“Hello darling, how are you feeling?” Ice flooded my veins, taking away any remnants of Declan’s passion with it.

“Aria, what’s wrong?” Declan said. I turned away from him unable to answer..

“Are you doing alright?” the voice on the other end of the line said.

“What do you want?” I hissed. Declan came up beside me. His eyes focused in concentration.

“I wanted to check in on you. That’s what any loving mother would do.”

“You’re not a loving mother. You’re a monster, so I’ll repeat my question, what do you want?”

I heard Declan swear behind me and listened as my mother heaved an exaggerated sigh.

“My dear, I understand that you’re upset. We didn’t part on the best of terms, but I’d like to fix that. I just wanted to make sure that you were alright.”

I opened my mouth and then closed it. I—

Before I could think about it, I hung up the phone. It took less than five seconds for it to start buzzing in my hand, flashing the same number she had just called me from.

Dammit, I should have listened to Declan and just ignored my phone.

I stared down at it.

“Are you going to answer it?” He sounded uncertain if that would be a good idea.

I breathed a sigh of relief when the ringing stopped, but my ease was short lived. Not only did the ringing begin, immediately, the phone suddenly cracked in my hand.

Something about the broken fragments fascinated me. I tilted my head to the side and stared at it as it cracked again, this time shattering the glass on its face.

“Aria, are you okay?” Declan sounded worried.

With little more than a thought, the phone in my hand caught fire, and I watched in abject fascination as it slowly melted into a puddle of plastic goo that slipped through my fingers and fell onto the carpeted floor beside my feet.

Something about it felt liberating. “I’m great,” I told him as the last bit slipped from my palm and my flames receded. “Couldn’t be better.”

Declan looked at the pile of melted plastic and then to me. “Come on.”

He pulled on his jeans, not bothering to put on his shirt, and headed for the door.

“Where are we going?” I scrambled to throw my clothes back on while maintaining some semblance of modesty. It was a lot harder than you’d think, but I managed to hold the sheet to my chest by tucking it beneath my chin as I shimmied into my jeans. I turned my back toward Declan in order to put on my shirt and rolled my eyes when he growled.

“Why are you hiding yourself from me?” He had his arms folded across his bare chest, his muscles flexed and glistened with a fine sheen of sweat.

“I’m not hiding,” I snapped. Okay, maybe I was hiding a little but the haze of desire was gone and the thought of standing naked for Declan’s scrutiny make my palms sweat. “You still haven’t answered my question. Where are we going?” I tried not to eye Declan’s still hard erection beneath his jeans.

“The gym. You look like you need to punch something.” He turned away and walked out the door, but I still heard him mumble under his breath, “Hell, I know I do.”

***

Sweat streamed down my face, and every muscle in my body was screaming at me to stop the torture.

For once, Declan wasn’t pulling his punches.

“Again—” he growled.

I stared at him from across the mats, my chest heaving with each breath.

How the hell was he still standing?

Declan hadn’t bothered changing before we came down to the basement gym located within the Compound.

His jeans hung low on his hips. His bare chest glistened with a fine sheen of sweat.

God, he looked good.

I shoved at the tendrils of hair that had escaped my braid. He looked like sex on a stick, and I was a hot mess—my hair plastered to my face, cotton shirt soaked through with sweat and clinging to my body like a second skin. I knew without needing a mirror that my face was flushed and red as a beet.

“Come on, Aria. Are you tired already?” he taunted me.

Not a bit.

I bounced on the balls of my feet before lunging and almost landing a punch to his stomach, but he shifted at the last possible second. My fist barely glanced his hip.

Before I could recover, Declan was on me. He grabbed me under my arms and, as if I were a doll, threw me over his shoulder and onto the mat.

The air whooshed out of my lungs as my back hit the mat with a smack.

I groaned and rolled to my side.

“You suck,” I told him.

“If that’s all you’ve got, you’re definitely tired.”

I flipped him the bird and slowly climbed back to my feet.

Declan looked at his non-existent watch. “Any day now.”

I glared at him and, without conscious thought, used my new telekinetic abilities to drag the bench from the wall behind him in a rush.

The bench collided into the back of Declan’s knees and toppled him over backwards.

He recovered quickly, rolling to his feet in a graceful sweep but not before I saw the flash of surprise wash over his face.

Not so fun, is it?

I smiled and then shoved at the bench with my mind to put it back.

It didn’t move.

I scowled and tried again, but the stupid thing still wouldn’t budge.

What the hell?

“What’s wrong?” Declan asked. He eyed the bench apprehensively as he moved closer toward me.

"It won't move," I told him without taking my eyes off of it.

“You should relax. We’ve been at this for a while. You’re just tired.”

If I’d been too tired, it shouldn’t have moved the first time. Right?

I wasn’t sure. I wanted to ask Inarus but considering what had happened earlier today, I didn’t think now was the right time to call.

I pushed again and cursed the damn thing when, instead of sliding back into place, it burst into flames instead.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Declan started laughing beside me. I struck out and smacked him in the stomach.

“You’re not helping.”

“Would you like me to put the bench back?” he asked with a grin.

“No. I can do it myself.”

I concentrated harder and then spun on my heel. Screw the bench. Declan could deal with it while I showered.