He kissed me, ignoring my request. I laughed against his lips and folded my arms around his neck. I focused on warming my hands, and ran them against his back, spreading heat over his body. He shuddered.
Finally pulling ourselves apart, we packed up and headed toward his levibike. I slipped on his goggles, pushing my hair behind my ears. After the triplets were better, they’d be riding around, too. I had to find a better disguise than Reese’s goggles. But for now, it was better than nothing.
Once I was inside my unit, I showed my mom how I could use Flame. I stretched out my hand and allowed a tiny red flame to dance in the center of my palm.
“That’s amazing, Dez,” she said, falling back onto the sofa. “I’m proud of you.”
I settled next to her. “I don’t even have to wear my eye lenses anymore. I can control my eye color. So nobody will ever find out.” I paused a beat. “And what’s better, no more hunting lenses down.”
“That’s a big plus.” Brushing my hair from my shoulder, her face went serious. “What about shifting?”
I bowed my head and shook it. “No. I can’t do that yet.”
“But I saw you do it. You can. And you’ll have to at the Academy at some point. What happened wasn’t your fault. You weren’t in control over the power yet.” She tilted her head, her eyes meeting mine. “But now you are.”
I glanced at her wrist. It still held the scar from where I’d hurt her. Kythan healed quickly, but her wound wasn’t going away. The realization that I could inflict damage a Kythan couldn’t recover from scared me.
“I’ll practice it soon,” I said, getting up to go to my room. “I promise.”
“I’m proud of you, honey. I always knew you were special, but now you’re simply amazing.” She stood and walked toward the kitchen, and I headed upstairs.
Amazing? Even though I liked sparring and training with weapons, I’d never planned on actually hurting anyone—especially someone I loved. What I’d done didn’t feel amazing. I was excited about being able to control Charge and Flame, but at this point, I wanted nothing to do with the strange power that came from combining them. I feared if I shifted, I’d lose control…again.
I was getting ready to hop into my tub when I heard my bedroom door open. I cracked the bathroom door and peeked out. “Mom?”
“No, guess again,” Lana said. “I’m all better! And look at this.” She shifted her features. Her eyes shone fiercely as her ears pointed and her skin became like porcelain. She smiled, revealing two elongated eyeteeth. Then she rubbed her hands together, generating a blue glow. Pulling them apart, she strung a current between her palms. “The guys are so jealous that they can’t do this yet.” She laughed and doused her power.
“Lane!” I hugged her neck. “I didn’t think you’d be better yet. You look gorgeous.” She was wearing her signature leather pants an
d mini-corset. But it looked even better on her in the hot new Kythan form.
She hugged me back, then plunked down on my bed. “Well, I’m still a bit weak. But there’s no way I’m going to miss going out tonight with my best friend.” She eyed me. “Hey, I showed you mine, now show me yours, mama.” She raised her eyebrows at me.
I shook my head. “I’m still a little weak.” Then I quickly changed the subject. “What do you mean tonight? What’s going on?”
“Duh.” She rolled her eyes. “All the Shythe that are about to attend the Academy are partying it up. It’s one big blow out before we’re sent off. Where’ve you been?”
“Here.” I shrugged. “If you were busy recovering, how’d you hear about it?”
“I’ve got connections,” she said, punching something into her communicator. “Okay, Devon told me.”
“So, I’m guessing you want to see him tonight.” I sat down beside her.
“Of course. I’ll only be able to see him on the weekends after we go.” She pursed her lips. “But oh, I can’t wait. We’re going to have our own room and be away from our parents.”
“You got your housing information?”
She looked down her nose at me. “My dad is on the Council,” she said and tossed her hair off her shoulder. “Let’s just say, I begged…a lot, and got some strings pulled. So we’re bunking it together.” She smiled wide.
“That’s so freaking awesome.” I stood and walked to my bathroom. “Let me get cleaned up.” I halted near the door, my stomach dropping. Lana had surprised me and I’d forgotten all about Reese and our date. Crap.
“Dez, what’s wrong?”
I shook my head, smiling weakly. “Nothing. I just forgot I didn’t have Mom clean my favorite pair of breeches.”
“Oh, God. You and those breeches.” Lana bounced up and checked her reflection in my dressing mirror. “Before we go to the Academy, I’m taking you shopping for some new clothes. You really need to get a guy.”
I bit down on my lip. I could probably tell Lana about Reese, but I didn’t want to chance Jace finding out. I thought of his reaction to me dating a Narco…Nope. Not yet. I grabbed my pants and carried them into the bathroom with me, digging out my communicator after shutting the door.