“Let me get this straight,” he said in a low voice, with the night air suddenly cool around them. “You don’t want Seb to leave. You’ve just told me that he can conjure you up in his thoughts – but that’s okay with you, and you want him to stick around.”

She had her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her voice was thin, but steady. “You’re making way too much of this,” she said. “It’s just flashes sometimes. And I think our angels would stop it from ever being too...intimate, if neither of us wanted that.”

Alex was too angry to even be relieved. “He does want that, though. Did you hear me, about him being in love with you?”

Her cheeks went pink. “Yes, I did. Look, I know he wants to be more than my friend. But he’s okay with just friendship – I told him it could never be more than that the very first day.”

Alex stared at her. How could she actually believe that? She and Seb were each the only half-angel the other knew – there was no way the guy was going to be happy with just being friends for ever. And the two of them were so close already, after less than three weeks. What would happen when Seb finally made his move? They’d be so entwined in each other’s minds and hearts by then – how was she supposed to resist feeling the same?

He stood against the door, rubbing his forehead against a vicious headache that was starting to pound. “I’m not happy with this,” he said finally. “I don’t care if you have friends who are guys, okay? I really don’t. But this, this is something else. You’re in each other’s heads. You have this intense...need for each other, or something.”

She seemed to have turned into a statue. “What exactly are you saying?”

He dropped his hand. “I’m saying I want it to stop,” he said. “You know how to change your aura now, so you don’t need to be alone with him all the time any more. And once this is over with, I want him gone.”

Willow started to say something and stopped. She gazed out at the shadowy street, her face tense. “Alex, this isn’t fair. He’s my friend.”

“And I’m your boyfriend. Which is more important to you?”

She gave a short laugh, looking at him in disbelief. “You’re not seriously saying it’s him or me, are you? This is ridiculous!” She took his hand, held it tightly. “Please, please listen to me – I am in love with you. I love you more than anything in the world. I want to grow old with you. Seb is just my friend.”