“all he’s done since then is poke me with his pen.” “Probably because he wants to poke you with something else,” she said dryly. My eyes bugged. “I can’t believe you said that.”

“I don’t know. I mean we haven’t talked about it. He literally left afterwards, and all he’s done since then is poke me with his pen.” “Probably because he wants to poke you with something else,” she said dryly”

“We can't lose you," she said after a few moments of awkward as hell silence. "You have to understand that we aren't doing this because we don't care about Kat. We're doing this because we love you.""But I love her," I said without hesitation.Dee's eyes widened, probably since it was the first time she'd herd me say it out loud, well, about anyone other than my family. I wished I had said it more often, especially to Kat. Funny how that kind of shit always turns out in the end. While you're deep in something, you never say or do what you need to. It's always after the fact, when it's too late that you realize what you've should've said or done/It couldn't be too late. I knew that. The fact that I was still alive was testament to that. Like Dee said, though, there were worse things than death.”

“He…he kisses like he’s dying of thirst, and I’m water.” I smacked my hands over my hot face. “I can’t believe I just said that out loud.” Lesa giggled. “Sounds like one of those romance books you read.” “It does.” I started giggling. “But, oh Lordie Lord, it’s true. I’m like a puddle of mush when he kisses me. It’s embarrassing. I’m so, like, ‘Thank you, can I have another?’ Sad.”

“Sure. Whatever. She’s all yours.”Daemon grinned. “That she is.”My hand was twitching to connect with his face. “I am not yours.” A small part of me wanted his to deny my words, though.“Shush it,” he said, walking up to me.“How about I shush it right up you—““Kitten, your language is so unladylike.”

“Listen to me, Ember. I couldn’t hurt you. I can’t.” Hayden settled his eyes on me. They were softer than I’d ever seen. “I love you— I’ve loved you since the first time I saw you.”

“You two should really get a room," Apollo said from out of nowhere."My poor eyes..."I groaned. Even in his true identity, he still had impeccable timing."Gods," Aiden spat. He pulled back, casting Apollo a disgusted look over my head. "Do you get off on sneaking up on us?""You probably don't want to know what I get off on.”