Page 110 of The Hunger
“As long as whatever you’re planning won’t screw up finding Ashlyn, I don’t care. She’s the priority.”
“We know. Megan made that very clear.”
They hurried into the pool room, and I glanced at Fenris.
“I don’t feel reassured.”
He chuckled and threaded his fingers through mine.
Rather than go to the current session’s classroom, we went to the cafeteria and sat at one of the empty tables. The cooks gave us long looks, and I saw one pick up her phone.
“You don’t smell even a little worried,” Fenris commented, studying me.
“I don’t think they’ll do anything. Adira can’t touch you. Anwen won’t touch you. And unless your father has another gifted frost giant on speed-dial, there’s not much he can do to stop you from sitting here with me.”
“I like this new version of you. What changed? Why do you think Adira can’t touch me?”
“Did she portal you home after school yesterday like she said she would?”
“No. She never showed. I went home with the girls to keep the peace. It paid off. That was the only reason my dad even considered going to your parents’ place for dinner last night. Honestly, I think he was hoping to talk your mom over to his side.”
“That will never happen. She thinks you’re perfect for me. Too bad your dad is so set against it.”
“He’ll come around.”
I knew one way to ensure he would, but no matter how much I wanted Fenris permanently in my life, I would never purposely use my power to sway Raiden like that.
“You asked what changed,” I said. “My understanding did. Feeding on you in my sleep wasn’t the only truth I’ve been hiding from. Do you remember how Mom ordered those people to protect me? Apparently, I’ve been doing that same thing without realizing it. Well, without realizing it some of the time. I think I was purposely ignoring the weirdness the rest of the time.”
The way he was looking at me and not acting surprised tipped me off that this revelation was no secret to him.
“You already knew I could do that, didn’t you?”
He cocked a grin at me.
“There’s very little about you I don’t know, Eliana. You may have been ignoring yourself, but I wasn’t.”
I scowled and crossed my arms, which only made his grin widen.
“No,” I said stubbornly. “You don’t get to know stuff about me before I do. That’s not right. What else don’t I know?”
“When I lean in like this, it drives you crazy with need. You want to grab me by the shoulders and kiss the daylights out of me, which I encourage, by the way. But you’ll resist that urge with every fiber of your being. Do you know why?”
I couldn’t answer. My heart was pounding too hard.
“You’re still afraid of what people will think of you if you do.”
Nothing he said was a lie. The way he’d closed the distance between us and spoke so each exhaled word brushed against my cheek made me want to shiver. I did want to grab him by the shoulders and kiss him. And when I really thought about why I didn’t, I knew he was right. I was worried about the cooks reporting something to Adira, and Adira, despite my assurances to Fenris, actually doing something about it.
“I don’t like that you see me so clearly.”
His smile softened. “I know. Do you want to know more about yourself?”
The way his gaze heated and his lust bloomed warned me the next thing wouldn’t be something I was comfortable discussing in the cafeteria.
“I think one self-awareness revelation a day is enough.”
“Chicken,” he whispered.
