Page 16 of Knight’s Salvation

“Close your eyes,” James said against her ear. “Envision that ball of energy in your chest. Imagine it being released, the relief. Let it fly, Mia.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and tears of pain and frustration burned behind her lids, sliding down her cheeks. “No. No, I can’t. It’s too hard. It hurts too much.”

James tightened his hold on her. “It’s okay. Ease up now. Call it back.”

She sagged back against him as the pressure dissipated, and gave him all her weight, too exhausted to be embarrassed about it. The only thing stopping her from falling to the floor was the arm he slid around her waist to hold her up. She felt drained, like all her energy had burned up with it. She’d never pushed herself that hard where her power was concerned—had been too afraid to. Now her chest throbbed from the effort.

When she opened her eyes, she sucked in a sharp breath. The bright yellow gaze that had haunted her through her mostly sleepless night blazed through the window in the door across the room. Zenon’s gaze was fixed on the arm around her ribs, holding her upright, and when James leaned in closer and asked if she was all right, the long fangs she’d glimpsed the night before slowly extended to almost halfway down his chin.

She couldn’t speak, couldn’t form a coherent sentence right then if her life depended on it. His gaze moved up, caught hers. He flinched and reared back like she’d slapped him. Then he was gone.

“Mia? You okay?”

“I…I think so.” She straightened and tried to pull herself together then turned to face the males in the room. “So what do you think?”

James gave her a half smile. “I think we have some work to do, but we’ll get there.”

“Does this happen very often?”

He exchanged another one of those looks with Chaos. “Sometimes.”

What was that supposed to mean? And why didn’t any of this make her feel the slightest bit better? Chaya had promised these guys could help her. Now she just felt more confused and unsure than before.

“We’ll try again in the morning,” Chaos said as he walked to the door. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.” Then he left, shutting the door behind him.

Telling her not to worry made her worry even more. She looked back at James. “What does this all mean?”

“That your power is stronger than we first thought, and that you made the right decision coming here.” He must have seen the concern on her face because his eyes softened and he placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed lightly. “We will get your power to its full potential. We just have to work out what triggers it.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“If we don’t find out what you’re capable of, we can’t train you to control it either. And until we do that, you’re pretty much a ticking time bomb.”

“Great.” Her sister had told her some of the horror stories. Untrained demi accidentally killing innocent people, and of course the story of how demi-demons were first discovered by the angels thousands of years ago, when a single demi-demon, new to his powers, wiped out his entire village.

A small smile tugged at James’s lips, and Mia couldn’t help notice again what a good-looking guy he was. “Better here than the grocery store or the mall, or some other place full of people, yeah?”

“Point taken.”

His gaze lingered, dropped to her lips then moved back up. Was he going to kiss her? This was what she wanted, wasn’t it? To start her life. A life that was never going to be normal but could be good if she’d only let go and try. James was a great guy, and he already knew what she was, knew all the crazy baggage that spending time with her would bring. It wasn’t crazy to him.

A pair of intense yellow eyes flittered through her mind, and she pushed them back out. That line of thought was pointless and frightening.

“Can I…can I kiss you?” he finally said.

She nodded.

When James leaned in, she stayed where she was and ignored her instincts to pull back when his lips came down on hers. They were soft, warm. He deepened the kiss, and again she let him.

It was brief, and it was—all wrong. So wrong her entire body jarred at the intrusion. Everything in her rebelled against it. She couldn’t help it; as soon as he lifted his head she stumbled back several steps.

He looked at her and frowned. “I’m sorry. I just thought that maybe…”

She shook her head. “No. I’m sorry. It’s not you, it’s—”

“Don’t finish that sentence. I don’t think my ego could take it.” He winced. “Look, I like you, a lot. But if you need more time, I get that. I don’t want to rush you.”

She released the breath she’d been holding. It came out shaky. He smiled at her and she offered up a weak one in response. Given the way her body seized up at his touch, she didn’t think it was time she needed, but she didn’t have the heart to tell him. Something was wrong with her. Yes, she was a virgin, but she’d been kissed before, and by guys not nearly as hot as James. He was perfectly lovely, handsome, and she’d reacted like he was a hideous monster.