Tempted

close.”
    “Are you sure I’m not going to hurt you?”
    “I’m almost positive you will hurt me.” He smiled, making his words teasing, “but I still want you close. Come here to me.”
    I let him tug me down so that I was lying next to him. Curled on my side I faced him, resting my head carefully against his shoulder. He reached across his body and draped an arm over me, pullingme more firmly against him. “I said I’m not going to break. Now relax.”
    I sighed, and willed myself to relax. I wrapped my arm around his waist, being careful not to jostle him too much or touch his chest. Stark closed his eyes and I watched his face go from tight and pale to relaxed and pale as his breathing deepened. I swear within a minute he was sound asleep.
    That was exactly what I wanted him to be for what I’d decided to do. I drew three deep, cleansing breaths, centered myself, and then whispered, “Spirit, come to me.”
    Instantly I felt the familiar stirring within me, like I’d just understood something unbelievably magickal, as my soul responded to the infilling of the fifth element, spirit.
    “Now, quietly, carefully, gently, go to Stark. Help him. Fill him. Strengthen him,
but don’t wake him up.
” I spoke softly, mentally crossing my fingers that he’d stay asleep. As spirit left me I felt Stark’s body stiffen for an instant, then he trembled, and then he let out a long, sleepy sigh while spirit soothed and, hopefully, strengthened him. I watched for a little while more; then slowly, I untangled myself from Stark and, with a last whisper asking spirit to stay with him while he slept, tiptoed from the room, closing the door gently behind me.
    I’d only taken a couple steps when I realized I didn’t have a clue where I was going. I stopped and felt my shoulders slump. A nun, who had been walking with her eyes cast down, hurried past me and gave a little jolt as she looked up and our gazes met.
    “Sister Bianca?” I thought I recognized her.
    “Oh, Zoey, yes it’s me. It’s so dark in the hall I almost didn’t see you.”
    “Sister, I guess I’m lost. Can you point me in the right direction to my room?”
    She smiled kindly, reminding me of Sister Mary Angela, even though she wasn’t nearly as old. “Keep going down this hall until you come to the stairwell. Take it up to the top floor, and I do believe the room you’re sharing with Aphrodite is number thirteen.”
    “
Lucky
thirteen,” I sighed. “That figures.”
    “Don’t you believe we make our own luck?”
    I shrugged. “Actually, Sister, I’m too tired to know what I believe right now.”
    She patted my arm. “Well, go on to bed then. I’ll say a prayer to Our Lady for you. Her intervention is better than luck any day.”
    “Thanks.”
    I headed in the direction of the stairwell. By the time I got to the top floor I was sucking air like an old woman, and the scar that stretched across my chest was burning and throbbing in time with the fast beating of my heart. I opened the door, went out into the hallway, and leaned heavily against the wall, trying to catch my breath. Absently, I rubbed at my chest, wincing because it was still really sore. I pulled down the neck of my shirt, hoping the stupid wound hadn’t broken open again. My breath caught as I saw the new tattooing that decorated either side of the raised red line.
    “I’d forgotten about that,” I whispered to myself.
    “That’s amazing!”
    With a little squeal I let go of the front of my shirt and jumped back so suddenly that I bonked my head against the wall.
    “Erik!”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Zoey

    “I thought you knew I was here. It wasn’t like I was trying to hide.” Erik was slouching just a few feet away, next to a door that had a brass number thirteen emblazoned on it. He stood up and, with his signature handsome-movie-star smile, sauntered over to me. “Damn, Z, I’ve been waiting here for you for ages.” He bent and, before I could say a word, planted a major kiss smack on my mouth.
    I pushed against his chest and stepped sideways out of the embrace he’d started to pull me into.
    “Erik, I’m not much in the mood for kissing.”
    One of his dark brows went up. “Really? Is that what you told Heath, too?”
    “I am
so
not going into this right now.”
    “Then when are you? The next time I have to watch you drink from your human boyfriend?”
    “You know what? You’re right. Let’s talk about it now.” I could feel myself getting more and