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  “Yes, Fane,” she said with a sigh and a smile.

  Aiden put his arms around her bare midriff, resting his head on her shoulder as he got a closer look at the painting. “You even captured the way the light bounces off the windows. How do you do that?”

  His breath was warm against her cheek, a pleasant contrast to the cool, wet hair pressed against her neck. She could feel his heart beating through her back and became so lost in the sensation that she forgot what he’d said.

  “Hmm?” she murmured as she leaned back into him.

  He laughed with his lips pressed to her neck, an amazing new feeling that kicked her heart up several notches. Suddenly, she wished they were alone, and yet she was sort of glad they weren’t because she wasn’t sure she could find the part of her that always drew the line to stop.

  “You’ll give Michelangelo a run for his money,” Aiden said.

  By the husky sound of his voice, it was obvious his thoughts were running along the same track as hers. The difference was Aiden was better at putting his desires on hold and refocusing his attention. While Eren could suppress her desires—though less and less lately—she couldn’t refocus her attention away from Aiden.

  Fane’s bare feet hardly made a sound upon the hardwood floors as he came over to look at the painting. Channelers were pretty stealthy as a people, but Fane took that to a whole new level. He drew in a sharp breath and uttered something in Romanian. Eren’s Romanian was still very rusty but she was pretty sure it translated as ‘wow.’ She blushed.

  “It’s breathtaking,” Fane said in a hushed voice.

  Her heart fluttered at his praise. It was a moment before she could answer. “Thanks, Cuz.”

  The bathroom door opened and out walked Caitlin, wet curls clinging to her face.

  “You look splendid this morning,” Fane said as he went to embrace her.

  Looking down at her jeans and t-shirt, Caitlin snorted and rolled her eyes at him.

  “In this? You must be sleep deprived.” A huge smile contrasted with her flippant tone.

  They migrated to the sitting area and piled on and around the loveseat. With some insistent prompting from Caitlin, Eren told Aiden and Fane about the intruder on the roof. Despite last night’s rain, the guys insisted on going to the roof to check it out. Of course all traces of the person’s energy were gone.

  “That’s it. I’m going to set up a nightly patrol on your roof,” Aiden said.

  A laugh escaped Caitlin. “Oh yeah, Mr. Y will love that.”

  Erin cringed. “Caitlin’s right, grandfather would flip over you being a door away from my bedroom every night. Besides, it’s nothing I can’t handle. Warrior channeler of legend here, remember?”

  Brown eyes narrowed at Aiden, Fane shook his head. “He isn’t the only one who would flip. Besides, you don’t need to worry. Eren’s right. She can handle herself.”

  Shaking his head, Aiden paced the room. “There’s no way I’m leaving you unprotected.”

  In her gut, Eren knew the trespasser was probably just Bridget. She didn’t want Aiden confronting the girl on her roof. If anyone was going to catch her, she wanted to do it. Accessing the healing part of her channeling, Eren made her energy calming and poured it over Aiden, dousing the fire of his own. To heighten the effect, she placed a hand on his shoulder. The tension drained out of him in a rush, leaving his eyes looking sad.

  “I can handle it, trust me,” she said.

  A long, frustrated sigh eased from him and he nodded slowly.

  “So, Eren and I have a great idea. Before going off to college, we think the four of us should do some traveling, see if we can find a great place that doesn’t care if a Society is mixed,” Caitlin broke in.

  Relief flooded through Eren as the conversation steered toward college and travel. The letter from Luke was the last thing she wanted to tell Aiden about right now and she was beyond relieved that Caitlin hadn’t brought it up. Part of her still felt so guilty over what had happened. She knew it was stupid but she had led Luke on and that ate at her.

  The conversation started to turn toward threats to their Society again, making Eren squirm. She wasn’t sure how long Caitlin would hold out before making her tell the guys about the letter.

  “I’m dying to get outside before the weather goes bad,” Eren said.

  Caitlin perked up. “You guys want to go for a walk in the Irish woods? I can show you around.”

