Kylie pushed her hair behind her ear. Deny it. Deny that anything is up.
"What ... werewolf?" she asked, but darn if her voice didn't lack conviction.
Derek's eyes stared right at her. His gaze reminded her of Del a's when she knew Kylie had lied.
"Don't deny it," he said. "Your emotions were al over the place every time you glanced at him. Kind of like when you look at me, only ... more. You either real y like him, or ... he scares you."
"I thought you could read emotions?"
He sat up and crossed his arms over his chest. "Passion and fear read almost the same."
"Wel , trust me, it's definitely the latter," she answered, but after last night's dream she knew the truth could have been summed up better with one word. Both. But she hadn't admitted that to herself yet. She sure as heck didn't plan on admitting it to Derek.
"So where do you know him from?" he asked.
"Who says-"
Derek held up his hand to stop her. "It's not normal to be that scared of people we don't know."
She glanced down at her clutched hands. "He lived beside me when I was young. Let's just say I knew something was off with him then. I just didn't know what it was ... the whole werewolf thing."
"Did he-"
"No more." It was her turn to offer him the determined stare. "I've given you al I'm going to. It's your turn."
He looked at the stream and she sensed he disliked talking about himself as much as she did. "What do you want to know?" he asked.
"Only everything," she said with a certain amount of teasing in her voice, hoping to put him at ease.
"My father was Fae. My mother's human."
"Was?" she asked. "You said your father was Fae. Did he pass away?"
He picked another twig from the bush and twirled it around with his fingers. "Don't know. Don't care. He left when I was eight. A real deadbeat dad, if you know what I mean."
"I'm sorry." Kylie sensed he cared a lot more than he wanted her to believe.
"Did you know he was Fae?" She brushed an ant from her arm.
"Yeah, I don't remember ever not knowing. But after he left, we didn't real y talk about it or him a lot. Mom was crushed that he walked out."
His mom hadn't been the only one crushed. Kylie saw sadness in his eyes that he tried to hide. Her own chest felt heavy-heavy for him, and perhaps a little for herself. Her own father issues hadn't disappeared. They waited in line with everything else she had to fret over and sort out. Then she remembered that this was Derek's time. He'd listened to her and she owed him the same.
"Sorry," she said.
"Why? I'm not. If he didn't want me, I sure as hel didn't want him."
He couldn't lie any better than she could, Kylie thought. "Did you know you were gifted al your life?"
He stared at the piece of stem with a few leaves stil attached to it that he had in his hand. "No. I mean, I knew I could read people better than most, but I wasn't even sure it was ... because of being Fae. It wasn't until about a year ago that tapping into people's emotions got stronger. And then ... I final y realized I was different."
"How are you different?" She felt her eyes moving to his chest, remembering how good it had felt to rest against him. The craziest thought hit. What would it feel like to kiss him?
He tilted his head to the right and studied her. "How much do I look like your old boyfriend?"
Were her emotions so readable, she wondered, feeling her face flush. "Not that much, but ... enough that..."
"That you're attracted to me?"
Feeling her face heat to a nice shade of red, she looked back at the stream. "I wouldn't go that far."
"Why not?" His breath was on her cheek again. Warm. Soft. Tempting. When had he gotten this close? Uncomfortable with how near his mouth was to hers, and how tempted she was to let it get even closer, she jumped down from the rock.
"Stop!" he said.
"What?" She turned around to look at him. "I think we-"
"Don't move," he said in low, very serious voice.
"Why? I-"
Something rustled in the bushes beside her. Kylie looked down and saw a huge snake slinking out from the thick underbrush. A huge grayish black snake with a pointed nose, the kind of nose her father made her aware of so she would know the difference between a nonpoisonous and a poisonous snake when she went on their camping trips.
Panic built as she recognized the species. A water moccasin, which just so happened to be the most aggressive snake found in Texas. And one of the most poisonous, too.
The snake moved in tight S-like patterns-patterns that brought it closer to Kylie. Fear swel ed inside her. A scream crawled up her throat. Logic said that she couldn't move away from the snake fast enough to avoid getting bitten. Logic said she needed to stay very stil , but ... the hel with logic-she wanted that thing away from her.
Derek's hand tightened on her shoulder. "It's okay." His voice was so low, so soft. "It's just passing by. Stay very stil . Let it go. I'm here. Nothing is going to happen."
His hand grew warmer, unnatural y warm, and just like that, her fear vanished. Her heart stopped racing and the clutching in her stomach eased. She watched the snake's fat, chubby body slither across the tip of her Reeboks as if it were a butterfly passing by. Something in her brain told her that the calm she now felt, the absence of fear, wasn't normal; that somehow Derek had done this to her. She wasn't even afraid of that right now. It was as if Derek's touch had removed her ability to experience fear, leaving only curiosity in its place. Curiosity about the snake.
About how it moved like that.
Curiosity about Derek. How had he changed her emotions? What would it feel like to lose herself in his kisses? Would he make her feel the way Trey had? Maybe even better?
"You're doing good. It's almost gone," he whispered.
And then it was gone. Its round body slipped into the stream, causing only the slightest of ripples as it sank down and moved with the water's current.
Derek kept his hand on her shoulder as she watched the creature disappear among the rocks. Then, slowly, he lifted his palm away. The storm of emotion hit her so hard that she screamed. When screaming alone wasn't enough, she swung around, and started climbing the rock. Her heart pumped in her chest, as if it might burst, and her stomach felt as if it knotted al the way around her backbone. Derek caught her as she ascended, but she didn't stop moving, thinking only about getting away from the slithering snake.
"It's al right," he said, laughing, and fel back on the huge rock, carrying her with him. She landed half on top of him. His arms came around her, but not too tightly. His hands gently rested on her back.
Blinking, she felt her panic evaporate, and she met his green eyes. This close, the flecks of gold seemed brighter. Her gaze lowered to his mouth, to his lips that appeared so soft, so inviting.
The warmth of his body melted against hers. His natural scent worked its way into her senses. She caught her breath.
"You okay now?" he asked, his voice deeper.
"Yeah." When he stole her panic, had he taken her wil power, too, because she real y wanted Derek to kiss her. Or she could just kiss him. It sounded like a damn good idea to her. She inched a bit nearer until his lips were so close to hers she could feel their heat.
"Let her go!" a dark male voice boomed from behind them.
