Channeler's Choice (20 page)

Aunt Sylvia patted her shoulder. “I kind of figured that, honey. But remember, while Aiden is a great guy, he’s still a guy. He relies on you to be the one to say stop because he’s a boy. Women are emotional and men are physical, that’s just the way life is.”

She wasn’t about to tell her aunt that she was the one who had trouble stopping. “I know, I know and now that I know what it is, I will stop it. But enough of the sex talk, please! You’re killing me here.”

Aunt Sylvia’s eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms as she stared Eren down. Sighing, Eren nodded and tried her best to look chastised. Knowing that it was impossible to stop once it got to a certain point was enough to convince her to keep a tight rein on things. Her aunt must have seen that on her face because she smiled and uncrossed her arms.

“
Come inside and get some dry clothes on. Dad just put on a fresh pot of coffee,” Aunt Sylvia said as she stood and offered Eren her hand. From the tone of her voice she seemed just as relieved as Eren to have the conversation finished.

Smiling, Eren reached out and let her aunt pull her to her feet. She loved her aunt and the fact that she was so open with her, but did their conversations always have to be so hard?

Eren cast a glance over her shoulder at the place Aiden had jumped from. The rain was quickly washing his energy trail away and she kind of hated that. With his power still tingling on her lips, she couldn’t help but wonder, how far was too far?

“
One cannot force their way into a Society.

The power chooses who will bond to you,

you do not.”

~from
Life In A Society

Chapter 17

They were almost here. Bridget could hear them running through the forest, not even trying to be stealthy. But then why should they? She had agreed to meet them out here. It was stupid, she knew, but she didn’t really have a choice, at least not the way she saw it. They were going off Luke’s orders and no one disobeyed Luke, even if he was in a foreign country. Besides, these four were scary enough without him—even worse maybe, because with him gone there was no Rector to keep them under control.

Taking a deep breath, she put on an impatient face as they emerged from the trees. As always, the big one—Claud—stepped out first. He wasn’t the leader, none of them were really, but he was the muscle. Under any other circumstance Bridget might have been interested in him, even though he wasn’t Irish. He was the kind of guy she usually went for, big on muscle, but low on brains. It made them easy to manipulate and she liked that. But as a friend of Luke’s, he was way too scary to be serious about.

Stepping out to flank her on both sides were Gene and Greg, or the jokester and the psycho as she liked to think of them. Greg was sick and twisted, he liked to hurt people. Despite being half the size of Claud, he was much more frightening. Bridget turned slightly so he wasn’t at her back.

Finally, Nick stepped out of the trees and strode up to her. Trying to look strong, Bridget raised her chin and crossed her arms. In Luke’s absence he was the closest thing they had to a Rector. Not only was he too strong for her to fight, he was too smart to fall for her slutty girl routine. He was the kind of guy that would take what he wanted anyway. Thankfully, she wasn’t his type.

“
It hasn’t worked, Bridget. Are you even trying?” Nick asked in a controlled voice. Anger seethed below that control and though there wasn’t a Rector’s power behind it, there was the promise of a lot of pain.

Bridget would have preferred to have him yell at her, at least then she’d see his anger coming. But Nick was always like this, under control and impossible to read. It’s what made him more frightening than the others. Her knees started to shake and she had to concentrate very hard not to leak energy all over. Looking at Claud helped. She wasn’t exactly his girl, but they’d been doing it for a while now. He smiled and winked at her. The suggestive look would have scared most girls, but not Bridget. Claud was the only reason the others hadn’t hurt her yet.

“
I have tried, Nick, I swear. But it’s going to take an act of God to come between those two,” Bridget said, trying to sound exasperated instead of scared. It didn’t come out quite right.

“
Then you’d better start praying because Luke said if you don’t split them up by summer, then the boys and I get to persuade you to try a bit harder,” Nick said with a wicked looking smile.

Claud moved forward, looking as though he might try to step between the two of them. Using all the charm she could muster, she batted her long eyelashes at Claud and gave him a grateful look.

“
Go easy on her, Nick,” Claud said.

Thunder boomed overhead as Nick stepped in close to Bridget. She struggled to ignore the fact that his breath reeked of cigarettes as she tried to look annoyed.

“
You
will
do as he asks,” Nick growled as he leaned in and pointed a finger in her face.

Lightning flashed overhead, making his dark eyes look like pools of reflective ink. The threat in their depths said what his words didn’t. Those eyes were filled with the promise of a world of hurt.

Bridget’s bottom lip quivered and her vision began to blur with tears. Noticing this, Nick smiled before he spun away. He took off at a brisk pace and the others followed. The last bit of strength Bridget had drained away and she collapsed to her knees. Rain drops started to fall, finding their way down through the boughs of the spruce trees. They hit her arms and face, and they were cold, but she hardly cared. She was numb with fear and a horrible helplessness. The chill of a spring rain was a wonderful respite compared to what Nick would do to her if she failed Luke.

“
A Society is only as strong as its weakest member.

Strength of character is more often than not

more beneficial than strength of body.”

~from
Life In A Society
.

