Look, let’s just give him a chance to fall in love with The Guild. If he’s happy, he might not want to jeopardize his new life.
How can you still be such an optimist? he asked in amazement.
Ari wrinkled her nose. You make me sound soft. I’m not soft. I’m… hopeful.
“What are they doing?” Michael asked.
“Oh, they’re talking telepathicaly,” Falon answered lazily, “They do that a lot.”
“Yeah, it’s annoying,” Charlie added.
Ari flipped him the bird.
Michael groaned. “Why do I feel like I’ve just adopted another Falon Roe? One is enough.”
Laughing, Ari shared an affectionate smile with Falon. “I’l take that as a compliment.”
A while later, after being introduced to Falon’s mother, Caroline, and shown to the room across the hal from Falon’s, Ari finished washing up and quietly took the stairs down to the second floor of the fairly large house Falon had been raised in. Jai was staying in the guest bedroom along from Michael and Caroline’s suite. Dinner was waiting for them downstairs, but Ari wanted to see Jai alone. They hadn’t been alone since what happened with Yasmin at Luca’s.
He opened the door at her telepathic message to let her in and Ari lost her breath.
How could he do that to her stil? She saw him every day. But those eyes, so green and pretty with their dark lashes, were a hot contradiction to the chiseled jaw-line and cheekbones, and the sulky hardened pout of his mouth. He was beautiful, powerful, loyal and mature. Wel when Charlie wasn’t in the vicinity. Sure, he wasn’t the chatty type, but everything was in Jai’s actions. He was good. He was good and true and she trusted him like she trusted no one else. Every time— every time—she looked at him… yeah… he took her breath away.
She smiled a little tremulously, suddenly overwhelmed by the depth of her feeling for him. “I just wanted to check in before dinner. I haven’t felt Ms. Maggie yet. I’m a little worried.”
“I wouldn’t be. She’l turn up. Maybe you could get her to show herself this time.”
“I am getting curious about her.”
“Finaly.”
At his dry tone, Ari shifted uncomfortably. “We’re okay, right?”
Checking the hal to make sure they were alone, Jai took her hand and led her inside. His room was bigger than hers. So was the bed.
Hmm.
Jai’s hands on her shoulders drew her attention back to his face. He stood so close she had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. “What happened with Yasmin? I mean, I know what happened but why couldn’t you control it this time?”
Bowing her head in mortification and shame, Ari sighed. “I don’t know. It was like this time I got angry so quickly I didn’t have time to feel the darkness take over.
One minute I was me and the next the Seal was controling me.”
“Why?”
Ari made a face at him, her cheeks stil flushed with embarrassment. “Because it was you.”
He scowled. “What does that mean?”
“My emotions are little high strung right now okay… because of you. And she was saying al these things about you, about us… I wanted to hurt her because they al hurt you and I guess the Seal used that against me or something. I don’t know, Jai, I don’t know how it works. How can the Seal be like a sentient thing, you know?”
Trembling so hard, Ari sunk into Jai’s solid hold as he cupped her cheeks in his large hands and kissed her forehead. “I don’t know,” he murmured against her skin.
“Maybe we should think about training you. Sparking triggers and training you to push the Seal back down.”
“Do you think that’l work?”
“It’s worth a try. Right?”