Blood of Zeus (Blood of Zeus #1) - Meredith Wild Page 0,16

she gathers her things and then pushes through the doors at the top of the stairs.

It takes me all of two seconds to admit I already crave her again.

I take the risers two at a time, hoping even her scent has lingered…

What I encounter is less expected. A gem-encrusted earring glitters like illuminated blood on the industrial gray carpet, right in front of my boot toe.

Her earring.

I’m sure of it because my hand was just twisted in the glorious hair that tumbled around the gold, ruby, and diamond piece—which is more than a collection of stones set into an intricate design. It looks like an old family crest. A fierce medieval wolf looks to be running across a sky of the diamonds and holding one in each of his pointy paws. His slitted eyes and curling tongue are fashioned from the dark crimson rubies.

It’s one of the most unique pieces of jewelry I’ve ever seen. Something about it clutches at the darker parts of me, strong enough that I’m squinting harder at it, fighting to make out the tiny Latin words bordering the oval…

Until I realize that every second I’m stalling is another second she’s rushing farther away.

I clear the distance to the door with a hell-bent-for-leather leap. Nearly in the same movement, I bust through the portal.

“Kara!”

But in the space of chasing her and marveling at the delicate thing she left behind, she’s vanished. The hall is empty, not offering me a single clue to follow. Which shouldn’t piss me off as much as it does.

I’ll see her here again in a matter of days. That should be too soon after what’s just happened between us. But I have to face the truth. I have to acknowledge the line I just crossed with the girl, despite every alarm and warning and threat my common sense screamed at me. Wisdom I knowingly shoved aside.

A truth I can no longer deny.

I’ll keep crossing that line. I’ll trespass that boundary again and again and again until I can figure out why Kara Valari is unlike any other person I’ve ever met.

And why she isn’t terrified that I’m not either.

Chapter Seven

Kara

“What’s going on? You’re too quiet, even for you,” Kell says, scrolling through dozens of songs on her playlist until she settles on the one that seems to satisfy her enough to look up at the road.

We’re at a dead stop. I stare out the window of her cherry-red Bentley to the sea of unmoving traffic, unsure what to tell her. I’m too caught up in my own thoughts. In Maximus. He probably thinks I rebuffed him, and I should be fine with that. If he only knew it was pure desperation that got me out of there before I did something even more reckless. Like press my lips against his just to see if I could unleash more of his strength.

His strength.

I close my eyes and relive the moment I still can’t fully believe. I’ve seen things… Things that wouldn’t necessarily be considered normal, or earthly even. But I’ve never seen a human turn laminate into dust under his heels. I’ve never had a man put his hands on me with that kind of power—the power to keep me there.

I shouldn’t want more of that. But hell, I do. I’d give just about anything to be back there right now, standing between his thighs, his fingers tangled in my hair, watching the battle in his eyes as he tries so hard not to touch me but fails.

Suddenly there’s more than our inexplicable attraction pulling my thoughts toward him. It’s the kind of fascination I reserve for academics and ancient texts, except I’m driven to figure Maximus out at least a hundred times more.

Who is he?

I shake my head slightly, wondering if he might have told me if I hadn’t run out of there.

“Kara,” Kell snaps just as the cars ahead of us start to move again. Miracle of miracles at this time of day on Sunset Boulevard.

“What?”

“You’ve had your head in the clouds since we left the library. You were weird this morning too. What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Same thing you said when I asked you how Medieval Lit was.”

“Because that was fine too.”

Kell stares back at the road and taps her shiny red nails against the steering wheel. “Are you messing around with that professor?”

I gasp, partly in shock that she’d suspect it. Even after the run-in at the bookstore, despite the fact that Kell and I live together