Page 44 of Samhain Savior
“Are you...jealous?”
“Never.”
“I think you are.” Tilting my head to one side, I squinted at Archer, noticing that the flush across his pale cheeks was looking less and less like rage and more like embarrassment. “I think you’re jealous that I’ve gotten closer with Mal. Vine, too, right?” I chuckled again at how ridiculous it was. “I assure you, there is nothing more than friendship between any of us.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, seeing as how Archer wastechnicallytalking about the guys and not himself specifically.
Because I wasn’t entirely certain what I would have told him if he’d asked.
How did I explain the strange pull I’d felt to him since that first night in the graveyard? That for the first time in my life, I was feeling like there might be more to me than the paltry slight of hand and herbalist tricks that Heidi had been able to teach me.
That something about Archer just feltrightin every sense of the word, even while I was still trying to decide if I could actually trust him.
“There is no way that I’d ever be jealous over awitch.” He said it so aggressively, the words leaving his mouth on an angry breath, that I almost believed him.
“Liar.” The look on his face when I used his own accusation against him was priceless. Lifting my hand, I gentlytraced my finger over the shadow collar, the now-comforting feel of it responding to my touch and making me smile. “I think you are jealous. I think you’re domineering, territorial, protective, andverypossessive.” Moving slowly, I reached for his hand, taking it in mine as I turned it over, my gaze falling on the nearly-healed laceration that slashed across his palm, the evidence of his inability to hurt me plain to see.
Lifting his hand, I placed a gentle kiss to the shiny pink skin, biting back a smile at the way his breath hitched.
“And,” I said, lifting my chin to meet his gaze. “I think I like it.”
My heart raced in my chest, the tiny spark ofsomethingdancing frantically beneath my ribs, begging to be set free.
“I—” he breathed, his gaze dropping to my lips. “I don’t—”
Around us, Archer’s shadows writhed, leaping and dancing at our feet, as though they, too, were enthralled by what was happening. In my chest, a bright white heat began to pulse, each rapid beat of my heart seeming to lurch in his direction, the warm glow I was feeling practically visible to the naked eye.
As though in a trance, Archer lowered his head, his lips a hair’s breadth away from mine, the smell of smoke invading my lungs as I breathed in his every exhale. The warmglow rose between us, Archer’s shadows mixing with what I could now tell was a soft white light to form a swirling fog of lust and magic.
Regardless, I couldn’t focus on anything but the intense need to feel his lips on mine.
Lifting onto my toes, I closed the final distance, sighing when we finally made contact, but my delight was short-lived.
“Succubus!” Archer hissed, yanking his hand free of mine, placing it on my shoulder and giving me a shove. “You infernal seductress. Was this your plan from the start?”
“What?” I swayed on my feet, my desire snuffing out like a candle flame as I took in his enraged face. “Archer, I’m not—”
“Stop lying to me!” The shadows were out of control now, a thick cloud of darkness that flooded the small yard, rolling across the dead grass and splashing against the fence like a silent ocean, ready to drown any unsuspecting victim who attempted to navigate them. “All you ever do is lie! I suppose that was your plan all along. Infiltrate the Brotherhood, seduce your way into my bed in search of secrets.”
“You’re mad,” I gasped, my eyes on the sea of shadows around me. It was a scene out of a nightmare, and yet, I wasn’t afraid. While Archer’s shadows likely spelled deathfor anyone who wandered into them, it didn’t feel that way for me. The collar at my neck hummed, giving me a sense that it was eager for this confrontation.
I supposed I was too.
“You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about,” I insisted, keeping my own voice level even as that warm spark within me rose to meet his anger head on. It was overwhelming, trying to navigate this precarious conversation while at the same time attempting to come to terms with the fact that finally, impossibly, it looked like my magic was finally making itself known.
After nearly two decades of training, studying, fucking begging my magic to cooperate, it chose the absolute most inopportune time to make its grand entrance.
Typical, right?
“No, witch. I think I’m finally seeing things clearly.” Taking a deliberate step toward me, Archer quietly seethed, his icy countenance the exact opposite of his frenzied shadows. “Did you think to make me your Samson, Delilah? That you could charm me, seduce me with your feminine wiles, all while plotting my downfall?”
“Archer.” I raised my hands, begging him to see reason. “You need to listen to me.”
“Enough! I am tired of your lies. From the moment I met you my entire life has been upended in the worstpossible way. My brother’s lives have been put in danger, my friend has died, and the Dark Lord’s secrets are being spilled to our enemies.”
Raising his hand Archer pointed a finger at me, the accusation in his eyes more cutting than any blade.
“Everything that has gone wrong can be tied back to one common denominator. You!” He was huffing now, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he raged at me, and still, I felt no fear. Archer needed to say his piece, but his words changed nothing. I was not who he thought I was, and whether he wanted to admit it or not, it appeared we were on the same side.
“I am in just as much trouble here as you are,demon.” I sneered the word the same way he always sneered the wordwitch. I couldn’t help my nature anymore than he could help his. “I have lost everyone and everything that ever mattered to me. I am alone, surrounded by people who apparently think the very worst of me at all times, and I have no choice but to stay, because no matter how many times you want to curse my name, I amnotyour enemy!”
