His arms tighten around me, and for one dizzying heartbeat, the world falls away. He tastes like winter and mint. His lips are soft, much softer than I expected, and the stroke of his tongue is so fucking hot I almost lift off my feet. My breath catches, and Aric tightens his arms, hauling me flush against his strong body.
Tension pulses like an erratic heartbeat through the room, lights flicker overhead, and the temperature plummets around us. I sure as hell don’t expect myself to react to him so violently that I momentarily forget we have an audience or why I’m kissing him.
I pull back and break the kiss. “We have to go!”
He frowns while I hold up our hands.
Already, ice is forming across his skin.
“Now!” I jerk him toward the door while Professor Higgins is still momentarily stunned and sputtering behind us.
I’ll let Aric deal with her later.
For now, we need to get him hidden before he loses complete control.
He’s shaking, his grip hard like stone as we run down the stairs and out of the building. It was dark in the room, so there’s a chance she didn’t see the ice on his skin or his eyes. With the thunder and lightning of the surprise storm, maybe she’d even chalk it up to a trick of the light.
When we make it outside, a jagged line of ice cracks through the sidewalk, disappearing into the grass and nearby forest. I follow it. A few people from capture the flag are running, trying to escape the rain, so it doesn’t look strange for us to join in. Careful to get past the majority of the crowd, I tug Aric into the thicker part of the forest, away from the trails.
The wind howls as the sky splits with lightning.
He jerks his hand away from mine and starts punching the tree in front of us.
Over and over and over again.
Silver blood appears, only to re-heal as more ice forms on his knuckles.
His chest heaves, teeth clench like he’s trying so hard to hold everything in but break free at the same time. With a roar, he falls to his knees, lightning splintering from the sky and streaming directly into Aric, followed by another strike into the tree closest to me.
Holy shit. Is he okay?
But I don’t have the chance to move before his arms are around me. My back hits the ground, his hands moving to protect the back of my head in a gesture that I don’t fully understand but makes heat bloom inside me nonetheless.
We roll across the rocks and pine needles, away from thedamaged tree. His clothes are ripped, singed by the lightning, and his body shields me while branches burn beside us.
His glowing eyes lock on my mouth before slowly fading back to their normal brown.
There’s no way he’s still sleeping.
I say nothing.
He’s breathing hard, his eyes wild, body rippling with the remnants of his power.
He’s beautiful.
I blink up at him and wince. “Thanks for the save.”
His chest heaves as he leans over me. “I didn’t want you to die without owing me,” he says in a gravelly voice.
“Wow, how thoughtful.” I lean up on my elbows until our faces are inches apart. “Hey. Are you okay? The lightning—”
“I’m fine,” he says. “That wasn’t what it looked like. It didn’t get me.”
That wasexactlywhat it looked like, and we both know it. But Idoowe him, so I let it drop, giving him a small, knowing smile and a nod.
His eyes drop to my mouth.
I smirk. “Sorry about the kiss.”