Chapter 18

Running helped to refocus Aiden’s energy, and if he pushed himself fast enough he could almost stop thinking of the way Eren’s body felt against his. Whatever it was they had done had left him buzzing like he’d downed two quadruple espressos. It had felt amazing, kind of like they’d been breathing fire down each other’s throats, only without it hurting. No, not kind of, exactly like that. Every touch, smell, and taste had been heightened during the strange exchange. Zolin’s book said nothing about this.

He wanted to go anywhere except for his foster family’s home but he didn’t really have a choice, that’s where his things were. His feet ate up the sidewalk way too fast and he was at the doorstep before he had calmed down. Focusing hard to hear beyond his own thundering heart, he listened until he was sure the house was empty before entering. Not wanting to give them any excuse to send Bridget to bother him later, he unloaded the dishwasher and took out the garbage and recycling before dashing up to the attic.

Undressing as he crossed the room, he went straight for the closet-sized bathroom and squeezed into the tiny shower. He turned the water as cold as he could stand it and sighed in relief as it soothed the last of the fire raging in him. Finally, his head cleared and he could think again. Wanting Eren was something he had grown used to, and just like his heartbeat and blood flow, he was learning to control it. Taking a health class taught by a Tibetan monk had its advantages. However, what they’d done today had blown that control to hell.

If he hadn’t ran and jumped off that roof when he did, it would have taken a lot more than Sylvia to tear him away from Eren. Even though he was pretty sure Eren felt the same way that scared him. The last thing he wanted was for Eren to give herself to him because of some weird Rector thing. He wanted it to be because she was ready and was making a conscious choice, not because instinct drove her to it.

Regardless of how uncomfortable it would be, he had to go talk to Alin and find out about the strange exchange of power. The more he knew about it the better his chances of learning to control it would be. He had homework but it could wait, this couldn’t. Aiden tried desperately to remember what time it was but realized he had no idea. He wasn’t about to go back and check Zolin’s place. This was not something he wanted to get stuck discussing with him. Perhaps if he just went and sat on Alin and Sylvia’s doorstep…

Wrapping a towel around his waist, he stepped out of the bathroom and froze as a familiar, unwelcome energy assaulted his senses. Sprawled across his bed wearing only tiny bits of satin connected by lace, was Bridget. She had a figure that was pleasing enough, but Aiden couldn’t see through his distaste for the girl to appreciate it. All he saw when he looked at her was an obstacle that was trying to get between him and the girl he loved. Well, that and used goods.

“
Get out,” he said.

Clutching the towel around his waist closed with one hand, he bent and grabbed his jeans off the floor.

“
Oh, Aiden, don’t be that way. Eren doesn’t have to know,” Bridget purred.

She started to uncross her legs and Aiden looked swiftly away. Turning his back to her, he slipped his jeans on beneath his towel. The mattress squeaked as she crawled across it. When he turned back around she was so close he almost ran into her. Licking her dark red lips, she reached out to touch his chest. He grabbed her wrist and shoved her back. She stumbled and fell onto the bed.

“
Don’t touch me. Get out of here and don’t ever come back in. I will not tell you again.”

Bridget crossed her arms beneath her barely concealed breasts. This lifted and pushed them together in an alluring way, forcing Aiden to stare straight into her eyes to avoid distraction.

“
I can do things to you that your little Mayan girlfriend wouldn’t even dream of doing. I don’t even mind if you want to be rough,” she said as she crawled across the bed toward him.

With her in that position there was no way to avoid seeing things he didn’t want to see. He turned his head away, fighting the urge to slap her. He was afraid that if he did, he might not have the control to hold his strength back and would end up really hurting her. It wasn’t like he could break her neck, it was almost impossible to break a channeler’s bones. He didn’t want to hit her because he didn’t want to be like his adopted father.

Ignoring her, Aiden zipped his jeans up and tossed the towel aside.

“
I’m just looking out for your best interest, Aiden. You can’t have a future with her, she isn’t Irish. You can with me,” Bridget said.

She beamed up at him as he walked to the bed. The smile wilted as he grabbed her by the arms, hauled her to her feet, and carried her to the stairs. Not really caring how she landed, he tossed her out. The moment her feet touched the carpeted floor of the hallway below, he yanked the stairs up and threw the bolt that held them in place. His conscience was clear; she’d be fine, though there was a small part of him that wished she wouldn’t be.

Not bothering with shoes, he threw on a shirt, tossed his backpack over his shoulder, and leaped out the open window. He was running the moment his feet hit the grass. His power tried to rise in response to his anger but he held it back with practiced ease. When he leaped the backyard fence and landed on the sidewalk on the other side, green energy was building around his fists. Okay, so he held it back for the most part.

Channeling all his anger and frustration into running helped but the lingering scent of Bridget’s overpowering perfume didn’t. No matter how hard she tried, the only energy he wanted to expend on her wasn’t sexual, it was angry. The way his body responded to the sight of her made that crystal clear. He’d had all he could take of that girl’s games. Let the McGrath’s say whatever they wanted, he wasn’t going back to that house tonight.