Untouchable Darkness (The Dark Ones Saga, #2)(6)

I never had time to stop and let rain pour over my head. If the rain irritated me I simply waved it away. If the sun was too hot, I closed my white eyes and allowed the ice to spread through my veins—compliments of being part Angel, part human.

For the last thousand years I’d simply ignored one part of myself—one part that made me whole—and existed without it.

I roamed the streets for a day. Watching people, not because I was lost or bored, but because everything was so new to me, so exciting. So raw.

I felt everything all at once.

It was overwhelming, and for the first time in my existence—life was exciting again.

And then I saw her.

At Starbucks.

By herself.

And my world simply stopped, my breathing never returned to normal, and I was reminded yet again that I had thirty days.

And I was on day twenty-nine.

I’d lost one day.

Irritated that I’d let myself get so distracted, I followed her to the house, and followed her again when she left.

Each time a stupid human hit on her I laughed—until a little voice inside my head reminded me that I was just as bad, just as low on the totem pole.

I wasn’t sure who the hell had sent Steph out to speak to the Demons, but they were going to have to answer to me. She was as defenseless as a weak little lamb out in a thunderstorm.

She had no idea what she was capable of and was oblivious to the scent she gave off to every male and female she walked by.

I still smelled it.

Maybe that was Sariel’s cruelty coming to the forefront. He would turn me to a human, allow me to win the woman I loved, only to remind me yet again that I wasn’t on an even playing field.

I was not her equal.

Maybe I’d never been.

“Cassius?” Stephanie reached up and cupped my face. It felt nice. It felt… warm. “What happened to you?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” At least that was the truth.

Her eyes narrowed. “Were you punished? For what happened?”

“No.”

“Then…” She shook her head. “Care to explain why your eyes aren’t white but blue, why you smell like… rain—weird, you smell like rain? And, and—”

I gripped her hands in mine. “Later… for now we should return to the house before the Demons bring back friends to take you down.”

“Well, I have you…” She shrugged. “They couldn’t touch me.”

As if realizing what she’d just said her face fell.

“I’m human.” I said it again; it felt funny on my lips. As if my eyes had ideas of their own, I focused in on her mouth. Damn, it was pretty. I wondered if I’d ever really taken the time to appreciate her beauty.

Or maybe I knew that the minute I did—I’d be lost.

“Cassius?” She gripped my arm. I stared at that hand far longer than was necessary. “You’re right… we should go.”

I followed her out of the bar, pulling my hands into tight fists to keep from reaching for her body.

It was hard to focus on anything except for the outline of her hips. Damn, being human was sending me into madness fast. I was hypnotized by her every movement, following her like she was my reason for existing.

We weaved in and out of the crowd and finally made it outside. The silence wasn’t awkward, but her stares were.

I’d never been insecure about anything.

But I came to realize that being human meant I was feeling emotions I wasn’t used to feeling. Like insecurity.

Why the hell was she staring at me so hard?

And why did my body respond in such a heated way that I was consciously looking for a place to push her against so I could trap that soft body and capture those lips? Was it this hard for all humans? My thoughts went into dangerous territory as she nervously licked her lips over and over again. Body dizzy with want, it was getting hard to walk in a straight line.

“My car’s over here.” Stephanie pointed to Ethan’s newest Lexus.

“Don’t you mean Ethan’s car?” I smirked, quite cheered at the fact that she’d most likely scratch the piece of machinery before the week’s end. Ethan and I had always been at odds, now even more so.

He was arrogant.

And ever since our falling out over his first mate’s death—it had been easy to let him hate me, to blame me for her death and everything since, when none of it was really my fault. Rules were not meant to be broken.

Yet as I thought those very words, I had to wonder, what part of me being fully human fit into the strict set of rules and guidelines given to the immortals since the beginning of time.

“We’re sharing.” She shrugged.

“I bet.” I chuckled.

It sounded funny.

Stephanie let out a little gasp.

I shrugged because, really, what else could I do? Laugh more?

Once we were on the freeway heading back toward Ethan’s, Stephanie finally started talking. Maybe she needed those minutes to process. Hell, I’d taken a whole day, and I still wasn’t sure what my plan was.

Touching her would do nothing—I was without any of my angelic power. She wouldn’t be seduced by it, and even if I was still a Dark One, so was she, which meant… what? Would our powers equalize? Or destroy us both? Was I playing at heartache even now?