The Zeuorian Awakening (13 page)

A thousand reasons why she should tell him no flashed through her mind, including the storm brewing outside, her rising temperature and the low grade pain in her head, but what if he was her Watcher and this was her only chance to question him?

She rather get it over with now instead of having to wait another day to find out whether or not Tyler was her Watcher, because he wouldn’t answer her questions at the beach party.

“Okay, I’ll stay, but,” she crossed her arms over her chest, “just to talk and nothing else.”

“Unless you change your mind.” He leaned against the counter and winked at her, hinting he’d make sure she changed her mind.

Lexi shook her head. She better hurry and question him before he attempted to convince her to do more than talk. “So what are you keeping a secret from me?”

A tiny smirk danced on his lips as he moved slowly toward her. “Kiss me and I’ll tell you my secret.”

Several flashes of lights lit up the kitchen and a loud thunder exploded above the house. He wanted her to kiss him. Forget that. But if she didn’t kiss him would he tell her the truth?

Dammit. “I’ll give you one kiss.” She lifted her index finger to emphasize her point. “But you have to tell me your secret first.”

He took his time before saying to her, “You got a deal, but no backing out of it.”

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “Now tell me your secret.”

A bright light flashed outside as she leaned in close, eager to hear what he had to say. Whatever he intended to tell her, he blocked it out of his mind so she couldn’t get a sneak preview.

He shifted his weight from one leg to the other and glanced outside the large kitchen window before facing her with a wry look on his face. “I lied. I’m not hiding anything from you. I wanted an excuse to convince you to go out with me.”

Her mouth dropped open as a loud thunder rumbled above. “You lied to get me to go out with you.” Her voice raised an octave. “Did you also lie about us hanging out during the summer my parents were murdered?”

“Define lie?”

She shot him a dirty look. “So we didn’t hang out during the summer.”

“Not the entire summer,” he said, with a smug tone to his voice. “We only hung out while my father worked with your parents.”

He wasn’t her Watcher. She needed to get out of there right away.

Before she moved an inch, Tyler pushed off the counter and stood in front of her. “Okay, I told you the truth now you owe me a kiss,” he said, sex dripping from every word.

No way was she going to kiss him. ”You can forget the bet. I’m not kissing a scheming liar,” she said, rushing toward the kitchen door.

“Oh, no, you don’t.” He grabbed her arm and spun her around toward him. “You’re not getting out of kissing me.”

He pulled her closer to him and kissed her with all his heart, soul and passion rolled up into one powerful kiss.

The French doors shook and rattled, the windows whistled and the sky groaned as it mimicked her feelings, but she didn’t stop him. His kiss. It was indescribable and somehow made all her worries, pain and questions fade away into a glorious abyss.

A strange feeling in the pit of her stomach radiated through her body and into his as a gust of wind blew open the French doors and knocked over jars on the counters. His heart beat against her chest as if it was about to explode.

He pulled away and stared at her, panting. “I never felt a kiss like that before.”

What did he mean? Did it have something to do with her abilities?

“Tyler,” she said, taking deep breaths. “I think we should stop and go to the—”

The words got stuck in her throat as a tingling sensation swept over her body and every desire that had been bottled up inside her came to life.

She tore off her hoodie and then his sweater and pulled his face close to hers, hungry to feel his lips again, but then she stopped.

This wasn’t her. Something was off.

“I knew deep down you wanted me as much as I wanted you,” he said. Then he kissed her hard and feverishly.

A cool gust of wind beat the French doors against the walls as the storm strengthened and the room darkened. Her mind clouded over as another spell of desire washed over her. She frantically ran her hands down his bare chest and over his abdomen, feeling every curve.

What was she doing?

She yanked her hands away. This was definitely not her. Maybe her attraction to him had to do with a new ability. One that allowed her desires to mimic Tyler’s or could it be some kind of spell pushing her to be with him. Whatever it was, she needed to make it stop before they went too far.

With all her will power, she pushed Tyler away as every light bulb exploded in the room.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking around at the dark room.

