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  The memory made Eren feel bad for bringing it up. The man was dead, but that didn’t erase the pain of what he’d done. She idly stroked Aiden’s arms, offering him the comfort of her touch, wishing she could do more.

  “Drop your guard for a moment. Let the energy flow through you. You’ll like it, I promise,” she reassured him.

  Eren knew from experience that letting the energy of that sacred place run through her was like drinking a quadruple shot espresso. No doubt that was why the town had chosen the spot for their meeting center.

  Like a shift in air pressure, she felt Aiden drop his guard. It felt sort of like when a plane leveled out. It wasn’t quite like this with everyone. She could feel the power of other Rectors, channelers, and of the meeting place, but Aiden’s was very different. His power called to her. She craved it like she craved ice cream or coffee, only more so.

  Aiden drew in a sharp breath and cursed in Irish as he let go of her and stumbled back. She spun around in time to see him fall onto her bed. Pushing himself up onto his elbows, he grinned as he stared at her with wide eyes. In only a pair of shorts, with his wet brown and black hair spiked in disarray, he took her breath away. At nearly seventeen he was built more like someone five years his senior. But it wasn’t so much his looks that blew Eren away—though that certainly didn’t hurt—it was the amazing person behind his beautiful eyes.

  Yeah, she knew she had it bad.

  “That was awesome, like a caffeine overload!” Aiden exclaimed.

  Eren set her coffee cup down and he grabbed her and pulled her onto the bed next to him. His body was vibrating, kind of like it did right before he channeled. He leaned over and kissed her and his lips were tingling. He definitely had a powerful effect on her, but this had never happened before. His lips parted and power poured down her throat in a warm rush. Rather than make her gag, her body responded by drinking it in, which spread the flush all the way to her toes.

  Aiden finally drew away and held her back. She shook her head and tried to get control of herself.

  “That was weird,” she said breathlessly. It was as if the power they were sharing had dropped her inhibitions and kicked her instincts into high gear. And her instincts wanted Aiden.

  “If we don’t stop your grandfather will drag me out and throw me in the snow. While that sounds kind of good right now, I really don’t want to sleep in it,” Aiden said a bit breathlessly.

  Eren laughed and sat up, putting a little distance between them. It was hard. The last thing she wanted to do was move away from him. Strange, she always had such good control over herself. That and the fear of taking the next step usually made it easy to stop.

  A blush worked its way to her cheeks. “That was different.”

  “You didn’t tell me it would have that effect.”

  Eren struck him in the shoulder. “I didn’t know it would, silly! How could I have?”

  Propping himself up again, he traced a finger along her calf, making her fight off a shudder.

  “All right, I forgive you,” he sighed.

  He didn’t mean that and she knew it. He enjoyed it as much as she had. But she knew if she didn’t redirect the conversation soon, they’d start kissing again and that would lead into dangerous territory. Besides, tonight’s outing had been about more than just spending time together.

  “I noticed something strange at the Society meeting,” she said.

  The hungry look on his face faded a bit and his gaze stopped wandering all over her.

  “What’s that?” he asked, all playfulness gone.

  “There was a couple that everyone seemed to respect almost as much as the Rector couple. They seemed very close to the Rectors.”

  As he contemplated this, she pulled her long black hair over her shoulder and started to braid it. She had to keep her hands busy to stop herself from touching him.

  “I saw them too. They did seem really close to them. I’ll have to ask Alin about that,” Aiden said.

  They talked about everything they had seen, how the Rectors held themselves, what they’d said, and how everyone had responded to them. The group they watched tonight was a Mayan Society. They had plans to sneak out and watch the meetings of other cultures as well. They knew their own Society would be one of mixed couples, much like Eren’s Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Alin’s Society. Aunt Sylvia was Mayan and Uncle Alin was Romanian and their Society lived in Romania. As far as anyone knew, there were no mixed Societies in the U.S.

