Page 123 of Seducing Hope (The Hope Legacy)

Archan

Unknown origin.

“I’m not making you an omelet,” she spits, ever defiant. Several of the men turn and raise their eyebrows.

I drag the large bowl of chips toward me. “I have been told you’re good at sandwiches.”

Zee snorts, and she shoots him a hard look. It will take very little to make her pissed enough to challenge me. Jed says she has gained good control over her power, even when provoked. I doubt that will apply to me. I think of the ruined practice room and meet her furious gaze—after seeing what she’s capable of, she’s proven control isn’t one of her strengths.

She grins at me, all teeth. “I am.”

I send a caress of warmth over the back of her neck. She leans into it then scowls at me. “You knock that shit off right now.”

“Our understanding is over; that includes all terms.” I take a chip from the bowl.

She leans over the counter toward me. “Don’t push me, Reinheart… You won’t like what happens.”

She’s stunning, particularly when she’s angry. Her turquoise eyes glimmer with a certain wildness. I lean toward her, imitating her actions, so her soft lips are inches from mine. She needs to release the anger and hurt—toward me, the others, and herself. Then maybe we can move on. Talking isn’t going to cut it. So I provoke her. “Is that so?”

She retrieves the milk and sugar and places them next to the coffee. Maybe I played this wrong? “Excuse me, gentlemen. I have something that needs putting in its place. Please help yourself to the milk and sugar.” She points at me. “You. Outside. Now.” No, the woman definitely has some issues to work through.

She stalks out the door. I teleport outside, standing in front of her, and she almost walks into me.

She balls her hands up. “Move.”

My hands twitch with the need to fist her hair and pull her head back to kiss her so deeply, she knows she’s mine. She’s clinging to anger in hope it will save her from me. She was mine the moment she chose to trust me with her vulnerability, the second she put her hand on my face and let me see inside her soul, the minute she held me tight to help her through her nightmares. Instead, I step aside and glance up—ah, we have an audience. The men have come outside, each holding a mug of coffee; they begin to pass the bowl of chips around.

Natia stalks through the waist-high fence out of her garden and onto the lawns of her grandfather’s mansion, passing several scorch marks. This should be interesting.

Putting a fair distance between us, she turns and glares at me. “Last chance, Reinheart. Knock the seduction off.”

She doesn’t realize it, but this is foreplay. Instead of answering, I run heat along the inside of her thighs. Without warning, a gust of air I would estimate at a hundred miles per hour knocks me off my feet and pins me to the ground. Ice cold water materializes in a bubble and is unceremoniously dumped on me.

Jumping to my feet, I wipe the water out of my eyes and laugh. “You have been practicing.” The ground rumbles open and drops me into a ten-foot-deep hole. She creates a cyclone around me, pinning my hands to my sides, or at least, that’s what she thinks. The heat caresses under her breasts. Furious aquamarine eyes flash as she adds water to the cyclone, freezing it around me and locking me in a block of ice. I’m mesmerized by those eyes. Each element has taken on its own identity.

“Youdon’tget to touch me. You tried handing me off to a fucking demon in front of people I love. I’m not a toy to be passed around, someone to manipulate to your advantage. You’re a selfish bully with a clear agenda to own me, and your ego has probably convinced you that you already do. Well, be damn sure I was never yours, and I never will be. Find someone else, someone who’s willing to bow down to the great and mighty Archan Reinheart.”

I almost laugh. She was mine the second she stepped on that roof and challenged me. She just needs a tiny push to get to the bottom of this anger she keeps falsely directing at me. Cracking the ice, I teleport out of the hole and dust a piece of invisible lint from my dark jeans. I arch an eyebrow. “Is that the best you’ve got, baby?”

She growls. The branches of the ancient oak tree behind her twist around, making it groan loudly. She releases the tree, and large branches splinter and launch themselves at me as it spins back into place. I sidestep each one. Her eyes flash silver as a bolt of lightning strikes about five meters from me, then another, then another. Two mini tornados touch down and whip the air around us.

“Shit, that’s one powerful, pissed off witch!” Barney shouts over the howling winds.

Nathan laughs. “This is better than any reality show.”

“Pass the chips!” Jed yells.

I cross my arms and watch her cheeks flush with fury. They are right—she is far more powerful than I realized.

“You know the truth, Natia. The things I said in the warehouse were to save you. I was scared.” I drop my arms then run a hand through my hair before exposing how I feel. “For the first time in a long time, Natia, I was scared of losing someone. I was scared of losing you.”

She blinks, and her hands pause midair in whatever destruction she was about to unleash. “You can’t lose what you never had. But say I accept that—not more than twenty-four hours before, you rejected me. The second I gave into your relentless pursuit, you were no longer interested. I let you in, and you destroyed any trust I had in you.”

“Again, you know the truth. I might be ruthless—but I will not take advantage of a frightened woman. And you were frightened, Natia. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted someone, but your world was and is spinning off its axis. Every day challenges your beliefs and morals. The universe isn’t as black and white as you want it to be—good people do bad things, and for good reasons. It wasn’t your fault, Natia. Let it go.”

She screams, as the sky flashes white and a powerful roll of thunder shakes the ground. Gold lightning streaks her irises—the same eyes I saw when she fought the Eitr poison. She lifts her hands, power rolling off her, and I brace myself, not sure where this is going. She whispers something under her breath. It sounds like the ancient language; apart from the symbols on the Jar, she shouldn’t even know it exists, never mind speak it. An eight-foot coil of blue fire surrounds me. Symbols appear in the air above me and on the ground beneath my feet. I try teleporting, but she’s trapped me. I study the symbols carefully; she’s trying to banish me, but it won’t work. However, the results will be far from pleasant. “Natia, stop. You’re powerful, a tempest ready to destroy the world, but you have to breathe—don’t go down with your own storm.”

She doesn’t hear me. Nathan and Barney surround the circle, trying to see a way through, while Jed and Duncan attempt to talk Natia down. Duncan places a hand on her shoulder, only to be thrown a hundred feet back by an electric shock.

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