He tried to kiss me softly. I could tell that he tried. But his intentions went up in smoke, just like before.

There was fire everywhere, because he was everywhere. His hands traced my skin, burning it. His lips tasted every inch of my face. The rock wall slammed into my back, but there was no pain. I couldn’t feel anything besides the burning.

My hands knotted in his hair, pulling him to me as if there were any possible way for us to be closer. My legs wrapped around his waist, the wall giving me the leverage I needed. His tongue twisted with mine, and there was no part of my mind that was not invaded by the insane desire that possessed me.

He pulled his mouth free and pressed his lips to my ear again.

“Melanie Stryder!” It was so loud in my ear, a growl that was almost a shout. “You will not leave me. Don’t you love me? Prove it! Prove it! Damn it, Mel! Get back here!”

His lips attacked mine again.

Ahhh, she groaned weakly in my head.

I couldn’t think to greet her. I was on fire.

The fire burned its way to her, back to the tiny corner where she drooped, nearly lifeless.

My hands fisted around the fabric of Jared’s T-shirt, yanking it up. This was their idea; I didn’t tell them what to do. His hands burned on the skin of my back.

Jared? she whispered. She tried to orient herself, but the mind we shared was so disoriented.

I felt the muscles of his stomach under my palms, my hands crushed between us.

What? Where… Melanie struggled.

I broke away from his mouth to breathe, and his lips scorched their way down my throat. I buried my face in his hair, inhaling the scent.

Jared! Jared! NO!

I let her flow through my arms, knowing this was what I wanted, though I could barely pay attention now. The hands on his stomach turned hard, angry. The fingers clawed at his skin and then shoved him as hard as they could.

“NO!” she shouted through my lips.

Jared caught her hands, then caught me against the wall before I could fall. I sagged, my body confused by the conflicting directions it was receiving.

“Mel? Mel!”

“What are you doing?”

He groaned in relief. “I knew you could do it! Ah, Mel!”

He kissed her again, kissed the lips that she now controlled, and we could both taste the tears that ran down his face.

She bit him.

Jared jumped back from us, and I slid to the floor, landing in a wilted heap.

He started laughing. “That’s my girl. You still got her, Wanda?”

“Yes,” I gasped.

What the hell, Wanda? she screeched at me.

Where have you been? Do you have any idea what I’ve been going through trying to find you?

Yeah, I can see that you were really suffering.