“I’m sorry.” She slowly backed away from him. “But I don’t want to do this with you.”

“It’s okay.” He cupped her face with his hands. “I’m only going to do whatever you want me to do and if I go too far, just tell me so and I’ll stop.” He kissed her once again, more passionately.

Several flashes of lights illuminated the room and the thunder made a loud cracking noise right above the roof. None of it distracted her from being with him, not while the strange spell overpowered her will to pull away.

It pushed her, controlled her and forced her to continue.

Tyler unbuttoned his jeans and exposed his navy briefs. “I want you. I never wanted anyone as much as I want you, but if I’m moving too fast, tell me now and we can go back to kissing.”

She didn’t say a word. Instead, she pulled him toward her and kissed him hard on the lips. Lightning bolt after lightning bolt struck close to the house. All the windows in the kitchen exploded and glass sprayed the room.

He gripped her jean’s zipper and lowered it to the metal stop as he said under his breath, “I love you.”

Her entire body ached and wanted to melt into his arms, but she had to make him stop before they went all the way and something worse happened outside.

She fought the unnatural force pushing her to let him continue and lifted her hand, reluctant to let go of him. A loud crash startled them both and water rushed into the room, knocking them onto the hard tile floor.

The spell overpowering had disappeared. She leaped to her feet, sprinted outside and ran across the beach toward the rocks along the shore.

“Lexi,” she could hear Tyler shouting in the distance, but she kept running across the rocks toward Harris Beach. She didn’t care what it took; she couldn’t let him come near her again. The whole coastline would be destroyed if she did.

A wave crashed on top of her and knocked her to the ground. She rolled along the jagged rocks as her legs and arms repeatedly hit the sharp edges. When the wave receded, Tyler ran across the rocks toward her.

“Get away from me,” she said, sprinting toward the beach on the other side of the rocks.

Just before she reached the beach, Tyler tackled her on the sand. “What the hell’s gotten into you?” he demanded.

“I have to go home. It’ll be safer there,” she said just before a wave crashed down on them and dragged them out to sea.

Her body twisted and turned under the water. She kicked as hard as she could, but the undertow rolled her along the sandy bottom until she washed onto the shore like a limp rag doll.

The rain beat down on her face and she called out, “Tyler.”

But he didn’t reply.

She sat up straight and scanned the beach for him while she fought the urge to pass out. A few seconds later she spotted him along the shoreline as he attempted to lift his body on the rocks.

Further down the beach lightning struck everything in sight as wave after wave crash down on the tiny houses along the shore, breaking them apart bit by bit as families fled for their lives. She couldn’t believe the mass destruction the storm caused.

“Lexi,” she heard a boy shout from the darkness of the beach.

Wiping away the wet hair stuck to her face, Lexi tried to see who had called to her, but her vision started to blur and body swayed. Oh, no. She was about to pass out.

Before she hit the sand, strong arms caught her and lifted her up. She glanced up at her rescuers face with angular jaw and ruggedly handsome features. Her eyes locked onto his gray ones. “Everett, thank heaven you’re here,” she said.

“Can you stand?” he asked.

She fought her eyes closing and shook her head. “I don’t think so. I can barely stay awake.”

Everett pulled her close to his chest and carried her across the sand, up the side of the cliff to his Mustang. He opened his passenger door and sat her down. She struggled to buckle her seat belt as Everett sat down in the driver seat.

Within a few seconds, his engine came to life and he threw the stick shift in first gear. He tore out of the parking lot and onto the highway, traveling south toward her house.

He glanced over toward her, his knuckles bright red from gripping the steering wheel. “I saw Tyler chasing after you. Did he do this to you?” He motioned toward her torn thermal top and her jeans, which were covered with blood.

“No, I did this to myself when I fell on the rocks.”

She closed her eyes and her body trembled. This was her fault. She single-handedly made it happen: The lightning, the waves that tore apart the homes along the beachfront, injuring who knew how many people and maybe even killing someone. Oh, God, kill. She fought the tears burning her eyes.

