be too self-satisfied; that simple use of Falon’s power had my head throbbing.
“I hate to say it, but I’m kind of glad it was you and not me,” Arys admitted with a grin. “I’ve entertained the thought of sinking fangs into him more than once. How bad does it hurt?”
I had to pull out the tissue Jez had given me and dab the blood from my nose again. “Like a bitch.”
Then, I noticed that I hadn’t detected the slightest thought from him since his arrival. I stared at him, trying to pull something from him. Nothing.
“I can hear the thoughts of most of the people in here, but I can’t hear yours.”
“That’s the plan. I keep my thoughts guarded. Many things can read minds, and I take no chances. You should do the same. It’s no different than when you close me out of your mind. Same idea.”
“Why are we not superheroes with abilities like this?” I joked. “Seems to me, we’d be pretty close to unstoppable.”
Arys dropped his gaze, but not before I saw the worry flash through his eyes. Taking the tissue from me, he gently dabbed the blood that dripped from my nose. Maybe it was a very good thing that I couldn’t hear his thoughts. I didn’t think I wanted to know what was going on in his head right then.
“Some people think we are just about unstoppable. They may be right.” He pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead. Reaching to touch me metaphysically, I felt him shudder in response to what he felt thundering inside me. “You smell like wolf, but you feel like him. That fucking useless angel.”
I didn’t need to be inside Arys’s head to know he would never stop blaming himself for condemning me to a future I now dreaded with every part of me. I needed him to know and to understand that it wasn’t his fault. He had to accept it. Until he did, he would forever hold us both hostage to his misery.
A couple sat a few tables away, the only other people in the darkened corner. They were both human. Their hands were clasped across the table. Very clearly, I heard him wonder if she were really in love with the vampire she’d been shacking up with here or if she was under his influence. She stared at their hands and wondered why he had to make this so difficult; couldn’t he just accept her choice?
She was breaking up with him, and I had to listen to her selfish thoughts as she did so. He was human. What could he offer her that would compare to the promise of eternity? Maybe some people were happy to settle for a “normal” life, but she had the chance to discover something extraordinary. Her mind was made up.
“You’re making a huge mistake,” I whispered beneath my breath. I wanted to grab her, to shake her and tell her she didn’t know what she was getting into. Get out while you still can.
Arys followed my gaze to the couple. “Is something wrong?”
The couple’s voices became just two of many as the barrage of thoughts started up again. The pain in my head worsened, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“I can’t listen to this anymore.” A hand to my head, I squeezed my eyes shut, but it only served to increase the volume. “Can we talk outside?”
“Of course.”
With a hand on my lower back, he steered me toward the exit. The noise inside my head grew to a deafening crescendo. Sharp knives of pain pierced my skull. A storm of thoughts assaulted me, but one voice stood out above the rest. That one voice I knew well.
I felt the touch of his energy before I saw him. A honey sweet essence that called to the undying hunger I would always possess for him. We never reached the door. Arys stopped dead beside me, and I looked up to find Kale standing there, his gorgeous eyes fixed upon me.
For a moment none of us moved. It wasn’t hard to tell that Kale wasn’t himself. Madness caused his brown and blue eyes to glitter dangerously. The cacophony of noise fell away once Kale captured my full attention. He took one step toward me, and Arys snapped.
Arys was a blur of speed as he crossed the distance. Without hesitation, he threw a punch. It connected with Kale’s jaw, and he stumbled back a few steps. Rubbing his chin, Kale turned to Arys