Untouchable Darkness (The Dark Ones Saga, #2)(55)

With a gasp she sucked in one finger, then two, then jerked my body against hers our mouths fused in a battle of dominance as I spread my cold around her.

Darkness was always hot.

Comforting, to a Dark One, until it burned that Dark One alive.

“Come back,” I whispered, my lips pressed against hers as I called to her light…”Come back to me.”

Stephanie slumped against my body her breathing erratic as her fingers dug into the muscles in my back.

“I think I want to be done training for the day.” Her voice was scratchy, like she’d just spent the last few minutes screaming at the top of her lungs, and who knew? Maybe she had. Maybe she was yelling at Darkness, maybe that’s what it took to pull away.

“It will get easier,” I promised. “It just takes time.” Still trembling, I held her as tight as I could, swearing to myself I’d die before I let anything happen to her, and in a thought of true irony—to save her from the darkness, from herself, I’d allow her to kill me.

If that’s what it took.

I’d accept my fate.

Gladly.

“You know how Ethan gave Genesis lessons about immortals and our history?” Stephanie asked, changing the subject as we walked hand in hand down the sidewalk.

“Yes.”

She stopped. “I think it’s my turn.”

“Hell.” I released her hand. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”

“You don’t even know what I’m asking!”

“Yes, I do.” My laugh was completely without humor. “You want to know what the darkness really is, you want to know Dark Ones history 101.”

She nodded.

“Hell.”

“You said that already.”

“Steph…”

“Please?” She reached for my hand, gripping it. “If I just understood it, I could fight it.”

I wrapped my arms around her waist and whispered. “Lie.”

“Huh?”

“You lied to yourself.”

“We can do that?”

“We’re half human, we can do anything they can.”

“Can Angels lie?”

“They could,” I said slowly, then rolled my eyes. “Damn it, you’re going to get it out of me one way or another aren’t you?”

“My next offer was some sort of mind blowing sexual experience… with snow.”

I chuckled despite myself and the tense topic. “Snow, huh?”

“Lots of snow. You like snow.”

“Who told you that?”

“Genesis.” Stephanie shrugged. “I may have let it slip that I could dream walk and she said in your guys dreams you always had snow surrounding you. You said it was comforting.”

“Home.” Emotion clogged my throat. “Always brings comfort.”

“Home?” Stephanie repeated. “What do you mean home?”

“Where I was born. It always brings comfort. Snow… represents where I was born.”

Stephanie leaned in, sniffing the air. “Truth. So, Cassius…” She patted my stomach, I’d seen human couples do that before in teasing and never understood the need for such trivial flirting with one’s hands… until her hands were on me, until I was part of the couple, and every single glance and caress my way was like breathing for the first time, after being without air for an eternity. “Where were you born? Siberia?”

“Da.” I confirmed in Russian and then pressed my fingertips to her wrist.





Stephanie



“WHERE ARE WE?” I gasped, rubbing my arms, they weren’t necessarily chilled, but they felt colder than ever before. The sun was just starting to set, casting a beautiful orange glow across a small city.

It reminded me of Christmas.

And the movie Frozen. The one that Genesis had forced Mason to watch only to ask him later if he could morph into a reindeer instead of a wolf for Halloween.

He’d said he’d attempt it. Ethan and Alex still made fun of him for his promise, but that was Mason. He lived to make others happy—maybe it was because he wasn’t capable of happiness himself.

“Mason,” Cassius said, interrupting my thoughts, “has a bright future.”

“And Alex?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Once you can control your power you’ll be able to comb through futures at ease,” Cassius explained. “And Alex has… an intriguing few months ahead of him.”

“Hmm.” I liked the sound of that.

The wind picked up just as the sun made its final descent behind the snow covered mountains blanketing everything but the few street lights in darkness.

“I forgot how quiet it was here.” Cassius mused, grabbing my hand in his. We were both still in our street clothes. Jeans and T-shirts.

He quickly tugged me into the first store on the main street and pulled out a fur coat, hat, and pants that looked two sizes too big for my legs. Boots were tossed in my direction, and then he was at the counter speaking in a harsh language I’d never heard him speak before.

Could it be that Cassius really was… Russian?

The man at the desk laughed loudly then pulled out a shot glass and a bottle of vodka. He poured one for himself, took it, then poured one for Cassius.