“It’ll be okay.” Everett patted her hand and parked across the street from her house.

Lexi stared at her house through her tears as her head spun. She hadn’t remembered telling him her address. “How did you know where I lived?”

“You told me in class don’t you remember?”

She couldn’t think straight. Exhaustion from over using atomkinesis played havoc with her memories. As far as she could recall, she hadn’t told him where she lived. Her eyes narrowed. “I never gave you my address. How do you know where I live?”

“You got me.” He lifted his hands in the air as if surrendering. “I asked Angie.”

That sounded plausible. At least it did in her current state of mind.

“Now can we go inside before you bleed to death?” He brushed his hand along her forehead and showed her the blood on the palm of his hand to make his point.

It took her a second to register what he was showing her. “Damn, I am bleeding. Come on let’s go inside.”

She stumbled out of the car and Everett rushed to her. He threw his arm over her shoulder and helped her across the street to her house. He took her keys and opened the front door. Then he escorted her inside.

“Nice place.” He glanced around the living room lit by a small table lamp. “Um, where’s the bathroom?”

“Upstairs next to the guest room,” she said, motioning toward the stairs.

He helped her up the stairs and through the bathroom doorway. Then she sat on the edge of the bathtub while Everett rummaged in the medicine cabinet. She took a second to muster her courage to ask him the only coherent thought on her mind. “Why were you still on the beach?”

He pulled a box from the medicine cabinet and took his time before answering. “I was looking for you. Angie told me you were going to the party with Tyler. But after I overheard Neal spouting off that Tyler was hooking up with you back at his house, I thought I should warn you before something bad happened.”

“You risked your life to find me?”

“Uh-huh.” Everett placed a bandage on her head. “So why weren’t you wearing a jacket? You must be free—” He stared at her white underwear exposed by the open zipper of her jeans. Blood speckled the ripped fabric. Every muscle in his face tensed. “Did Tyler hurt you?”

She fidgeted with her hands, unsure what to tell him. Actually, she wasn’t even sure herself what had happened, but whatever the case, she couldn’t risk exposing herself by telling him the truth. She gave him the simple answer. “It isn’t what you’re thinking.”

“Are you sure? I swear, if that jerk did anything to hurt you I’ll—”

“I’m fine.” She put her finger on his lips. “I left my hoodie back at his place.” Which wasn’t a lie. “And,” she zipped up her pants, “my zipper must’ve opened on me. I really need to get rid of these jeans.”

“Your jeans unzipped on you.” Everett pressed on her zipper and it wouldn’t budge. He stared at her with wide eyes and a desperate look on his face. “Are you dating him?”

She wanted to shout, “No,” but she settled for saying, “I’m not.” And never will. He wasn’t her Watcher and only wanted to be with her. The only boy she wanted to be with was Everett. His heroic act of risking his life to find her made her realize that.

“I’m glad.” He smiled. “I would’ve hated to lose you to that jerk.”

And by his emphasis on the words, “lose you,” she could tell he meant more than losing her as a class partner or a friend. Just maybe he was telling her he liked her, too.

“Do me a favor,” he said. “When you tell Tyler its over between you two, do it somewhere I can be close by to make sure nothing happens to you.”

How sweet. He wanted to protect her from being hurt by Tyler. If only he could protect her from the half-breeds discovering what she had done. Since she was sure once the nine o’clock news reported the massive storm and noted with bright red letters on the screen and catchy wording how a storm that size never hits Brookings, the half-breeds would suspect she caused it and come looking for her, especially if they read about the other accidents she caused during the week.

Her hands trembled as she thought about the half-breeds coming to town to kill her.

“Everything will be okay.” Everett wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”

“I wish that was true.” But no one could protect her from the half-breeds, except her real Watcher.

“Relax,” Everett lifted her chin. “You’ll be fine once you tell Tyler you’re not interested in him. Then you won’t have to worry about him hurting you or pushing you to the point you hurt yourself.”

Wait. What did he say?