But those unembellished words, in that voice . . .
Her wolf strained against her skin. If she hadn’t been aware Psy couldn’t influence changeling minds in such a way, she might’ve suspected telepathic coercion. “I have no answers for you except that sometimes, the body wants what it wants.”
Eyes hot with a need that burned dark and deadly, he said, “Would you like to have our discussion now? So you can decide whether to kill me or . . . allow me to indulge this compulsion.”
Selenka’s eyes went to his throat again, a strong column against the black of his uniform collar. That raised collar wouldn’t protect him from wolf teeth—especially when he didn’t want to be protected. “No. We’ll do that in private.” There were far too many big changeling ears here, and whatever Ethan had to tell her was specific to her—or he would’ve told her while she was with Valentin.
A growl built in the back of her chest as her wolf fought her in a way it had never before done. It wanted Ethan, and logic and reason be damned. Wrenching it under control with teeth-gritted will, she took another look at the Arrow across from her. He was watching her like he wanted to hunt her down—but she felt no sense of threat.
Because the cold Arrow looked as feral as she currently felt.
Whatever this was, it wasn’t an attempt at psychic manipulation. It was chemistry so violent that it had laid waste to both an Arrow’s and an alpha’s control. “Talk about something else,” she ordered, her voice harsh. “Tell me about your telekinesis. In as much technical detail as possible.”
“The theory is that I move and reshape available light.”
“Does that mean you don’t have the ability in a lightless room?”
A stillness fell over him. And she knew. Knew. He had survived a room without light . . . and he hadn’t put himself there. Because how better to control a man whose power was linked to light than to deny him fuel for that power?
Blood boiling, she sliced out a hand. “Never mind.” She would not expose Ethan here, in this place where others might overhear; some wounds were private, to be shown only to those you chose. “I see another E who looks lost.”
The woman all but burrowed into her. Ethan, meanwhile, stopped to assist a fallen empath to his feet. Selenka had met the teenage cardinal earlier that day, after he walked over and asked her about the colors in her hair. His own was cut close to his skull, the curls tight.
“I saw a boy with stripes shaved into his hair,” he’d said afterward. “I’m considering it. Ivy is my guardian at present, and she authorized it but said I had to be sure since my hair will take time to recover.”
Now the teenager blinked at Ethan. “I can’t see you.” His voice shook, his ebony skin devoid of its usual glow.
“I’ll call a paramedic to check your vision.”
“No.” The teenager grabbed his arm. “I can see you, but I can’t see you . . . No, wait.” A deep frown. “You’re not gone. You’re . . . lost. Don’t fade. Don’t throw away the broken shards. You just need glue.”
Releasing a motionless Ethan, the E patted him on the arm before weaving his way over to Ivy Jane Zen, who enfolded his taller form against her and pressed a kiss to his temple.
Selenka knew the boy had likely been rambling and confused, but his words had raised the tiny hairs on her body. Especially since she knew the young cardinal was training directly under Sascha Duncan, the most experienced E in the world. The teen was a power.
Ethan stayed silent, his expression glacial . . . and his eyes never moving off her. Then she was alone again, and he was walking toward her.
Don’t throw away the broken shards.
Her wolf took advantage of her absorption in the mystery of Ethan and, desperate in a way that made no rational sense, lunged so powerfully inside her that she slammed up against him, one hand on his chest and their gazes locked as the air punched out of both of them.
He clasped her hips with strong hands, holding her close. The primal heart of her reached out for the shattered heart of him and a cold, brilliant, paradoxically light-fractured darkness exploded into her mind.
His eyes went black in front of her, his fingers digging into her.
But he didn’t attempt to shove her out.
And her wolf, possessive and unbending, staked its claim, was claimed in turn.
Heart thundering and breath shallow, she stared at Ethan. His skin was dotted with perspiration, and she could see his pulse thudding in his neck, the rhythm erratic. Inside her moved a cold light that tasted of the night, chilling her veins and whispering of wrongness. Too jagged, too broken, the bond filled with static.
“This isn’t supposed to happen.” Harsh words that scraped her throat.
“What?” His eyes were pure black. “Why can I—” A shake of his head. “There is a presence inside me.”
“Do you want it out?” If he did, this was an even worse disaster than she’d believed.
“I don’t know.” The words were flat. “What is it?”
Conscious of her packmates having gone predator-still around the hall, Selenka battled to modulate her face and voice.
“Me,” she rasped, her vocal cords raw from a cry she’d never uttered. “That presence is me. We’ve . . .” She bit back a growl. “It’s like we’ve mated, but the bond doesn’t feel right.” A heavy fog lay between them, murky and thick and littered with jagged edges that made her wolf snarl. “I can’t sense you in the way a mate should.”
Ethan didn’t move, didn’t blink.
Selenka stepped back, breaking the physical link between them. “Don’t ask me to explain it. This isn’t how the mating bond is supposed to come into effect—we’re meant to dance, to court each other, to know each other.”
Ethan was a stranger to her . . . a stranger who didn’t fit inside her. She’d been around enough mated pairs to know this bond was catastrophically wrong. Rather than fitting her like a lost half, Ethan was serrated darkness inside her, raising her wolf’s hackles.
And yet, the wolf gripped on to him with teeth and claws, its possessive need dark in Selenka’s veins. She wanted to mark him, wanted to take him.
“You burn,” Ethan ground out, closing the distance between them until they were separated by a bare inch. “Fire scalding my veins. I want more.”
Sucking in a breath at the naked want of him, her own need a craving unlike any she’d ever before experienced, Selenka looked around. Margo was the one who caught her eye, the shock in the senior lieutenant’s eyes a spread of amber against pupils of jet black. Selenka’s closest friend was ready to intercede, ready to go for Ethan and draw blood.