“Okay,” he said after a moment, stepping back but still keeping his arm around me. “Let’s go—”

“Back to the room so I can repay the favor?” I asked, touching his chest. Under my palm, his heart pounded fast. “How about that?”

Seth laughed, but the sound was off. Strained. “How about we get those fries first and then see where we’re at?”

I opened my mouth to protest, but a very loud and very obnoxious yawn broke free, right in Seth’s face.

“Yeah,” he murmured, turning me around. “Let’s get some food in you.”

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Seth

Josie passed out halfway through eating her French fries, and by some miracle she didn’t end up face-first in the greasy basket. She was curled on her side, hands limp and open just below her chest.

I’d pulled her sneakers off for her and draped a thin blanket over her legs. A herd of Minotaurs could’ve performed a flash mob in the center of the room and she would’ve slept right through it.

Sitting on the edge of the couch, I watched her sleep like a total creeper, but I watched to make sure she was okay. That she was breathing normally. Paranoia was hitting me hard, because I knew she was okay. Tired and weak? Yes. It would pass. Maybe it wasn’t paranoia. Maybe it was guilt.

It was definitely guilt.

Because I, on the other hand, was wired, chock-full of energy. Buzzed like I got after a good fight, a good fuck. Buzzed like I was every time I touched Josie.

I was wired, and I was fucking sick.

Every part of me was fucking sick, because the power lighting me up and that fucking “touch the gods-damn sky” high was borrowed. It was stolen. Fuck, it was the worst kind of thing.

I’d caved to that thing inside me.

When she tapped into akasha, it had woken up and it started paying attention. It needed and demanded, whispered to me, telling me what I could do. It remembered that I could feed off Josie without really hurting her. And I’d listened. Gods, I’d listened to it.

What the hell was wrong with me?

And it was all me. There wasn’t something or someone else living inside me that I could blame.

Pushing off the couch, I stalked to the window in the bedroom and drew back the blinds. Nothing but darkness greeted me.

What in the fuck had I done?

Oh gods, I knew exactly what I’d done. I thrust my fingers through my hair. The weeks of working on the elements had been chipping away at my restraint. Fuck. And today? When she’d tapped into the akasha, the lick of power that washed over me had dug in deep with razor-sharp claws, opening up a need I did not want.

But could not ignore.