Page 22 of Echoes of War

I scoffed in agreement, not appreciating the expression of horror lining his features.Lovely.Not only did he think I had no conscience, he also now found me physically repulsive. I hadn’t let him into my room since he’d made that statement days ago. I’d pretend to be busy or asleep. He could get in if he wanted to; I knew that as did he. But he didn’t. Hadn’t even tried. To me, that said a lot about where we stood in this stupid friendship.

“First of all, we weren’t fucking,” Tomoe explained, waving her hand through the air dismissively. “I was sitting in his lap. It was a moment of vulnerability like I said. And second, no. But until we understand how this works, we need to work our way up from ground zero.”

Reina cleared her throat, chiming in with scientific reasoning. “She’s right, ya know, think of it as a laboratory experiment. You have to replicate the same thing over and over again, make sure it’s concrete before drifting out and changing variables. Once we know this works, we can consider other options.”

“Fine,” I said begrudgingly.

“What’s wrong, princess?” Alexiares teased, his accent tilting on the wordprincess. The rasp of his voice sent a shiver down my skin. “I don’t bite, not unless you want me to.”

“Shut up,” I ordered. “Sit back.”

I pushed his shoulders back, slamming him into the ground as I moved to straddle around his waist. He smirked, a certain part of his body greeting me in response and heat swarmed to my cheeks.Just the natural reaction of his body, that’s all. It’s human nature,I reminded myself.

“Rough now, are we?” Alexiares’ eyes shone, taunting me with a wink, trying to pull a reaction I had no intention of satisfying him with.

Despite not entering my room, he’d still shown up both nights. Three knocks on my door, waiting for me to answer. I stood on the other side, debating on if I should answer or not, ultimately deciding against it. And he would stand there, giving me a few minutes to decide.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d have assumed he possessed theSupragene similar to Seth and could hear my short gasps for air. He probably could even without any extra gifts given the shitty apartment doors. The doors were crap. Cold air slid through at all hours and they retained little heat in the room. These walls were thin as paper. I could hear Reina blurting out random country songs as she rinsed herself off each morning and night. He could probably hear me blink. He wouldn’t needSupraenhanced senses to hear shit.

“Alexiares, focus.” Tomoe warned, what little patience remained slipping from her tone. “We don’t have time for this.”

“Yeah, yeah. Amaia reminds me of that every day.”

I pulled my hair into a messy bun, wanting my curls to be out of the way of whatever the hell it was we were supposed to be doing. Hollow eyes stared at me, no emotion behind them, and I replicated the deadness in mine. Minutes passed by, but nothingsignaled to me that I was different from the moments before the ritual had begun.

“Nothing’s happening,” I said, shrugging. “I don’t feel anything different.”

“Me either,” he replied, though it was pointless. If there was no change within me, then there wouldn’t be with him either.

Leave it to Reina to point out the elephant in the room. “Maybe it’s cause y’all won’t even look each other in the eye for more than a few seconds,” her voice boomed through the air.

“Try again,” Tomoe commanded.

Her countenance was tired. Not in the sense of needing a nap or being overworked. But physically drained, her already pale skin was dull and clammy. The light that typically lingered in her hazy, inky eyes was gone. Even the color from her night hair was muted.

My sister needed to rest, and our inability to complete our portion of this task was holding her up. I grew frustrated with myself and with him, though it didn’t leave my lips that way.

“We haven’t really stopped now, have we?” I bit my tongue, not wanting to say anymore. I hadn’t meant to direct my frustration toward her, but I was annoyed. Had we done all of this for nothing?

I turned back toward Alexiares, who was staring up at me from the ground, unmoving. That stupid smirk appeared again, and I wanted to smack it off his face. Rolling my eyes, I tried to focus again. As I peered into his eyes, I forced myself to think back on the fonder memories of him. Of us. They were few and far in between, and certainly not sweet. But they were there. Alexiares had shown me he’d cared in small ways. He’d saved my life on more than one occasion.

Another memory tugged at my mind, the first time he’d opened up to me down at the rocks. It had been a moment of vulnerability for the both of us, though it had ended on a sour note. Then there was the time he’d awaited at my bedside, making sureI was on my way back to full health, our moment on the porch in Foley. The late nights he’d spent in my room since we arrived, listening to any and every thought that entered my mind, unable to be stopped by the voice in my mind that told me to keep them to myself.

A small tug awakened something in the center of my chest. Before I could explore what it was or confirm if it was in fact what Tomoe had said we would experience, a loud rumble rang through the air. The room shook, breaking my concentration, and the small tether I had receded.

“Damn it,” I cursed, suddenly realizing Alexiares and I were now face to face, only a whisper of space left between us.

“You felt that too?” he asked, searching my eyes.

“I felt something. Don’t know what though,” I replied, turning back toward Tomoe and Reina, who still sat on the other side of the room, mouths agape. “The hell was that?”

Reina pushed off the ground, springing to investigate the cause. “I’ll go check.”

She let out a small yelp, taken by surprise by Abel, who lingered outside the door. His brown skin flushed as he took in the woman who opened the door. Abel’s dark brown eyes scanned Reina’s tight outfit, lingering over curves of her wide hips.

“Hey,” he said sheepishly, obviously forgetting why he was here.

“You know she’s on a peen free diet, right?” Tomoe called over her shoulder, her focus now back on me and Alexiares. “Like permanently.”

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