Page 123 of Mortal Shift
I glared at him, quivering with anger and confusion, and the telltale burning itched behind my eyes. I jerked my head away and he quickly closed the gap between us again, catching my chin in the crook of one finger and turning my gaze back to him.
“Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for you,” he whispered, and closed his lips over mine.
I wanted to demand he tell me what he meant by that, I wanted to shove him away and tell him to explain himself, I wanted to beat the ever-loving shit out of him for his stupid stubbornness, but I melted into the kiss, melted against his body and leaned into him with a soft murmur, parting my lips to let his tongue inside.
There was nothing soft or tender about the kiss; it was all hot desire and need, urgency and passion and his lips crushed mine with bruising force and mine gave him back the same. A growl rose up his throat as he slammed me back against the wall and my hands wrapped around his back, finding his shoulders through the thin tee and pulling him closer. His hardness pressed against me through the sweatpants slung low over his hips and my breathing hitched. I needed him inside me…but not here.
Fuck.
I twisted my head aside, breaking the kiss, and he pulled back from me, shoulders heaving.
“What’s wrong?”
I laughed and the sound was a little unhinged.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Did you seriously just ask me that?”
He let out an impatient growl.
“Don’t you growl at me, you oversized chihuahua,” I snapped, slapping his chest. His expression morphed to one of shock, then one corner of his mouth curved upwards and his hardness jutted at me again.
“And you can get that thought out of your head, too,” I said, slapping him.
“Impossible,” he breathed. “I need you.”
“No, you need to tell me why the hell you confessed to something you didn’t do, and you need to tell me now because the guard only gave us ten minutes.”
“To protect you,” he said.
“Why…why would you confessing protect me?”
“You know why.”
“No, I don’t. You’re not making any sense.”
He drew back and searched my face, his own expression puzzled.
“You hate Thaden,” he said.
I shrugged, not really sure where he was going with this.
“Sure. He’s an asshole who keeps helping himself to my blood and humiliating me in front of the entire academy.”
“And you hate that he takes your blood.”
“Obviously.”
He canted his head. “But you’re telling me you’renotthe one who attacked him?”
My mouth opened and closed a few times of its own accord before I wrested control back. “Not the… Of course I’m not the one who attacked him. Why the hell would you think that?”
He stared at me long enough that I squirmed.
“Okay, I mean, sure, I hate him. And sure, I hate that he takes my blood. And humiliates me, but… Fuck.”
I slumped back against the wall. “Yeah, I guess when you put it like that…”
He nodded.
