Eternal Flame (Night Watch #3)(70)
Author: Cynthia Eden

But his were. So sexy her knees shook and her panties were getting wet.

He slapped his hands on either side of her head. “What aren’t you telling me? Fuck, don’t you know by now, you can trust me? I’m not going to turn on you.”

Her breath caught. “I do trust you.” A painful admission. She’d never trusted anyone fully. Certainly not those ass**les at Perseus-and her wariness had sure paid off. But she’d never trusted her handful of lovers or her so-called friends.

“No, you keep waiting. Keep watching me. You think I’m going to screw you over.” He shook his head, and she saw the muscle flex in his jaw. “What do I have to do? How do I prove to you—”

He didn’t have to do anything. “Beth offered me a deal in that shithole.” She’d told him that part already. But now it was time for the full confession. “If I walked away and left you on your own, I could get my life back.”

“How were you supposed to—”

“She said she could take away the fire. The witch was right. Laura was psychic. She just had to touch me, and she could get my fire.” Do it, tell him. “She could get the fire …” Do it, tell him. “And transfer the power to someone else.”

His whole face hardened. “Beth.” He shoved away from the wall.

“I-I told you she wasn’t an Ignitor.” And she hadn’t been. “But that night, she got my power. Beth got it, and she used it to attack you and everyone else in that place.” She’d burned Perseus to the ground. Even though she hadn’t gotten the full rush of fire-not like poor Laura-Beth still hadn’t been able to control the flames. Only Jana could control the fire.

Beth should have realized that as soon as the psychic burned.

He turned away. His shoulders were ramrod straight, and the fury rolled off him in waves. “Was it worth it?”

What? She stood frozen against the wall.

“I knew there was something different about you. I couldn’t figure out…” A harsh laugh. “And you shot the vamp. You didn’t incinerate the ass**le. You shot him.”

Her lips were too dry. Jana swiped her tongue over them and forced herself to step forward. “I tried to call up the fire when he attacked me, but nothing happened.”

“Because you’d f**king traded your fire and me for your freedom.” His voice echoed up the stairwell. “And here I thought you …”

He thought she-what? Her heart slammed into her chest. “Zane, it’s not like that!” Her hand reached out to him.

He glanced back at her, his face a hard mask. “I pulled you out of that fire at Perseus. I went back for you before I helped anyone else.” Disgust had his lips tightening. “And you’d already screwed me over.”

Then he walked away. Zane marched up those stairs. Walked. Away.

No. “I went back for you, too!” He kept walking. “Zane! I went back into the fire, when I didn’t have any power, for you. I wasn’t leaving you, dammit! I wasn’t going to let you burn!”

But he was still leaving her and her heart seemed to burn in her chest. Don’t leave me. She ran up the stairs after him. He was close to the exit, the one that led to the back parking lot. She grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. She yanked him around-and made him look at her. “Where’s your trust?” she whispered.

His eyes were as cold as black ice.

Damn him. “You think I sold you out so easily? You think I tossed you over to be damn normal?” Her nails dug into his arms. “My fire is the only thing that has saved me over the years. First from that bastard who tried to break me. He came into my room, every freaking night and watched me. I knew what was coming, I knew, and I prayed for some way to stop him.”

The mask began to crack. Screw him. She wasn’t done talking.

“My mother didn’t believe me. No one would help me. No one. He started hitting me, and it got worse, and worse, and I knew he had so much more planned. I knew—” She broke off as emotion clogged her throat. “I prayed, and I got my fire. I stopped him.” Over the years, the fire had kept her safe. Always. “When the ass**les in the dark come after me, they’re the ones who run away scared because I control the flames. They’re the ones who beg for mercy. Not me.”

She felt the wet trickle of his blood on her fingertips. Her nails had dug in too deep. Her hands lifted, and her fingers balled into fists. “I stopped wanting to be normal a long time ago.”

His nostrils flared. “But you still sold me out.”

Her laugh was brittle. “Would it have killed you”-she asked him, stepping toward the exit now because it was her turn to leave him—“to have trusted me, just a little bit?”

Good sex. No, great sex. Maybe that was all they’d ever had. Why had she expected more? “A human was coming at me.” She didn’t look in his eyes as she spoke now. She couldn’t. “Beth was shouting some crazy shit about me being normal, saying all I had to do was walk away.” Laura … the girl’s eyes had been wide. Sad. Tears had glittered behind her glasses. “I didn’t want to hurt Laura. She didn’t seem like a threat to me.”

He shifted and edged closer to her.

“I thought … I thought Perseus was using her, just like they’d used me. I didn’t want to hurt her,” she said again as the memory surged through her. “Then she lunged at me. She touched me and barely let her fingers skim down my side.

And it had felt like the woman sliced her open with a hot knife.

Jana tossed back her head. “If you don’t believe me, look.” Her eyes held his. “Look. “

She felt the hard psychic push against her mind. Laura stood before her, the woman’s thin body trembling. Hell, where was Zane? “Don’t take another step.” Laura froze.

“What happens when she takes the fire away? Where does it go?” Jana asked.

Beth didn’t answer and the girl wasn’t speaking. Her eyes looked so big behind the glasses, and her skin was stark white.

An alarm sounded then. A high-pitched, whining alarm. Beth jerked and swore. “Dumb bitch. She should’ve just done her damn part.”

What?

Footsteps thundered outside.

Beth’s face hardened. Her hand lifted and she stabbed a finger in the air toward Jana. “The demon is going to die. If he won’t help us, then we’ll rip him apart.