  Finally, the smell of popcorn halted their conversation.

  “I take it that’s grandfather’s cue for us to come downstairs,” Eren said.

  “Damn. We wasted all that time when we could have been making out,” Aiden teased with a huge smile.

  Rolling her eyes, Eren shook her head as she stood up. With almost any other guy she would have to question whether or not he was kidding, but not Aiden. He enjoyed conversation almost as much as he enjoyed kissing her, and she loved that. Besides, she knew he wouldn’t disrespect her grandfather like that. She grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her.

  When they got downstairs, her grandfather had a huge bowl of popcorn and three glasses of what looked and smelled like lemonade on the coffee table. He sat down in his leather armchair and motioned for them to join him. Eren scooped up a handful of popcorn and breathed in the aromas of butter, salt, and powdered Tabasco before putting it in her mouth.

  Aiden left over a foot of space between them when he sat down next to her and she knew it was out of respect for her grandfather. Despite—or perhaps in spite of—his horrible upbringing, Aiden was infallibly polite and well mannered. It made Eren smile to think of how much her mom would have liked him.

  Once they settled and filled their own individual bowls with popcorn, Zolin handed Aiden a book. Eren leaned over to get a closer look at it. It was a sturdy, leather bound volume with the title Life in a Society written in gold on the cover. Seeing that book again made her smile. Curiosity had her on the edge of her seat when grandfather handed Aiden a second book. The title was To Be A Rector.

  “To protect the truth of our existence, these are written as fictional books. Yet they are completely accurate and read much like informational manuals,” Zolin said.

  Aiden’s eyes filled with wonder as his fingers traced the words of the title. “Thank you,” he murmured.

  “You’re welcome. The second one is given to each Rector as soon as their potential is recognized. It seems like a good time to give it to the two of you,” Zolin said with a proud smile.

  “Grandfather, this will help so much! Thank you,” Eren said.

  Then it occurred to her that he may have heard what they were talking about upstairs, which meant he’d probably heard everything. Could he have been listening in on them? Would he have? Eren hid her mortified expression by leaning over the book and letting her hair fall down across her face. She hadn’t meant to get carried away kissing Aiden, it just sort of happened. When she was with him the rest of the world faded away.

  Aiden flipped the book opened and they both started to finger through the pages. Zolin sat and talked with them, answering questions and pointing things out in the book. He explained that the second couple they had seen at the meeting who seemed so close to the Rectors was like their second in command. They also discussed how some Societies had only three to five couples while others had ten to fifteen.

  Slowly, Eren started to feel a little better about the whole Rector thing. Her grandfather made a Society sound a lot more like a family and that took a lot of the frightening element out of it. She was beginning to think that someday she might be able to do this.

  The clock refused to be still despite the importance of their discussion, and the time for Aiden to go home arrived all too soon.

  “I’ll walk you,” Eren said as they put their popcorn bowls in the sink.

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. It’s terribly cold out,” Grandfather called from the living room.

  �
�The Murphy’s only live two miles away. I won’t even have to go through the forest,” Eren said.

  Stepping back into the hallway, she fixed him with her best puppy dog look until he smiled and nodded.

  “Alright, but go there and straight home,” he said.

  She kissed his stubbly cheek, pulled on a pair of boots and her heavy coat to make him happy.

  Hand in hand, she and Aiden walked the empty streets, snow squeaking under foot. A mixture of snow and ice had built up on most of the lamp posts, blocking the solar panel from absorbing any sunlight and leaving the streets unlit for the most part. However, the snow blanketing everything reflected even the tiniest bit of light and made everything seem bright.

  Despite walking as slow as they possibly could, they reached Aiden’s foster parents’ house in less than half an hour. Eren glared over at the quaint blue two-story house as if it were at fault for their separation.

  “I still wish they would have let you stay with my aunt and uncle,” Eren said with a sigh.

  “You know the council elders. ‘He must be with an Irish family’. So archaic,” Aiden said with a roll of his eyes.

