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Anger flared in his eyes, dispelling the softness that had gathered in them His hands curled into fists "Whatever it is that… you two are doing that’s causing those runes to show up, you need to stop"

I looked at hi to stop it fro eventually And you knohat the reallyis? My ht she was being all daimon crazy"

Aiden reclaimed the little distance I’d been able to put between us "I’oes for Seth, too"

Whoa My heart did a crazy thing there And he really sounded like he believed he could "Aiden, you can’t stop this No one can"

"We can’t stop you fro, but the power transfer will only happen if you touch after you turn eighteen, right? Then you don’t touch"

I couldn’t possibly i" part, but he’d understand once he knehat it could possibly do "He’ll understand," I said "I’ll talk to hi better to discuss face to face"

Aiden didn’t look convinced "I don’t like this"

"You don’t like hiht I don’t like Seth, but there’s so htly and felt his breath over my lips If I moved an inch, our lips would touch And Aiden was suddenly staring at my ruff

"You already said that"

"I did?" His head angled slightly "We should head back"

I sed Aiden wasn’tand every muscle in my body demanded that I cross that tiny space between us But I pushed back the chair,noise I stood There didn’t seereen walls I started toward the door, but stopped when I realized I’d lefton the table I turned around

Aiden stood in front ofin hand, book already tucked inside And he was standing so close that the tips of his shoes brushedand it felt like a dozen butterflies had exploded in my stomach I was half-afraid to breathe, to feel what I kneasn’t allowed

He placed the strap ofover my shoulder and then he tuckedto hug me--or shake me, because that was always a possibility But then his hand slid over my cheek and his thumb smoothed over my lower lip, careful with the faint scar over the center, even though the pain had long since ceased

I sucked in a sharp breath His eyes were liquid silver My pulse pounded through me I kneanted to kisswith excitement, anticipation, and sowhat I was I didn’t need a stupid cord to tell me that

But Aiden wouldn’t act on it He had the kind of self-control that rivaled those of the virgin priestesses who’d served in Artemis’ temples And there were all the other reasons why he shouldn’t--why I shouldn’t

Aiden closed his eyes and exhaled roughly When his eyes reopened, he dropped his hand and shothis touch already, all I could do was nod We walked back to lances at hihts and perhaps a little sad

Aiden walked ht toto jump out of a supply closet The hall was nearly empty since I shared the first floor with a lot of pures Their parents had pulled the an earlier start on winter break He nodded curtly and waited until I closed and locked the door

Droppingby the couch, I sat and pulled out the cell phone Seth had given me There was only one contact saved in the address book: Cuddle Bunny

I couldn’t help but laugh There always see side, the one who could be patient and gentle And then there was a whole different side--the Seth I didn’t really know, the one who seemed to only tell half-truths and was the physical e a deep breath, I pressed on the na once, twice, and then kick over to a standard voice

Seth didn’t answer Nor did he call back that entire evening

Chapter 12

I HAD NO CLUE WHAT SETH COULD BE DOING THAT HE was unable to return a call It wasn’t like I orried about his safety Seth could take care of hi was, if he wasn’t, he was going to be after I got done talking to hily easy as I entered Technical Truths and Legends

Deacon glanced up, grinning as I sat beside him I was surprised to see hiured that, out of everyone, he would have wiggled his way out of class "How did your library visit go? Get any studying done?"

I peeked at the front of the classroo us--Deacon--out of the corner of his eye "My library visit?" I focused on Deacon "Hoas yours?"

"Good Got a lot of studying done" Deacon didn’t even , considering neither of you had any books to study"

Deacon opened his mouth, but shut it

I winked

The tips of his ears turned bright red He tapped his fingers on the top of the desk "Well, then"

Part ofto worry about, but that was so not ht direction "It’s not a big deal," I whispered "Honestly, no one here, pure or half, cares about that"

"It’s not like that," he whispered back

I raised a brow "It’s not?"