She won't be able to do much to me." It should have been true ...
but I didn't think it would be that easy.
"Stefan's the one in trouble." He got out and waited for me to round the front of the van, then he asked, "Would you go out with me tomorrow ...
to someplace nice? Dinner and a little dancing." It hadn't been what I expected him to say, not when he was watching me with those cool, assessing eyes.
It took me a moment to change subjects, my impending death at Marsilia's hands being a little preoccupying.
Adam wanted to take me on a date.
He touched my face--he liked to do that and had been doing it more and more lately.
I could feel the warmth of his fingers all the way to my toes.
Suddenly, my approaching demise wasn't so engrossing.
"All right.
That would be good." I put my hand on my stomach to settle the butterflies, unsure as to whether it was the notion of going on another date with Adam or the knowledge that I was going to have to break it off with him before I brought death to him and his pack.
Maybe I'd have to go on the run tonight-would it hurt him more that I'd agreed to a date? Should I find a reason that tomorrow wouldn't work? A sudden thought came to me.
If I hurt him enough, drove him from me in anger ...
would he care when Marsilia killed me, or would he let it go? A newly familiar breathlessness started to shiver up from my stomach--that panic attack that had been hovering.
"I need to take a shower," I told him, my voice very steady.
"But then I'd like to talk to Stefan." "No problem," he said agreeably, going up my front steps ahead of me.
He opened the door and held it for me.
"I'll wait while you shower--Samuel's not home." There was no reason to feel like Adam's prey, I told myself firmly as I walked past him into my own house.
No reason to feel Adam's intent eyes on my back.
He couldn't read my mind to know that I was planning on running.
But I didn't turn back as I said, "Make yourself at home.
I'll be right out." And I closed my bedroom door on him and leaned against it.
I SCRUBBED MY HANDS FIRST, USING A STIFF-BRISTLED brush and Fast Orange to get the last of the day's grime off.
It never managed to get it all, but if it bothered Adam to run around with someone who had dirt ingrained in the skin of her hands, he'd never said anything.
When they were as good as they were going to get, I stepped into the shower.
Could I change my mind about being Adam's mate? I'm not as sensitive to pack magic as the werewolves are.
They don't talk much about it.
Secretive bunch, those werewolves.
I've been finding out that there's a lot more to it than I'd believed.
I knew it was possible for a mated pair to dissolve their union, though I'd never met any who had.