Page 74 of Soul of Shadow
“Like what?”
“Like you could take a bite of it and swallow it whole.”
“I’m serious, Elias.” She bent her head back, looking up into his green eyes.
His pupils moved over her face. “As am I.”
“You said you had information that could help our search,” she said, trying to ignore the heat radiating from his gaze. “Why not just tell me? The more minds we put to it, the better.”
Slowly, like doors inching shut, his eyes narrowed. “Why are you so desperate to know?”
Shit. “I’m not,” she said quickly. “I just don’t like being kept in the dark. And you promised you would tell me.”
His eyes narrowed further. “I’m not keeping you in the dark. I’m holding on to the information until I can share it with you in a more private setting. I mean, here?” He glanced around the crowded gymnasium. “Now? What can you possibly do while we’re at a school dance?”
Sweat began to bead on Charlie’s neck. “Right. No. Of course. It was a stupid question. I just…”Stop pushing, a voice in her head whispered.Pull back.Yet all she could see was the dire necessity in her sister’s eyes, the weight in her tone as she asked Charlie to do this for her. “Why didn’t you tell me back at your house?” she asked. “When I was—”
“When you were in my bed?” he filled in. “That’s what you were going to say, right? When you were nearly dying from your draugar wounds, and then I kissed you, and you kissed me back like you were desperate for it? Like you would die if I let you go?”
“I didn’t—”
“No, Charlie,” he said. “I didn’t tell you then. I had a few other things on my mind.”
His words did something funny to her stomach, like ripples of tension flowing steadily outward.I had a few other things on my mind.
No, Charlie chastised herself. Now was not the time to get sucked into this strange attraction between them. Now was the time to focus. To get the information she needed without setting off any alarm bells in his head.
And just like that, she had an idea.
Exhaling, preparing herself for the show she needed to put on, Charlie lifted her arms and wrapped them around Elias’s neck. Elias went stiff, his eyes widening. She smiled wryly up at him. The fingers of her right hand toyed with his hair.
“Let’s talk about something else,” she said.
“What—” He cleared his throat. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, your dancing skills, for one,” she teased. “I must admit I expected more.”
A devilish smile lit up Elias’s face, and before Charlie knew what was happening, he had swept her off the floor, tossing her into the air and spinning her in a full circle before she came back down, landing with his arms wrapped around her. She laughed breathlessly, clinging to his shoulders.
“Where on earth did you learn to dothat?” she asked.
“There’s plenty about me that you don’t know,” Elias said as he spun her into his arm, dipping her low. “Plenty that would surprise you.” Then, just as the acoustic song ended, Elias unrolled Charlie. He grabbed her beneath her shoulders, raised her into the air, and swung her to either side of him, her legs dipping past his body like a pendulum. She couldn’t help it; she squealed with childish delight. The sound echoed through the quiet murmurs of the gym.
When he finally set her onto her feet, she was beaming up at him. A real smile, not the pretend flirtation she had smeared onto her face moments before. The next song started, another upbeat pop song. The couples split away from each other, melding back into chaotic groups again.
“Nowthatwas a dance,” Charlie said, and she meant every word.
Elias smiled down at her, still holding her in his grip. Her hands rested on his chest, her head tilted backward to look straight up at him. They were the only ones not dancing. They stood, pressed together like two lovers hiding beneath an umbrella in a heavy rain. His eyes scanned her face, searching for something—she couldn’t say what. They traced her eyelashes, her cheekbones, the ridge of her nose and down to her lips, where they lingered, as if transfixed.
This was her moment. Her chance to exploit the desire burning in his gaze.
She pushed up onto her toes and kissed him.
Elias’s lips were gentle. As they pressed to hers, she realized that she had never kissed him before. Not in his human form. The kiss they’d shared the night before had been between shadow and skin. This was different. It was raw, skin on skin. She could feel the weight of his body below her palms, could taste the ChapStick he’d applied on the ride over. She wasn’t sure if it was because they were in public this time—in the middle of a dance floor filled with other students—or if Elias didn’t feel as confident when he wasn’t in mare form, but whatever the reason, his kiss felt softer this time. Quiet, more reserved. As if he wasn’t even sure why Charlie was kissing him in the first place.
Panicked, fearful that he wasn’t buying her act, Charlie pushed up even higher on her toes and raised her hands to cup his head, pressing her lips more urgently to his. Elias froze beneath her touch. For a moment, she thought he might even take a step backward.
Then he grabbed her around the waist and dove into the kiss like a shark tasting blood-infested waters.
