Page 56 of Winterfall Destiny

But his face has drawn into a serious expression. "That would never work anymore. I learned that by the summerhouse the other day." Both hands now grip my waist, and his newly coloured eyes shine in the night as a cat's would, pupils larger. "I can't think straight. All I want is you in my bed. Against the wall, on the floor, hell anywhere I stand or sit beside you. When I say I want to taste you and possess you, it's more than what the other guys would mean, and I really fucking do."

My hands remain in his hair, and I rest my forehead on his. "And I would stop you."

"I don't think you could," he says hoarsely.

I pull my head back. "You could."

Andrei rubs his lips together and shakes his head. "I can hear every beat of your pulse, all the time, and every scent overpowers me—the sweetness on your skin, in your hair. Your blood." He squeezes his eyes shut. "Everything about you has become lost in a haze of blood, Maeve."

"That's not true." I shift against his lap where he's hard beneath me, frustratingly held back by my sleep shorts and his boxers. He only has to say the word and I'd take the next step.

Andrei catches my hand as I slide it down towards him. "I want you so fucking much. Too much. I'm terrified of what might happen."

"We'll be okay," I whisper. "We've worked around everything."

"I'm not him anymore, Maeve," he says, mouth turning down. "I'm not Andrei. Yes, I am on a lot of levels, but I feel as if the guy I knew a few weeks ago is only in the corner of my mind."

"You don't behave any differently. Maybe you're just adjusting?" I suggest. "We can adjust again."

Sucking in a breath, he releases my waist and puts his hands behind him, palms down on the floor. Andrei's hair fell back into his eyes, and I can no longer see his expression.

"Do you remember the images you saw in my mind? Weeks ago, at the academy." I frown and shake my head. "In mental magic class, when I imagined me and you in the library. For days afterwards, you avoided me because what you saw scared you."

"Everything's a world away from that. We are." I reach out. "Our physical relationship moved on a lot since then."

"Look into my head," he whispers.

"No," I whisper.

"You need to know."

"Again, no. Because if they're thoughts you don't want to have, I'm not prompting them."

He laughs. "Maeve. You're aroused. That's something else I'm more aware of and that drove me beyond distraction even before I became this." Gently, he lifts me from him, and sets me on the floor. "I'm sorry," he says and brushes his mouth against mine.

Is this what the First hinted at? That Andrei's desires would be too potent, and he'd hurt me? I clench my teeth. That creature will not break us.

"You're calmer than I expected after the uh… news," he remarks.

"Deft subject change," I grumble. "My reaction isn't the only one we'll need to deal with. Jamie and Ash will lose their shit, too."

"Yeah."

"Let me stay with you tonight," I whisper. "I promise not to kiss you again."

He makes a pained sound. "I don't not want to kiss you."

I move to lie down on his bed and look at the ceiling. As he joins me, Andrei lies on his side, and his fingers move across my face and lips. The small intimacies like this always show me our love is more than physical. Much more. We established that months ago, and Andrei has to hold on to that.

"Promise we'll work on this?" I say, catching his fingers to kiss them.

"We will." With a sigh, Andrei pulls me to him as we spoon together, and I clutch onto the arm wrapped around me. "And we'll work on the other issue. You're never taking that thing's blood from me, Maeve. I will never, ever turn you. The world needs this Maeve Winterfall. I need her."

The world needs Maeve Winterfall. Something haunted me since Lex threw his crazy theory at us that the Dominion wasn't entirely responsible for the massacre. The Blackwoods planned to free the First and so they needed Winterfall magic, which puts a question mark over their involvement in the Winterfall massacre. Why would the Dominion wipe out my family line when they couldn't achieve their crazed goal to bring the First back without Winterfall magic?

If the Confederacy knew about Gabriella and Anastasia's plans to free the First, they'd do everything they could to end the magic needed to unseal the prison.

Including killing the whole family line?

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