  Fane stood, eyes brightening. “Sounds like fun. I’d love to see where you grew up.”

  Tension sang through Caitlin’s power and she froze. Fane missed it, but Eren didn’t. It was more than just nerves about something silly like whether or not he’d like her house or her parents. Caitlin had confided in Eren about how her parents hoped she’d find a nice Irish boy and settle into one of the Societies in Spruce Knoll. Her parents weren’t exactly prejudice she had said, just old fashioned. They knew nothing about Fane, or Caitlin’s friendship with Eren.

  While Eren understood and didn’t want to push her, she also knew Caitlin was going to have to tell them sometime, and before that she was going to have to tell Fane. The horrified look in Caitlin’s eyes told Eren she was praying that today would not be that day.

  “We’ll have to stop by your house another day though. My grandfather wanted to talk to Fane and Aiden today,” Eren said, giving her a wink when the guys weren’t looking.

  “No problem, we’ll just go for a walk in the woods then,” Caitlin said.

  Taking Fane by the hand, she led him over to the stairs, shooting a grateful smile over her shoulder at Eren. Seeing this, Aiden gave Eren a curious look.

  She pressed her lips to his ear and whispered, “I’ll explain later.”

  Aiden shivered when her lips touched his ear and he said something in Irish that she didn’t quite catch. He was quick to follow her down the stairs.

  Thick gray clouds covered the sky, obscuring all but the slightest trace of sunlight. It lent the forest a shadowy, mysterious air. Last night’s rain brought out a plethora of scents. Eren loved the way the forest smelled after it rained and she didn’t even mind getting soaking wet while she walked with her friends.

  The Irish woods were further from the river than the Mayan forest, and because of it the forest here had a lot more spruce trees. They followed Caitlin through the thick trees with their blue tinged new growth, finally stopping in a flower-filled valley. It looked like someone had flicked a paintbrush filled with vibrant pink, blue, and yellow all over the valley.

  Thunder rumbled in the distance drawing Eren’s eyes skyward. The clouds were the color of charcoal and they looked swollen with rain. After exchanging glances, the four of them jogged back into the forest. Just as they entered the trees, Eren saw movement out of the corner of her left eye. She motioned to the others and they stopped and followed her gaze.

  Nearly twenty yards away stood five human figures. Eren recognized Bridget by her blond bobbed hair. She stood talking with four boys. By their accent and dark hair it was obvious they were Romanian. There was a pout on Bridget’s face and her arms were crossed. One of the boys stepped closer and pointed at her as he spoke animatedly. The thunder drowned out most of it, but Eren thought she heard ‘do what he asks or else.’

  An uncomfortable feeling crawled its way up Eren’s spine as she watched them. The boys were Luke’s old friends. She recognized them almost instantly. If it were anyone but Bridget talking to them she would have gone over there and jumped to their defense. But Eren figured whatever Bridget had gotten herself into with them was her own problem. When Aiden motioned in the opposite direction and jogged off, Eren didn’t hesitate to follow.

  As the rain started to fall, the four of them disappeared into the misty forest and left Bridget and the Romanian boys far behind. With the roll of thunder on their heels, they ran all the way back to the edge of the woods where they’d left their jackets. Eren listened to the others talk as she struggled to pull on her wet coat. Standing there
in soaking wet clothes, with her hair clinging to her, she kind of wondered why she had bothered to shower this morning.

  “Why is Bridget in the middle of the woods talking to Luke’s old friends?” Fane asked.

  “The girl gets around,” Caitlin commented.

  The idea of even Bridget having sex with one of those jerks made Eren want to throw up. They had helped Luke, knowing he planned to rape Eren. Her power responded to the spike of fear and tried to rise, but she easily quelled it. Aiden’s arms wrapped around her from behind, calming her even more.

  “You’re not cold are you?” he asked.

  “No. I just don’t like those guys,” she said as she held tight to his arms.

  Beside them, Fane shook his head. “Me neither. But I don’t exactly care for Bridget either. Strange business if you ask me.”

