“You lose it? Like Drackus?”
He laughs lightly before shrugging one shoulder.
“I can use more power than Drackus because I’m stronger—another secret. I also have more control. I haven’t ‘lost it’ in a few centuries.”
My finger strolls down his stomach, stopping where his blue jeans start.
“Is it as bad as when Drackus loses it?” I ask while looking back into his piercing blue eyes.
His eyes get darker for a moment, and his lips twitch. “It’s worse than Drackus ever thought about being.”
I shiver, but he winks at me as though he’s joking, even though I can tell he’s not.
“Don’t worry, Kimber. I’ve had myself under control for a really long time.”
My fingers skate over waistband of his jeans, threatening to touch uncharted terrain, but now he’s staring directly into my eyes without waver.
“What happens when you lose control?”
I only catch a glimpse of his smirk before my breath collides with my squeal, and I end up on my back, staring up into the eyes of the cocky dark user. My hands are pinned above my head, my chest is rising and falling rapidly, and my head is almost spinning too wildly.
“If that happens,” he says, leaning down until his lips are above mine and hovering just out of reach, “then I strongly suggest running. Very far. Very fast.”
He leans down closer, and my eyes close involuntarily as I wait for the touch of our lips, but instead of coming closer, he pulls back instead. So frigging frustrating.
“Dice and Karma will be back soon. They went shopping.”
His random comment has me scrambling to keep up with his whiplash-change. “Oh. Um. Why did they go shopping?” I ask lamely.
My fingers ride up to my necklace that he gave me, and I toy with the unique metal.
“We’re crashing a black-tie affair tomorrow. We needed the threads to fit in,” he answers while pulling his shirt on and avoiding eye contact as he stands in the middle of the room.
“I have another question. I um… I’m sorry, but it’ll get under my skin until I know the answer.”
I look down, my lips tightening as I stare at the protective designs.
“Sure,” he says, but I can tell he’s wary.
“Who did you really make this for?” I hold up the necklace, and his eyes drop to it before his jaw tenses.
With a reluctant sigh, he comes to sit back down on the bed beside me, and he reaches over to touch the necklace with a delicate graze. He stares at it as though it pains him to think back to why he created it.
“You don’t have to answer,” I finally say when the silence mounts.
He forces a tight smile before looking away. “I can only imagine the intrigue this piece has caused.”
He drops his hand but then scrubs his face with it before groaning. “You know how I said you stop having many new experiences after you’ve lived so long?” I nod, and he continues. “Well, history starts repeating itself. Alyssa isn’t the first girl I fell for that chose someone else. At least Alyssa chose someone that was meant for her. The first was a girl who served in slavery with me. She’s the reason I gathered the courage to break us out.”
He seems lost, and I feel like shit. Reaching over, I lace our fingers together. “Seriously, I can deal with this mystery. I shouldn’t have asked.”
He strokes the back of my hand with his thumb and looks down to our connected hands.
“It’s fine, Kimber. I just haven’t exactly thought about this in a while. Those wounds healed a long, long time ago. I promise. It was one of those instances where I trusted someone I shouldn’t have, and in the end, it cost me the girl. One who never really loved me.”
He takes a breath, and then he squeezes my hand a little tighter. “I made that for her after we broke free from the coven, but she never wore it. She made one for herself. She wasn’t strong at all, even with all her powers. She was a dark user, like me. However, she was from a weak bloodline. I did what I could to keep her safe, but in the end, she put her life in the hands of someone far less concerned with her well-being.”
Alyssa and Kane were quite literally designed for each other. But to know that Gage has been hurt twice…