How the hell was I supposed to do that while training her? I’d be helping her access the darkest parts of her soul. I’d be hurting her, she’d be hurting me. It was a nightmare.
“Sure.” My humanity won out, blurting the answer before my brain could catch up. “Sure I can do that. But I refuse to let you go into any of their compounds by yourself. You take either Ethan or Mason with you.”
“Not Alex?” she teased.
I rolled my eyes. “Sirens are all about love, not war. You know this.”
She nodded. “I know it firsthand.”
I had a hard time focusing on the words coming out of her mouth, especially when her eyes were so bright, so inviting. I looked away. “You’ll always have that part of you, Stephanie.”
“The Siren part?”
I smirked. “Don’t all women?”
“Funny.”
“I mean it.” I frowned as a piece of her hair fell across her face, shielding those gorgeous eyes I was so obsessed with. Without thinking, I brushed her hair back with my fingertips, her mouth opened with a little gasp. “It was easy, casting a Siren’s glamour, because you were so beautiful it wouldn’t take much convincing for other immortals to buy into it.”
Was it so wrong? To hide her away for hundreds of years? To keep the truth of her heritage hidden from her, until now? At the time I was protecting her. Thinking Sariel would kill her. Dark Ones were still an abomination, regardless of our parentage.
She gulped and looked down, her chest rose and fell, though she didn’t need oxygen, she was sucking it in like she was about to pass out.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “For suppressing your powers. I did it—” The words hung up in my throat. Out of love. Out of devotion. Out of fear. “I did it to protect you.”
She glanced up. “I know, Cassius. I’m not upset, not anymore. I just wish…”
“What?” I stepped closer, our bodies nearly touched. “What do you wish?”
“Why did you always walk away from me?”
I licked my lips and leaned in until our mouths almost touched. “Walking away—when all I wanted to do was walk toward you—had to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But everything I did—every decision made—was in order for you to flourish, to survive, to become something great.”
She let out a little laugh. “Wow, I must be such a disappointment then. I can’t control any of my emotions, and I’m one hissy fit away from freezing your ass or killing people I love by simply willing it.”
“You won’t,” I vowed. “I mean you won’t kill your family. And you are the furthest thing from a disappointment.”
She shrugged.
“Look at me.”
Slowly, Stephanie lifted her head, her eyes filled with shame.
“You’re perfect,” I whispered reverently. “And I wouldn’t want you any other way.”
“So you want me now?” she asked with an intriguing lilt in her voice. A smile gently curved her lips. I could tell she said it in a lighthearted way, but it didn’t matter. I knew that. My heart skipped a beat anyway.
“More than you’ll ever know.”
My answer surprised her. She took a step back, her eyebrows knit together like she was trying to figure out my answer.
Twenty-eight days. My mind reminded me. With a flourish I jerked her body against mine and kissed her.
She melted against my body.
And my body—loved it. Drank her in like she was my salvation. My only reason for existing. I moaned, unable to control the sounds coming from my mouth, the physical reaction from my body as she deepened the kiss, as I tasted every inch of her mouth.
“Ahem,” someone said from the door.