The dim lighting in the room does nothing to hide the predatory look on his face as he stalks around me, moving in a circle. I keep trying to move with him, to keep my eyes on him and my back away, but he’s just too quick. He shoots flames to my left, and I jump to my right, narrowly avoiding the hit.

I try to counter with air, calling on my mark. I aim low, hoping to strike him off balance. He blocks my attack with a simple swipe of his hand. A cool jet of water flows from his right hand, he doesn’t aim it at me, but at the floor. I stare at him in confusion, when suddenly the water begins to cool and freeze over. I struggle not to slide across it. I lift my left hand and command fire, using fire’s heat to melt the ice. The steam creates a wall between us. I try to use it as a screen to attack, but he simply uses his air ability to clear his vision again. I back up a few steps to keep out of reach, but he pounces, crossing the space between us. Within seconds I’m pinned down onto the blue mat by his weight. I struggle to get loose, completely forgetting to use my magic in order to assist me.

“Miss Crowe,” he whispers in my ear softly, his deep voice sending shivers right through me.

“Kenzie,” I mumble.

“What?” he asks.

“Please call me Kenzie,” I whisper.

“Miss Kenzie Crowe,” he utters softly, his cool breath against my neck making me shiver.

“Yes?” I whisper, looking up, I catch the heated look in his green eyes.

“You would be dead six times over if I was really trying.”

I laugh, but it’s a somewhat strangled sound. I look away from his heated stare, cutting off the temptation, at least, as much as possible while he’s all over me. My thoughts about Mr. Daniels are going to kill me.

I wriggle slightly, trying to see if there is any chance of getting him off me without the use of magic. No dice. I think about his advice. Don’t use magic the way they expect you to. Surprising them is half the battle, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, that’s pretty exact I’m sure. The ‘blah blahs’ is definitely how his speech ended.

A stroke of genius hits me, and a smile takes over my face.

“What are you thinking, Miss Crowe?” he asks softly.

“Nothing,” the word flies out of my mouth, and I’m sure I look guilty. I concentrate, while attempting to look like I am not concentrating, which is apparently ridiculously hard to pull off, as I feel his body vibrating with laughter above me. I call on my technomancy mark.

The lights start to flicker above us.

“Flickering lights, really?” he questions, the amusement thick in his voice.

I cut the lights off completely and scream, as I use my transmutation to change my eyes into a wolf’s eyes. Night vision, I impress myself sometimes.

“Shit, was that not you?” he asks. I use the moment of concern against him, and twist out from underneath him, blasting him with air to help me with just the lift needed to escape.

In the darkness, I have the upper hand.

I use my water ability to use his own tricks against him, covering the whole floor in ice. I kick my shoes off, and heat my feet with my fire, so I can move effectively around without slipping.

I stalk around him in a circle, now he is the prey, and I’m the predator. I launch at him, feeling the animal-like dexterity in me aid my attack. He dodges at the last possible moment, and jabs a fist into my side. Fuck!

I back up a few paces and circle him again. Shit, how did he know I was there?

“Move lighter on your feet, Miss Crowe,” he says softly. Is he a freaking mind reader? Is it a secret bonus ability or something? I try to move quieter. “Better,” he says.

He lashes out and grabs hold of me, pulling me to him, before spinning us around and planting me against the wall. “But, not good enough,” he murmurs into my ear. The tone in his voice is so seductive, I swear it has to be on purpose.

I lick my lips, seeing as they feel so suddenly dry. I’m so freaking stupid, he’s so unbelievably perfect, and here I am just fawning over him. Idiot.

“Excuse me, Miss Crowe?”

“Did I say that out loud? Wait how much of that did I just say out loud?”

“Just the word ‘idiot’. Why, what else were you thinking?” his body seems to move even closer up to mine. Fuck.

“N-nothing,” I stumble the word out.

“It doesn’t seem like nothing. You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you, Kenzie?” the way he says my first name, as if on an exhale of breath. Shit, bad thoughts; bad, bad thoughts. “Kenzie?” he repeats, softly.

I tilt my head up, seeing him perfectly in the dark thanks to my wolf eyesight. I focus and bring my eyes back to normal. If I see him, I won’t be able to do this. With my eyes back to normal, I can’t see him at all, but I know exactly where he is. I lean up, closing the gap between us, and press my lips against his.

At first, nothing. He seems too stunned to react, I’m about to pull back and apologise for completely misreading the situation, when he returns the kiss, a satisfied groan coming from him when I push myself up closer against him. His hand snakes into my hair, pulling it from the ponytail and letting it down. I move my hands up his shirt, feeling across the hard planes of his chest. He bites my bottom lip, and I moan softly, opening my mouth and deepening the kiss. He seems to come undone, tugging at my shirt, it comes off, his follows straight after it. It seems like a desperate rush on both our parts. The tension of the past few weeks finally getting to us. It can’t be ignored anymore. I need this, right now.

I go for his jogging bottoms, sliding them down his toned legs. He lifts me up, and pins me against the wall. I wrap my legs around him, feeling him pressed right up against me. He presses a kiss against my neck, before biting down. Fuck I need out of my leggings, right now. I reach a hand down to start to pull them off, when light shines into the room from the door. The now open door. Fuck.

He springs back from me, and we stare at the light from the door like deer in headlights. The collision tumbling closer and closer, but we can’t look away as we’re frozen in place. I can’t see the face of the person, but I’d know that body anywhere.

“East, it’s not—”

“What it looks like? I think it’s exactly what it looks like!” he snaps, cutting my words off. He turns back away from the room.

“Easton!” I call after him. I grab my shirt, pulling it over my head as I race after him. He shuts the door after him.

I pull it open, and dart out into the hall, I look around, but he has already darted away. Fuck. Without a backwards glance at Mr. Daniels, I run off in what I hope is the direction East left in, knowing I can’t let him run off after seeing that. Especially not after our conversation this morning damn it! I spot him sitting on the bottom step of the stairs, with people walking past him as they rush to their classes. He looks up at me as I walk over, stopping in front of him.

“East–” I start to say, but stop, not knowing what to say. I’m not sorry for what happened between me and Mr. Daniels, but I’m sorry I didn’t tell East how I was feeling about him.

“I don’t care that you like him, Kenz, I care that you didn’t tell me. I thought . . . well, I thought you would tell me first before you sleep with someone else,” he says gently. I expected him to be angry at me, not this, this is worse because I feel guilty.

“I haven’t slept with him, and that just happened,” I explained and he nods, standing up and coming over to me.

“I mean, after this morning I just . . . I guess I just need some time to think, Kenz,” he replies and walks around me. Turning around as I follow him with my eyes, watching him walk down the corridor, feeling like my heart is hurting more with every step he takes away from me.