  Eren made a snorting sound. “Yeah, old fashioned is a colossal understatement where they’re concerned.”

  Their lips met and she forgot all about the backwards thinking town elders. Aiden pulled back from their kiss before she was ready and Eren sighed in disappointment. His eyes flicked to the house and she followed his gaze. Though the lights were off it wasn’t hard to tell one of the curtains in the front window of the house had moved. They were being watched. Which came to the second reason Eren didn’t like him living here.

  “Get a good look at the half breed Mr. Murphy,” Eren murmured under her breath.

  Aiden took her face in his hands and fixed her with a smoldering look. “I don’t care what they think, you know that.”

  “I know. I just hate that they don’t like us dating because I’m not full Irish,” she said. Those piercing hazel eyes made her want to look away but his hands wouldn’t let go.

  He placed another kiss upon her lips, this one chaste and quick. “You should be getting home soon anyway. Feels like it’s going to get below twenty again tonight,” he said as he stepped back.

  “Okay. See you in the morning.”

  She watched him walk up the steps and saw the curtain swing shut as whomever was spying on them made their getaway. Eren walked backwards down the street, not willing to take her eyes off Aiden just yet. When he got to the door he turned around and gave her a smile that made it feel like a warm summer day. She smiled back and waved, thankful he turned before the blush reached her cheeks.

  A breeze stirred, forcing her to zip up her jacket as she turned to leave. Maybe he was right about it getting below twenty after all. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she stepped onto the sidewalk and picked up her pace. While she didn’t run the risk of freezing to death like a normal girl since she could use her power to keep herself warm, the extreme cold was still uncomfortable.

  Less than a quarter of a mile later she thought she heard something. Even Colorado with it’s over abundance of wildlife was still and quiet in the winter time. She was the only one out at almost eleven o’clock in a ridiculously small town, there should be no noise. Yet there it was again, that sound somewhere between a squeak and a crunch. It was the sound of footsteps in the snow. Thinking it was probably just the echo of her own steps she ignored it and kept walking, refusing to give in to paranoia.

  She heard it again, very distinctly, between the rhythm of her own steps. Just to be sure, she stopped walking. After her feet went still she heard one more step. Panic worked its way up from her stomach. She turned to look around her. With Aiden by her side the streets had seemed romantic and almost bright, now they were filled with shadows.

  There was no one there.

  Chastising herself out loud, she laughed and kept walking. Hearing her voice echo through the empty streets hadn’t helped like she thought it would. At least the second set of footsteps didn’t start again. But she had a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that something wasn’t right and bumps started to rise along her arms. She ignored it, blaming it on the cold. After what happened with Luke last fall she was a bit paranoid, that was probably all that was wrong.

  The steps started up again. They were in perfect time to hers, but they were heavier and the heel-to-toe rhythm was different. This person most likely had bigger feet, by the sound of their footfalls, and since they were heavier, it meant it was probably a guy. Her power tried to reach out to discover who was behind her but she stopped it. Sometimes not knowing was better.

  Trying hard to maintain the same pace so the person wouldn’t know she was afraid, she began humming to herself as she walked. All the while she wondered who would follow her and more importantly, why? Luke was in Romania, she was certain of that. If he wasn’t, his grandfather would have contacted her grandfather to warn them. So if not Luke, who? Who else would care to interfere in her life?

  She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t realize the steps had stopped until after she crossed the street into Mayan territory. For another half a block she forced herself to keep a slow, unconcerned pace. When she rounded a corner and stepped in between two buildings, she started to run. A few heartbeats later, she was stepping into the safety of her grandfather’s store. She closed the door behind her and threw the deadbolt.

  “A Society that dances together stays together,

  For during the dancing a bond is formed.”

  ~from Life In A Society.

  Chapter 2

  The slight smell of scorching sugar cued Eren to rotate the stick that held her marshmallow over the fire. Just as she pulled the marshmallow away from the orange flames, Aiden handed her a pair of graham crackers.

