Page 39 (2/2)

It took a moment for me to s back the rush of fe?

"Seth, thatas I can rerew up in my room That was not his first sleep over and it won’t be his last," I spat, finishing just as his sword clashed with mine

Seth let out a feral, caveman like sound and attacked ainsthis sword faster than I could keep up with and I grudgingly gave up ground as he pushed ain as I struggled to keep hih bark of a tall pine tree that lined the field I kneas in a bad place I tried to hold s, but it took all of two more skillful maneuvers on his part before he coainst another tree ten feet away

He stepped forward, but let his weapon drop to his side He hovered overin sweat froainst the tree We were both breathing so heavily that with every intake of breath his muscular, sweat soaked chest brusheddesperately not to be a sore loser His jaas still ticking and it did nothing but enhance themy breath but it wasn’t because of the battle anymore

"It will be the last ti his head down to stare intoto be understanding about your relationship with him, Stella, but I cannot and will not tolerate hiry and full of twenty-first woue with his war at me like I was a prize he orn to protect with his life

Which was kind of true

He stayed close to hts that had nothing to do with Tristan or training and more to do with the perfection of Seth’s lips and what they would feel like if he wasn’t being so gentle with entle nohich was kind of the point…

"Stella, you lost again?" Jupiter snarled, catching up with us in the tree cover

Seth broke away, still breathing heavily He gave lance and fro sohts I was

Which was crazy We barely knew each other

And I had seven years before I had to get serious with Seth

"Again!" Jupiter called out "And Stella if you lose this time I will call Aliah myself and specifically ask hirunted a jumble of curse words that I ell aere not proper Star-behavior and pushed off the tree withit back into a new ponytail and deciding I had to forget about Tristan, Seth and Aliah and figure out hoin this daet back to bed

----

I walked into the house hours later sweaty, exhausted, disheveled and withaardly off of me; since the collar was still fully intact but every other part of it donned jagged, saber shaped gashes

Note to self: Don’t wear sweatshirts to train in

Way too el trying to teach you an annoying lesson

I bristled again at Seth’s words I couldn’t deny the attraction between us, and I certainly wasn’t going to ignore the role we played in each other’s lives both now and in the future But it was still obnoxious to have to deal with it all now

If things had gone according to plan, I wouldn’t have to worry about Tristan sleeping over or the feelings I had for him that used to feel so norerous

I sat down heavily at the kitchen table and then cursed when I realized I forgot to get a bottle of water first I was too tired noould just live with being thirsty

Seth caly wild, but in that guy way that h he would taste like salt Ugh

He walked over to the refrigerator,himself completely at home which irritateda bottle to lared at the bottle, hating that I was so thirsty Taking a drink soh I technically couldn’t even bond myself omen across the world since I was an alien and what not… still… It was the principle of the hed and his voice ru e the bottle further towards me, the muscles in his bare forearingly mesmerized

"Don’t be a sore loser," he teased

"I didn’t lose," I reht," he relented and for a second I thought he was sincere "It took seven hours… but you did win"