Софи Джордан - Firelight

“You can’t get her to come with us?” he asks.

“She’s so mad at me,” I whisper, choke a little.

“Ah, Jacinda.” He pulls my face from his chest and rests his forehead to mine, kisses me with dry, cool lips. “You can’t beat yourself up about this. You can’t help what you are.”

I nod, but I’m not too sure about that.

I haven’t exactly tried to be what Mom and Tamra want. I’ve fought it—them—every step of the way. I’ve clung to my draki when it would have been safer for all of us if I just let it go. Even stayed here when Cassian tracked me down. Maybe that does make me selfish.

And now, no matter what I try to tell myself, the only reason I’ve decided to stay, the only reason I’m even here, is because of Will. He’s an addictive drug to me that I can’t quit. Again, selfish.

He kisses me a second time and I let it distract me. Let the kiss grow hotter between us.

Happy to forget where I am.

Crazy as it sounds, Will’s my refuge. Someone who knows everything about me. And likes me anyway. Loves me. Understands me. Isn’t out to change me. He’s the only one I can say that about.

I pull back to gaze at him, sliding my hands over his hard shoulders, palms down. Our breaths merge, mingle. Grow fast and hard. His eyes glitter, tiny gold torches in the dark.

My fingers tighten. Clutch his shirt. Our mouths brush again. Once. Twice. Savoring the taste of each other.

Abruptly, his lips change. Feel cold. Icy. With dull dread, I know it’s me. He’s not cold.

My temperature has changed. My skin snaps. Too hot, it hisses like the drop of water on a hot stove.

The pounding beat of music fades. Voices and laughter disappear as the burn builds, twists up through my center in a writhing lick of flame.

I sigh. Feel the release of steam from my lips. It escapes before I can catch it.

He winces against my lips, pulls back sharply. “Jacinda…”

Before I can lean away and force coldness back in so that I don’t singe my boyfriend—a voice rings out and does it for me. The smolder dies in my lungs. Dropping my hands from Will, I slowly turn.

“So this is why you want to stay here.”

My gaze finds Cassian immediately, a large, dark shape rising out of the night. His hair swings, brushing his broad shoulders as he walks. “So much for your promise,” I spit out.

Will tenses, pulls me close to his side, the stance protective.

Cassian. My every pore vibrates with fury, pulses wide.

He doesn’t even look my way. It’s like he’s not even aware of me. He glares at Will, lips pulled back in a snarl. “Don’t touch her.”

“Cassian, don’t.” I stop, cringing, blinking tight, wishing I had not just spoken his name.

Now Will knows.

His gaze swerves to me. The flesh ticks near his eye. “Cassian?” he demands.

I don’t answer. Don’t breathe. Don’t risk freeing the steam that’s risen to my throat. The steam that I want to release full blast on Cassian. I turn and stare unblinking at him.

Warning him with my eyes to behave himself.

“This is Cassian?” Will repeats, really hung up on that point, and how can I blame him?

“Will, let me handle this.”

“You knew he was here?” Will demands, his lips pulling tight. “And didn’t tell me?”

I wince, admitting, “He promised to keep his distance.”

“But I didn’t promise,” Cassian interjects, “to sit by in silence while you make out with some—”

“Shut up!” I spin around. Steam wafts from my nose.

Cassian’s gaze follows the tendrils of smoke. He smiles in satisfaction. Laughs low and deep, menacing. His voice falls on the air, a sneaking whisper. “Look at you, Jacinda.

You can’t stop what you are.” He glances at Will and his smile slips, remembering we have an audience…and assuming Will knows nothing of my true self. “Now come with me before you do something we’ll both regret.”

And I do look. Glance down at my arms to see my flesh wink back at me, glistening fire gold in the shadows.

“You’re like me,” he adds. “You don’t belong here, not with him.”

Beside me, Will growls low in his throat. His hand tightens on my arm.

Cassian’s flesh flashes in and out, blurs a glimmering charcoal. He lifts his hand toward me. “End this game. Come with me now.”

I part my lips to speak. To refuse. A dry little croak escapes. I swallow, wet my lips to try again. But never get the chance.

Will flies past me in a blur. In a diving arc, he takes Cassian down. They strike the ground with a heavy crack. A cloud of red dust rises, consuming them both. I stare, shaking, my eyes wide and aching in my face. What have I done?

Instantly, they’re lost in a tangle—a great mess of flailing limbs. Grunts. Curses. Tearing flesh. The smack of skin on skin fills the air.

“Stop! Stop it!” I dance out of the way.

They roll, writhing across the ground. Pebbles and rocks shake loose and tumble down the slope into the greedy, grasping dark.

“Jacinda!” Tamra’s at my side. Xander beside her. Gratefully, the rest of the group are lost in their own little world of drunken revelry in the distance, unaware of the fight. “Is that Cassian?”

I nod anxiously.

“Who’s Cassian?” Xander asks.

Will twists, surges up on top of Cassian. Swings back his fist and connects it with Cassian’s face. I jerk at the crunch of bone on bone. The coppery tang of blood sweeps over my teeth, and I realize I’ve bitten my lip.

Cassian laughs coldly, touching the blood sweeping from his nose. And something niggles through my mind. Will shouldn’t be stronger than Cassian. Cassian’s the strongest draki I know. A powerhouse onyx.

Tamra wraps her arms around me, everything between us forgotten.

“Tamra,” I whisper, clinging to her.

“It’s okay. I’m right here.”

And I feel awful, hot regret sweeps over me. I should have told her. Told her everything.

Using his feet, Cassian launches Will off him with all the force of his body. With all the force of a draki. Will lands on his side, his face contorting. Cassian leaps through the air after him. Again they’re locked in struggle. Together they roll, spin down the angled rock.

I scream as they keep rolling, gaining momentum, all the while still throwing punches.

Then Will must realize what’s happening. He stops punching, claws the ground, his fingers grasping. Red dirt flies loose. His hands come up empty, clutching air. It all happens so quickly. I see Will’s face. The wild eyes. His mouth frozen on a cry. The sound of fast-sliding rock.

I break from Tamra and run toward him, stopping just before the incline becomes too steep. With my heart in my throat, I watch as Will and Cassian disappear from sight, a skidding blur down the rocky slope.

“Will!”

I risk it and run even closer, jerking to a stop at the sudden drop-off. Where he vanished.

Right off the rock and into the waiting dark. For a split second, there’s no sound except the pumping music behind me.

In the far well of the desert below, I hear a few sickening thwacks, each one making me cringe, wither, and die inside. Will reaching bottom.

I know it’s not Cassian. Cassian wouldn’t fall.

My hands curl, clench into tight, bloodless fists. I whirl around. Feel my heart seize in my chest. Pain. Agony. So much that I can’t even breathe. Tears chase silently down my cheeks.

Tamra shakes her head in denial, her eyes fierce, almost as wild as Will’s in that last glimpse.

I find my breath. Air saws from my lips—hot thick smoke.

In an instant, I take it all in: Tamra’s shocked expression. Xander’s pale face, his eyes as dark as the surrounding night. Black ink. Fathomless pools. He watches me. Sees the steam spilling from my mouth.