  “Yeah, well, whatever business Bridget has with them, it has nothing to do with us,” Aiden said.

  Thunder boomed right over them and only a moment later the sky lit up with a lightning strike. Eren jumped and her power buzzed through her as if in response to the lightning.

  “Come on, we better get back!” Caitlin said as she grabbed Fane’s hand and took off running.

  Once they left the trees behind and hit the sidewalk, huge drops plopped down and soaked any part of Eren that had managed to stay dry. It felt refreshing and smelled so pure and clean that she didn’t care. All her worries about Bridget and the Romanian boys washed away as she clung to Aiden’s hand and ran for the pure joy of it with the storm’s energy fueling her own.

  When they reached the Mayan business district, they scaled the fire escape of a two story building, climbing all the way to the roof. The moment their feet touched down on it, they were running again. The edge of the roof approached and Aiden didn’t slow. He shot Eren a mischievous smile and winked as he let go of her hand. She trusted that if he could make it, so could she. Besides, she wasn’t about to leave his side.

  Adrenalin pumped courage through her veins and power into her legs as they both leapt from the roof and sailed through the air. Light as a feather, thanks to a cushion of her power, she landed on the next roof and kept running, not even losing a stride.

  Being able to clear a fifteen foot gap like it was nothing, got Eren’s heart pumping faster than she thought it could go. Caught up in that excitement, she ran at Aiden’s side, leaping from roof to roof as though they were no more than stepping stones across a river. Caitlin and Fane were right on their heels, laughing and calling out words of encouragement as they followed along.

  They came to the edge of the last roof and had to jump not only across the gap, but up another story to the roof of her grandfather’s store, and Eren didn’t hesitate. She cleared the solar panels and bushes and landed on the roof. Her bare feet slid on the rain slick terracotta tiles but she gained her balance as she glided another five feet. Laughing, she braced herself as Aiden did the same and came hydroplaning right for her.

  He slid to her, lifted her off her feet, and spun her around. Closing her eyes, Eren threw her head back and laughed. By the time he put her down, she was dizzy and had to cling to him for support. When everything stopped spinning, she realized Caitlin and Fane hadn’t followed them. The look in Aiden’s eyes told Eren he knew they weren’t going to arrive for a while yet.

  “I never thought of using our power like that. That was amazing,” Eren exclaimed.

  “There are so many things for us to try our power out on,” he said as he bent down for a kiss.

  Neither her soaking wet clothes nor the pouring rain mattered because Aiden’s lips set her on fire. His power poured down her throat and spread throughout her body. The sensation came and went in waves. After a second, she realized his power stopped flowing into her when hers was flowing into him. It was the most amazing, energizing thing she had ever felt. While she knew it sounded crazy, it felt like they were sharing each other’s souls.

  Aiden’s hands started out around her waist, worked their way up her back, and then were in her hair, pressing her so tight to him that it was hard to breathe. But that didn’t matter. All that did was the feel of his body against hers and the taste of his power. She couldn’t get close enough to him; their clothes were in the way. That thought should have bothered her, she knew, but it didn’t.

  “Eren!” Aunt Sylvia’s sharp voice came out of nowhere.

  Aiden pulled back and turned away so fast Eren was left clutching at thin air. Breathing heavy and clearly trying to regain his composure, he remained turned away as Sylvia approached.

  “Aiden, may I have a word alone with Eren please?” Aunt Sylvia asked in a voice that was overly sweet but promised a sour center.

  “Of course,” Aiden said in a strained voice.

  Without a glance back, he jogged to the edge of the roof, vaulted over it, and disappeared. It took a lot of restraint for Eren to resist the urge to follow him. She was still contemplating it when Aunt Sylvia took her hand and led her over to the chairs beneath the pergola.

  “Eren, honey, I’m not going to lecture you. I just want to explain what that was,” she said.

  Had she been able to feel what they were doing with their energy? God, Eren hoped not.

  “It’s called the Rector’s exchange of power. Once it reaches a certain point it has only two possible ways to be released; sex or fighting. And unless you’re going to war, you don’t want to channel it into fighting,” Aunt Sylvia explained.

