Page 55 of Griffin Undone
I ran.
“No way! Arik, stop. You can’t be serious.” A shattered rock would scatter chiseled spikes everywhere. That was probably why he’d thrown it, so fear would force me to get the block right, but imagining the possible outcome made the stress stomachache clamping down on my belly ten times worse.
“I am damn serious.” He stalked toward me across the minefield of wood chunks and chips covering the grass between us. “What do you think will happen if someone shoots you? Throws a knife or, hell, a boulder? We’re strong enough to pick up just about anything worth throwing. You have to be able to shield yourself.”
My stress—and yes, fear—did a one-eighty to anger. “I don’t have the control for that, okay? I don’t!” Maybe I never would. After tonight, I sure as hell would never risk using my power around anyone else; I couldn’t risk the results with another person in the danger zone.
“You have to.”
“I don’t!” I swept my hand out, indicating the rock Arik had thrown. “I don—”
The hunk of limestone cracked where it sat on the ground. Just…cracked. Two even pieces jerked outward, their insides jagged evidence of a power I hadn’t even known I’d wielded. I staggered back, gaze locked on the rock, my breath too fast and too thick and suddenly not nearly enough to keep me conscious.
A gesture. That’s all it was. And yet…
God.
Before I could lose it completely, before my temper and my emotion and my…everything…could come out in ways I had no control over, I turned my back to Arik and his asshole commands. Frustration roiled and rose, higher and higher, with every step I took away from him, until all I could do was let it out in a shout that echoed off the surrounding woods long after all the breath had left my lungs. I watched in horror as, one by one, the line of trees edging the clearing right in front of me snapped in two.
“Kat, stop it!” Arik was right there, jerking me around, anger to match my own blazing in his glowing eyes. “You can’t give in to it, ever. You have too much power for childish temper tantrums. What if those had been people, huh? What then?”
I didn’t bother pulling away; I didn’t bother telling him I’d already made that realization myself. All I could do was hang limp in his grasp and shake.
This was my life now. Frustration or anger or disgust—what about love? Or despair? No matter what it was, I could never let my emotions go. Never.
Just the thought filled me with absolute exhaustion.
Tucking my hands beneath my arms, afraid I’d make the wrong move and kill Arik instead of some helpless trees, I stood there and just…shook. “I can’t do this, Arik.” I curled over, fighting the emotion that now seemed everywhere, overwhelming my every thought. “I can’t. This is never going to work.” Except what choice did I have? It wasn’t like I could ignore my power, shut it down…was it?
Arik gripped my arms, forcing me up, and pulled me against him. I expected his touch to be rough, angry, but instead it was gentle. “Youcando this,” he told me. Leaning back, he cupped my chin, made me meet his gaze. His electric eyes blazed down on me. “I wouldn’t be working with you if I thought you were a waste of my time. I don’t waste time, Kat; you of all people should know that.”
I tried to pull away, but Arik was having none of it. “You don’t know me, Arik,” I pointed out, “not really. You don’t know what my life was like.” I went to wave a hand, indicating the mess I’d made of the clearing, then jerked myself back from even the thought. “This is my life. I’m failing at being a psych just as thoroughly as I did at being a human. That’s not self-pity; that’s fact.” I wasn’t strong, and this… Nothing in my life had prepared me for this. The pressure was immense, every move scrutinized, every failure examined and reprimanded. Not to mention that one wrong move with my power meant people could get hurt. People like the Archai. Like Arik.
People I cared about.
Arik’s face went hard. “I’ll tell you what’s fucking fact. You will control your power. You will learn to use it. You will because I want you to, and because there’s no other alternative. Do you understand me?”
I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what he could do with his ultimatum. Before a single word escaped, Arik’s mouth took mine. His hand on my chin refused to release me, refused to let me turn away. Except he need not have worried. From the moment his hard lips separated mine and his tongue pushed inside, all ability to resist fled. As did my anger. Every emotion but hunger left my brain as my body went completely limp, trusting Arik to hold me up, and every cell, every thought, every breath focused in on him—the inflexible demand of his mouth, the silken slide of his tongue, the sting of his fangs as they pricked my lip.
I groaned when he stepped into me, fitting our bodies together despite the heavy coats we both wore. I could lose myself right here, in Arik’s arms; I could be happy. All I wanted was his kiss, his body, his hands reaching to lower the zipper of my coat, then his own.
Heart pounding, breath speeding up, I waited, needing his touch like I needed the next pump of my heart. His lips traced my jawline, the sensitive skin of my throat, the hollow at the base of my neck. His hand took up the journey from there, sliding from my collarbone, down over my sweatshirt, outlining hard-tipped breasts and a quivering stomach before finally, finally slipping underneath to make contact with my skin.
My moan sent a white cloud of breath floating up between us. I watched as it rose, little by little, my head tipped back to open myself completely to him. His fingers were rough, calloused against my sensitive skin, and everywhere he touched, fire entered my veins. Needing to see, I lowered my head, and he was there, waiting, watching. His warm fingers found the clasp of my bra, and staring straight into my eyes, he set me free.
Hot hands on my breasts— “Oh God.” My eyelids drifted closed as I arched into his touch. Palms massaged, molded. Fingers and thumbs pinched my sensitive nipples. A scream of pleasure gathered inside me with every touch, but before it could escape, it was captured by Arik’s mouth. I pressed myself against him, feeling the hard jut at his pelvis, the restless assault of his tongue and teeth, the rough abrasion of his hands on my most sensitive spots. I wanted him with a desperation that frightened me, needed him with a power that could no longer be denied. In his arms, feeling his pleasure, I knew it had to be tonight. I would give myself, my virginity to this male tonight. “Arik—”
He tore himself away.
I stood, stunned, watching him walk away until the winter air biting into my bare skin registered. The silence pressed in on me. Condemned me.Stupid, stupid, stupid!When was I going to learn one simple fact: nobody truly wanted me.
Slowly I put myself back to rights—my clothes, my panting breath, my shaking hands. My expression, though… When Arik turned back to me, I was afraid it revealed everything.
His wry grin strained at the edges. I fought the urge to slap it off his face.
“I’m sorry. I hadn’t intended—”
“Stop.” This night couldn’t get much worse, but to top it off with him apologizing for kissing me? Touching me? “Let’s just get back to work.” I didn’t know how I’d focus, but I’d force it somehow.
