"I was going to say… you make me feel something, too."
The confession hung between us. His thumb stroked my cheekbone, gentle and reverent.
"Is that true?" he asked.
"Yes," I admitted.
"And what are you feeling, yeobo?"
Too much. Everything.
"Like I've been sleepwalking," I admitted. "And I only wake up when I'm around you."
His breath—unnecessary for a vampire, but taken anyway—stuttered out. "Alice."
The way he said my name. Like I was something precious. Like he'd been carrying it around for centuries, waiting for the perfect moment to release it into the night air between us. His smooth voice wrapped around each syllable with such reverence that I felt it resonate through my entire body, lighting up places inside me I didn't even know existed.
He leaned down, and I tilted my face up, drawn to him by some force I couldn't explain or resist. Our lips were a heartbeat apart, his breath mingling with mine. I could almost taste the sweetness of what was to come when reality crashed down on me, jarring and unwelcome, like cold water on a perfect dream.
This was happening too fast. I barely knew him. And there was Alex to think about, and Marcus, and the djinn power coiled inside me waiting to destroy everything I touched.
I pulled back sharply, pressing my palm to Dae's hard chest. "I can't."
He froze, every muscle going rigid beneath my hand. For a second, I saw hurt flash across his face before his usual mask slid back into place.
"Right." He stepped away, putting space between us. "Sorry. I shouldn't have?—"
"No, it's not—" I struggled for words. "I want to. Gods, I want to. But everything is such a mess right now, and I don't know what I'm doing, and?—"
"Hey." His voice gentled. "You don't owe me an explanation."
But I did. Because I saw the way his shoulders had tensed and the careful distance he was maintaining now. He thought I was rejecting him.
"I feel like I do," I blurted out. "I'm scared," I continued, the words tumbling out now that I'd started. "Not of you. Of me. Of what's inside me. What if this happens with us? And then what if I turn into something terrible and?—"
"Alice." He caught my hands as I gestured wildly, threading our fingers together. "Breathe."
I stuttered to a stop, pulling air into lungs that suddenly felt too tight.
"We don't have to do anything," Dae said. "We can just... be. Figure this out as we go. No pressure. No expectations."
"You say that now," I whispered. "But what happens when you see what I really am?"
"Then I'll still be here." He squeezed my hand. "And I do see exactly who you are, yeobo. You think a little djinn magic is going to scare me away?"
Yes. Because it should. Because everyone who knew what Alex carried around looked at him like he was a time bomb waiting to explode.
Everyone except Kenya. His mate.
And Dae just stood there, holding my hand, looking at me like he'd already decided I was worth the risk.
Something inside me cracked open a little. Like a shell I'd been hiding inside my whole life, developing the first hairline fracture.
"I should go," I managed. "It's late, and?—"
"I'll walk you back."
"You don't have to?—"
