14. The Hot Guy Steals Your Name
14
The Hot Guy Steals Your Name
Ziros (AKA Mysterious Hot Guy)
—A Little Bit Earlier—
I was just messing around. I never intended to actually kiss her.
I sure as hell didn’t expect her to kiss me .
She really must be trying to seduce me.
Her magic sizzles through my lips as she presses her mouth to mine, gazing at me with sparkling, confident eyes.
What a strange little human.
I can’t help but smirk as I kiss her back. She thinks she can catch me off-guard?
Then she’s got another thing coming.
This is a battle she’ll never win.
I weave my fingers into her hair, pulling her harder against me as I part her lips with my tongue, lifting her into the air as she wraps her legs around my waist.
All she’s wearing is those crazy, tiny, amazing pajamas, and it would be so easy to slide my hand underneath the top and—
Heat and magic flames through me.
What the hell am I thinking!?
I need to keep my guard up around this one. It’s like she’s doing this on purpose, kissing me with eyes wide open.
Trying to trick me.
I know I should stop.
I should push her away, but instead I pull her harder against me, until all I can feel is the heat of her body curving to mine.
And then she whispers my own damn name into my mouth.
“ Ziros ,” she says, staring at me with eyes so surprised, I might even believe she didn’t steal my name on purpose. But she must have.
That’s gotta be why she kissed me in the first place.
It’s the only damn thing that makes sense.
I should have known.
“ You sorceress ,” I growl, pushing her back against the wall, pinning her there. Kissing her again with one hand still behind her head, holding her against me.
When I pull away again, she’s breathing hard. Like that kiss took her breath away.
Good.
I might as well take something in exchange for that dirty little trick. How the hell did she steal my name!?
I can’t help but laugh as I mutter, “You wicked , wicked sorceress.”
But even I’ve gotta admit: It is stupidly impressive.
I thought she was just a weak little human.
That’s what she keeps claiming to be, acting like she doesn’t know the first thing about magic.
Then she goes and does that .
“That was a dirty trick, you know. You stole my name right off my tongue. That was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”
She blinks.
“I…I what ?”
Sure, there she goes again. Pretending like she doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing.
But I know better.
I see right through her.
She only kissed me so she could steal my true name.
Fine .
Two can play at that game.
I glance down at her legs still wrapped tightly around my waist, and a dirty fantasy fills my mind.
A fantasy where we’re doing the same thing.
Only better. Way better .
Damn it all.
What am I doing having these thoughts about a human ?
Maybe she realizes what I’m thinking, because she blushes, dropping her legs from around me just in time. Yeah. Just in time . Any longer and she’d have noticed what these sweatpants sure as hell don’t hide.
I turn away, shaking my head as I pace. Laughing softly to myself.
“This is crazy. She acts like she’s just a regular, weak little human. And then she goes and does that .”
“What?” She asks, following me with her eyes. “What did I do? You sound like you’re impressed.”
“I am impressed, little human.” I turn back, crouching in front of her where she’s still sitting on the floor, and I love the way she lets out a barely audible gasp as I tilt her chin up toward me. “What do you say—shall we go at it again?”
I love the way she blushes like that question embarrasses her.
Just a second ago, she’d seemed so confident. But maybe it was all an act.
“Best of three,” I say, smirking down at her. “This time I’m trying for your name.”
But she just keeps playing dumb. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Sure .
“Sure you don’t.” I laugh softly as I lean in, running the points of my teeth along the edge of her jaw until she lets out another satisfying, soft little gasp.
Her reactions are everything.
It must be the magic connecting us, sending heat blazing through me with every little sound she makes.
I want her.
Damn it all.
I want a human .
I even want her blood. It sings to me, pounding behind my ears.
I could bite her. I could give in right now, letting the points of my teeth sink into her neck until she moans against me. I’d make her feel so damn good, she’d never want me to stop.
But I won’t.
I refuse.
I’m not here to drink her blood.
I’m here for her name.
And I always get what I set out to take.
