Crave (Harlequin Teen)

magic on me, and I haven’t.”
    But it wasn’t magic behind the gaze daze. Unfortunately, I couldn’t explain that without also telling him about my vampire side. “What if it’s not magic? What if it’s something else?”
    “Like what?”
    I ground my teeth, at a loss for an explanation. “Just go with me here on this, okay? What if it’s not like doing a spell or whatever, so you can’t feel magic being used when I gaze daze someone? How close were you when I gaze dazed those guys in our ninth-grade algebra class?”
    “I don’t know, maybe fifty yards?”
    “And how far away can you normally feel magic being used?”
    “Depends on how strong it is. I’ve heard everyone on campus can feel it when my energy spikes.” He grinned.
    I tried not to roll my eyes. “So then either the gaze daze is a really low level of power use, or it’s something that just can’t be felt. Right?” Lord, I was so reaching here.
    “Fine. Even if it is, I think I’d know if I felt differently when you looked at me. And I didn’t.”
    “Then why did you act different? Why did you suddenly decide you wanted to be with me? You weren’t even speaking to me before you fought with Greg.”
    “Savannah, my feelings for you have always been there. I’ve always needed to be with you. After you ended things with Greg, I just didn’t see the point in fighting them anymore.” He stroked my cheek. “It wasn’t your eyes that made me want to live my own life for a change. Just you.”
    Oh, how I wanted to believe that. I leaned into his hand, feeling every muscle in my body relaxing against my will. I put up one last token argument. “Maybe I should move in with my father, after all. If I was gone, then you could know for sure whether you were thinking clearly or under the gaze-daze effect. And if it turned out to be the gaze daze, maybe with me gone it might wear off—”
    “You do and I’ll just have to find you,” he growled, but his thumbs made a lie of his ferocious tone by softly caressing my cheeks. “And then it’d be all your fault for making me miss school.”
    He was pretty used to getting what he wanted all the time. I could easily imagine him skipping school just to chase down some elusive girl. My lips twitched with the urge to smile.
    “You want to know for sure I’m not under a spell?” he asked.
    “It would be nice, yes.”
    “Then look at me.”
    I looked at his nose.
    “My eyes, Savannah. Look into my eyes. And keep looking. See if they change like those other guys’ did.”
    No way, I could not do it to him a third time. The effects would never wear off at this rate.
    “Look at me.”
    “I can’t.”
    “Look at me, damn it!”
    Shocked, my gaze popped up to meet his against my will.
    And it was Tristan Coleman staring back at me, with the exact same eyes I remembered from my childhood.
    “Keep looking. Tell me if they change,” he murmured.
    I began to shake. This was too intense, staring into his eyes, searching them for signs that I was robbing him of sanity and free will like I’d done to Greg and the others.
    The bell rang, signaling the end of first period. But neither of us moved. The seconds ticked by.
    After another long minute, he said, “Well? Still me in there?”
    I nodded, though I could hardly believe it. I had spent months getting used to the idea that every male I made eye contact with would go nuts. Yet here was Tristan, the one boy I wouldn’t mind having for a stalker, and he didn’t seem the slightest bit affected. Could he be wearing a family charm that protected him from the gaze daze? Were all descendants immune to it automatically? Maybe it was like their trying to read a vampire’s mind…they had somehow built up a genetic defense against the vamp’s gaze-daze effect?
    I would have to ask my mom if she had ever been gaze dazed by my dad.
    His hands slid down my shoulders and arms to hold my hands. “Then are we done arguing about this? Will you be my girlfriend?”
    As if my heart had really ever given me a choice otherwise. Swallowing down a rising lump in my throat, I nodded and tugged my hands free so I could wrap my arms around his waist. I grinned, the rightness of this sensation making me wonder now why I had ever tried to fight it. He was right. The Clann’s rules were stupid. If ever two people were meant to be together, we were it. And it was time we decided for ourselves for a change.
    “Good.” He kissed me, softly at first, then