  “Here you go,” her cousin Fane said as he leaned across the fire and handed her a few squares of chocolate.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  Putting the mess all together, she savored the mingling scents before taking a bite. Perfection. She wasn’t just thinking of the s’mores either. Tonight was New Year’s Eve and she couldn’t imagine a better way to spend it than on the rooftop gardens of her grandfather’s store with her family and Aiden.

  Fane and Aiden laughed and teased each other as they competed over roasting the perfect marshmallows. Aiden mussed up Fane’s hair and Fane complained as he tried to calm the jet black curls back down. Being half-Mayan and half-Romanian, he didn’t really look like Eren’s cousin, but she didn’t care about looks.

  When she laughed at their antics Aiden turned toward Eren and wiped a bit of marshmallow from the corner of her mouth. Winking at her, he stuck his finger in his mouth and licked it clean.

  “Ew!” Fane laughed.

  “Another year and you won’t think so, Bro!” Aiden teased.

  Upon hearing Aiden call him bro, Eren stiffened. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Fane and Aiden to feel close, she did. But after her parents died she found that the closer she got to someone, the more afraid she became of losing them. There were times, late at night, when doubt set in and she thought it might be safer for her heart if she kept everyone at a distance. But it was too late; she was already completely in love with Aiden.

  Aiden wrapped the blanket they were huddled under tighter around her. Even out on the rooftop as they were in the open air with the snow drifting lazily down, she wasn’t cold. His warm body next to hers, along with the blanket, was more than adequate. Eren had no doubt he knew what really made her stiffen up. Having lost his own parents, he was no stranger to heartache. When he leaned over and kissed her cheek she forgot about all that stuff.

  “Ah come on guys, save that for your alone time. You’re going to corrupt me,” Fane groaned.

  “Impossible. You’re a gentleman who is beyond reproach,” Eren teased.

  “For now!” Fane laughed.

  For a moment, Eren thought about telling them what h
appened when she’d walked Aiden home. But she’d been thinking it over, and no matter how she thought about saying it, it sounded like she was being paranoid. Which she realized, was probably true. She was still shook up over things and had let her imagination get the best of her. No, she wouldn’t ruin their fun tonight.

  “Sounds like you kids are already having fun without us,” Aunt Sylvia said as she, Uncle Alin, and Zolin—Eren and Fane’s grandfather—walked over from the side of the roof where the greenhouse was.

  They vaulted effortlessly over the four foot wall that separated the two different sections of the roof. Even Zolin made it look easy with a little push of his power. Eren could see traces of it like a mist trail behind them.

  True to Eren’s teasing about him being a gentleman, Fane stood immediately. Aiden was quick to follow his example. Eren hid a smile as she wondered who was corrupting who now.

  “You guys are just in time. We were about to open another bag of marshmallows,” Aiden said.

  “Another? Guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering you boys will even eat my cooking,” Aunt Sylvia asked, eyes widening.

  Eren laughed at the incredulous look on her aunt’s face.

  Fane gave Aunt Sylvia an adoring look. “Your cooking is great Mrs. M. Besides, Fane here is starting to fill out like a cage fighter, he needs a lot of food,” he said.

  Red stained Fane’s cheeks. “Not hardly! A growth spurt at most. You’re the one who looks like a cage fighter, Aiden,” he said.

  Popping a marshmallow in his mouth, Uncle Alin raised an eyebrow and titled his head. “Come on, it’s almost time for the fireworks.”

  Fane dashed to his side and Alin put his arm around his son’s shoulders as he started toward the eastern edge of the roof. Smiling, Aunt Sylvia reached her hand out to Eren. Wrapping the blanket tight around her, Eren stood and took her aunt’s hand. She let Sylvia lead her over to stand with Alin and Fane. Behind her, she could hear Aiden and her grandfather following.