  Eren buried her head in her hands and wished she could disappear. Wasn’t it embarrassing enough to be a normal teenager and have to talk to her aunt about sex? Adding this to it just seemed unfair.

  “I’m sorry, Aunt Sylvia, we didn’t know. That’s the first time it’s happened.”

  Aunt Sylvia patted her shoulder. “I kind of figured that, honey. But remember, while Aiden is a great guy, he’s still a guy. He relies on you to be the one to say stop because he’s a boy. Women are emotional and men are physical, that’s just the way life is.”

  She wasn’t about to tell her aunt that she was the one who had trouble stopping. “I know, I know and now that I know what it is, I will stop it. But enough of the sex talk, please! You’re killing me here.”

  Aunt Sylvia’s eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms as she stared Eren down. Sighing, Eren nodded and tried her best to look chastised. Knowing that it was impossible to stop once it got to a certain point was enough to convince her to keep a tight rein on things. Her aunt must have seen that on her face because she smiled and uncrossed her arms.

  “Come inside and get some dry clothes on. Dad just put on a fresh pot of coffee,” Aunt Sylvia said as she stood and offered Eren her hand. From the tone of her voice she seemed just as relieved as Eren to have the conversation finished.

  Smiling, Eren reached out and let her aunt pull her to her feet. She loved her aunt and the fact that she was so open with her, but did their conversations always have to be so hard?

  Eren cast a glance over her shoulder at the place Aiden had jumped from. The rain was quickly washing his energy trail away and she kind of hated that. With his power still tingling on her lips, she couldn’t help but wonder, how far was too far?

  “One cannot force their way into a Society.

  The power chooses who will bond to you,

  you do not.”

  ~from Life In A Society

  Chapter 17

  They were almost here. Bridget could hear them running through the forest, not even trying to be stealthy. But then why should they? She had agreed to meet them out here. It was stupid, she knew, but she didn’t really have a choice, at least not the way she saw it. They were going off Luke’s orders and no one disobeyed Luke, even if he was in a foreign country. Besides, these four were scary enough without him—even worse maybe, because with him gone there was no Rector to keep them under control.

  Taking a deep breath, she put on an impatient face as they emerged from the trees. As always, the big one—Claud—stepped
out first. He wasn’t the leader, none of them were really, but he was the muscle. Under any other circumstance Bridget might have been interested in him, even though he wasn’t Irish. He was the kind of guy she usually went for, big on muscle, but low on brains. It made them easy to manipulate and she liked that. But as a friend of Luke’s, he was way too scary to be serious about.

  Stepping out to flank her on both sides were Gene and Greg, or the jokester and the psycho as she liked to think of them. Greg was sick and twisted, he liked to hurt people. Despite being half the size of Claud, he was much more frightening. Bridget turned slightly so he wasn’t at her back.

  Finally, Nick stepped out of the trees and strode up to her. Trying to look strong, Bridget raised her chin and crossed her arms. In Luke’s absence he was the closest thing they had to a Rector. Not only was he too strong for her to fight, he was too smart to fall for her slutty girl routine. He was the kind of guy that would take what he wanted anyway. Thankfully, she wasn’t his type.

  “It hasn’t worked, Bridget. Are you even trying?” Nick asked in a controlled voice. Anger seethed below that control and though there wasn’t a Rector’s power behind it, there was the promise of a lot of pain.

  Bridget would have preferred to have him yell at her, at least then she’d see his anger coming. But Nick was always like this, under control and impossible to read. It’s what made him more frightening than the others. Her knees started to shake and she had to concentrate very hard not to leak energy all over. Looking at Claud helped. She wasn’t exactly his girl, but they’d been doing it for a while now. He smiled and winked at her. The suggestive look would have scared most girls, but not Bridget. Claud was the only reason the others hadn’t hurt her yet.

  “I have tried, Nick, I swear. But it’s going to take an act of God to come between those two,” Bridget said, trying to sound exasperated instead of scared. It didn’t come out quite right.