Chapter 33 - The First Touch
Athena stared at him.
"The ones who put me to sleep?" she repeated.
Her voice sounded distant, like it didn't quite belong to her.
Silas didn't answer right away.
His eyes searched her face carefully, measuring what she could handle, what she was ready to hear.
"You are not meant to feel this confused," he said quietly. "You are not meant to feel like parts of you are missing."
Her heart began to race.
"What does that mean?"
Silas stepped closer.
Not aggressively.
Not threatening.
Instinctively.
Protectively.
"It means someone took something from you," he said.
The words landed in her chest with a weight she couldn't explain. Something in her reacted before her mind could process it.
She shook her head slightly.
"I don't understand."
His hand moved before he could stop himself.
He took hers.
The moment their skin touched-
Athena gasped softly.
A sharp, electric sensation shot up her arm and burst into her chest like lightning beneath her skin.
Her fingers tightened around his without meaning to.
Silas inhaled sharply, as if the contact had affected him just as strongly.
She stepped closer without thinking.
Her body moved toward his like it had been waiting for permission.
He should have stepped back.
He didn't.
Her free hand lifted to his chest for balance, and she felt his heart pounding beneath her palm. Fast. Hard. Matching hers.
Their faces were inches apart now.
Close enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath on her lips.
Close enough that the world beyond them faded into nothing.
"I don't know why I feel like this around you," she whispered.
His voice came out rough.
"Because you were meant to."
That was the last thing either of them said.
Athena rose onto her toes.
Silas met her halfway.
Their lips collided with a force that stole the air from her lungs.
It wasn't soft.
It wasn't hesitant.
It was immediate. Deep. Consuming.
Like something inside both of them had been fighting to reach this moment and had finally broken free.
Her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt.
His hand tightened at her waist, pulling her flush against him.
The kiss deepened instinctively.
She felt the heat of him, the tension in his body, the way he held himself back even as his lips moved against hers with a hunger he couldn't hide.
Her head spun.
Her chest burned.
She couldn't tell where her breath ended and his began.
Every part of her felt awake.
Alive.
Like her body recognized him long before her mind ever could.
When they finally broke apart, it was only because they had to breathe.
Their foreheads rested together.
Lips still close enough to brush.
Both of them shaken.
Silas's grip on her waist loosened slightly, but he didn't let go.
His eyes were darker than she had ever seen them.
"Dangerous," he murmured.
Athena's lips tingled.
She didn't know if he meant the kiss...
Or her.