I pull back, and it takes all my control to resist the song of her blood pulsing behind my ears. And she smells so damn good.
Humans have no business smelling this good.
Especially not tricky little sorceresses like this one.
Smirking into her eyes, I say, “You got my guard down and then stole my name. And now I’m gonna steal yours.”
She just stares up at me.
Blinking.
Like she doesn’t know what the hell I’m talking about.
She’s a good actress, I’ll give her that.
I know she tried to take my name on purpose.
There’s no way she could do that kind of thing without meaning to. Not even the most powerful sorceress could do that.
She’s lucky she’s cute. Otherwise, I might call her out on her lies.
Wait . What am I thinking?
I just want her name. This has nothing to do with her appearance.
Fair’s fair, after all.
“So what do you say, human?” I trace my fingertips along her jaw. “Shall we go again?”
She just sits there staring up at me from the floor with her back against the wall, still wearing those absurd little pajamas.
“What?” I ask. “Too charmed to speak?”
Or maybe she’s scared.
That thought hits me like a punch to the gut. Did I scare her so bad, she can’t talk?
Shit .
I wasn’t trying to frighten her.
But she should be scared of me.
I’m way stronger than her. I could pin her against that wall and do anything I want to her, and she wouldn’t be able to stop me.
But I’m not that kind of guy.
I told you. I’m a gentleman.
Mostly .
I shove away from the wall, starting to stand. I’ll get her name some other way.
Okay, so I’m not actually sure how , but I’m sure it’ll come to me.
Eventually.
But before I can turn away, she grabs my arm, tugging me back.
“Wait,” she says softly, still staring at me with those big, deceptively innocent eyes. “I—”
I smirk. What’s this?
She didn’t want me to go, after all?
“Wait?” I repeat, crouching down over her and cupping her jaw in one hand. “As in, don’t go . As in, kiss me again, Mr. Hot Book Boyfriend ?”
She nods slowly, and her blood pounds behind my ears again, egging me on, daring me closer.
But I refuse.
I’m not here to bite her.
I’m just here for one thing.
I pin her to the wall, holding her jaw as I press my mouth back to hers.
She moans softly into me as I part her lips with my tongue, pulling her body up against mine.
The magic pulses between us, sizzling like a flame.
This must be how she found my name.
I’m no sorcerer, but I can feel the thread there, binding us together. And in it are both our names.
But something’s wrong.
The magic surges as she leans into me, and I can feel her searching this time, pushing hard. Too hard.
The energy grows and pulses all around us, threatening to push me away.
What the hell is she doing?
My wind magic responds to her call, swirling through her hair as she pulls back from our kiss…and slumps against my shoulder before sliding toward the floor.
Bright white magic flashes out in a bolt as I try to catch her, but the explosion just throws me against the opposite wall.
What in the— I grunt, rubbing the back of my skull as I climb to my feet.
What the hell was that?
Her apartment isn’t big. Not nearly big enough to hide in. And the place is dead silent.
No.
I swear under my breath, a sickening feeling deepening in my gut.
She’s gone.
“ Anzelika ,” I growl, the name forming in my mouth as I spit it out.
That’s it.
Her true name.
It must have come through the connection just as she pulled away.
Damn it all to hell.
Is this my fault? Did I kill her? No . No, a powerful sorceress wouldn’t just vanish into thin air. She can’t be gone.
Besides.
If she was dead, I wouldn’t still be alive.
She must be here somewhere.
“Anzelika?” I ask, fighting the strange panic rising deep in my gut.
She’s just a pathetic little human. I shouldn’t care what happens to her.
I don’t care.
But I can feel it already, the life force draining from the cuff at my wrist, out through the magical link connecting us.
Wherever she is, she’s in trouble.
And if I don’t want to die, I’d better find her.
Fast .
Glancing around, everything is in its place.
Everything—
But one thing.
The book.
There on her shelf, its pages flutter softly where it’s fallen open.
I swear under my breath, storming over to it as I stare down into the glowing pages.