few moments, caught in disbelief. The mood was completely ruined—obviously, and I was stil naked. Anyone could bust in here, and here I was, sprawled across the bed. His bed…
Freaked out more than I ever could’ve imagined, I jumped up and grabbed my dress. Throwing it on, I looked for a place to hide, but Leon’s words froze me.
“I didn’t mean to wake you, but I figured you’d want to know this immediately. They’ve found Kain. He’s alive.”
I listened, my stomach in my throat, as Aiden managed to convince Leon that he would meet him in the infirmary while I absolutely re-fused to look at his bed. My head came up as Aiden opened the door. “I heard.”
Aiden nodded, his gray eyes fil ed with inner conflict. “I’l let you know what he says.”
I stepped forward. “I want to come. I have to hear what he says.”
“Alex, it’s past your curfew, and how would you know to be in the infirmary?”
Dammit. I hated it when he was right. “But I can sneak in there. The rooms are just separated with partition wal s. I could stay behind them—”
“Alex.” Loverboy was gone. Shoot. “You need to go back to your dorm. Now. I promise I’l tel you everything he says, okay?”