His lips pressed against my forehead then my temple, leaving little patches of heat that too quickly faded.
“You’re scaring me,” he said softly. “I can hear the beat of your heart. But, it’s too slow, and I can’t feel anything. Please, Megan. Open those pretty eyes.” His hold on me tightened.
My heart ached for Oanen. I tried harder to open my eyes. To move my hand and stroke his hair. I had nothing left. What was wrong with me? I’d never felt sick in my life, but now…it felt like I was dying.
Twenty
“Please, Megan,” Oanen whispered again. “Get mad. You need to warm up. Don’t leave me.” His voice broke on those last words.
Held tightly against his chest, I wished I could hold him in return. Touch him. Talk to him. Now was my chance. I was cold enough that I could actually do all the things I wanted to do without hurting him. Instead of moving though, I just lay there, trapped inside of myself.
He pulled away and touched his lips to mine. The light press of heat against my cold skin started a flutter in my belly.
When his lips left me a moment later, I wanted to beg for him to come back.
“Don’t stop,” Eliana said. I heard her shuffle closer.
“What?” Oanen asked.
“I could feel something from her. It was faint but there. Kiss her again.”
His hand cupped my face.
“Come on, Megan,” he said softly.
My fingers twitched at the feel of his mouth brushing gently over mine. The warmth of his exhale washed over my face as his fingers traced the curve of my cheek. Heat ignited in my stomach, hard and fast. It burned through me, setting each cut and bite ablaze. But there wasn’t any pain, only the taste of Oanen.
Determined not to waste my chance, I lifted my hands and threaded my fingers through his hair. With a relief-torn sound, he deepened the kiss. The first touch of his tongue to mine felt like it set fire to my skin. I groaned and slid my hands from his hair to his bare chest. I’d been so hungry for him. For the feel of his arms around me. I wanted to hold on and never let go. I wanted him over me. In me.
A hand slapped down on the top of my head, cooling all my Oanen-centered thoughts.
I jerked back and looked up into his golden eyes. The heat I saw reflected in his gaze made my insides curl with delight. However, the sparks of passion that continued to pop and flare inside of me, couldn’t seem to ignite again.
“Oanen,” Eliana said, sounding strange, “your eyebrows just grew back. Go stand by the car.”
He pulled away from me with obvious reluctance, and I hungrily watched his retreating backside.
“And put some clothes on,” Eliana added.
I tilted my head up at her and noted her pure black eyes as she watched Oanen follow her orders.
“Miss me, monkey?” I asked.
Her gaze dipped to me.
“I’m so mad at you. Don’t ever make me do this again.” She gave my hair a slight tug, making it clear what she never wanted to do again, and lifted her hand.
“I thought you liked the taste of fury,” I said, batting my lashes at her.
“Fury. Not lust.”
“Liar,” Oanen said from near the car.
I glanced his way, and all the passion I had for him slammed back into me. Only this time, it didn’t feel so good. The heat flared to life in the wounds, burning them with molten pain. I made a sound, and Eliana reached for me.
“Don’t,” I managed to say. “Not this time.”
Oanen took several steps in my direction, and I held up my hand.
“No. I’ll be okay.”
I wasn’t sure I would be, though. I couldn’t remember it hurting so much the last time I’d healed. Everything ached. Pain radiated through me. Anger swiftly followed. None of this needed to happen.
“Talk to me, Megan,” Oanen said. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m hurt, and I’m pissed,” I said.
“Hurt? Where?”
I pulled back the sleeve of my steaming shirt to expose the mermaid bite. Green sludge dripped from my skin to the melting snow beneath me.
“None of this needed to happen,” I said, echoing my earlier thought. “Oanen leaving to search for my mom. My trip to the damn lake for the oracle. Every single bite and scrape. It’s all the result of adult bullshit.”
Another intense stab of pain bolted through me. I clenched my teeth against the need to cry out and waited for it to pass.
“If my mom hadn’t taken off,” I said when I could speak, “or if anyone in this place would just tell the truth for once—”
The next piercing shard of agony tore a scream from me. The smell of something burning clogged my nose as I struggled to inhale.
“That’s right. Breathe, Megan,” Oanen said. “Focus on me. On the sound of my voice.”
I opened my eyes, which I hadn’t realized I’d closed, and found Oanen squatted down a few yards from me. His face was red and beaded with sweat. Just behind him, Eliana stood with wide eyes as she stared at me.
“Sweet Jesus,” she said softly.
Panting with pain, I looked down at myself. Flames licked my skin around the bite, burning away my sleeve.
Was this how I healed?
Before that thought fully settled in my mind, the fire spread, racing up my arm. I looked at Oanen, panic coursing through me as quickly as the flames were consuming me.
“You’re okay, Megan,” he said. “It’s not burning you.”
“The hell it isn’t! It hurts like a bitch.”
“Look at your skin. You’re fine.”
I looked down again, seeing he was right. Why was it hurting then? I groaned again as the inferno inside of me burst outward. The roar of flames filled my ears, and my skin tightened to the point it felt like it would split.
Then it all stopped. I fell to my knees, panting and tired and wondering at what point I’d gotten to my feet.
“She’s okay, Oanen. Why don’t you get your shirt?”
I lifted my head to look at the pair. Eliana held Oanen’s arm to keep him from coming toward me. His eyes met mine, and my heart melted at the worry I saw there.
“I’m okay,” I said.
“Go get her your shirt,” Eliana said, nudging him toward her car. “She needs a minute.”
I frowned and looked down to see how much damage I’d caused my clothes. My mouth dropped open. I wasn’t wearing a thing. Crossing an arm over my boobs and shielding my nethers with a hand, I looked up again. Oanen had already turned around on his way to the car.
Eliana gave me a sheepish smile.
“Looks like you might need to start stashing clothes, too,” she said.
“I really hope that kind of thing will not be a regular occurrence,” I said, carefully getting to my feet. The now exposed sand beneath me had melted into an irregular sheet of glass.
“It looked like it might be.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged slightly and lifted the phone she held, turning it so I could see the picture she’d taken. I was floating in the air, arms flung wide, consumed in an inferno of flames. My mouth was open, and my head flung back. Everything about me was on fire. Even my hair. I squinted and stepped closer, trying to ignore the fact that I was completely exposed in the picture.
“What’s that behind me?” I asked as I stared at the twin flames that extended from either side of me.
“It looks like small wings.”
“Can my life get any worse? I’m going to kill that oracle.”
“Why?”
Before I could answer, Oanen approached with a shirt held loosely in his hands. The heated look in his eyes made my insides flare with warmth again.
“Cool it, you two,” Eliana said. “Oanen, turn around. Megan, keep talking.”
Oanen winked at me as he tossed the shirt over then gave us his back. I quickly tugged the covering on over my head.
“The oracle didn’t say a thing about wings. She also told me that there was no way to control my temper and that Adira and the Council have been lying to me.”
“Hmm,” Eliana said, looking off toward the lake.
Oanen turned around and tugged me into his arms while she was distracted.
“Don’t ever scare me like that again,” he said against my hair.
“Not sure I can promise that. I think Eliana’s right, and flames might be another superpower for me.”